Variety (Feb 1947)

Wednesday, February 5, 1947 PICTUEES 8 British film Nationalizatioii Crimped By Cripps, Warner Sez 011 Return Sir Staflford Cripps, British Board* of Trade prexy, has summarily ruled out any possibility of nationalization of the British motion 1 .picture indus- try,, according to Jack Warner, who returned to New York Monday (3) from a two-month trip to Europe, Warner Bros, veepee over produc- tion added that Cripps had definite- ly placed the film industry in the "art" category. Warner ' also said that Cripps has stated that there need be no fear of the "de-Ameri- canization" recently recommended by the Motion Picture Producers of Great Britain. Picture chief added that Warners' recently concluded deal with Associated British Pic- tures, Ltd., was pacted with the sanc- tion of the British government and the personal approval of Cripps him- self. Deal, he said, involves a total of between $50-60,000,000. Warner emphasized the fact that the new ABP contract, under which WB will co-produce six films during the next two years while supplying stars and production talent, calls for the American studio to bow out of British production altogether once the contract is terminated. The cur- rent deal, he maintained, is not to be considered a longtime investment by Warners in English film-making. Warner said that as a result of the ABP deal it's likely that all Warner story properties with British back- continued on page 20) H'wood in Old Scram Act Again Due to Pix Tax Hollywood, Feb. 4. Film studios are putting on their annual celluloid exodus, meaning the general scram to ship their com- pleted Alms out of the State of Cal- ifornia before the- first Monday in March, On that day the tax col- lector, puts a bite on all exposed negative on the studio shelves. sMajor lots are rushing work on pictures currently in production to beat the deadline. Meanwhile, many of the indie producers are refrain- ing from starting new pictures un- til the tax collector has made his rounds. »' Welles Leads Parade Of Hollywood' Stars To England for I®A With "Sir Alexander Korda about ready to swing into full production in England, exodus of Hollywood stars to his London studios starts this month. Orson Welles will be the first, taking off about Feb. 15. He'll be followed March 7 by Paul- ette Goddard and Burgess Meredith, and at the end of March by t>ayid Niven. . Welles will produce, direct and star in "Salome," which will be the initial film to be made under Korda's own imprint. First picture to be made for Korda distribution, "Man About the House," is just about fin- ished. It's being done by indie pro- ducer Edward Black, who operates under the Korda banner. Miss Goddard will appear in Oscar Wilde's drama "An Ideal Husband," which goes before the cameras about April 1, and will 'also be a Korda production. Meredith will star in Mine Own Executioner," a psycho- analysis story which will be pro- duced by Anthony Kimmins for Korda distribution. Kimmins will also direct. Niven goes into "Bonnie Prince Charlie," on which all the back grounds have already been shot and which is merely awaiting the star's arrival for completion. It's an Ed- ward Black production for Korda. Glynis Johns, Korda contract player, arrived in New. York from England aboard the Queen Elizabeth Monday (3). She's in the United States for a vacation. RABBI CMS BLESSING TO CROSBY'S 'AWE' Hollywood, Feb. 4. Kind words for "Abie's Irish Rose' were spoken here during the past week by Rabbi Max Nussbaum, of Temple Israel, Los Angeles. He de plored the "hysteria" aroused by the production's alleged caricaturing of Jews and Irish. "Qualitatively, the picture could be much better, and so could the play," Dr. Nussbaum said. "But not one of the attacks makes mention of the fact that the fiim was made only with the best of intentions to pro mote racial tolerance. That intention it realizes." Rabbi mentioned that "Abie" was produced by a company headed by Bing Crosby, "whose record of service to Jewish and minority causes is unparalleled." Hollywood wis For Intl Battle; Long-View Plan Continuing its efforts on a variety of fronts to counteract the lashing it has been receiving from official and non-official agencies abroad, the film industry has taken a number of steps during the past few weeks to gird itself for the international bat- tle. Most important were discus- sions by Motion Picture Assn. prexy Erio Johnston and top industry execs on long-range plans for furthering acceptance of IT. S. product abroad' and heading off restrictive legisla- tion expected as various foreign countries start building up their own film industries. Long-range program is very much in the formative stage and hush- hush, as it will necessarily have to remain if it is to- accomplish its objective. It envisages a general t\yo-way promotion of.good will, one of the first steps in which was the setting up of the International In- formation Committee on the Coast in the past few weeks to provide studios with expert advice on what should go in and what shouldn't go into pix to reduce criticism and get best worldwide reception. In the more immediate field of day-to-day commercial relationships abroad, it was disclosed Monday (3) that Donald Nelson, prez of the So- ciety of Independent Motion Pic- ture Producers, was elected a direc- tor of the Motion Picture Export Assn. at the meeting of MPEA stock- holders Jan. 22. Nelson was nomi- nated by the SIMPP, at the invita- (Continued on page 18) U. S. films scored a potent ad- vance in the rapidly widening over- seas market during 1946, first full year of peace following World War II, by chalking up an unprecedented $210,000,000 take. Thus did the eight majors average a 10% gain over the year before and went a long way towards fulfillment of in- dustry predictions that the foreign market for American pix will ulti- mately equal the domestic in dol- lars and cents. Rise in the importance of beyond- the-border theatres, trade circles say, will have an increasing effect on the type of pix that Hollywood must turn out if it's to continue its overseas gains. Despite heavy grosses for the com- panies during '48 from Yank, thea- tres, foreign biz not only held its proportionate own but for most majors marked up gains so that the overall percentage of overseas to total rentals reached the 40% point. Compared to this, the ratio in pre- war years had held consistently to 35% Metro continued to lead the parade with an estimated $38,000,000 in actual currency toted up on the company's ledgers. M-G is the overseas bellwether not only because its product has powerful overseas appeal but also because it owns 38 plush showcases in many of the world's leading cities. Second spot was held by 20th- Fox, which garnered an estimated (Continued on page 20) Big Five Loses Fight for Delay Of Bid System As 3-Jndge Court Rules • Supreme Court.-H.as final Say HOLLYWOOD HOTEL DUE FOR SCRAPPING SOON Hollywood, Feb. 4. The Hollywood hotel, venerable inn at Highland Wenue and Holly- wood boulevard, once the home of silent days' greats and visiting lumi- naries, will be only another Holly- wood memory soon. The ancient, porticoed inn was sold last week by C. B. Toberman Co., on a 99-year lease, to interests in San Francisco, headed by William Bush. - It will be razed and in its place a modern deluxe hotel will be built. Often reported sold, it has with- stood many rumors, in addition to the elements and the early "wild" days when Gower Gulch was a name in fact. Rossi's U. S. Dickers French singer-actor Tino Rossi arrived in New York Monday (3) aboard the Queen Elizabeth to begin a concert tour. Rossi plans to dicker with a couple of the major film companies for a contract. * Rossi is booked by Charles Rioux of Canadian Concert Artists together with William Morris. He's made several films in Paris, last to be shown in the U, S. being "Guardi- an," with another, "Destins," on its way. f ii Into Bid Sales by Mar. 1? With industry legalites still puz- zling over ramifications of the anti- trust decree, the latest point brought to light reveals that all companies will probably find themselves selling under some form of competitive bid- ding negotiations after March 1, despite the court's ruling that actual competitive bidding need not take effect until July 1. Reason for the early inauguration of auction bidding- is Section 9 of the decree, slated to become effec- tive March 1, which attorneys have interpreted to mean competitive bidding in a modified form. The proviso enjoins the defendants in the-anti-trust case from "arbitrarily refusing the demand of an exhibitor who operates a theatre in competi- tion with another theatre not owned or operated by a defendant distribu- tor, or its affiliate or subsidiary to license a feature to him for ex- hibition on a run selected', by the exhibitor, instead of licensing it to another exhibitor for exhibition in his competing theatre on such run." Clause specifically states that an exhib's demands to book a certain picture may be made "by registered mail, addressed to the homeoffice of the distributor." That, according to attorneys, indicates that the court had in 'mind the same Sort of com- petitive bidding which is outlined in Section 8 of the decree, even though Section 9 is in general terms. Reason for including both clauses, it's said, is to make certain that both distribs with affiliated theatres and those without owned-and-operated circuits are affected. As with the detailed auction bid- ding plan, the second clause speci- fies such negotiations shall be car- ried on only in competitive situa- tions. Basic principle of both, therefore, is to open up the flow of product "indiscriminately" in all situations, attorneys point out. Dis- tribs under the second clause, how- ever, retain the right to turn down an exhib's demand for booking a certain picture. Proviso states that "such demand shall be deemed to have been refused either upon re- ceipt by the exhibitor of a refusal in writing or upon the expiration of 10 days after the receipt of the ex- jhibitor's demand." Ex-Winners to Show Oscar Nite in 3-Reeler Hollywood, Feb. 4. Scenes from Oscar winners of by- gone years will be screened as a three-reeler, "Cavalcade of Award Pictures," by the Academy of Mo- tion Picture Arts and Sciences on presentation night, March 13, at the Shrine Auditorium. This is the first time the ex-cham- pions have been dug Up for the an- nual blowout. Clips of the oldies will be assembled by Victor Kline, film editor, under supervision of Frederick Richards, at Warners, Pir Decides, ' §i Appeal Of Trusl Verdict Paramount has definitely decided to appeal from the anti-trust deci- sion, Louis Phillips, counsel for the company, said this week. Par is the first of the Big Fivs to take the step and joins with Columbia, which has already announce^ its Intention of testing legality of the decree. Meanwhile, other theatre owning defendants continued to huddle on the appeal—or-riot-to-appeal ques- tion. Formal filing of an appeal by Co- lumbia is expected this week as Louis Frohlich, company counsel, prepared his bill of errors. His notice for a review by the Supreme Court may be preceded by that of the American Theatres Assn. cur- rently under preparation by Thur- man Arnold, ATA counsel, who has the greenlight from the exhib -group. ATA will ask reversal of the statu- tory court's nix on intervention. Par, it's understood, has deviated from a parallel course with other members of the Big Five because it has considerably more at stake by way of partly owned theatres. With 1,100 out of a total of 1,500 houses subject to the partial divorcement ukase, Par is harder hit and con- sequently all the more eager to upset the decree. BRECHER EXITS M-G, MAY INDIE PRODUCE Hollywood, Feb. 4. Irving Brecher, long fighting to get out of a five-year writing deal at Metro at $2,000 a week, which Abe Lastfogel (William Morris) originally set for him, finally suc- ceeded last week. Despite the now w.k. Culver City axeing, Brecher couldn't get his release, partially complicated by the studio's previous okay to permit his "Life of Riley" (William Bendix)" radio package, Brecher will concentrate on his radio program for Proctor & Gamble and will probably produce "Riley" independently as a film. Par Would Remake 'Conn. Yankee' (Crosby) ;.' Hollywood, Feb. 4. Paramount would like Bing Crosby to tackle "A Connecticut Yankee" this spring, now that he's completing "The Road to Rio" with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. Having "Wel- come Stranger" and "Emperor's Waltz" in the can, "Rio" marks his 1 third of the year. Crosby, however, would rather take it easy until Labor Day. "Connecticut Yankee" is based on the Mark Twain original, although a couple of old Rodgers & Hammer- stein songs from their stage musical of the same name would be incor- porated. Whether competitive bidding clamps onto the industry this July 1 or waits out a Supreme Court ruling on the decree will be put to the high court by the majors within the near future. Company legalties have already decided on that move fol- lowing thumbs-down stance by the statutory court this week on the majors' plug to stall initiation of the new bid system. ■ Big Five lost its fight to delay past the current season the opera- tion of the decree's proviso covering the new sales technique, when the three judges in a brief memorandum backed their expressed belief that the Supreme Court should have the final say on postponements. What's just as important, the court tacked a hard-and-fast "no" to the Big Five's plea to melt the freeze on .theatre acquisitions. Defendants had sought the power to pick up houses when the acquisition was made either to protect investments or move into competitive situations. Court relented on its original de- cision only to the extent Of putting off the time to dissolve pools or leases with indies until July 1. Even on this point, the majors took a beating since they had urged a two- year deadline, similar to the partial divorcement clause, for cutting the strings on pools and leases. Little Three lost out all along the line, since Columbia and United Artists had joined with the theatre- owning companies for a bid-system delay, and Universal had unsuccess- fully plugged for exemption of (Continu«d on page 20) Leserman to Seek Reciprocal Talent Deals for Bogeans * Hollywood, Feb. 4. Reciprocal agreements between British producers for swap of play- ers, directors and story properties will be sought by Carl Leserman on his forthcoming junket to England for- Benedict Bogeaus productions. Leserman leaves for New York to- morrow (5), stopping for week of huddles ; with United Artists chief- tains before going on. to England to open offices in London and Paris for Bogeaus. Latter joins Leserman in about two months to arrange for further European offices to augment UA sales staffs and for on-the-spot rep- resentation. Bogeaus, Lupino Pact Benedict Bogeaus and Ida Lupino have formed Arcadia Productions to star the latter in one pic-per-year for the next three years. Producing unit, apart from Bogeaus' other in- terests, will also make pix starring others. First story to go before the cameras will be "The Queen's Neck- lace," from an original, script. UA will disTriBu'tel ' *"' LA. FIRST RUNS DIP 131% DURING JAN. Los Angeles, Feb. 4. First-run theatres in Los Angeles skidded approximately lSVz% dur- ing the first month of 1947, com- pared with the boxoffice receipts of January, 1946. Survey of 24 first run houses shows a total income of $1,373,200 for last month, a drop of $215,100 from January of the pre- ceding year. Key cities throughout the coun- try report similar conditions, soma showing that business is off as much as 18%. ^ Cukor-Garbo Team Hollywood, Feb. 4. Director George Cukor and Greta Garbo are offering themselves to local producers on a package deal. Action verifies report that Cukor is leaving Metro. Pair were last teamed in "Two Faced Woman."