Variety (Aug 1940)

22 PICTURES WedneHdayt August 28; 194Q Consent Okayed : CbnUiiued from page 7p Hollywood/Aug. :27; -- The,,American Federation of Labol: Is waging-, a ..'deteririined fight, ; air though: much of it is under. cover, for control of 2,5!00 studio white col- lai; wprke^rs. Agreements for: con- sent elections at 20th-Fox, RKO and HarRoach were upset when the AFL appeared before the National Labor ; Relatiohs Boiard arid filed an interr yenor • to ■ the petition ! of ■ .Screen Office Employes Guild; The AFL . immediately " followed this move by ■ filing a petition clsim- IhgV jurisdictipn-: over studio casting direbtors. and assistants,; exclusive; of those: having authority to . hire, and ifir^; - A^^^^ interriar tipnal repriesentativ.e, advised W Spreckels, NLEB regional director, . that Ve. - wili,.i^^^ another one as' eobh as this is put of the .way;' . Thie SDEG, /with a membership of approximately. 1,800^ tided; majority oii. most major lotis, lis seeking, designation as coilective bargaining :..repress for the clerical. employes. Hearings before' the NLRB; started several days ago; .but were reciessed until this; week to detiermine whether the producers and the SQEG; could sigriee on proper ' bargaiiiiijg units ; at ■{ thie various '^etudiosi/ ' ■ . ■■ ■ SQEG; .Members.;-Airreste^ - A brief . clash .between' the "pro- ducers, and . the iSQEG occurred at; . Metro; when four members distribut- ing handbills' were.: arrested : by Culver City police after havihg been ofdiered by studio' employes to . dis^ persei ' Thfey ; were not - booked arid iwere released when theirL^tto.riiey appeared; and cited to police a, .deci- ^Bion pf the U; S, Supreme Court per- mitting such ; distributibri.. of; circu- lai's.-;;,.'V.', . . ■ Prexy Glenn Pratt, of the SOiEG, issued .the following; statement: \ 'It is evident ■ that. certaiin ■ ihdivid- uals*; who from . the start: have been disruptive element on that lot,, are trying to interfere with the SOEG's efforts ,to obtain toi the pff.ice! wPrkr Crs; the things they have beeen.' de^ nied in thfe past arid.-to which they are jightfully. eri(tittedj' : Threat of ian Ppen break .betweeri the..:prPducers. and :the: Screen Writpi-s Guild apparently has been; averted by an agreement of filrri executives to . continue hegptiatioris on a basic iminimum agreement. Foilo\ying a 'imeetirig between the SWG bargain- . ing committee . headed ■ by Pr.exy Sheridan : Gibhey, and .i group of producer representatives headed by prexy Y; Frank Freeman of the Pro- diicers' Association,' Freeman issued the following stjatement: . : 'Committee representing thie Screen ■Writers Guild met: with a cprnmittee representirig the producers.v Further discussions were held concerning the proposed:; agreement between the producers and the SWG.. No fiinal agreements were reached, but prog- res.s Mwas made, and a further meeting •will be held at ah early date.' - ; Davis Headsi SAG Coiincl] ' It wae. disclosed that the producers are trying to push over, a cPmpro mise oh certain points in the pro^ posed six month contract on which; a . tentative ; agreement : Was an- nounced some \ time ago.; Company executives have ; asked :that junior "writers and uriemployed Writers or those on layoiff.-be exemipt .from the 80% Giiild .shop, demanded . by ' the iBcrlvener.s. The SWG turned thumbs doWn bri the cpunter-prpporah tak- ing, the position that a fllrii. writer, is a, writer, regardless pit; whether he is ■periipr;or.a-junior^. X. Bob 'Alabama' bavis; has . beeri: elected chalrnr\an, of, the Scre(^n-. Ac- tors Guiid Council, ;He vsucceieds Ijjfirry Steers, who failed .of reelect . tiph: and. who also was defeated when: he tried to. land the ..pflice Pf yice- ". chairtnan., Harry :Mayp,: a new mem- ber of the; Council, was elected vice- Kostdanebc Sk^^ T^ . ,-Hollywood! Aug. 2.7; :; Andre KPsteTanetz: has beeri isigned. by George Pal to; handle the musical direction,. arrangernents arid scoring for the;flrst pf the Pal Piippetporis to be rciadC; for :Paraniipupt releaseV . Initialer, Whifeh wiil have a' west- ern background, is still untitledi > in elected secretary A delegation frpin . Chanter; of the Americari Federation of Radio ~ Artistsf ." planes . tonight (Tuesday ) for;: the national AFRA coriventlbn : in Denver. Those , in party; include Laurerice, W,. Beilen- spn,: Al^RA Gpurisel; I. A," Korntlurii,: ; executive secretary;; Fred MacKaye, Ted pliss. Georgia Fifield. J.. Dpnald Wilson, William Brandt; 'Tr.ue Bbard- mah. Nbrhian Field, YnPz Seabtiry;, liUcile; LaPoint. Deal has been , okayed. :between Universal and menibers of its a^verT' tJsing artists. Workers, who are nOw, ANew Idw jii Helps the p. • Mirineappiisi; ■:Aug;:.27.:;; ' ;Twin City houses; are solvin^^^ problem Of hPW to get pustPmers i^ their balconies by . permitting .smok- ing in tha1»»:£iectiori of the ' housei TliOse that have inaugurated this :fear ture report that- the balcPny ■ is hpw the most ^ppular. part of their thea- tres^.^nd fills up firjst. ;; : While. cOmnion ' in :/many: cities, sii^oking in filhi houses is. relatively a new depiarturp here,; The WOrld,' IpOpi. sure-seater, started the' 'ihnb- vatipii'. by permittirig smoking in thie balcony ..ariid lbges for ' which; if charged a- higher admission. ' The St - Lpuis Park,: de luxe indie nabe house bperied nearly two yeiars ago,"was the first uptown and subur- ban: theatre tp allpw-vSrtioking. It charges-a,38!c adiiriission for the bal- cony, as compared to 33c dpwhstairs, sriipking. .being permitted ;bnly up- stairs.. '.;v"..: ■;■.•:;,.-,;•. When Paramount rebuilt and rei opened tiie Uptown here it set aside the ;balcony;fPr. smokers. Bill Elson Ts allowing smoking in the balcony of this Palace >yhich he just re^ opened, . '■ in's Lyrin Farriol, United Artists pub- ad chief; planed for the Coast last night (Tuesday) to confab With Charles Chaplin on final ;Staiges of the. campiaign on .'The Great DictaV tbrVpfipr to its release; ; Fafnbl will be west abpiit; a; week. Murray Sil- verstohe; UA ;^ he;ad, . Harry Gold, eastern sales .manager, and. Jack Schlaifer, w:estern .s.m;, will fly put to huddle with eha:plin'on exhibition piplicy as soon as he is flnished scOrr ing and cutting thli film, it's ex- pected .-that liiay. be the end of this week.-; Plan; ainnbunced" by SilyerstOrie a couple of. weeks >iagb of having . Al Margblies, publicity.head Monrpe :Greenthal, explpitatiPn director, arid other execs also fly oUt for chinning with ■ Chaplin has appiarehtly- been abandoned. v ^ affiliated with the Moving ; Picture Painters Local 644,' will get a pay hike to;>$i;55 per hour,;the current Painters' scale. They had been aver- aging 85c per hour.- ..:;,. ;;; . Art; Directors Renew Drlye •The Art birectprs . Guild; is plan- ing tarenew^ ;its drive; fbr a; basic a^eemeht with the prbducers. The Guild has erriplpyed attorney; Leon- ard S; Jaiipifsky» and shortly; will 'fi new demands with producer reprcr sentativesl; First attempt;to negoti- ate; a: deal felL through -when the; artists insisted bn a minimum, wage of $300, weekj and later efforts tp rie- gbtiate a :cbntract withbut a mini inum-scale ;also iell thrbugh. Studio title writers are now draft accepted, and , passed to, Washington for final apprbvall the iclause reads: 'If on June 1.,. 1942, no final decree shall ; have; been; entered herein ire- quirin'g; each of the detehdants, United Artists, Universal and Co- "^luinbia to trade; show their features and ;tb license them in groups fpf exhibition,. Sections.-1 aiid .'2 of, this' ;decree shall be .inPjperatJve .'ahd of no i)lridirig force and effect upbii; ahy Pf the; defendants ;conseritirig to this de- cree, .'as to feature clause, after . Aug. 3i,:J942.\::' ^i'^r,. .;■ -'■.■. ; v'lf prribr to-Junje IV I?42, . siich a' decree: shall . have, been entered against ^ United Artists^.; ' Universal; a.nd Columbia, any: defendant. cpn- seritirig • to this decree shall ;upon! its election ; be reUeved frbm^' f cpnipiiahce with Sectibns 1 and 2 of this; decree, upon complying with all provisions in such decree requiring United: ^.Artists,; Universal and; Co- lumbia ;to; trade, show their features .and to license them for exhibition in groupis, ari.d an prder br supplen™ decree to that effedt shaill beientered herein upPn ;ti>e appiicatipn:.pf the. deferidant br defendaritis sp eiecting: Such election may be made at any time- after the entry;, of such ^a de-. cree against United Artists, Univer- sal and Columbia.' ; •Escape-; Giai^^ Effed Jiihe 1, 1^42 ; Under, vthb:; termis of the; 'escape' clause, the companies';wiU be; fr.ee .to return., to blockbbpking;: pri. June 1942, prpyided ;the G.overriment by that time. has; not obtained, through consent, decreiBi or ;cburt order after trial, ^ a . regulation ; enforcing opeh b. ppking bri Columbi^ Universal jand United Artists, in the same manner as accepted by ;the: five other major companies. :: It is known that film company- at- torneys <are well pleased; with the .'escape' provision which passes to the Goverhmerit the obligation of persuading the aidariiant companies or the courts to accept industry uni- fication ;of sales methods; Threatened Withdrawal; of 20th-Fox and Para- mount from the.; consent decree con- ferences unless the qualifying clause was -made a; part of the; agreement, preceded the final; session of cpn- ferees. ' Next to the uniform sales plan in blocks riot; exceeding five pictures jn each group, the chief - remedial pro- visions; " the consent decree are those providing for the Varbitratiori: of- disputes between competing thear tres 'arid between . theatres and film exchange^..; .:; There remains many details tb be develpiped in connection; with arbi- tration and a ispeciail committee, con- sisting; of Robert; Scher. of the anti^ .trust division, Austirt Keough. Para- mount, Joseph • H. Hazen,; Warner Bros.,- arid. John F. Caskey, 20th-Fox, is; drafting ;the procedure folio conferences with ; the American Arbitration Society. ; Neutral arbitrators from the so- ciety's lists in 3.3 excharige cities will be used to pass on complaints. Cer- tain types of: cases will be appealable tp a national appeals board which will rhaintain offices in Washington. With the' exception of the memo- randum covering the . Govern riient'.s program to proceed ..against . Colum-- bia, Uriiversal . and United Artists, there wa.s no further modification of any language in the proposed terms of ;settlement .as issued on Aug. .3. "This Was captioned, 'Tentative Draft Of Proposals,' and- cbnsisted of 16 typewritten pages coyering all the points in dispute and the remedies provided. ■ ' .■ :- ; Job of recasting the agreement into legal phraseolog.y and/ in the ■form; of a court order for Judge Goddard's approval will . occupy milch of thg J:ime uritil;court resumes, on Oct.': 4, . Judge; Goddard, now on ya.catipri, ;.<aid he was avanabie prior to the pctober date if- needed. Chances are, according to attorney.^, that his- hiatus will riot be disturbed. Nab 3 Theatre Thugs, Recover $300 of $528 ;' ■; . Sheboygan, Wis., Aug. ^ .27." '; .A .hbidup .'by apppiritment,'; which resulted in the theft of $528 Irorii the MiajeStic (Fpx) at • noon Monday (19), saw $300 pf; the loot recovered; by Thursday and three .youthful per- petrators 6f; the • crime behind the bars. Leo ;;Schuessler, rnanager of. the .house, got a phone call; from a pse.udb patron : who. wanted to see him about a: watch he - claimed to have: lost in the; theatre. An ap- pointment . was made for ; 11:30. Shprtly befbre ttiat hour an ap- parently lone bandit Ibcked the jarii: tor, Gust Jaehnke, in a small base- riierit room after tying arid taping him up.; When the mariager arrived at his office the: holdup man forced him at the point of a gun to open the safe' arid 'hand over its contents •Just then two Milwaukee men, LOuis Smaniatti arid Raymond Gonzales arrived in the theatre fo service candy machines, so the bandit.Ipcked thenri -and the manager up with the janitor, sped to a waiting car-and apparently escaped, v Police quickly got on the trail and arrested John Zuzek in Milwaukee, finding $300 in his; rooiri, then ori his- tipoff went to •' Muskegon, Mich., where they ; arrested ; Joseph; arid Llpyd Liawrence. First named mah is charged with; assault and robbery, the other two as accessories-for driv ing the ;car in; which the'escape was made. -■. ' -^ .. -..;; ' Foil Detroit Stickups . ' / ' ■■} Detroit, Aug. 27; Police caught three burglars in the Alger theatre here, • but it: cpst the house a new froftt door. Patrolmari Matthew Yore had to kick it out to attract attention after he had coWed the; trio in a-battle inside. He got them just as they were about to haul away the unopened safe . with the Weekend receipts. They had picked up; 18 rolls of pen- nies not tucked inside. irig deriiands for; submissibn to the chairman, arid Adabelle Driver re-« kprodiicers. Writers will ask for a ■Rye-djay week of 40 hours, .with a substantial increase in; pay. The writers have withdrawn from the Sbciety :pf Motion Picture Artists arid Illustrators arid affiliated With the Mov.ing picture Painters'Local 644. . ■■■'..i.'.y- More than 600 studio utility work- ers turned out for the first meeting of Studio Utility. Employees Local 724 since 1937. L. C. Helm, business representative; Joseph Marshall, vice- prexy, and Albert Smith, interna- tibnai representative, spoke., It was announced that in the future regu- lar monthly meetings, will be held. FIYNN DEAWS 'FOOTSTEPS' ; ■ Hbllywood, Aug. 27. ; . Errpl Flyriri will, be .starred by Warners in 'Footsteps in the Dark/ which for tWp years has been on and off-the studio's sked as a vehicle for Edward G. Robinspri. Lester Cole and Johri Wexley have cbmpieted the script •; > . leiBser Preps 'Victory' Hollywpod, Aug. 27. Rose Franken and William Brown Melbney checked in at the Samuel ; (joidwyn studio to screenplay their pwri novel, tStrarige Victory,' for production by Sol Lesser. Picture, starring Martha Scott, Will be released through United Artists; . i Folly, B*klyn, May Exam Randforce in Trust Suit : Louis Frisch and Samuel Riflzler, officials of ftandfbrce -Arriusement Corp.,- must be examined before trial in connection with; the Foiley; Amus. Holding Cprp.'s suit against them arid others, but the . scope. of the iexiamiriation may be limited. N. Y. federal Judge Murray Hulbert de- cided on application of the defend- ants Wed.. (21) that :the examina- tion iriay not be limited, as to acts relating to conspiracy, but that only those books and ..records. Which are relative to the action need be pro- duced; It was also decided that the. price paid for product -to the majors by Randforcie was admissible as evidence, with Randforce given the right at the examination tP object to• specific questions. Plaintiff operated, the Folly, thea- tre, Brooklyn, .and claims that as a result pf discriminatory acts on the part of the defendants it was forced out of business. Triple damages of, $750,000 are sbnght. Other defend- ants are all the major film com- panies, plus Monogram arid Repubi lie. .:,':-. -V: Tim Holt Takes Road Hbllywbod; Aug. 27. Tim Holt,, RKO's riew sagebrusher star, is to; be sent on a tour bf key cities to contact exhiba ; 'Wagon Train,', initialer in the. series.. . He leaves here as soon as he Com- pleted his second, 'Fargo Kid,' which will, be in about 10 days. SHORES DIRECTS 'HOOF^' : ; Hollywoodi Aug. 27; '- ■• Lynri shores gets his second break as: a director on 20th-Fox's 'Golden Hpbfs.' He' recently finished ;piiot- ing the locatibn unit for the Jane Withers starrer at Stockton, and now takes oyer the first division. ; Shores, made his debut as a di- rector pn 'Charlie Chan in a Wax Museum.' Claiming close to 250 flttembers, the eastern Screen Publicists Guild is making its first seri(^us move toward forcing recognition by the film com- pany hpmie offices. Each major re- ceived a letter Irpm .the SPG hptify- ing them of its Intentions and seeking conferences tb bperii negotiations for discussion of a contract. The film companies took the letters under advisement and immediately began a check pf their: puDiiclty-advertls- ing departments with ,a view to determining Who among their em- ployees are; members bf the SPG. . Meantime, ,it is reported Para- mpunt, 20th-Fox arid Warner Bros, have asked the SPG for more specific information concerning the Guild, demands, etc, ;-- A five-year contract is the asserted gbal^ With provisions to bbver seyer- ance liay. Three different classifica- tions among publicity workers is ex- pected to be demanded. They Will be apprentice publicists, junior pub- licity workers and those in the senior class,. With; years of service also cpri- cemed. Basis for negotiations are said to he $45 minimum for an apprentice the first.year, $50 the second year of service and, .1^55 the third., Juniors Will range similarly on years of serv- ice frpm $60 to $70i while ininimum claimed sought for senior publicists will be $125. . The executive committee of SPG, ^uriibering Ave active publicists, will wash Up Dec. 31, at which time an election by the membership will be held to fill all bffices for the coming year.. ;. • - A coristitution has been drafted and an executive council set up to organize the eastern publicists and artists. The New York SPG was initially known as the Screen Pub- hcists & Advertising Gu*Jd, b ut since- it was voted to affiliate With the- Coast SPG,: the name of the union Was changed to coriform with the western . organizatiPn. Workers In the art departments of the home offices and agencies are in the east- ern iinion, however. V Letters tp the film company h.o.'s were signed in behalf of the Guild by Hyman Glickstein of the law firm of Bpudin. Cohn & Glickstein: He rep- resents other union activity, is said to be active in the American Labor Party, and has handled niuiierous labor cases. - :■; ■ -■.•; - More definite demands for bar- gaining are expected to be made by the SPG following huddles on the' Coait. Two delegates went west for discussions with " Coast SPG, pfficials concerning affiliation and the fprmation of a. national SPG, with local units to be set up in vari- ous parts pf the couritry. CIO Anrle ' It is reported that the eastern SPG is leaning in the direction of the CIO and that a national publicLsls* organization might land in that labor camp. Joe Gauld, who Is with United Artists at the h.o., is: president of the SPG in the east. He stated that it was impossible to give an answer at this time to reports concerning the CIO and that , nothing could be de- tailed, now as to a basis ior collec- tive bargaining with the film con- . cerns, Gould is attached to the ress book department at UA: Could was accompanied West by Dave Chassin, member of the art department of Warner Bros. h.o. ' They are scheduled to return east next Monday (2); - ■ - - . Following agreement of the SPG -.. east and west to affiliate, Gould and Chassin went to Hollywood to dis- cuss setting up plans for the draft-, irig of a single constitution and by- laws to govern both guilds, among pther; things. •.' . It is probable that a meeting of both guilds will be held : shortly, - probably somewhere in the middle west for the: purppse-of finally riati- . tying the amalgamation of the two unions irito a national unit, It is claimed by sburces.- that the SPG in the ieast has the best reprC- serttatipn ambrig publicists' ' and artists in RKO and 20th-Fox. Strbrig membership units, are also declared to exist among Warner, UA and Columbia workers, wh ile . Metro is. next tP last arid P'arambunt is at the bottom sb far as SPG members ' its employ are concerned. Guild has members in. Monogram, but none with Republic.