Variety (Aug 1946)

nCEVRES lalk h the Son' Rehinis May Be Not So Smmy for Bronston, Milestone With "Walk in. the Sun" <20lh) row apparently certain to wind up with about a $1,600,000 grosa, the two lending agencies which put up the production coin expect to' break «ven despite the rowdy-de-dow which marked the financing of the film. Samuel Bronston, who. was forced out as producer, and Lcw'is Milestone, the director, are apparent- ly destined to get nothing, however. "Sun" was the first and only film to get wound up in such extensive financial ramifications, despite the plethora of indie-made product in Hollywood during the past three or four years. Caught in the middle were Heller & Co., of Chicago, which put up $850,000, the bulk of the pro- durtion cost, and Ideal Factoring, New York, which put up $300,000 in secondary financing. There were multitudinous angles to the entire deal, but, in the simplest possible terms, here's what happened: Financing wasn't. complete when shooting started. Only the 3000 from Ideal had been fully, set. When that was gone, Bronston was forced to seek additional coin -and went to HeUer,. requesting $650,000, although the , budget indicated that $799,000 would actually be needed to cbm- plcte the picture. Unaware of this, Heller agreed to the loan to finish shooting. Instead of $650,000. firm finally was forced into sinking a totel of $850,000 into the pic to get itself oft the hook. When *he financial dipsy-doodle became apparent to HcUer and Martin Hersh, chief of Ideal, they got together with other creditors and Bronston was pushed out. Among the secondary creditors was Mile- atone, who had come in on a pack- age deal set up by agent Charles K. Feldman, and who had deferred his salary in favor of a guarantee and percentage of the gross. Milestone and others who had been brought into the original deal by Bronston ranked behind HeUer and Hersh as creditors. They were therefore forced to accept as . their share in the financial reorganization only 21>4% of the net profit. Inasmuch as the film cost almost $1,200;000 and 20th-rox gets better than 30% as a distribution fee. the $1,600,000 gross Ls apparently going to leave no net profit for division among the nther creditors. Heller and Hersh are hoping to break just about even when returns are all In from 16m, reissue and other subsidiary ri.ghts. Unltca. Artists was originally sup posed to distribute "Sim" under a deal with Bronston. However, com pany got scared off by the financial complications and backed out of its agreement. That left the film with no release, and Feldman. in an effort to protect the rights of his clients, was able to swing the deal with 20th- Fox, although the terms were con- siderably higher than those original- ly made with UA. Major Warner, Cliff Work Top Picture Share Deals Philadelphia, Aug. 6. Acquisition of 1.500 additional shares of Warner Bro.";. common stock by Albert Warner, v.p. of the company, highlighted activity in film Industry securities during the past month, according to the late.-it re- port of the Securities fc Eixchange Commission. The deal brought War- ner's holdings in WB common to 212,500 shares. In addition he re- ported that his trust fund held 6,000 shares of WB fommon. Cliff Work, Universal City, pur- chased 3,000 shares of iJniver.sal common at the .same tirne relinquish- ing 3,000 common wari-anls for the stock. ' Walter W. Vincent reported, sale of a. total of 2,800 shares of Republic Pictures common, bringing his total to 16,666. Monogram officials reported the lollowihg holdings pf .iWonogram common to the SEC: Trem Carr. 2,167; W. Ray John- ston, 20,217; Sam Wolf, 3,333. Activity in Paramount common was confined to sale of 400 shares by Heinry Ginsberg, Hollywood, and sale of 100 by Mrs. William Ginsberg, also of Hollywood. John and W,illiam Ginsberig reported holding 100 shares each. ... With Faint Praise' Chicago, Aug. "6. Local XJA exploiteers got a good break in the Times Sal ur- day (3), with all of Irv Kup- cinet's column.devoted to a sihi- pliflcation. of the plot of "Henry ' V," stories of how it was made,' comparison with other, film at- tempts, at Shakespeare ("Ronico and julieC"Midsummcr Night's Dream"). . . ' Columnist gave it the works, . however, in the punchline:. "All in all, according to my wife, who accompanied me to the pre- view, it is the finest movie I've ever slept through." Deaana Darbin Resumes . Hollywood, Aug; 6. For the first time since the birth of her baby, Deanna Durbln checked In at Universal to start re- cording for her forthcoming starrer, ■■I'll Be Yours." Script calls for five songs in four dilfcrent languages. Roy Chartier Of Ifariely'Dies at 45 Roy Chartier, veteran Variety ed- itorial staffer in the home olTicc. died at his New York home Monday (5). He was 45. His passing was sudden. Although suffering from | sarcoyd, an ailment which, niadci breathing difficult, his condition was not deemed serious until necc.>uii*.y for an oxygen tent disclosed that more serious complications, had set in. He" is survived by his widow, Carol; a stepdaughter, rhother, three sisters and four brothers. Cfuir, one of the best informed and best liked trade newspapermen and film critics, was an expert in distribution and exhibition matters. He joined 'Vabietti 17 years ago after being film editor of the Billboard. Chartier's news beat took him from Broadway to Hollywood and for a. time, in 1930, he was attached to the Hollywood office of this paper, Chartier, true to the traditions of the news tribe, died in harness, as he prieferreti. Told to take .it easy he was. on a limited schedule on the paper but refused to. take time off. He looked forward to visiting 'with' his'wife's folks in Meridian, Miss., as 'time enough for rest when I go on my vacation." This was to have been two weeks hence. When Carol (Mrs. Roy) Chartier insisted on call ing the doctor on Saturday, Char refused to go to - a hospital, so an oxygen tent was. brought to their West. End ave. apartment. He ex- pired peacefully early . Monday morning, refusing to "worry the family by going to a hospital." Services this afternoon (Wed.) at Riverside Memorial Chapel at 2:30 Cremation will follow. RKO Stock Sale Cut hvestment Knot Reinvestment problem for loose coin garnered from other liquida- tions' has caused AUas Corp. to cut.' by 250,000 the number of shares of RKO common stock to be offered to the public. As reason for the change in plans,. Floyd Odium, company prcxy, has cited the recent sale by AUas of its stock, holdings in Bon- wit Teller, Inc., and part of its in- terest in Franklin Simon & Co. which brought Atlas a substanTTal pile of cash. Original public offering of 670,000 shares has, therefore, been reduced to 420,000 shares. An amendment 're- ducing the number of shares in the i registration statement is expected to be filed soon. .Lehman Bros, and Goldman Sachs Sc Co. are named in the Allas-RkO registration state-, mcnt as managing underwriters. Sales of RKO stock by Atlas Corp. arc neither indications that the investment company is pessi- mistic over future of the film busi- ness nor that RKO's stock has reached its peak, Odium said yes- terday (6) in issuing his company's semi-annual report. Even after the proposed sale of RKO ttock. Atlas would still own 929,020 shares plus option warrants to purchase 327,812 additional shares. Odium pointed out. Atlas will continue to be the largest RKO stockholder and wiU carry on actively in RKO manage- ment. Odium emphasized. Holdings will continue in RKO '•for an indefinite period of time," Odium said, because of the rein- vestment .problem and for other reasons. Generally speaking,' how- ever, he added, Atlas cannot follow a policy of freezing its moneys in large special investments since it needed liquid capital to engage in new special situations. .Tripling of Atlas dividends for common stock was announced with the company paying 75c on Sept. 20th to stockholders of record On Sept 5. . On June 30th, the report said, Atlas had an earned surplus of approximately $8,600,000 and a capital surplus of $22,500,000 as well as unrealized appreciation in. se- curities amounting to' Approximately $46,000,000. WeJneaJay, Augngt 7, 1946 Film Attorneys Give Opinions On Legality of Capital-Gains Setupi Majors No Like Hollywood, Aug. 6. Uncle Sam Jiad an assist from the Hollywood majors when D. C. registered a. putout on capital- gains taxation for one-picture production companies, according to reports in , the film colony. Understood the majors sient one of their top execs to Washington as far back as 1943 to complain about the capital*gairis format; adopted by indie outfits. What effect the Internal Rev- enue ruling will have on the de-. mands of top layers and'direc- tors for participation deals is still a matter of conjecture. MPA TO NAME UAISON WITH nC UNIT OF OWMR Wa.<>hington, Aug. 6. MPA Is expected. to appoint a liaison man to work with the Aim unit of the Office of War Mobiliza- tion and Reconversion. Unit is the funnel between U. S. agency re- quests for screen time and the the- atres. Eric Johnston huddled last week with Anthony Hyde, in charge of all media work for OWMR, at a session at which producer cooperation with OWMR was discussed. OWMR al- ready has the American Theatres Ass'n and Allied States Association lined up to show Government shorts on the cominercial screens, and is reeking a full tieup with the indus- try. . J. C. FUon, Jr. New Pub Head of Mono on Coast With the appointment ol John C. Flinn, Jr., as publicity head of Monogram, the company's New York flackery department will likely begin expansion within the ncyt few weeks, most notable addition being a man to handle trade press news. . . Lou Lipton will continue as over- all head of publicity and advertis- ing. Flinn is replacing Dave' Ka.uf- mann, who recently resigned to go to Hawaii for work on a book. Ex- pected that the company will begin releasing press material from New York via a daily wire from their Coa.it offices. Heretofore all re- leases have.; been sent from the Coast directly to the papers. COL HITS LENSING MARK WITH 10 IN PRODUCTION Hollywood, Aug. 6. . Production reachied a record peak at Columbia with the start (it two features, making a total of 10 in work. Of the. 10, six are hlgh-budgeters, "Down to Earth," "Dead Reckon- ing," "My Empty Heart," "Johnny O'clock," "the Return of Monte Christo" and "Mr. District Attor- ney." Others are "Lone Star Moon- light," "Secret of the Whistler," "Ghosl Town" and a cliffhangcr, "Son of the Guardsman." Capt. Bolton's ORE Hollywood, Aug. 6. British Admirality in Loiidpn yesterday informed Capt. A. J. Bolton, film liaison for the Navy during the war, that he was to re- ceive the order of the British Em- 'pirc. With approval of King of England, he will be honored "for distinguished services to the Allied cause." Capt. Bolton aided on films for the British and helped British mis- sions in this country prior to estab- lishment of a British film service here during tJie war. JOAN'S STEEP THROAT Hollywood, Au.;i. 6. "Possessed," Joan Crawford .starrer which closed down Friday (2), may be shuttered for next week or two. Star, who' is bedded with strep throat, is said to have more seri- ous condition than imagined and film is being held up pending her ."ecoverjr.. M-GsOpenForums On Decree Selling Entire executive personnel of the Metrb sales stafi throughout the counti-y will be given an opportu- nity to toss ideas Into the hopper later this month on how selling should be handled under the Fed- eral anti-trust decision. Distribu- tion topper William F. R«dgers has called a meeting in Chicago, to be held'about Aug. 20, at which'home- office and field force execs will,get together to tosis their views around. Scheduled to attend the Chi hud- dle are the-32 branch managers, 12 district managers, five division man- agers, attorneys and the h.b. exec staff. Rodgers has indicated that he will go into the meeting with no rigidly set sales policy in mind, but that he hopes a fully-developed plan for handling single-selling, auction bidding and other ramifications un- der the decree will be worked out. In the meantime, he is continuing confabs, with attorneys in New York in an effort to come nearer to be- ing able to present finished selling plans to the assembled execs at the meeting. He is particularly anxious to have the legal aspects further qualified before the conclave begins. Whatever policies are evolved will be presented to M-G's '130 salesmen at four sales "forums" to be held after Labor Day. . These will be regional in character, similar ^c^ the "forums". Metro instituted last year. However, they'll be spaced about'a month apart, rather than one aftier the other as before, in order to give the h.o. staff a breather between them.. Meantime, Howard Strickling, stu- dio, publicity, chief, has been in New York in ah endeavor to square away publicity-advertising routines under the new selling plans. It is figured that publicity and ads will have to be timed differently so that they'll break for maximum effect. It is thought likely, for insUnce, that there will be considerably more elapsed time between a picture's completion and its release under auction selling. Companies may also be forced back into territorial release dates, which will pose atijl another problem for the piib-ad de partments. Strickling is slated to return to the studio today (Wednesday). DOT McGUIRE, INGRU) 'WANT TO BE ALONE' The RKO publicity department in New York |ias found in Dorothy McGuire another Katharine Hep- burn. Although the star has been in or near Manhattan ever since the opening at the Rivoli July 23 of her latest pic. "Till the End of Time," she has refused all RKO behests to talk with news and magazine writ- ers, Metro and RKO sUffs long since have become accustomed to get- ting from Miss Hepburn the same reticence toward the press. John Swope, Miss McGuire's hus- baiid. and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Swope, attended the "Time" precm at the Riv on the invitation of RKO, but the star refused to go. She came' alone and virtuafly un- recognized a few days later. She has been staying at the Gcrai-d Swope home in Ossining, N. Y. Likewise something of a headache for the RKO prcs*s staff recently has been Ingrid Bergman. At one lime readily accessible for interviews anil promotion stunts, she has become.iur creasingly less cooperative on recent ti'ips east, according to the: flacks. Stars and directors who made 111- tie or no cash investment in a single- pic corporation are likely to be hit hardest by the Government ban' on such units, industry tax experts pre- • diet. 'While fllnj, legalites remain uncertain whether the ukase is a blanket ruling applying t'^. all such units, the experts are now claiming that the Treasury Dept. will not be able to sustain its crackdown against any but those who received stock in lieu of salaries. Producers and financial backers, on the other; hand, who garnered their take in the forni of an appreciated capital invest- ment will win in the courts, it is believed. "The Internal Revenue Bureau mixed up everythint in one big pot when, it 'handed its ruling down," tax attorney for one inJie producer said. ''Eventually it wjU have to make classificatibhs, since these cor- porations vary in form' and. the. participants have differing legal status. Actually, the Government has a good case only against per- sonnel that took less than their ac- customed salaries with the balance made, up by stock. In tho.se in-, stances, assessment of the stock sale value as personal income is cor-' rect." 1M% Within the Law A producer or banker who ri.skcd his coin , by financing a picture and then chalked up his profit as capital gain was 100% within the Revenue Act, the experts maintain: Purpose of the lower tax rate on such gain.s is to encourage the investment of; capital in new enterprises,: it is. argued, arid . the Government is wrong in its overall ruling. Conse- quently, tax men predict an upset by the courts when the inevitable legal challenge to the Treasury Dept. stand is tested. Pointed out that in the majority of instances the solo-pic corporation included no stars on a sharc-the- profit deal. Each case must stand on its own in the eyes of the law, with the court presented in each particular' instance with a question of fact whether the purpose of the incorporation was to evade taxes. Tax men in on the slngle-pic cor- porations from the outset claim th.it frequently the iformation of the unit was done at the insistence of banks and backers who considered their money more secure- when tied to one film. By so doing, it is said, profits from the film would not be subject to possible claims on other pix made by the same producer which might have turned out to be duds. Meanwhile, lawyers for Samuel Goldwyn, who was reportedly first hit by the new ban, said that they would test the ruling in the courts once they were formally . .notified of it. The company has mot yet re- ceived formal notification of the Government stand, it was said. L. A. to N. Y. A,. Pam Bliimenthal - Jack Briggs Violet Brown John Chapman Arthur Clark Walter Craig Cass Daley Maury Foladare Sheridan Gibney Fred Greenberg Henry Herbel Howard Herty Harry Horner Henry Hull Nunnally Johnson 'Victor Jory Cal Kuhl Leonard L. Levihson Lou Levy Eugene Loring Diane Lynn Faye Marlowe Macklin Marrow Les Raddath Gene Raymond Lou Smith Sarah Taft Paul Warwick XY. to L. A. Nate Blumberg Tom Connnrs Peter Lavcthes James Stroock N. Y; to London Neil A.' new l ONDON to N. Y. Joe Breen .stela Leo Spitz