Variety (Jul 1944)

Wednesday, July 19, 1914 PICTURES T PLAN MORE ACTION FILMS Stockholders Approve Loew Pension Plan; Six Months' Earnings Up 10% By a vote of 1,044,125 shares in t : favor, versus . 90,658 (principally through proxies) against, the LoeW's. Inc. pension plan was approved at the annual Loew's stockholders meeting .in. N. Y. yesterday (Tues.i. Threatening fireworks from opposing stockholders failed to materialize, with only a couple, of the latter voicing any disagreement with the plan. Arguments of the latter large- ly boiled down to the conventional minority complaint that film execu- tives are earning too much money. Eugene W. Leake, Loew director, who chairmaned the meeting after J. Robert Rubin withdrew because lie is among.'those employees, cov- ered by' the pension plan, compared the Loew pension proposal with other industrial organizations.. Leake pointed out that the total limit of benefit rights is 25% of thje salary with a ceiling on salaries. He said that this compared very favorably with organizations where there is a retirement plan: - ' Leake noted that the N.-Y.Times pension plan, like many others, pro- vides a pension of 2' 0 of the amount of salary, multiplied by the/number ' of years'6£ service, with a maximum of 50"„, Thus an employee: with 25 years of service on the Time* would (Continued on page 4'i) ,'-■-:; Fancy Pix Divvys Washington, July 18. Picture industry dividends should hit a new , high in 1944. on the basis of figures compiled thus far by the Dept. of Com- merce. .- ';,'.' '-. ' ';;.;';.'. .'■> '.'.■' -'. '. '.•.• ' '"".'■' For the first five months of the yeai\ dividends, based on re- ports fi om 18 ; companies, totaled $5,956,000, as compared with $3,- 269,000 lor the same period in 1943. Dividend payments for May, 1944, totaled $606,000, and only $148,000 in May, 1943.' Metro's Rodgers Still Masterminding Plan For Subsequent Runs While working on plans for the al- leviation of difficulties confronting /various subsequent-run theatres in the larger cities whose position,; he believes, deserves attention because of extended runs up front. William F. Rodgers, v.p, over distribution for Metro, does hot favor any .-disturb-, aoae of the clearance formulas in effect. • /•;;';■ . '.'-'- Reduction of clearance periods in order to get pictures to subsequents quicker would not only be impracti- cal, in Rodgers' opinions, but could only be of a temporary nature.- In addition it 'would throw first-runs oul ot gear. - . - ' Rodgers has. not as yet reached, a decision on what likely shape a plan for relief of subsequent runs will take but hopes to have something concrete worked out in a couple weeks or so. ,. Further Tighten Up On Fire Laws New York city officials aredouble- checking theatres for fire violations since the recent Circus fire in Hart- ford. Smoking bans in pix and legit houses «*are being rigidly enforced. City firemen are watching especially those legit houses now converted into radio theatres, including smpk : ing; in the control room, client's booths, etc. ■ Local ordinances call it' a viola- tion only when party is caught in the act of smoking, which keeps firemen and gendarmes hopping to catch vio- lators, " Nationally there are other mani- festations showing a .tightening up in measures to prevent a recurrence .of the Hartford tragedy. ' In Los Angeles the fire commission ordered strict enforcement of the city ordi- nance requiring fireproofing ot tents used for outdoor assembly, including circuses, revival meetings and other .-hows. : ':'-'.,' '■-." " ■ CIS CURRENT, POSTWAR B.O Resurgence of popularity and b.o strength of thrillers, whodunits, .ac-; tion.'.'pictures and similar output is again receiving specialized attention from, major studios,; with plans,ilo\v under way indicating more extensive development of such type oi pro- duction.' Whether production js'. being geared to postwar audience demands or merely to schedule pictures which can be made quickly to fill open playing time in double-billing subsequents where there is a; prod- uct, shortage, is not yet clear. Both Considerations are likely influencing production, with possibility>, that similar plans may be adopted by other majors. In some film production eii.eles belief is expressed that, following the termination of war and the windup of combat news in news- papers and radio, there is a foresee- able need for more action pictures. Calculated to provide simulated suspense when the war news 'hypo' fades. ' ', '.'..:: . .'.:■,.'■ V At the Metro studios, however; where there has until now been a definite , move away from the pro- duction of "B." product, it is under- stood that the units under the su- pervision of M. J. Siegel: (formerly heading production for Republic), will concentrate mainly on the ac- tipn-thtiller-Whodumt type of pic* tures. This, is apparently a reversal of previous M-G plans, with studio at one time'figuring oil making A- budget pictures, exclusively and eliminating B-budgeters entirely, While production costs of the ac- tiOD-tlii-iliei's at Metro .will be con- siderably higher than average B product, from accounts, indications for Bing's'Way,' f or 'WasseD/ Pars 2 Tops B'way Tip-Chiselers Ushers in some of the first run picture theatres on Broadway have, been: accepting gratuities from servicemen for getting seats, etc. ... . Practice is discouraged by managers even from civilians, and they strongly feel that serv- icemen should be given priori- ties, with gratuities refused; e-ven when offered. WPB Cutting Raw Film Allotments : Washington. July 18. Motion picture , industry will take a lO'.i cut in its raw .film, allotments for the current.quarter (July'1-Sept; 30). because, of stringent situation stemming from heavy increases in- military demands Of the armed forces and other Government agen- cies plus failure of the raw film manufacturers to meet skedded in- creases ■ in output. This was dis- closed yesterday (171 by, Lincoln V, Burroughs, head of the WPB film branch. Likelihood of such a move was indicated in "Variety" la's! month. '-" ' ..'■'. .'•';-, ';';'• ■; Slash, adding up roughly to 10,%, was Worked out in NY. last Wednes- day (12) when Burroughs and Har- old Hopper, his predecessor in the WPB slot, conferred ,w«h studio reps. I Result of bite will be reflected in are that Siegel is to line- up lower- 'slow-up of releases from Hollywood " Pictures for the most part.j a ,j 4 ictrenchmant of number of prints per film. Details of release budget He now has some eight producers working under him at the studio, in- dicating an output of possibly 15 or 20! lower-budget pictures annually. GETTING SET TO FETE RKO CONVENTIONEERS Delegates to the RKO convention at the Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y.. July- 24-26. begin . to arrive '. next Sunday (2.1i, when they are scheduled to ..at-, tend the Brooklyn-Pittsburgh base- ball game as guests of Jim MUtyey.' Also .scheduled for the; group js- a. theatre party tor "Oklahoma"' Mon- day night (24 K ■ :. . Among those expected from the Coast to attend the convention are Charles Koerner. RKO v.p. in-charge of studio production; Perry. Leiber, in charge of Coast publicity: Ed Gol- den. Leo Spitz and William Coetz (International), releasing through RKO. ■ : --v'-'v " '; : '.'; Attendance "of around 300 is ex- pected. •' ■ ■ -! ■.'■-■::' ;■. : •-.' i-.•'-."■:'.'.'' ' 1? Die in Dinner Fire Denver. July 18. '-.' Six persons,'two soldiers and their wives.and two concessionnaireS, were suffocated when tile Old Mill in Elitch Amusement Park burned down with a loss' of $20,000 on Sunday (Kit. Police were unable to , learn what caused the fire. ;''-',. Twelve persons were in boats in the concession when the fire started.* eight got out safely. The .soldiers and their wives were in the last boat to enter.: this being the boat the two attendants hoped to save when they dashed it. only to be killed them- selves. All were asphyxiated; One of . the attendants. George Kei{h!ine. , -'I4, had said he was 17 to get the job. Grabbing a fire , ex- tinguisher, he started after the last boat, but Was suffocated. Edward Joseph Lowery; 33. also Of Denver and iii charge of the concession, also, tried to.pull back the last boat, but ■','• .(Continued. on page . 421. 20th-Fox's Actioners Hollywood. July 18/ Ben Silvey, unit and production manager on 20th-Fox lot since Da try 1 Zanuck took over production reins, has been added to producer list and will function under wing of Bryan Foy. j: Silvey, with , possibly one or two other producers, will turn out 12 films of action genre for 1945-46 pro- gram, total cost of which will be plans are now being altered by va- rious film company execs now. Con- sidering matter in N. Y. and on the Coast. . :■.' .;. Burroughs emphasized strongly (Continued on page 42 • . 'Morning Mist' Knocks Prod. Skeds for Loop Based upon record grosses a n d'ex-^ tension of runs, estimated that "Go- ing My Way"' will return a rental, !<>• paramount of $7,000,000 which would- be- by. far the highest in the .history of . the company. , Despite- summer engagements, another that is run- ning ahead of other Par pictures, in-. eluding those under ■ comparison which played during better times of the year, is "Story of Dr. Wassell," for which a. rental gross of S4.5UO.000 or more is probable. This would make "Wassell" second biggest coin- earner for Par. ,". Early engagements on "Going My!. Way." starring Bing Crosby, are'set-; ting new highs in length of runs iri " many spots. ,R, J. O'Doniiell. \.|>, and general manager; of the Inter- , state circuit in- Texas., stale.- that wliiie.110 to 120 days of playing'' time are allocated by Interstate to top films on preferred.datds.-irt'.the' case . of "Going My Way" he has allocated 380; This is typical of extended time being obtained. Crosby film went 10 weeks at tha Paramount. N. Y.,'grossing SSOfi',000, ■ as against $790,000 for "Lady, in the . Dark." only other picture to go that far at.this house. Now on the. seventh , week at the Par/Brooklyn, it's going" an eighth there, first time ever. Same is true of ■ Chicago, Chicago, where.currently in the sixth stanza and booked for two more. .: Another record for an extended run is in, Newa rk., now in the fi ft h- week. : same as in Providence. "My Way" went six in Boston, then was moved over; played five in Hartford, and also shifted on movcover, arid went four in Worcester, Mass. ,'.',- '.;;..; '■';■ Both "Going My Way" and "Wai- sell" are being sold singly sft'50%. . . Hollywood, July 18. • . Uhustial, . weather, meaning, fog every morning, "is wrecking outdoor united to around $250,000 each. S il- ]i^m\h K schedules in the studio.4 and'/cured a judgment of declaratory re- working out titles 0 t! Piling. "P huge production costs at i lief, and freedom from her contrac- OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND FIGHTS FOR PIX JOBS Los Angeles, July 18. Olivia de Havilland is. suing, to re-, ttirji to pictures. Actress has filed notice of .a motion for an early hear- ing of Warners' appeal of a Superior Coui-t decision which declared her a free agent, and asked for an injunc- tion restraining Warners from, inter- fering witht her contracting for. film work with other studios. Plaintiff points out that she se- ve* is now; action' variety to be applied to stor ;ies made in this categoi'i'. CONNORS PARTY BACK EAST, SKOURAS LATER ■ Tom Connors. 20th-Fox \ p.Hi i charge of distribution, as-nived in }fr Y. tiom the Coast Monday. ,i 171 j tollowing twiddles on next 'seasons I product, -aiignmeiit. Also discussed WB Distributing Corp. Displaces Vitagraph Tag The name ot Vitagraph. Inc..-.-which throughout the - years hasr stood a.s the disfiiBiUioii subsatiar> of War- Jier Bros., will be , dropped and •chaiiged. to -Warner Bros.- Pictures Distributing Corp.. Papers Soveting .the thange- have been filed'.with, the Secretary of State at Albany. N. V. Vitagraph. a N. .. Y. corporation, which had^ its own officers, was ac- quired .by Warners^ in" 1925 as Its..ex- change system and the name has been maintained since I hat time.: Though the title is'changed, then> is no revision in corporate setup nor in.the list: of officers, which includes Ben.. Kalinensori"as .president and Charles Einfcld. Roy Haines jnd Ar- thur Sachson as v.p'.'s. . was the handling of ''Wilson.' REP INTERESTED IN BROADWAY SHOWCASE Republic is reported negotiating for an interest in the Manhattan. •N,- Y.. .which' was. acquired a 'few' months ago by. Harry Brandt, and cUrreiit-lv .is playing "Fantasia."' re-. issued by RKO, RepV hope is to. u>e the house as a fust-run Broad- way, outlet for its product. -.The Manhattan, originally- the Wanier- used it as a run house for earlv WB tulkcrs.. was .subsequently operated by Lee Oehs and other iu- > cieperideot interests.- including for' a ' tune-lot Italian-made, and'ha- Horn time- to tihie throughout the years, i. been, closed down. a time ot'.year when the California' tu.al obUgatipns with Warners last sun'is supposed to be in midseason : March. .Before the judgment was - form.. Weather Bureau calls, it the . signed; she declares. Warners tele- longe.st stretch of morning mist in 67-'.graphed' all potential, employers and year.- | studios,' stating: - that the . defendant For two months the.surt has been !'company still felt that Miss d.e Hay- working solely , on' afterriaoii ..shifts, i ilUmd was still under co.ntract and causing havoc among western com- ' would-remain so until final judgment panics and delaying work on operi- | air- productlqiis. by major, "studio-. ,.Ordinar.i)y the producers •depended ! tin June and July for heavy, outdoor I shooting. Now there' is a traffic jam. 1 with all the lots waiting tot clear nioMung - to catch up with then pin- i grams. Westerns 'generally. Call for 1 eight or (fine.hours of .sunshine per '.da's...,' i : Others returning .from, the Coast , cpniabs , were Francis L. - Harlte, 1 . inai.Vaging .'director in. Great Britain j ,-b. I Sch.laifer. central sale- manarj gei A W Smith,-eastern: sales man-' agei. W C Gehrnlg. western sales j manager. . \ I ;-Spyi;.as'..S'feottras,' 20th proxy, and ^ j.Muw *} Sth'erstone, v.p, in charge \ \ of ' foreign distribution return to ; N Y latei' thisweek. : Lanfield's 6 for Par Hoilv.woofi July IK. Paramouni has signed Sidney .[.an. lield to direct:-six pictures durin, liest three years, .first under -pac be "Duffy's-Tavern." ' Lamield .lost finished "Bring Or- lh« Girls" . on freelance..bas)-. -tui I have to IT amount. Prinz No Gun-Toter * t But WB Gets Beef ■ Hollyuoid. Tuh 18 Sen en Actors Guild investigator- 1 said they found lio subjtantiation o|. ' eoiiipldiiils bv extra-, that. LeRoj' f'nt-/. had. flourished a gui> ill the set, '-while directing ; scenes for. a • Wai - I ner- film.. SAG however. ha.> lodged ■eonibbnU■'■ with Wdi-nei's following ; iuVestigat ion of charges', tiiat PHb/' ' userl aluisiv e .language to .player* On j -el v.;..'.,' ■; '-,;;' 7- . ' - ./'. •'■). . '''',; Guild said i,ii.\fest.tgatipii di^clo-ed that, extras acted improper.U on sot. ; bio tool: position 'that- P. ii / should ordered disehargev . fileet against them with the SAG Thorpe Vice Leonard ■Hollywood. July 18 Robert... 7. Leonard goes info-the ;'. Hospi'.il this week and Richard' , Thome will succeed him as direcioi I ol the Esther Wiilitims-Vari Johnson | co-;Uii'i'ei .Thrill of .Romance, at Metro. > ' •' ' : '>-':.;'' i - ' '..'■ I.eo'i.-. d s ailment is minor bo. • will lequu'f a- rest before, reni!iiiU4 •voik Joseph Pasternak produce- ■'Bomance,'' elated to start in. 10 da>- 'Copacabana' Pic ,; Monte Proscr. Operator tit the Cm PiieaiKinu N.-Y. nitery, ynrj; W-alUr, BiHehelor... his agent.' loir X Y, Un ' the. Coiikl Monday (17.', to cohrplele i plans lor a .film. ijrpciuCttoii ot C"- Pitf.-rtba.tia.'*' .'-..-.' Botii will be associated with J;;.>k Skti'li.ill. w.lio is aiso producing th' V Fred Allen tiltr;.- ageuted b; Bulefieior. J was i rendered 6)v all appeal, . This wire, the actress states, has been fe-.. sponsibie for- her inability to secure Ijliri- work, as other producers do not Wish'to .become- involved in possible inlunctioiis : and damage- suit.s by Warners. ; He r age ft' Is.- Phil Berg & Bert A1-. ieiiberg, .lnc'.;. declare it ha.- been iinbossible to secure cmplo.viiient tor the. vittre-s' pending deeis'ton of War- i.ivi ** appeal, and that it might. tu;;a years utiles-' an- ordef to protect oo- feiilinl emolovei- is glvetti They mentioned Paramount, Internjt'oniil, 20-Fo.v. Columbia, RKO and -oU'ei'A 3* intere.-tefi in securing the services m Mi'sS Do Havilland. Meatiu'ule,, the motion sXHXgi, stteh prolongeti ab- sence iro-m-the scicen is rictu'V.ena.tl to lei'future standing. •• 'Henry 8th' and 'Catherine' Tot) Hot for Woonsocket? •The Prix. i'i Life of ,H-."- • «ih" ' (. A > ,:ind C.'ithet ine thi- G:,\i<" i f.ooo'on Film.-t. were bat uvl fiovt -hoyj'jg sit the. ;Rialto. Woou.-ociiet, ft. I )> order ot tiie Police.Con in*' ■ -lonei. Friday < 14 •. . Tw.i intiiiii'i"'- ago- the , iC'/f inti.jsifin. '. Ijaivned a run of the .stage pUy '"To- bacen Road.* ''Henry 8t':''■■ played- Wiioiisocke't '.-everal 'year*, ago with-, ow any comment, , . Both are. B'riti~h pix. . ;