Variety (Jul 1944)

Agitate for Better Price Range Between First Runs and Subsequents Detroit, July 4. • •*>• Agitation has come up from ex- hibitors here lor a better price range between the subsequent-run houses. The move for an increase for the second runs is headed by Sol Krim, whov is seeking to have their scale moved from 55c evenings to 60c, with a proportionate increase in the 44c price for matinees. This still would permit a differ- ence of 25c between the second and first-runs which charge 85c regularly and 95c for stage shows. However; the quarrel is not with the. gap be- tween the first and second-runs but on the close margin-between second and key-runs. Krim charges that when the newi general city prices were set up there was not enough spread between the subsequent-runs with the second-runs taking a 46c ad- mission plus a 9c , tax to go to 55c, while the key-runs took a net ad- mission of 37c plus a 7c tax to go to 44c. Many of the key-runs also raised a cent or more to be a round number. The result, Krim declared, is. that biz unfairly tends toward the sec- ond-runs with the inequity of the price range further reflected in the fact that the second-run. matinee price is 44c, which is the same price as the regular admission at the key- runs: ■/' .. . Jack Warner Added 5,000 WB, Zukor's Par Buy; Other Deals Philadelphia, July 4. Jack L. Warner's acquisition of 8,000 shares of Warner Bros. $5 par common highlighted transactions in fiJm industry stocks during the period from May ' 11 to June 10 re- ported last week by the Securities A Exchange Commission here. War- ner's holdings in WB stock now total 205,000 shares. - Adolph Zukor reported the pur- chase of 120 shares of Paramount common bringing his total holdings to 500 shares. > Activity in Monogram pictures stock included the sale of 600 shares by Samuel Broidy, Hollywood,^re- ducing his total to 3,800. William B. Hurlbut, Detroit, reduced his hold- ings by sale of one share making his total 3,363. David Bernstein, New York, sold BOO shares of Loew's, Inc., common, reducing his holdings to 19,050. .. Loew's continuing buying up stock .of Loew's Boston theatres adding 12 shares to make its total 121,118. Largest film stock transaction was the sale of 10,000 shares of Trans- Lux common by-Percy N. Furber, New. York making his total 14,320 shares of the security.. ' Robert Lehman, New York bank- er, reported holding 2,000 shares of 20th Century-Fox common. CHI OPS AND EXHIBS SEE EARLY ACCORD . ; Chicago, July 4. Following a series of meetings in the past two weeks between theatre owners and. officials of the Chicago Moving Picture Operators Union, Local 110,, indications point to an early amicable settlement of the problems involved within the next week or two.. Another meeting be- tween the two. factions Is scheduled for Thursday : (4) after which record mendations will be put up to the union membership. Among the issues in the talking stage is a salary increase, which,.;of. course, would have to be passed' by the War Labor Board; the matter; of vacations (the union ,i§ asking for two each year); improvement of sanitary conditions and elimination of the 30 minute before show re- quirement. Union is asking salary for these 30 minutes claiming that since the war it has been necessary for operator to work during these 30 minutes in keeping up the machines and sometimes inspecting film.. Conducting the negotiations for the theatres are Jack Kirsch, Morris Leonard, Eddie Silverman and James E. Coston. Representing the union are Gene Atkinson, business man- ager, Clarence Jalas, asst. business manager, and Daniel Carmell, attor- ney for the operators. m CANT RECOVER FROM CITY OF CHI V; Chicago, July 4. Balaban & Katz denied a new trial by Judge Cornelius J. Harrington, In suit against the City of Chicago because of alleged damage suffered by the Chicago and Roosevelt the- atres in construction of the subway. The company asked $32,000 dam- ages from the City claiming that dur- ing,, construction of the subway, which is in close proximity to both theatres, foundations were weakened at both.theatres and company under- went additional expense in upkeep of the . buildings. Judge ■ Harrington ruled for the city on May 26 and B&K moved for a new trial. :".'-■:"'"..• 'Child Bride'Tabooed By N. Y. State Censors Albany, July 4. The first motion picture appeal filed with the Board, of Regents in more than a year and a half, result- ed ina denial of a petition by Moe Kernuuv operating as. Astor Place Film Exchange for a license for "Quid Bride." On April 20 Irwin" Esmond, director of the motion pic- ture division, State Education De- partment, refused to grant a seal of approval, on the grounds that the film "is indecent, immoral, in- human, would tend to corrupt morals and would tend to incite to crime." On May 13, 1944, Kerman ap- pealed from Esmond's ruling. In his petition, Kerman declared, "There is nothing censorable in the picture that cannot be removed if neces- sary." He argued, "There is nothing indecent in the picture. That it de- picts events permitted by law in various states. That whoever does wrong in the picture is punished." Esmond, in- his response filed with the Board of Regents, said, "It is difficult for respondent to compre- hend what is meant by the petitioner that 'there is nothing censorable. . . .' There is so much in the picture that is censorable that if it were re- moved, there would be no picture left." '. Studio Contracts Hollywood, July 4, Ann Dvorak signed by Republic, Ayn Rand, writer, signed by Hal B. Wallis: ? V'.''';'::"-: Martha Montgomery's player op- tion lifted by 20th-Fox, /: Jeanne Crain renewed by 20th- Fox. • '.' .'' Wanda Tuchbck, writer, 20th-Fox. John Mock, story editor, Hal Wal- lis; , .... \ - : : ' David Horwich, writer, optioned Paramount. E. D. Leshin, producer, renewed Paramount/- ,-.'•'• Byron Poindexter,- player, op- tioned, Par, ' Ellen Drew, player, RKO. Jason Robards, player, optioned by RKO. , ■•; Celeste Holm, legiter, 20th-Fox. . Frank Dunne,, radio announcer, 20th-Fox. ,.■',-. Frank Gruber, writer, by RKO. Shemp Howard.^ four-picture deal, GoFumbia. , : Michael FesSier, producer-writer, optioned at U. __ JS! a«»-i«w_ l„Li Can't Take It, Eh? • Hollywood, July 4. Indie film company, known for its hurried production, recently decided to run daily rushes for the first time in its history, to keep the execs in touch with the daily filming. One of the producers, a whimsical fellow, injected a touch of humor into the first day's rushes by inserting a fake, sequence showing an actor and his secretary dis- cussing the company execs and telling how little they knew about the production of pictures. , After one day's rushes the front office called them off. Await D. of J.'s Move On New Decree Draft* Schine Case Up in Aug. The final draft of the consent de- cree, embracing cancellations, elimi- nation of pooling arrangements and other proposals already announced, is in the hands of Tom C. Clark, as- sistant attorney-general of the Dept. of Justice, for consideration of Fran- cis Biddle, attorney-general. Mean- time, attorneys state the -next move must come from Washington but that there has been no word as to how the D. of J. regards the revised pro- posals nor when an opinion or deci- sion may be expected. The decree recommendations of the distributors has hot been printed, nor is there any im.rnediatejntention to do so. New proposals were-rnere- ly given Clark, together with a. copy of the draft which had been* pre- pared in January, so that compari- sons showing the added concessions of the Big Five could be made. In- the event the D. of 3. approves the new draft, it will then be. presented before Federal Judge Henry W. God- dard in N. Y., who had jurisdiction over the original decree, for finaliz- ing- . The anti-trust' suit of the Govern- ment against the Schine Bros, circuit of around 150 houses, which distribs are watching with Interest, has been put over to August. Distribs, how- ever, are no longer a part of this action, decree group first having been withdrawn and later 6n the so- called Little Three, United Artists, Universal, and Columbia, - Reelect Rathvon, Odium, With Entire RKO Slate , N. \Peter Rathvon was reelected president of RKO Corp. and Floyd B. Odium renamed chairman of. the board at .the "initial .meeting of the Rydge Plans U.S. Trip For Aussie Pic Chain Sydney, July 4. ' Norman B. Rydge, chairman of Greater Union Theatres, one of Aus- tralia's leading film theatre circuits* is planning a trip to the U. S. on an important product deal. Harry Hunter,. Paramount's man- aging director in Australia, also may visit America about the same time. HARDIE MEAKIN NOW RKO'S D.C. DIV. MGR. Hardie Meakiri, manager of RKO Keith's, Washington, for 14 years, is now operating the house under di- rect orders from N. Y., which vir- tually makes him a division man- ager for Washington. Under the new arrangements, Meakin reports direct to Bill How- ard, assistant to Solly Schwartz, who's in charge of out-of-town op- erations on a far-flung front for the hioi - Formerly Meakin reported to Jim Brennan, when-latter was a zone manager in the field. Brennan now is general manager of the RKO chain.. A Washington vet, Meakiri was for nearly nine years a "Variety" mugg, being a regular member of the staff covering the nation's capital. Hopper Hopping L. A. To D. C. Via N. Y. to S. A. Hollywood, July 4. Harold Hopper; president, of "the film section* of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, is heading for Washington Sunday (9), via N. Y. He is going east to confer with Nel- son Rockefeller, and other execs, as well as. State Dept. officials with reference to his trip to South America, where he will make a sur- vey of the film situation. Hopper plans to leave around Aug. 1,-and will be away about 10 : weeks. Metro's 100% U.S. Screen Representation a Record The 20th anniversary celebration Of Metrb marked the first time that any distributor ever had 100% rep- resentation on all the screens of the country. Anniversary week, which ran June 22-28, desclosed that a to- tal of 16.459 theatres played at least one subject, feature or short, bear- ing the Metro label. The company's brandies were tjrxed to capacity in handling the amount of film involved, a total of 53,474 individual shipments of 153,- 201,000 feet of film having been made during the week. William R. Rodgers, v.p. over sales, pointed out that it had been made clear to the field forces that this was not a drive for revenue. That j. the exhibitors of the country should respond in a 100% manner is almost unbelievable, he added. 306 Ops Want to Tilt Century Chain's Scale Though the no-strike pledge of the IATSE prevents it from taking dras- . . tic measures of pre-war days, which directorate flowing the annual | served as a mighty weapon in organ- stockholders' meeting last week in j izational work, Local 306, Moving N. Y. Board also reelected all other' Picture Machine Operators of N. Y., bhTcersrW^ to line RKO Bullishness Renews Reports of Stock Divvy)secretary Recent-strength in RKO common shares which sent the stock well above $10 has given credence to Wall Street reports that the corporation might declare a common dividend. Although the corporation now is paying a regular quarterly divvy on the preferred, company, denies any early intention of making any decl- laration on the common: A year ago any talk of a preferred stock distribution was discounted, but the initial divvy was declared only a few months, later. Ability of RKO to obtain substantial revenue from comparatively low-budget pic- tures has enhanced, its'earnings pos- sibilities for* the present. With thea- tre revenue still zooming along at its recent high levels. vice-chairman of the board; Ned E. Depinet, vice-president (he's presi- dent of RKO Distributing Co.), Gor- don E. Youngmans v.p. and general counsel), Malcolm Kingsberg, v.p. and treasurer. Garrett Van Wagner, comptroller, and J. Miller Walker, Usual quarterly $1.50 "dividend- for the quarter ending next July 31 was declared on RKO preferred. It's pay- able Aug. 1 to holders of record July 20. Musical'Cimarron' Hollywood, July 4. Plans to remake "Cimarron" as a musical have been announced by Metro,with James Mcltori iii mind for the lead role as vocalizing Yan- cey Cravatt. Understood that the success of "Oklahoma" points the way to a tunefilm version of the Edna Ferber novel. Picture was originally made by RKO in 1931 with Irene Dunne and Richard Dix in the co-star spots. up the UeKWry circuit of Brooklyn and Long Island before the no-strike commitment is lifted. Herman Gelber, president Of 306, who automatically became president of Empire State, whose members are under 10-year contract in Century's approximate 40 houses, when a merger arrangement was_effected, - is reported- pitepa«'ng-to"seek^^ with Century to bring the scales up to 306 standards despite various pending court actions. These include one, since appealed by 306, which prevents dissolution of Empire, while another was brought by non-em- ployed members of Emp with a view to upsetting the merger. Meantime, 306 is trying to arrange a deal With the. Skouras and Rand- force circuits in the Greater N. Y. territory for the payment of a full hour's time to projectionists who are required to report to their booths a half hour early in order to pre- pare for the opening. Negotiations are also on for a new contract to supersede the one now in force, which runs to September, 1945. , Boris Morros' Plans Boris Morros is east on a twofold mission in connection with his new recording business and the filming of the: stage play, "Of Thee I Sing." Picture will, be produced .under Producing Artists banner in associa- tion with David LOew and Arthur Lyotjs for release by United Artists: L.A. to N. Y/ Robert Armstrong. ' :, Don Bernard. Anne Brenton. Lt. Col. Emanuel Cohen. Laird Cregar. '• •fa^f. William Davis. . . ; Murray Feil. ' .•> ■•,' Walter Gould. Major John Hubbell. ,„. Stan Joselpff. - Ella Logan. Jack McGowan. u ■''' ■[': :■>'>. ^John Meehan. "-NormaTi^tetray: Boris Morros." ':"'■■ Ella Mae Morse. Seymour Ncbenzal. Martha Percilla. Joyce Reynolds. "--:. : -'..' "'V : '' John Sutherland.' Paul Warrick, , : ; Dave Wolper. N.Y. to L.A. ■Harry Akst. Helen Brooks. '•'.■{■•.'■'.•''.■ Jean Dairymple. Fanny Holtzman. " Al Jolson. ■ Charles B. Maddock. Edward Perkins... . S. W. Singer. Handwriting Experts Called by 20th-Fox In -Alexander' Plot Suit St. Louis, July 4. Charging that false testimony, pur- suant to a deliberate plan to perpe- trate a fraud upon the U. S. District Court here, 20th Century-Fox Film Corp, last week filed a motion in Judge George H. Moore's court to re- open the hearing in the plagiarism suit filed against it by Mrs. Marie Cooper..pejhlw. JMetltMus^ formerly" of St. Louis, and now be- lieved residing in California. Last March Judge Moore, in a memorandum opinion,-hSa;; irTeffect, that there were so many'-striking similarities between scenes in "Al- exander's Ragtime Band" and the plaintiff's unpublished novel, "Love Girl," that the defendant, must have had access to the novel before starts ing on the production of the flicker. Mrs. Swanson testified that she had sent her novel to the U. S. Copyright office in 1943 and her application for a copyright had been rejected. She also said she sent a clean copy, bear- ing ho alterations or corrections, of the same book to Laurence D'Orsay, a literary critic in California on Jan. 21, 1937. She further testified that oh the same date she mailed an exact copy of the manuscript sent', to D'Orsay in a sealed package ad- dressed to herself and that the pack- age remained sealed until June, 1941, after she had filed the suit, when the seals were broken and the package was opened under a Court order. The new motion charges that there is convincing proof that the .manu- script did riot remamleaTed^naTin- - broken from Jan. 1937 to June; 1941, arid this is substantiaed by the pen- cilled notes on the alleged D'Orsay copy which are identical to those found in the copy opened by the court order. , . ' . The assistance of a nationally known handwriting expert waa sought after the trial and his affidavit containing many photogaphs, the film company asserts, proves conclu- sively that the changes made onitlje'_ alleged sealed copy were made some time after the so-called D'Orsay copy was returned to Mrs. Swanson. Other affidavits filed in the motion for the reopening of the case are those of D'Orsay and Mrs. Mabel Malone, formerly of St. Louis, which the de- fendant claims prove that neither the so-called D'Orsay manuscript nor the .so-called sealed manuscript were sent to either of them by Mrs. Swanson. The motion further charges that the two manuscripts in evidence were • rewritten after Mrs. Swanson had seen the flicker in St. Louis, in Affg., 1938, and that she had probably read reviews of it before actually seeing the picture. . The motion asserts that "as ex- amples, the manuscripts in court re- ferred to an Armistice Day celebra- tion in St. Louis in 1938, and they further refer to a song. "Oh, Johnnie," which, published in 1937, had, after a short period of popularity, laid dormant until revived in 1939. The incidents that the court found simi- lar to portions of the picture do not fit in the plaintiff's novel and appear . V-'. •\>n': /'j-'-■ ■' t : .'..,:'■.. to Acive meii-wtfhy■ft.jtriccl^:^™, ■ novel to support Mrs. S'warison's •: claim of plagiarism," 20th-Fox'f charge continues, „•"..', A hearing on the motion was held Friday (30) arid the documentary evidence was offered by John F. Cas- key and John R. McCullough, general counsel for the film corp., and pre- pared by Edwin P. Kilroe, copyright: expert for the company. They were assisted by Samuel W. Fordyce and Thomas W. White, St. Louis at* torneys. J. Porter Henry, St. Louis lawyer is representing the plaintiff who, according to a statement made in court, has remarried since the suit was filed and is now known as Mrs. Marie Cooper Oehler Dieckhaus Swanson. The statement was made that she has been married five times but one married name is missing. Judge Moore ordered attorneys for both sides to submit briefs prior to July 12 at which time he will take the motion under advisement. At- torney Henry bitterly fought against the move to reopen the case.