Variety (Mar 1948)

FICV1W9 WfiAnte^Y', Tfiasch 3, 1948 Metro Purgdl Of Contenqd h On M Par s Atty. Excoriated Chicago, March 2. -f •Metro was let out of contemfil iharges during a stormy session today (Tues.) on the Jackson Park decree when Federal Judge. Michael igoe tossed out the complaint agaiiist JVI-G While refusing "to dismiss ^gainst the other defendant?. Judge Igoe blew up at one point and lashed (Dut at Ed Johnstone, attorney for Paramount. Metro had held up In Chicago distribution until January tind then sold its product by com- petitive bidding only. With J. J. Donohue, Paramounrs midwest division manager, on the stand and Johnstone bringing .out the fact that Par handled its dis- tribution on advice from him. Judge Igoe «)g?loded into the declaration: "It's shocking that a member of the bar Should go ahead and make a decision without consulting me. It ■ 'i^ppear^ you have taken a most con- temptuous attitude toward this court. ^ situation like^his has never he- tore" happened in the Chicago fed- «raX district court;" • court's declaration boded little food for the majors. Prior to that, lonohue made a spirited defense of his company. He noted the fact that ♦Unconquered," Par's Technicolor fpectacular, mus.t gross $8,000,000- f9;000,000 to make a proat4 He so t^tifled to dramatize the need for advanced prices on expensive t>roduct. •Negative cost, Donohue said, came to $4,250,000 ■ while advertising ex- penses exceeded $900,000 and print (Continued on page 20) British Show Biz Tax In Jan. Higher Than ^47 London', March 2. Despite industry pessimism, gov- ernment receipts from the entertain- ment tax were higher this January than for the comparable period last year. Attendance showing is con- sidered remarkable inasmuch as films available, this year were gen- erally thought to lack the drawing power of the 1947 product. . . With the coming of 1948, backlog of unreleased tJ. S. films scraped the bottom of the barrel. Conse- quently exhibs were forced to rely more and more upon American re- issues and poorer grade British- made pix to fill out programs. Prime factor behind the upped attendance, it's believed, was this January's mild weather- contrasted to last winter's unseasonable cold. Par yes Execs Dec(»rtra^ Bffl Mered O's Ta| 7 Rec'd $321,600 In Bowses Bit Deaana's $^3,476 T<9 '47 PiyroB Washington, March 2. •Seven of Universal's top officers received bonuses totalling $321,800 during 1947,under their employment pacts, report filed her« this week flisdoses. Biggest cut of the pie was handed to Nate J. Blumberg, ITs pxexy, and J, Cheever Cowdinj board chairman, who each took (171,785 as their share in the profits for '47. Other officers taking $35,606 .apiece under profit-sharing deals were Matty Fox, eJtec veepee; Cfaailes D. Prutzman, veepee; Wil- liaiin J. Scully, sales chief; Joseph Seidelman, foreign dept: head; and {!K^ Work, former production head. Despite their cut in the profits, none of .these officers were among' the top earners of the company. Leadoff breadwinner for the year was Deanna Durjiiiu who was paid 4323^478 for her thesping services. In second spot was. William Goetz, veepee in charge of production, with 1284,000 while Bobert Mont- gomery, actor-director, was third with $250,000. Breakdown of U's. stockholders shows J. Arthur Rank's "General Cinema Finance Co. as the only party holding more than 10% of company's common stock. GCF holdings are 134,373 shares or 14% of the total common outstanding. . It's also learned that the 129,000 shares divided between Goetz and 1.60 .Spitz for the acquisition by XJ of' International Pictures cannot he sold by them under their purchase I agreement. ■ Cowdin is biggest holder of stock option warrants with 86,876 now in his coffers. Blumberg comes next With 32,400 and Fox third. With aSiOOO. Pi-utzman holds 23.250. War- rants may be converted to common Anytime before April 1, 1956 at a set price of $10 per share. Ploclt of legalties came in for fees during the year. Julian T. Abeles received $24,000; Chadbourne, Hunt, Jaeckel & Brown, $27,000; Thomas Turner Cooke counsel in the' anti- trust .suit), $25,000; Gardner, Mor- rison & Rogers, $35,000; Lewinson & Arinstron,g, $25,000; Loeb te Loeb, jpSOvOOO; and Olvany, £isner & Don- nelly, $30,000. Maxon, Sells & Schwartzman, architects, were paid $30,800 while Price, Waterhouse Co., accountants, took $61,840. Carrying his policy of decentral izirtg Paramount's sales force one step' further, Charles M. Reagan, Par's veepee in charge, of distribu- tion, has ordered the stationing of division sales chiefs at local head- quarters within their terrilary. Greorge Smith, western, division head, is already operating from Los An-: geles. J. J. Donohue, midwestern topper, is moving his h.q. .to Chicago,; Karl Sweigert, mid-eastern head, to Philadelphia; while Hugh Owen, eastern and southern manager, con- tinues operations from the New York homeoftice. Revision of the sales setup, Reagan saidrhas heen shaped to permit m«re frequent visits of top-bracket sales execs to exchanges. That's neces-< sary, sales topper added, because of the increased'problems under single- selling of pix. When his aides were stationed in New York, distanoe from territories curtailed the treks to home ground necessary to iron prob- lems. It's in line with this decentraliza- tion that Paramount upped two dis^^' .trict managers this week to ass't di^ vision chiefs, according to Reagan, Duo promoted are Albert M. Kane of Boston and Harold Wirthwein of Los Angeles.. Kane will serve under Owen and Wirthwein under Smith. They'll be en hand to do some of the necessary footwork for their division bosses. Reagan's Beasonlng Commenting on the fact that Par- amount was sole tiieatre-owning de- fendant to oppose competitive bid- ding before the tl. S. Supreme Court, Reagan declared the Government would learn that the bid method would decrease competition rather than sharpen it. Tests indicate, Reai- gan said, that circuits could "take it on the chin" in one situation by bid- ding exorbitant prices for product while riding the punch in other spots. The small indie, with one or two theatres, can't afford to battle it out with the circuit under these circumstances. Jack Gross Named AidetoScharyatRKO l^ollywood. March 2. Jack Gros«, executive producer for five years at RKO, moved into B new post as assistant to produc- tion chief Dore Schary. As a member of the Schary cabi- net. Gross will be in charge of pre- filmtog analysis of production costs, adjusting budgets to present-day budgets. , Metro, m RKO Setting an industrywide pattern for 3,000 white coUarites in New York film offices, arbitration awards this week granted pay hikes averag- ing 15% to publicists at.20th-Fosi and office workers at Metro and RKO. Other,^ arbitrations in the works covering all employees or- ganized by the Screen Publicists Guild and the Screen Office & Pro- fessional Employees Guild, are ex- pected to wind up with similar re- sults. Pay increase talks between the unions and major companies are be- ing held uniJer a wage reopening clause in the'labor contracts. Coriipany payroll loads will be in-, creased approximately $1,000,000 an- nully for the whole industry if the 15% award is made the general formula. In addition, companies will liave to shell out about $500,000 in back pay settlements running back to Sept. 27, 1947. At Loew's, the arbitrators scaled wages up from $5 to $12, while at RKO the awards ranged from $5 to $10. Under terms of the 20th-Fox de- cision, delivered by the American Arbitration Assn. in New York, senior publicists will get a weekly increase of $20 with minimum wage to be $125; publicists get $15 with minimuih at 4A7.50; associate publi- cists get $10 with minimum at $62.50; and apprentices get $8.50 with mini- mum at $40. Board of arbitrators, consisted of Prof. Harry Shulman, Yale University; Aaron Schneider, regional direptor of the 'United Of- fice Workers of America; and Nor' man Steinberg, 20tb-FOx attorney. Meanwhile, SPG voted endorse- ment to the presidential candidacy of Henry Wallace at a special mem- bership meeting last week prior to the UOPWA convention being held currently »t the Hotel St. Cfeorge, Brooklyn. SOPEG- is expected . to follow suit in plumping for Wallace in line with the national union's in- dicated policy, ■• UA Opens Fire To Force Mrery Of Hawks' 'Red River,' Cagneys' Tune' U's Test Dates on 'Sons' With Eye to Upped Prices Scattered test engagements of Uni- versal's "AH My Sons," fllmization of Broadway's hit drams of last season, will determine whether the pic will make the rounds at advanced admis- .sions or regular prices. Film will go into Loew's Criterion (N, Y.) and .several other spots at upped scales but without fanfare on the increased prices. If "Sons" scores solid grosses at raised tabs, U will sell it that way down the line. \ On the other hand, if the pic doesn't hold its own at the higher jrice, U will prove it as a regular re- lease. Possibility of the film going into Radio City Music Hall is now definitely out and the Criterion date has been set for some time in April; Wape's Oarni OnHawbTies hto InaCom Bogey, Bette, Morgui Top The three' highest salaried people In the Warner Bros, aggregation for Its fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1947, IK'sra players, according to the com- pany's annual report filed.with Se- eurltlet Si Exchange Commission. They were Humphrey Bogart, {467,361; Bette Davis, $328,000; and tennis |(OP«an, |325.8»3i SCHARY, SHMR m ONE WORLD AWARDS Adding to his honors for pioneer- ing pix on the anti-Semitism theme, Dore Schary, RKO's exec producer, has been designated for the One World Award for Films. Award was made in Hollywood fo,r his coH' tribution.s in the film indu.stry to in- ternational amity and sponsoring such pictures as "Crossfire" and "The Farmer's Daughter." Selection of Schary by the One World Commit- tee was also intended as a tribute to Darryl F. Zanuck for~.20th-Fox's production of "Gentleman's Agroc' ment" and to Hall WaUis for "The Searching Wind." William L. Shirer, Mutual network commentatoi-, was given the One World Award for radio in New York. Citation was made because of Shirer's "outstanding work in in terpretiog world news • over the radio in the last 14 years." ■ (, *■ I''». 'Kt^ FEDMAN'S $1,000,000 SUrroyERFlCPAOiAGE Holly wood,, March 2. Charles K. .Feldmoii Group Pro- ductions has filed a $1,000,000 dam- age suit against Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Universal Pictures, Norma Productions and Eagle Lion, charging the defendants pirated his rights to Gerald Butler's novel "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands," and plan to start the pic based on the book without his consent Injunctioit abo is aSked to pre- vent makitig the picture. Pioneer Pics Ano^r New Unit to Make'Em in N.Y Lower cost of making films in the east was stated by Ralph Cohn this week as his reason for establishing a new unit, Pioneer Pictures, for production of features in New York. Cohn sees reduced budgets made possible by eastern production as the answer to declining markets Europe, he explained. Producer, who is the son of Jack Cohn, Columbia v.p., said that the new setup did not mean the end of his association with Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers in Triangle Pro- ductions. Triangle made one pic, "Sleep My Ijove," now going into release via United Artists. Cohn said Triangle may go ahead with other projects at some future time. Associated with him in Pioneer is Jules Bricken, who has had experi- ence in New York production in working with David O. Selznick on "Portrait of Jenny" and Boris Mor- ros on "Carnegie Hall." Hollywood, March 2. Dei iding the legal convolutions of certain indie producers, George E. Yousling, veepee in charge of film financing for the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, de- clared here last week that such com- plications preventing immediate re- lease of a film was one of the pri- mary factors ill dampening his bank's interest in film financmg. Yousling made his statement at a meeting with United Artists reps when John Wayne asked the $50,000 due him on a $150,000 contract for .^tarring in Howard Hawks' "Red River," made for UA release. Under the deal, Wayne was to receive $50,000 a year hi 1946, '47 and '48. He's now seeking the money due him last year, Bank and its affiliates are under- stood to have loaned Hawks a cer< tain amount of money based on the film's original budget estimate of $1,300,000. Picture ran to $2,800,000 before it was completed, Yousluig told those at the meetiag that banks can be expected to- be more cbodsy in financing indie^ productions in the future. He said most banks have un into complications recently due to high production costs, the British situation and the domestic boxoSice drop, as well as UA's delay in re- leasing various films. Yousling added that a number of films financed for UA release should have paid off long ago. Revenue has been held up, however, because of the distribution delay, he said. -f United, Artist?' attorneys will he busy on two fronts this week iu efforts to force delivery of a psip'of Alms the distrib claims are being illegally withheld. First of the ac- tions begins this morning (Wednes- day) when arbitration starts in Nsw York on failure of Monterey Pro- ductions to deliver "Bed River," pro- duced by Howard Hawks. In the meantime, despositions are being taken this week from two New York bankers and an attorney in prepara- tion for trial of a counter-suit in California March IS by William Cag- ney against UA, following the lat- ter's suit, filed in N. V. Supreme Court, to force delivery of Cagney's "Time of Your Life" (James Cag- neyO. There was some- hint yesterday that the "Red River" arbitration might at the last minute be called off or , postponed. Three-man panel pre. pared to sit, however, consists 'of ; Abe Bienstock, attorney for Grad Searis, Walter Wanger and other filmites, who was named by UA; Charles Abramson, rep in New York of Famous'Artists (Charles Feldman) agency, who was named by Mon- terey; and William Zimmerman, RKO sales department attorney, who is the impartial third man. It is expected, that Monterey will; claim that the film is not yet finished, and thus not ready for delivery. UA maintains that the producers are stalling. Actually holding it up now, • it is understood, is a demand by John Wayne, star of the pic, for immedi- ! ate payment of the salary he de- ferred, which has tied "River"' up : in Coast legal difficulties. Depositions in the Cagney ca.se wUl be taken from Alex Ardrey and Harry Watkins, of Bankers Trust Co., which financed the production, and from Alfred Heuston, of the law firm of White & Case, which acted for Cagney in setting the contract originally. Paul D. O'Brien and Edward G. Raftery, of O'Brien, Driscoll, Haftery & "Lawler, UA's counsel, will go to the Coast for the trial of the suit. They will be accompanied by UA prexy Grad Sears. UA's suit against Cagney in New York comes up preliminarily next week when jurisdictional argumerit will be heard on whether Cagney Productions can be sued in N. Y. State. Both the New York and Cali- fornia actions are for- declaratory iudgments, the first to state that "Life" must go to UA under the terms of the contract and the second to state that Cagney is under no obligation to deliver the fllm.yin the meantime, Warner Bros., which had a tentative deal for "Life," has informed UA attorneys that it will not accept the picture while legal action is pending; Commie Coup Snafus Byram's Europe Plaus Developments in Czechoslovakia during the past week may force a change in plans oT John Byram, Paramount play editor, for his trip abroad later this month. Byram had planned visiting London, Paris and Prague. o If the Commie coup makes the Prague trip impossible, Byram plans to visit one of the other continental capitals. He leaves New York March 16. His wife, Marian, Broad- way legit p. a., who accompanied hira on the European trip last year, will not be able to go this time. Senate OK's Geo. V. Allen 'Washington, March 2. George V. Allen, former Ambassa- dor to Iran, was confirmed last week, by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of State in chai'ge of the information services. Allen takes "over the post for- merly held 1^ William A^ton. Ed Gross' 'Stubborn Wood' To Follow 'Mrs. Mike' Film Hollywood. March 2. Ed Gross has bought "The Stub- born Wood" for an indie production to follow "Mrs. Mike." Deal set by Liiiira Wilck is for $50,000, 10% of the profits and a 10-weck's writing job lor author Emily Harvin. Likeli- hood that Broadway production Will precede picture, Gertrude Lawrence, who has read the bookj is reported interested. . N.Y. to Europe Mts. Reginald Connelly Mrs. 'Victor E. Egan Joseph Hummel Max Milder Jorge Negrete James Perkins Charles Tucker Lou Wilson Georgie MI(ooii^,. L. A. to N. Y. Lloyd Aherne Low Andrews Joan Chandler Richard Conte Jean Dairy mple Laraine Day Leo' Durocher Cyril Endfteld Reginald Gardiner Paul Hollister B. G. Kranze May Mann Albert Margolies 'Victor Mature CoL Tim McC<«r Robert Mochrie Louis A. Novins Harriet Parsons Claude Rains Ron Randell Bobert Reud Charles Schlaifer Robert Siodmak Spyros SItouras Morton A. Spring Terry Turner . Al Zimbalist N.Y. to L.A. Madeleine Carroll Alex Cohen Edmund L. Dorfman Russell Holman Paul Lazarus, Jr: Sid Mesibov Gregor'Rabinovitch ■ Paul Raibourn Stanley Shuford Dorothy Stickney Sir Philip Warter Ben Washer Robert Young Europe to N, Y. George Archibald Robert Benjamin Compton Bennett Sidney Field Emile Lustig ,.