Variety (Feb 1947)

OBITUARIES . MBS. CURTIS BERNHARDT i (Peart Arsyle) ' My*. Gurtis Bernhardt, wife of the Warner Bros, director, died sudden- ly of a cerebral hemorrhage last Wednesday (29) while visiting New York with her husband. Prior to her Carriage she was prima ballerina ftrlth the London Opera Co. Her pro- fessional name was Pearl Argyle, The Bernhardts were in their gharry - Netherland hotel suite in fW York with Charles Miller, of Music Corp. of America, when Mrs. Bernhardt was stricken. She died within an hour, before she could •ven be moved to a hospital. She had shown no previous signs of ill- York many years ago. He had also written songs, including "What Is the Use to Bemember?" and "Oh, You Blonde." Survived by widow and two sons. MRS. AGNES VON STROHEIM Mrs. Agne's Von Stroheim, 58, for- mer wife of Erich Von Stroheim, actor-director, died Jan. 31 in Holly- wood after long illness; At one time Mrs. Von Stroheim was associated with D. W. Griffith as costume designer. . Wednesday, February 5, 1947 Bernhardt flew back to the Coast the following evening, With Mrs. Earnhardt's body sent Out the day after. The couple were in New York on a combination business-vaca- tion jaunt. Director had been con- fabbing with Bette Davis on Life Of Sarah "Bernhardt," which was elated to be his next picture. .» IVY SCOTT Ivy Scott, 61, vet musical comedy and operetta star, died Feb. 3 in New York She last appeared as Mama Grieg in "Song of Norway" and was with the show in New York and Chicago until illness forced her to leave the cast last- November. On the stage, for 56 years, she- made her debut in Sydney, Australia, at the age of five in "Master and Man." Miss Scott arrived in this country in 1910 and her first role was in "The Merry Widow." She later appeared in "The Girl of the Golden West," and "Robin Hood." for several years, she was heard in grand opera, including a season at the oWLCentury theatre, N. Y. Lat£!%Hss Scott was in "Music in the M*7' "Revenge With Music," "ibree\ Waltzes," "Liberty Jones," "gunny *)R£ver" and "Too Many Girls." She $uso was heard in sev- eral radio roles. - Survived, by son and sister. CHARLES JOHNSON Charles Johnson, 50, booker in Dublin," Ireland, for RKO, died there Jan. 25. . „, One of best-known men in film biz in Ireland, he was formerly with General Film Distributors. MORRIS GERSON Morris Gerson, 61, indie operator and veteran exhibitor, died last week at his home in Philadelphia. He owned the Overbrook, Hamil- ton, Haverford and Colonial thea- tre, Philly, ADRIAN E. FORD Adrian E. Ford, 71, former, theatre operator, died In Norwich, N, V., Feb. 3. He had been owner and manager of several theatres in the Norwich area. BETTY ROSS . Betty Ross, 67, former screen ac- tress, who played number of leads in Tom Mix westerns, died Feb, 1 at her home'Tn Hollywood. MARRIAGES Peggy Phillips to Max Allentuck, New York, Jan. 31. Bride is Theatre Guild associate p.a.; groom is legit manager. Marjorie Houghton to Sturges Came, Riverside, Calif., Jan. 25. Groom is an art director at Co- lumbia. Martha Alexander to John H. Hayes, Danbury, Conn., Jan. 29. Bride is radio and shorl^tory writer. Rosemary LaPlanche to Harry Koplan, San Francisco, Jan. 31. Bride is screen player; groom is radio producer. Shirley Tanner to Robert Sparr, Santa Barbara, Feb. 2, Groom is a film editor. Joyoe Braun to Ingram Clark, Hollywood, Feb. 1. Bride is a secre- tary and groom a publicist on the Columbia lot. " T«%rianna Richter to Hugh Mosher, Los Angeles, Jan. 25. Bride and gr&osfare legit players. Mafgaret MacLennan to John C. Banfihard, Jr., Hershey, Pa., Jan. 30. ,B*5de is ice skater at the Hershey Sports Arena. Gloria Balaban to Lee Wolfman, New York, over weekend. Bride is daughter of David Balaban, Balaban & Katz exec in Chicago. Hx Production's Dipsy-Doedle Continued from page 1 PAULINE WESTMORELAND Pauline Westmoreland, 37, screen actress; died Jan. 28 at her home in Los Angeles. MATHF.A MERRIFIKLD Mathea Merrifield, 33, dancer, who appeared i'sv, several Fanchon and Marco uhits. Aefore being stricken With tuberculosis, died in Stockton, 6alil, Jan. 26v_ When becoming ill several years ago she underwent treatment at the Will Rogers Memorial hospital, Sar- anac Lake, N, %> and for a time she appeared to b* responding nicely, After a relapse Xhe decided to go to California to live with an uncle and ^vmt. She haft been living with them when the $id came. In addition t$ her unit stints she had also appeased in New York nit- tries, principally .the former Holly- wood, whtofi bar daring dances won her overnight attention. She had also appeared in London niteries, and it was upon her return from •broad that she became stricken ill. Father, 80, Leonard S. Schlesinger, president and general manager of Warner Bros. Service Corp., died Jan. 31 in St. Louis. Survived by three sons. Father, 51, of the five De Marco Sisters, singing group currently on the Fred Allen airshow, died in Brooklyn, N. Y., last week. Mrs. Clara Cowitt, 62, mother of William, Leo and Emanuel Cowitt, all of Paramount, died Jan. 28 in Hollywood. Major Homer V. Oldfield, 67, re tired vaudeville trouper, died Jan. 26 in Los Angeles after a long illness. Widow, 50, of Mel Klee, vaude per- former, died in New York Jan. 28. Two sons and a daughter survive. GEORGE SANGER George Sanger, 79, retired British Circus operator, died in London Jan. Si. He had inherited the circus from his father, operated it for many years until his retirement 15 years •go. Sanger's Circus was a standby for years- in London and the provinces-,' and, while never approaching Amer- ican circuses in lavishness, it had trouped for years and was gener- ously patronized by the British pub- lic. During the past war, at request of British government, it had toured bombed areas for morale purposes. ARNOLD ARNAUT Arnold Arnaut, 78, restired circus performer, dipd at his home in Beechhurst, L. I., Jan. 25. He was the father of the Arnaut brothers and the Three Arnauts, both stand- ard vaude acts. Also survived by widow. CLEM POPE Clem Pope, 52, former publicity ' man for RKO theatres in Cleveland, died? in that city Feb. 1. In 1945 he left the amusement field to donate his services to war bond drives in Ohio. He subse- quently had gone into the advertis- ing business. ED EDWARDS Ed Edwards, 64, former song writ- •V, died in Philadelphia, Feb. 1. In |ae®nt years he had been secretary At the YMCA In Germantown, a (Suburb of Philly. He was reputed to have headed his own music company in New B'hoDti WeeK Continued from page i with a special committee iCK^field men lined up to handle the wofej Many theatres are expected to fol- low the lead of the Skouras circuit, N. Y,, in booking special kids' shows during the week. Skouras houses have lined up a group of shorts based on the brotherhood theme, including Sinatra's "House I Live In," Paramount's "Don't Be a Sucker," etc., and the chain's man- agement has received permission from the N. Y. Board of Education to let kids out of school to attend the showing. Radio committee for the drive has sent special transcriptions to every station in the country, Platters, fea- turing spot announcements, have been waxed by Jimmy Stewart, Dinah Shore, Tom Breneman, Ga- briel Heatter, Jimmy Durante, Ful- ton Lewis, Jr., Fred Allen, Kenny Delmar, Eddie Cantor, Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Helen Hayes, Clifton Fadi- man, Walter Huston and Raymond Massey. In addition, many top com- mercial shows are expected to plug the Week, and the, Advertising Council has set its allocation for ra- dio spots on network shows for the drive. Station managers will be contacted by three different sources. Industry committee, ehairmanned by ABC prexy Ed Noble, and including the prexies of the other three webs, in- cluding Frank Stanton of CBS, Niles Trammell of NBC and Ed Kobak of Mutual, will contact each station. Web officials will mail letters to each affiliate and X. D. Willard, assistant chief of the National Assn. of Broad- caster!, will also appeal for full backing to each station. BIRTHS JB. and Mrs. Dorwid Mack, son, Chicago, last week. Father is exec of Filmack Trailer Co. ' Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Von Herberg, daughter, Seattle, Feb. 1. Mother is Gene Dennis, seeress; father is thea- tre operator in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Hallbert, son, Indianapolis, Jan. 30. Father is booker at 20th-Fox exchange in that city, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pevney, daughter, Hollywood, Jan. 1. Mother is Mitzi Green, vaude and nitery comedienne; father is an actor at Enterprise. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Arnold, son, London, Jan. 25. Father is British showman. Mr. and Mrs. Jack P. Case, son, Burbank, Calif., Jan. 25. Father's asst. manager Loew's State, Los An- geles. Mr. and Mrs. Sonny Kippe, daughter, Miami, Jan. 27. Father's a bandleader. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Gabel, son, Hollywood, Jan. 28. Father is radio actor and director; mother is Arleen Francis, radio and legit actress. Mr. and Mrs. Herb Meadows, son, Hollywood, Jan. 24. Father is a writer at Metro. Mr. and Mrs. Sol Fielding, daugh- ter, Hollywood, Jan. 28. Mother is the former Mitzi Cummings of the screen; father is in Metro's trailer department. $Ir. and Mrs. Jack Lambert, son, Hollywood, Jan. 29. Father is a film acjtor. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Phillips, son, Pittsburgh, Jan. 28, Father's ; WCAE announcer. Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Ross, daugh- ter, Pittsburgh, Jan. 30. Father's a bandleader. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph DeGene, daughter, Pittsburgh, Jan. 21. Father's a nitery entertainer. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ware, daugh- ter, Pittsburgh, Jan. 27. Father heads a radio recording studio in Pitt. that the days of the casual indepen- dent productions which somehow did business, good, bad or indifferent, are numbered. Darryl F. Zanuck, 20th-Fox's'pro- duction chief, accepts that point by Stating: "We used to point for a goal of $1,200,000 in sales income per week to maintain parity, but that's got to go. Now we must get all possible out of each picture. No mbre being content to stop if we hit over a million gross a week. ( We must get all possible out of our top prod- duct—or else. Here's what I mean: we took almost $500,000 out of the Roxy, on Broadway, from 'The Razor's Edge.' Can you imagine how good it would be if we had 10 Roxys in the U. S.? Or I'll settle for only five. That's the future of our film-selling:''getting everything pos- sible from each top picture. That means the small films are dead, but it also means back to hard work to achieve this maximum gross per pic- ture. It's not only a windfall for the distributor, but also for the ex- hibitor. I'm sure the exhibitor will find that he's better off forcing a third or a sixth week that snowballs from the single-selling "campaign, Nix Negative Cost Limit In line with the' general un- certainty in the film industry over skyrocketing production and distribution costs, Jake Wilk, Warners eastern story chief, has decided to' discard all deals for important story properties hence- forth which set a limit on the negative cost of a picture. Under such deals heretofore, the studio always stood the rap in case a budget went over the stipulated negative cost set at the time the »deal was made in the east. New setup will leave the negative cost in an ambig- uous stage. Ways Abroad Continued from page 60 JLe Crime H» Lord Arthur Savile Teddy Bilis as the piano tuner is the only thing that gets laughs from an audience ( which cannot take seriously the complexities of Ber- nard Lancret. Latter does Lcrd Arthur Savile, the young man who on the eve of his marriage is warned by a palmist that he is bound to murder someone and is so impressed by the prophecy that he wants to comply with it as quickly as possible to be able to dismiss it from his mind. The psychological part of the story doesn't emerge on the stage. The play has been well done, the long cast providing employment for the Herrand company, called "Rideau de Paris." The set by Marcel De- camps and Alex Chevreux, showing a drawing room, and the period dresses by Gres, help substantiate the Parisian version of the British atmosphere and help keep the whole thing sufficiently unreal to prevent it from falling flat. Direction is fair and acting commendable, but the worthy efforts of the players are up against a tough proposition. Masi. thus relying on the accumulative word-of-mouth, than opening some B picture fresh and not doing as well with that B on the first week than he grosses with.the stronger picture on its third or sixth week holdover." No question, also, but that part of the general economic reconstruction must be curbed at the source. In short—production costs. It's not sufficient now for the film tycoons to reminisce that when the panic comes labor will cut itself 50%, as it did in the past. There's no such likelihood, they add. Steve Trilling, Warner Bros.' production major domo, in the absence of Jack L, Warner on his European junket (just returned to New York this week), concurs with the rest of the. top ranking production heads that the major problem' is co-relating costs with income. No question but that the ceiling (b.o. revenue) is coming down, and the floor (costs) coming up. If they ever meet there's bound to be the biggest atomic bust in show biz history, The avenue be- tween ceiling and floor is still health- ily apart. It's narrowing a bit, of course, but the main idea is not to permit it to come closer. All this the studio biggies are agreed on. One- way of doing it is more care- ful preparation of pictures. Loew's prexy, Nicholas M, Schenck, with the aid of the company's Mayer, Katz, et al., screened several hours of film for the top Metro studio personnel. When it was over, Schenck said that these represent $10,000,000 worth of picture production which never saw the customers, and won't. That's the type of profligacy which Metro" will fight against henceforth on produc- tion costs. It's a waste which went unnoticed in the abnormally bull markets of 1941-46, but whiqh today is the difference between profit and heavy losses henceforth. Universal-International's Bill Goetz and Leo Spitz feel .there's no need to he overly frightened at costs. Labor may cooperate a bit more under ex- isting conditions, or costs may even mount, but judicious preparation at the source, it is hoped, should not only cut sufficient corners, but even pay off in improved product. Dora Schary^ new production head of RKO Radio, accents this point by stating that if each picture is treated as a "special" undertaking, and given special attention, any wastage through off-the-cuff and/or haphaz. ard shooting will be eliminated. C* 0 . lumbia Pictures prexy Harry Cohn says the same thing, and U's Goetz reprises that even if the present $1. 500,000 picture goes up another 100G or 200G, more careful prepara- tion at the source should and must make the l%-to-l% million-dollar picture look like 50% more. Even the indies, despite their en- thusiasm, recognize the Mayer credo that, henceforth, perhaps only the real big ones will pay off. Mayer stresses that thus will Metro, with Its star-studded stable, once again emerge as top-ranker—the bell- wether position it long enjoyed un- til the profit returns in recent years sent that studio to No. 4 position in 1946, outranked "by Paramount, 20th- Fox and Warner Bros. The indies, for their part, seem to be indulging " only in projects with showmanship ideas and merchandising excite? ment. The yen for'more potent boxoffice outlets^ which Zanuck touched upon, is the keynote of the production masterminds. They sense that it's fallacious to cut costs haphazardly, else it undermines the basic quality of the commodity they must sell. The need for intensification of sell- ing is uppermost. Thus, more than ever, the eastern admen, and mer-, chandisers are huddling with the studio publicity and production top- pers, coordinating pre-selling ideas for the ultimate payoff. Despite mixed critical opinion, the b.o. performance of "Razor's Edge" is a case in point. And David O. Selznick points to his "Duel in the Sun," currently a maelstrom of cap- tious opinion from the laity and church. Selznick shrugs by asking, "How much do you want to bet that it does over $20,000,000 world gross?" He adds that the trade concedes him $12,000,00 domestic on the picture, and that Charlie Skouras concede^ $15,000,000 worldwide. All of which ties in with the specialized selling of a certain type of picture, the thing the majors now stress. It's this showmanship and mer- chandising excitement which is at the crux of the general Hollywood uncertainty as regards story prop- erties. The current trend now is towards hitching on to some sure- fire plays or bestselling novels, may- haps paying abnormal prices for the insurance, but at least giving the stu- dios something to sink their produc- tion teeth info, and. above all, something to shout about to the trade, the exhibitor, the press and the customers. The talent agents, at the moment, are very unhappy about this trend from several viewpoints. It's killed the market. for originals—tempo- rarily, anyway. It's bound to be tem- porary, they feel, because the orig- inal has been the groundwork of the film industry. But with the new ac- cent on only top-budgeters, the vi- cious cycle spreads as-against lesser properties, and these in turn mini- mize the opportunities for the lesser players. Schary, Metro alumnus—a writer, basically, before he segued from Selznick to the top production berth at RKO—stresses that it was .the 'B" which gave Metro its new stars, pointing to Robert Taylor. Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, et al. The writers feel themselves the victims of this same uncertainty_ in more ways than the basic bypassing of their efforts in favor of fancy- cost books and plays. The writer has c-nly recently, comparatively, been coming into his own as a potential writer-director and writer-producer (viz., Schary, Nuhnally Johnson, J°* Mankiewicz, George Seaton, Claude Binyon, Jo Swerling, to name a few), but what has latterly evolved is the ganging up o£ many writers on a single script. A favorite parable to illustrate that aspect of the gripe cites Max Gordon and Kaufman & Hart. If K & » don't click out-of-town, they rewrite and revamp, and'nobody but Kauf- man & Hart rise or fall with their efforts by the time their play open' on Broadway. Not Hollywood. The producer, ever uncertain, ever eager for more insurance, even if »}* marked "final shooting script," wiu call in somebody else to doctor «, punch Up dialog, etc. Again, it's pari of the same uncertainty. The b.o. reaction in the next few months wm clarify much of it.