Variety (Sep 1940)

Wednesday, September 4, 1940 PlCtUAES farbiers; Sdz&k W(tf t J(^^ More than $1,000,000 was voted to tl\e stockhbldtrs oi Selznick-Interria- tioitail last week as tiie first dividend resuitinfii from th decision to disf solve the company. Part of the huge surri will be sent out in CMh ;and the rest in technicolor 6t<>ck^ Further payments Vvill he ihade during the next couple of yiefars.; ; Dividend, it was learned, canie :as pure gfavyi to the stockholders^ who. Kiftr to ii, had a lready received badk their entire; investrhenl^ pliis interest of 24% over a . four-year period. Exact amount ot last week's dividend has not yet beeii ascertained beyond the fact that it Will be between il.OOO.pqSO and $l,50tb,000r depending oil certain assets available; Creneral imt)ressipn in.the industry that Selznick-International is having it.V ffrst financially successful year currently, 'as iresult of the huge profits on v'Rehecca' and 'Gone with the Wind,' is false, acQordinjg to an authoritative source;. Company made money oh 'Little Lord -Fpiintleroy,' 'Pi isbtiei; 'of , Zenda'; iand 'A i.Stai* Is Born.' In fact, each'of thiem> netted Impre than' 'Rebecca,'; due- to the present fPreigri, situation. S-I goit en even break out bf- 'Tpm Sfawyer' and 'Nothing Sacred,v it was said, while red-inkers during the tompany's his-.^ tor.y were 'intermezzo' and 'Garden o£:AUah. Not, billy Whitney's Idea ' Source close to David :0.. Selzhick declared ■ the 'prbducer; resents , the general ihipressiph that Sri was dis- soi ved only because John Hay Whit- ney, chief backer, wanted toi get piit^ Actually, ' it is said, Selznick hihisielf felt .that \yith the, present; f^^^^ situation there was no point in going ahead and jeopardizing a successful investment. He recommended and was as rn uch, responsible; as 'Whitney fpr^he dissolution;- . Seizhii?k, it was said, foresaw the drop in foreign markets'and. the dissolutipin more thah B' year ago.. Among other things, he prepared for it by refusing ,to reniew his .studi6 lease and shedding all possible, com-; ■ litnients. Producer, it was, stated; has ho plans whatsoever for jpihing Metro pi" any. other company wheh his two- picture cpmmiilmeht lo United Ar- tists is fllled:, He has had three offers from majors to back him in prpduc- tibn, but has giveri them ho consid- eration as yet; .feeling' that Wprld conditions are too uncertain to plan beyond the two UA pix, which .will keep him busy until next summer, at least. . Mono Takes Extra Space To (Kfeet N. Y. yiax ; Hollywood, Sept, 3: Shift Of' Nionpgram's home offices from r^ew York to Hollywood re- sulted, in an overflow 6^1 the Talis- mah lot and caused the company to take over the greater part of the pmce and stage space at Ralph Like's : JJltexnatibnal. studio/^..: ; Moving from. 'Talisnian to Interna- tional ta make, room for the ex- ecutive staffs from the east are the. publicity department and Pete Frledr hoff's West Coast, treasury outfit. It will take about 90 days tp: nipve all . departments of- :the ; home: office across, the eouhtry.. - • . ' " . ' %ubHc's *Sis Hopkins' For Judy Republic :has pturchasedl' screen Mghts to >.'Sis ■ Hopkins^ •40-yeai:rold legiter; as, next vehicle for Judy Ca nova. It's u rider stood studio paid about $10,000 fpr the rights. Play, by Carroll, Fleming and Fdward A. Kidder, was first prbdticed in iOOO and was popular, in stbck and straw- hats for the next 30 years. At one titiie it was converted into ia musical ^ith the Buncah Sisters and, in 1919, Samuel, Goldwyh produced a: silent film version with Mabel Nbrmand starred. 'Sis' w jU {_ be: inbl uded - in the • 'de- luxe' or high-bracket production group by Rep, . \yhip and Qiiipi Hblly\<roPd, Sept. 3/• If the . ' chestnut: filly Bing. Crosby recently bought, at thaf Saratoga sale ^doesn't do any bet- ter than :the rest of the 'crponer's stable .he stands to take a brisk ribbing; firom: his pals, who. casipnaliy buy ' a- |2 8hPw ticket on his critters as a, sehtirnental gesture. ■ • ■; ■-" fiut he'is asking for it.. Equina has been' mphickered Madame La Zongia, after the lady whp ■gives. lessohs..' ■ ■ HpMywood, iSept. 3. Paraihbunt .will make shprts for slbt.-machin.es if theatre pariners ap- prove. Contracts were drawn three weeks ago but. signaturing held.; off until theatre r.eactiph pri competitive status of jukebox briefies.. . Discussions .l>etween.; Neil AgnieW of Par and Sam SaxVa^Kl Frank Or- satti of thonPVisibft 'ciail foir Para- mount to. furni.sh complete service through, shorts department at LiOng Isiand,: Ai-ound \65% . .bid musical shortsi would be remadiB on 18. mm and remainder - new product/ with music; especially prepared .fpi: the juke circuit; . Films would have three-minute running timie, ■ .Under iientati.ve arrangement Far- arhbunt gets cost; guarantee from films showh in Phonovision rnachines and cut of. prpfits. , Cbmpany receives no advance; for making, shprts, r ^ FIRST PAR 'SUPERMAN' SHORT READY BY XMAS • Negbtiations for. the production of Superman cartoon shorts were cbm- pleted by Paramount last week, films to be produced by Fleischer. Studios. Initial Superman short will be ready fbr release Christmas,. Harry, Dbnen- feld, president of Superman, Inc., and Russell Holman, head of Par's Short features department,'blosed the ;deal. Superman, bi-monthly mag, has 1,000,000 circulation. Superman is featured in the Action; Cpmic mag, which has a circulation of 870,000. McClure syndicate services 182 big city newspapers with the cartoon strip, while the Superman radio broadcast is rated a; leading airway serial. Ford Quits Pyramid, Brandt Goes It Alone Guild Trial Board Me^U for I b q ii iry I nto Tlireats Claimed by Philbrick — ' Jladical Change ill Han-. ; dlihg Extra Jobs to Be In- ''V.'augurated^ RECULATINGMrNORS^ Hollywood, Sept. 3. ' A determined drive to; eiimihate 'goon squads' and questionable char- acters from the extra ranks has been launched by Central Castihg-Corp. Charging that casting directors have been threatened with physical vio- lence, general manager Howard R. Philbrick appeared before the Screert. Actors Guild board of directors to. urge SAG cooperation. The Guilders at first took, the po- sition they were not concerned with outside quarrels <>f the^ir. members. They staited such quarrels were a matter for the police and district at- torney.. Later they reconsidered, de- cided such . tactics'might give cer- tain extras ah unfair advantage in the job market, and called a meeting of the-SAG trial board for tomor- ' fo\v (Wednesday) to investigate the Phiibrick charges. Mike Morelli, an efxtra . who is al- leged to •haye drawh a knife ,o.n a Central casUhg .director,, has been subpoenaed before the board: It is reported, that Jack Gordon, re- cently acquitted on a murder charge in Brooklyn, also will be questioned.. In the meantime, asserted mem- bers of the 'goon squad' are finding it difficult to get work,' They are re- ceiving no. calls thf'ough Central Casting, and are having to depend for work upon the jobs they are able : tp land themselves through friends in the industry; ■ '\ . In announcing a meeting of the SAG trial board, the directors issued the following statement: 'The Guild is not concerned offi- cially With . the private quarrels which .its members may have with other persons.; That is. ordinarily ■ a matter fbr" the district attorney . or the police; But the Guild is vitally concerned with an unfair. distribu-. tion of picture jobs which may be, occasioned by such tactics. The trial board will explore the facts of the case at its meeting Sept, 4 to find }f i these tactics .Would tend tb give an.j unfair advantage in the job market | to those practicing them.' j • The Producers, however, are none too well pleased with the recent publicity blurbs emanating from or revolving around Central Casting Corp, since Philbrick was installed as general manager. Already doing a burn over'a 20% arbitrary assess- ment in the cbst of maintaining Cen- tral, • the executives contend there Film Business Will Argue It's Not AUo; Customers Hollywobd, Septl 3. Metro is finally jgetting around' to ready Dale Carnegie's tome, 'Hpw to Win Friends and Influ- erice People,' for the' screen. -i, Jack Jevne has been assigned to write the adaptation. '. 'S Cards asking information as to 1940-41 product deals were sent to exhibs throughout the country by Allied States Association's informa- tion department in Philadelphia last week. Aim is 'to provide exhibitors with reliable information in regard to film rentals, terms and conditions in various parts of the country for use in buying films.' Exhibs are instructed not to sign their name or identify their theatre in ■ iBlling: .but the cards. Questions include general info about the' house, such as sbating capacity, adn>ission, run, population of town, circuit or indie, type of competish, single or double feature policy and total num- ber of pictures required per year froni all companies. Underneath that there is: a listing of each company with queries as tp riumber, Of features it offered, num- ber bought, number on flat rental, number on percentage and how many at each percentage, number percent- age features with guarantee, number percentage. features pn preferred time, cancellatipn provisions, com- parison of rentals with last year, per- centage bf film rental to gross re- cepits on last contract, nurnber of shorts bought and if forced and whether newsreels were bought, and if forced.' OPERATORS STRIKE VS. 4 IN PROV., CRANSTON Providence, Sept. 3. Motion picture machine operators at the Empire, Bijou, Park and Pal- ace theatres, Providence, and Crans- ton second run house.s, struck Sun- day (1) when the rrtanagemeht and Local. 223 of the lATSE failed to come tb an agreement oyer a con- tract tb . replace: :one that expired hks' ijb^ ^r7mi«^vemenrin'^th^.:^ Shows were picketed service to studios. They insist, that I ''"^ ^^'"5 business as usual .With calls: 40% less than last year. J the cost of maintaining V Central ' ; Hollywood, Sept. 3. . Split in the partnership of Pyra- mid Pictures resulted in- the With- drawal of Chai'les Ford, leaving jerry .Brandt in sole control of the production cprripiany. Breakup was the result of differences oyer .the story treatment of." 'Scattergbod Baines,' -^V-. o. ■ Pyramid has a releasing deal with RKO calling for three 'Scattergood' fesitures on the 1940-41 program. Ed- j ward T. Lowe has beeh signed to di- rect the first of the series. '. Carbl e-Mbntgomery Set Hollywood, Sei>t, 3. 'Mr. and Mrs. ■Smith,' cb-starring Carole Lonibard. and Robert Mont- gomery, rolled tbiday (Tues.) at RKO with Alfred Hitchcock directing; • Gene Raiymond Is assigned the top supporting role. . Question of a new. contract' de- pended return lb the operators of $3,515 which Herbert F. Slater, j business agent for" the IA and m.p. I operators (AFL) claims was deduct- j ed frbm the wages by the manage- I ment since in.stituling a 15% cut on jrFeb. 4. Slater declared the cut was . J . Y i • J X I a violation of contract , and that the ceived from racial types m order to is ipianning to institute suit to cut down the mcommg telephone calls . which now average 4,000 to 5,000 per hour, When jobs are avail- able ' for :the tacial types, they will be called directly instead of having should have gone, down proportion ately. Several changjes in the methods bf distributing jobs .Will be inaugurated by Philbrick this week. It has been announced that no calls will be re- to call in . for ■ work. :• Other extras will be given certain numbers to call, and when they attempt to get through on a different board. their call will be.ignored. : V ' ■ ; Discuss Mihpr'^ Jobs - H. C. Carrasco, State Labor Com- missipner, came here tb discuiis 'o:. Wisconsin's Satisfied : .Tanesville, Wis., Sept 3, ;■ . .'Ijet; well eiriough alone' was agreed upon as the coiThiihg season's policy at ■ the annual. con.Ventibn hefe of the ] Wisconsin State Association of Stage ; Employees and Projectionists. Rec ognizing that business generally in thi.i; territory is way below normal, the theatre workers decided against any. revision of wage scales or work methods of enripjoymcnt for. ini.np.rj?-"cbndilibns; which generally. will in the film industry. He. spent sev- ^ (,e allbwed to stand 'as is.' ' cral hours goin gover rules with : pontics came in for .soihe attention studio managers and casting dircc- the convention, arid it was agreed ,tors. Enforc.emcnt.of these rules .will ..to supp(?rt those candidates friendly be left to deputies, but Carresco to labor and to oppose those.whose (Continued oh page 20) , , . 1 activities were construed as adverse. With the excess profits tax legis- lation, a wartime measure designed to preyent war profiteering,, passed by the House Ways and Means Com- mittee and set to come before the Senate Finance Committee this week, several picture cpnr^anies. and the film business : » whole ready tp offer their objections tb, the pending bill. . Main thesis. for objections by film, corhpanies will be thit they will not benefit directly from the nation's airinament program . and that they aIready. have been affected by the national defense tax on theatre admissions at a time when they are : heavily hit. by declining foreign markets. Universal already has • filed ' formal objections and bthers are to! be given- a' chance, to explain their , objections before the Senate cpmmittee. Sp far, the excess profits tax rheas-. ui^e\comiprises: two alternative ar- ' rangements Whet-eby the tax rnay be figured, but no clear picture will tie obtainable until the Senate and House committees get. together with their ideas. c. Just now. a picture company, has two methods of arriving at the aipount; to be paid. Film outfits' with small company capitalization doubtlessly Wilt ernploy .the capital basis for figuring. Thus the com- pany with only $9,500,000 invested capital^ represented by common and preferred shares and funded debt, might conceivably use this plan. The arrangement calls for 7% deduction of the first $500,000 of invested cap- ital or $35,000 exemption, arid 6% oil the next $9,000,000. or $540,000. mak- ' ing a total of $575,000 exempted from taxation under the proposed law. This does not alter the, 20.9% Fed- eral income tax scale levy. Then if excess profits were still found., they would be taxed at. scales varying from 20% to 30%. " However, there W'H. be many fllnv companies' which prefer the four- year earnings, base period method since ..few Will show earnings - ma- terially over the average-for the last four . years because foreign revenue decline will hit net profit for the current and ensuing years. With larger rnajoi: companies. which might show an- average of $12,000,000 per year net profit even a net profit of $12,500,000 for ; the present year would not add up too high, • Because it would mean the excess profits taxation would apply only on $500,000 and then at a grad- uated scale. Nb matter what scale.or basis for figuring ultimately decided on,. film cbmpanies will plead for ex- emption pr tempering of term's aa applicable to their operations be- cause they believe they^ have been. saddled wjith enough tax load al- ready and at a particularly bad. time. ' Their contention is that the added tax on. theatre tickets hits them and' they : already have to • pay Federal - income taxes, and an undistributed profits tax. U's 31MKeek Stajeme^^ Due Soon, Reported OK ; Universal earnings: statement for the 39 weeks ending .luly 29, this year, are due . but; v/ithih the next two weeks; Expected to show un- usually favorable net profit despite:, heavy weekly .wrlte-.pfi. for foreign losses. ' ' . ■■ ■ ;;, Regular rnioiithly ■ meeting of U board at directors, sc^ieduled for to- morrow • (Thur.sda'y;. may be post- poned until, lafcr in the month be- cause BO many executives': presently are on the Coast and■ may not re- turn in time for the scheduled meet- ing date. Postponed session maiy be timed .^p th^t earnings report will be released s 1 muItanepusly. with meeting. ' " ■ r ■ \ rr.v-. .TCt Si