Variety (Nov 1948)

Wedneadaft Novcmlier 17, 1948 ncrroiiBS 'WHA' HOPPENS?V STUDIOS ASK bnminent Exit of Senu-In^es Completes Fifan Production Cych With Hollywood's indie pro-f ducers all but a vanished tribe, the 'semi-independents" now appew in danger. "Semi-indles" are pro- ducers who get together a package which is financed by a major studio. The lots which have been advancing coin for such deals are putting them under close scrutiny as doubtful profitmakers and the ne;ict year may see far fewer of them. . usual arrangement is for the studio to supply 100% of tlie financing, for which it rticeives 50% of the profit. Such agree- ments have been entered into dur- ing the past couple years by almost all the majors, plus Eagle Lion ' and Monogram-Allied Artists. Experience with the deals has sliown them to be more "profitable; on the whole, for the producer than, the studio. While lots of pic- tures produced under this setup have proved moneymakers for the lots which financed thehi, dilf icUlty is that the returns are not large enough to make up for the occasional loser. In other words,: it has been found that one miss may wipe off the profits of half-a-dozen winnersi Thus, studios are begin- (C5ontinued on page 18) Eddie Aaron Resigns Metro in Order to Be Tree' for Other Bids Post of Metro* assistant general sales manager Edwin W. Aaron; who resigned last week so as to be In a position to negotiate for sev- eral more lucrative offers, is ex- pected to remain unfilled for the time being under M-G sales veepee William F. Rodgers'- decentraliza- tion plan, Aaron, who had been with the company for more than 31 years, has been handling mostly the ma- jor circuit deals. Following through on his idea of vesting more au- thority in his division and branch managers it's expected that Rodg- ers will now rely on them more than ever to set the circuit negotia- tions, but reserving personally tlie final okay.. Contracts with the ma- jor circuits in"" the N. Y. metropoli- tan area are expected to be set by N. y. division manager John P. Byrne. Aaron declared that he was leav- ing Metro with ''good feelings" all around. He declined to elaborate on which other companies were bidding for his services, but it's believed they include two major |. distribs and a top circuit. Accord- j Ing to Aaron, it would have been | unfair to negotiate for the offers While under salai"y at Metro, so he resigned to become a ''free agent;" With ISdward M. Saunders, Metro's other assistant sales chief, now re- cuperating from major surgery and not expected back at his desk for a few ifiore weeks, Rodgers will be Witliout an assistant manager for probably a month. Aaron started in the film in- dustry in 1917 as cashier for Saun- ders, who then had his own distrib pulfit. Wlien that was absorbed by Metro in 1924 following the organ- iMiion of the present company. Aavon went along as accountant and has been with M-G ever since. He's held his assistant sales man- ager's post since 1945. MacArthur Seeks To Unfreeze Coin in Japan Washington, Nov. 16. General Douglas MacArthur is negotiating contracts with film companies, publishers and news services for the release o!t some of their frozen; coin in Japan and Korea, in accordance with the law passed last spring. Act provided for the State De- partment, nnder its international Information program, to- provide dollars for some frozen foreign funds. The militarj' is allowed to do the same thing in the occupied areas of the Far East. SAG Re-Elects Reagan Prexy Hollywood, Nov. 16. Ronald Reagan was re-elected president of the Screen Actors Guild at the annual meeting at- tended by more than 1,000 thesps. There was no opposing candidate; Other officers elected were: Wal- ter Pidgeon, first veepee; William Holden, second veepee; Paul Har- vey, third veepee; Leon Ames, re- corduig secretary, and George Chandler, treasurer. New board of directors consists of Iiouise. Beavers, Chick Chand^ ler, Ray Collins; Rosemary De- Camp, Virginia Grey, Charles Kemper, Cliff Lyons, George Mac- ready, Robert Ryan, Regis Toomey and Tudor Williams, for three years; Richard Lane, for two years;. Warner Anderson, • Macdonald Carey and: Moroni' Olsen, for one year; Gertrude Astor . and Larry Steers, A-Junior directors -for three years. Meeting went on j'ecord as op- posing the unrestricted re-use of films made specially for television. Lee Bowman, member o£ the Guild's- television committee, de- clared that unless the use of tele- vision film is regulated by equit- able collective bargaining con- tracts it will reduce employment and "create for actor* a Franken- (Contlmied on page 18) SEG PLANS SUPREME CT. FIGHT ON JOBLESS PAY Hollywood, Nov, 16. Legal fight of 100 atmosphere players for unemployment insur- ance will be carried to the Su- preme Court, according to Richai'd H. Gordon, Screen Extras Guild prexy. , State . Unemployment Appeals Board ruled that the thesps were Ineligible to jobless pay because they refused to accept Calls for S9.45 a day in mob scenes. Extras declared they Were entitled to $22 a day as special skilled players. 'Joan' in Sock Teeoff At Victoria on B'way World preeming in the rebuilt and enlarged Victoria on Broad- way last Thursday (11), "Joan of Arc" will soar to a colossal $67,500 on Initial week, way ahead of at^'^ thing ever done at this small- seaten Victoria previously had 720 seats and capacity now is 1,060. The Ingrid Bergman - Victor Fleming-Walter Wanger opus drew high praise from the N, Y. dailies. This was a real help but the pic- ture started right out early Thurs- day morning with long lines, ap- parently the Intensive advance campaign that included two' giant and costly signs on Broadway pay- ing off, Victoria used a starting scale of 95c for weekdays but jumped up past $1 for matinees and $180 at night. Top was raised to $2.40 lor Saturday and Sunday, which meant the theatre got .?2 per head, With 21.2 hours running time, even the limited seating of house was. able to obtain fairly quick turnover. However, at each show break "Are" had sufficient number of people standing outside to rapidly fiir up almost as soon as the next show started. Man- agement figured it was getting six capacity shows first few days with absolute seven^show capacity on Saturday and Sunday. House is using grind policy of seven shows daily. EUPP OTHERS SHUTTER Hollywood, Nov. 16. Uncertainty keynoted production activity at the major film studios this week. 'While Eagle Lion closed down its lot until Jan, 15 and Warners announced it«'would shutter for a month starting Dec. 1, Metro de- cided to step up production to a near-capacity level. Twentieth-Fox has already embarked on hypoed film-making activity, but the other studios, apparently uncertain of the future, are proceeding with caution, lining up their top name stars to insure' each picture's po- tential boxoffice value. Reasons for'the varied produc- tion activity are several. WB de- cided to shut down because its backlog of completed and unre- leased films is now at a peak 23. EL shuttered .its lot. because scripts for none of the- seven upcoming pictures are ready for production: at this time; Metro ind 20th, both with fairly heavy backlogs, decided to step up production on the as- sumption that the market would be able to absorb more product next year. Officials of other com- panies, in the wake of the election, are apparently uncertain what th6 boxoffice will be like next year and are unwilling to invest too heavily in high-budgeted films that might have trouble recouping theh- costs. Metro, with 16 pictures now com- pleted and four' more on the floor, has announced it slate of 21 more to roll within the next several months. Six of these are scheduled (Continued on page 20) Metro s $UtOOO Production CeOing on an Average^Schary SAG Readies Fight Vs. Thesp Discrimination In Foreign Tax Pacts Hollywood, Nov. 16. Edward Arnold and Pat Somei'- set, representing the Screen Actors Guild, left for the American Fed- eration of Labor convention in Cincinnati to sponsor a resolution condemning discrimination against the acting profession in. foreign tax treaties. Under the new treaties, current- ly awaiting action by the U. S. Senate, public entertainers are barred from benefits of the pro^ posed tax agreements that would eliminate double taxation on in- come earned by a citizen of one country during a limited stay in another country. Clause would mean two-way taxes for "stage, mo- tion picture or radio artists, mu- sicians and athletes." Comedies, Whodunits Dominate Vi-l Sked Hollywood, Nov. 16. . Comedies and whodunits, two old reliable themes, will make up the bulk of production on the Uni- versal-International program for the coming year. Company wound up "The Life of Riley" last week and is now editing "The Amboy Dukes." Currently filming is "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass." Slated for ear.^y starts are "Ma and Pa Kettle," "Arctic Man-, hunt" and "And Baby Makes Three." Bogi eaus'SOOG ProA Ceiling Producer Benedict Bogeaus will stick to a $500,000 limit on budget- ing his future pictures for United Artists release. After some un- profitable experience at turning out product in higher cost cate- gories, Bogeaus has just completed his initialer in the 500G class with result he has been able immediate- ly to line up a b.r. for another. First one is "Girl From Manhat- tan," with Dorothy Lamour, George Montgomery and Charles Laugh- ton; It will go into i^elease short- ly. Second, for which he has just obtained bank and secondrmoney financing from the same sources, will be ''The Crooked Way," star- ring John Payne and Sonny Tufts, Bank in New York granted Bo- geaus a loan of 60% of the budget. This Is one of the few recent bank loans to indie producers, and is particularly unusual now In being such a large ratio of total cost It was granted, however, only on the basis of the $500,000 cost, the in- stitution feeling that anything higher than that for run-of-the- mill indie product would be un- profitable. BRITISH EXHIBS NIX PRODUCER TALKS London, Nov. 16. Cinematograph Exhibitors Assn. has rejected an invitation of the British Film Producers Assn. to participate in film rental talks Nov. 30. Theatremen contend that their current dispute over rental terms Is confined solely ■ to > J. Arthur Rank's General Film Distributors and is not a blanket beef vvitli. all distj'ibs. Dennis Walls, CEA head, in a letter to Rank dated today (16 ) in- timates that he would cancel his engagements if settlement; of the dispute is likely and also points out that he won't object if Rank is accompanied by his producer col- leagues. CEA claims that negotiations be- tween the two organizations may drift for months. Furthermore, ex- hibitors would need a mandate be- fore a general trade policy is de- termined. Pete Wood Raps Rash Of Annual Sales Drives The perennial rash of sales drives, now at an" epidemic high among distribs, is being roundly ribbed by Pete Wood, secretary of the Theatre Owners Assn. of Ohio, Allied affiliate. In a bulletin dis- tributed to exhibs and other in-^ dustryites. Taking due note of the fact that Universal, Warner Bros., 20th Fox, Republic, Eagle Lion, Columbia and National Screen Service- are simultaneously in the race. Allied official is calling for a Pete Wood nite, with the slogan, "The sweetest smelling drive of I 'em all." In a parody on the penchant of I distribs to honor company officials I from the president down to ex- change managers. Wood is asking I that he be similarly honored with ! the argument it wlll"make Pete's I happy wife happier!" ! "Realizing that I Metro will generally adhere to a $1,700,000 celling on future film production budgets, figuring that the ordinary domestic limit on a pic's earnings is now $3,000,000. Dore Schary, company's exec in- charge-of-production told ■Variety ; this week. "At tfie same time, where we-feel a film warrants it. we're ready to go over that ceiling,'* Schaiy said.' Schary, who arrived in New York Monday (15), for five days Of hud- dles with Nicholas M. Schenck and other h.o. execs, sees no production slowdown for his company. Metro will make 26-27 films- in the com- ing year, studio biggie said; which represents a small increase over the current 12 months. No overall budget has been fixed but the studio win keep it flexible to meet any,contingencies. Explaining the slow start on making of semi-documentaries, Schary said that the lot is working on a few scripts "biit had to throw out some others which did not turn out satisfactorily." 'IMurder at Harvard," being produced by Sam Marx, will be the starter on the semi-documentary program. , 'Significant* Films On his proposed program of "significant" films Which he took over with him from RKO; Schary admitted the studio was encounter- ing difficulties in finding appro- priate scripts. "You don't often come across a story like 'Boy With Green Hair"' (RKO production made while Schary was production chief at that studio); Metroite de' (Continued on page 18) Maritime (Can.) Allied To Combat Unfavorable Pix Star Morals Cases St. John, N.B., Novi 16. First annual meeting of Marl- time A1 lied Exhibitors Assni stressed the necessity of having the highest standards of moral con- duct by screen players. Unfavor- able publicity which has resulted from the arrests of film stars was deplored.«Meeting named a publio relations committee to combat ho»- tile statements by individuals and groups about films and pix the- atres. In opposing the charges, a report by English judges that they have found films have not been responsible for juvenile delin- quency, will be given publicity. Trend toward special tax on the- atre admissions was opposed. This was declared discriminatory against the public and theatre owners. The increase of bingo as theatre opposi-^ tion was given attention, with vari- ous officials requested that laws against the bingo be tightened up and enforced, particularly the safety phaje.r ■ U, TV's 'Threats' v*. Pix Television's varied "threats" to the motion picture indus- try, as seen by Wayne Coy, chairman of the Eederal Com' munications Commission, de- tailed in the TeleviiSion sec- tion. was necessary m order to revive the fast waning spirits of both dis- tributors and exhibitors," Wood ex- plains in his. bulletin,"the leading executives (none, receiving less than $3,000 a week), met in secret conference at Eric Johnston's of- fice while he was in Moscow trying to sell percentage pictures to Joe (Eric should live that long). ''Many ideas were suggested, one being that distributors pay theatre owners for showing pictures; how- ever. It was finally concluded that most of benefit to the industry would be to forevermore dispense with all future Industry drives with one final overall campaign to be known as Pete Wood Night, to be celebrated by having film distribu- tors contribute one night's rental on any 'A' picture (if there be any such animal), selected by each of the distributing companies named above," S. Allied to Niin Morals New'Orleansf Nov. 16;; Exhibitor action againist Holly* wood film stars whose miscbnduct results in publicity harmful to the entire industry will be proposed i at the National Allied Theatre something new ! Owners convention that opens here Nov. 29. Television, current status of the boxoffice, the anti-trust suit and ASCAP rulings are to be taken up at the meeting. NED DEPINET HEADS BROTHERHOOD WEEK Ned E. Depinet, RKO president, has become chairman, of picture committee for Brotherhood V^eek, 1949, sponsored by the National Conference of Christians & Jews* at the request of general chairman Nelson A. Rockefeller. Week Will be observed Feb. 20-27. Gearing for the campaign, Depi- net has (tailed a luncheon meet Tuei^day (23) at the Waldorf-As- toria hotel, N. Y, Lobby displayn are planned, as well as newsreel participation,