Variety (Feb 1942)

PIGTUIIE8 Wednesday, Febraary 4, 1942 Louis B. Mayer $$700,000 Tops M-G. For 1941. Loew Stockholders Learn Louis B. Mayer made more than (700,000 in salary and participation in the profits of Loew's, Inc., during 1941. Second top «arner among dis- tribution and production execs of the company was producer Hunt Stromberg, with about $337,000. He was just $3,000 ahead o( president Nicholas M. Schenck, who made around $334,000. Total salaries and percentage par- ticipation of 12 top Loew's-Metro execs amounted to about $3,400,000 tor the year. Of that sum approxi- mately half was in salaries and the other half in profit-sharing setup of the company. Figures became available as a re- sult of the Loew's, Inc., stockholders meeting in New York yesterday (Tuesday). One of the stockholders requested thai the amounts paid out In the percentage participation plan be read. Salaries had previously been made public. Figures on sal- aries and percentages, the latter based on Loew's net of approxi- mately $9,000,000 after certain charges, are: 1941 Louis B. Mayer, v.p., 6.7% of net, $549,425; salary, $156,000; total. 1704,425. Hunt Stromberg, production bonus, $77,409; salary, $260,000; total, »337,500. N. M. Schenck, president; 2.5% of net, $204,204; salary, $130,000; total, -#334,204.—.. Sam KaU, v.p.; 1.4% of net, $121,- •79; salary, $156,000; total, $278,000. Edgar J. Mannix, v.p.; 1.4% of net, $121,979; salary, $156,000; total, (278,000. Al Llchtman, v.p.; 1.05% of net. (91,484; salary, $156,000; total, (247,500. • Bernard Hyman, prod, exec; 0.7%- of net, $60,989; salary, $169,000; total, $230,000. David Bernstein, v.p. and treas.; \i% of net $1-22,522; salary, $104,- 000; total, $226,522. J. Robert Rubin, v.p. and counsel; 1.4% of net, $100,308; salary, 104,000. toUl, $204,308. Lawrence Wcingarten, producer; 0.35% of net, $30,494; salary, $169,- 000; total, $199,500. Ben" Thau, asst to Mayer; 0.7% of net, $60,989; salary, $91,000; total, (152,000. Harry HapJ, producer; 0.35% net, (30,494; salary, $114,400; toUl, (145,000. Radio, Pkture Coin Donated to Cbarity Roled Tax Exempt Reynolds in 'Blockade' In addition to a cast including a flock of British stars, 'The Big Blockade,'recently completed in Lon- don for U. S. release, has a number of prominent people in other fields playing themselves. Among them is .Quentln Reynolds, Collier's cor- respondent in Europe. Reynolds is currently back in this country on a lecture tour. 'Blockade' wa.'; made by Ealing Studios and will be released by United Artists in the U. S. under a deal made last year by which the company guarantees to distribute a minimum of three Ealing pix a year. Playing in 'Blockade,' are Robert Morley, Leslie Banks, Michael Red- grave, Will Hay, Basil Sydney, Al- fred Drayton, John Stuart, Griffith Jones, Marius Goring and John Mills. Michael Balcon produced. HELUNGERDUE TO QUIT 20TH Hollywood, Feb. 3. Clash of two positive minds is the motivation lor-Mnrk-Hellinger's-oon-- templated resignation as a producer at 20th-i'ox with more than a year to run oiT' the present contract. Hellinger and Darryll Zanuck are still friends, socially, and respect each other professionally, but they clash about story material and its proper handling. There was the same trouble at Warners, where Hellinger and Hal Wallis engaged in many a literary clinch, Understood Hellinger will check out alter he finishes his current pro- duction, 'Moontide,' slated for April release. Under his contract he is permitted to puU out at his own request. TAYGARNEnTRYSOUT IN RADIO ON FEB. 15 Disney in D.C. Huddles On More Gov't Shorts Walt Disney.-is huddling with Navy Department and Treasury of- ficials in Washington this week on production of another batch of de- fense shorts. He Is due in New York for a quickie visit en route to the Coast. Roy Disney shoved off for Holly- wood last Thursday (20). Top Indies Form Own Group Aloiig Hays Office Lines Hollywood, Feb. 3. Eight name picture makers have banded together in an organization, to be known as Society of Inde- pendent Motion' Picture Producers, Inc. It will operate independently of but similar to the Hays organi- zation. ' Charter members who paid $2,500 entrance fee are Charles Chaplin, Walt Disney, Alexander Korda, Mary Pickford, David O. Selznick, Walter Wanger, Sam Gold- wyn and Orson Welles. Temporary president of the new outfit is Loyd Wright, film biz at- torney, who will step aside when a new head, who can devote his full time to the job, is selected. James Align fnnmp rly ^with.. Department of Justice in the public relations dii!- partment, is executive secretary. Membership fees, similar to per- centage arrangement now prevailing in the Hays organization, will later be exacted. Society, which emphasizes that none of its producers are afflUated with theatre-owning groups, has been set up to work .out its own problems, peculiar to its own group of indies. Hollywood, Feb. 3. Uncle Sam will not collect taxes en salaries paid to film stars for broadcasts or pictures and turned over to the Red Cross or other charitable institutions. Norman H. Davis, national Red Cross chairman, cited a recent ruling by the Depart ment of Treasury, in response to a letter from Harry M. Warner, indus- try Red Cross chairman. In part, Davis said: 'Realizing the practical difficulty of obtaining in advance explicit rul Ings on each separate instance of do nated services, we have sought to summarize the secretary's letter in three simple conditions, which, if carefully observed, will, in our judg ment, result in non-taxable income to the contributing artist. 1. Thft service performed by the artist must be plainly for the bene- fit of a designated charitable organ!- latlon. 2. The party responsible for the ialary payment, that is the producer or sponsor, must acknowledge in ad- vance of the rendition of the artist's services his liability to make pay ment of - such salary direct and ex' clusively to the designated charity. S. The services of the artist would not have been rendered except for his desire to aid a designated charity, Col. Gets a Title From Another Company's Film ColuAibia I^as taken- a line from Camuel Goldwyn's 'Ball of Fire' and registered it as a title for one of its own pictures. Line is 'Whafs Buzzin', Cousin?' Barbara Stanwyck, star of 'Fire,' Is. Jlid to have ' provided the phrase erseU, it. being one she recalled ■om her"yoiitk4lni-B<oolcl9iU'"> Hollywood, Feb. 3. Tay Garnett, film producer-direc tor, has formed Tay Garnett Radio Productions and will offer his debut radio program Feb: 15 with Three Sheets to the Wind,' first of a series Sunday night on NBC-Red. John Wayne and Helga Moray, English legit and film actress, will play the leads. Ken Englund has scripted Three Sheets' and' Charles Dant's orcnestra will proylde the music. James Parks Co., Chicago, is sales representative for Garnett Produc- tions. SELZNICK ENDS LONG PROD. LULL WITH mS' Hollywood, Feb. 3, David O. Selznick moved back into production yesterday (Mon.) after two years of inactivity, with tests for his high-budget picture, 'Keys of the Kingdom,' an adapta- tion of the controversial novel by A. J. Cronin. Robert Stevenson, director, is test ing 26 candidates for the lead roles. Picture is for United Artists release. Lotsa Blood Hollywood, Feb. 8. Screen Writers Guild la exceeding Its quota on donations to the Red Cross blood bank. Financial contributions from mem- bers also good. Theatres Seeking Boxoffice Solution To National Daylight Saving Clip Grainger In N. Y. James R. Qrainger, president of Republic, returned to New York Thursday (29) from a swing through the eastern territory for brief home-oflice huddles prior to his de- parture for the Coast. Grainger is going to Los Angeles late this week for the first of customary quarterly regional sales meets, set for Feb. 12, Herbert J. Yates already Is on tfae Coast lining up Republic product for the fourth quarter. Grainger visited Washington, Cin- cinnati, (^evelend and Pittsburgh on this trip. He reports business for the company remarkably strong. \flXL Dpi WONTCHAN FOX SENTENCE Philadelphia, Feb. 3. U S. District Court Judge Guy K, Bard last week refused—for the third time—to make any change In the year-and-a-day sentence and $3,000-.fln«.-he-lmpoEed on William Fox, bankrupt ex-flbn magnate, on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and defraud the Govern- ment Fox was convicted after he pleaded guilty to the charges, but the Gov- ernment failed to convict two other men similarly accused: Former Cir- cuit Court Judge J .Warren Davis and Morgan S. Kaufman, Scranton attorney. The U. S. dropped charges against them when two juries failed to agree on a verdict. Martin Littleton, Jr., Fox's attor ney, argued that dismissal of the charges against Davis and Kaufman destroyed the 'basic requirement' of the law that it takes at least two persons to engage in a conspiracy, Judge Bard, however, ruled that one person may be sentenced on a conspiracy charge, even if the other defendants are not 'concurrently or precedently convicted' with him. Fox is under $50,000 bail pending an appeal to the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case grew out of Fox's alleged loans to Judge Davis while bis bankruptcy litigation was pending In Davis' court Kaufman was charged with being the go-be- tween. Preparing to meet national day- light saving, but with no concrete counteractives'brought forth to date, all of the country's theatres for the- first time in history and for an in- definite period face the possibility of boxoffice Injury when clocks are moved forward one hour on Mon- day (9). In some quarters' it is believed that daylight saving due to wartime may have greater eftect against business than in the past, when it was ex- istent only over the summer, due to the fact that the war has' also shift- ed' the play at the b.o. Matinees have gone off, while .night business has increased. With the' new measure providing more and more daylight as the year progresses, this may cut into the night trade also, while ex- pected matinee levels will continue down'. inions—vary-as- t o w hat-harm- dayilgbt saving time has caused in the past, when usually in effect from the last Sunday in April to the final Sunday in September. Operators in towns with large golfing populations or close by beaches are believed to have been the greatest sufferers, wliile in other territories having day- light time it appeared that the sum- mer business levels remained about the same as before. A thought expressed in film cir- cles as an offset against daylight sav- ing time is the maintenance of a lower price scale later in the eve- ning-than-now^hen price-changes occur at 5 or 6 0,'clock. This may be an Inducement to get people in before dark. Squelch Attempt to hject Bioff Case in Loew s Stockholder Meeting Attempt to bring up for discussion bt Loew's annual stockh''6lder meet- ing in New York yesterday (Tues- day) the payments- by the company to WiUie Biofl and George E. Browne were quickly stifled. J. Robert Ru- bin, Loew's vlcs-president and gen- eral counsel, who presided at the conclave of the .company's owners, reftised to entertain any talk of the payments to the two labor leaders, revealed In Federal Court when they were convicted of extortion a few mbhths ago, Rubin explained that Inasmuch as the matter was still before the coiu-ts it was an Improper subject of dis- cussion. There was no objection to his ruling. . Watson Washburn, an attorney, who brought the Biofl pay- ments up, said at his office after the meeting that he 'merely wondered' whether the company had any state- ment to make on the matter.' Wash- bum said he was not a stockholder himself, but refused' to reveal ^or whom he held , a proxy. Only other reflection of the Browne-Blofl payments, over which Loew's faces a number of stodchdlder suits, came after a number of thosa at the meeting got up to. '«Npvee» appreciation and gratitude for the fine way In which the officers have run the ..company.' It was suggested that this expres- sion be put In the form of a resolu- tion, whereupon a stockholder asked an amendment be made to the effect that there was 'appreciation and gra- titude except for matters now before the court' Rubin said he didn't feel the amendment was pertinent, but put it to a vote bef6re the group, the majority of which favored dropping it from the resolution, which was later passed. Meeting otherwise went off accord- ing to schedule, with all 12 directors re-elected without an opposing nom- ination. 'Votes cast represented 1,- 226,263 shares of the 1,801,735 com- mon and preferred outstanding. Directors re-elected were Rubin, George N. Armsby, David Bernstein, Leopold Friedman, John R. Hazel, Alexander Llchtman, Charles C, Moskowitz, William A. Parker, Nich- olas M. Schenck, Joseph R. Vogel, David 'Warfldd and Henry Rogers Winthrop. Warfield followed his annual cus- <tom>by attending-the-.meetinfi L. A. to N. Y. Louise Beavers. John Boles. Richard Collins. Dorothy Comingore. Jackie Cooper. Irving Cummingi. Dan Danker. George Dembow. Marta Eggerth. Homer Fickett: Bonita Granville. Ruth Hussey. Walter Huston. Paul Jarrlco. Jan Kiepura. 'Vincent Korda. Burton Lewis. Kay Mulvey, Ona Munson, Clare' Ohnstead. Harry Peny. William Pine. John Reber. Maxie Rosenbloom Irving Rels. Artie Schwartz. Gredwell L. Sean. Murray Silverstone. A. K. Spencer. Frank 'Walker. Alfred Wallenstein. Richard Whort N. Y. to L. A. Pat Casey, Ava Gardner. Paul Henrled. Mlchele- Morgan. Robert Mosher. Geolrge Raft Mickey Roon'ey. Bernard, ti. Schubert -9 iHerman Shumlln, - » • • - 5 PK, PLAY, BOOK, ETC., ON BRIT. COMMANDOS Exploits of the Commandos, Britain's invasion troops, have ap- parently intrigued imaginations in the . United States to the extent that there are at least four pictures on the Commandos coming up, plus a Broadway play, a book and a mag story. Films definitely lined up are Columbia's The Commandos,' from a- story by Elliott Arnold, of the New York World-Telegram; Republic's "Here Come the Commandos,' which the studio is giving an oversized budget; 'Wamer Bros.' 'Edge of Darkness,' - from the book of that title by William Woods, which the company acquired last week -for $30,000, Paramount's "Channel Port' which will be filmed in England, and one which William Rowland has on the fire for indie production. Legiter Is John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down,' which Oscar Serlin is preparing for Broadway produc- tion in April. It will also be pub- lished as a book. Mag story. The Commandos Come at Dawn,' is by C. E. Forrester.- Shnmfin WiO Direct Ithine' for Hal Wallis Hal Wallis returned to the Coast over the weekend after five days in New York huddling ' with Herman Shumlin and Lillian Hellman on 'Watch on the Rhine.' Shumlin pro- duced and Miss Hellman wrote the legiter, which viti\ be the second or third film to be made by his new unit at Wamer Bros., Wallis said. Shumlin, who has directed many legiters, will make his debut as a film directoi' with 'Rhine.' Dashiell Hammett do the scripting. Paul Lukas, who stars in the stage play, la virtually' certain for the picture, Wallis stated. Producer declared the screenplay will be very similar to the legit version, with its reflection of the underground movement in Germany. 'Desperate Journey,' with Errol Flynn, which went before the cam- eras this week, Is the initial pro- duction by Wallis' imit Shumlin flew to the Coast Sunday (1) for further studio huddles. He's due back next week. Should Be Quick Study Hollywood, Feb. 3. Charles Winnlnger plays the same role In the film, 'Friend^ Enemies,' for Edwdrd Small that he did on the stage'20 years ago. Charles Buggies Is the other eaentf.' - '' • • -