Variety (Nov 1941)

Wednesday, November 8, 1941 PICTURES 7 WANT TEEN-AGE PK FANS Fred Jack, Henry Herbel Mentioned For Kabnenson's Ex-WB District Successor io Ben Kalmenson as western-southern division sales man aeer for Warner Bros, remains In the air partly, from account, because of Inability at the home office on the part of Joe Bemhard, Kalmenson and others to decide on who It shall be. In addition to Fred Jack, south' western district manager, who was reported a strong candidate tor the post a week ago, Henry Herbel since has moved forward as a likely candidote. Herbel is West Coast dis- trict manager. Reports that, under the new setup no western-southern division chief may be named, with Kalmenson os general sales manager also attend ing to that divish, are said to have cropped up because nothing was done concerning the division at the Friday-Saturday (31-1) sales meet- ing in U.Y., , called by Kalmenson, and attended by district as well as branch managers. Similar reports with respect to the eastern-Canadian division resulted from an announce- ment at the two-day sales session that Roy Haines would henceforth have direct supervision over the Bos- ton, New Haven, Buffalo and Albany branches in addition to his present duties. As eastern divisional head- these offices have always been under Haines, tut previously they were embraced in the district supervised by Eddie Schnltzer out of N.Y. New (7tli) District Understood that under the new Warner policy restoring district man agers to their former posts and powers, the Boston-New Haven-But falo-Albany group will comprise a new district, with Schnltzer oversee Ing the district embodying New York, New Jersey and Brooklyn, large in itself. When Grad Sears prepared to meet new distribution problems under decree selling, he demoted dis- trict heads, then numbering seven, who in effect became high-powered bosses at exchange centers where they had headquartered. At the same time the branch managers at those points remained on largely as assistants. As a result, while branches assumed greater authority contact with the home office was direct rather than through the dis trlct manager plan and thus there was added h.o. supervision. Kal mehson assertedly disliked that pol- icy, thus recreating diistricts that formerly existed except that the so- called 'Prairie Division' over Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines and Min- neapolis, is now added to the central district, which Hud Lohrenz com- mands from Chicago. In addition to Lohrenz, who also has Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Indianapolis, the district men and their exchanges are: Robert Smeltzer, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit; Fred Jack, Dallas, New Orleans and Oklahoma City; Ralph McCoy, Atlanta, Char- lotte and Memphis; and Herbel, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake City. OWL SHOWS IN COAST DEFENSE WORK AREAS Los. Angeles, Nov. 4. Owl shows for defense workers, whose shifts prevent them from see- ing the regular film programs, are being tried out in southern Cali- fornia, a scene of vast activity in airplane and munitions work. War- ners started the plan In its Holly- wood theatre with a complete show starting at 1 a.m. Fox-West Coast follows up tomor- row (Wed.) with an all-night grind in the El Portal theatre. North Hol- lywootf. If successful, the experi- ment will be extended to defense areas throughout the state. Nogent's Pic, Legit Shift Hollywood, Nov. 4. Elliott Nugent, who recently fin- ished a director job on the Warner picture, 'The Male Animal,' shifts to New York next week to stage a legit play, 'AH in Favor,' with Robert Montgomery, n(jw a Naval officer, as an absentee partner. Comedy, authored by Louis Hoff- man and Don Hartman, breaks, out in January, with Nugent producing and directing. PAR'S THIRD QUARTER EARNINGS, $3,071,000 Paramount third quarter earnings were estimated by the company at $3,071,000, after interest and all charges, including provision for Fed- eral taxation, normal federal income taxes being figured at 31%. This is equal to $1.10 per common share as compared to SSc in the third quarter of 1940 when Par showed $1,726,000. Company estimated nine-month earnings at $7,450,000 as against only $4,810,000 in 1940. Paramount included $1,300,000 as its share pf undistributed earnings.of partially owned non-consolidated subsidiaries in the total for the first three quarters ended Oct. 4 this year. For the comparable period last year, this figure was $1,355,000. Company did not provide for Fed- eral excess profits taxes since it was estimated that none had accrued. Paramount Annual Earnines, 1935-40 1935 $3,153,167 1936 3,889,020 1937 6,045,103 1938 2,533,279 1939 2,737,533 1940 7,633,130 ., (1940 by Quarters) First quarter $1,060,000 Second quarter 1,478,000 Third quarter 1,726,000 Fourth quarter 2,823,130 (1941 by Quarters) First quarter -. .$2,475,000 Second quarter 1,904,000 Third quarter 3,071,000 Sonohx vs. G. L For $1,500,000; Restraint? A triple damage anti-trust suit by the Sonolux Co.. against General Electric, for $1,500,000. was .filed Thursday (29) in N. Y. federal court by Sonolux, which had been in the business of manufacturing and sell- ing incandescent lamps for use in film studios and theatres and on motion picture projection and sound reproducing equipment. Plaintiff manufactured and sold such items as exciter lamps, rectifier tubes, photo- electric cells, projection lamps, etc. Plaintiff incorporated in February, 1932, and by the end of 1933 had such accounts as Warner Bros., Skouras, Fox-West Coast, Paramount Publix, Wilmer & Vincent, Balaban & Katz, Comerford, Saengci-, Na- tional Theatres, Erpi, General Talk- ing Pictures, etc. It is charged that the defendant owned numerous patents which re- lated to the plaintiff's products. De- fendant is accused of threatening suits against the defendants cus- tomers for use of these patents until these customers, fearful of the re- sults, left the plaintiff and bought their lamps elsewhere, mostly from the defendant. Riskin's'Merrily'at M-G Hollywood. Nov. 4. 'Merrily We Roll Along' has been assigned to Everett Riskin as the initialer on his Metro producer con- tract. He recently pulled out of Colum- bia. LOSS THEBEOF IIUORRIES EXHIDS Means Creating a New Scale for the 12-1S-Year-Olds, to Woo the High School Boys and Girls — May Mean Lifting the Kid-Admish Brackets SIZEABLE CONTINGENT Detroit, Nov. 4. Exhibitors here are brooding over having to dub In a new price for the important contingent of flim-goers who are high school kids. What woke them up to the fact that there had been a dearth of youngsters of teen ages in the houses was the following letter to the editor which appeared in a newspaper here: 'To the Editor: 'I am only 15 years old and am expected to pay the same price as an adult at a movie. How can boys and girls of my age attend movies regularly when our al- lowances are far from adequate? Why can't the movie managers create an in-between price for students 12 to 18? This.would greatly increase high school at- tendance at the pictures.' Don Aushmaii. Thinking it over, managers here were inclined to think young Rush- man had something. Kids of high school age, with the exception of some such femme attendance, are one of the poorest groups In picture attendance. While the moppets and older groups show up, there is a gap in the years when kids are in their teens. IThere had been the inclination to mark it off as due to other Inter- ests but the letter aroused the opinion that maybe it was just a matter of price. Kids in their teens are forced to pay the same clip as adults and most of them don't have that kind of money. What allowances the boys get are spent on school parties which explained the few high school girls, who now are going bare-legged and saving a little coin, as the only rep- resentatives of this age group. Managers, particularly in the nabes, are wondering if, much as they hate to mess with another price, they couldn't build up plenty of added biz by either dropping the price for the high school group or putting the "teen-agers back on the basis of kid admissions they had a few years before. Even a slight margin like winning back'to the pic- ture houses this group would mean a nice difference for houses now running on a close margin. THOMSON GIVES UP AN ALTERNATE JOB Hollywood, Nov. 4. Kenneth Thomson bowed out as executive secretary of the Motion Picture Society for the Americas to devote full time to his duties, in similar capacity, with Screen Actors Guild, An appointee of Jock Whitney, his double duty drew some criti- cism from SAG members who held he shouldn't hold down two jobs. 'Harvest' Leads Set Hollywood, Nov. 4. Greer Garson and Ronald Colman were signed by Metro to co-star in 'Random Harvest,' novel by James Hilton. Sidney Franklin produces the pic- ture, slated to start as soon as Miss Garson finishes her current job in 'Mrs. Minivei'' in which she heads the cast with Walter Pldgeon. Wil- liam Wyler, on loan from Samuel Goldwyn, is directing. With Receipt of $1950,000 British Fihn Coin in N. Y., It's Now Hoped To Have Good Meet on Aussie, Nl -4f Injuns' Squatdown Hollywood, Nov. 4. American aborigines have learned something about finance since they sold Manhattan Island for a Dutch song. Twenty Taos Indians, imported from the res- ervation as atmosphere for 'Val- ley of the Sun' at RKO, were drawing. $5.50 a. day until they read the trade papers and learned that the palefaces were getting $10.50 for the same work. Claiming to be dress extras by reason of their native costumes, the simple redskins put on a squat strike until RKO compro- mised on heap more wampum. EIGHT PICTURES ON COL'S NOV. SLATE Hollywood, Nov. 4. Columbia opened its November production with a schedule of eight pictures, four of which started' yes- terday (Mon.). They were 'Martin Eden,' 'Shut • My Big Mouth,' 'The Man Who Returned to Life' and 'Lawless Plainsmen.' Others to go before the lenses dur- ing the month are 'After the Alamo,' •Trinidad,' Tillie Feels the Draft' and an untitled feature based on the story, 'Something Borrowed.' Depinet, Koemer, Et AI. To 0.0. RKO Prodnct Ned Depinet, Charles Koemer, S. Barret McCormlck and Terry Turner left for the Coast over the weekend to look over new RKO product completed or nearlng com- pletion. Sales possibilities and pub- licity campaign setups were to be mapped out after giving several pic- tures the once-over. Four executives are reported especially interested in 'Ball of Fire,' new Sam Goldwyn picture, which soon will be ready for re- lease. No Plagiarism in WB Pic, 'Angels' Suit Thrown Out Hollywood, Nov. 4. Another plagiarism suit was tossed out of court when Warners was absolved of piracy in connec- tion with filming 'Angels Wash Their Faces.' Wallace Milam sued for $1,110,000, charging his 'For Theirs Is the Kingdom' was thefted after being submitted and rejected. Court ruled there was no basis for literary theft. RKO's Circuit Sale Hollywood, Nov. 4. RKO sold its flrst block of Ave nims under the consent decree to the McNeil-Nalfy chain, consisting of 82 theatres in northern California. 'Citizen Kane' heads the ILst. Others are 'Parachute Battalion,' 'Father Takes a AVife,' 'All That Money Can Buy' and 'Lady Scar- face.' Bells Jingle at WB Hollywood, Nov. 4. The Night Before Christmas' hopped into its reindeer sleigh yes- terday (Monday) at Warners, slated to finish before the holidays. Jane Wyman and Jack Carson pTSy the top roles, directed by Lloyd Bacon. With the receipt in New York last week of about $7,950,000, purported as representing 25% U.S. distributor revenue formerly Impounded In England, Interest in the British frozen coin situation simmered down to a 'now It can be told' status, with chief concern being over what effect Britain's action would have on new frozen money pacts with Aus- tralia and New Zealand. While the British government's action In un- freezing approximately half of cur- rency blocked may have a salutary effect in inducing both New Zealand and Aussie governments to do simi- larly, the setup on nioney arrange- ments In forthcoming 12 - month periods is not rated so good. Summary of accomplishments on Britain's frozen coin situation-is as follows: (1) . Secured a new frozen money agreement covering the year starting around Nov. 1 this year, allowing eight majors to withdraw up to $20,- - 000,000, or roughly half of total revenue anticipated by these U.S. distributors In the next 12 months. (2) . Subdivision of same pact covering major company revenue f rozen in London during the last two years whereby the eight companies will get half of what it regards as coin tied up by the two pacts, now estimated at $15,900,000. N.Y. offices always had contended that half would run as high as $20,000,000. (3) . Immediate remittance of 50% of this or $7,950,000 to N.Y. Will Hays explained latest status of coin situation at an all-day ses- sion of foreign sales chiefs l^st Wed- nesday, when it Is understood the billing method was decided on as a basis for splitting up the frozen money among the eight majors. Background OriginaUy the U.S. distributors asked 100% of the estimated $40,- 000,000 tied up In Britain. American companies proposed - to settle this first, and then go into the new frozen money pact for the ensuing year. British insisted that negotiations on' the two should be tied together. Consequently U.S. distributors coun- tered by asking full withdrawal of all revenues al>ove actual operating expenses in the 12-month period starting this month. In both pleas for 100% withdrawal, the fllni com- pany spokesmen with U.S. state de- partment officials agreeing predi- cated their plea on the contention that Britain now is able to permit I the remittances without impairing ' its dollar exchange. It was pointed out that the lease-lend law pre- cluded apy necessity for holding back this coin. British came back by flatly refus- ing to' allow any reveiiue'withdrawn in the forthcoming year. It was this reply that caused U.S. foreign film managers to hit the celling. . Re- ported that along about this time. Will Hays stepped In personally along with film company top executives and chief counsels.- After understanding from cable and transatlantic phone conversation that a flat half of the $40,000,000 tied up in Britain was to be allowed out - (covering the past two years' opera- tions) , receipt of completed pact Jn N.Y. revealed numerous 'ifs' and 'ands,'—hence foreign managers now admit that only estimates can be given of the actual amount they will receive from presently impounded funds in Britain. Reported In authoritative quarters that the British arrived at this $16,- 000,000 ($15,950,000 actual figure) by taking half of $19,000,000, total on first year, and half of $12,900,000, th« amount credited the second year. Catch here is that U.S. distributers always calculated the $12,900,000 as approximately one-third of their total revenue during the year Just past Estimated that there Is now $5,- 400,000 of major company revenus tied up in Australia, or will be with- in the next few months. •