Variety (May 1941)

Wednesdaft Maj 28, 1941 PICTUIIE8 15 ALL DEFENSE BOOM JUST A MIRAGE Key* Report That Picture Quality U Not to Blame- Seemingly Defense Labor- erf Are Just Too Tired for Picture-Going—Or Is It, Just Tired of Pictures? BE UP BUT PK BUYING STAPLES Chicago, May 27. Managers at theatres, both motion picture and legitimate, are in a state of complete bewilderment. For months now they had been looking forward to the boom.' Aid for Britain, arms for American defense —and boom for the amusement in- dustry. That was the scheme of things that the managers, were sure of. But while there is aid for Brit- ain and the wheels of the mechanical Industry are whirling at a record pace, the theatres' wickets have slowed down to a stall. That is the situation throughout this territory. Chicago has run smack into its worst slump in years. Starting about mid-March, grosses started to slide in picture and legit theatres and the slide Is today still pro- nounced and still disheartening, The managers are casting about for alibis and excuses—and are actually blam- ing the defense program for the slump. That defense program which had been figured as the big biz booster is now labeled the big biz buster. 'People are too busy working to- go to theatres.' 'People are too tired to go to shows.' "The war news has the people in the blue mood and not Interested in entertainment.' That Is the run of comment by the man- agers. Vande 'Took It On Chin Vaude took 1' on the chin brutally. Some dozen vaude units which had' been going along well suddenly closed. Money which they had ac- cumulated during the winter van- ished in a couple of weeks of poor percentage ~ bookings. . .One unit which played a weekend in Iowa at 50-50 minus an initial deduction of $150 for stagehands, and musicians, wound up owing the house $28. Ori- ental, which had been struggling along in the loop with a vaudfllm policy, has removed its vaude and now is trying a straight two-feature policy. In the legitimate field the big siireflre attractions are failures in Chicago at this time. 'Hellzapop- pin',' figured for a smash, came into the 4,000-seat Auditorium' at $3.30 top, turned In *a* pitiful $19,000 gross on its opening week. And managed that $19,000 only because it miracu- lously happened to come up with $5,000 Saturday night. Helen Hayes, for years a Chicago cinch, Is turning In weeks of $13,000-$14,000 against a potential of $24,000. In other times capacity would be taken for granted for Helen Hayes, .who, in 'Twelfth Night,' has the added b.o, aid in Maurice Evans as co-star. 'Arsenic and Old Lace,' a smash hit of the season, and regularly penciled In any legit manager's book for $18,- 000-$20,000, scrapes bottom in its second month at grosses nearer lOG. San Diego, Calif.'s No. 1 Bpomer, No Wow Today Los Angeles, May 27. There's a lot of defense building coin going into pay envelopes, but less than ever coming out at the the- atre box office. Payrolls are hitting new highs weekly as the war indus- tries swing'into bigh, but. wherever the extra money is going, it's not in the picture houses. The nation- wide slump in film grosses has be- gun to make Itself seriously felt in the Southern California territory only during recent weeks. Receipt<i are off from 15-40% by comparison to last year at this time. Gathering momentiun of defense building and rearmament work has thus far failed to result in any improvement at the b. o. For example, there is San Diego, the No. 1 boom town of Cali- fornia with its plane Industry, where grosses have also wilted badly. Until now the chart tyirve has been wavering between poor, fair and moderately good, but the turn is defi- nitely downward at the moment. Even exchange managers, who nor- mally regard exhibitor complaints with suspicion, admit that business is way off. Exhibitors, especially the small independent operators, are constantly before the walling wall these days, but, according to one ma- jor exchange branch manager, 'Jus- tifiably so this time.' Virtually every major film company branch and dis- trict manager in this territory admits the b.o. doldrums to be self-evident. A considerable number of sure- money pictures have been nosediv- ing, with no reasonable explanation available. It can't be blamed on the product, which is generally admitted to be on a par with last year's re- leases. Some of the exchange man- agers consider themselves lucky to have on hand one or 'two top films which are doing well, but these are still getting less coin at the box- office than normally. By the same token exchange men are worried about what will happen to their run- of-the-mill product under current conditions. For a time theatre operators con- soled themselves with the thought that comparisons with last year were oft the beam because 'Gone With the Wind' was hypoing grosses at about the same time in 1940. Now opera- tors find they have to go back sev- eral years, where figures are avail- able, before they can find-basis for comparison. Not lis, They Both WaU Curiously enough, in the Los An- geles district, managers think the naborhoods ere doing all the business, and vice versa. If the boys would get together and compare notes they'd find that none of them is making any extra trips to the bank. Defense building has taken a lot of men and entire families out of circu- lation as far as film houses are con- cerned. Night shifts have cut into regular patronage. Overtime work Extras' Green Pastnres Hollywood, May 27. Tops in bit and atmosphere play- ers, a total of 441 in one week, was registered at Columbia in seven pictures. •Texas' used 155; 'YouH Never Get Rich,' 92; 'Mr. Jordan Comes to Town,' 84; 'Tillie the Toiler,' 42; 'Girls From Panama,' 22; 'King of Dodge City,' 27, and 'Mystery Ship,' IB. U,S. TAXES SHOW MARCH B. 0. •WAY DOWN Warburg's Report Concedes Film Consent Decree Fraught With Evils Washington, May 27, Sickening thud marked the fall In amusement business during March, with the gross take dipping to the lowest point in nine months, accorcl- ing to the U. S. Treasury's tax collec- tion report for April. Payments to Uncle Sam were the smallest ledger- ed since the first month of stlfler taxes, only $5,627,394. Fall was in a(;cordance with the seasonal trend in recent years, as the March yield from the 10% bite has been below the prior month—pre- sumably due in part to Lent—in 1B41, 1940, 1939 and 1938. The April collection figure was only $1,220,297 better than the haul downtown^ ttieatre i^^^ August, which was the first month the amusement Industry oper- ated under taxes beginning at 21c and showed a dive of $1,496,831 un- der'the peak Federal haul from the tariff schedule imposed last summer. From the pace set in March, the April collections were oB. $1,477,526. Still ran $3,626,492 ahead of the yield in the corresponding 1940 stanza (when the starting point still was the V 1 »i j_ t- »-.^ ti.<..4.« 41c mark). For the first four months has left many too tired for theatre- ^^ ^^^^^^^ calendar year, the gomg. One of the primary causes for the b.o. drop here ostensibly parallels that in other parts of the country. It's the war psychosis. How long the decline in theatre receipts may con- tinue is anybody's guess, but in the opinion of chain operators here it's one of those transition periods which is usually followed by a return to normal. Nat'I Allied in Conclave Masterminds Whyfores Federal Government has garnered $25,810,910 from amusement patrons, against ^ mere $7,831,130 for the same portion of 1840. On a fiscal year basis, by which Uncle Sam does his accounting, the wider tax is bringing in over four times the sum formerly obtained, which shows how remote are any hopes the bite may be put back to its old range. Treasury has marked up in 10 months of fiscal 1941 a total of $68,126,449 from amusements, com- pared with $21,957,910 during the whole of fiscal 1940. If patronage in April and May is up to par, the Fed- Cleveland, May 27. eral Government will pocket in the Whys and wherefores of me mys- vicinity of $80,000,000 through the additional pennies on ducats. Selling In blocks-of-five or less, with trade-showings obligatory prior to contract negotiations, may have to be abandoned and new procedure devised in conformance with experi- ences tuder the consent decree which becomes operative with the 1941-42 product, It is stated in the first quarterly report of Paul Felix Warburg, chairman of the film ad- ministrative committee ' for the American Arbitration Assn. Noting that the merits or evils of the various provisions of the decree must eventually prove tkemselves through experience, "Warburg adds that it would be unfortunate to judge the success or failure of the decree as a unit, since it has been aimed at more than one channel of re- straint He believes that the estab- lishment of grievance machinery has achieved a technical advance in anti- trust enforcement, but says the pro- visions against clearance, run and other forms of discrimination are weak only in those instances where they do not go far enough and in the over-implication In denoting circuit buying power as the sole cause of favoritism. Warburg has this to say in his re- port; •The selling practices Imposed by the decree, however, are of ihore questionable merit Surely the pos- terious slump In movie business, de- spite the boom in defense spending, were discussed at a board of direc- tors meeting of the National Allied States Association, held here Mon- day (26). After taking a poU of their territories, representatives of indie exhibs came to the conclusion that boxofflce grosses are off from 20-30% in general. Every one of the 17 convening ex- EXHIB'S SUIT KAYOED VS. SAM DEMBOW, JR. David -Stoneman's suit against Sam Dembow, Jr., was dismissed by 1 the appellate division of the N. Y. hibitors who spoke his piece on the ^ supreme court Friday (23) when problem gave a different possible • that body upheld a decision of su- reason for the drop. They ranged preme court Justice Louis A. Val- from (1) workers in various defense I gnte unanimously. The action had plants have more money, but they ■ sought damages of $70,886 and de- are spending it on autos, houses, old I clared Denbow had made mislead- debts, etc.; (2) they are kept so busy ■ jng statements, with overtime war orders that they I plaintiff claims that on April 15, haven't the time to attend even nabe 11931, Dembow, a Paramount official, houses; (3) too many of them are ■ gave him a Paramount-Publix finan- afraid of a post-war depression and cjai statement purporting to show are saving their earnings; (4) living 1 paramount had assets of $14,000,000. . costs have gone up so high in the on that basis plaintiff claims he "sold ' last two or three months that John the Empire theatre, Portland, Ore., ' Doe still doesn't have enough dough for such luxury items as pix Sternberg's 'Gesture* Hollywood, May 27. Josef von Sternberg draws the di reeling assignmenT on 'The Shang. hal Gesture,''first Hollywood produc tion by Arnold Pressburger, for merly of Vienna, to Par for $120,000, and accepted the word of Paramount to pay. Two years later Paramount' went bank- rupt and the payments ceased. SITUASH IN HAND Hollywood. May 27. Anne Shirley draws the femme lead in "The Marines Are Ready' at iRKO, with Victor McLaglen and Picture goes into work on the Hal Edmund Lowe as male toppers. | Roach lot early in July. UA re- Jack Hively directs and Howard, iMses. 'Benedict produces. 1 V Reisman Reports To Whitney All s OK ip South Am Real strides are being made In the Latin-Americas In the matter of Im- proving the good neighbor policy, according to an Initial report re- ceived by John Hay Whitney, head of the film division of the Rocke- feller Committee promoting hemi- pheric goodwill, from Phil Reisman, RKO foreign sales chief, now in South America. Reismdh heads the film companies' foreign manager group cooperating with Whitney. Understood another highlight of this prelim report reveals real evi- dence has been gat)iered that paid Nazi sabotage was back of recent outbursts against American films. Reisman is expected back in New York early next month. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., one of Hollywood's 'goodwill ambassadors,' presently in South America representing the Whitney program, is being satisfac- torily received in the Latin-Ameri- cas, according to latest word. Full report from Reisman 'on re- ! suits of his trip will be made to Whitney on his return in about two weeks. Whitney plans meeting regularly with foreign managers when they convene at the Hays of- fice_ every other Thursday in order to get their reaction and suggestions for promoting goodwill. \ Budget for the Whitney group likely will be submitted in the next | few weeks. It has'been operating since last September. | .There were other evidences that the program for building Latin- American goodwill was making progress elsewhere—on the produc- tion end. Addison Durland, who started about a month ago as an as- sistant in the Hays office produc- tion code administration department on the Coast, is reported getting more into the swing of things. His duty is to see that nothing which would arouse ill-feeling in the Latin- Americas creeps into films, Kenneth Macgowan, who is han- dling the non-theatrical division for the Whitney group, believes the production end In Hollywood is be- coming more aware of the goodwill problem. Whitney is due to sail with Reis- man to Rio de Janeiro In mid-July. sibility of abuse exists in the work- ings of the former practices, but whether the artificial compromise developed as a curative will' relieve or only aggravate the evils Inherent in the distribution system can be known only after the new procedures have had a fair trial.' Bnrden of Costs In another portion of his report, the high. AAA official declares: 'It Is doubtful whether exhibitors can be expected to risk the burden of costs of arbitration (it has been estimated the average minimum cost to the losing party will be $75), where a distributor has illegally conditioned the licensing of pictures - to theatres'In one exchange district upon the simultaneous licensing of the pictures for theatres located in other exchange districts, since the distributor, U found guilty, must merely pay a nominal sum into the general arbitration fund and the complaining exhibitor receives no direct relief. 'Similarly, the right to cancel short subjects, offensive pictures or additional blocks of features forced on the exhibitor as a condition to the arbitration may extend well over a month before any opinion is an- nounced. As no exhibitor ccn be expected to wait for a month prior to* discovering what pictures he has availal>le for playing,' it would seem advisable to amend the arbitration rules to provide for expedited hear- ings of such 'forcing' cases. In other instances the award may have to be made more appealing to the ex- hibitors or the Government be given power to invoke the arbitration ma- chinery.' [Under the decree a hear- ing cannot be held on a complaint until 21 days have elapsed]. Referring to the Little Three, not party to the consent decree (Uni- versal, Columbia and United Art- ists), the film administrative chair- man says It is understandable why these companies should have deter- mined to remain aloof from the de- cree. He adds: 'AH thfee .companies stand to gain sizable profits b^ operating on -an annual contract basis, In the form of increased- licensing by unaffiliated exhibitors desirous of securing an assured backlog of product and thus placing themselves 'in a better posi- tion to bargain for the various sm'all blocks offered by the consenting producers. The Government however. Is not only faced with the dilemi'tia of pro- ceedings against the Intransigent de- fendants or confessing the weak- ness of its original case, but has ex- ^ pressly obligated Itself In the 'de- cree to secure selling restrictions on blockbooklng and blind selling equivalent to those imposed upon the consenting parties, ' This may be difficult for the Government to achieve, for the remaining defend- ants appear to be In a good stra- tegic position to meet any subsequent Government attack.' L.A.'s First Trial Los Angeles, May 27. The first local case to reach the American Arbitration Association has been adjourned until June 3 after a day of testimony. Otis Lewis, operator of the Mis- sion Playhouse, San Gabriel, has charged the major distribution com- panies with unreasonable clearance. Bryant Wiest's Beef Philadelphia, May 27. Arbitrator Roland J. Christy yes- terday (Mon.) heard arguments in the complaint of the Hollywood, Eli2!abethville, against Metro. Bry- ant Wiest, operator of the house, claimed that the exchange exercised unfair clearance prerogatives in favor of the Theatorlum, Lykens, Pa. R. J. Budd, ownef of the Thea- torlum, who appeared as an 'in- terested party' objected to any change in the setup on the grounds he had made his contract with Metro and was in business long before the Hollywood was built Christy, took the case under advisement.