Variety (Nov 1947)

Wiedneadjiyt November 8, 1947 SEE END OF BRITISH EM STYMIE The Taste and Waste The Washington hearings have lett a bad taste in everybody's mouth, they're-no good, noi: are they doing anybody any good and the mMu reason Is that Congress is giving itself the worst of It. The point is not that the Vecent hearings involved the picture business. It could be any business. Oovernment, our Govern- ment, and respect for that Government is what is important. The name calling and street brawling, as In Philadelphia, must 4top. And it can ^be stopped. A Federal inquiry, once and for all, should determine whether the Communist Party is the agent of a foreign country. If it Is —throw It out. Throw 'em all out, or in jail. If it's not, and if it is a legal political party—then they should be fought politi- cally. And economically. The Washington hearings and the way they are being con- ducted are not the answer. Let the Government give the public a definite yardstick with which to measure the situation: Give business. Including the picture business, something concrete by which the wrong people can be exposed and expelled. Stop the guessing, the floundering, the indecision. Two PMy Tbatres Likely to Defy Church Tabu on 'Amber and 'Outlaw' II DEflLWlL BE E Philadelpliia; Nov. 4. ■ Showdown resistance fight by 20th- Fox against the GothoUc Church, which may result in industry pat- tern against any and all .ecclesias' tical censorship tactics, looms this week as a result ■ of the church's threatened boycott on any theatre in the Philly archdiocese that plays 20th product in the future. Boycott Is to go into effect tomorrow night (Wednesday) unless 20th agrees to yank "Forever Amber" off the screen of ; its'Fox theatoe here. In addition to ''Amber," the, church threatened a year's boycott of the newly-reopened Erlanger theatre, unless it pulled "Outlaw" from its screen. Sparking the fight is the Indication that both theatres will ' attempt to ride out the boycott, de- spite the probable loss in grosses ' which can conceivably run into hun- dreds of thousands of dollars. ChUrch threatened to order the 1,000,000 Catholics in the archSiocese to boy- cott both theatres for a year unless the ultimatum is complied with. ; With the deadline tomorrow night, unofficial spokesmen for 20th-Fox noted that no film has yet been booked to follow "Amber" into the Fox and no other advertising copy had been prepared. They also noted that the film had been banned by Catholics in other localities but hadn't been pulled. William Gold- man, Erlanger ^manager, now on the Coast, issued a'^ statement there that he jjrouldn't play a picture that con- taminated public morals but that the usually - tough Pennsylvania statQ ' censor board had passed "Outlaw," along with all ad copy on it. Ultimatum, Issued simultaneously to Goldman and to Howard Minsky, National Theatres' manager here, by Oentlis Cardinal Dougherty, also threatened ,a similar boycott in" his territory against any theatre that "dared" to play either of the films. In addition to Philly, the atchdiocese includes nine counties in Pennsyl- vania extending clear up to the coal (Continued on page 24) METRO'S DOCUMENTARY ON BYRD'S EXPEDITION •, One of the few completely'docu- mentary films ever compiled and distributed by a major company Will be "Operation High Jump," How being prepared by , Metro. It will consist entirely of footage pro- vided by the U. S, Navy on Admiral Richard E. Byrd's expedition to the South Pole last year, Narration is expected to be done by John Hodiak, Spencer Tracy and Robert Taylor. OrviUe O. Dull, Metro producer, who is now east working on. the film, disclosed the plans for it. He is directing Navy camera crews in the shooting of additional footage to illustrate the departure from and arrival back in the V-. S. of the expedition's ships. All camera work is in lOm Kodachrome which Is Ije- Ing blown u]p lnt» 85m T^clmlcolor. 'AmberV Top Biz Catholic Church fight on "Por- evfer Amber" may be trimming grosses somewhat, but its effect to 'date hasn't really hurt the very solid b.o. In St. Louis, where the Archbishop asked Catholics to abstain, two the- atres scored a big $50,000. A pair of houses in Boston, barred fi»m Sunday ' shows, nevei^the- less garnered a huge $54,000. Ministerial protests may have held "Amber" to $10,000 in a Minneapolis sureseater — but that's still a big take. Phila- delphia, current hot spot, looks like a colossal $S0,0Q0 'in its sec- ond week. Boxy, N. Y., is near a second-week terrific $150,000, .although tapering from the opening $180,500*'take may be partly due to plea for church- goers to stay away. After three months of stalemate, it suddenly appeared this week that a compromise on the British 75% tax was about to be negotiated. Both the British government and the American industry apparently reached the conclusion that the wait- ing, game they were playing might, be permanently harmful and took steps to end the impasse. The Labor government passed the word along to the: Motion Picture Assn. that it was ready to negotiate and proxy Eric Johnston,. Monday (3), instructed Fayette AUport, MPA's British rep, to begin prelim- inary negotiations. The MPA actually has no compromise plan to oiler, and AUport's job will be to feel the British out on what they might accept. ... (Glenvtl Hall, fiwmcUtl secretary to the British Treasury, told the House of Commons, Monday (3) , ac- cording to London dispatches, that the Labor government welcomed suggestions from the U. S. industry for an alternative to the tax. He said, "We are toilling to meet the American film indmtry more than halfway.") Also indicative of an early settle- ment is the expected arrival in Washington next' Tuesday' (11) of Sir Wilfred Eadie, British Treasury ofilcial. Sir Wilfred was here sev- eral months ago to negotiate the British loan amendments with U. S. State and Treasury Depts. and is coming again to work pn the loan. Last time here, he talked to John- ston although it was said he was in no way empowered to negotiate ■ a change in the tax. While it is not anticipated that he will have actual authority to a^ree to a cqjnpromise (Continued on page 22) Can't Use Theatre Profit to Offset Prod-Balaban Profits of Paramount's enormous theatre-owning interests cannot and will not be used to make up for any deficits incurred by the company's production-distribution end ■ of the business, Barney Balaban, Par's ■proxy, has informed department chiefs: in a letter circulated, this week, To forestall that possibility, Balaban's letter orders a 25% across- the-board slash In expenses with the declaration that the picture ped- dling wing of Paramount must stand on its own. Discussing the company's position during the current uncertain times, Balaban has advised his subordinates that Par now hat^ a peak pix back- log totalling $50*000,000 in value. That, he said, 'cb'mpares with a pre- «3ontinued on page 20) SEE SAM MACHNOVITCH, U TREASURER, EXITING Number of resignations- affecting Universal's homeoflice and studio officialdom are. expected, according to reliable reports. Among those, it's said, is Samuel Machnovitoh, U's treasurer, who'll ankle to other fields; Machnovitoh came into the money- handlin'g spot in 1936 when J. Cheever Cowdin took over as chair- man ot the board. ' With the resignations, V'is expected to tighten its personnel further-as a necessary economy measure. Com- pany with its close tieup to !f. Ar- thur Rank has been markedly af- fected by the British tax blow. U is production costs. < . if' ■ U Nixes Mason's Reverse Trailer on His Oldie Pix James Mason's bright ideSi on how to ridicule oil the American screens British oldies which star him has been nixed by Universal's toppers after second thoughts. Mason, who's been harried by the resurgence of quickies made ■ by him in pre- prosperity days; broached the plan to U of warning American audi- ences against their patronage via a trailer touting his latest film, "The Upturned Glass," which-, preems shortly at the Winter' Garden (N. Y.). U initially okayed the idea and the British thesp appeared at a stu* dio and made the clip for insertion in the trailer. It had Mason turning to the audience and telling them to forego the oldies "because they all stink." U then backed away from administering the strong potion. Who footed the $1,200 bill for the additional clip is still unknown. Big D.C. Whodunit: Who Ped That Red hobe? See Resumption iuDe& The Vodka Pitch The Russians. have been bom- barding not only their own peo- ple, but the entiire. world wltb radio denunciations of the hear- ings of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Broad- casts assert that the Hollywood Red probe has been against "progressive" artists and comr plain that pressures are being exerted to line up American . writers and producers, etc;, to "do the bidding" of ttke com- mittee. This comes with curious and doubtless unintentional humor from a country where artists are all required to toe the Party ideological lines. ■' UA Not So hg& Now to Acqmre Those 4 RKO Pix Cooling of United Artists toppers on the plan to liuy four films from RKO for release by ^ UA resulted from inability to obtain -bank finan- cing on the basis of the 100% 'cash RKO wants, plufj ah improvement in their own product- oUtlook. Arthur W. Kelly, exec v.p., admitted ori the Coast last week that the deal has beeii "postponed indefinitely." -■ Prex Grad Sears and Kelly have not given up on the whole idea, how- ever. They went to the Coast : last week with several strategems for overcoming the final nix given them by New 'Y'ork banks on a 100% loan; In. light Of the new thinking, they won't be per- turbed, however, If the ideas don't work out. First plan, it is understood, was to talk to RKO proxy N. Peter Rath- von on the possibility of his accepi- ing less than the entire amount at once. Deal might be swung .with the Irving Trust Co., N. Y., it's believed, if Rath von would accept around 60 9% (Continued on page 18) . HohnanV Coast Trip Russell Holmau, Paramount's east- ern atudio rep, lieada for the 'Goast in mid-November tor several weekSi' stay, his customary semi-annual trek. He'll huddle with production big- gies on British and, eastern fllmmak* ing problems and also gab talent snaring activities, ' National Boxoffice Survey Business Better in Many Spots—^'Amber/ ^Song/ 'Unconquered,' *Town', 'Had to Be' Leaders Helped by .Election. Day crowds on Tuesday (4) and mote favorable weather, most key cities are perking this week. Launching of "Forever Amber" (20th) in additional spots also is rated a healthy factor in many keys. This sexy opus again is easy winner of first place in the b.o. procession, and . wi^l hit close to colossal $800,000 in key cities cov- ered" by Varibtt which includes some 27 theatres. This tops even last week's gigantic total for "Am- ber." • "Song of Love" (M-G) is solid second place winner. Others in the Bix Six, but badly scattered behind these two, are "Unconquered" (Par), "Magic Town" (RKO), "Had To Be You" (Col) and "Christmas Eve" (UA), Runhers-up are headed by "Walter Mitty" (RKO), "Foxes of Harrow" (20th), "Mons, Verdoux" (UA) and "Fun, Fancy-Free" (RKO). , Besldes"Had To Be" and "Eve," ^ew entries in first slii; list, oljher nfewcomers indude '*Hag«a Girl" (WB), "Upturned Glass" (U) and "Nightmare Alley" (20th), "Glass," which opened yesterday at N, Y. Winter Garden, hints the most prom- ise though not strong in L. A. preem. '•Hagen Girl" shapes mild to fair in most spots this stanza while "Alley" is doing nicely only in Cin- cinnati, top cities over the country not going for latter any more'than N. Y. did. "Xmas Eve" is sturdy in Loais- ville, stout to pace Indianapolis and okay on second Philly week. It's fairly mild in K. C. "Spirit of West Point" (FC^, taking advantage of gridiron season, now in full swing, is doing nicely in six keys this week. "Red Stallion" (EL) shapes as fine 'in Louisville, but is mild in Chicago, "Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer" (RKO) is b'.o. leader in-both Portland,. Ore., and Seattle, being smash in two the- atres being played in each city, "Something In Wind" (U) is lively in Cleveland. (Complete Boxoj^'ice Rsportt on Pttges 12-13^ By HERMAN A. LOWE Washington, Nov, 4. Greater mystery than "who kUledi Cock Robin?" is the one still going the rounds of Capitol Hill and the National Press Club bar, "Who killed the House Un-American ■ Activities investigation into Hollywood Com-^ munism?" Best answer seems to be that a number of factors contributed to itji temporary (at least) demise, but that there is a good possibility ihft hearings will reopen in . December either in D. Cor L, A, This seems to be the cornplete story of why the probe buckled like • Leon ErroU's trick knee, and what let liable to become'of it. ■ It .started' out to he a full com- mittee investigation, maneuvered so , that Rep John E. R'ankin would be down in Mississippi. campaigniifg with the other . eight members ex- pected to show. But on the first day^ only five put in an appearance:—' Chairman J. Parnell Thomas, John McDowell, Richard M. Nixon, and John S. 'Wood. .Wood, the ranking Democrat, stayed arduiid only long: enough to get into the record a fine plug for Louis B. Mayer. «phen he disappeared for the. sunnier dimes of Georgia, and that left four. By the end. of the second day of the hear-' ings, it became obvious that the com- mittee intended to rough up industry toppers, even though they might be (Continued.on page 18) :,.. PROD. PRESSURE KEEPS ICORDA FROM U S. VISIT Pressure of films in production has caused Sir Alexander Korda to cancel plans which would have brought him to the United States Nov. 16 with the print of his first film for 20th-Fox release, "An Ideal Husband," Paulette Goddard- starrer. Instead, Morris Helprin, Korda's American rep, planes. to London Sunday (9) for two weeks' stay and will bring back the print. Korda has two films in work at the mbjtnent, which has caused call* Ihg ofil! his projected trip. Th^ ar« "Bonnie f'rlnce Charlie," with David Niven, on which he's handling the reins himself, and "The Lost Illu- sion," with Sir JEtalph Richardson and Michele .Morgan, which Carol Reed is maldng under the'lCordA banner.' XnuU Bt«tk JtetrtaWtit FOXrt^DED BT BIMB) SII>y|mMAN PDbUshea We«iay br VAmKTX, Ino. Bid Stlnrman, Ptettdml I M WMt «6t h St., New Vorls M, N.' 1, suBSommoN iniMl |10 roreirn $11 SliTiI. Ooplei ts Centi .1. r ill.;—. iifcii .•— Vol.168 t 0gi^, No. 9 Bills : 66 Chatter 63 Concert .,.. r,, 58 Film Reviews B Foreign , 16 House Reviews ,57 Inside.Xiegit ,..,,.,.... 58 ■'■ Inside Music 49 Inside Pictures 18 Legitimate .. 58 Literati , 62 Music, 39 New Acts ,,.... 54 Night Club Reviews,,;,,.-.. 54 Obituaries 56 Orchestras ..........\,...«. 39 Pictures i.......3 Pre-Production News 9 Radio ............... 25 Radio Reviews . ,,.; 34 Records ..... *..,.......... 48 Frank Scully ,...., , „ 62 Television .....».,..,.....» 29 "Vaudeville 53 DAIVS VABISITT (PuMltlud tn 'Roilyirood by Dilly Tulttr, Ud.) IM « XMI-Ill IToHtca