Variety (Jul 1945)

Wednesday, July 4, 1945 PICTUMBS PIX STRIKE PAYDIRT IN BOOKS Possibility of 17-Week-Old Hollywood Strflte Ending After Fri. Powwow in Chi TOP PLIiyS US . Hollywood. Julr 3. ,+ PosMbilitv liKinis that a lovinula I f„i- ending the 17-week-old film Studio stiike may be reached Friday I (61 at a meeting or the Intei'tiatioiial oiesidenLs of the Hollywood unions I in Chicago, following a call sent out by William Hulcheson. the Carpen- ters' Iiilci national prexy^ He lia.s , invited lATSE proz Richard Walsh to sit ■ ' ■ r Herbert Sorrcll, the Conference ol ■ Studio Unions prexy, heads a gioiip or locdl delegates to the Windy City huddles with the question now wlielliei Walsh would go or send a deleg.ite. Sou ell notitied the strikers, to dr^regaid any telegrams from the east duiing his slay, slating the meeting would be called heie for rank-aiid-tile settlement it an accord C8II be 1 cached in Chi. General belief among labor .tops, Jiowever. is that some settlement would be 1 cached there. Meanwhile NLRB has ordered a relieai'ing for Monday on the recent election of Studio Set Decorators. Director Stewart Meacham said le.sti- moiiy would be taken, on qualifica- tions of strike replacements voted by lATSE Contention of producers iH tlial employment of strikmg decora- tois had been terminated prior to the walkout.-In ordeiiiig the le- hearing. NLRB nixed recommenda- tion of local director that ballots of sinking decorators be counted, in belief that such tally might eliminate neifeBsSity of hearing. Board action i.s iiiteipieted as a victory for the lA. One result of the film strike is a tremendous increase in the use of process shots. In every major .sludii) i . 'and some ot the independents, proc-i ess units aie busier than at any previous time in film history. | Outdoor and indoor footage, i .flowed away in vaults for years, is | being dragged . out to form back^ | grounds for new pictures, obviating the necessity of new set.s and there- by saving time, labor and money. I Process photography alsp does away with time and expense of location Gigolo With B.O. Chicago, ■Inly 3." One gal ; here wishes she'd read that story in "Variety ' ., June 6 aboiit a petty gigolo racket here keeping cops on the alert casiiic Chicago night spots. Last week she repoi ted to Ihe polizei that a guy who picked her up in a niteiy and accompanied her home had robbed her. His haul:, V-jcuum cleaner, radio, cam- era, c'garet lighter, W'O electric clocks, blanket, two watclies, misccHaneoiis lewelry, colleclum of 300: rai'e pennie.s . v/prth |400, and her niiie-year-old Boston bull terrier. ■, ■■ WPB Confab On Raw Film Aug. 15 Washington, July 3. The War Production Board motion piptuie advisory committee- huddles lieie Aug. 15 to decide whether raw stock allocations .should be continued during the last quarter ot the year, St.inlcy B. Adams, of the WPB ollice .of civilian requirements, said yester- day (2>. Adam.s explained that the meeting was to "di.scLuss the supplv and re- | quii^n^ents, of 35 .mm... fllin fOr 'the ! ftiilrth quarter of this',,yea,»' and Jior j the fiist three quarters of 1946. and i to consider the advi.sability ol con- I , tjnuing allcications of 315 mm. film lor , tne fourth, quarter of the. current year." i Adams stated Ja.st month there was ; * possibility of ending rationing either m the Just three months ot WIS ve,ir 01 at-the beginning of 1946. fodjy he sties.sed the gencul WPB Policj to end controls in all fields as won as possible. Wherever the de- inand'Supply siluafion is in (balaiice, . (Continued on page 47J Hersholt Renamed Prexy for MPRF Hollywood. July 3. As usu<i!. Jean Hersholt was re- elected president of the Motion Pic* lure Relief Fund and will start his eighth terra: when he returns, troin Denmark: where he has been busy lately, on an international mission. Other olTicei-s elected tor the com- ing year are: Ralph Morgan, Lucile Gleas()n, -Sol Lesser, and Irving Pichel. veepees: George Bagnall, treasurer, and Wilma Bashor. execu- tive secretary. Tiustees tor the next three years are Charles Bicktord, Willard Cooley, Jack Cooper, Y. Frank Freeman. Tay Garnett, . Ber- nard "Her/.brun. Dudley Nichols, Ernest i Pascal, Joseph Santley and .lulia Heron. Wilma Bashor's secretarial report di.sclosed 6.334 cases carried on the rolls during 1944, an increase of 166 over the preceding year; at an aver- age cost of $318.60:) Medical patients financed by the' Fund 'aWounted to 4,280. * Her.sholl'.*! presidential report, read in absentia bv Ralph Morgan. w:as confined to the progress of cam- paign to build a hospital, with 87 beds, at the Motion Picture Country House, for which William Periera in contributing his .services as architect. By MORI KRVSHEX More film production execs are veering to the view that novels rather than pla.vs have the most po- tent 'glass roots" appeal; that punted works establish a wider tollowmg lor films and prcsell pictures more solidly on. a national basis. Many a novel in the $100,000 .screen right bracket has been hitting the million. circulation mark, par- ticularly during the past two years, with readership several times that humbeiv '■ ■ ;■' : As a, result, in'marked .;contra.st to' the iidwdovvn in consunimation dt deals b.y .film coiiipames' for the screen rights to stage play.s; an SRO .Sign hangs -outside the book rpart. Virtually all best-selling novels ol thtS' and last season have been snapped up for picturization. ' Simultaneously, there has been a notable increase in the number of pre-publication deals being set for most of those novels which look as It they'll hit the best-seller class. Opinion among production execs has become sharply divided regard- ing the relative values of books and plays for picture purposes, with the swing toward : novels becoming more pronounced. Those companies, espe- cially, which . have been slightly singed at one time or another through purchase ot high-priced stage properties which later did not pan out on the .screen, have been concentrating more heavily on book purchases. ::■.■:,-. Pre-Publication Deals Whde some production execs are setting pre-production ■ dpals for .stage properties, others are more ac- tive in pre-publication deals for books. Latter involves far smaller cash investment and .same of- the re- sults have been more gratifying for studios than many plaVjPurchases. 20th-Fox struck, paydirt with '.'Cen- tennial Summer".and "Dragonw.yclc," (Both became best sellersl, During the past year book purchases by 20th (Continued on page 21) Tasy Money' Danger to Quality Film Production, Says Sears; UA Unlikely To Join Industry's Export Group Strikers Noiv Linguists Hollywood. July 3 Film . strike resembled the Tower of Babel while delegates from San Francisco conlerence were visiting the studios. Signs in alt the languages ot ; the: United. Nations , proclaimed: "On Strike! Iriends of Labor Do Not Enter!" 'Robe' Skedded to Run 3i Hours; Still Short Hollywood, July 3. Frank Ro.ss' production of "The «ol>e" will Mm about three houis, and-a half., second , only to ■'Cone . yVith the :Wind" in length, but still an abbievialion of the Lloyd C | "ouglas novel. Many important 1 Characters in the book have been | leit out ot the screen script because i w footage restrictions. ; CurientK Ross is working with' ^'"''it Maltz on a revision ot the s-cieenplay, hoping to" gel the cameias started in JaiuiarC. it the «i-lkii is over by that time. ' HARRY BRANDT'S HEAVY TRADING IN TRANS-LUX Philadelphia. July 3. . Harrv Brandt's transactions in, Tran.s-Lux Corp. common stock, made publicm a report to the Se- cuiilies & Exchange Commission, aie the highlight ot film industry stock transactions during the May 11-June 10 pel iod Brandt's latest re- poit. made lor April. 194.^. showed til a the .held. 58;9 i!> shares of Trans-, Lux .'stbfcjf; His; wife reported hold- iivg 14,700. Three holding companies also reported tlie following; Helsel. Ine„ 2.i500; Brpadyork, Inc., 1.000.,; and; Marday Operating Co. 1.400. Largest bloe Of Slock purchased by Brandt was during the month of February, when he adcfSd 12,715 shares to his holding.' , ■ Daniet" M, .Slieafftjiv PhiladelfDhia, reported the.: di.spo.sition ol ■. l.OOO •shares of'.Universal', stock., bringing his total to -23,26^. Charies,D.. Pftttz- man. New Yoik. disposed ot 400 ■.aliaVes p,f.'t{nive.i'saXi t'^-- poited holding 15,000 shares ot Uiii- \eisdl common wairants. William P. Phillips N'ew York. ciii 'hls.,'WfdingS. of ConfuTy- 'FOx.smu-ities .to i.OOl sliare.s by sell- hig^SOlV.. '•..■:;■":.,: ,: ■ ■,',.:,".■ ' .'; Loeu''.s,\Ini;., ,con.ti,!Tiied buying, up stock .in. Loe-w'.*i Boston Theatres, . (Gdn.tinued on :pa,ms 18) Layoffs in Det. Hit Firstrun Pix Detroit. July 2. What the growing numiber of lay- I ofl's can do to the amusements biz i is reflected in this maior arsenal of I the nation, which previously has I been a sort of economic weather- I vane.. ■ ■,. A barometer of depressions and boofn.s.. Detroit for the past several months has been having increasing layofts. More than 100.000 workers: have left their war jobs here be- cause of the war contract cutbacks. Ford's Willow Run plant, the biggest bomber assembly plant in the conn-| try. has turned out its last Liberator and its : thpusaiids- of workers are ,i mostly idle. In tact. lUst last week moves were made to take the city otT the critical labor shortage of and take oft all job. restrictions bcr cause of the growing labor surplus. Naturally, this has meant that the 'guys and gals who aren't . working, have started to hoard their cocoa- n'ut^—-if any—until: the . industrial conversion p. r o g r a m.,. starLs the, wheels tui-n;ng ; again. Thoitsands- • ; . tContinued on page 19} ' July, Aug. Pix In Chi at New Lows Chicago. July 3. That old block magic has Chi exhibs in the general release situa- tions in its spell again—a.s witness the dearth of attractions for August, just tabulated by Jack Kir.sch of Allied Theaters; As against the list of July feature releases (50. in all. of which 16 are reis.sucs and seven westerns).m August there'll be a tot,al of only 38, of which 10 are reissues and f>ve western.s, leaving oVily 23 "new" .ones-to: try and coax the custojTiers; in with. ; To :i;ive an idea, here's the lineup for the week dt. Aug. 12: ■ Five reissues ^ 'Thunderhead." "Coming 'Round the Mountain." "Jimmy Steps Out." ''Pack Up Your Troubles." and "Prisoner of Zenda." Plus a western. :"eyclone Prairie Ranger"—and "S se My Lawyer." "Salome, Where She Danced," "Brina on the Girls." "This Is the Army" and "Enemy of Women." Of Warner Bros.' two for the rnontli—"This Is' The Army" and "Desperate Journey" — latter is reissue. Same thing goes for 20th- Fox — "Diamond Horseshoe" and "Thunderhead," last-named being reis.',ue also. 'RKO ha^' only one, "The Unseen"; Metro, two. 'tBlonde Fever" and "Without Love''; United Artiiitii. three. "Delightfully Dan- gerous.""It's in the Bag." and "I'll Be Seeing You," and Columbia, three, "Cyclone Prairie Ranger," "Let's Go Steady," and . "A Guy, a Girl and a Pal." Mort Van Praag's newly-formed Supreme Pictures (reissues) gets a break as a result of shortages, with two oldies on the list—"Garden ol Allah" and "Prisoner of Zenda." It's the same old story, say dis- tribs: print Shortage, dearth of pro- duct, tendency of homeotficcs to hold back releases. ■ Selznick's B'more Pact Holly wood.: Jlifj" 3. F.thel BarrMnoie h.is been inked to a four-year pact by David O. Selzhick;. calTiiig ft)r the star's ap- pearance in one. film annually. First film under the new ticket Will be."Some Must Watch.'.',to be produc<;d by-Doie Schaiy. ■ Par to Distribute Navy's New 2-Reeler . Washington. July 3. :;■ Navy's iatost;' .two-reeler."The Fleet. That Came to:. Stay," will be distributed by Paramount Pic goe.s on the OWI-WAC schedule, with July 26 as the tentative release date, j'lirii'- Is the, storyr' of the. sea battle lor ..Okinawa, : It makes a record of four top ac- tion shorl.s in less_,than,si,x moriths fur Capt. ■ Gene Maikey's Navy f>lioto.!;i,'aphic Services.' The olher.s;: "Brought to Action." "Furlv in the Pacific" and "To the Shores ot Iwo Jitna.", ■ ..,, ,., i. ,..„, PRC'S 50 FOR 1945-46 BUDGETED AT $6,000,000 PRC plans the production of 50 picluies diiiing the coming (1945-46) -leason. \\ ilh a tentative budget of .fS.OOOjOOO set up to cover, according to Leon Fromkess. president ot the company, who returns to the Coast next Sunday (8) PRC's piesident adds, however, that while approxi- .mately .116 000,000 is figuied foi the 50 picture.s, expenditures .will be flex- ible and that th.er amount may, tilti-. mately be highei. The 50 pictures ■■;inc,l.d'de ■ 34 . features;..eight: of .which will be in color, and 16 wosteins On the current season PRC' wiU wind up deliveries at 45, Fromke.s.s, is of the opinion that tlie market at the present time is hoi lor action and. outdoor pictures, citing 111 t-his connection the large numbei (Continued on page 42) Easy money is becoming dangerous to. quality film production, giving people the idea that anything that, gets on the screen will make money, - accoiding to Grad Sears, v.p. in charge of distribution lor Unitedl Artists. Sears got back to his desk in the-'N, rY. home: ottice yessterday (Tues.) to resume fuUtime activitia'j following an illness of five month.s. He said that the phenomenal gros.«- e,s being recorded by medicor^ fllma- niight promote the fallacy that every broken-down idea or half- baked screenplay needed only a cel- luloid transfusion to turn into a: mint. "Phenomenal grOiSses for good pic- tures are to be expected." Sear* . added, reoalling some big w,inner.<i , even during the Bank Holiday in the thirties. ' ■ In regard to the industry 's film, ex- port association. Sears implied that "there was not much chance that UA would become a member. Seara stated he. did not see how independ- ent producers could be satisfied with a slice of revenues from any given foreign territory based on their pre- vious earnings since some producer,? turned out pictures only at infre-, , quent intervals. (Problem of deter- mining ratio ot revenues for variou.'i members of the export association still remains. RKO has a' special problem, also because of its inda- pendent producers Such as Samuel Goldwyn, International Pictures, etc.). Sears said he believed that raw .stotk would probably be forthcoming for Briti.sh film interests such as J. Arthur Rank. He stated also that, ,^ in his opinion, a British picture titled "Way to thfe Stars" (Two Cities), one of the Rank group, is o,C a production standard comparable with any American film. "Stars" was taken over about a year ago by UA for worldwide distribution as • quota picture, thus covering the quota requirements for the company; UA distributes other Rank product only in the Western Hemisphere. Sears' contract with United Artisfcsi ruiis for another 18 months, expirjng Dec. 31, 1946. Tannery Row' Into Pix Deal has reportedly been .set for the screen right.s to John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row." ' Understood that novel is under option, to an ,independent producer whose identity is being kept q.t. Several major studios had been bidding. Trsa* UarK R«Klatere<l FOU^'liED BT,SIMB 8It..VBRMAW I'lililldlied WAekl* bf TAKIKTITv lae. Sia Silverman, Presldle.nt IITI West; 4I>1>> St., Ne^ Vork It, N. T. SUBSCRIPTION Annual., »I0 ForeSffn., tlX .Siiifsle Copies....^,... 25 C^nit Vol.159 120 No. 4 INDEX ,Ioe Laurie, Jr.'..,......... 8 Legitimate ................. 44 Literati .................... 47 .Music ' i;;.::.3C Nev\ Acts 41 Night Club Reviews...*t Obituary . 42 Orchestra.^ ... . .... ..... 34 Pictures ........ .■ .■: . :...... 3 Radio 22 Radio Reviews ....;, . ... 2(> Frank Scully .:. .,;V::. ^......;,; 2 'TelevLsion .. ,,.,.. . .,.... 33 Unit Reviews 41 Vaudeville .38 Wai Activities 4 Bills 42 Chatter 47 B'ilrn Reviews .f , . . . 8 Foreign ........ . .. , ,.. 11 Hou.se Reviews .....;...... 43 Inside Legit ............... 44 Inside Pictures 18 i>Aii.y vAuiei'v (Ptililtalied In ,Hollywoofl bt I>aily Variety. I>td ) tlO « Year—ai: ifol-elga