Variety (Oct 1940)

A stockholder suit against. Univer- sal Pictures Corp. arid others flled in N. y. supreme tjourt, Friday (4), by Samuel I; Ppseh, director of Universal, and^ oWner of 100 shares of cornihbh and 50 of first preferred; Celia Braun, owner of 90 shares of preferred, and Esther Tdlmach, owner of 190 preferred. Other de- fendants in the actibri, which seeks an accounting aifnohg its numerous charges,- are , J, Cheever Gowdin, IStandard Capital Co.; Inc.; Univer- sal Corp:; . Universal Pictures Co.; Inc.; Big-U Film Exchange, Inc.; Western Electric Co., Inc.; Electrical Research ; Products, Inc.; Eastman Kodak Co., Charles R. Rogers, J. Arthur, Rank, George :N. Armsby, tawrehce W: Fox, Jr.; Daniel M. Schacfer; Preston Davie, Paul G. Brown, Vfillis H. Taylor, Jrv; Ottavip Prdcket, Samuel Spring, Williard S. McKay, Budd Rogers, Daniel C. CoUiii^, iRobert H. Cochrane, ; the plaintiffs list many charges in their action, ^pme of the most Im- portaht c>f which are that Cowdin on Jan. 15, 1935, at the suggestion of BRPI, formed Standard , Capital Corp. for the flnaricing of pictures. It is claimed that standard is -wholly under the dornination .of Cowdin; It is claimed that some time later, Cow- din, Standard Capital, ^Rarik ; and Rogers joined in a conspiracy to ac- (Coritinued on page 22) . lO;^ Net Profit On ; CImidin Guaranteed By UA As With 'GWTW Seeking 70% straight from the first dollar for .'Great Dictator' in emulation of the sales policy . which figured for Metrolg 'Gone "With Wind,' Uiiited Artists Is also con- alderhif deals under which a 10% guarantiee to the exhibitor will be Included, it has been Indicated tp large buyers. Metro also negotiated contracts embracing the 10% profit on an engagement where agreerneftt Was reached; in advance by both" sides on what the overhead would Unofficial buyer opinion expressed Is that lirobably the Chaplin picture is worth the 70% rental demaiids made, plus increaised admissions -as with 'Gone' because it has a ready- made audience for it. and for a long titne has , received ihuch. pub licity, "■Buildup, etc. . ■■■ " — One of the first 'Dictator' deals in negotiation is with Balaban & Katz. Jack Sqhlaifer, western division mianager, is now in'Chicagb discuss- ing it with : John Balaban. - Buyers: have • not' yet beeh iii- formed concerning Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' which is being .roadshqwn at the start by Disney, with spiebial bpoth equipment a reiquisite, nor have th.ey received any inkling tp date, as !to what the next move will be with^Gbrie.': V ;Not expiected that 'Gone' will he sbld . on general release until after- Jan. Iw Probability is: that it will ba re-played in theatres . fprnierly booking it, but at lower prices. Due tp its length, it may inot even be offered to m^iny of the lower-quality subsequent run theatres^ Picture has not been promised as a gerietial release item pn the 1940-41 MetrP program. Blick Jbnesi^ Cot ; Hollywopd, Oct* 8. , Buck Jones mPves dver to; the Co- lumbia studio Nov. 12 to play the lead in- the Larry DarmoUr serial; 'White Eagle.' ; Currently he is doing-a. top. rolie in 'Riders of: Death Valley' for. Urii- versal. Paradox Is: a Chall«eiiire to Holly wood ^ Exhijbiition Eiid Appraises Itself fot First Kine Months of 1940 , and Sees Proportionate Ih' cirease in Net Profit to Off- set the Actuat V Moiitsy iDowhbeat - GhapHii Set in CM ■ ; V:. •:. ::--0. Chicago, Oct, 8, Chaplin's 'Great Dictator* ppens at tw^p Baiabah & Katz houses Oct. 31, playing the AppUo: on a twice-daily reserved 3eat::policy at :a $1.10 and $1.65 tap;: Pic plays the, Roosevelt using same policy as 'Gone With the Wind,' house scaled at 75c for mati- nees and reserved seats in the eve- ning at $i;iO. ■Qone' closes its Chicago run Oct. "20" after :39n^ In the Loop. Wdoda wili revert to fornier subse- quent fun grind policy urileiss some roadshow pie happens along. Philadelphia, Oct. 8. ' The biggest test between liberal forces and hluenosers. since thts en- actriient of the Sunday film: law in 1935 will take place Nov; 5. Rival- ling the Willkie. versus F. D. R. cbn- test in interest , will be the'^: vote on the Sabbath film questipn tb. be taken in; 141. municipalities in Pennsylvania having a total popiilatipn of 1,626,237 -rrbughly 20%; of tli^ State's total. In 43 municipalities the 'bliie law' adherents :wiU. try to reVerse the decision of five: years ago 'that per- mitted Sunday pix. (Under State law vote on the question can be taken at five-year intervals by peti- Uori).S.: .7 ■■':■ ..'■;■. In 98 other . municipalities the: church -forces will be pn the defen- sive, fighting to.- preserve: the stitus quo . where. Sunday fllins , were re jected in:,I935. and the question was revived this year by liberal Sunday proponents. .The voting is skedded to take place in 21 third class cities, 110 boroughs and lO 'towriships. . : \ The blue law forces, headed by Dr. W#4B." Forney, general secretary of the Lords Day Alliance, decided not to revive the issue In the three largest; cities -:- Philadelphia, Pitts burgh and Scranton-^where Sunday pix were Approved by 2-1. majorities in 1935. Largest city voting on the Sunday film question is Reading with a pop- ulation of 111,171, with AUentown, 92,5i53, ranking second. These twP cities rejected Sabbath pix in '35. Three cities which approved the open Sunday five years ago, s et for an- oth«sir Vote this year are DuBois, Lock Haven and Easton. Other third class cities voting on the question, are: New, Castle, BieaVer Falls, Altooha, Butler, Johnstown, :elear- flelil, Harrisburg, Connellsville, Lan- caster, Lebanon, Hazletonj Williams-; port, Bethlehem and Sunbury. None of these hais Sabbath films at pres- ■ent.---' The referenda have been author- ized (n 47 of the State's 67 counties. RUSH OF COLOR PIX TAX TECHNI CAPACITY ,^ Hollyw'opd, Oct. 8. ; Technicolor plant, currently work- ing at capacity, is assured of a top load during the fall and winter months by four tinted features now in' work and five more slated for early filming. Laboratory has been busy for sev- eral weeks turning out prints of 'Northwest Mounted Pplic'e' for Para- mojiht;' 'Down Argentine. Way' for 20th-Fox; 'i'hief of Bagdad' for Alex- iander Korda, and'Fantasia' for Walt Disney, in addition to the regular run of shorts. \ ' '■ ... ■ ■ ... ■ ■ Walsh Sees Reel ;:> Hollywood, Oct. 8, Warners: assigtied' Raoul Walsh' to direct the James Cagney-Anh Sheri- dan co-starrer, 'Strawberry Blonde'. Both principals are redheads. • OFF 2 TO 5% Market Decide It's Tony Martin for 'Zi Hollywood, Oct. 8., Tony Martin gets the^male lead, surrpupded by Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland and Lana Turner, in Mfetrb's. ^ ^Ziegfeld Girl,' which rolls Oct. 18, tthpugli^ the studios;^hav^ Joroy^ar^ with Robert Z. Leonard directirig: Survey of story departments, with ; the conclusion of the first year of war in Europe, discloses that major film companies have suffered little by the treniendpus decline in the output of bopks,. plays: and originals : from the continent and England; Al- Studip is dickering with Martin for a term contract. ; ■■ '.'■} '.' Taking the country as a, whole, grosses in the film theatres 50 far this year are- running . behind the same three-quarters in 1939 but the drop in rctceipts at the, boxoffice is being made up. by a proportionate increase in the . net profits shown. It's usually the other way around. More attention to the theatres, tighter operation, enforcernent. of the best possible policies to: suit each situatipn, general econornies effected and improvement in man- agenient are cited as among reasons why the money- position, is. better whereas not as many admissions are being chalked up as in 1939. ■ Stiriking an average for the coim- try, figures' would .' indicate that grosses the; first nine months this year (1940) are oft between 2% and 5%; This is not an alarming drop, particularly in view of the fact that since Jan, 1. last the country and industry, not the least of them films, have been in a hectic state as war advanced. Other uncertainties have also affected attendance and . were it not for the fact there have been ad- mission tilts here ai\d there, particu- larly for 'Gone With. Wind,' .the de- cline might have been greater. bollarjfioes: Farther Best available figures would show that although not much money is coming in, due to the manner in which theatres are. now being op- erated, the position pn earnings is better alsp by between 2% and 5%. In other words the decline so far has been met by making each dol- lair go far enough on the books to fully offset the condition at the*.p. While what the theatres are iJo- ing may amount to a challenge to 'fiollywood to put its house in order so that money results on the books .will-be_suflicient .td_take_care pf the shrinkage suffered by the film mar- ket—in pther wprds spending less so that the earnings will be higher— the Coast no doubt will have a de- fense to enter.: A higher quality of pictures, keep- ing- the grosses frpni. dipping fur- ther than they have, in all probabil- ity has figured so far as the thea- tres are- concerned. ; Better filmi deals by the buyers is another angle, plus more care in booking. Were the distributors getting more rental, then the. money position :of the the- atres in thie face of dwindling gross- es would diifter according to ' the deals. .'.::.' U.S.N. COOPERATIVE NOW N. Y. Officials*Making: Easier for . Newsreels St. Louis, Oct, 8. U. S. postal and state authorities are seeking to uncover an alleged: interstate ring trafficking in obscene films, follpwing a raid last week oh a basement cinema in a residence and the seizure of 107 reels and Lloyd V. Hutton, the tenant. Hut- ton, a shoeworker, who doubled as ah exhib at night, is held in,City Jail in default, of $10,000 bonds on a Federal charge of ppssessing obscene films shipped in interstate commerce. A state . warrant also was. issued against him. charging possession of obscene films. - A p.p. inspector who accompanied Ipcal gendarmes on the raid .said he was communicating with Federal agents in other states after Hutton is alleged to have, indicated there was widespread traffic in such films. The pinch was made after a complaint was made. Hutton's house was placed under surveillance and nu- merous express package deliveries weire seen made. Cops reported that Hutton had built up an extensive ♦library' of obiscene films by making copies of those received. His theatre had a seating capacity of 30. combed the trans-Atlantic; literary markets for material, quantity of stuff bought abroad has .been small in comparison to the total number 6i properties purchased each. year : and stPry. eds are npt perturbed by the decline. - At present,, the only foreign hovels, plays or originals arriving in this country at all are coming from Eng-; land. The three companies that have had London story departments in the past are still maintahiing them, al- though with skeleton staffs. They are Paramount,; Metro and 20th-Fox. Before . the, War, ^Metrp also had of- fices in Vienna, Paris, Budapest, Madrid and Amsterdam. Par and: 20th : likewise, maintained - literary outposts in several European cities, although not .extensively ,as Metirp. All of these offices are now shuttered. First yi?ar of war has had a lim- ited effect on story . material, of course, because much of what. was submitted was written before. the conflict started. However,, noticeable trend has: been away from fiction to- ward biographical and other serious books. A flve-yea!r trend: toward 'psychological' stories and plays has also been accented by the holocaust. Effect of the war ■ on the type: of writing has been felt just as strongly- in the U. S. output as in Europe. British Little Bothered Although Hitler's 'total war' of the past fpur. or five weeks may con- siderably change the situation, qual- ity of production by English authors dpes not appear to have been . (Continued oh page 22) SAG USTS NOMINEES FOR ADVISORY COUNCIL ■ Regular_slate_of .nominee.: ior_the. advisory council of the New York chapter of the Screen Actors Guild was named last week by the nomi- nating committee. Includes Florence Auer (incumbent). Kirk Brown, Jr., Alexander Campbell, Bradford Kirk- bride,j Nellie MalPney, Gloria Pierre, and Florence Richardson (incum- bent), pther nominations may be made, by petition. .. ; Five council members will be elected, to serve three years. Bal- lots will be sent out by Oct. 31, and , must be returned by Nov. 14. Mem- 1 P^^^ces Adas (Odlumy^^^^P^^ Up Considerable RKO Stocky S.E.C. Discloses Washington, Oct. 8. Substantial Atlas Cprp, (Flpyd B. Odium) purchases of RKO paper in August w ere spot lighted last week in the Securities St Excfiange Com- mittee, report on market operations of corporate insiders. Review also showed activity on the part of Uni- versal Corp. groimd floor tenants. In five lots. Atlas picked up 3.228 pieces of Radio's $1 common and 1,400 shares of the 6% convertible p ref e r re d . disclaiming beneficial ownership of the paper. Biggest deal was acquisition of 1,600 common ' ducats on Aug. 5, At the month-end ! the investment trust held 594,318 of common and 32,081 pre- ferred. Statement bership rrieeting and election .will be : aiaiement also revealed held: Nov. 15 at the. Edison hotel, 1 . fA: Corp of. Arnerica N. Y. During the: .absence of Mrs. " Florence Marston because of illness, Harriett Reynolds :* acting as. the Guild's eastern represent^itive.; Complaints of newsrcel companies that any sort of ne.ws stol-y concern- ing the .U. S. Navy ;.was delayed in release because of the inadequate censorship setup has produced a new ruling which facilitates such news- reel censoring; By the new order, the Navy Dept. in New York holds open 'the Navy bureau for censoring up until midnight -both . Monday:.and Wednesday (the two newsreol edi- tion days). ■ Previously . there was nobody available at the Navy, bureau to 16ok at newsreel pictures after 4 .p.m. Consequently any yarn would have to hold over until. the next edition, two or fouir days later. Harry Browtt*8 *Cruise' :.:, :; Hollywood, Oct. 8. Associate ■ producer chore on 'Ca- ribbean Cruise' at 20th-Fox goes to Harry Joe Brown. :. Jack Andrews * working on the story. : which deals ■ with:: tropical treasure hunt. , embrace 555,254 common \ warrants and 44.757: conferred shares, with the parent reporting that during August it 'received as creditor' 928 shares of common, boosting the total of this is- sue to 317.256. " J. Cheever Cowdin reported pur- chase of 350 voting trust certificates for Universal Corp. common, while Charles D. Prutzmari pLcked up 330. This gives Cowdin. 4,850, in aiddition : to his stake in the 26,500 held by Standard Capital Co. The S. E. C. also revealed that Samuel I. Posen in June acquired 100 shares of Uni- BiMABAffmi,'S:PlAYYEN;|S^ i . Barbara/O'Neil arrives from the ; of preferred, ' Coast by. plane this week. She'll re- j Only other film company 'stock main:I at .least two ■w^eks, possibly|transaction shown in th^ latest CJov- staying ihdeflnilely if. she can. get a ' ernment summary, wi^s: acquisition of .suitable play. She's: the wife of j 38 more shares, of, Loew's Boston. Joshua Logan, who's currently di- j; Theatres'; common by ■ the parent reeling the revival: of ; 'Charley's compahy'. As result - of prolonged Aunt.' , Actress is under contract to War- ners. buying campaign, Loew's Inc., now accounts for 117,474 of the subsid- iary's paper. ::