Variety (May 1946)

Wednesday, May 1, 1946 PICTUIIES 35 Indie Chain Theatre Owners Have New Anti-Depression Pitch in Wall Street Wall street- financial houses have' been approached repeatedly within the past few months by independent circuit operators with a scheme— jiew to the film industry—to hedge their holdings against a future de- pression. Plan involves flotation of a slock issue, to dispose ot a minority Interest in their houses. With plenty of business to keep ■ them busy on other fronts, none of the Walt streeters has evinced any interest as yet in carrying, through en .the scheme, although it is per- fectly legal and has been widely iised for many years in other in- dustries. It is expected that a num- ber, of stock Issues of this nature will be forthcoming within the next year or so. The idea is simple enough.. The circuit owner arranges to sell pub- licly anywhere up to 49% of. the slock in his corporation. Shares naturally dp not get listed on the New York Exchange, but an across-, the-counler price is set on them. In- asmuch as'theatre business is at a peak now in- most situations, the price per share is nalurally very high. The circuit owner therefore gets a goodly chunk of his original investment—in some cases,- in fact, lot* more than, that—back. He puts the. money in Govern- ment bonds or some other such safe security—and waits. In three years,- or five years, should' a depression hit.- the theatre properties naturally become considerably less valuable and the per share price of the stock goes down. The circuit owner then begins to buy it back. In other in- dustries, the original owner has frequently been able to recoup, his entire holdings during a depression at as little as 25% of what he sold them for in lusher days, according to .Wall street sources. In the event there Is no business decline—that's never happened yet, of course—the guy is even more pleased, because his. 61% of the slock is earning him a tidv income So cither way he can't, lose. Goldman's Lease On Fried's HonseCauses A Phiily Causus Belli Jamey Likes 'Variety' . Kansas City, April 30. Howard Jameysoh, of Wichita, Kans., district manager for Fox Midwest Theatres^ is taking a tip., from Varietv to tee off the new Charles Skouras' bix drive of National Theatres. Called . . from his Wichita stamping grounds to L. A. to head this annual drive, Jameyson is issu- ing "Action Showmanship,", the house organ plugging the cam- paign, strictly in Variety lingo. Drive opened Easier week and runs 12 weeks. Hollywood, April 30. Virginia Patton, actress, Liberty. Jean Wallace, renewed, 20th-Fox. Kurt Kreuger, renewed, 20th-Fox. Bertram Millhouser, writer, U. . B. Epstein, comptroller, Comet. Jo Kirsch, actress, H. Hughes. Edward. Stevenson, designer, RKO. Wanda Tuchpck, writer, 20th. 'Charles Russell, actor, 20th. William Carter, actor, Republic. Arthur Kennedy, actor, Liberty, Pressuring War Dept. to Release Publicly Film on Narcosyntkesis Philadelphia. April 30. William Goldman's move in tak- ing the Seville theatre, Bryu Mawr, Pa., out from under Harrv Fried who had leased it for the "past 10- years. may precipitate a bitter fight among indies here. Both Goldman and Fried belong to Allied, which has a gentlemen's agreement among members not to laid each holdings, Fried, who Is also on the Allied' |x>nid. is understood to be hiuhlv i Incensed-at the Philly indie circuit operator's action in obtaining the ! lease on the 800-seat house. Fried ' apparently had intentions of renew- ing it and was endeavoring Jo ne- gotiate terms. Properly is owned the Philip Harrison eslale. Harry Ball, atto/ney for the estate. « a close personal friend -' ™ ' Strikes Cut Technicolor Net Profits to $667,441, But Sales Hit New Peak Technicolor, Inc.. . and its sub- sidiary. Technicolor Motion Picture Corp.: hit a new sales peak of $11,- 614.779 . for 1945 with' deliveries of 160.471.837. feet ot 35m film, slightly under the 1944 figure, annual report of the companies disclosed. Ham- strung by.the 'recent film strike, output failed to meet hiked delivery requirements' -for the year of 190,- 000.000 feet, the report said. With strike .conditions' boosting costs, Technicolor netted $667;441, as com- pared with |859,156.for '44 after all deductions. Gross profits of $1,592,692 reported falls far below company take of $2,- 488,731 in '44. Dividends per share, the report showed, remained steady at 50c. amounting to $452,894 -against the previous year's figure of $451,714. Company showed net earnings'per share of 74c, compared with 95c in '44. . Technicolor, will double its pro- ductive capacity when practicable because.of soaring demands for foot- age, the report declared, Planning, i engineering work, location of sites and other preparatory steps are cur- rently under way with the entire program depending, on economic conditions and availability of mate- rials. Report, points out that pres- ent facilities permit output of be- tween 15'.;. and 20% of all U. S. re- ' lease prints and that doubling pro- duction would only result in a boost to 30-40% of releases. First full year's use ot tne Imbibi- tion process for 16ni prints in '45 re- sulted in an output of 6.000.000-7.- 000.000 feet, report disclosed. It predicted a growing' demand in the narrow-gauge field because of ma- jor companies' expansion of 16m films in domestic and foreign mar- Colorful Exhib Figure, Tony Sudekum, Dies at 66 One of the most, colorful charac- ters in the exhibition field, Tony Sudekum, died suddenly of a heart attack Saturday night (27) in Nash- ville, headquarters of his Crescent circuit of approximately 150 thea- tres. His age was placed at 66 and his right name was Tony, not An- thony. Reported, he had suffered from a heart condition for some lime. Prez Has No Privacy .Hollywood; April 30. Message from the WJvite House to the Metro, lot expressed official approval.of the script on the atomic bomb story, "The Be- ginning or the End." Within a few hours the studio was flooded with letters from various Gov- ernment toppers, offering their help in filming the picture. , Indicating a leak in the.White House. ■.':'■-.. Sc!ll;i of Ted m«er, Warner Bros, theatre load in Philly, but WB was loath to- Jake-any house out of indie opera- £ it had similar opportunity.- fo, i^"l dcal lor the Seville calls SJ0.000 a year rent, against a percentage of the profits UA Chi Meet This Week e . Chicago. April 30! iales policies and distribution of coming productions: -will be topics discussion at the United Arlisl district managers meeting at the Blackstone hotel next Friday and Saturday (3-4). Unger, general sales manager *'■ i ^preside, at tlie confab, aided bv Jacic Goldhaar, eastern sales mana- Rer and Morry Orr, western manager. - , other's ' ftcls - | Turning to 1946, the company said that 42 features are in production Or preparation for photography during the year. The London plant has.six such features. In '45, it said, 26 features were processed in color, two by the Monopack" process. .Experimental quantities of the German AGFA process lilm will be- available during the year for test purposes, the report stated, and moderate . quantities will be ob- tained in 1947. Quality of the AGFA prints already inspected show considerable promise. However, neither AGFA.nor any other multi- layer color film will be available to. the industry in ihe'ncar future'since erection of new raw slock plants are required to obtain important -quan- tities. Obviously eyeing the threatened. Government anti-trust action against it, the report, quotes Dr. Herbert. T. Kainuis. prexy for the company, as welcoming any "sound, efficient competition" that may arise. Com- petition was evidenced in 1945. Kai- nuis said, by the activities of nu- merous companies manufacturing in natural color; Crescent Amus. Corp., of which Sudekum was.founder and president, one of three large independently- owned chains, sued by the Govern- ment under the anti-trust laws, was ordered broken up a couple years ago. Majority of the theatres are located in Tennessee,: others being in Alabama, Kentucky and North Carolina. Fifteen of the. houses are located in Nashville where Sudekum, originally in the bakery and ice- cream business with. , his father, started with the Dixie. Branching out he later took oyer .Nashville's only vaude house, the Princess, among others. These include the Orpheuni, which has specialized in legit roadshows. . Sudekum, who was reputed to be\ one of Tennessee's wealthiest men. also owned a lot of real estate and was well known for his benefactions, though he is said to have preferred to keep his charily donations a se- cret. A distribution executive in New York, who was among the few to know Sudekum intimately, was once at his home when he wrote out a check for $1,500 to cover a new roof for a Negro church. He was a great civic figure in Nashville as well as in the slate of Tennessee and sel- dom left it. His very infrequent trips to N. Y. were only those which were absolutely necessary for busi- ness reasons. In his dealings with distributors the Tennessee: circuit tycoon was a sharp trader. Sudekum's two sons-in-law arc both in the exhibition field. One. I R. E. Baulch. is treasurer of Crescent Amus.. while the other. Kermil Sten- gel, operates the Rockwood chain in Tennessee and North Carolina. Total of four daughters and a widow sur- vives, plus three sisters and a brother. Par's Trio to Gotham, One to Music Hall, To Break B way Bottleneck With a view to freeing some of its product from shelfdom in the New York territory, Paramount has sold one of its lop-budgeters to the Music Hall and also concluded a deal with Harry. Brand L for lease of the Gotham on Broadway for an inde- terminate period. Taking possession of the Gotham on May 25, Par's dear with Brandt calls for retention of the theatre'for as long as Par desires to hold it in the playing of three pictures, They are, in the order in which they will play the Gotham~ "Our Hearts Were Grown Up," "O. S. S." and "Swamp Fire." Par will have complete op erating control of the Gotham: as long as it has the house, a 900 sealer. Par's deal with the Music Hall covers "To Each His Own," which is slated to open following run'of current "Green Years," but no tenta- tive date as yet set. This will be first Par picture to have played the Hall since "So Proudly We Hail" in September, 1943, Still another Par film has been sold to . the Victoria "Well Groomed Bride," which fol- lows incumbent "Yank in London." Par's own Broadway showcase, the Paramount, is not absorbing more than around 10 Par's a year. House on Wednesday (8) brings in "Blue Dahlia." INT'L GETS BLDG. OK FOR ITS NEW COAST HQ Hollywood. April 30. Official sanction for International Pictures to go ahead with its build- ing program at Universal was given yesterday (29) by Louis Dreves. Civilian Production Administration official, after blueprints complying with present regulations and curbs were given the once-over. Building started before the curb of March 26.-: Excavation of a site for a three story office building was cleared with actual construction slated for greenlighling Monday. Main"struc- ture will house all International personnel arid will be equipped with Latest technical, equipment. METRO'S 1ST POSTWAR SALES CONY. MAY 24 First general Metro sales meet since the war's end has been-sched- uled, to lie oil on May .24 at the Hotel Stevens. Chicago, to run for four days. Approximately 70 Metro execs from the h.o. and the field including- sales, district and branch ma lagers, will be briefed by William F. Rodgers, M-G veepee and general sales manager, on marketing the new Metro product Meet is a switch from Rodgers' usual policy, which called for small regional conclaves at periodic in _ tervals.. With the eafce in transpor- ] lalion and hotel facilities, howevfcr,, I the Metro veepee has called all sales chiefs to this meet. Besides Rodgers, the h.o. exec group attending the meet will include Edward M. Saunders, Eddie Aaron Howard Dielz. Si' Scadler, William R. Ferguson, Herb Crooker, H. M Richey, Alun E. Cummings and Tyree' Dillard,' Jr. Five sales man agers and their assistants from the h.o. include E. K. O'Shea and Paul J. Richrath. John E. Flynn and Joel Bezahler, John J. Maloncy and Charles F. Dreesen, Rudy Berger and Leonard Hirsch, and George Hickey and Irving Heltont. Eleven district managers and 32 branch managers will also participate; Strong pressure is being, put oa the War Dept. to release for commer- cial showing its answer to the wave of Hollywood films on psychiatrio themes said to be engendering public doubt, on the Army's method of treat- ing mentally-ill GIs. Antidote which . the War Dept is now considering re- leasing is "Let There Be Light," a 58-minn(e documentary, produced by Hollywood writer-director John Hus- ton. ' ■ r Army is very touchy and hush- hush about the film and, aside from Medical Corps officers, and the tech- nicians who made it, only a very small and select group of people has een allowed to see it. All -have given it tremendous praise. One film exec who saw it and is urging the War Dept. to let it be publicly shown told Vaii.ibtk: "It's by far the best picture the Army has ever made and there are lots of moments in it that surpass any picture .anybody's ever ade." Film is made up of actual scenes ot ealment being given by Army, psychiatrists to GIs, filmed with camouflaged cameras in Army hos- pitals. Most of the soldiers were un« der narcosynthesis. a recent psychia- tric technique which, by the intro- duction of drugs, releases tensions and allows the. patient to recall things'in his subconscious. Twenti- eth-Fox's treatment of narcosynthe- sis in its recent picture,. "Shock," is one of the reason* for the demand the Army release an authoritative film on the technique, showing its effectiveness. Aside from, the usual brasshat re- ' ticence about letting the taxpayer in., on what the Army's doing, major . War Dept. reason for withholding the film is the. difficulty of. getting waivers from the GIs shown in the picture. The boys would be easily recognizable by neighbors and rela- ives and their presence in a psy- chiatric hospital, even though they re now completely cured, might cause unfortunate reactions. Thus permission from each of the boys or ' is family would be necessary before the film could be publicly shown. There are 26 such waivers re- quired. One indie distributing outfit which is anxious to release the film claims the waivers could be obtained for an expenditure of $50,000 arid has offered to advance the sum. . SPG Autonomous Again; sales 'Peril*'Hiati Maryland Food Matinees Washington, April 30, Sidney Lust, D.C.. and Maryland , indie exhibitor, has announced a US TO!" Terpinff ' series of "food matinees" in his nabe . Hollywood. April 30 I houses to aid the UNRRA drive for Paramount haltrd filming, on "The ' ,lle famine 'sufferers of Europe. "'for a week while ' Tinned foods will be the admissions learning a new I price for-hoiis.es at Belhesda. Hyatt* ' ville. Marlboro. Screen Guild's Conv. Chicago, April 30 The first annual sales meeting, to in ii l n • t A A' aether, with directors . and stock Was Under Painters 0.0.' ] \ Mers - unhe ' Sc, ' ce " Guild Pioduc Perils of Pauline Be| l>' Hutton is dance sequence. S 'inl calls for. intricate hoofing 1 Casino de Paris production ''■>•. Georae Marshall, director, has h en working the c'ompanv so sii'adily that the slnr- has not had an onnorlunitv routine. Hollywood, April 30. Screen Publicists Guild was handed back its self-government by L. P. Lindelof, president of the Painters Brotherhood, after a lru>- teeship dating from last August. Under the new autonomy, the an- nual election of officers wilt be held in June. in tl in- Ml. Ranier and ' Meanwhile the Motion Picture Rockville for special matinees. | Publicists, a rival organization, has In order to plug special shows. Lust plans special attractions. He , was one of the originators of the j lalions Board. Both groups demand • clothing matinee" widely used by I an election _to determine which will I hired an attorney to handle its af- i fairs before the National Labor Rc- iions. Inc.. is skedded for the Black stone hotel, May 9-12. Issuing franchises, election of a new board, sales policies aiid coming produc lions will also .be discussed. Joh ,1, Jones (Linick & Schaefer), Guild prexy, will preside. 'Egg' as Indie Pic Hollywood. April 30 Chester Erskine and Fred FinUel hofTe will, produce "The Egg and I for International under a new setup whereby they will bring out four films for United World rctea.-e. Screen rights: .to' the bestseller WHO'S LOONY NOW? Neurologist Asks Hollywood. Co-op On Psycho Plx Hollywood was asked last week to agree to the creation of an advisory board of psychiatrists who would act as consultants on all future film productions treating, partially or wholly, with psychiatric subjects. Request came in the form of a reso- lution of the film section, Independ- ent Citizens' Committee ot the Arts, Sciences A: Professions which urged the American Psychiatric Assn. to ■ take action. The ICC action was sparked by a warning sounded by Df. Lawrence Kubie of the Neuro- logical Institute of the College ot Physicians & Scugeons, Columbia University, at an ICC meet of the grave risks" attending film "dis- tortion of processes ot psychiatry." Proposal calls for the organization of the board by the Motion Picture Assn. with the two then working in cooperation. The board, under the resolution, would have the power to give or withhold sanction on psychi- atrical films, Any surplus of funds allotted by MPA would go Into re-, search work. Dr.. Kubie attacked the current': Hollywood habit of hiring one. psy- chiatrist as expert consultant on a particular Him. "Nobody with an axe to grind can do that for any one company," he declared! Directing his fire at recent films such as "Shod;" and "Spellbound," he dis- closed I hat the American Medical Assn. had made representations to Hollywood on the subject and had received in turn "an unsatisfactory answer." M&S QUIT PUPPETING Hollywood, April 30. Morey and.'Sutherland combo, for- merly with Will Disney, turned in five three-dimensional puppet shorts for United Artists distribution and announced that their-future'.product would be confined to flat .animation. I Shortage of material and addi- tional. costs of pfoncts caused the 'shift back to sir- : - ! 'l-drawing car-i loons. United Ar'.i.-ls will continue ' as their release oullcL