Variety (Sep 1947)

PICTURES Wednesday, September 3, 1947 Anyway, After All the Mathematics, Looks like DOS Has Winner in 'Duel' Coin already in the till makes It* certain that David O. Selznick will come out with" a fairish profit on "Duel in the Sun," despite the tre- mendous negative cost and the heavy money thrown into advertising. Loss of the British market and tightening up in other countries abroad, how- ever, will cost the producer a great .chunk of his. profits, as it was 'the ■overseas income which was counted on most heavily for a high net. With only the very roughest kind of estimate now possible, because, of many undecipherable factors, "Duel" Is figured likely to show a profit of about $1,000,000 on domestic distribu- tion alone. Under normal and fa- vorable circumstances it might' be possible to add another $2,500,000 net from overseas.. If the present British blackout continues and some of the threats in other markets are realized, the foreign income could be cut to not much over $500,000 or $600,000. Forecast of "Duel's" domestic gross on basis of income so far is that it will eventually hit around $11,500,- 000. In the bank to date is slightly over $6,000,000 in rentals. That's with about 2,500 dates. Selznick dis- tribution chief Neil Agnew hopes to get 5,000 more on the present upped admission policy. These 'will be less important theatres than the initial 2,500, of course, and are being count- ed on to bring in at least $1,500,000. That should give a total of close to $8,000,000 on the present policy and present terms, which are 60%. When these dates are all played, (Continued on page 18) Gone 4th Reissue May Add $5,000, Wore to 'Gents Agreement' Follows 'Kiss' Into Brandts'Mayfair, N.Y. Disclosure that 20th-Fox's "Gen tleman's Agreement" would follow the current "Kiss of Death" into the Brandts' Mayfair theatre offers fur- ther evidence of the shortage of suitable first run product for Broad ■way houses. "Agreement" won't be ready for release until November, which means that "Kiss," which opened Wednesday (27), will prob- ably be held in the house for at least six weeks. Despite the two 20th films follow- ing each other into the Mayfair. spokesmen for the Brandt circuit which operates the house, re emphasized that 20th has no lease on the place. Theatre is open to the product of any company if the films and terms are suitable and will be booked exactly like the Globe and Gotham, Brandt's other Broadway first run houses. Opening of "Kiss' marked the conversion of the the atre from its previous third run op eration to a first run showcase. Brandt outfit recently leased the Mayfair from Walter Reade after the Loew's lease had expired. Shortage of first product pre viously had caused two other changes in the Broadway picture The Broadway theatre, former le- giter leased by United Artists as a first run showcase, was closed re- cently, reportedly because of the product shortage, although UA de- clared the shuttering was for "al- terations." RKO Palace recently shifted to a repertory program of reissues and has found the change so successful it will continue on that policy for ve or six weeks. Metro Guns Three Hollywood, Sept. 2. Metro starts, three pictures this week, making a total of five in work on the lot. Starters are "The Big City," "Hills of Home'* and "State of the Union." Holdovers from last week are e n it j "Luxury Liner" and "On an Island Squarer for Down UndeiL|_ With Y ou.^—-— Howard Hughes has been forced to shoot a new ending for "Outlaw" in order to have the film okayed for showing in Australia. Law and order must prevail on Aussie screens so in the Aussie version, Jack Beutel is brought to trial and punished, in order to get by the Aussie censor. Metro's "Gone With the Wind" in its current fourth time around has been grossing more than 100% over the third release of the film five years ago. In 11 test engagements to date, "GWTW" has raked in more than $204,000, as compared to $96,000 grossed by the film in the same 11 situations in 1942. Film, in its second national release in 1940 which marked the first time it played at popular prices, grossed more than $177,000 in those same theatres. Current gross, during which GWTW" has also played at .stand- ard admission prices, represents 62% of the mon»y taken in by the picture in the same 11 engagements in 1939, when it played at advanced scales on two-a-day reserved seat policy. Film has grossed more than $32,000,- 000 in both the domestic and for- eign markets to date and, despite the recent tightening of the market overseas, early returns have led Metro sales chief to be confident that GWTW" will add at least $5,000,000 more to its overall gross during the current release. Although, what stand the British government will take on American reissues in England has not yet been officially determined, Metro has prints of "GWTW" in England at the present time, which are not subject (Continued on page 49) Nick Schenck's Gift Of 1,000 Loew's, Activity In Par Reported Via SEC «. Philadelphia, Sept. 2. The gift of 1,000 shares of Loew's, Inc., common to charity by Nicholas M. Schenck was revealed in the latest report of the Securities & Ex- change Commission covering transac- tions from July 11 to Aug. 10. Schenck's gift brought his holdings in Loew's stock to 61,727 shares. Howard Dietz acquired 15 shares of Loew's common. There was brisk activity in Para- mount common. The T. G. Latouche trust disposed of 1,000 shares during the report period. The N. Griffis trust sold a similar amount. Stanton Griffis reported holding 9,000 shares; the F. K. Griffis trust 6,000 shares, and the W. E. Griffis trust 2,800. Maurice Newton, New York, added 115 shares to his holdings now total- ling 18,620, while his trust reported having 18,380 shares. Lehman Bros, reported having 2,500 shares of 20th-Fox common and disposing of 400 shares of 20th $1.50 cumulative preferred stock. Samuel Broidy revealed that he. had exercised his option" to purchase 3,000 shares of Monogram common, bringing his total in Mono to 15,799 shares. He still holds options for the purchase of 2,000 additional shares, he disclosed. Members of the family of Herbert J. Yates have acquired 210 shares of Associated Motion Pictures, Inc., the SEC reported, making their total 7,535. Onsrud, Inc., a holding com- pany, has 46,918. Robert W. Atkins, New York, acquired 600 shares of Trans-Lux common during January and Febru- ary of 1947 in a belated report to the commission. NX's Pic Pitch Gets Prize Press Mayor William O'Dwyer's pitch for more picmaking In New York, accompanied by the stunt Of signing 12 local unions to a five-year peace treaty, may leave Hollywood' cold but it garnered 1 more news space' than a five-alarm fire. Besides fulsome coverage by the meU ropolitan sheets, his feat tickled three of the leading dailies—the Times, Herald Tribune and News—into editorial plaudits. The Times, after outlining the early rise of film producing in New York, potshotted at Hollywood: "As the chief legitimate theatre and radio production center of the country we have many advantages to offer. The quality of Hollywood might be improved by a little rivalry. Or are we expecting too much?" Trib kudoed hizzoner for his "foresight" and said it- was "barely possible" that O'Dwyer and his aide, Edward C. Maguire, "have started something." News labeled the move "constructive stuff" and added: "We think Bill deserves a round of cheers, and we hope he draws a goodish amount of blood out of Hollywood." Ex-Mayor Fiorella La Guardia, incidentally, did somersaults for a slice of the filmmaking some 10 years ago, but nothing ever came of it. Mayor O'Dwyer Continues Meets To Move Fix Production East ILLNESS SIDETRACKS A&C PICTURE FOR EL Hollywood, Sept. 2. Eagle Lion has postponed "Noose Hangs High," Abbott-Costello starrer, as result of the illness of Lou Costello and producer Milton Feld Film had originally been scheduled to start next Monday (8). Costello has been laid up follow- ing a knee injury two weeks ago and will be out of .action for eight weeks. Feld is seriously ill at Cedars of Lebanon hospital. Comedy team will probably make • "Brain of Frankenstein" for Universal-Interna- tional before starting "Noose." W.R. Frank Now Threatens To Become an Actor Also . . Minneapolis, Sept. 2. In from HolIyw:i: " with a camera crew to get authentic backgrounds at the Minnesota State Fair for his forthcoming Technicolor picture, "Dan Patch." the story of the famous pacer, W. R. Frank, film producer and local theatre circuit owner, said he has made a deal with United Artists to distribute the picture . which he estimates will cost nearly $2,000,000. Frank also said he's negotiating With Joel McCrea, Wal'er Brennan and Marjorie Main, among others, to appear in the pictures. He'll be back, he announced, Sept. 15-25 to shoot more race scenes on the Fair- grounds and will use several hun- dred localites as "extras," Frank himself will act in the pic- ture, playing the role of Harold Savage who was Dan Patch's owner. He also played small parts in several of bis other pictures. Toronto Variety's 23G Preem for 'Variety Girl' Toronto, Sept. 2. With J. J. Fitzgibbons, president of Famous Players-Canadian and chief barker of Tent 28 of Variety Clubs International, supervising the proceedings, the only Variety Club in Canada grossed a sellout $23,000 when it held its first theatre benefit in the some 30 simultaneous "world premieres" of "Variety Girl" (Par). Locale was the Imperial; Toronto, flagship of the FPC chain, with 3,464 seater scaled at $10 and $6 a pair. "Sold Out" signs were up hours be- fore the performance. Two-hour stage show was pro- duced by Jack Arthur, with Billy De Wolfe as guest-star, journeying from Hollywood. He made his lobby en- trance with the newly-elected Miss Canada, Margaret Marshall, on his arm. Hock of Reissues on B'way Key Genera] Shortage of Film Product Broadway, the nation's showcase, is still showing the effects of a shortage of strong pix. While the big pix are racking up solid busi- ness, a flock of the first-runs on Times Sq. and its fringes are "fluc- tuating between new entries and re- issues with the accent on the latter. There's not enough product with staying power to keep these houses operating on a straight first-run basis, according to industryites. Palace is prime example. The RKO showcase is in.its third week of repertory—that is one-day play- ings of RKO oldies—with repeats on those scoring best at the. boxoffice. House will probably stretch its repertory operations to five-to-six weeks, according to company execs. Criterion is also fresh out of new entries and is launching the fourth round of "Gone With the Wind" in the metropolitan sector. GWTW opened Saturday (30) following closeout of Uni versa l's "Brute Force." Film, of course, is unique and there's better than even chances that it'll rake in as much as a solid first-run. Warner's Strand has taken several shots at the oldies which have paid off fairly well supplemented by its stage shows. Latest was the dual "Marked Woman" and "Dust Be My Destiny," which the Strand played two weeks ago. WB's showcase re- cently tenanted another company dualer, "Sea Wolf" and "Sea Hawk.' Republic, Victoria, Gotham, May- fair, Broadway, Ambassador and Park Ave. have all been jockeying between newcomers and oldies. Re public is currently playing "How Green Was My Valley." Victoria recently tenanted "Jungle Book while the Gotham last week played Republic's "Man of Conquest" and "Old California." Ambassador, just off Broadway, has been booking real oldies short stretches. Plush Park Ave., under Universal operation, recently played "100 Men and a Girl" and may have to take on other reissues of Universal. It's solved the problem temporarily by playing the J. Arthur Rank entry, "Frieda." Broadway theatre is shut tered for a lack of product after at- tempting to scrape along on a diet of oldies. Garfield's 'Body' Pitch John Garfield, star Of Enterprise's "Body and Soul," and Robert Rost sen, its director, arrive in New York later this month to do a publicity pitch for the film. Garfield is a par- ticipant in profits of the film, which was made on a package deal. He gets in Sept. 18 and Rossen a week earlier. Garfield may do a tour on behalf of the pic following the bally for the New York preem, which tenta- tively is set for the Rivoli. ASCAP Won t Back Down on Theatre Seat Tax tipping High echelon of the American So- ciety of Composers, Authors & Pub- lishers last week hotly denied charges that it is rocketing theatre seat taxes a full 300%. Maintaining that ASCAP would not back down on its announced change in sched- ules of license fees despite exhibitor spleen which threatens Congres- sional probes, Dept. of Justice action and mass litigation, officials coun- tered that the majority of pix houses would pay little or no boost. ASCAP intends to put the new price scales into effect Oct. 1 regard- less of what steps are taken by exhib organizations, Herman Green- berg, ass't general manager, de- clared. However, exhibs whose licenses expire in October would be granted a 30 to 60 day extension at their old rates upon request. Purpose of this extension, it was explained, was to enable ASCAP reps to call on their old customers and explain the new formula. So- ciety wants to prevent any, misun- derstanding on the part of the the- atre men; an official said. No estimate of the number of houses af- fected by the extension was avail- able but ASCAP stressed that the proportion was substantial Some Fancy Mathematics Backing its argument that the 300% climb just wasn't so, ASCAP pointed to special discounts avail- able under.the new rate. While an exhib still must pay the equivalent of his total seating times the top adult price for one performance, an ASCAPer noted that a 15% discount is granted if an exhib has between 71 and 100 film performances month- ly. Cut is 30% when the house plays (Continued on page 21) ■f Second major step in the efforts of the New York city administration to lure major film production to Gotham is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday), • when Edward C. Maguire, . Mayor O'Dwyer's repre- sentative, will meet with represen- tatives of the film industry to get the latter's ideas on how they think the city can best cooperate. O'Dwyer teed off the new city campaign last week by signing a five-year peace treaty with the 13 labor unions en- gaged in film production in N. Y. Industry reps will comprise the same group of men who met with Maguire several months ago when the first rumblings of the city's all- out campaign began. Group is headed up by Harold Lewis, general manager of the RKO-Pathe studios; Maj. Leslie R. Thompson of RKO, and Tom Mead of Universal-Inter- national News. Tomorrow's meet is to be largely one of organization, with Maguire presenting the city's plans to the industry reps* and seek- ing their advice on how best to carry them out. Maguire will ask the industry to form a working committee that will be, available at all times to. work out the problems involved. He'll also ask for the creation of a tech- nical committee from among the various film companies, which will sit in with him next Monday (.8) at huddles with city department heads. Latter session will be given over to attempts to streamline the permit regulations, which have been the (Continued on page 18) Arrivals in New York (From Europe) John Gielgud, Max Gordon, Mr. and Mrs. Hal B. Wallis (Louise Fazenda), Mr. and Mrs. Irving Asher (Laura La Plante), Sir Sidney Clift, Rita Hay worth, William B. Levy, Francis L. Sullivan, Dorothy Kirsten, Norman Hartnell, Vivian Blaine, Manny Frank. Sailings Sept. 3 (New York lo London) Maggie Teyte, David Golding (.Queen Elizabeth). L. A. to N. Y, Judith Anderson Phil Berg Joseph Bernhard Saul Bihari Sydney Box Marilyn Buferd Rodney Bush Sue Carol Louis Calhern Betty Caulfield Henry Caulfield Kenneth Clark Robert Clark Charles CobUrn Charles Correll ' Paul Denis Dale Evans John Farrow Gloria Grahame Farley Granger Arnold Grant Maxwell Hamilton Cedric Hardwicke Ben Kalmenson Alan Ladd Harry Maizlish Dick McKnight Vic MeLeori James Mitchell ; Jerry Moross . Audie Murphy Gordon Oliver Tony Owen Jack Owens Willard Parker Roy Rogers Leo Rose Arthur Rubinstein Babe Ruth George Sidney Martha Stewart John Sutherland Russell Wade Max Wilk N. Y. to Europe by Air Bruno Walter, Lily Supove. Europe to N. Y. by Air Judith Abbott, Carl Fisher. N. Y. to L. A. Robert Alda_ Louise Fazenda Martin Goodman Rita Hayworth Harry Lewis '.eonide Moguy Al Schenkein James A. Sixsmith Hal B Wallis