Variety (May 1946)

PICTURES 'MANY INDIES NOT PRODUCERS' Metro Bowing Out of Legit Financing Due to Pre-Production Deal Bars MBl rb which participated in financing of Ave Broadway legiters his season—including three pre-pro- duction deals for film rights-'-is now ■sour on Ihe plan. Studio isn't wholly mil of Ihc Broadway picture in the future, but it is expected that it Will take an exceptional deai to attract M-G coin for financing or pre-pro- duction'rights. .' . ,' ."Companv didn't make out badly 0 ,| iis investments—although it dicing have-the. phenomenal success c.r Paramount in catching such a solid hit as "Dream Girl"—but execs foci that the stringent Dramatists Guild rules under which it must op- erate in making pre-production deals tend to discourage them. Par top- pers viewpoint is = that a fairer 'method might be worked out for pavoir.-i on screen rights. They feel that the. price becomes much too high oh a flop, while they admit they jot a bargain.if they buy rights on a hit prior to production. A more equi- table adjustment of costs is seen as necessary. 'Metro was in two shows strictly as ah investor. They were "Bloomer Giii': and "Show Boat." Studio put up $75,000 for a 25% interest in the former. It has received its 'invest- ment back, plus profits that should ' (Continued on page 23) Skouras, West On Budgets, Hies to For Truman's Fete Cue on Ostermoors ". Double beds are back. The Production Code Administration is again permitting screen shots of married folk occupying the same sack. PCA is warning/producers, however, to protect themselves 6y making duplicate scenes with twin beds for the British market. British Loan ..." Stymie Worries Industry Heads Change during the past week in prospects of the British $3,750,000 credit passing Congress has film in- dustry toppers worriedly eyeing budgets. Up" to now, the loan ap- peared lo be such a certainty that all companies had been laying out programs on the. assumption jt would pass. If it doesn't, there's bound to be uncertainty about the future of tiie British film market which will necessitate immediate budgetary paring on Hollywood product or. at least, a delay In plan- ning until there are .further develop- ments in England. British market, of course, is highly ; important to the film industry. . Without it, studios cannot afford to | continue to spend the big sums at j which the average film is now ■budgeted. There will have to be a general scaling down of expenses, Soyros Skouras, who has been on (he Coast for the past week, leaves there' by plane for Washington to- day (Wednesday). Twentieth-Fox proxy is due in the capital tomor- row .'for the reception by President Truman of the 24-Hour Club (Red I particularly on pictures whose costs Cross winners. He'll be back in New York Friday (*0) arid has no fur- ther touring scheduled. Skouras has beenon the Coast for huddles with Joe Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck. on budgets. Dis- cussions are understood to have en- tailed both cost data on individual pictures and on studio operations as a whole. Company topper was ac- companied west by Wilfred Eadie, comptroller and assistant treasurer, who provided figures on income and propeclive income for the budgetary con Cabs. ' 20TH EXTENDS OPTION ON SOL HUROK'S BIOG Sol Hurok, who planed to Coast la>t Wednesday (1) for huddles on script n r his biog, "Impresario." which 20lh-Fox will do, returned over weekend to Chicago, in con- nection with Met Opera Assn. tour, on which he's co-booker. Ballet and concert impresario is believed not satisfied with writing progress 011 film script, on which coupUvof studio writers assisted by Eugenie Lconlovich, actress-play- wright, have been working. Script as now set won't be ready for sum- mer shooting, with filming to go : proceodin over, into fall. This will present certain complications, such as pro- curing the services of various arl- 'sls and groups Hurok represents •'»* the Ballet theatre, Marian An- aeison, etc.) who will be busy with their regular fall seasons. Gregory Ratoff is director, and ^eorge j essel pro ducer, on the pic. Reports that 20th had bought rights w Mie.Hurok biog aren't quite ac- ^""te. 20th had option on slorv. winch option recently expired, "iiioks Coast trip was in connection option's extension as well - KlIlKS sheets run to $1,500,000 and over. Foreign market as a whole nor- mally accounts for about 35%' of total film rentals, with England pro- viding about 60% ot that coin. On that basis, despite the' many coun- tries cut off from U. S. pix during the .war, American companies were not too disturbed as long as the British market remained okay. Re- alizing now that many other coun- tries which made up the other 40% of foreign revenue won't be back in the fold for years—if ever—the dis- tribs arc particularly perturbed at this time over prospects of losing any of the British coin. | Most industry- financial sources 1 (Continued on page 25) STUDIO SPACE HANDY EXCUSE End of the studio space shortage that now prevails in Hollywood is seen by experienced industry ob- servers as likely to stabilize the present. indie production picture. When all the space that anyone needs again become available, it is said, the industry will shake itself down to those people who really want to make pictures rather than just promote something for them- selves. Shortage of studio space is the present excuse for every guy with an idea, but with neither coin, nor a properly, nor anything else lo back it up. These promoters, rather than producers, who are being viewed with an increasingly jaundiced eye, forever; give out with the big talk, but when it comes time to put up or shut up always have the excuse that there's no studio space in which to work, so they are temporarily stymied. Unfortunately, that's fre- quently true, so it's . impossible to publicly pick the phonies from the real producers. . Even if the tax situation should completely change, so that is ho longer any reason for writers, pro- ducers, directors and players strik- ing put on their own, Hollywood is convinced that the indie production vogue, which has developed in the past few years, is here to stay. Rea- son for it can best be summed up ih one Word—autonomy. Hollywood's name artists and business find the indie production plan completely to their liking. It lakes th'ein out from under the con- trol of a studio and its execs and makes them . rulers of their own destinies. No one can assign them to stories they don't like or tell them how many pictures a year they have to do. Thai's worth the additional headaches of being a producer, even if there often weren't more coin in being a participant in profit's rather, than an employee. SCHINE S PROPOSAL IN , LIEU OF DIVESTITURE Buffalo. May 7. Willard McKay, counsel for the Schine circuit. appeared today j iTues.) before Federal Judge John j Knight in chambers here and sub- , milled a field confidential tentative plan of realignment on behalf of the : Schine theatres. Move is a counter- \ measure lo the divestiture proposal i of the Dep'l of Justice. The Govern- j mcnt was not represented at the ! GREENE SAYS HE'S NOT SCHAEFER'S ASSOCIATE Declaring in New York Monday (6) that recent announcements that he was associated with George J. Schaefer in Equity Capital Corp., new indie , financing outfit, were made entirely without his authoriza- tion. Arthur Greene said he was gojng to go it entirely alone in Hol- lywood. Chicago financier stated he was moving his headquarters lo the Coast at once, but would have no (Continued on page 20) Report of Odium's Sellout in RKO Unsettles Market Values But Good 1st Quarter Earnings Stabilizes Fast Casting Himself Hollywood, May 7. Warner Bros, flackery is hav- ing a great time kidding around with studio's forthcoming "Life of Jack Benny." Last week it took pictures of Benny roaming through the Warner lot interviewing Gary Cooper. Ronald Reagan, Paul Heilreid and William Powell to determine if they have the ne- cessary talent lo play the Benny role. Hazen Precedes Wallis Back; Eng. Prod. Up In Air Plans of Hal Wallis to produce in England- this summer will be de- cided within the next few days, ac- cording to Joe Hazen, prexy of Hal Wallis productions. Hazen, who returned from England Thursday (2) said that when he left, Wallis was still huddling with J. Arthur Rank regarding studio space. Wallis and Y. Frank Freeman, Paramount veepee over studio operations, are scheduled to arrive in N. Y. tomor- row (Thursday). Chief obstacle confronting them. Hazen said, is the desire to finish production in England by late fall, in time to get back to the U. S. and begin production of next season's slate for Par release. Wallis has had several sessions with Rank to decide which of Rank's studios would be suited and ,most easily available. ' . Freeman, according to Hazen, also made a thorough survey of the stu- dio situation in England, with an eye to having Par purchase a stu- dio outright for its British produc- tion. Outcome of Freeman's 0.0. is also expected to be made within the next few days, as soon as he has had a chance to discuss his findings with h.o. execs. Wallis and Hazen took several scripts to London when they left last month. Duo also bought a story while there, an unpublished novel (Continued on page 18) National Boxoffice Survey Tollies/ 'Dragonwyck/ 'Gilda/ Trunk,' 'Virginian,' 'Kitty,' 'Dahlia' Top List . RKO's excellent first-quarter ft-, nancial statement, issued Saturday (4) within 48 hours of the report that Floyd Odium's Atlas Corp. .was selling its controlling interest in the company, provided a.stabilizing RKO counter-action on the Wall street front. Uhcertainly .and uneasiness prevailed, however; among RKCs production, distribution and exHibi- . tion employees, most of whom Were unclear on the portent of the big- lime, moolah maneuvering. Consensus of Wall streetei's was that there was little for anyone to worry, about. In the first place, L. Boyd Hatch, Atlas exec v.p.. on whose words Thursday (2) the RKO report was based, maintained that he was misquoted—although a cloud of confusion remains on exactly what he did say. At. any' rate, his "misquoted" statement on the Dow- Jones, ticker sent RKO rapidly tum- bling two points. It continued to drop Friday, but came up again Sat- urday and Monday. What had personnel worried, of course, was that Odium's disposal of his interest might mean a. change of regime, since.'prexy N. Peter'Rath-, von has long been an Atlas associate. And employees who had gone through changes of .regimes at RKO and other companies knew that it often eventually meant their jobs. But even' if Atlas is determined to sell out—which now appears uncer- tain—financial!sources declared that wifs no reason to expect changes- in operating heads. They pointed out that Atlas had gone through an ex- act duplicate of the RKO procedure (Continued on page 18) - BOX IN OSTRER SPOT AS HEAD OF GAINSBOROUGH London, May 7. Sydney Box has been named to succeed Maurice Ostrer as head of Gainsborough Films. Sydney Box Productions, which made "The Sev- enth Veil," is being absorbed' by Gainsborough. Ostrer's departure from the com- pany has long been reported. He is aiming to go into production on his own. in. script's writing. Fox Due East this Week ' Hollywood, Mav 7. Matty Fox has extended his stav. ■"ere until tomorrow (B) then re- turns east. - United World Pictures prexv has been huddling with Universal top- I'ei't and William Goetz-Leo Spitz (International). Brownouts, dimouts. a tram strike in Los Angeles and finally a com- plete shuttering of Chicago • film houses yesterday (Tues.) marred the boxoffice picture this week. Figures from Chi mean little because of hap- hazard schedules and abbreviated week, and hence are not figured in Judge • Knight- was asked to ex- \ y.o:^n v totals currently. There's amine the plan to check its merits. ; | itl | e difference in the strength of If judicially approved it would then ,| )e leaders from last week, with be filed and made public, otherwise ' holdovers dominating many key it will not be urged. Court ordered I e j(j es , a 24-hour -postponement ot further ' .. zjegfe|d Follies - (M -G) jsj pacing hcamigs so that tl\e Government and I |he leadel . s |n bej jn ,„ 1|ie . judge could consider it.overnight. | ati . es c(11 . relU | y- Next in order of biz and number of playdales are "Drag- onwyck" (20th), "Gilda" (Col), "Saratoga Trunk," (WB). "Virgin- iPari. "Kilty" (Pari. "Devo- (WB). '-Blue Dahlia" (Par). ,, o. 1 „ . This Day Forward" (RKO) and Arthur Shcekmaiv Coast scr.pter, - „ w (o ai0|)ja , (p . ir , „ wife 0 , and producer Paul Jones have come. Mont j Ciislo" (PRC) comes close to to New York lo study the Broadway j making this select list, plajyng in production o( 'Dear Ruth." prior to ; five keys and-being nice to big in work on the screen adaption, for.-, every'location. "Devotion" is a bit Paramount. The screenplay is sked- j spotty.' being mild - in Cleveland. I! Sheekman, Jones In N.Y. O.O.of'Ruth'Pre-Filming 1^ ded to 'be ready about weeks. Sheekman. and for shooting' in his actres-wife Frisco and L. A., but stoul in -Philly. Also in the top"coin-list but only show-in? in N. Y, are such new en- Gloria'Stuart, are slaving over (or : tries ' as "Postman Rings Twice" , _ _ „„. _ 1 " to I i M-G I. near a record on preem at, (Complete F.lw Boxoffice Reports, the Capitol: "Her Kind ot Man" ! P<W"< 12-13.i (WB) and "Stolen Life" (WB), last- named hilling a new record on open- ing week. Additionally in much.the same category are "Green Years" iM-G), still sock at the Music Hall, N. Y„ in fifth week: "Make Mine Music'' l RKO) and "Kid From Brooklyn" (RKO). both big on third j stanzas in N. Y. "Kind of Man" also ; is okay in Indianapolis. "The Outlaw" (UA), which was washed out by the Chi shutterings, continues way out in front among the many holdovers in L. A., shap- ing for a great $45,500 in four small- seateivi for fifth week. "So Goes My Love" (U). which is heading for a stoul $32,000 in N. Y,, had its preem week cut short in Chi. Film is fairly good in Minneapolis. "Breakfast in Hollywood" (UA) shapes for nice returns in Pittsburgh and Cleveland while ''Bad Bascomb" (M-G) looms big in Philadelphia and potent on movcovers in Cleve- land and Buffalo. "Diary of a Cham- bermaid" UJA) will have a great third stanza in two Boston spots and is trim In Philly. "Scarlet Street" •i.U); and "Tomorrow Is Forever" (RKO i did nicely on some addi- tional booking: Trad* Mark Registered FOUNDED BT 8IME SILVERMAN I'ablliibnl Week!) l»J VARIETO, Ibc. (lid Silverman. President HI Went <6th St.. New Tork 19, N. T three ' weeks Hollywood. before, returning Night Club Reviews ... Obituary Orchestras Pictures Radio Radio Reviews Recommended Rcci rc'.s Frank Scully .... Television Vaudeville 55 02 44 3 2G 28 4-1 61 34 52 DAH.V VAItlr.XY . (PubllBhcU In t lolly wood by . D'nttv ViirlMy. UUt> 110 a Yeai—$12 I'orc:en