Variety (Mar 1946)

Wcxlnesday, Ma*clt 4t, IjMW riCTITRKS BRIT. lOU WOULD AID U. S. PIX San Diego Makiiig Real Pitch f w Fdm Production Via Available War Plants '■Ki (I i'l'; % Ml'; 1- AV is ti. Hollywood, Maich 5. San Diego is making a pitch to Sonywood produeevs to: bring the fihii "industry to the border city. Tlie welcome mat has gone out to indie pioducers, but the majors are also being wooed. William Cagney Productions^ Va- riety learns, already has made a pieliiTiinary survey of San Diego as to various types of facilities avail- able. Ace-in-hole of the town are the various huge war plants in and avouiid the city. Government-owned plants are up for sale by thn War Assets Corp,, and this orgaiuMtion has already contacted various pro- duceis on sales. l,oe Ciisick, head o[ the industrial piaiitif division of the city's chamber oL Lonimcice, .stated to Variety yes- toi Jrtv; ''San Diego has lots to offer jilm pioducers. Various idle indus- tnal slnicturcs can be speedily and liicNponsively converted to sound stages." Plants available at the mo- inent are Consolidated Aircraft, • Eolir, and part of Ryan plane plants. Di-. Edward Cagney has been fa- vorably impressed with the possi- bilities, of Consolidated, it is undor- jitood, and L. M. Eckhart, executive aide to David O. Selzniclc, lias also coiiUiclod the War Assets Corp. on .possible: purchase of plants. Eck- haidt admitted looldng into pur- chases, but that "price being asked by the Government" is-major dtaw- bael<. Each of three main sti-uclures at Consolidated has some 300,000 sq. ft. Outru is about two miles Irom downtown San Diego on main high- way. Rohr plant has 30 acres at ■ Chwla.Vista and has main liangar of .500 by 200 It. R.van plant has two ^itiqe buildings which could be con- verted to sound stages without too much difficulty. Bold move by bor- dei- town looms as first serious threat to Hollywood Clutch on film industry ill several years. Matty Fox s Coast UWP Huddles Over, Heading East, Thence London Hollywood, March S. Matlv Fox. prexy of United World Pictures, alter a three-week stay here, leave.s for New York on Sun- day (IQ). Pox has been going over corporate matters of the organization while here with William Go^tz, at- tornev Robert Benjamin and Leo SpitK. Incidentally, latter is 'in Cedars ol Lebanon hospital witli the hives. Plan of the company is to start re- leasing its product on Jan. 1, 1947. It IS expected that five pictures will be compjeted in HoUyvvood lor release at that time. . Fox will leave New York for Lon- don on A iJril 1, accompanied by Wil- ,liain Heineman, general sales man- ' ager. and Benjamin, to cqnfer with , tlie Rank outfit on Its contemplated pi'oductions, and also to decide on , what pictures that have been com- pleted by the Rank organization they .will .set tor immediate release through UWP. The physical distribut'dil organi- sation ot, UWP will get into action for its task early inTJeCembor. HI li' B rn- nii HITCHCOCK-MARGOLIES' INDIE 'OPERATIONS' PIC Alfred Hitchcock has made a pre- publication deal for screen right." to "Operation Annie," book by Major Patiick Dolaii on exploit.s of Radio Luxembourg during the war. Dolan Was on the staff of the Office of Stra- tegic Services directing the opera- tions ot the station in its campaign 'to bieak the morale of German mili- *5*ry and civilian fiorsonnel, , Book is to be pifolishcd by Rine- nai-t in the fall. Deal \va.s set by.Al to'golies, Hitchcock's eastern rep, and .will be produced by now indje •outat which Hitchcock and Margolies are organizing in association with Sidney Bernstein, the London thea- : owner. ■ Bob Rubin Due Back J. Robert Rubin,: Metro veepee and general counsel,, now recuperjiting in Arizona from his recent fllriessj is reported greatly improved. ■ , He's expected to return to the h.o, by the end of the month. 5%N.Y.CityTax Bite Looks Bad With the New York Democrats on Ihe lo.sing end of a fight to force greater financial aid from the State, Mayor O'Dwyer's city tax proposal carrying with it a 5% hike in ad- mission taxes, this week seemed virtually earmarked for legislative approval. In a last minute move to forestall the inclusion of a theatre tax in the pending bill, an exhlb comniitfee-of-three yesterday (5) hastened to Albany to confer, with minority leader Irwin Steingut and other Democratic polilicos. Apparently abandoning hope of convincing either Mayor O'Dwyer or Governor Dewey of the unfairness of the theatre lax, the committee ap^ pealed to Steingut to drop the 5% tax claiming that the existing stiff 20% federal bite made any additionr al tax a discriminatory, moVe against film houses. Committee con- si.stod of Edward Dowden, repre- senting Loew's., Senator J. Henry Walters of RKO, and Morton Sun- shine, Independent Theatre Owners of America official, as spokesman for the,, indies. Meanwhile N. Y. theatre men have indicated; that pas>sage of, the tax bill, in Albany would not end their light. Pointing out that legislative authority would still ' require O'Dwyer to present his tax plan to the N. Y. City Council for its ap- proval, several exhib officials made it clear that they would battle it out in hearing before the Council. Though previously reported that an- other conference with the Mayor would be sought, the emetfgency ex- hib cominittee has dropped iihat idea as fruitless. REPORTED JOHN JOSEPH TO BE MADE A V.P. AT U Hollywood, March 5. .Tohn Joseph is understood slated to be uppcd shortly to a vice-presi- dency al Univcr.sal. He has been publicity-advertising chief for a number of years and was recently *nained to the studio's advisory com- mittee. It was partly a.i a result of this time-consuming chore that David Lipton has been appointed to .serve as Joseph's exec assistant in the pub-ad department at the_studio. AdvLsory committee consists of various department heads at U and meets daily on all studio matters. Deutsch in Advance Of Home to Coast on Prod. .\rmand Deutsch, president of Stoi'y Productions, Inc., leaves New Yoilc for the Coast March 15 for a six-monlh stay to handle details of the oufil's production plans there. His wife, Benay Venuta, plans to meet him in Hollywood, going out via San Franciico. Hal Hoi-nc, boa I'd chairman of Story Productions, will join Deutsch On the Coast in June. Gary's 4th and DeMille's 35th Anniversary as Prod. Holly wood, March 5. Gary Cooper is sol tO star in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Unconquercd" tilm, slated for 1947 release by Para- mount. It will be the fourth Cooperr DeMille joint cfl'ort. Others were "Plainsman." "Northwest Mounted Police" and "Dr. Wassell." Film is to serve as celebration leature for DeMille's 35lli year as a motidn pic- lure director.. [XPORT INCOME TIED TO LOAN OK Washington, March 5. - Failure of Congress to approve the proposed $3,750,0.00,000 loan to Britain would deal a. body blow to Hollywood's export business, ac- cording to experts here. Britain, which provides by far the largest single share ■ of the export market, would be virtually cut, off from American films in the event the loan flops. Without the mone.y, the English would have to tighten their belts still further and this would mean an end to all luxury imports, which includes films, of course. ■ . Reason for this would be that the English would have to eonserve their dollar exchange for Van pur- chase of strict necessities. On the other hand, ^approval of the: loan carries with its Certain trade concessions on the part of the British government. These include protection for, American films en- tering England. Since the British would also have to break up ''Em- pire preference" and ihe sterling block in their trading, it might ease the way for Xf. S. films in such, coun- trie.S' as Egypt which are now tied body: and soul to the sterling bloc, and where our films have difficulty in gelling proper playing time. Sears East, UA Product Plans and His New Pact Due for Action in N. Y. . Hollywood, March 5. Grad Sears, after completing dis- cussion With ,member-owners of United Artists on' company pros- pects for the future, and discussing with David O. Selznick and Neil Agnew the sales plans and cam- paign for "Duel in the Sun/' leaves for New York tomorrow (fi). In the meantime a stockho1der.s' meeting has been called for Thursday (7) in N. Y., to discuss the studio situation as far as it relates to United Art- ists and its producers. Company, in its endeavor to get product, will utilize every eftort to obtain studio space for its produc- ers. Mary Pickford will be present. Selznick will be represented by Daniel O'Shea with the likelihood that Charles Chaplin may also at- tend. ' On March 12 there will be a meet- ing of the UA Board, provided-Ed Rafter.v, company prexy, has re- turned by that time, at which the matter of Sears' future with the company will be discu.ssed. He has a contract running until Dec.'Sl and it IS' lilrely wUll be given a new deal for at least a threcryear period at this session. Einfeld-Dave Loew Rol^ With Lease (hi Stndios; Sign Stanwyck, Others Dne Johnston on Coast Hollywood, March 5. . Eric Johnston is due in for the Academy Awards presentation Thursday (7) night. Possibility, of changes in Holly- wood headquarters will be an- nounced during Johnston's stay liere. ■. • . '• ■ Bldg. Freeze Hits 200 New Theatres Wilson W. Wyalt, National Hous- ing Expediter, will issue a new reg- ulation freezing ^ all forms of .build- ing except low price homes. This regulation is expected some time this week and. will curtail all com- mercial and industrial coiLstruction that had been planned throughout the country, including the erection of some 200 theatres. .The curtailment order will cover all materials, and it is said,- will be applied to prefabricated structure."; unless they are of the cheap housing type. It is understood that the regu-. lation will- be kept in effect lor most of 1946, and as a result will stall several 'hundred million dollars of new. structures of all kinds that had been planned. Northwest Shelves I'lans . ' ■ Minneapolis. ; It's estimated that more thai! .$2.- 000,000 of new theatre buildifig planned for this year in the terri- tory will be postponed at least until 1947 because of the Government rullna; on showhouse construction. Following the announcement by W. W. Wyatt, Jr., local circuits and ex- (Gontinued on page 57) f pollywood, March 5. With Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea under commitment^, Caty- i Grant a strong possibility, and stu- dio space set, Charles Einfeld and David Loew expect to have a re- lease deal for their- new Enterprise Productions, Inc., inked by the mid- dle of next week. Outfit, on which the corporate setup was announced over the pa.st weekend, will probably , turn out-four pixj and possibly six> . during its initial year. ::, Release-deal, which was once vir- tually set with RKO, is now being talked with several other di.stribs, notably United Artists and Colum- bia, and i.s near the signing stage as soon as final terms are made with one or the other ot the companie.s, according to Einfeld. Latter is prexy of the company; capitalized under California, laws at $5,000,000, and Loew is chairman of the board. • Miss Stanwyck has been pacted to a onq-a-year deal, same as she has at Warner Bros. Her (irst pic will be—The Other LovCj^' to be made from an Erich Maria Remarque ■>■■ novel as yet unpublished. She will I have a financial interest in th'e pie, ■ under contract tcrmsy investing her ■ • own 'money and acting as associate producer. Einfeld has hopes of Using j her , in additional films, too. on the ' same basis, inasmuch as she'd have time to make them under present commitments. ■ "Love^' will go be- fore the ce(hieras about July. Sherman's Joel M.-vCrta MeCrea deal is not with .Enter- prise directly, but with Harry Sher- man, who will produce under the company's banner. His firsst under ; the setup will be the McCrea starrer; (Continued f page 31V.- FLOCK OF HLM EXECS DUE IN FROM H'WOOD Number of film company toppers are slated to head east at the end of this week, most of them having held up .starting for Now York until after the Academy awards dinner tomor- row (.Thursday) • night* N. Peter Rathvon, RKO president and studio chief, is slated to arrive oarly next week. Stay will be rela- tiveiy short, wflh Rathvon skeddcd 10 attend to board ot dn-ectors meet- ing, hold confabs with h.o. execs and tend to personal afl'airs rcsultinft Jrom his unexpected stay on the Goa.st when he succeeded Charles. Koerner. who died recently. Depinct header to New York on Monday (4) via Dallas aftPr lengthy confabs hcie with Floyd Odium and Rathvom Edward C. Raftery. United Aitisls prey., and Grad Soars, v.p. in charm" of distribution, are expected in al the end of this week, following sev- eral weeks of huddles with UA own- er.s and producers. Nicholas Schenck, Metro pre?., has just arrived back in New York from Florida. Harry Cohn, Columbia proxy, may likQwii;e.'l)e a New York visitor for a iquioU- visit. CARDINAL SPELLMAN NEWSREELS BIG B.O. Newsreel story of con.sistory at Vatican City showing Cardinal Spell- man and others being Novated slnii- ulated bi'z during the last six days at N. newsreel houses.: BUsihep.s,was smash at some theatres, in some in- stances winning special prai.«e from patrons. Trans-Lux found that ad- vance newsreel clips prior to actual event took the edge off; of actual ceremonies at Vatican Citv. Embas.'sy newsreel theatres used 20th-Fox Movietone, this newsreel u.sing whole reel to the Vatican City ceremonies. Emba.ssy group and other theatres, which received the story . at same time • as,' newsreel house!!, employed special lobby post- ers to call, attention to the Cardinal Spellman story. Cardinars Metro Pic Indef Hollywood. March ,5. Metro has put "The Risen Soldier" on tl-ie shelf temporarily,, witlt I'o- porls that if and when it goes it will be "some time in June." Reports were denied by studio execs lhat script difliculLies (;aii.sed postpone- ment. . stating screenplay already completed. Film was planned as a Van .fohn- son starrer, based on liie .story by Cardinal Spellman. Talbot to Tour U. S. For Ranlv on Pix Survey Farther efforts Ijy J. Arthur Rank to buck American lilm.s on their home grounds are seen in his hanv ing ot a rep to m;U;e a ^ix-month.'^■ survey r 'tOui' '.of ^ UnHod' States.; lle'H; soiind : out ^llioaii'e ^mariagcrs thfdusliout the country- tin ttie t.YPC of pi.\ fronv Englij-'h stnctiofi v<;-liii>lv ihoy .teei they v'can .'-b;>;sti::;asll--lite audiences. , Cros.s-contincnt • jr-UPt v.-ill he made by Ilayden -T'S'oot, quondam; VARffiiY mugg of this paper's Lon- don bureau, who'll leave England in May to start the tr'p. He'll operate as ron of Rank's Gaumoni-BriiiHlv subsid and Will tour by car so as not to nils? even the wluclte slop'-i. . BOB SPARKS TO SPARK TWO RKO %mi m Hollywood, March 5i RKO has dug deeper for two shelved yarns, "The Petty Girl" and , "The Gibson Girl," and has assigned | them to executive producer Robert i Sparks'slate. Al Bloomingdale'will j produce the finst film as his initiaX I chore at RKO. "Petty Girl" will not I have same script as the screenplay, which was buried three years ago by studio. ■ Other yarns .set for Sparlcs'^over- seeiijg are "Honeymoon," "Build My Gallows High" and "So Well Re- membered." Trafle Marti BcBistered: - r-OrNDEl) BY SlME SILVERMAN fiihlisliril W«<>klj hy VARIKTV, Inc. SIU bilvennan. I'l-eaicleiit 1S4 WosI 4Cni St. New York in. N. T INDEX Bills- V, . v;.i.;.v.--5'?/ Clialler 63 ■ Film Review.s.-.,. 12 Foreign ., 2S House Reviews..... 58: Barry Gray . ........ ..... 48 ■Inside Legit. . 60 Jnsido Music..... ; ,.; ol liiside Orchestras.i. SI Inside Pictures .-.. 22 . Legjtimale ... 59 Literati 24 Music , 43 New Act.- 5'? ,rjight G'tub Reviews'. /SS, Obituary 02 Orchestvas 4£t Pictures_^ 3 Radio S4 Radio Rovie\v.s 38! Frank Scully , 24 Television 3S Vandoville 54 (rubli!il>i>ti tnUolIj-wonil by imily Vai-jift.v. l.t<l.' : , 11,0 a Yeai'^jn: Korefsn