Variety (Apr 1941)

Wednesday* April 2, 1941 P^tETY PICTURES s Aiter stressing the outstatiding inr dustry problems, particularly , the. de- pleted, foreign market, and frozen currency, Will Hays -lashed but. at the Temporary National Economic Gommittee for its blast at the flliri business in his report oubrhitted to; thft anrtual meeting of the Motion picture Producers & Distributors Assn. on MoniJay (31);.. It kas prib-.. ably the most vigorouisv and sit-: castically w/brded statement by Hays In years, quietly tearing apart sev- ♦pal points made by the TNEC re- .port.: ■.■ •'" Hays wias elected head of , the MiPPDA for the 20th consecutive year by the association at the meet- Ingv Also, revealed ■ that he holds si Overyear contract running until March, 1946. Old pact was renewed on the basis of ternis-existihg after the" 20% -wage , cut ihstailed at : the Hays office in October, 1939. Uhder- atodd Hays insisted that any long-, term agreement must be on these terms. . This gives the MpPDA chief $80,000 per year since, prior to. the general .wage slashing lii' the Hays organization In 1939, he was receiy- . Ing $100;000, Cuts for other eih- ployees ranged from 6% to 20% at ;that time.. y'' Wound Up Hb Report - Hays' thrust the TNEC was neairly the Gonpluslbh of hlf reiport. : He pointed but that there is no cure- all to take the place of planned and Jiard-efirned progress in the film business. Hays cited the . recent monograph (issued under the auspi- ces of the TNEC) concerning pic- ture trade practices and self-regula- iion via the production , code, and after reviewing legislation, litigation and arbitration, finds them all want- ing... 'The statement Is so keen about the forest that' it overlooks the^ trees— the essential factors by which the industry grew up, the art developed and theatres, were vaistly multiplied until the film became a universal form, of entertainment,' he said. 'We V cannot, quarrel, however, with a con- clusion reached In the monograph that no patent niedicine remedies, . no. simple solutions, no Infallible formulas ejtlst for any problems In this industry;. 'On the contrary, to quote from this mpnograph, written without any hearing or submission on the part of producers, distributors or exhibitors, -what the industry needs is 'more than anything else inteUigent and sympathetic study,'. The screen Is too prominent a vin6dium for criticism, right or wrong, not to be constantly levelled at It. Wholesome criticism allows for con- stant self-examination and stimu- lates progress; baseless criticism gives us the opportunity to establish the facts about the industry. There will never be a time when- we can Bit back and say'Content.' r ^ . Ente^^lnIlIe1lt Essential ■'■ It- Is sigriifleant that even thosie . who would. substitute bombs for putter dare hot strike entertainment . off the list of necessities, however distorted and adulterated is - the product-they provide; Even tyranny fihrlhks iron! this last offense to the people,' he continues, Hays stressed that in the debate oyer.: the national emergency, the ecrfeeh, as with the press and i:adio| was subjected to the strains of idif- lering opinion. 'Fortunately bur re- cord could speak for itself bn any . Issue that arose. It spoke most eifh- phatically ajgainst any . char.gie that ttie screen was ai breeder of hate; The record established tha.t .16% of the newsreel clips dealt with a var- 1 Psopie and .current events related to national defense; while only 2.4% of the short subjectis and 5% of the features approved during 1940 had any delation, direct or iri-r - dli-ect, to . European, politics of the European war;' . . : ;-'.Liauds Newsreelsi '' Hays praised the hewsreel. covers fige of the war, and.its fine job under tipring circumstances. He also lauded the trade .press. He. claimed'thiai there was ah-Incteased use of . films a* teaching aids, in schools, with the .industry continuing to. make avail- (Continued on page 20.V Load Up on LeBaron William LeBarori took over four nibre yarns for his l.?4i-42; produc- tion' program, at. 20th-Fbk. TWO of them,' 'f'light $urgeon.' and 'Khyber Pass,| are transfer* from' Kenneth Macgowan'a, schedule. : ; bthfer two are'Improper 'Relations' and an untitled story by Jack Juhg- meyer, Jr., and Maurice Rapf. Problem of following the Industry self-regulation codes on film produc- tion, arid adveirtislhg: them, received more attention than uisiial from Will Hays in his report to Motion Picture Producers: &' Distributors this week. He said it Is not enough to followthe letter of the fllrh business;' OW"^ codes, but that ylgilance myst be exercised both in theme and treatment'. '. . and that's a job for every individual stu- dio as well as for the organized in- dustry. The American public, very rightfully, .will not stand for any violations.''; Hays - cited an analysis of critical opiriiori oh pictures. in 1940' that in- dicates ofily 20 films out of 523 fea- ture- pictures and 707 shorts, weire hit by serious objection On the basis of good taste, and even, then equally sincere critics were not all agreed. Numbei- of pictures based, upon crime or horror decreased. In 1940 from the previous. . year . under MPPDA production Code Adminis- tration operation, according to. Hays. Western and action pictures still •hold the lead among films .mostly handled by PCA. Miscellaneous themes, actually. led the list, representing 45.50% of 523 pictures; This was about 9% increase over 1939. Although the western- action dims decreased from 27.4% to 22%i 115 were still handled by PGA. Crime and. horrbr films dipped from 23.ff% to 20.65%. - Musicals showed an improvement, 27 being made coml- pared to 19 in 1939. Films of social category declined from. 9.25% to 6.60%.; ' ; More features based on pnginal screen stories were handled by PCA, percehtege. rising to 61.8% from 56.3% in; 1939. Pictures produced frbm stage plays increased from 5.6% to 9.8%, with 51 such fllins made In 1940.''' ' . Keen competitlbh to build domes- tic th^eatre attendance and offset for- eign'market ibsses produced many new types jof advertising ideas with a:imbst twice as' m^ny fejectlons of advertiisements as in: i9i39.-; Rejected or revised ads ahibunted tb- 324 but of 11.256 subniitted br 2.$%V Much of this material latier was brought into conformity with the Hays office Advertlsiiig-: Code, less than- 1% finally being bbjectiohable. - ' Hays ppirited out that. Increased Watchfulness was exercised; by the Advertisihg. Adyisory Council in 1940 because it was aware of flood of hew iidvertising ideasj Paul jbiies' New Tar Deal " Hollyw<)od, ..ApHl 1; : Piaul Jones - was - signed to a ..hew seyeh-year contract to produce high- budget pictures, at Paramount; the first holdover from the old regime to close a deal under B, G. De Sylya. During tbe,-last year Jones pro- duced. 'The Road to: Zanzibar', and handled the reins on the pictures dl rected by Preston Sturges. ' Reduction in Costs of Cov- erage, Notably Eiirippean, a Prithe Factor in Incr<easV iiigr the Net Pi^ofit; UP RENTALS iNOW? .Gross business is up for a ma- jority! of U.. S. newsreisls; . Also net reVeriue is runhlrig higher thaii ft did a year aigo. ■ . Some hewisreel executlyes can't account: for the recent spurt in total money garnered weekly, .but mbst ot them adi^it. that the: reduction, in expenses, originaliy : -.budgeted,- in covering the European war, naturally has aided the net take. -Maniy newsr reel editors believe; the revived In^ terest In news screen clips because of; present world events, including the war and' national defense, has produced a larger number of ac- counts, for the newsreel coriipanies. .Despite this encouraging sign, with; a couple, of newsreel cornpanies reporting .$1,800 additional revenue weekly, the same : low - rental scale has been maintained in selling the newsreel. Few film coinpany execu- tives believe that the general rental scale can be raised iintil distributors break away from present alignments and sell the newsreel separately and entirely on Its merits. In. the face of mounting produc- tion costs, wage scales and other ex- penses going into the making of a; neAvsreel twice per week, American newsreels. cpntlniiei to be the. sales- bar gaining football of exhibitors'. Until they are lifted from thjs cate- gory, major dlstributlbh companies are none too ;optimLstic about their future as money-makers. Present indication is that If better rental terms are not. obtainable for them in the 1941-42 selling season; when they are sold separately by most companies, other nieans will be sought ciut in ah ,effort to boost the rental fee per reel.. There is talk of reviving the long-discussed plan for: a two-reel newsreel, issued once per week'or a one-issue setup, each one being around 1,000 feet in length ih- stead of 700-800, as now. Idea on this would be to reduce the print cost,, which presently is a .big Item, even thoUgh lab work probably is ai its lowest point in.history.: Development of the special Issue phase of newsreel coverage also Will be tried this season by at least two newsreels. It was experimented with on. a stnall scale last fall on football games, and will be employed again .next fall on grid events and big na- tional-stories. With tlie.exhlb charged better than the newsreel fee. All of these, experiments are in line;-with the- policy bf , several dis.-, ;tributors loolcing. to d.eveloping the: value of .their, riewsreel diyisiohsi. These cbnipanies believe they should be regarded, as valuable properties,, when consentydecree:.selling starts, next fall for all, distributoVs: con- cerned with,feels excepting;Univef- sai;', It-- is a •mbye"-to g^t .the: .news- reels:;- out of the ' present rut; which sees them, regarded first ,as a , play- thing of exhibitbrsv'.and,: secondly, vOften ■rated as a gbpdwiil; builder' for the parent distribu.ting■.company.', .. . As presently constituted, tbo m.any of the newsreels . are Ipiaded, with publicity blurbs, pohcealed ot other- wise.; Publicity yarns: are, made on majbr cpmpany stars, stories, or prod- uct, as advance ,bally. These Sort bf clips , also creep into "r^iels through hlgh^pressuriiig of :difrerient gfpiips. - , Exhibs are almost as' bad. "They constantly are In the-market, putting the slug on the newsreels to get spe- cial stories covered but seldom are Willihg to pay an additional penny for .this special service; May Cue U. S. Not to Repeat Same A Hand-Sitter Washington; April 1. ; - New , way tp, keejf) the United States out of war and preserve neutrality tbward the European , belligerents was suggested' to the ■ Senate Monday (31). , ~ ' senator Robert R. Reynolds of .' North,Carolina, violent: isblatioh;- 1st, would like to have aiidlences prohibited from applauding when motion pictures are shown that deal ■ 'any way with inr; ternatiOnal, cbntroversies.: PRODUCERS AT 20TH IN FOR ' Hollywood, April- 1, Shakeup among the hijgh-ranking execs ,bn the 20th-Fox lot is presaged by the high number of full produc- ers and assbciate producers, working on a schedule of 44 features. . , Recent 'signing of WIHiam Le- Baron, Ernst' Lubitsch and Mark Hellinger started speculation that the associate prpducer list ihay be cut down. These three, ' with Sol' M. Wurtzel, are slated to handle the production reins pn 25 pictures, leaving only 19 for 10 associates: Harry Joe Brown, Harold ClCirnian, Ralph Dietrich, LoU- Edelman, Nun- nally Johnson, Robert Kane, Lou Ostrow, Walter, Morosco. William Perlberg and Milton , Sperling. SAM COCAUS ESTATE UQUIDATING HOUSES . The theatres of , Cocialis Amuse- ment Enterprises, headed by the late Sam' Cocalis; being slowly liquidated with a view, to washing up the interests bf the Cocalis estate.en- tirely; Scattered houses in .tlie New: York and northern New Jersey area are being, turned over to indepen- dents, following the firist ifnajof deal with . RKO transferring numerous Bronx houses tb RKO and Skouras. Theatres in the old Springer- Cocalis circuit are vrrtually- liquid- ated,: according to Joe Kaitch, ad- ministrator for the estate of the late Jack Springer, a former partner of Cocalis. Most of the houses in which Springer had. a direct inttfest have been turned over to the Skouras cir- cuit. ,, Jas. Roosevelt Due Into . N.Y. via D.C., Next Mex. • James^^bosevelt,- whip cume eist from the Gpast over the weekend in av hew Army bomber, went di- rectly tp Washington-■ upon his or- ^ rival; He is expected in New York tombrrow (Thursday j pr Friday for the opening of his firM 'productiorii 'Pot O' Gold,' at the Roxy Friday (4). • ^vv::^ \ :•..,'.:■.,■:; Producer, who- i."} on short leave from the Marine Corps, will, return :to the , Coast befo,re heading fbi: Mexico, City, where his film will be preemed amidst^ a Motion Picture Festival, built .around it in coopera- ] tion with the Mexican government. Mex .celebration will be-from ■April 12-15. --^ :.:', An inkling of what may be ' store for American exhibitors; in the matter /of ;.national defense propa- ganda pictures, if the same so-called errors in handling such films i.s made as in Great .Britain, is contained in reports from London alwut exhibit tors protesting, iigaihst alleged -.conx-. petition from the ,Britis,h: .g6:verni: inent's /Mihistry of Information pic-' ture activity. Two branches of the English Cinematograph Exhibitbrisi Association voiced strong, opposition to. this activity after having pre-: viously passed : a tesPlutibn to re- frain from showing any more MOI. films unless the ^competition with the exhibitors* business .Was halted. British exhibitors did not mind showing, so-called war propaganda aiid educational; defense subjects on their regular shbws, ma,tter how dull as entertainment, biit they have raised protests Syhen similaryMinis-' try of Ihformatlbn ' pictures were shown gratis , (either : 35-mIllimeter . 6t 16-mm.) in bppbsition to regular cinema" performances. This was re- garded as iinfair competition, and as. such should be stopped by the Brit- ish government agency. The British exhibitors did not ob- ject to propaganda films being shown in spots where there were no theatres, but they viewed the Ihtrp" diiction of free propaganda film showis -in towns where cinemas al- ready existed as constituting a waste of public mbney. On the other' hand a high official with ,the Minis- try of Information held that it had the right to display propaganda films , whenever it considered their showr ing In the public interest. Exhibitors in U. ,S. are watching closely to see that defense propa- ganda films are not sent out in free. Government shows in direct compe- tition to regular theatre perform-, ances. They almost uniformly be- lieve ; that proper propaganda pictures, already being shown on • modest scale in jnbst theatres here; should go into regular theatres. And that the present emergency never should provide the excuse for the Government to launch a series of free film shows, as is being dbne In Great Britain. U MAY RELEASE PAR'S BRITISH PIC IN D. S. Deal was nearing consummation In N. Y. yestetday (Tuesday) whereby Universal would obtain U. S. dis- tribution rights for 'Quiet Wedding,' British quota film, from Parampuht. Negotiations have been in proigrcsi- for about two weeks. Par Is dis- tribiiting the film in Great Britain, arid ',holds options on, the production for the rest of the World. Probably will distribute elsewhere In the world market. . 'Quiet Wedding', was produced by Paul Soskin in England fpr quptai purposes, the producer sharing In .financing, , bulk • of wl^ich was by Paraim.punt, Pfbduction wcs halted on picture temporarily when Nazi bombs struck stiidip, killihg two- technicians bn the lot, , Piazza Back at RKO ■ Hollywood, Ai5ril 1. Ben Piazza returns to RKO in charge pf n6w talent. - He v/as formerly at the studio In that capacity and as casting siiper- vlsor. ; Wood S^ns indie Prod. Hollywood, April 1. ' Sani Wood signed two releasing deals with'RKO and Paramount, each l-callirig for the independent produc- tion of one picture annually for three years. He is also reported dickering with United Artists for a similar cbn- tract. ■;■,■; '',' " : First Paramount picture is 'Miss Susie Slagle,' to be made after he finishes his current; job on '-King;» Row^ at Warners. Masic Corp. of America ,(J. C. Stein) is financing W-ood's independ- ent unit.