Variety (Sep 1946)

Weclnesdajr, September 25, 1946 PRE-PRODVCTION NEWS FILM STUDIOS LET OUT LOGO Eagle-Uon Axes 'B' Product in Move By Foy-Schwalb«rg for Costlier Pix Hollywood, Sept. 24. . Production of "B" pictures took another jolt when, Eagle-Lion an- nounced that its original filming pro- gram will be curtailed to make room for high-budgeters. Announcement by Bryan Foy, veepee in charge of production, and A. W, Schwalberg, veepee-in charge of distribution, is in line with the general policy in Hollywood studios to give the hum- bler product the old heave-ho. The Eagle-Lion edict predicts "a higher type of product able to compete at the boxofflce With anything turned out in the industry." ■ ■ ; Currently, Eagle-Lion has a pro- duction program of seven features bracketed at $1,000,000 or more, in addition to six to 12 pictures for PRC, including "The Red Stallion," to be filmed in Cinecolor on a $700,- 000 budget. Others will cost from $350,000 to $650,000; Foy declared his executive pro- duction staff is still in the making, and that he will bolster it soon with numerous additions to the writing, directing and producing depart- ments. Meanwhile Schwalberg is organiz- ing a separate Eagle-Lion sales force to function with the physical facil- ities of PRC exchanges. He is now picking; experienced film peddlers for Various key spots to form the -JUgl&u.s of tlip K-T. <ia1(».«! rjpp^^rtrpant- Company wiU.release two features for Producing Artists, Inc., and at least five J. Arthur Rank high- budgeters, made in England and hand-picked for their appeal to the American market. Following is the producing-releasing schedule: "It's a Joke, Son," release Jan. 1, 1947; "His Bridal Night," produc- tion start Oct. 7; "Prelude to Night," Producing Artists production, starts shooting Nov. 1; "Repeat Perform- ance," production start Nov. 15; "Mr. Jow," (E-L), $1,800,000 budget- er, starts shooting Dec. 20; "Bedelia," (Rank), scheduled for December re- lease; "Love from a Stranger," starts production Jan. 15, 1947; "Kenny" (E-L), $2,000,000 budgeter, based on Louis Bromfield novel, starts shoot- ing Feb. 15, 1947; "Imperial Venus" (PA), scheduled to start Feb. 20, 1947; "Clementine" OE-L), $1,600,000 budgeter, starts lafe February, "The Adventuress" (Rank), February re- lease.:-' On the RKO lot the "B" produc- ers are in a dither over the an- nouncement that the Frank Ross production, "The Robe," will utilize 11 sound stages for months, leaving little space for other product. Un- derstood no picture budgeted at less than $500,000 has been scheduled after Dec. 1. Some of the RKO producers are reported looking for new' connections before the axe falls. HOFFMANN ADDS A PAIR . Hollywood, Sept. 24, ^Warners added three pictures to Lharles Hoffman's production pro- gram, making a total of five. _ Ne-.vcomers are "The Hasty Heart," A Kiss m the Dark" and *'For Sen- timental Reasons." Previously as- signed were "The Unsuspected" and ; Ships m the River." , N. Y, to L. A. Joseph Bernhard Ralph Cohn Lester Cowan Humphrey Doulens Donald Hyde Clem McCarthy Edward (Ted) O'Shea Lewis Pennish J^ary Pickford Seymour Poe ■ Lily Pons' Buddy Rogers Milton Sperling Harold Stern Ann Todd , N. Y. to Europe Hugh A. Day David Rose Oscar Serlin , Europe to N, Y. Joseph Hummal Tom O'Brien nichard ,de Rochemont Josef Somio " <»• I. Woodham Smith PRC Slicing Nine Pix Hollywood, Sept. 24. Total of nine films in the PRC editing rooms is the highest in the history of that company. In the cutting process are "Gas House Kids," "Lady Killer," "The Devil Drives," "Don Ricardo Re- turns," "Born to Speed," "The Re- turn of Rin Tin Tin," "Driftin' River," "Stars Over Texas" and "Tumbleweed Trail." Can. Production Upped As Korda, Dominion Pix Plan Quebec Lensing Montreal, Sept. 24, A unit of the Alexander Korda string of film producing outfits is at present in Montreal where plans are going ahead for filming "Marie Chapdelaine," noted classic of Cana- dian literature. Heading the unit here is Rolland (Bill) Gillette, who is the producer. Film will have French-Canadian . background, and picking of sites for location shooting in and around Montreal is now tak ing place. It's intehdea''tTratT;TTFuhiFwiIl'lje" here, for about eight weeks. Playing in the film will be Trevor Howard, Barbara White and Austin Willis, latter a Canadian who's pacted by Dominon Productions Ltd., and who has just completed DPL's initial flicker "Bush Pilot." Next pic of Dominion Productions, "The Highgraders," will be filmed in Quebec City. DPL is a Toronto outfit, which recently completed its initial pic, "Bush Pilot," starring Austin Willis, Jack Larue and Ro- chelle Hudson. Willis will also play the lead in "Highgraders" with the femme lead being taken by Ronnie Burkett, a Toronto gal who is doing her first flicker job. Negotiations to get'Jean Parker for the part fell through. Shooting in Quebec is scheduled to begin about the middle of No- vember and should take about eight weeks. "Bush Pilot" is now all set for release, which should be in about two weeks, but who'll do the dis- tributing has not been finalized yet. Eagle-Lion and Pathe are reportedly in line for the job. KEYS BIGGfSI L. A. to N. Y. June AUyson , Barney Balaban Joan Bennett Frederick Brisson Earl Carroll Sam Coslow ■ Wick Crider Dan Duryea Wallace Ford Lester Gottlieb ' Bob Graham Mack Green William Harrigan Margaret Herrick Dennis Hoey A. M. Kane Harry Kosiner Irene Lee Richard Llewellyn Leo McCarey Ray Miller Michel MorgSn Van Newkirk Ben Piazza Dick Powell Jack Present Sidney Reznick Jean Ritchey Hal Roach Sigmund Romberg Alfred W. Schwalberg Frank Seltzer M. J. Siegel Sol C. Siegel Cal Smith Bianca Stroock Catherine Turney Beryl Wallace A. W. Watkins Lucille Watson t'rances Williams Berne Wilkins ' George Zachary ■ Sam Zagon Al B. Zell ; Hollywood, Sept. 24, Over 1,000 carpenters and painters were dismissed from studios yester- day (Mon.) in the biggest action taken so far in the current labor situation. Although labelled a "wholesale lockout" by the Confer- ence of Studio Unions, producers stated the action would seriously handicap production, but also would prove a means of bringing the issues to a head. Previously,' CSU toppers had stated there would be no strike over jurisdictional gain. However, studio action, which they term "lock- out," would indicate they may now take stronger action, : ' Technically, layoffs are not dis- missals, according to the studios, since carpenters and painters are assigned to work on sets assembled by lATSE men and if the,assign- ments are refused they are asked to ■'leave the premises." Those being asked to leave, under these circum- stances, would not be eligible for unemployment insurance, it> is be-^ lieved. Group of 101, made up of 69 car- penters and 32 painters, demanded dismissal slips when told to leave Universal yesterday, refusing to, leave unless islips were forthcoming. Studio refused to give slips and _g.rpup_ was esco rted from the lot b y studio police. Similar incident oc-' curred at Republic where 20 carpen- ters and 16 painters were let out. Par studios employ approximately 1,400 carpenters and 700 painters on an average and if notices to "leave (Continued on page 20) U. S. Picts Partners' Split Not So Amicable; Sperling s Ambitions M-G's New 'Scaramouche' Hollywood, Sept. 24. Metro will remake the Rafael Sabatini story, "Scaramouche," deal^ ing with love and swordplay dur^ ing. the French Revolution. Ken- neth McKenna will produce. . Old Metro company : filmed the novel as a silent in 1923,with Ramon Navarro and Alice Terry as stars. Ann Sheridan Shifts Pix Hollywood, Sept. 24. Next starrer for Ann Sheridan at Warners will be "The Unfaithful," instead of "Serenade," a^ originally slated. Shift was caused by the un- availability of Dennis Morgan as co- star in "Serenade." He will be tied up with "My Wild Irish Rose" for several months. Jerry Wald is producer and Virtr cent Sherman director of "The Un- faithful." Pickf ord-Cowan Unit Plans 7 Pix in Next ZYearsViaUADistrib Either "One Touch of Venus" or "Babylon Revisited" will be the initial film to he made by the new Mary . Pickford-Lester Cowan pro- duction unit, the partners said Mon- day (23) following announcement of their merger. Gowan added that "Whichever of the two is decided on to lead-o£f the program of seven pictures planned within the next two years, it would go before the cameras by Jan. 1. General manager of the new or- ganization—which as yet has no name- ^will be S elmar (Sonny) long associated with her in running her affairs; Miss Pickford will take the presidency title, with a board chairman still being sought. Pards want a major industry figure, they said. Of the two properties which head the production slate, "Venus" is the former Broadway musical hit by S. J. Perelman, Ogden Nash and KuFt-iFeill. "Babylon" is the F. Sc6tt''Fitzgerald book. "Venus" be- longed to Miss Pickford and "Bab;^- Ion" to Cowan and are among the properties which they said had been tossed into a central pot. Release of the P-C product will be via United Artists, Miss Pick- ford's one-third ownership of that company automatically giving her distribution rights. Pix will be : (Continued on page 29) Briefs From the Lots Hollywood, Sept. 24. Phyllis Calvert, British star, checked in.at V-1 to prepare for her first American starring role in "Time Out of Mind," to be produced by Jane Murfin and directed by Robert Siodmak... .Harry Carey, Jr., re- cently out of the Navy, makes his film bow in "Pursued" at Warners ....Ray Taylor assigned as director on "Wild Country," Eddie Dean star- rer, to be produced by Jerry Thomas at PRC.. ..William Frawley draws role of singer in "My Wild Irish Rose'' at Warners... .Warners gave the gun to "Night Unto Night," first Hollywood picture for VivecaHnd- fors, who co-stars with Ronald Rea- gan... .Richard Riddell signed as production designer on "Ivy," direct- ed by Sam Wood and produced by Wijliam Cameron Menzies at U-I. Republic rolls three . films this week, "Jesse James Rides Again," "Web of Danger" and "Outlaws of Sioux City"....Filming of U-I's "Flame of, Tripoli" halted when surf at Sequit Beach washed out the Arab tint village... .Elizabeth Patterson inked by Selznick. for character role in ."Little Women"... .Screen Guild P'-oductions signed Patricia Morison an(' J. Edward Bromberg for leads i- "Queen of the Amazons"... .Most Of ''Dark Passage," the Bogart-Ba- call co-starrer at Warners, will be shot on location in San Francisco;.., Tom TuUy draws a character role in "My Heart Tells Me," produced by Gene Markey for 20th-Fcx. Hakim-Litvak arranging exploita- tion hookup with 1,200 amateur magician groups throughout the country to ballyhoo "A Time to Kill," in which Vincent Price plays a magic man....Van Heflin left the east of "Possessed" at Warners tem- porarily to return to his home lot, Metro, for shots in "Green Dolphin Street/' while WB picture is shot around him... . Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., signed Alexander MacDonald, retired Naval commander, as pro- duction aide on "Exile," at U-I.... B :n Bogeaus talking deal with Gary Cooper and Cary Grant for a fifth sequence in his episode picture, "A Miracle Can Happen"... .Smog held up location shots on Paramount's "Dear Ruth" for two days. Filming ' started on Sol Lesser's "Tarzan and the Huntress'' at Santa Anita Rancho, with the Johnny V,''eissmuller-Brenda Joyce co-starrer slated for 10 weeks on location.... Peggy Stewart draws the femme lead opposite Allan Lane in "Outlaws of Sioux City," Red Ryder western, at Republic.. . .Jules Levej bor- rowed Dorothy Patrick from Metro fur femme lead opposite Arturo de Cordova in "New Orleans" Peter Stewart, director, < led a troupe of 147, largest in history of the Pine- Thomas unit, to Catalina Island to film "Adventure Island'' for Para- mount release . ; . . Reed Hadley draws key role in "Captain Prom Castile,'' to be directed by Henry King for 20th-Fox Sid Tomack, comedian, gets his first serious film role in "Inside Sti,)ry" at Columbia." ...PRC rented space In Sutherland Studios to ■ film the first of a new series of Michael Shayne mysteries, starting Oct. 1, with Sigmund Neu- feld producing, Owen Crump draws "A Man of Our Town" and-"Three Bad Men" on his production program at War- ners, in addition to "Thunder Val- ley" and "Night Unto Night," previously assigned.Fred Guiol (Continued on page 20) Milton Sperling's acquisition of 100% control of United States Pic- tures last week was accomplished via a lump-sum payment-in-full to Joseph Bernhard, with the coin ob- tained by Sperling on a personal loan from the New York Trust Co. The former partners agreed on those de- tails of the parting and little else,; as signs became apparent of con- siderable • ill-feeling having been generated between them. Sperling, : prior to his return to' the Coast Friday (20), stated that while Bernhard held no residual in- terest in USP's first two releases, "Cloak and Dagger" and "Pursued," he'd supervise their sales and han- dling by Warner Bros., without pay- ment and strictly as a matter of friendship. Queried on this, Bern- hard snapped:."! will not. . It's en- tirely untrue that I'll have any- thing further to do with United^ States Pictures whatsoever." Bernhard, who left for the Coast Monday (23), said he had no defi- nite plans about the future as yet, but might have something to an- nounce on his return to New York in two weeks. He refused to am- plify the cause of the split with Sperling, declaring: "I always try to be a gentleman." Sperling, who is married to Harry M Warner's daughter, Betty, mean- time outlined plans for expanding activities of USP. Outfit is under contract to turn out a muiimum of two films a year for WB release, but will step up production to four, Sperling said. He pointed out that company had made two since March 15 of this year, when it went into production initially, and will have two more finished by March 15, 1947. He disclosed plaas for issuing 250,000 shares of stock in USP, which he will hold personally until necessary to dispose of them to in- crease working capital. In the of- fing, he revealedi were plans possi- bly for his own studio and even a distributing company. He ■ indi- cated that his large-scale production plans, in contract to Bernhard's con-. servatism, was one of the factors in the splitup. Elizabeth Carver, former story ed for Selznick, has been named by Sperling to head eastern story activ- ities, in the expansion mo', i . East- ern talent chief will also be named, he &aid, to help build up a stable of stars. Already in the USP foJd, Sperling pointed out, were Lilli; Palmer, who appears opposite Gary Cooper in "Cloak and Dagger"; John Rodney and Harry Carey, Jr., who appear with Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright and Judith Ander- son in "Pursued"; Larraine Miller, who currently has second lead to Helen Hayes in forthcoming Broad- way legiter, "Happy Birthday," and for whom' USP has a story, "Distant Drums"; and Gale Robbins, a chit- per, who will continue nitery and personal appearance work, or may be loaned out, pending lining up a story for her; by USP. CARTOON PRODS. MULL GOING COMM'L 100^ Hollywood, Sept. 24. Members of the (Sartoon Producers Association, indie group headed by Walter Lantz, are thinking seriously of dropping amusement cartoons and shifting to commercial shorts, be- cause of the high cost of cartooning. Costs have gone up 165% in five years while revenue during the same period have gone up only 10%, Commercial cartoons pay off heavily and. there is a . growing de- mand for such product. Brackett in Par Deal, But Wilder Holds Out Hollywood, Sept. 24. Charles Brackett signed a new contract with Paramount, but his production partner, Billy Wilder, has declined to affix his signature thus far. Old contracts for the team still: had two years to run*