Variety (Jan 1948)

iCREEN RADIO "ARIETY VOL. 169 No. 5 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 194« 260 PAGES LL PK IN COLOR Wm 5 M Stories, Color, Spec, SA, Bally Made Top B.O.-^tar$ Alone Not Enough Sjaasi weren't enough In '47. Pie^jtes, it was discovered, no longl^&re piling up top grosses on inat|liSe''gUtter alone. 'The guys and £4l"^lth the coins at the b.o. sill -ifm^ "refusing to lay them down— i/ifflh very few exceptions—just for a gander at their favorite pUy«r. 'A surprisingly long list of floj^eilas, or near floppolas, testified to that. Stories apparently were taking on • new importance during the 12 months just past. Likewise color, ' spectacle, production values in gen- eral and the advertising and exploi- i' tation campaigns put behind a pic- I ture. The significance to the indus- r'i try of such a change in public habit i»ls' tremendous beyond words. It *f means that the tradition of the star OT) system—on which all of motion pic- ''t. tures incubated and grew—requires some revising, f ~> Not that stars didn't count for .a lair share of business in '47. They t*' tdded strength and backbone to ' other values. But the other values ^^ad to be there, too. That's evident in even a casual study of the 75 top-grossing films of the year—all those that promise to do $2,000,000 or more domestic— (Continued on page 82) BOBBY CLARK MAY DO OWN MUSICAL PROHLE Pittsburgh. During the run of "Sweethearts" at the Nixon here, Bobby Clark ad- nutted ise's been approached by > Cheryl Crawford to do a musicjil ; \f4»ased on three-part profile by Rob- ', ert Lewis Taylor on him in "New Yorker" magazine. Taylor and Kay Swift have shaped a first draft of a prospectis'e book, although Clark wants to see more of it before he glWs the producer an answer. At the same time, the comedian «id he'd like to get something other than a .song-and-dance show, claim- tag that carrying a musical is get- to be too much for him at his •g», Hj's 59. Protest Demands ney' Financers _ : Hollywood. Expected coming meeting of the . Directors Guild will launch ■ nrong protest against the move by Jwmd money" lenders who are de- manding unlimited completion of Si"P?S of small-budgeters and estab- "^V'hS an arbitrary list of directors t.2?*S.'*'°""'^ is good for such guaran- irS- Move-is dealing a rough blow to "Oie production. Only six directors "6 considered a "good risk" by the men who put up completion bonds, jpa the indie producers must bow si "St to^et any coin. J **ffSers have been picked solely ™J tiieif speed In turning out films wmch means the coin men get a »si return without risk. The six B„°1,"* Ross Lederman, William D»ni , ,' Landers, Harold UBorg ^ Reginald tifhf^^'if" ''hen the banks ;TlX^^ °" production loans, ■'"ndI"^„?K ""limited "completion "'her than the former 20%. (M>ntinued on page 58 > Krasna-Berlin Musical Norman Krasna will do his first musicomedy libretto for an Irving Berlin score. Deal was set on the Coast. Rodgers Sc Hammerstein will t>ro- duce. 'Bedroom Net'Kids Given CBS Heave "We, The People," which in recent weeks has been given a facelift (as reflected in the Hoopers, for one thing) since Lester Gottlieb took over the production helm, was all set for one of the new year's real cuties for last night's (Tues.) broad- cast. Scheduled to go on the show were the New 'York City moppet twins. Jay and Bruce Colen, whose "Bedroom Network" (they use their linen closet for the master control room) garnered national attention recently via a Saturday Evening Post article. When CBS got wind of the sched- uled appearance of the kids, who do a weekly show from their bed- room, with commercials plugging the candy store downstairs, the net started to ask questions. First it nixed the idea "f calling it a "Bed- (Continued on page 60) OberaininergauGetsU.S. Permit for rerformance Of Passion Play in 1950 Berlin. The Oberammergau Passion Play, world-famous for more than 300 years and which was last presented officially in 1934, will be staged again in 1950 under a license granted by the Office of Military Govern- ment for Bavaria, according to Infor- mation Control Division, Office of Military Government for Germany (U. S.). Eric T. Clarke, chief of Film-Thea- tre-Music Branch, and former Met- opera, N. Y. asst. mgr., indicated that the licensed director of the Passion Play will be Melchior Breitsammter, co-owner of a sawmill in the village of Oberammergau, who has por- trayed Pontius Pilate in past per- (Continued on page 60) NEW TINT COTS iTl! Top 'Golden Circle' IS Pk^es Grossed $97,000,000 Domestic m V By ABEL GREEN As with two world wars within the same generation, so will the mo tion picture industry see the two most revolutionary milestones in its history. The first was sound, some 20 years ago, and within the next three to five years motion pictures in black-and-white will be obsolete. A new process with which East- man Kodak scientists have been ex- perimenting the last few years, in close cooperation with some of the major studios—most notably 20th Century-Fox Film—is expected to bring down the cost of color to make it available for every pro- ducer. The money differential on the new process is said to be startling. It will cost around 2V2C. per foot, and less, as against the 6V4C. of today's Technicolor. The secret lies in the new film, with its three master colors (red, blue and green), which can be used in the same camera as black-and-white film. Hie additive (X>\ora are invisible on the negative, the {iigmentation being de- rived from a disk placed in front of the lens. The process is said to permit one- third more light. For best exhibf- tion purposes, a prism reflector, costing $500 - $750, would entail minor conversion to the standard projection equipment. A new-type screen may be an added wrinkle, but it's claimed not to be necessary. This rewiring or revamping of the now orthodox projection equipment is as nothing compared to the revo- lution that ^wept the world's cine- mas when first Vitaphone (sound- on-disk) and Movietone (sound-on- fllm) came into being. A very hush-hush trade secret, the (Continued on page 58) M-6's 'Chevalier Story* Film Hollywood. Metro is talking a deal with Maurice Chevalier for a picture based on his career as an entertainer in Paris. Understood th6 deal is similar to the one Metro recently si^pied with Al Jolson. Tele s Boom WonpigRadb "Velevision boom lias reached such proportions during the last few months that th^'s liardly a receiv- ing set to be bouglit for immediate delivery anywhere within the con- fines of Greater New York. This factor, coupled with a prediction that radio receiving sales will drop in 1948, has radio officials for the first time wary of tele's c<nnpetltiv« threat. While the Radio Manufacturers Assn. predict a unit drop in radio sales for thjs year, tele set distribu- tors believe they'll do more business during the first quarter of 1948 than they did during tlie last quarter of 1947. Prediction is centered espe- cially significant in view of the fact that the last quarter of a year, hypoed by Christmas shopping, bas usually doubled the business votuijiie for the first quarter of the following year. Strangely enough, tele distribs be- lieve Christmas i)ad iittle to do with their current sellout. According to Jerry Kaye, vcepee of Bruno-N. Y. (Continued- on page 56) Fredric March Options Play About Eugene Debs Pittsburgh. Abby Mann, young local play- wright who'.s been in New York for the last couple of years, has sold an option, on a new play to .Fredric March, who hopes to appear in it on Broadway next season. Script has for its central character Eugene V. Debs, the late Socialist leader. No producer has been set, but March hopes to arrange that follow- ing his return to New York from his current a.ssignments -iar Univer- sal-International. FAMOUS AIR FLUFFS By JO RANSON The bete noir of the radio actor and announcer Is the fluff. It is the verbal mixup, the phonetic diffi- culty which makes the performer feel like an All-American scblemiel. No matter how careful is his speech behavior during rehearsal, some- where along the line he is apt to stick his big foot in his mouth and out will come a spoonerism the likes of which will rhake him the instan- taneous lau'ghing stock of his AFRA colleagues and the pity of listeners from the Borscht Belt to the African veldt. Historians of such matters, will tell you that it was William A. Early Deadline Thts edition of Variety went to press ahead of the normal Tuesday deadline. Production detail, binding, etc. and the size of this 42d Anni- versary Number make it neces- sary to omit certadn. standard departaiCDta for thf^ %ne issue all Spooner, the Warden of New Col- lege, Oxford, who established some sort of championship for slips 6f the totigue, among his gems being "Mar- don me, padam, but I think you are occupewing my pie." Today, mai)y of our announcers insist on intro- ducing "Pewgrams of Moistc." The dictionary describes a flufi as "to forget one's lines" and "to play one's part blunderingly." It is xar worse than that, judging by the wails heard from hapless fluff victims gathered at Colbee's and Kaufman-Bedrick's Pharmacy. The psychological extent to whicK the damnable fluff can cause an ac- tor to almost ruin a' show, was best demonstrated on a "Bulldog Drum- mond" show over WOR several semesters ago when the performer, playing the part of the villain, hissed through his' kisser, "You're fluff- ing—er, I mean bluffing, Bulldog j Drummond." During the sizzling summer months, one of Gotham'A ether outltits ibsfces a practice of plugging the city'* ^t- door attractions, ^elui}iif|{^iiD|j^, By HERB GOLDEN "The Golden Circle"—that creme- de-la-creme of picturedonn, achieved only by films which hav»~ gcoswdt more than $4,000,000 domest$<^|]r'— had 15 entrants in 1947. That^ four fewer than the previous year, bttt— thanks to the phenomenon of fi^a upped-admission films—the "Circle" pictures pKomise . to gro^ alnnoBt $9,000u000 more than in t94«, an gregate 107,000)000. Top money pietiffie of the IS months was Samuel 'Cif>Ii9wyn'a "tlita Best Years of Our Lives." In a run- ning frolic with it every doUap of the- wa^ was David O. Selznick's Duel, in the Sun." Final figures ar* yet to be recorded. Best estimates, however, are ify^t for tt\eii hiHedt admisdidn r^M, p}U9 the first t}ma around in regular release, "Year^" will click the cash r^gi^ter for $ll<,« 500.000 and "Duel" tor appro]ii:tm»te« ly $l0,750,00flL - ' . Despite the downbeaf; len^ini^t which the foreign sinn^tlon forced on industry taggers, the' IS MtiwJ'^* trants in "The Golden Circle" hejia any signiflcant, Sjid4i iiA the d6mestic market. Ther« were previously: only 44' pictures! in- "The,Circle'* in' the (Continued on pa^e ft^t HELUNGER CORP. NAME ■ "r ; Hoilyvirood. Mark RelUnger I>roductions win be continued a» a corporate nvnit, but th& inajoi!#rablem right now tot Humphrey Bogart/and' -OaVid" Oii' Selznick, through whose reHeirsIng organiKatjion the late producec mtst^t • to disHtjPf^ ii-tO get /Wiiietent impresdrlo ta%kf» >>ver. Jerry imt was apijjcoached biit he's tied to two ; more years at Warner Bro^. The ^tar recognizes that some of the Hellinger corporate assets qre of the moment running XM gamUt^JCitim the Brhest Hemingwiiy story']^r6|i^" erties t0 Burt Lancaster's and other players' contracts. Selznick Will pitch in for a year, or stt, it is un» derstpod, but a top 'man t<^ handte the production-reins mui^t b^ifound— and soon. Bogafft attitude is that he wahtr somc^bpjcly in wWoitt')tt^iiak^'. jCotttinued an pa^ IMk, ^ (iCtmHimtm Montmartre is getting shoft oS: strippers, featured in many of fh* Calmrets where Qi^y are the main attraction. Malnutrition hast taken its toll,' according to Rene Bardy. u(»- erator of Eve, Cupidon. Gaiety, Eden and Femina clubs, who says, the' girls haven't, got the same;:: figures as c^. yoE& At the opposition Paradiee.' ^ his formet parlrferis , Viwiy*! Leardy, not only dd the «ti their turn on the itoor*^'^" I costume at tables yM" which helps sell wine.i.- marte boites are practie3|. one blocks which ' incfu Tabarin, Melody's Bjir\i|])d| Cubaine, as well US IS^Hi" 1*w|iop IfOfuing place.