Variety (Jul 1946)

18 PICTURES Scholastic ROTO Reaches more high school youth than any other teen-age publication N.Y.s$60m000 Telechy All Set Construction on the $60,000,000 'Telecity," which will be built in the metropolitan area of N. Y. as a television motion picture produc- tion centre, will begin as soon as the' Civilian Production Administra- tion lifts its buildinR freeze. City's 24 film studios will be available for renting to networks, local radio and tele, stations, ad agencies, advertis- ers and indie producers. Plans for the program are being handled by Lawrence B. Elliman of the Peasc-Elliman realty firm, with John and Drew Eberson plan- ning the architecture^ Information 1 on the exact location of the film centre and names of those putting up the $60,000,000 are being kept under wraps. It's been reported, ■ however, that several of the major film companies and radio nets have I invested part of the money: I In addition to its sound stages, the .j centre will have every type of '' maintenance, services and facilities [ required for film production and a complete lab for processing and I printing, according to Elliman. II Plans also call for a staff of pro- ducers, directors, writers and tech- nicians to aid renters'in production. Elliman said that the program I. had been in the works for the last I three years, in anticipation of the need for such a film centre for the ^production of films for both tele- I! vision and for visual education. New Distrib Pattern Continued from pane 3 Peskay-Roach Continued from page 7 ; * *A fact rccogniiad with advertising by Coca-Cola. General Electric. Whoaties.l General Motors, Ansco, WestiRghoHse and many others. FIX BIZ, TOO? WHY NOT? ScUola&Uc ROTO A tabloid siie rotogravure supplement to high school newspapers from coast to coast—published monthly October thru May—more than a million circulation. 400 N. MICHIGAN AVE. CHICAGO 11, ILL. PACIFIC COAST: NED BRYDONE-JACK "We . were hanging right on the brink at that moment," he declared, "and this deal, made with the full knowledge of Roach and all his as- sociates, possibly saved the studio, which was about to be taken from under Roach by foreclosure." SIM.flOO Against 58% Peskay,-acting on behalf of Roach, according to the complaint, originally made an agreement with George Hirliman, FC prez, by which Roach would receive $100,000 down against 50% of the gross on'reissue by FC of 11 Roach features and about 500 shorts. Before this contract was signed, however, according to Roach's complaint, Peskay went to Hirliman and offered to accept $80,- 000 flat, with no percentage partici- pation, for the same group of films. In return, says Roach, Peskay and FC agreed that he should receive for himself $25,000. to be paid by placing him on the FC payroll, and 10% of FC's capital stock. Peskay. claims that the original deal drawn with FC was not as out- lined by Roach above, but called for $50,000 down against 40% of the gross. "Roach was so badly in need of cash at the time, however," Pes- kay said, "that, wilh the full knowl- edge of important banking and fi- nancial people, whose names will come out later, it was decided to ac- cept the flat $80,000 offer." Peskay claims to have Roach's written sanction for the deal. Peskay never got the weekly pay- ments he was supposed to from FC, but subsequently received his $25,- 000 in a lump sum, court action states. A reorganization in cap- italization of FC later also resulted in Peskay getting 20% of the com- pany's stock, rather than 10%. He subsequently sold the shares for $30,000, Roach claims. Seeks Profit Return Roach asks an accounting and re- turn of the profits by both defend- ants, plus cancellation of FC's con- tract and the return of reissue rights to him. He also seeks an injunc- tion to stop FC from further-dis- tribution of the films. He claims the company's profit to date on the deal has been in excess of $400,000. An odd angle is that Peskay him- self loaned FC the $5,000 he re- quired the company to advance to seal the contract, according to Roach. FC, says the complaint, was without funds at the; lime and Pes- kay advanced to it his personal check for the 5G. The money was subsequently returned to him via a postdated' check given him for it by the Hirliman firm. Roach recently won a decision in another suit against FC. He claimed in that he didn't get his full share of the percentage due him on "Topper" and asked $50,000. The court allowed him $38,000, with FC now appealing to reverse the de- runs situation has been a prime in- dustry problem during the war, since it has created a product jamup that has delayed normal distribu- tion procedure. That will be largely eliminated, of course, when building makes many more initial-run houses available, so that pictures are not delayed in getting into release. Ef- fort of the economy of the film biz to right itself, with this logjam of product to be overcome/ resulted in the additional first-run houses be- ing created. Since they couldn't be built, there was a switchover of subsequent houses to first-run in many. situations. The film business now—disregard- ing the current seasonal dip—finds itself in an anomalous position. There are too many pictures and not enough seats. Too many pic- tures means that there will have to be further cuts in quantity of pro- duction or more theatres built. And since it is generally agreed that the country as a whole is underseated. natural supply and demand will dictate more theatres, not less pro- duction. Which is some of the rea- | soning behind the prediction of more houses and longer runs. 18 Months' Bans? By longer runs the savants mean up to 18 months on the initial show- ing. That this is not unreasonable is demonstrated,' for instance, at the Astor on Broadway, which is shared by Samuel Goldwyn and David 6. Selznick. With such pictures as "Wonder Man" and "Spellbound," the 1,300-seater has been averaging close to six-month runs. Control figure is around $18,000, meaning that either of the producers can force the other's picture out if it is doing less than that much busi- ness. Yet $18,000 is still a highly profitable gross for everyone con- cerned. The only reason a picture is pushed out when it's still doing that much business is that another film is available that, coming in freshi will probably do better than $30,000. An interesting—and economically important—aspect of the longer runs is provided through studies made by Audience Research Insti- tute. ARI maintains that the in- creased time given pictures in their initial dates results in a greater to- tal gross of each film and. as a re- sult, an increase in overall income derived by the industry. ARI finds that the longer a picture plays first-run, the more people get to know about it And that bears a direct proportion to the number of people who buy tickets to it, pro- vided, of course, the comment on the film is favorable. In other words, a good picture is in part self-perpetu- ating. The longer it plays, the more people know about it and want to see it. So when an exhibitor changes the bill at the end of the third week, for instance, he - is losing a large chunk of potential patronage that the picture itself has built up. Helps the Subsequent* The reply to that naturally is, of course, that this developed "want to see"—as ARI terms it—will rebound to the advantage of the second.-run house. That's true in part, but aside from the fact that a certain percent- age of the patronage will be lost, never to be. later picked up, the second-run house is getting smaller admission than the first and Joe Customer will have contributed that much less to the total industry in- come. The fact that subsequents do pick up a large number of patrons whose "want to see" was generated by the long first-runs is the. answer to the natural exhibitor cry that' the mar- athon initialers milk a picture dry. That squawk doesn't hold up at all, ARI polls show. Just the opposite reaction occurs, as a matter of fact. The long first-run, as pointed put above, Increases "audience penetra- tion"—or knowledge of the picture— and builds up the "want to see." The result is that while the long first-run has sucked up many patrons who would ordinarily see the pic in the nabes, it has also created an entirely new group of patrons for the film, who otherwise wouldn't have gone to see it at all.' In most cases this added quantity of theatregoers is much greater than the number lost to the downtown house, with the result that the pic- ture does better than average busi- ness all along the line. On. the other hand* it must be admitted that, in some situations where there is a long first-run and limited . popula- tion, the subsequents will do good the film if it hadn't had so much initial playing time.. The only answer to that is that It is advan- tageous to the industry-as a whole, to get patrons to see a picture dur- ing the earliest possible run, because of higher admission prices, and so in the natural workings of'a free enter- prise economy that's the way things are going to trend. There's still another side to the same situation, however, that in the larger view makes it advantageous to the exhib. That's the fact that only with increased overall industry income can producers continue to make top quality pictures. And, no matter, how he slices it, il is certainly belter- for a subsequent-runner to get ' Spellbound" after it has had a six-months session at the Astor on Broadway than it is to get a cheapie that had only a week or two-week stay. » . 1 Brandt Charges Continued from page 1 male the total amount to be claimed. II is estimated in some quarters that the sum, will be greater than a half million dollars. Brandt buys for 105 independent theatres in the metropolitan New York areas, not • merely for the houses owned .by-, himself :• and brother Billy Brandt. The discrep- ancy in the 20th-Fox account con cerned many independents which "accidentally or by design" did not account properly. As Brandt ex plains it, there was no question about more than $200,000. being rightfully due the distributor, but there was a differential of several thousand dollars which was in dis- pute. Until this was-arbitrated the whole matter pended. That's why Brandt chose Spyros Skouras, presi dent, of the company which. had made the claim, as his arbitrator Brandt buys some $5,000,000 worth of film annually for his group of theatres. We<!vefi<lay, July 3, 1946 Lengthy SOPEG Brief Accompanies Demands For Increases in H.O4 In support of demands for in- creases ranging from $10 upward, served upon six major film com- panies Monday (1), the Screen Of- fice & Professional Employees Guild, CIO, submitted a lengthy docu- mented budget study covering some 670 representative whitecollar work- ers in these , homeoffices. Budget study shows that 44.5% of the em- ployees now receive less than $30 weekly, 81.8% less than $40. 91.9% less than $50 and 99% less than $73. The 18-page brief is designed to substantiate the union's position thai the companies are' able to pay the demands asked, which range from a $30 minimum for messengers to $100 for top professionals and spe- cialists in the whitecollar class, plus automatic progression increases ranging from $5 to $22 per year. SOPEG contends that if the com- panies, including Loew's, Paramount, RKO, 20th - Fox, Columbia- and United Artists, were to agree to all of the money demands pi the union that the overall cost would be no more than 1.2% of their estimated earnings after taxes for 1946. Sta- tistics gathered by the union pur- port to show how the companies could pay the minimum salary de- mands and still have take-home pay in 1946 that would be in excess of a 100% increase in net -profits after taxes for 1945 which, in turn, were from two to 10 limes as groat as their prewar U938) earnings after taxes. In addition to salary boosts, SOPEG. is demanding a closed shop, dues checkoff, arbitration of all dis- putes, a 35-hour five-day week, three weekE' vacation with pay after fiye years, a better shake for veterans and a pension plan calling for a minimum payment of $100 a month, exclusive of social security, at 80 years of age or after 30 years of service. Present SOPEG contract, which was for two years, expires July 27. New York Theatres BETTE DAVIS In Warner Hran. Hit "A STOLEN LIFE" "'•Il Gltnn FORD • Dam ClARK Walter MENNAN • Choriia RUGOUS Directed by Curtis Hernlurdt HOLLYWOOD Continuous If way at Slot Street OHARl.KS BOYKR JKNMFRB JONKS hi ERNST LVRITSCH'B CLUNY BROWN 20th Ccnlury-Fox RIVOLI H'wajr * 49th St. Doors open »:30 A.M. Eleanor Parker Paul Henreid Alexis Smith , In Warner Bret. Hit AV. tfnmrrio't AIiiusiIihiii'h "OF HUMAN BONDAGE'' SPIKE JONES AND HIS CITY SLICKERS Pin Hit llq ■'way at 47th St. STRAND Badmans'Territory RANDOLPH SCOTT ANN RlCIUltHS W B WAY & 47th St PALACE CLAUDETTE COLIERT JOHN WAYNE "Without Reservations" Wild DON DsFORE An KKO Radio Picture Frtd MacMURRAY Anne 1IAXTKK BURT IVKS ".SMOKY" In Technicolor A 20lh CcnHiry-Knx Picli.ro' Pluft en Stag*—DON AID O'CONNOR 3 SWIFTS—Extra!—BUSTER SHAVER CO. -ROXY llli Ave. * (Willi St. - business but less than they'd do on ON SCREEN Thurs.. July t A hill I. ADD Veronica I.AKK William 1IKNDI.V In riirnniount'ii - "Tha ■la* Dahlia" IN PERSON Flay GurHN Who" SliclTleul Kuruii Knclli) rtcir.nl With HAPI'V FELTON Exlrn!. Chnrho MARTINEZ WALKER IHTO 'SEA* Hollywood, July 2. Robert Walker has been set by Metro for one of the major roles in "Sea of Grass." Walker will play the Eon ol Spencer Tracy, who co-stars with Katharine Hepburn. ■•baft Sylvia Ann YOUNG SIDNEY RICHARDS "THE SEARCHING WIND" In Person' And)' RUSSKi.f, ■ Almi OAHSKV RAYMOND SCOn ORC. PARAMOUNT, Times Square URKL NtBWTN ininii DANNY KAYE - '_itcnnicolof Dwi Open «—j»n s'woy °' 130 A.M. ASTOR >Slh 5t ; RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL "ANNA aid the KING OF SIAM" Starrlnc Iran* Rm Linda DUNNE • HARRISON • QARNELL Spoctacalar Stocja Pradnttloai