Variety (Aug 1946)

Wednesday, Angort 7^ 1946 PICTITRB9 EXHIBS VOICE TRADE GRIPES RodiscluM to Produce in France ForUA;MunHawks,6uclmian,SP United Artists board of directors t last Friday (2) approved a deal whereby a scion of the Rothschild banking family of France would make pictures in Paris for world- wide distribution by the company. Agreement with Elle de Rothschild Is for three years, calUng for a minimum of one and maximum of three films each year. UA board also discussed a deal pending with Edward Small for dis- tribution of pictures of a quartet of producers he heads. Other three are Howard. Hawks, Sidney Buchman and Hal Horne-Armand Deutsch's Story Productions. Board members were impressed with the lineup ■ of . product promised from the,foursom« and management was given instruc- tions to continue . discussions on terms. Incidentally, Motion Picture In- vestors, Small's loan sjmdicate, will finance Buchman's and Hawks' pro- ductions, but not those of the Hovnc- Deutsch outfit. Latter will gets its coin via the Rosenwald (Sears, Roe- buck) 'family, of which Deutsch is a scion and principal heir. Deal with Rothschild may involve iise of blocked francs held by UA in France. However, Rothschild is able to provide his own financing . and the contract provides that he doesn't necessarily have .to borrow from UA, nor does it have to lend coin to him. .. Rothschild is now in New York and will return to France shortly to get his production plans under way. He owiis no story properties at the moment, but will submit pros- pective story and talent setups for UA's okay ■ when he gets ^to France. He- has had no previous production experience. Associated with him, however, will be Leopold Schlos- Majror 0'Dwy«r Co-opt Politicians and promotipn stunts seem to have a natural afllnity.' After the suckering Brynis Foy handed Senator Theodore "The Man" Bilbo with the offer ■ to play in Foy's "Senator Clag- horn," Mayor William O'Dwyer joined (quite willingly, . how- ever) in a gag to launch film- ing of Boris Morros' and Wil- liam Le Baron's "Carnegie Hall." For the local flashbulbers Mayor O'Dwyer took the director's chair for '9 half hour during which the only . one directed was himself. Occasion for the. Mayor going through his paces was the beginning of the first feature to be entirely filmed in New York City. RKO Would Add Tbeatres Abroad Business \yliich took Ned Depinet, exec v.p., and Phil Reisman, chief of foreign dcpartnient of RKO, to the Coast last week is itiiderstood to be a deal to acquire a circuit of theatres outside of the United States. Depinet, before his departure from New York, refused to confirm such a deal was in the making, but said that for RKO to be able to "pick up a tlieatre here and there would be helpful." Company controls no houses abroad. Purpose of attempting to . . , -r, , acquire, theatres jvould be in part to berg, who has made some 40 French compete with other companies which pictures since 1930 for Pathe and Eclair Journal. Rothschild vi'as a German, prisoner for five years and then - became a member of the French army under General de Gaulle. UA board also discussed export affairs in general, including the tie- up it has made in becoming a mem- ber of the Motion Picture Export Association. Grad Sears, distribu- tion chief. Is now endeavoring to bring all UA's indie producers under the MPEA agreement. Most of them have indicated they'd go along, but a few have balked, preferring to take a chance on' selling their pix on their own in the 13 countries in which the Export Association will operate. RKO TO REESTABLISH STORY DEPT. IN LONDON With literary resurgence follow- ing the war making England increas- ingly important as a source of film yarns, RKO is planning establish- ment there of an extensive story de- partment, Leda Bauer, company's eastern story editor, will leave for London Sept. tt to set it up. She's currently on the Coast huddling with studio execs on their needs and dis- cussing plans for the London lay- out. • RKO will follow the lead of sev- eral other companies in reestablish- ing English story departments, which were more or less abandoned during the war. Inasmuch as there was very little literary material be- ing published in Great Britain while the fighting was going on, some companies gave up their of- fices entirely, while others main- tained a single rep, often on a part- time basis. RKO's new setup is ex- pected to be the biggest established since the war's end. . Metro ■ and Paramount have both recently had reps of their New York story departments in England for checkups of the market. HABRT THOMAS ON COAST Hollywood, Aug. 6. Harry H. Thomas, PRC prexy and general sales manager, arrived here Monday (5) from Missouri. He will remain for week of studio conferences. do have houses outside the U. S. Universal, for instance, through its tieup with J. Arthur Rank, now has available to its product more than 1,000 such affiliated theatres. Depinet is scheduled to be back at fiis desk today (Wednesday). Britisk Pundit Takes Low View of U. S. Thinking Along Fenune Bosom Lme Battle of the bulges emerged as an international issue this week when British and American ideas on where the decent line of anatomical exposure runs clashed head on. The struggle played up by both Time mag and a United Press dispatch spotlighted by the N. Y. Daily News came to the fore when Prof. Cyril E. M. Joad, a leading British schol- ar, lashed out at Hollywood's film censors for frowning at the low- cut gown while approving things that exert an "evil influence on English women." , Time in its reprise of the'sittiatlon said th.it the length of the hne of cleavage was the battleground for opposing forces. Joad in his column in the Sunday Dispatch defined cleavage as ''the top end of the little ravine that runs down between and separates women's breasts." Ameri- can insistence on cleavage elimina-. tion was tagged "hypocritical non- sense" by Joad. who expressed no sympathy for the attempts by Jo- seph I. Breen, Production Code Ad- ministrator, now on visit in F/nglatid, to have the British accept U. S, strictin-es. Joad, autlior and radio brain- truster. could not understand why lownecked styles acceptable in the Victorian era should cause "tough" American filmgoers to blush in em- barrassment. Columnist also took a swipe at other features of the code which he said pennitted new low standards for portrayals of brutal- ity and yiet banned the words "damn" and "bastard". Short shrift was given by Joad to the. Breen suggestion that British producers save themselves heavy coin by submitting their pix to American censorship before at- tempting to show them in the V: S. 18Tf CLOStyPS ON THEIITIIE OPS Long in ViRiETy's London bureau,. Hayden Talbot is back in the V. S. and i» making an intensive coojt-to-coast checkup on CThibitors" attitudes. His t7i- structioits are to find out what's on their minds, what they think, what they like, what they don't like, their reactions to distribtt- tor. ond/or cusfoiner ;Tetotto)is. 171 fact, most everything they'll sound off about. This first instailmerit touches OH the New England scene. Variety will publish Tolbofs e,rpert findings for a number of weeks to come. He is making the cross-country tour by 7nolor. By Hayden Talbot Boston, Aug. 6. New England cxhibs, aliViost with- out exception, are optimist; plus. However other parts of the country may feel about the future, the.se Yankee pix purveyors see no end to present peak biz, the only difference between now and wartime conditions being a tendency on the part of the cash customers to be a bit more choosey about what they pay to see. As against this, the gradually im- proving quality of' the Hollywood product, coupled with the promise of still better things to come, tends to make Down East exhibs view the shopping trend complacently. There's a solid basis for this op- timisin. Aside from peak gros-ses continuing, a greatly increased new audience has Come into being since 1940. From Stamford to Portland, Worcester to New Britain, daytime audiences include a high proportion (Continued on page 32) WORMSER GROUP TAKES OVER 13 N. J. HOUSES dperation of the St. Cloud thea- tre circuit, comprising 13 houses in northwest New Jersey and owned by C. E. Smith and Alvin Sloan of Washington, N. J., is set to be switched into new hands on a 30- year lease basis. New operators include Irving Wormscr, sales man- ager for Film Classics, and two un- named parties closely connected with Equitable Life Assurance and George Skouras. Cash in the deal totaled to approximately $500,000 goodwill consideration and $150,000 a; year rental, with the first payment expected to pass next Monday (.12). Controlling evei-y house in the three N. J. counties of Hunterdon, Sus.<>ex and Warren, the circuit op- erates the Strand in Lambertville; the Hunterdon and Palace in Flcm- ington; the Barn in Frenchtown; Roy's in Blairstown; Sussex in Sus- sex; Clinton Point in Clinton; the St. Cloud and Washington in Wa.sh- ington; Belvedere in Belvedere, the Newton and Court Square in New- ton; and books for the Franklin, in Franklin. Rank Adds Nothmg in New U Setup But Must Work Out Spitz and Goetzs Upped interests; h^^^ Details Tenants? Who Caret? City Investment Corp., oper- ating the Astpr theatrei N. Y., and the adjoining Gaiety theatre , building, is enlarging the huge sign above the theatre so that windows . in the office building will be covered up. As a concession to the affected tenants, CIC is reducing rents 50%. Meanwhile, the office lessees are wondering what they'll use for air. Goetz, Dozier Put UIP Into High Hollywood, Aug. 6. i William Cioetz, prexy of the newly formed Universal International Pro- duction Co., has started building up a new producer organization, with William Dozier as his chief aide and a welcome mat at the studio door for top talent in all depart- ments. New policy is to center all energies on high-budget product, al- though it will be some time before the "B" pictures and westerns gal- lop off the lot. Among those cur- rently winding up production are "The Michigan Kid," ' The Vigilantes Return,". "Gunmen's Code," and "Lawless Breed." . Independent producers who had contracts with Universal for one or more pictures are likely to remain on the lot until their pacts are com- pleted, although some of the terms may be changed when Nate Blum- berg. Leo Spitz and Matty Fox. ar- rive here for a series of huddles. Currently Wanger is making "Smashup" as the last commitment of his deal with Universal, but it is reported that UI will offer him a special deal for the production of the Rosamond Lehmann novel, "The Ballad and the Sourre," for which Wan.?er holds the filming right. For remained for three years on his Universal pad Wanger is readying oroduclion plan of two films an- nually. 4- Extent of J. Arthur Rank's finan- cial interest in Universal will hot be affected by the reorganization of that company and the dissolution of United World Pictures announced last week, Nate Blumberg, U prexy, declared, in New York Monday (5). Blumberg returned over the week- end from the month-long huddles with Rank in London during which, the reorganization plan was set. U pr^xy said that the British, pic- ture magnate's share in the com> pany would remain status quo, his holdings being 134,375 shares of a total of 824,435 outstanding. This is about 16% and makes Rank the larg- est single stockholder in U. Blumberg refused to disclose the consideration to go to Leo Spitz and William Goetz until the plan is filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. However, it has been learned that.Spitz and Goetz, in re- turn for merging their interest in International Productions .with U into a new producing company, Uni- versal international, will get a com- bination of common and preferred stock in the parent company. Uni- versal, Inc. In addition to getting a block of common, which gives them voting privileges, they'll get a chunk of the $10,000,000 preferred issue author- ized last February. At that time stockholders okayed distribution of 100,000 shares of |100 par 4% pre- ferred. Only 60,000 shares, provid- ing $6,000,00<), were offered for sale, (Continued on page 26) ANDREWS SIS' '8-BAR' IDEA INTO AUTRY PIC Andrews Sisters' "Eight-to-the Bar Ranch" idea, which has been the basis of all their recent vaude units and last year's radio program for Nash-Kelvinalor, may be worked into-a film soon. .Deal is cooking wliich will put the trio's antics and title into Gene Autry's first picture under his profit-sharing producing plan with Republic. Ken Englund is now working on a script for the picture. But no definite signatures have been ex- changed between the Andrews and Autry. SIEGEL WITH ABBOn ON INDIE PIC PROD ? . Hollywood, Aug. 6, Sol C. Siegel checks out of Para- moiml and his producer contract this week, probably to enter indie pro- duction. He leaves next week for New York where he'll confer with a number of stage producers on prop- erties for picturization. George Abbott, with whem he was as.soci,-ited in "Ki.ss and Tell," will be ^ne of thcin. E.xccllent chance of his lying up with Abbott on one of two plays Abbott is preparing tor later production on screen. National Boxoffice Survey New Strong Product Helps Biz—"Day," "Anna," j "Ea«y to Wed," "Kid" Pace Field | Despite a surplus oC holdovers, biz I tennial Summer" (20lh) "Stranger"] continues strong this week in most .(RKO) looks like a comer on basis; key cities. This in the face ot vaca-| of the few initial play-datcs this' tion treks, outdoor competition and , stanza. I "Night in Casablanca" (UA), which I opens on Broadway this week, is doing a spurt with a number of new : bookings in present session. It is doing big $45,000 in Los Angeles this : frame and is solid on holdover in San Francisco. "Badman's Territo- ry" (RKO) is in much, the same category, being solid in several spots' iilthough teeing off in keys about a ; month ago. 'IJanic Gets Married"' (WB) is playing in four cities currently but not especially strong. "Mi.s.souri Way" (PRC) did well on its preem in K.C. (Complete Filjii Boxoffice Reports, Pages 18-19.) hot weather. Batch of new entries are reaching up for top laurels in current session being headed by "Night and Day" (WB) and"Anna" (20th). They arc outstanding grossers wherever play- ing but the unusually big showing of latter is mainly due to its great takings in N. Y. and Los Angeles. Actually it is playing in fewer than eight keys covered by V.\HreTY. Other big money-gotters in about order named are "Easy To Wed" (M-G), "Kid From Brooklyn" (RKO), "O.S.S." (Par), "Smoky" (20th), "Stolen Life" (WB), "Make Mine Music" (RKO) and . "Cen- A Trade MarU ItCKIatLTCd [■•ou.NDEh nr eiMr: Rii.viiitMAN l-ubllnlii!!) M-c«kl> by VABIETY, Inc. 8i(] Silvornian. PreBldont ir,< Wcsi (Cili ai., Now York 10, N. T. SUBSCRIPTION AnniiRl,..,. .110 Porelcn Ill Slnctn Coplos 26 Cenl* Vol.163 ^SPlj ^ No. 9 INDEX Bills ; 56 Chatter ...^ 63 Film Reviews 15 Foreisn :. 22 House Reviews , 57 Inside Legit .; 58 Inside Pictures 30 Inside' Radio 44 Legitimate 58 Literati 61 Milton Berlc ............... 2 Music 47 New Acts 57 Night Club—Reviews 54 (Dbiluary 62 Orchestras 47 Pictures 3 Radio 33 Radio Ileviesvs 38 Recommended Records .... 48 Frank Scully 61 Television 30 Vaudeville ,. 53 ' ; n.UhX VARIZTI (Published In Hoilytrcos by Dally Varlciy. Ltd.) Iia * Tear—111: Forelcn