Variety (Nov 1940)

Wednesday, November 6, 1940 PICTURES 000,000 Reported that Paramount has al- ready worked out the sales method . that will apply in the selling of its 1941-42 product In blocks of Ave un- der the consent; decree, and that this will be concerned in conferences slated to- start on. the Coast Nov. 10 in connection with the 194L-42 prod- uct.; '; ' :-:c " : : r ■ ■ ^ ■ ■; '[],.'■;./ Neil F, Agnew is said to have fig- ured out the entire: distribution; plan in the merchandising of pictures in .. groups of five but, so lar as the trade is concerned, it's under wraps until he is ready to sell. :: "-, It Is believed not unlikely that the ■ !4,1»42 program 1 for Paramount may be even shorter than that of this year,? which represented:; a . drastic cut from last season's ('39-40) schedule but that in setting up the .. budget for a curtailed product the studio will apportion larger sums for its pictures than ever before. Barney Balaban and Stanton Grif- fis are leaving today (Wed.), follow- ing their voting in New York. Agnew, Russell Holman, Sam Dembow, Jr., Leonard Goldenson and Leon Netter are also scheduled for. the "Coast huddles beginning Nov. 10 but may make some stops on the way out. Adolph Zukor, who is registered in California, arrived. there during the past week to vote and await the NvYY contingent. 0DLUM ADDS RKO, KENT DUMPS 20TH SHARES ... Washington, Nov. 5. Appetite of Floyd. Odium's Atlas Corp. (Jersey City) for RKO stock remained hippy, throughout Septem- ber, according to. the Securities and Exchange Commission's •summary of transactions released today (5). . Corporation picked up 100 shares of Radio-Keith-Orpheum : 6%; converti- ble papers on. Sept,' 13; 100 additional shires of the same on the following day; and 300 shares on Sept. 27. At- las—Odium's holding company—was credited at month's end with 32.581 shares ofthe 6% convertible;, 594.318 shares $1 par common and" 327i8l2 warrants for common, with the firm listed as beneficial owner of more than 10% of the RKO registered equity security. American Co. also appeared as owner of 268.230 shares of the $1 par common stock. . Other motion picture stock tran- sactions included dumping of 1,000 shares 20th Century-Fox no pat- value common by Sidney. R, Kent, prexy. and 700 shares of the same stock by Seton Porter, 20th Century's New York director, Kent retained only 2,180 shares, while porter's hold- ings were reduced to 176 shares. Loew's, Inc., of New York, gob- bled an additional 309 shares of the $25 par common stock of its New England siibsid, Loew's Boston The- atres, bringing its total holdings to 117,783 shares. Purchase of 100 shares of General Theatres Equip- ment .Corp. stock (capital no par value) by R. B. Larue, New York official, also was announced, with Larue listed as owner of .600 shares. LAGUARDIA GIVES IN Concentrating on ■'; Luring Other ".. Business ■ .■: to : 'N.Y.- . Mayor . LaGuardia has. apparently concluded that: the energy expended., in last season's "fruitless struggle to bring film production to New; York can be more profitably, directed in other/channels. • George Sloan, chief of theDepart- ment of Commerce, in whose hands falls the. task of interesting new in- dustries; in the advantages of the town on the Hudson, admits about films,; 'We've given tip ..the idea, We're concentrating ph other: busi- nesses.'.-' ■■ * : - .. Of 26.IXH) K-A-0 Schaefer Flies East Hollywood. Nov. 5., George J, Schaefer planed.. east Monday (4) on home office /matters and to work out deals lor two stage; players fceirig considered for film buildups. . Other changes to follow recent studio Shakeup expected upon his return, to. the studio end of this week. FORD TAKES ^EOAD' ; Hollywood; Nov. 5. John Ford was handed the direc- tor job on 'Tobacco Road,' which takes . the place of >Mah Hunt' on th e 20th>Fox production schedule/ 1 . Director leaves Thursday (7) for Georgia with a camera crew to shoot backgrounds. - \ The RKO deal to acquire some 26,000 shares" of KeitK-Albee-Or- pheum preferred stock held by .Mike Meehan is reported .nearer . com- pletion this week than jat any time since, the parent RKO corporation announced its desire to bring' pre- ferred shares into the treasury as part, of the plan for simplifying the corporate structure. Several stum- bling blocks still remain in the path of actual consummation, according to official ,views ort the situation, but a. pact satisfactory to fall financial groups in RKO appears near. . 'Meghan's KAb preferred repre- sents about, one-third of : ail shares outstanding. They are valued at more than $3 000,000 at present, quo- tations. RKO would like, to have them in* the parent company treas- ury, to save the cost On dividend dis- tribution eachi year. ':, Also with no KAO.. .preferred 'outstanding, the RKO management would be able to gov ahead with other plans lor sim- plifying the entire. corporate- struc- ture along more economical' basis. Presently are four, groups in RKO Which makes it difficult to reach an amicable agreement for .the Meehan stock. Atlas, Rockefeller, RCA and Lehman Bros, each has a stake in the parent corporation/ and thus far has shown no particular. disposition to agree among themselves. Atlas (Floyd B. Odium) is about tops in the: matter of stock ownership, with 594,318 common shares ahd .32,081 preferred to its credit as result of acquiring an additional 3,228' shares of common and 1,400 shares Of pre- ferred' about a month ago.: Whether some sort of stock trad- .ing deal can be worked but to the satisfaction of all parties: concerned, or whether the Meehan shares will be Obtained through an outright purr chase- has not been ■ disclosed-, thus far! RKO is i prevented from bor- rowing any coin for; such purpose under the stipulated rules. of the court plan whereby it emerged, from 77-B. . ' Sabu Back in jungles ;. Hollywood. Nov. 5. . Rudyard Kipling's.'Jungle Book' is ihe next starrer for Sabu, to be pro- duced early next year by' Alexander Korda - fori United.- Artists .release';/: : Zoltah Korda directs from a script, by 'Laurence; Stallings. ;/■';'• Beetson Back West ; Fred Beetson, executive; yicerp.resL- detit of .' the Association of. Motion. Picture Producers, has left -for. the- Coast -after huddling for about. 10 days with'•'. Hays ,office.. officials.: in ! N. Y. ' .- '■' Beetson came. east. by. boat .via ,the Panama Canal. Distribs Conclude It's a Mild Racket, With SO-SO Local Ad '[■■ Costs Actually Bur- dened vChiefly:: on; the "Ex- es REBATE GAG '■■ Complete re-vamping of the ;film industry's practice of placing daily newspaper advertising cooperatively with exhibitors,, as a stimulant for first-run grosses and territorial book- ings* is being seriously considered by some of the major companies.. It is variously. estimated that the com- bined expenditures by. the- companies for. this type, of exploitation exceeds $3,000,000 annually, Which is allo- cated among hundreds 'of news- papers. * '•"■■;'■■:'". V Reasons for a contemplated .change in. prevailing policies are attributed to dissatisfaction among distribution executives with , the ever increasing exhibitor demands for additional home office appropriations'and ■ ac- counting, complications which result form lack of uniformity of space rates among newspapers. It is. even charged in some quarters that many exhibitors have not been too scrupu- lous in the divisions or costs, ahd several have not been' above taking ah advantage of money spent nation- ally by distributors \ by : obtaining substantial reductions in local rates: ►Amount of money spent in boop- erative newspaper, advertising has increased by leaps and bounds dur- ing the past several years. As orig- inally handled, it was the /practice of some of. the larger distributors to. appropriate sums, for extra news- paper space in first-run Cities in or- der to spur the boxoffice returns on percentage, bookings. Where a thea- tre normally spent $500 weekly in newspaper advertising and the dis- tributor believed • the receipts ■' of a special film' would be materially benefited by a heavy campaign, an agreement was reached to double the display space, ^with the distribu- tor sharing one-naif of. the, extra amount. If a total of 11,000 was spent, the distrib, paid $52au as his share. '' " y Business departments: of . the dailies were quick to grasp the. op- portunity for increasing amusement lineage: . As. inducements to dis-: tributors many newspapers extended to the companies the commercial rates, predicated .. on a vtnume of space to be Used in a series of pic- ture campaigns. The national ad- (Continued on page 20) Winds Up First-Run B way Situation SALUTE TO FRANK WALKER Democratic Luncheon Really a Trib- •" ute to Ex-Exhib\ Luncheon which the motion pic-, ture division of: the: ■.."'. Democratic : party tossed, for Frank C. Walker, postmaster general, at', the Hotel Astor, Monday. (4) noon, turned out to be an /industry, tribute to the former exhibitor. Former Comerford- circuit execu^ five is / highly, regarded throughout the film business, and this was the first opportunity the industry, has had to greet: him. since accepting the position formerly held by James A. Farley, ■ :(W: earn d.u. RECORD OCT. N.Y. DAILY AD LINEAGE BY AMUS. . Combination of events and open- ings during October gave New York newspapers - their heaviest monthly quota of amusement advertising in years. New York Times, with 72,- 504 lines,; carried the largest volume since December, 1930. . Films accounted. for the heaviest portion.. 47.000 lines. Legit was. next with 15,0.66, and miscellaneous - tcrtainment, such as", concerts, brought in .10,000 more lines. Help- ing to raise the total /was Loew's action in discontinuing its handout sheet in favor of a newspaper.direc-: tory.. It was the largest single ad- vertiser on :the Times', amusement; pages with 9,516 lines. '-.. Another, account ..which" bought large, space- for, the first; time. in months was the Roxy, which/used 2,- 000 lines,; Much;of it .was for.'Brig- ham. • Young'- . (20th); -with . "Spring Parade'.- (U).- and 'Argentine Way'. (20th) adding up in ihe, remainder. : Opening of 'The Great Dictator^ at the. Capital" and Astor- was .• also' a" big space user, taking care of 5.845 | lin'es. : Piu-amount : took 5,004 lines i ahd; -ItKO, -for its .directory, 3,340 | lines. I ■ Luncheons which Metro has al- ready tendered exhibs in four cities have become • definite part, of; the company's policy in its effort to push up domestic grosses and will be ex- tended to every exchange center in the. country, . it was learned this week. Friendly get-togethers of this nature have been tossed by other companies at scattered times, but this is the first effort tb make a regular part of sales policy. Idea has long been held by William F.. Rodgers, Metro sales chief; V and they've been inaugurated, since the switch from RKO of Hy M. Riehey, exhib relations contact. Luncheons have been tendered in Philadelphia, Cleveland,: Chicago and. Cincinnati and will be slated for 'other keyi as rapidly as they can be scheduled. They'll be held at least. once a year In each terri- .tory. Rodgers,*Richey and the dis- trict and exchange managers repre- sent the company at the meeting; Reason for the . conclaves, Rirhey said, is the company's conviction that saies terms; to exhibs are how as high ai feasible and the : only way greater revenue can be achieved to offset foreign losses is by increas- ing trade through the wickets. Metro is therefore sitting down with, ex- hibs in friendly fashion to talk over the problem of upping profits for both sides. 'At the lunchepn meetings we have held so far/ Richey said, 'we have discovered that theatre owners were never more conscious of the need of film producers for: more revenue and were- never more ready to help. They've cheerfully discussed all pos- sible plans with ug and have, con- cretely evidenced cooperation in pushing .up admissions for 'Boom Town.'; In addition they've been very active in refurbishing theatres, putting up new. fronts" and installing new equipment to make, picture-go- ing more attractive, he added; Metro's campaign to. improve ex- hib relations; has .also increased Richey-s.traveling schedule. He has just returned from attending exh'b conventions in Atlantic City, Mil- waukee, Jackson, Mich., Memphis, Pittsburgh and Columbus. He leaves shortly for the meets of the Inde- penden t:. Theatre Owners of Indiana at; Indianapolis; Allied of Texas at rJallas,; and ITO of Arkansas at Little Rock. ':'•.'•"'■;.- The flrst-run situation hi . New York which finds , numerous second- ary theatres battling in the open market for film for ; the, ;current'. . (1940-41) season is. expected, to be ;' flnaiized. under a. deal. which will ■ split; the Universal product under se- lective contracts between, the Roxy and Rivoli. Negotiations in this direc-. tion between U and the: two Broad- way, houses have been on the fire for Sometime but are likely to be con- summated at an early, date. Under the closing of a split deal, the product of all majors will be,on commitment for . downtown .• New.. York and for subsequent . run. This includes U, which is split on second run downtown and in nabes between the Loew and RKO circuits. ' The Btoxy-Rivpli deal is one bf the last . on the agehd^ for;-.U, which, accord- ing to its sales manager, W. A.: Scully, is running about 10% ahead of last' year on its, deals. 'iSeven Sinners' has been sold to the Rivoli pending flnalization of ne- gotiations, while a few .weeks ago U gave the Roxy the Durbin picture; 'Spsing.Parade.', It also sold Loew' 'Argentine Nights' for first-run at the State, and in August made a special deal with the Paramount, for Jules Levey's 'Boys From Syracuse.' : '.. Other Deals As deals now stand, the Music Hall has selective contracts with RKO and Columbia, It also gets first call on . United Artists product, as available, and now . and then , is Offered some film from Metro, and Warner Bros, Metro has its own showcase, the.: Capitol, as first choice and the Cri- terion as second choice jfirst-run iii event certain films are not submitted to the Hall, while Warner places the majority of its product in the Strand. WB has hot bought an outside picture for the Strand in years. Paramount, has its own Par as a showcase for its: product but for : overflow favors the Criterion unless, something of higher , than secondary .first-rurt quality' can be. sold away such as 'Christmas in July- and •Vic- tory; which the Rivoli have bought. Twentieth-Fox shunts its ace pic- tures into the Roxy, the pending deal with U being to fill out oh the year. Otherwise, 20th books first run pretty openly in the market, includ- ing on double bills at the Palace. Such first-runs as the: Rialto, Globe, Criterion and Bryant (latter occa- sionally getting a film on first crack ), are forced to buy wherever they can get pictures since they do not have ; contracts with any of the major dis- (Cbntinued on page 23) Tone in Wall Street ; ..:;>: . Hollywood, Nov; 5.:->. •; Joan Bennett, arid. Frahchbt- Tone- were signed as-co-stafs, in 'A Girl's Best Friend Is Wall Street,' first of a. scries of pictures to be produced by Charles R. Rogers for Columbia release. • ' . . . Filming , starts . when Toiie''.fihashes' in 'Nice Girl- at Universal: Richard Wallace directs 'Wall Street.' • ERPI'S NEW FILM PTG. GADGET NOW IN USE New optical gadget, the Integrat- Ing-Sphere Densitometer, just. made available to Hollywood .picture pro- ducers by Electrical" Research Prod- ucts, Ihc, speeds up the developing of film and vastly increases the Uni- formity of final product. New de- vice not only saves, coin in speeding the finishing operation, but.improves ■ the quality. Instead of depending on the eye and judgment of- the dividual operator; this eliminates the human .element ■ without. meddling ■with the accuracy; : ■ -'• . Instrument, developed in ERPI Coast labs, Is said to make the sound reproduction more lifelike than ever before; . Washes Up S-I .;.:..',,..:...:;/ HollywpocU Nov; 5. JOck Whitney, former chairman of i ! the board of Selznick-International pictures, spent several days in town ( \yinding up the dissolution. of the. .company. i j " In addition, Whitney went into- i huddles with film execs as a member:. I of the Nelson ■ Rockefeller comvnis* 'sion seeking to improve friendly bc- j twepn the' U;S. and- Latin-American, I--- ?: ■3 : f : : ,'.:IH "I ' i■' * ■■I. ti I :!l 11 I i if it , ncie f. >. I,