Variety (Mar 1948)

wwnmms TOP PK SALARIES UP $11,071,333 Breakdown of Salaries ' Breakdown of how the seven majors (United Artists excluded) pEiy out to officers, and other personnel drawing $20,000 annually or more is herewith tabulated. Compilation is via latest available proxies applying to fiscal 1947 except for Paramount, RKO and 20th'Fbx where 1946 proxies are latest available. OfficerS'^ireotors Others Total 1 Metro $2,379,000 $22,226,668 . $24,605,668 20th-Fox .... 995,000 14,636,141 15,631,141 3 Paramount., 1,179,000 11,429,152 12,608,152 4 Warner Bros. 1,135,000 10.830,480 11,965,480 B. universal ... 1,132,000 7,298,899 ' 8,430,899 6. IBKO 499;887 ' 6,926,265 7,416,152 7. Columbia ... 080,119 3,530,681 4,510,800 inhisby SeM^idatim Posed To K.O. PosaUe Qhz Ml BriL Haw With foreign departments oft both majors and indies busily en<' gaged in figuring every possible way to get "maximum coin from 'Bnglarid under the new Auglo- U.S. films agreement, idea is being discussed for the American indus- try to set up a self-regulatory com-" mittee to pass on potential uses for frozen coin and generally po- lice adherence to the spirit, as well as the terms, of the new pact. ' There's a strong fear among a number of industry execs that since the amount of money fhe American companies can get out Will hinge to an important de- gree on their ingenuity; they may extend themselves to a point where they incur the hard feelings of the British. Film men have exhibited a spe- cial knack for legally getting fro- zen .currency out of other coun- tries where no dollars are supposed to exist. Now, in England, under the new agreement, they have 27 listed ways of getting- blocked money out via uses connected with the film industry, plus wide free- dom of use outside the industry. What's feared is that with such scope their genius may extend to a point which the British con^der "dubious" and cause the Board of Trade, which has the final vote on idl these matters, to take a (Continued on page 20) Connors' Comm'l Films Tom Connors, former v.p. in charge of distribution for 20th-Fox, is reported planning to go into'the business of distribution to theatres of commercial, films. He is known to be seeking, office space in New York for a small staff. Connors left 20th alntost a year ago and has been at various times reported going wifli Eagle lion and Film Classics. • If and When Mason Gets Court Decision Vs. Rose He'll Film Mrs/Novel James Mason, his wife (Pamela Kellino) and his alter ego, James Monahan, entrained for the Coast Monday (29), taking with them a «aipt of Miss Kellino's novel, "Del mma,!" on Which the trio hope to close a film deal. Story property IS owned by Gamma Films of America, Inc., an outfit recently formed by the three to handle all Mason's film pfojects. Mason won't do anything con- crete on films, however, until and unRss he gets a favorable decision from Federal Judge John C. Knox in his present court feud with •uavid Rose. Court has reserved oecision after trial and Mason ex- pects a ruling within a few weeks m ms suit to declare void a joint nimmaking venture with Rose. British thesp wants to both di- rect and star in a fllmization of Uel Palma" and, if the court green -lights the project, will seek f. ""^or company tieup while on we Coast. He'd like to do that getore meeting a commitment to Alexander Korda to play in «f *1 King's General," adaptation S!' Daphne DuMaurier novel. u to be made in the U.S.,. probably in the fall. Monahan, who serves as pub- ""ty agent and general aide to the "Wsons, goes directly to Los An- seies while the Masons stop off, en ">Hte, at Phoenix for a, short visit. Crawford Settles ^^^^ Angeles, March 30. Pftn^f'' Crawford made an out-of- court settlement of a $200,000 dam- age suit filed by Mrs. Pauline Mc- J-ay, a mental patient who charged »«vasion of privacy. fih^n^^'T^ permitted to watch wock. treatments while preparing «»r her rolp in "Possessed," n Warner producjUon. lis Tele Subsid Dickers CBS On Newsreet Deal Following through on an an- announced intention to get into the television *eld early. Universal Is currently negotiating with CBS for the sale to that net" of video rights to U's newsreel issues. Actual dickerings are being han- dled by United World Films, U's wholly-owned subsid, with Matty Fox, UWF board chairman, and James Franey, company's proxy, carrying the foiill. They're now en- gaged in a string of huddles with William S. Paley, CBS board chair- man. UWF recently has gone full-tilt into tlie video field and U has transferred to its 16m offspring all intricate angles involved in cop- ping tele revenues from celluloid. UWF is also fronting for J. Arthur Rank's tele Interests in this coun- try as part of the close tieup be tween U and the British film mag nate. U's subsid has already set up a . (Continued on page 17) SNEAK-PREYIEWOFNEW FEATURE ON TV KAYOED Plans of Screen Plays execs to sneakpreview Henry Morgan's star- rer, "So This Is New York," on television have been discreetly shelved following murmurs of op- position from exhib groups. Indie production outfit had the video stunt all set with .WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, "but decided not to go out on a limb with their first pic. ■ Film is slated for release by United Artists May 1. Tight situa- tion among the Broadway show- cases currently will res,ult in the pic preeming outside of N. Y., probably Chicago, despite the title. Acad Plans Scholarships On Film Techniques Hollywood, .March 30. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is going collegiate, with a plan to award scholarships to universities where film drama and techniques are taught. Idea is to start with awards to three schools, one in the east, one in the midwest and one on the Coast, Eventually the Academy hopes to hold its ceremonies in the Holly- wood Bowl, With 22,000 seats, and let the Oscar Perl^y finance the scholarshij^. 181168,292 NOT IN '47 SETS mi Tlie salaiy nut to the industry's upper bracket personnel—both executive and talent^climbed $11,- 071,333 during the fiscal year 1947 to make that year probably the highest in pix history and the peak for some time to come. Seven ma- jor film companies (excluding United Artists) paid out a total of $85,168,292 to its top executives, directors, producers and actors re- ceiving in excess of $20,000 annu- ally, compilation of latest available proxies by Variety reveals. The highwater mark was set by salaries doled out before the economy wave hit both'coasts and a sharp dip dur- ing the current year is more than likely. In all, the seven majors gave $20,000 or better annual pay to 1,466 officers and employees either on the Coast or in the homeoffic'es. That in itself represents a rise from the 1,351 breadwinners who came into the magic salary circle during 1946. Every one of the seven majors paid a higher total in wage checks to top ihdustryites during the year. The yearly total does not include extra compensation by way of bonuses, stock options or profit- sharing deals. Metro No. 1 Metro again heads the pack as the company with the biggest bill to meet. M-G stuffed the weekly envelope with a year's total of $24,- 605,668, which it handed to 372 em- ployees and 12 officers. That fig- ure compares with .$23,384,671 dis- tributed in '46. Its salaries to offi- cers, however, dipped to $2,379,000 from the previous year's $2,458,065. Columbia does a repeat on cap- (Continued on page 17) 5 UJS. Newsreels Contnb f8,000-Each for Olympix London, March 30. Five American newsreel com- panies will participate in covering the summer Olympic games in England after each contributes $8,000 as its shafe towards the price paid by J. Arthur Rank, Brit-, ish filmmaker, to the Olympics Committee for exclusive film rights. Thus, assurances which Rank gave to Yank newsreel execs several weeks ago in New York that no freeze on news clips was intended are carried out under the deal reached here. It ends possi- (Continued on page 20) Gamble Offers Naify $6,750,000 For 50% of His 115 Calif. Ili^es Call Out the Cops! Caracas, Ven., March 16. Theatre , ihanagers have complained to the city council that so many cops are on the free-list, that they often don't have enough seats for the paid customers. At the recent opening of the comedy, "The Robber," more than 80 policemeh, detectives and traffic cops, made fheir way in by just fiashing their badges. Complaint was s i g n e d by managers of the Rialto, Boy- aca, Avila, Continental, Holly- wood, Ayacucho, Principal and Capitolio theatres, who asked for a quick abatement of the al)use. Strange Parallel InPar-RKOVPs Bossing Pub-Adv. John M. Whitaker, RKO v.p., is now serving as supervising head of the company's publicity and adver- tising department. RKO has had no actual pub-ad chief since the department was split about six months ago, with Paul HoUister becoming publicity topper and S. Barret McCormick advertising boss. Whitaker must now put his OK stamp on. all budgets and projects. " A virtually parallel situation exists at Paramount, where v.p. Paul Raibourn is in the same sit- uation. Par has had no depart- ment topper since Curtis Mitchell resigned about three months ago. Ben Washer reports directly for his publicity setup and Stanley Shuford for advertising to Rai- bourn. Another peculiar parallel exists. ^Both Whitaker and Raiboum are former engineers. Whitiaker, after graduating from Yale, got his master's degree in chemical en- gineering from Massachusetts 1*- stitute of Technology, while Rai- bourn holds an electrical engineer- ing degree from the University of . (Continued on page 18) San Francisco, March 30. Offer of $6,750,000 for 50% of his interest in the .United Califor-- nia Corp. has been made to Mike Naify by Ted Gamble, it has been learned. United California con- trols about 115 theatres In Cali- fornia through the Golden State circuit and other subsids, It also owns considerable real estate, Also still interested in obtain^' ing the UC stock is Milton Rey» nolds, Chicago millionaire ball pea manufacturer, who has teamed up for the deal with Packy Dee, cif Gregory & Dee, midwest circuit operators. Julian Levy, Reynolds' brother-in-law and attorney, had two talks with Naify last week. He offered to make an outright buy ot Naily's entire interest. Meantime, Joseph M. Schenck, . 20th-Fox production exec, remams a strong financial power in UC via the Bank of America note for- $2,500,000 which he endorsed for Naify when the latter bought out his partners, E. H. Emmick and B. A. McNeil, last fall. Schenck can take no active part in operation of the theatres, however, since he obligated himself to the Dept. of Justice to that effect because the industry anti-trust decree forbids theatre expansion by major com- panies or th^ir execs,. Likewise reported interested lii (Continued on page 20) ' National Boxoffice Survey Easter Brings Usual Biz Upbeat—'Sitting,' 'Naked,' 'Agreement,* ^Showers,' 'Mama' Top Moneymakers Easter week upbeat is cheering exhibitors in nearly every key city this week, with chilly or rainy weather in some spots helping theatres get back into stronger stride. With so many new pic- tures being launched to take ad- vantage of improved boxoffice, total biz is evenly-divided among some 12 big coin-gefters. "Sitting Pretty" (20th) is well in the lead this session, with "Naked City" (U) not far behind, also doing great business. Latter is only in five cities but doing fine to terrific currently. "Sitting" is playing in 10 keys covered by Variety and showing surprising strength. Third best money- maker is "Gentleman's Agree- ment" (20th), with a batch of new bookings to cash in on Oscar awards. Fourth place winner is "April Showers" (WB), which looms as a real profit-getter. It's 'Okay to big in eight spots. Others in the Big Eight list, in order of their draw, are "Re- member Mama" (RKO), "Uncon- quered" (Par), "Miracle of Bells" (RKO) and "Three Daring Daugh- ters" (M-G). "Unconquered" is go^ out on pop-scale dates and proving nearly as great as on first time aroundk \ Best runner-up films this stanza are "Gall Northside" (20th), "Bishop's Wife" (RKO), "Bill and Coo" (Rep) and-"Sign of Ram" (Col). "Robin Hood" (WB) again is showing amazing draw for a reissue. "Bambi" (RKO), too, is doing well this session on re- issue dates. Tops among newcomers appear to be "Mr. Blandings" (SRO), "All My Sons" (U) and "The Search" (M-G) although only spotted in one theatre apiece. "B. F.'s Daughter"' (M-G) also shapes: big on initial playdate. "Man of Evil" (UA) is getting no place this round. "Scudda Hoo" (20th ) is on the spotty side currently. "The Flame" (Rep) shapes hep in Providence. "Alias a Gentleman" (M-G) is big in Seattle and doing nicely in a couple of other spots. "Mourning Becomes Electra" .(RKO) opened solidly in Boston. "Panhandle" (Mono) will be okay in Boston with stagebill. "Double Life" (U) looms socko in Detroit. ^'Smugglers" (EL) is do- ing sturdy biz in N. Y. (Complete Boxof/ice Reports on Pastes 12-13 ) . FIRST FILM STOCK UPBEAT IN MONTHS Picture stocks and oil shares led the generally strong stock market yesterday (Tues.), with renewed interest in film issues pushing them to new Highs for year in most instances. Loew's, up $1.62^; Paramount, up $1.25; 20th-Fox, up $1.25; Universal, up $0.87^; anfl RKO, up fractionally, all climbed to new 1948 peaks. Warners, Re- public and Columbia advanced small fractions. It was the broadest advance for film shares in months. Fact that many pictures are registering biff grosses this week via usual Easter. \ upsurge is credited with starting the buying movement in these stocks. Trade mark ReslBt«(ed? ' FOUNDBD BT SIME SILTDRUAJf PabHBlica Weekly by VABIKXt, Inc. Sid SUverniaii, President 164 West 40th St., New York 10, N. I, Hollywood %B S3H Tucca Street Chioagn t ito No. Michigan Ava. iondou yfCi 8 St. Martin's PI., Tratalerar S4. INDEX Bills 55 Chatter 62 Concert .............56 Film Reviews- 15 House Reviews 55 Inside Legit 58 Inside Pictures 24 Inside Radio ............. 34 Legitimate 56 Literati .- 61 Music 42 New Acts .. . ............ 54 Night Club Reviews 54 Obituaries 63 Orchestras ,..,.<,...,... 42 Pictures -. ............... 2 Pre-Production News..... 9 Radio .........;.. ,.. . .. 25 Radio Reviews .......... 28 Records ................ 42 Frank Scully ............ 61 Television .............. 30 Vaudeville 50 IIAII.Y VARIKTX (Publi.slieil in Hollywood by Diiily Viirloty. I..trt.) tie a Year^tZO I<<oKelgiii