Variety (Aug 1940)

Wedhesilay^ August 7i 1940 P^nMETY PICTURES er BO. Burden ■ V-Minneapolis, Aug. 'fi. :;'; Expected curtailment . of weekly changes ■ by independfent ■ heighhor- hood exhibitors here hasn't m |/ed: Practically all th« houses are iharkihg the same riuniber iais (eyer, , .. 0(« . their partV exhibS' claiiti that fiitns w'oti't hold lip at the boXQ^lice any longer, than the two or three : days bfigihally' assigned. Exterided playiiig timt is profitable, otily piv fare bccasidns, it's declared; "■: ;, ^ Ejihibs are .complainiiig that 'box- bfflce. pictures' have been all top in- frequent/ ^.Pro^uctV ^ isn.'l stroiig enough;tp; puU -iniportant busitiess,. the exhibs say^^ " ; If producers want; larger yields frijjn the domestic ■mairket : to tlifl Ip-sses Sustained because of .the- Idi-etgii' riiarkets': ■elimination they'll Ivave to turn out mpre' and 'better piclures, the exhibs asseirt. 'Better shdw«\anship'. and'' harder .Work. on the exhibs' part: are, not the solution, .■according toe^hese exhibs.^ 1^ launch Own -■ Holly wood. Aug. 6, . Paodro Berman .has been:assigned by- Metro 'to: prpduc« 'How. to det Tough About It,' based on Robert Avdriey'g; stage play of three seaspns ago, bought last year. John Higgiris is scriptihg.: / Ardrey is how uhder cphtract at C'miral Of ifice to Yieep Tabs on %^f^^^ Distributors . , -^MeAntime Warners. R^^ ; V turiis to Ross, F eid er a l ■■■ ■■SeryicoV-' . , ' ■ ; . Hollywood, Aug;'(|. , ■ .Fine. 'Ai'ts. /organization has btien reduced to a skeleton 'Staff while -prexy ; Frariklyn; Waririer is in theht>siSital • recuperating from an ippendectpthjr.J; SOimtiel Berkp- Witz, y.p. arid- executive ihaiiager, and 'Doc' Merman, production man- agerir have jbinied the riewly- incor- porated Forum- : .Filnis, , and„, \Dick Pearl, studio manager/ is interested In a new compiany to, produce west- . .: Employes have ijeeh placed n a day-to-day basis. Future of the .cdmijaiiy will be decided by Warner when he emergieV from the hospital. Berkowiti is piresident and general' rnanager of the hew Forum outfit; 'Me.i,'niaa , productibh , manager; . Je.-5s€ .T. CilbeH (Jeisse J.i Goldbei'g), . v.p. and associate producer; Samuel Nathahsonj v.p. and. gener'a'r sales managei^ Louis. Rutstein. treasui^^^ • arid chairman of the board, and John Fisher, secretary, and cpmiptroiler.- . Company plans to produce educa-' "tional films in Colbr fOr^ release in aclioois and churches, There are 15.000 schools and 3,000; bhurches in .the U. S. equipped for talker prbj ec- . Admission, prices 'fP'r ::2dth-Fp)c's; high-budget...; picture;. ' .'B. r .i;gh a m. Young,' Awiil be raised 2^.% for. "mati- nees and 33 % at iijght' inyaU first>ruh theatre;?,. ' Tiicvease ,was ariinpuncied hy Herman: Wobber aftei^ completing .arrangements. :for • the Ipur-.theatre world preein ,Aug. 23 in. Salt Lake ■city.^- :.:':''C:' ,/>'';-yv; : . Picture .will be... unveiled ■ siiriul- ^ tariepusly- jst the Ceritre;.Parampuht. j .Utah and C'api.tb 1,: providing 6.000 | spats- .^at $2.50.; "The. film goes into j naiiohal.relfeaise -.the ■next- day -at the; ' upped prices. ■ ' ■] • S.ales policy was. set ,by Wobber. fplipwihg:. confabs with: Joseph''M. ! Schehck. . ■■• v'Booni'' TownV.AUo.-.. :. First of pre-relea.se engagements at increased adrriissipn prices on 'Boom Town,': a 1940-41 picture,; begin to- morrpw (Thurs.). Metro is .gettiiig 30% -increases over the set scale biit with a stop at 75c in any case .where such a ^percentage of increase: gpe,s abovethat figure, rinitiiaii dates, at the .upped- admish; include. Atlantic City,. : Tnlsa. Los Angeles, Harris- buirg, Asbury Park, N, J., Lexington,; Ky.. New /Orleans. Saratoga iSpfings, Indvanapplii, CiHcinhati. Lake Placid, CJiehs Falls and Oklahoma City.. . Speciai exploitatioh . -men have been . assigned by Bill F^rgilsOn .ip handle , the increased adnriish pi'e- release playdat V : vEflwa;rds'.';ShIffa-;• ■■/;-■■: Sol Edwards, sales; manager. ;o^ .Fraiiklyn-VWarner's Fine Arts Pro- duditig Sc pistributing Corp., has re- signed .to ;takie . a; sirtiilaf post./, with Film Alliance, iormed about a: yeat ■go . by Harry. Brandt, Nat, Wachs- berger and the: Trarjs-Lux. Corp;; to distribiite foreign .pix in-this coun< ■try..'.- ■ , , \; Edwards wis with Fine; Afts Irorn the tihre of its' prgartization last Jan. 5 .until July 31 and set up. a coili- plete - states-rights exchange system for it. . Warner, was supposed to turn t)Ut prpduct for the outfit,; but ha.s made nothing to date. ' /Fine Arii^ has existed oh s^^^^^ old -features gar- ner made; arid salvaged from GN when that cbrnpany: went bankrupt in December. \;\ - At Film Alliance Edwards lakes over the .iob held by Norman Elson, wh.p. in, the future; will handle the western territpry; only,- . Latter hSs ; announced; 25 TEhgiish^^made pictures^ for 1940-41, / five being ' :shippcd/ to exchanges'this wtielc.. 20(h Exect' Huddle . /Hollywood, Aug. 6. Herman Wobber, / Charles-: Mc- ' Cartiiy and Rodney Bush got here la.st week for confabs: with 20th-Fox/- Coast execs on bally and sales cam- I paigns for/ 'Brigham Young,- 'Great Profile,' 'Return of Frank James' and •Down Argentine Way.' • ' Huddles; will continue until Fri-, day (9), when Wobber will start swing around . the exchanges^ ;a"d Bush heads back to New York, Mc- Carthy flew back Monday (5,). [ E. W HAMMONS PLANS ; leshin Quits Par Job, Turns Indie Earle^W; HariVmOns forme.r.pr^^^^ of. Ed uca tioual .arid : Grand National '. re - turned . Monday. (5) to New, York frorii two/week^; pa the/Coastt where , he soid he ;had;;been laying plans for .(snieririg .pi'ocluclion../ He is /figU^ /ies/pf three/pictures and has a writer currently' at work' oii the •s.<jript pf/,the'fir4l.-. He also confabbed with possible directors. . Hammons/ declai'ed he has; ■ tinade, np overtui-es yet' for dislribulion of the films. He'll return- to the X'oast in about'four weeks..- Hollywood, Aug. 6. -. Emanuel (Ed) Leshin has resigned .as assitUanl producti^iph m at Paraiiniourit to organize, his own pro- ducing §etup. lie has been with. Par on and off sihcie 1926. / ./ .. Leshin has acquired several. story properties and. ha!) been assured a inajor release if he lines up some top personalities to head his casts. . , DIETZ WEST AGAIN ^ } > ' Hollywood. Aug..:6.^ I Howard Die.tE arrived ftoril New. York .over the weekend to .re.s.urii.e.' studio huddle* on campaign's for j .Metro -product; .. • •. .• ./• j Ad-blurb chief-will remain until ; early September, when fie returns ■ eaii. / ■. .. ' 1 GYP ON THE RISE ? A central checking bureau./ urtder the control, of the distributors them- selves and set up for the exclusive purpose of checking percentage eii- gagements of.'pictures, .is repprted und:er.: cbhsideratioh. Whether such a proposal may/ get any.where . cannot be said in,the absence of details/cpri- cerhing repbrts but idea appears to be to organize along the lines of the Central Casting Corp. or the Copy- right Protection; BureaiJ. Central Casting was devised by. the producers fpr the handling of. extras exclysivfely/fbr film, while the CPB operates as an adjunct of the Motion Picture Producers Ac. Dis-. tributprs of America in connection/ with yiolatipn of copyright, bicycling of-film, and related matters. . Coincident with word tiiat an industry-oijerated. bureau for' the checking of percentage dates wias in the; w.ind, Warner Bros., /has.- re-.- turned to/Ross Federal Service. "The latter- organization, which was set up. more than: 10 / years ago when gypping under percentage by the ex- hibitor .became /prevalent, resumed checking ior Warners Monday (5).; It checks for all other majors ex- cepting Metro, which/ has its own field force on the job. . WB and Metro ■ were': originally with. Ross but pulled away in favor of maintaining' their own checking and/ crewsi The Ross company was organized by Harry Ross, for years a. ^distribution executive for Para- mount, solely for the puj-ppSe of pro- viding a; checking service foi* pic- lure jcoriipanies. Since then, how- ever, it has branPhed out, one of its; principal fields being marketing, re- search. It also checks sporting events.. '. / ■ ..' ; At . Ross :/ Federal, which .might stand; to face a blow in the event the di.stribs set up their own checking bureau, .no word/ was knpwh con- cerning such plans. It was said that checking on percentage pictures fluctuates so much that it would be nece.ssary to go through lot of books in order to determine whether the distributpr^ had been checking fewer, playdates or not during the past year. Admitted, however, that in view of economies the picture companies have been trying to ef- feet.. the.y have probably gone down the line thrpugh .checking. WB Move tor Ecohpiny At Warners it was .said- that re- sumption Pf checking by Ross, wash- ing up their own; forces on that work, was partly with a view tp economy. It was indicated, however, .that, -by . dpihg' its/pwn checl;ihg/-:fo^ a number of years, much valuable .expeHence concerning the pi-oblem has been attained. A.s here and in other tipm.panies checking ■ the ex- hibitor /who icannot; be / ■depended upon, fpr honest gross fi.^u.res. is si ill regarded as a tough problem/ .Warn- er.s fpund'olit-that its owri-checkers, were often offered br.ibps by ■the/dis- .horie.st/cxhib, sometimes in/sizeable ajriounf.s. ■ ■../; .. ■ /'.'-^'/'-/ / Htmdreds.' pf tricks are Iri.^d by the,r;;hib seoking to cheat.the dis'trib' rtn. latter's ishare In percentage en- -gageriient.''.. A; favoHte stunt ' is tak- ing the checker to dinner or out for sorrie d i'i nk.s and switch, ti ck e.t . ro I Is while he's. away; r■ Ah / indusi vy spokesman, very famitiai" with the ■ checkin.3 . situation, /vouchsafed; that .there wovild ailways be a..;r'ertain amount pf. chiseling; airid.; fixiii)4; by exhib.s .who;- arc;, not alv/ays on tli.e square. . //Din-irig the past year or two, due to the. cost of checkihg, d^tributoi-.s have relnxed/ considerably and, it is believied. haven't been keeping as (Continued on page W) // Fineman Back it M-G \: ■: .' Hollywood, Aug. 6, B. P. Fin^mah has joined Metro as a. .producer, He was last : With the studio seven yeairs ago. Since then he has been With i*ara- mount and RKO. • / '' / , V .Pittsburgh,. Aiig. 6. ; Exhibitois here/ want producers, io put the/ clamps/ down oft. re-makes and they're .go||ng.;to..serve. notice/ to that effect on Holly.wood.,/;Most, of the re-makes, which are : becoming increasingly , frequent,^ .havei / been 'boxoffice poison,' according to the exhib-s,: Once in a while there's.an exception, -like' 'New "Moon,'/ ior . ex- ample,/but for the most pai"t the. re- makes die miserably, it!s declared. . Reissues al.so are iii disfavor with the 'exhibs. .Like the re-makes, they haven't been delivering lately, ac- cording to the theatre owners.. The change has bcctirred during the past yeir, it; seems. Prior to that, an lOccasipnal: reissue • would click in a big way. ' But. say the exhibs, the distributors killed the goose that laid the. golden .egg by coming along with too;many of them and the pub- lic became soured. Griffith Quits 20th Production Berth As Robert Kane Moves In Hollywood, Aug. 6. Shift in the: associat* producer setup at 20th-Fpx moves; Raymond Griffith out arid Rotiiert Kanie Griffith, who had held the berth for five years; checked out foir, a New York vacatidn, leaving his* last as- .sighment, 'The Californian,' to be fin- ished under the personal supervision of Darryl F. Zanuck. Kane, formerly in charge of 20th production in Englahd, assumed pro-, ducership of the Jane Withers pic- tlire, 'A Very Young. Lady.' He has been in Hollywood since the. war slowed picture making in London several n.onths ago.- Tar-re;aching. deci.sioris^ will.- probably riiean the end of Selznick- Interriatipnai Pictured werie rriade at an alUday meeting pf the board pf directors in -.Ne'v/ York yesterday (Tuesday)/ • Blanket 6f secrecy ■thrown .oyer the confab and efforts 6£ /David O. Selznick to evade re« porters' questions strerigthened the belief in many quarters that the long contemplated step .was. officially taken. Selznick, Jt " understood, will bbtairi ; financing imdeir a new. ;setup. in . which John Hay (Jock) Whitney will take rip part. ; • .., .Attending/ the .sqssLph to. decidie .o'n. the future of ..the. compariy : were Whitney, : wJio. presided;: :S'elzmpk: . his T>rother, : Myrpri;.'.. Lloyd • Wright and ... Robert// Lehman. After - the ' hieeting ' all refused/ tp discuss wl.iat decisions • had been rriade. Selz- . nick sent out a. statement tb /wait/irig reportei's' that it was merely a 'rou- ,. tine' . meeting, .refusing to arikwer questions beyond that, although after . such confabs' usually he is'/available■ to -the preiss. : Further hint that the session was of more than routine .nature was 'itii length, and an indication given by Myron. Selzriick during a halt for luncheon. Myron, who had. flowh in frpni the Coast for the confab, ad- mitted irifipbttant findings were ini the works, but said h.e would prefer to have David answer all queries as to what they were. ..•■•/■,,/•'.■ Ever since he wound up 'Rebecca* and came east s6me . three months ago, Selzriick hais been gcing over taxatipii figures . sinU. other financial matters leading up ;t6 yesterday's board; meeting. It was evident from the first that, he had no immediate plans for production and. was merely stalling while the' foreign situation : siriimered and the principal stock- holders, including Whitney; financial angel of the outfit, made up their minds as to what to do. ./ With .two highly successful pic- ture«i in one year, 'Gone with the. ^yind' and 'Rebecca,' taxation was one of the prime problems faced by . the company and.jts owners, . It is at least, partially, in .^h effort tp get around this, that any steps toward' dissolution will be taken. / No. 2 reason for abandonment pf S-I, it is understood, is a feeling by Whitney that hpw i.s the time to get out. Company has been in business for five years. First four of those saw . nothing better than an even break investments, and in seme cases a dead loss, "rhere were suc- cessful pictures, but overhead was so high it ate into the profit. Fifth year, howiever, was the big coin pro- ducer, putting Whitney ■ and the others ahead of the ganie./ . Whitney's idea now, it is believed, is that he's had enough and he'll quit while he is in the lead, In additipri, Selznick is, no\V in a soft position to obtain other ./inancinjj. no longer having any need of Whitney. PEHIJOHN'S HUDDLE ON COAST WITH HAYS . Charle.s Petti.ibhn,;/ chief : Cpunsel for the Motion Picture Producers 8i Distrib.uior.s, trained, for the Coast. Fi-iday. (.2) osleri.<5jbly for a vacation. However, several huddles,,.with. Will Plays, president of.; MPPDAV ,on in-. duf:ti^/;maii<;rs-are,iike'iy; . ./ ' //' / Hays went to the Coast about twp weeks. /?^o -pri hi.«. annual .summe^r trip, to Hollywppd and probably will not return until September. 4 Netter's Swing Of Par's Dixie Paris , - Leon .- Ncftt^r,.: Paramount theatre departrrient executive, left yesterday (Tues..') for Asheyille, N. C. and At- lanta to confer with various south- ern partners of the company.. . He will huddle with Carl Bamford at; A.sheville, arid Bob Wilby. Ar- thur Lucas, Bill JehkinS, S. A.; Lynch and E. J./ Sparks at Atlanta, return- ing to the Par h.6. in a. week./ Hays Addresses. Prods. ;'':- Hollywood, Aug.' 6. - Will H..Hays last night (Mon.) ad- dressed a meeting of the Motion Picture Producers./ .Asspciatipn, on fllm biz home and abroad/ , There was also a discussipn of routine labor matters. . ■.- RKO Reopening 8 '.. By the end of this morith RKO will; have reppe'ned'.the .hpUse.s which wera clo-ied dgwri foi;- the ,summcr.. :;. The Palace, C'hicano; the fi.isl:io be re-lighted Thursday (11, .will be fol- lowed by the Orr»heum. .Kansa.s City, and the RKO Shubcrt,' Cihcinnati, Aug,. 15; Colonial, DaytPh, Aug; 16; Albee. Providence, Aug. 29: RKO Grand, Cinri.imati;/Strand, Syracuse, j and Grand, .C.''6lumbus, /Aug-;.30, .' ' -