Variety (Jul 1947)

Wednesday, July 2, 1947 PICTtJRBS BRTT. THREATENS U S. PIX IMPORTS Expect Rank To Tell Off British^ It's flgured that when J. Arthur Rank gets back to England the agitatioO' against U, S. film imports may take on a different com- plexion. America takes about a billion dollars out of Britain, m dollar ex- ■ change, for all sorts of commodities, but because Hollywood has an element of glamour, the accent is automatically, on' the .Yank film capital with the relatively small $75,000,000 it takes out of Britain annually.,' •,• . But when the British womenfolk b.esiege Parliament, as,they have, with "if it's a choice between us having food or movies," the answer Is obvious. ■ ■ Fundamentally, both sides agree it's good economy for the American majors to "cartelize" playdates on an Anglo-American accord-^if cartel it is—because it's also good! for the British film industry^ in every facet. It's good for the British theatre-owner, it's held, because without Hollywood product he'd close up shop. It's good for America because without that foreign revenue the U. S. film industry would have to retrogress on production lavishness and standards, , Rank's closeup on America, particularly his current leisurely so- journ in Hollywood, has given him an even deeper insight, and all this will be accented by the British industrialist-fllm producer when he hits British shores. s British Prefer Opportunity to Play U. S. Market Revenue Incidental Rank Stresses to Yank Distribs ■ As J. Arthur Rank winds up his-f Hollywood stay this weefc prepar^.-' tory to heading easfand sailing for London July 17 on the Queen Eliza- beth, the playing-time. deal that the British tycoon worked out with the major American theatre circuits Started to take shape. The $10,000,- 000 to $12,000,000 "guarantee," ac- tually, is chiefly a theoretical : formula because Rank reiterates, What he wants for British pictures is not to be ]^ut on a monetary basis. More so, he prefers the opportunity - to exhibit his and/or the other Brit- ish film wares in important Ameri- > can theatres. , It's held that if it were a ques- tion of, money, as a means to buy ofE any theoretical threat from the British government on dollar ex- change, then perhaps. It might be that the U. S. film interests could just as well pay off Rank and not even play his product, It's some- thing comparable to what occurred when the American distributors in England made and/or bought , "quota" pictures, and exhibited ^Continued on page 16) , May's $31,266,930 Amus. Taxes a Million Under '46 Washington, July 1. ■ The nation's admissions tax col- lections dipped to $31,266,930 in May, more than $1,000,000 under the comparable figures for May,- 1946, according' to the latest Bureau of Internal Revenue statistics. Gener- ally the collections .Reflect business done at the boxffice. in April. ■ Bulk of the bite comes from film houses, ■' Jimmy Walker Biopic May Be Filmed in Eng. Under Noel Gurney Plans Aiming to bring a cross-section of America to Britain, and vice versa, by means of a program of iilms and plays, British American Continental Productions, Inc., is earmarking a biopic on the life of JFimmy Walker from a story by Gene Powler as its first screen venture. Company prexy Noel Gurney reportedly acquired the rights to the Walker yarn from exec- utors of the late New York mayor's estate., , . British American is now negotiat- ing for studio space in England and, according to plans, the Walker pic- toe will be filmed there. Dormant durmg the war, the firni was launched in 1940. Number of British notables are backing 'the company, including the Countess Effingham, a nrm director. As its^inltjal excursion into legit* (Continued on page 16) s ■ •, , ■■ ■ ' ' ■ " —^—i '" ',, ',' j — Welles' lacbeth' Now Costing. Rep $900,000 —=- Hollywood,--July 1. . Budget on "Macbeth" was upped by Republic from $750,000 to $900,000 over the weekend, with possibility that It'll hit $1,000,000 before it •winds. Studio chief Herb Yates an- nounced several weeks ago that it ■wouldn't go over 750G but today (Tuesday) is producer-director-star Orson Welles' eighth day of a 21- "ay shooting schedule. Overtime is wr*'^ boosting the costs. Welles' company had weeks o( re- hearsal on the road before the pic- ture stai-ted, and moi;e intensive work before picture JcoUed, Films' April Melon, Twice That of Last Year Washington, July 1. Film industry dividends continue to ride high, according to Dept. of Commerce figures issued yesterday (30). For the month of April,, the industry melon was a cozy $4,461,000, which was almost twice the $2,353,- 000 for April, 1946. For the three-month period end- ing April 30, the dividends were up 47% over corresponding period last year. During February, March and April, 1947, dividends reported were a sock $12,616,000, contrasted with $8,549,000 for last year. Dept. of Commerce points out that only publicly reported figures can be included in its monthly div- ident reports!* and that many div- idends are never so reported. De- partment estimates that the reported dividends are about, 60% o£ the total. 'Thus, if motion pictures, fol- low the normal trend, the $4,461,000 lOr April would be about $8,00b,(jod and -the total for .the three months is probably about $21,000,000. F COIN AT STAKE London, July 1. American film industry faces its greatest foreign crisis since the war with the threatened drastic limita- tion on the import of films. At stake is a substantial part of-the average $68,000,000, and better, annually re- mitted to U. S. majors as, their net earnings on pix played in Britain. Restriction, on the import of all films and, if necessary, an import duty based on estimated earnings of a film was indicated in Parliament Monday (30) by Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton. [His $68,- 000,000 average is for the last three years and differs from the film trades accepted $75,000,000 measur- ing rod.] Development of a severe shortage of dollars in almost all parts of the world .was dictating moves which will definitely hit tobacco, gasoline and newsprint and very likely, films, Dalton told Parliament. "Our own line of credit under the Anglo- American loan agreement is being drawn upon much more rapidly, than we expected," Dalton said.,- "It is our clear duty to take further steps to close the gap between our neces- sary imports and our exports." With Great Britain's revenues rep- resenting approximately 60% of the entire foreign revenues for Yank pix, it's expected that: any drastic cut will hit the AmeWcan companies (Continued on page 48) TODD WINDS FINANCIAL DETAILS IN U SCHISM Michael Todd gets $132,900 fro'm Universal plus $200,000 which he laid out for the screen rights to Edna Ferber's novel, "Great Son," under settlement terms reached with U following the production break- off. Of the $132,900 Todd will re- ceive $70,000 while $62,900 is grooved to the Bank of Manhattan to retire the balance on a $250,000 loan which the bank made as a production ad- vance.'." Todd already received some of the $200,000 on the Ferber screen rights in advances. Todd's original deal with U was for him to produce on sharing, terms. U now owns all these properties 100%. Arnold, Fortas & Porter and Samuel Becker were the attorneys repping for Todd. 20tli-Fox's 4-Year Deal to Distribute Kordas Product Is Another Step Forward for Anglo-U. S. Film Accord Vidor's New CoL Deal Settles Tiff With Cobn Hollywood, July 1. Wrangle between Harry Cohn and Charles Vidor, raging nearly a year and which gave rise to a lawsuit last winter, was settled amicably over the weekend, with director getting new contract at Columbia Pictures. New contract, gives Vidor the right New contract gives Vidor the • right: to produce eight pix independently at Col. during the next four years, with films to ■ be released through Cohn's, company. Show Biz Names For Conscription Washington, July 1. Many show business names are bracketed among the members of the Citizens Emergency committee for Universal Military Training, or- ganized , last week to spearhead a movement for prompt enactment of a conscription bill. Owen J. Rob- erts, retired U. S. Supreme Court Justice, is chairman of the organiza- tion which comprises 120 leading citizens from all walks of life. Among the committee members are included A. P. Giannini, San Francisco banker associated with film financing; Samuel Goldwyn, Helen Hayes, MacKinley Kantor, Charles MacArthur; John P. Mar- quand, Robert Montgomery, Donald M. Nelson, David Sarnoff and Harry Mi Warner. Argentina Also Mulls Limiting Pic Importations Washington, July 1. New Argentine legislation is in the works to limit the imports of foreign pictures. Department of Commerce reports in a survey of production and distribution of motion pictures in Argentina in 1946. The miove would be one more step to foster the do- mestic industry by curbing foreign competition inside the nation. "A new law," says the report, "which is still in the preparation stage, proposes to limit imports of foreign picture.'? either to a fixed percentage of former imports or to a fixed number. The latest report is 300 pictures a year, 200 from the United States. "A new tax law of the govern- ment is in preparation which pro- poses an increase of about 50% over .(Continued on page 22) Seymour Nebenzal Sets Montez for 3 in 3 Years Hollywood, July 1. Seymour Nebenzal signed Maria Montez to star in one picture a year for the next three years. She re- cently did "Atlantis" for Nebenzal. Star's contract with Universal-In- ternational permits her to mctke one picture a year off the home lot. National Boxoffice Survey Nationwide Heat Wilts Film Grosses; 'Unfaithful/ 'Ghost,' 'Fiesta' 'Egg,' 'Living' Set Pace Worst heat wave; of the year caught, the nation's film boxofflees in "its sweltering, grip this week, leaving grosses pantingly low. .New York, .and iios Angeles, among the key^cities- covered by; Variety, were the only two to maintain a steady pace. Most of the others saw the niajority of attention paid to out- door attractions, with Chicago's grosses poor, Detroit subnormal, Boston, the worst of the year and others with varying degrees of off- ish business. Despite the heat,! several of the newcomers showed fair amounts of strength, paced by "Unfaithful" (WB). Pic pulled near-peak $66,000 in N,_ Y., okay $33;000 in. offish Philly, good $14,000, in Minneapolis but terrible $18^000 in gloomy Bos- ton. ''Ghost and Mrs. Muir" also entered strongly, teeing off with sock $144,000 in N. Y., fair $14,000 in Kansas City, but only so-so $12,- 000'in heat-ridden Cincinnati. "Egg and r* (U) paced St. Louis with swell $19,000, did good $21,000 in two Providence houses in its second frame and big $16,000 in its opening Minneapolis ses.sion. "Fiesta" (M-G) teed off only in N. Y, and L. A. but did big in both spots, with Lena Home on stage aiding it to robust $72,000 in N. Y. and , pulling fancy $70,000 in three L. A. spots on its own. "Living in a Big Way" (iVI-G) opened to mixed results,: pacing Chi with potent $25,- 000, pulling fair $18,000 in Louisville', fairish $^000 in two Cincy houses, big $18,000 in St. Louis but poor $17,000. in Philly, bad $12,000 in Pittsburgh and Offish $30,000 in two Boston houses. "Miracle on 34th Street" (20th), abetted by, consistently strong word- of-mouth, continued to roll heavily, Pic , drew nice $30,500 in its third L. A. week, smash $20,000 in Cincy, and fairish, $22,000 in Philly. "Great Expectations" (U) paced' the^"it=- ishers currently making the' rounds, chalking up pleasing $8,000 in ,Cincy, okay $23,000 in Boston but slow $I2,S00 in' Providence. "Perils d£ I Pauline"; (Par) " opened with slick ' $27,000 in .subnorrtial Detroit but fell to only fair $10,|0,p in its second K. C. week. ' ' "Duel in, Sun" (SRO), playing everywhere at upped admission prices, raked in boff $10,000 in its second Minneapolis week, fair $9,0QO in its second Philly week and oke $15,000 in third N, Y. frame. Anglo-American film, trade re- ciprocity was given a major boost with announcement yesterday (1), that 20tli-Fox has consummated a releasing deal in the U. S. for all productions turned out by Sir Alex- ander Korda in Britain over the next four years. Number of pic- tures involved in th deal will total 14 with Britain's dollar exchange profit calculated to reach between $20,000,000 and $25,000,000. In breaking news of the deal, 20th-Fox pre* Spyros Skouras de- clared that his company was now* suspending its own plans for British production and would not recon- struct its own studios at Wembley. '■This is the most important releas- ing contract 20th Century-Fox has' ever made," he said, Skouras declared that restrictive laws being threatened against the importation of U. S. films into Briti ain by the Labor government did hot and would not affect in any way operation of his agreement with Korda. Touching upon 20th-FoJc's relation with the J. Arthur Rank organization, in light of the Korda deal, he said that Rank had given . (Continued on'iSage 16) I Pickford-Chaplin-Kelly May Run UA Until Some Other Decision's Made Another week has passed and United Artists' two owners, Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin, still seek a company president while simultaneously Si- J"abian, circuit head, and his banking group are, still in the picture on the subject of' an outright sale. Chief development" sees^ Tom Connors, former 20th-Fox sales head,, out as a possibility for UA's top spot. Connors, who the week before was to the fore in the presidential sweepstakes, found Chaplin-Pickford observing that his terms for the job were too steep. Decision to drop him was weighted by the Grad Searg factor. Both Sears and Connors are primarily sales execs and, their work would overlap rather than dovetail. While the Fabian proposition- to (Continued on page 48) Trade MarJc ttefflateredl FOUNDED BY SIME SILVERMAN PuMl^hed Weekly by TARIKTV, Inc. Sid StlvermAn, PreaUleat 151 Wesl 401)1 St., New roilt 19, N. T, sDBScaimoN, Annua! $10 ',* larelgn $11 Single CODlca 25 Cents Vol. 167 No. 4 INDEX Bills ; 48 Chatter ,54 Film Reviews 13 Foreign ........ 10- George - Prazier .......,.». i 40 House Reviews ............ 49 Inside Legit i... 50 Inside Music 44 Inside Pictures .;..., ...... 20 Inside Radio ......;... ...... 37 Legitimate ............ :.., , 50 Literati 53 Music J ., 39 New Acts 48 Night Club Reviews i... v 48 Obituary 55 Orchestras 39 Pictures 3 Pre-Production News . . .. . . 15 Radio 23 Radio Reviews 27 Frank Scully 53 Television ................. 34 Vaudeville .. . .............. 45 I).\H.l:' V.\KIETY (Fublhlied In Uollywooil ht Pally Variety, I.ld.) tlO « V«>t—$18 FoioKn