Variety (Dec 1947)

riCTUUBS PK IN '48 BUT FEWER m SenienHiko (Nfm $5M fw Picltf ord Opposes Chapfin on Sale Serge Semeneqko, Boston banker,'^ has Indicated to United Artists own ers willingness to pay $5,000,000 for the company, it was learned this week. Semenenko was in the syndi' cate, headed by Si FaBian, that last summer was all set to give $12,500,000 ior the company. ' Owner Charles Chaplin is report- edly interested in the new bid, but his partner, Mary Pickford, is still hopeful that'UA'^s aftaifs can be sue cessfnUy worked out anctthe present ownership- continue. Same lineup prevailed when negotiations tor the previous sale Collapsed. Semenenkoi it fs learned, is not in- terested in anything but 100% owner ship of UA. He feels that he can solve the financial diiliculties which have cut oft UA's product supply by the unavailability of Idans to indie producets. His ultimate aim, once the com]>any is operating full scale, is said' to be possible merger wi^ Bobert. B. YoungTs Eagle Ltoh. Sem- enenko's Fitst Boston Corp, has made a heavy loan to Bit's parent company, Fathe Industries, and Semenenko and Young are close friends Semenenko, it is understood, hgts not made a firm offer for the com- pany, btit in talks with the manage- (Continued on page 18) Byrnes Arguing 2ii Decree Plea James F.' Byrnes, former U.S.. Sec- retary of State and an ex-^Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, will argue Sox 20th-Fox on appeal from the Government anti-trust suit when it- comes up before the }\igh court dur- ing the week of Jan. 12. Decision to call on Byrnes, who W&s originally retained solely in' an advisory ca- pacity was disclosed during meets last week and this of attorneys for the eight majors. * Byrnes figured prominently in ne- gotiations for '9 settlement of the anti-trust action'which recently fell through. There'll be no one at- torney arguing for the Big Five or the Little Three. Whitney North- Seymour of Bartlett, Simpson & Thacher will speak for Paramount; Judge Joseph M. Proskauer for Warijer Bros.; John W. Davis for Metro; Sind Col. William' J. Donno- van for RKO. Little Three will be repped by Ed Raftery, United Artists; Louis Frohlich,, Columbia and probably Thomas Turner Cooke for Universal. Legalites for the majors have agreed to ask the clerk of the Su- (Continued on page 20) BENJAMIN'S QUICKIE FLIGHTTOR RANK MEET Robert Benjamin, prexy of J. Ar- thur Rank's U. S. org., planes today (Wed.) for London on a quickie one- Week trip. Benjamin 'will' huddle with Bank and his top execs for briefing on latest developments of the British film situation. . On his return, Benjamin will re- port to Nate J. Blumberg, Univer- sal's prexy, and J. Cheever Cowdin, chairman of the board. Blumberg will then talce oiT for the Coast, week after next. ' Jarratt Due in N. Y. For Skouras and Rep. Meets Sir Arthur Jarratt, head of Brit- ish Lion, planes in from London Monday (8) for a three-week stay. He's making the trek to see Spyros Skouras, 20th-Fox prexy, and Her- bert J. Yates and James R. Grainger, Republic's toppers. It's unlikely that he'll go to Hollywood, BL is distrib wing of Sir Alex- ander Rorda's outfit. Jarratt's talks with Skouras will center on the six Korda pix which 20th will distribute to the U. S> Discussions with Rep's toppers will covev Jhandling of the Yank company's releases in Britain the Korda unit. . ' Tom Connors' EL Talks Stall as Bill Heineman's Name Enters the Field Eagle Lion's employment - pact talks with Tom Connors; erstwhile 20th-Pox sales chief, are now on the downbeat. It's currently considered highly unlikely that Connors will move into EL to assume supervision of" worldwide sales. Huddles have become increasingly spaced, with neither AAe indicating a possibility of agreeihent. Understood that' the top distribu- tion spot of overall supervision is still open and that EL' will very likely fill it in the future. Prelimi- nary talks, it's reported, have been started with William J. Heineman; who's now' Universal's sales topper for the J. Arthur Rank division. Be- cause of the close tie between Rank and Robert Young, controlling stockholder' of EL, Heineman is a natural choice.' Several other film (Continued on page 18) HENCE BIZEytS E Despite Indications that the film companies will turn out s'onie 506 pictures in 1948, an increase of 39 over the current year, there's still expected to be a shortage of top A product for first rfiri houses. Indus- ti:y sales oiiicials, consequently, al- ready seeking extended playing time for their product, now ; warn that unless exhibs kick through with longer runs, they face the danger of running out of So-caUect "big" prod- uct before the year's end." Discounting reports ^: from ? indiC exhibs that they've attempted to create an "artificial" shortage, the majors claim there's nothing much they can do about the situation. With thQ exception of Paramount and Warnersi most of them have very lit-; tie backlog of product; and even those two companies won't be able to release enough A films to fill the breach if the other majors run short. Majority of. sales xhiefs declare they're wiling to step up releases if its found the market can absorb more, but claim that it's practically impos- - (Continued on page 18) SIMPP in Snnirk Moye Petitions For Comidete Ikatre Uhrorcement Climlier Clicb h Freoch, Flops With ' Montreal, Dec. 2. Playing in' a double; situation, Maurice Chevalier's picture, "Man About Town," was a boxoffice flop in Montreal last week in one theatre but proved to be a smash hit in its original French version, "Le Silence est D'Or;" at another house. Open- ing ^siihultanedusly in two theatres in this '6S% 'French-speaking me- tropolis, the English-commented ver- sion had to be pulled after only a*^ five-day run at the Capitol." -But at the Orpheum, the all-French picture is heading into its second week still drawing, large crowds. . Fiasco of "Man About Town" at the Cap was attributed to the fact that Chevalier's public in. Montreal is mostly French and they are going to see hitn in "Le Silence est D'Or." On- the other hand, English-speaking (Continued on-page 16) HOUSE IN ORDER-n The current confusion attendant to the "Communist purge" decision last week again points up the grave need for the picture busi- ness to improve Its-public relations. The press reaction is as diffused and confused today as it has been since the film industry was mlckey- Feeneyed by Mr. J. . Parnell Thomas. ,Ever since the October sessions by the House un-American Activities Committee on the film probe, the sum total which has emerged is an accent on the fact that Hollywood ^must be "harboring Commimists," else, what's all this shootin' about? From a confused and diffused str^ad^dling of the issue; the management end of the picture business moved to a graver decision—get'rid of any Reds or suspected Reds. "The 10 men who refused to state their political beliefs did the motion picture industry a great disservice," is the reasoning by management in irrevocably attempting to rid Itself of any suspicions of Communistic taint. Protagonists .of the purge move,-apart from the biased or hysterical witcli-hunters, see the , wisdom of protection against subversive influ- ences which, if permitted to work in the dark under the cloak of free speech, Infringement of the right of suffrage, the First Amendment, or call it what you will, can be fraught with many dangers. Perhaps the headlines from Italy and Prance, and what Communistic infil- tration can do to the normal pursuits of two nations fighting for postwar economic survival, best points that up. From within the trade, there are the ex- tremes too. Every picture may take on new values or distortions in their audience reac- tions. When personalities like Bogart, Kaye, Bacall, Cantor, Garfield, Fonda, Goddard, Hef- lin, Hepburn, Huston, Kelly, Loy, Meredith, McGulre,,Peck, Wilde, who are known liberals, but who are no more Communistic than Col. McGormick, get bandied around In the public mind as "commies," then the confusion and diffusion can border on economic damage. The picture business knows that. The com- mie purge move is but the first step towards a more directly aggressive and affirmative pro- gram to leave no I'oom for public doubt. But the picture business should act fast now. It must dramatize within the trade first that it is a business of public favor. The action to dramatize to the publifc that the industry-took this step to divest itself of any Kremlin re- flection at the core must be effectively followed i)P within the business and particularly in Hollywood. The lack of good public relations is perhaps best pointed up by the contrarily good tack which Howard Koch took in his open "Letter to My Fellow Workers in the Motion Picture Industry" when he stated unequivocally that he is not and never has been a member of the Communist Party. He added, however, a tliought which the perhaps ill-advised "unholy 10" might have well adopted as a credo. Instead of the foolhardy defiance ,to tell a duly ordained Congressional pominittee that it was none of their business. He stated, in denying any Com- munistic tinge, that he "reserves the rigjit to refuse to make it (any statement on his politi- cal beliefs) if I so choose at any future hearing of the House Committee on un-American Ac- tivities." more judicious technique, clearly and forthrightly stating their position in a post-Thomas * committee press conference, would have turned the trick, the industry thinks. In short, out of the star-chamber and committee-privileged environs they could have hurled the defi to maligners from liA. to D.C. and gotten a better USA rating. But, because of some curious esprit de corps, they went down en masse. "Only Emmet Lavery, as a "voluntary" witness, made certain to accent the fact that his strong church ties alone would forfend any allegiance to Com- munism or any other foreign, ism. The big job for the business now is to keep Management and the Guilds unified and not permit any fever or fervor to distort realistic values. The picture business, as an industry, has perhaps the top record for unselfishness and sacrifice of any industry in America. In-, fire, flood and famine, as well as during the war, the film industry has rallied to so'many" causes that the sheer weight of the statistics must rout those who would deride Hollywood. It's a>sorry note that the hysteria, superinduced by exterior forces and an ideology so foreign to America, should put so patriotic a business as pictures on the defensive, but apparently that's a necessity now. ^ And if it's necessary to covenant all talent henceforth against sensitive issues^be they frivolous or serious—then it's also good busi- ness to make sure about "get off that soap box." Since the screen is a business of public favor, any ideology foreign to the major and im- • mediate chore of cinematic entertainment may well be construed as bearing the same "out" for management as infractions of t he morality clause. Pact is-tJtiat—fehe-t^mpor-soid temper of the times is such that the suggestion' of Communism has the same odor as infractions of good personal behavior, which is an auto- matic but tor management. The industry, in the last month of a troubled year, faces too' many crises on many fronts. They run the gamut from embargos abroad to mounting costs and lessening profits domes- tically. It cannot risk the additional headache and hazards of political complications to im- pair, abridge or complicate the best boxoffice results in a free market. Freeing itself from any taiijt of Communism is sound American- ism. Those who are hurt doubtlessly will have ample opportunity for recourse and satisfac- tion—morally, ethically and economically—if itself deserves .a break. It needs it. Since Oc- tober the national press has put a spotlight on films which far" traiiscendis the fundamental purpose of the fourth largest American indus- try-—that of entertaintnent. Tbis is "M" day: for the film biz. Aba. <* Complete divorcement of the Big Five's theatres is demanded of the U. S. Supreme Court by the Society of Independent Motion Picture Pro- ducers in an application filed Tues- . day (2) for leave to appear on ihe appeal as amicus cutiae (friend oit the court). In a, surprisingly harsh stand, SIMPP declares that "nothing sl-ort of complete divorcement of ex- hibition from distribution and dis- solution of defendants' exhibition chains will suitice to restore an open competitive market." Whether divestiture will be a burden on the defendants has noth- ing to do with the case, SIMPP as- serts. Moreover, the record shows "a compelling^ need" for divorcement, it's argued. "The peril to pur con- tinued existence as a democracy springing from the threat of bontrol of so vital an industry by an ag- gregate of' economic power in the hands of a few is obvious. Certainly if we are to be zealous in protect- ing freedom of the press and of the radio, we must be no less vigilant in assuring a free, .open, anm com- petitive movie iadust^," The indie producer, application de- clares, exists "as the only creiative force competitive to the defendahts. , (Continued on page 20) ' C]iwclih;mwe Axes Pitt'Outlaw • Pittsburgh, Deo. 2. In face of terrific pressure from Catholic church and Legion- of De- cency, Shea's Fulton theatre here is pulling "The Outlaw" tonight (Tues.) at the end of Its first week despite the fact that, picture will have hung up a new all-tin>e house record. Film is expbeted to do'.be- tween $24,000 and $25,000, previous mark of $19,000 having been held by "Kid From Brooklyn." Management of Fulton simply an- nounced that "Outlaw",was coming out "in its best interests" although it's understood that action was taken to forestall threatened year's boycott if hous* kept' tlie Howard Hughes picture on. According to inside information, Fulton was to have been'blasted ' from every Catholic pulpit in the (Continued on page 6) • - , Trad* MarfcyRetlttCKd PqUNpED BY SIME "TE-ILVBRMAN Pulillolied Weekly by \ABWFS, Ine. ... _ Sla SUntiatii, Prestdtnt IM West mb St., Kot yoilf 18, N. I. 8DBS0BBPTION Anniiol »tO ronloi Jll Single Coptra ,25 (<f^. Vol. 168 1^^^ No.13' INDEX BlUs 46 Chatter 54 Concert .,,...,,. i. 50 Disk Jockey Reviews., ..... 40 Film Reviews -. 11 Foreign ,,'.,.;,..... J3 Hou^e Reviews , 4ff Inside Legit. 50 Inside Music 42 Inside Pictures , 18 Inside Radio 32 Legitimate 49 Literati .................... 53 Music . . ... 38 New Acts . ,., ,.' 46 Night Club Reviews 46 Obituaries ..,.'.. ,... ..^i.; -53 Orchestras 38 Pictures 3 Pre-Production News . . . . . . 7 Radio 24 Radio Reviews . . ....... 30 Records ........., 40 Frank Scully ... r. 53 Television .....V........... 24 'Vaudeville 45' • ~~ DMIX VASIETr - <Pul>Uslied.]D ncllljniood t* ^ Oallf VMiefT. Wd.V. tU • Tet>-4H Fonio