Variety (Oct 1947)

22 PICTURES Wednesday, October 29, 1947 Inside Stuff—Pictures If all of Jerry Wald's production assignments at Warner Bros. Wateriallze he'll set some sort of a marathon record. He has three shooting now, "Don Juan," "Johnny Belinda" and "To the Victor." In 10 days "Act of Violence" starts, Raoul Walsh directing; two weeks after that comes "Key Largo" (Bogart-Bacall), John Houston directing; three weeks thereafter he expects to kick off "Until Proven Guilty" (Crawford); 10 days thereafter "Flamingo Hoad" (Ann Sheridan) is supposed- to go. Three weeks after that June Haver is supposed to report »t Burbank for the "Marilyn Miller" filmusical; thence he has "The Patriots," from the Sidney Kingsley play, and Norman Krasna's "John Loves Mary" in that sequence. And just to ieeep out of mischief Wald Is supposed to supervise Danny Kaye's pictures in association with the comedian's wife, Sylvia Fine. ;',- Film columnist reported on Monday (27) that the Broadway revue, "Call Me Mister," had been bought by 20th-Fox for "a sum said to be over $200,000" and that Darryl F. Zanuck would use only ex-servicemen in the cast to offset "the pink tinge so many people thought was indicated in this Broadway hit musical." To which "Mister" producer Herman Levin had this to say: ~"*'A, I wish it were $200,000 and, B, I wish I had thought of the idea of having only ex-servicemen in the cast;" Actually, the amount was $75,000 and, of course, the very basis of the "Mister" idea was that the cast consisted entirely of vets. There was very little effort, incidentally, to camouflage the fact that the revue was-def- initely on the "liberal" side. Stack of Hollywood stars, or at least their reasonable facsimiles, found themselves together in Macy's window when the emporium yesterday (Tuesday) unveiled a display of self-portraits. Collection is to be printed in the N. Y. Herald Tribune's This-Week mag. •- Uncoincidentally, photos are mainly those of RK,0 personalities. In- cluded are Raymond Massey, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Bel Geddes; Jane Greer, Ann Sheridan, Fred MacMurray, William Powell, •Frank'" Sinatra and Valli, among others. Latter's the Italian actress, under contract to David O. Selznick, loaned by DO S. to RKO for "Miracle of the Bells." Stunt was engineered by Paul Hollister, RKO's publicity chief, formerly a Macy's Dept. Store exec. ..• ,, . Few in the trade were willing to believe that that startling wording in the giant "Forever Amber" signboard at 43d street and Broadway last week was entirely a painter's "aecjjjent." There seemed to be too many coincidences. It. proved a 'terrific attention-getter, filling Times square with amateur photogs, but the public relations angle, with "Amber" already under Legion of Decency attack, appeared dubious. . Signboard was being repainted for the opening of the 20th-Fox film at the Roxy. Words "'Forever Amb'er' plays until 12:30 every night" were being placed on the rooftop board,when the painters knocked 1 off at noon. Unfinished sign just "happened*' to read pornographieally. With both Walt Disney and Lou Bunin producing animated versions of ttie Lewis Carroll classic, "Alice in. Wonderland;" the "race to hit the market first is 'shifting, into high gear. Aiming to rush his "Alice" out before next June, Bunin has interviewed more than 200'French technicians for training in puppet animation under his chief camera- animator, Erwin Broner. ' Currently in production in France, Bunin's "Alice" will be-a plastic puppet version. The technique reportedly will introduce the medium of three-dimensional puppet animation combined with live action. Pro- ducer's plans call for. a quartet of camera crews to lens on as many stages simultaneously. - • •. When conditions warrant, Universal's private dinery, for company toppers and their guests, located at ITs new Park avenue hq, will follow the same monetary rules' laid down .by Metro, whereby the.-toppers will share costs pro rata, but pay individually for guests and drinks. 20th- Fox, which closed its : club recently in the wake of an economy drive, was cuffo 100%., the company absorbing the charges. U, like 20th, doesn't think any private dining room is propitious right now and won't open it for some tinie. .• " ? ' Republic's Veepee-salesmanager James R. Grainger Is backing up his producer-son's "Fabulous Texan" by getting somewhat fabulous play- dates for Eddie Grainger's first "picture since coming out of the service. Opening Nov. 15 day-dates in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and 1 Fort Worth, in top-money Interstate houses, with 279 dates slated, for the circuit. Rep's westerner, which costs a rather unusually high $995,000, also has Thanksgiving playdates in Paramount's two Los Angeles show- cases, etc. D Metro and Par Continued from pxsc 11 sas top for "Best Years" to $1.80 at the Astor. Goldwyn's retreat was made in the first few days and was no re- flection on the staying power of the film since it went ahead for 80 weeks of peak biz. Meanwhile, Par has plunked for a policy of* advanced prices for "Un- cottquered" though the .y test en- gagements have yet to be completely- polished off. Strategy fixed by Charles M, Reagan, v.p. in charge of sales, is to get the. roadshow book- ings, under the wire and. then send the pic on -its regular first-runs without too much'time lapse. Film is doing heavy biz in its Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chi- cago and Cleveland testers and has smashed house records in almost all these situations! > L Midway mark in. DeMiUVs 12-city p.a. tour was reached this week. He's attended all preems.so far on an 18,- 000-mile junket. . Still on his itiner- ary are openings in Detroit, Kansas City, Dallas, Denver and San Fran- cisco. DeMille has made three to five speeches in every town. Briefs From Lots Continued from page 11 Robert Mitchum joined Frank Sin- atra, Cary Grant and Tim Holt as one of the stars in RKO's episode picture, "Honored Glory".. .Dorothy Adams, currently with.the Pasadena Community Players, cast in "The Sainted Sisters" at .Paramount... 20th-Fox resumed shooting on "Deep Water" after a two-week shutdown caused by the $250,000 fire. Frank McDonald will direct "Hard to Kill" for Pine-Thomas...Michael Curtis' third production for. Warners release, a musical still untitled, goes before the lenses Nov. 10 with Doris Day, Jack Carson and Michael North in top roles... RKO editors are shearing the English-language ver- sion of "The Pearl," produced in co- operation with Aguila Productions in Mexico..:Mai St. Clair will di- rect "Arthur Takes Over," first Sol M. WurUel production under bis new releasing pact with 20th-Fox... John O'Dea sold Spanish rights to his original, "Scar Tissue*" to Paul Kohner, who will produce H in Mexico under. the banner of Mer- curio Films. Battle McDanie) plays her 83d maid role and her 275th^ picture In "Mickey" at Eagle Lion.. .Bwt Lan- caster will produce "Advance Man," a story of the big top, as his second indie venture... Republic b o u g h t "Byes of Texas," authored by Sloan NlWey^ as a starrer for Hoy Rogers. Norway Pix Houses Did $10,600,000 Gross in'46 Oslo, Oct, 15. , Norway's 364 film theatres grossed a total of $10,600,000 in 1946, accord- ing to statistics compiled by the state-controlled film organization, Kommunale Ktoematografers Lands- forbund (KKL), in connection with its recently celebrated 30th anni- versary. KKL, owning or controlling 160 theatres, garnered about 9&% of the total b.o. takings, . Other film circuits control 99 houses while the remaining 105 the-, atres are operated by independents. With a seating capacity of 70,000 •KKL*s houses drew more than -20,- 700,000 patrons last year, or 80% capacity.. Some 20 houses are op- erating here in Oslo, with a popu- lation pi 300,000 to draw upon. □ Swedish Freeze Continued from page 3 Metro 'Casts Continued from page 5 script. That eliminates desultory writing, gives a punch to a screen- play that only, enthusiasm can, and cuts writing time." '' ' MacKenna said that, the number of scripters on the lot now averages 65- weekly, as against a top of 128 a few years ago. Thafs been made possible partially, he explained, by the reduction in the, number of films being made, but also in large meas- ure by elimination of waste effort. Economy campaign and careful at- tention to getting the right man for the job is the reason he didn't actually hire any of the young writers he spoke to this trip, as he might have done in the past, Mac- Kenna said. Rather than have them come out to the studio and just sit around, he declared, .they won't be called until there is an assignment available to make best possible use of their particular talents. ly contemplating the freeze, and for- eign dept.- biggies see little hope that the ukase will wait out the com- ing week. Eight majors garner $1,- 000,000 in -grosses from Norway an- nually or some, $600,000 in net prof- its. Sweden's freeze blocked a yearly $2,500i000 to the big American dis^ tribs which they customarily netted from a. $4,000,000 gross. No official word of the Swedish clamp has yet been received, but there's little doubt that official confirmation will follow newspaper stories emanating from Stockholm. • . - ; ; - .. ' ' Danish situation continues in a stalemate which can only spell no revenues from ttat country. Den- mark; recently slapped a prohibitive tax on American pix;and U. S. dis- tribs countered by banning film ship-, ments. Annual income of $750,000 is involved in the hassle, ' Meanwhile, the important Indian market is being eyed anxiously by major company execs. Ifs ' freely predicted that restrictions are going to come quickly in light of the in- creasingly tough attitude taken to- wards films by government officials of India.. Far East, situation deteriorated recently when' Burma clapped a freeze on remittances several weeks ago. Although U. S. distributors have been advised that they can't con- tinue operating in Norway, Oslo in.-'- terests suggest that, instead of halt- ing the. distribution of all American films at once only 50% be withheld from distribution channels for the present. It's not known whether the sug- gestion came from exhibitor or dis- tributor sources, according to word received in N. Y n but it appears that some setup is being sought to cover the next few months of opera- tion. In this way Norwegian inter- ests are hopeful that the influx of American screen fare wouldn't be halted entirely,. Film Prexies Continued from page 3 blessing of British conservatives as well as of the Labor party cabinet. Meeting with the major company toppers tomorrow will be reps of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. Effort will be made to reach- agreement on a tax compromise that will permit the in- dustry to present a united front to the British. Present will be Donald Nelson, SIMPP prez; James A. Mul- vey, prez of Samuel Goldwyn Pro- ductions, and Milton Kramer, exec v.p. of Selznick Releasing Organi- zation. Thursday meet will settle the prexies' plans to go to London with Johnston in early November on the 75% situation. Distribs Kill I ss Continued from page 3 sSSSm hadn't realized that their present operations were below the profit level until the up-to-the-minute re- ports were, readied. Publicizing step was nixed, however, when several biggies expressed fear that action would have an untoward effect on stockholders. Chief reason for the drop in dis- tribution profits, reports disclosed, is a decline in the take from the key British market. Though the 75% ad valorem tax has yet to be felt, re- ports showed that the overall slump in remittances from Britain will come to 25% for the year. Seasonal dives in British biz have been as high as 40%, particularly during the summer, the surveys showed. i=sas Exhifas Partners Continued from p*i• 11 watched their b.o. performance in early runs. Goldwyn arrived in New York from Hollywood Monday (27). He'll remain east for three or' four months working on scripts, In preparation April. He'll leave "tor England Dec. 12 for a three- or four-week stay. Cost should not be a factor in de- termining whether a film should be -sold at increased admissions, said the maker of "Best Years of Our Lives," currently being sold at $1.20. On the matter of costs, he said that his "Walter M»tv"--"or any film costing $3,000,000 or more"—could not get its investment back in the domestic market alone, since at least $6,000,000 in rentals is needed to break even; ^ . He asserted that he had scrapped almost $1,000,080 worth of film on "The Bishop's Wife" when he de- cided that results were not up to his standard. While changes were made in director and script, he said th.it Cary-Grant was drawing $30,000 a week and Loretta Young. $10,000 a week for doing nothing but waiting. Making a plea ^for better pictures to solve the present crisis, Goldwyn said the -producers had their choice of making quickies or setting for themselves "the hard pull of turn- ing out pictures of outstanding quality." '. .'»■'-. H'wood Names — Continued from page U.33 Tommy Carlyh, Baron Elliott and Maurice Spitalny. Banquet honored outgoing Chief.. Barker, Cliff Daniel, manager. of station WCAE, as well as wartime heads of Club, Joe Hfller, Moe Sil- ver, Harry Feinstein, Brian Mc- Donald and Mike Gallagher. Chi Variety Club Elects Chicago, Oct. 28. New board of canvasmen was elected by the Chicago tent of Va- riety Club of Illinois last week. Jack Rose was chosen national can- vasman and Henri Elman and Wal- ter Immerman were- nominated as delegates to the next national con- vention. New directors are: Rose, Elman,' Immerman, John Balaban, Irving Mack, Arthur Schoehstadt, Moe Wells; Tom Flannery, Irving Man- del, J. Harold Stevens, Robert Lubliner and James E. Coston. Chief barker will be. elected in 30 days. Members -also voted to re- duce chib service 'personnel and elected new exec secretory, Juanita Creed. Unffod't now DC-6 Motnilnor aobfiftht OVERNIGHT TO LOS ANGELES I tv. 11:30 p.m..;. or. 7«46 a.m. UNITED AIR iS*MfI5 Alrliiras Terminal, 80 £ 42nd St. or P«nn»ylvonla Hotel or 1 Wall St. Coll Murray. HM 2-7300 or an authorized travel agent MITCHELL MAY JR. CO., INC. OF CALIFORNIA Is Pleated to Announce Hie Affiliation MR. JOHN HASKELL A*, a Vice-President October 15.1947 510 W. Sixth Street, Los Angeles. Calif. FRANK D. MAGGIO ALBERT G. RUBEN • Insurance Specialist for the Motion Picture Industry Profession®* Photograph* by ~~ JOHN E. REED IN HOLLYWOOD are ccrside'ed by the trade Ir4 Wh<3 r> o 1 the cocs 1 . v 1 s i i JOHN E. REED STUDIO 6633 SUBSET BOULEVARD HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA