Variety (Aug 1947)

Wednesday, August 6, 1947 PICTURES TOP SCRIBES SHY FROM PICTURES UA Board, Naming Sears a Member, Gives Him Free Hand on Co. Plans General outline, of his plans forf ■ the company were given the board of directors of United Artists yes- terday (Tuesday) by Grad Sears fol- lowing his election as UA prexy. Sears was given the backing of the board—which is neither completely optimistic nor unskeptical of his ability to pull UA out of its present muddled state—to go ahead with his plans as he sees fit. ■Another meeting of the board is Slated for today. Corporate matters only were taken up yesterday, plus approval of the plan of aiding in the 'financing of UA producers. Today's meeting will concentrate on produc- tion plans and deals. It will be at- tended by George Bagnall, v.p! in charge of production, who arrived in New York yesterday. ■ • " As per agreement of owners Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin last week when they decided on upping the v.p. over distribution to prez, Arthur W. Kelly was named exec, v.p. He is already a member of the Aboard. Kelly's term of office, was ,^set at three years. He will be in com- plete charge of the foreign dept. As v.p. over distribution, Sears was in charge of both foreign and domestic sales. As ' well as being elected prexy yesterday, Sears was named to the board. That was the most important move in connection with the UA exec shifts, since it, makes b,im the ^tiinth member of the directorate and gives him the decisive vote in event of a clash between the two owners. These clashes, with no one with a vote to break the tie, has perpetually (Continued on page 6) Air Affiliation Seems To Clear Pic Stars Of Ban on Cuffo Guestints Hollywood, Aug. 5. Right or wrong, you're right, so long as you've got "radio rights" written in a studio contract watch- dogged by your ad agency. That, at least, is the decision of the Johnston office regarding Dorothy Lamour's cuffo guesting on Frances Scully's ABC network "Star Gazing," last week, agented by N. W. Ayer, which handles her "Front and Center" pro- gram. Miss Lamour's stint with " Scully was presumed to be in vio- lation of the free-guesting bah in effect—but not always workable— between producers and the Motion Picture Assn. The incident again made it appear that Paramount, to which Miss Lamour is contracted, was spear- . heading the rebellion against the as- . sorted ether bans but this time there was no hairline technicality, as when Par "took over" the Erskine Johnson show on Mutual and played (Continued from page 17) Work Near Dynamite, U-I Extras' Pay Hiked Holly wold, Aug. 5. Extras engaged in hazardous thesping in Universal-International's "Tap Roots'' had pay boosted to $35 a day over the weekend. They ob- jected early last week to regular wages when they noticed several wagonloads of dynamite being trucked onto set. Screen Extras Guild officers, after inspecting daily rushes, recommend- ed that those working close to ex- plosive in film's battle scenes be upped. Those outside the danger zone get the regular $15,56. Cutting of Film To Get Airing In SDG Pact Talks Hollywood, Aug. 5. That old conflict between director and producer on how a film should be cut is expected to get an airing in negotiations with the studios by the Screen Directors Guild on the new basic agreement coming up next March. SDG will seek to have in- cluded a clause guaranteeing a di- rector at least one public preview of his picture edited according to his own ideas. DirectdV, producer and front office frequently are in violent disagree 1 - ment on exactly how a picture should be cut. Inasmuch as the di- rector is often low man of the trio, so far as authority is concerned, he gets squelched. SDG maintains that inasmuch as he directed and knows what he had in mind, it is only logi- (Continued on page 18) POSSIBLE ACTION ON RKO SALE THIS WEEK Action in N. Peter Rathvon's ef- forts to purchase control of RKO may come during the next week, with return of Floyd Odium, head of Atlas Corp., to New York. Odium, whose outfit owns a controlling in- terest in RKO, was discharged over the weekend from Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., where .he under- went a minor operation. ( Odium has acknowledged his will- ingness to sell his interest for a re- Ported $10,000,000 to $12,000,000. In- volved are 900,000 shares of common and 325,000 warrants owned by Atlas. Delay in 'negotiations between Hathvon and Odium has given rise to a flock of rumors. Among them is talk that Music Corp. of America's •rules Stein and Lew Wasserman are Prepared to function as agents in the oeal Another report is that David u. Selznick may be tied up with ttatnvon in efforts to get the com- pany. FILM CO. DIVVIES 35% AHEAD FOR 3 M0S. Washington, Aug. 5. For the three-month period end- ing May 31, motion picture film divi- dends were running 35% ahead of the same period' in record-smashing 1946, according to figures released last week by the Department of Commerce. The quarterly return to industry stockholders was a terrific $12,616;000, compared with $8,947,000 for the same period last year. For the first five months of 1947, tffe melon amounted to $16,319,000, against $11,22,000 for that period of 1946. The May divvy, however, was a slim $188,000. During May, 1946, It was a lusty $1,074,000. This was due to the fact that RKO declared its dividend in April this year and in May last year. Department of Commerce reminds that its figures cover only publicly reported cash dividends, which are about 60% of all cash dividends paid. Prez Shoulda Been At Least $30 Worth of GOP Washington, Aug. 5, Eric Johnston would be $30 in pocket money i£ Harry Truman were a Republican, the Motion Picture Assn, disclosed here last Friday (1). Johnston went to the White House to give Mr. Truman the documentary film sent as a gift to the President by the Polish Government. Johnston was made official courier during his recent visit.to Poland. "When my plane landed in New York," Johnston told the President, '"the customs inspector insisted that the film was subject to duty. I ex- plained to him that it was a gift to you from the Polish government. "The inspector said. '1 don't care whether it's for Truman or not. I'm a Republican.' " So Johnston paid and got his pic through customs. FALL-OFF IN ROD PITCH , Hollywood's easy coin appears to be losing its lure for the literati. Tdpnotch writers who used to turn out their plays and books with an eye on screen sugar seem to be giving the go-by to the film studios. That's the verdict of story editors for major companies on the astonish- ing drop in buys of novels and legiters during the first six months of this year. Slide was about 35% from similar'period of 1946 and also from the final six months of last year. There were 97 books and plays bought by majors and independents from Jan. 1 to June 30, 1946; and exactly the same number, by coin- cidence, from July 1 to Dec. 31, 1946. This is in contrast to only 64 such buys from Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year. Originals and unpublished stories are not counted in the tabu- lation. While a total of what was paid for the properties this year as against last isn't available, it's believed that there's been even more than the 35% drop monetarily. That's because of a higher proportion of minor and unimportant properties bought this year than last. While there are numerous facets behind the decline in purchases, story eds give as the principal rea- son, that there just hasn't been any- continued on page 18) Publicists Guild In Protest to Skouras At Nine 20th Firings First of the majors to begin sweep- ing revamps of homeoffice employ- ees as a cost-saving measure, 20th- Fox axed nine members of its ad- publicity department Monday (4) following a day-long meeting with all department heads and prexy Spyros Skouras. New York local of the Screen Publicists Guild took action, im- mediately upon hearing of the lay- offs. In a ,wire sent to Skouras yes- terday (Tuesday) afternoon, the SPG charged 20th with, "selling America short" and with "spear-, heading the drive towards unem- ployment and depression." With the layoffs to become effec- tive Friday (8), the SPG demanded that Skouras rescind his order. Wire declared that the firings had • oc- curred at "a time when your com- pany boasts unprecedented astro- nomical profits." Since the profits were "achieved with the aid of these people," the wire declared, the fir- (Continued on page 45) 'Hucksters,' 'Ruth' Set July Pace For Nation's Boxoffice Winners Screen Writer Needed To Solve 3-Novelist Mystery Hollywood, Aug. 5. Three novelists, Louis BromHeld, Thomas Mann and Maximilian Ilyin, have ganged up on a three-way story, "The Woman of a Hundred Faces," a mystery yarn about a glamorous model. A screen writer will have to be brought in to wind up the loose ends of the tales written by the novelists. " William LeBaron and Boris Mor- ros will unscramble the mystery in a picture. 4 "Dear Ruth" (Par) and "The Hucksters" (M-G) fought it out for top boxoffice laurels in July, accord- ing to compilations by Variety of firstruns in some 20 key cities. Total money, strength shown in individual locations, number of playdates and ability to hold 1 up steadily after opening weeks are considered, with a tossup for first position resulting between the Paramount comedy and the Gable-Kerr starrer. Fact that "Hucksters" was only on release Indie Exhibs Balk MPA Survey By Their Suspicion Lack of exhibitor cooperation is largely responsible for the long de- lay anticipated in completion of the Motion Picture Assn.'s survey of American theatres, Report was to have been issued last June 30, but now appears to be anywhere from six months to a year off—without any assurance that it'will ever be 100% complete. Attitude of many indie exhibs, when presented, with a list of ques- tions to be answered, for the survey, can best be summed up in the crack of one theatreowner: "Uh-uh. I'm not going to tell Nick Schenck my business." These indies see the MPA as an organization of major distribs and have an inbred fear that any info they impart will be turned around and used against them in efforts to get higher jfllm rental or otherwise harm their interests. Attitude is taken by the theatre- continued on page 29) Bogart, Bacall Teamed Again, in WB's 'Largo' Hollywood, Aug. 5. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall will be teamed again as co- stars at Warners in "Key Largo," to be produced by Jerry Wald. Film will be based on Maxwell Anderson's legiter, in which Paul Muni played the male lead in New York. National Boxoffice Survey Better Weather Helps Summer Slump—'Hucksters,' 'Kissing,' 'Perils,' 'Ruth,' 'Brute' Pace Field . Despite changeable weather in many key cities, break in hot spell along Atlantic seaboard and other spots is' warming up biz generally. Fact that several distributors have launched additional new product is helping the outlook. Pacing the field again, for third week in succession, is "Hucksters" (M-G), with the Gable-Kerr starrer making a strong showing although opening in only one key city cov- ered by Variety this stanza. Second best is "Wonder Who's Kissing Her" (20th), with smash second session at N. Y. Roxy putting it over the top. While topping Washington, film is rated mild in St. Louis, and only good in L. A. However, "Kiss- ing" is fast in Kansas' City and fancy in Denver. Others in Big Six are "Perils of Pauline" (Par). "Dear Ruth" (Par), "Brute Force" (U) and "Possessed" (WB). "Brute" continues big in third N. Y. stanza and is terrific at a smaller Philadelphia house. "Ruth" is leader in Louisville, solid in Buf- falo and big on second Philly ses- sion. ,; ' "Won't Believe Me" (RKO) and "Welcome Stranger" (Pan just 1 missed getting into the top six list- ings. Former is doing nice to big biz in some five keys. With a smash Chi opening, "Stranger" continues to evidence potentialities of a top grosser. It's sock on second weeks in K. C, Detroit and Minneapolis and still strong on third San Fran- cisco session. Besides "Bachelor and Bobby-Sox- er" (RKO), which may top its open- ing sock week at N. Y. Music Hall this round "Cry Wolf" (WB), "Cross- fire" (RKO), "Desert Fury" (Par) and "Slave Girl" (U) shape up this frame_ as having greatest possibili- ties among newcomers, "Fury" is pacing Frisco with smash biz on its preem. "Duel in Sun" (SRO) is getting ad- ditional bookings this round, doing nicely in several keys. "Ivy" (U) is inclined to be spotty, but fine in three cities. "Other Love" (UA), with batch of new dates currently, is even more in this category. While leading Providence at solid figure, it's.only passable in Indianapolis and j light in K. C. "Angel and Badman" i (Rep) shapes great in Seattle. "Co- | pacabana" (UA) is fast , in Buffalo and nice in Cincy. (Complete Boxoffice Reports on Pages 9-11). July's Big B.O. Six "Daar Ruth" (Par). "Hucksters" (M-G). "Perils of Pauline" (Par). "Unfaithful" (WB). "Kissing Her Now" (20th). "Fiesta" (M-G). two weeks during July and declined with rather surprising abruptness in its second week balanced the less sensational openings of "Ruth." "Best Years" (RKO), "Duel in Sun" (SRO) and "Egg and I" (U) continued racking up heavy coin in smaller cities, on subsequent-run or via holdovers and moveovers, but not showing up as stoutly in keys covered by Variety during past month. "Years" again did biz that shows it likely will be the outstand- ing 1947 grosser, while, "Duel" con- tinues its high prorriise. "Egg," which was a runner-up In July (Continued on page 41) WHAT BENJAMIN NEEDS IS A GOOD 26-HR. DAY - Robert S. Benjamin, the man with four major jobs in the film industry, is slated to fly to the Coast tomor- row (Thursday) to take care of busi- ness connected with three of them. He goes in one capacity as prexy of the J. Arthur Rank Organization for huddles with Reginald Allen, Rank's Hollywood representative, regarding the possible signing- of more Hollywood stars for film work in England. He'll also discuss with Allen the rewrite job currently be- ing done on the Coast on "Saraband for Dead Lovers," one of Rank's Ealing productions. Script is being revamped at the insistence of the Production Code Administration, which has objected to several (Continued on page 18) Trade Mark Registered POUNDED BY SIME SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VAR1ETX Ino. 81," Silverman, President 154 West 46th St., New York 18. N. I. Annual $10 Slnglo Copies SLUSCWrTION Foreign $11 25 Cents Vol. 167 MB No. 9 INDEX Bills 41 Chatter 47 Film Reviews 12 Foreign 14 George Frazier 32 House Reviews 42 Inside Legit 43 Inside Music 36 Inside Pictures 16 Inside Radio 31 Inside Television 24 Legitimate 43 Literati 46 Music 32 New Acts ,:, 42 Night Club Reviews . 40 Obituaries .....'. 41 Orchestras '32 Pictures , ..... 3 Pre-Production News 7 Radio 19 Radio Reviews 23 Frank Scully 46 Television 24 Vaudeville 38 .DAILY VAR1BTY (FulUUtied iii HMbrnwl l)> Dally V.irlrtv. Mil.) J10 a J"ear—$13 foreign