Variety (Dec 1948)

16 PICTURES Wednesday, Deceml>«r 1, 194JS Wilson to Pitch for More Play Time, . Improved Anglo-U,S. Relations London, Nov. 30. t Harold Wilson, president of the BoiU'd of Trade, will make a bid for more amicable Anglo-American relations in his speech before the House ,of Commons Thursday (2) when he will ask for more playing time for British films in the U. S. It will be Wilson's answer to union pressure for an increased quota and. an amendment to the Films Act to prevent pictures made abroad from qualifying under the quota. Union leaders have been Warning American pix imports for the unemployment of Britisli stu- dio workers. Direct government action to change the quota act is considered unlikely, despite the big setback to British, production caused by the decision of the J. Arthur Rank or- ganization to close its Islington stu- dios and concentrate its program In its remaining lots. At the all- Industry meeting convened by Wil- son yesterday (29), labor and lead- ers and producers; were seeking a solution to the studio crisis which existed even before the Islington closure was afinounced. ■ At New Low Production in Britain,,which has been in the doldrums throughout the year, is now reaching a new low. George Elvin, general secre- tary of the Assn. of Cine and Allied Technicians, frankly admits that without: the reopening; of Warner Bros.-Associated British Elstree studios and the,Metro program at their Elstcee studios, unemploy- ment would be at a new high level for studio workers. As it is, some technicians have been absorbed by the activities of the American com- panies. Heports are circulating that the ; policy of retrenchment will not stop at the closing of the Gainsr borough Islington studios, but with the development of Independent Frame and other speedup: tech* niques, additional outfits- will he af- fected in due course. Unless Rank can be persuaded to increase his program substantially, any extension of his new; produc- tion methods is going to involve the industry in serious unemploy- ment problems. X)f the 300 who will he thrown out of work by the Islington shutdown, only a few oan hope to 'be; absorbed into the genr cral structure of the Rank group. All the facts were vigorously put to Wilson at his crisis meeting yes- terday of the National Joint Pro- duction Council, where he was urged to take strong action to avert ''disaster;" as Tom 0!Brien, head of the British studio workers union, put it. Fielding's Probing Former N. Y. License Com- missioner Benjamin Fielding, who was taken on by Metro earlier,this year for executive chores in the theatre dept., has been handed new duties as part of M-G's current drive to slash overhead. Fielding now is working as an efficiency expert for the company, ranging through all branches of its ac- tivities. Ex-comish is going from de- partment to department—in- cluding .theatres, sales and* foreign—c becking Up on whether there is duplication in personnel a n d determining wliere the axe can be swung; , Roux Color Continued from page f I but Roux isn't In a position to equip theatres for general release, at least in the U.S. Understt^d that Pagnol, who ;is said to have first shot the picture in black and white, only to remake it with the new process, didn't, stress himself unduly on budget. During t^e war he sold his-Mar- seille studios to Gaui;nont for a good sum in a deal'that provided him to supply >;pix for .Qaumont release on terms giving Gaumont the lion's share. lA Opens Talks With Distribs On Xchange Aides : 'Negotiations for new union pacts to cover about 6,500 exchange em- ployees in 32 exchange centers opened this week between the ma- jor distribs and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Em-, ployees. The current one-year pact; involving numerous lATSE locals in the various cities,-expires today (Wed.). Union demands are understood to include provisions for another wage rise on top of the 15% hike received ; last December. lATSE spokesmen, however, are keeping details of r their proposals under wraps, as- per their standard pro- cedure, until the pact is, signed. According to past performance; the talks are slated for long duration before an agreement is reached. All-raises will be retroactive to the current pact's expiration date: The distrib negotiating commit- tee includes Fat Schollard; Para- mount; Clarence ; Hill, 20th-Foxj Anthony Petti, Universal-Interna- tional; Charles ■ O'Brien, Metro; Hency C. Kaufman, Columbia; Ma- jor Leslie Thompson,' RKO Sam Schneider, Warner Bros; and Harry Buckley, United Artists. Spokes- men for the lA are Thomas J. Shea, lATSE assistant president; Louise;, Wright, vice-prexy . and Joseph D. Basson, interqatlonal rep. I Pickford, Chaplin || Continued from page 3 sSSSU tlie deal has all been closed. With a memorandum of agreement ar- rived at. This means that the only v.. Strtke': S3(iifc0adis;-<» ^Chi;,;.'.,; ■;; Chicago, Nov. 80. Spread of the New York Scrieen Publicists and Screen - Office arid Professional Employees G u i 1 d strikes fronl New: York has reached Chicago.- Pickets last week paraded before "Snake Pit" at the Garrick thing remaining is for UA to come l and other Balaban. & ;Katz houses, to a decision on the producers to i Pickcters claim that attendance make the films involved. ■ Final word may come next week;; following return of UA prexy Grad Scars to the Coast. He was east this week for board meeting at which the problem of producers for the pix was discussed at length. He is understood to object to either of the owners getting any of the coin, since Jiis main interest Is getting films into work quickly to relieve the UA product short- age. It. is understood he'll discuss the ; situation with the owners when he arrives.on the Coast. Hughes js advancing the coin in return for UA handing back to him three pi.x which he made for its di.stribution. He has since ac- Schlaifer's Own Agcy; 2flth s Acct. Charles Schlaifer, who recently r^sigii^d - as puhrad ;>chief; ol vSoth- ^t)x, {'^ill opeii his owri- adyertisirig agency,- he determined ■ last -Xye^k. He has heeh handed ; the : 2()tli-Fox' advertisirig account ifdr the; liext; four years by prexy Spyros Skoiiras. Schlaifer had been ■ con- sidering the possibility of joining forces with Kayton-Spiero, which now holds the account. The film company ad expendi- tures amount to -approximately $1,500,000 yearly. Agency commis; sions normally are 15%, but net profits after production costs fig- ure about ■2V2%. That would give Schlaifer about S37,500 clear, which is the same as his salary as 20th's pub-ad topper. He has the added advantage, however,: of being able to take on additional accounts. Four-year . term of Schlaifer's guaranteed hold on the 20th biz was a compromise. He originally sought a five-year deal. ' Charles Einfeld succeeds Schlaifer at 20th, with a v.p. title, a two-year contract at $2,500 a week, and other con- siderations. ■,;;■,':">.• Flock of firings that took place in the 20th pub-ad department over the Thanksgiving weekend are seen as possibly tied in with •the Schlaifer move. Part of the ar- rangement by which Kayton-Spiero handled the Fox ad account was that the cpmpaiiy uiaintatn a. fM-^^> size art and prodtictioh departmeiit of its own to handle. work which • most other film companies ordi- narily turn over to their agencies. Possibility is seen that with Schlaifer taking over the account, he may assume much of the art and production work noW handled by 20th's departrtient, which would be cut. ,■■;;■■.■'.■■■■.■-;::.;■': ' Lending credence to this potenti- ality is the fact that five of the 13 plnkslipped last week were artists. They are Bill Bobbins, Don Carguil, Tom Brennan, Joe Butler and Paul Grosz. Others who were let out are publicists Ben Wertheim, Dorothy Holland, Norma Lippin- cott, Eugene Schrott, Tee Blanken- ship and Ruth Simon, plus two sec- retaries. Total saving to the com- pany is $1,085 a week. Discharged employees, all re- ceived double severance pay. With their contract calling for a maxi- houres7 bur"B&K"officirir'clarra!'""™ ^f***' severance, some Par May Foflow E and SRO in Use Of Clark' Bacboom Film Service Save $20,000,000 Hollywood, Nov. 30. Hollywood filnjs, with the ex-. ception of super-duper produc- tions like "The Three Mnske- teers" or "Joan of Arc," are growing shorter. The average length of "A" pictures made here this year Is 94 minutes, compared with 101 minutes in 1947. Decrease in footage repre- sents a general saving of about $20,000,000 in 12 months. "B" productions have also been cut down to 67 minutes on an average. drop in b.o. was general. As yet no court action has been was off at the Garrick and other taken but both unions are not organized in Chicago and therefore might be subject to secondary boy- cott provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act. Other cinjdits have not been affected as yet. Marx Bros. Pic a Continued from page i js of those axed received 24 weeks' salary. also being made, Jt iis reported*; for another smaller loan to supplement the Chemical Bank advance and ■ . * , <• T,,r/^ , , , g'vp Gpwan money he needs be- qiiired control of RKO and wants | yond the completion coin, them released by that company. I Miss Pickford is understood to He has placed -no strings on ex-1 have no monetary investment in penditure of the coin, with UA . the fihn, but, through the tieup having the privilege of delermin- 1 with her, Cowan is able to take ad- ing over how many films it should vantage of the extremely favorable be spread. I distribution terms she gets as a Hughes originally demanded one-half owner of UA. She and either story-cast-producer-director I partner Charles Chaplin each has approval or a .guarantee that he'll a 10-year contract with the corn- get his money back. UA made an 1 pany permitting them distribution agreement with Nasser brothers j for 25% up to $800,000 gross and whereby he got the latter guaran- ' Wl after tliat. On a high-gross- Einfeld Selling Home Hollywood, Nov. 30. Contrary to his original plans, Charles Einfeld probably will sell his Beverly Hills house when he officially takes over as 20th-Fox pub-ad veepee Jan. 1. He had ex- pected to share his time between New York and the Coast. Switch in plans following Einfeld's recent confabs with 20th toppers in the east may mean he'll be spending most of his time there. EL Lists Gains In Fanning Out Backroom Work Frank Soule, head of Eagle Lion's exchange operations, thinks the company's move in turning over all backroom physical han- dling of films to National Film Service, Philadelphia outfit, is go- ing to save the outfit plenty of cash. EL exec also believes other advantages, which cannot be weighed in dollars-and-cents, make the switch a coming development for other companies. I On the actual cost of handling prints, EL is paying a per-reel rate which will have it break even with its previous costs incurred while doing the job itself, Soule said. Additional advantages gained when the deal was inked by William J. Heineman, EL's distribution vee- pee, were ticked off by Soule as follows: 1. Company will save some $50,- 000 yearly which it now invests In machinery, equipment and vaults tor exchange backrooms. Since equipment is proportionate to the number of prints handled, Soule believes major companies would save double that amount. 2. Future exchange construction by EL can save tremendously on square footage, fireprooflng, vaults, vault racks and other items which are- the most expensive part of ex- changes. ■ ■ • 3. EL will be able to move into fine office buildings as current leases expire. With zoning regu- lations, exchanges now are in the shabbfest part of town. Better lo- cation would mean increased biz from exhibs. 4. Without backroom operations, company will- be able to lower 1 rentals paid by it for.exchanges. ' 5, Elimination of the headache of dealing with backroom unions. ! NFS has assumed all' union obliga- tions, including seniority rules. 6. Ability to attract finer people to work in exchanges since they can now be located in modern of- fice buildings. Philadelphia, Nov. 30. Long-discussed proposal in the industry for the combined opera- tion of backroam physical han- dling of films by all the companies as a cost-saving measure Is taking shape here. Paramount, it Is reli- ably reported, is now discussing farming out its chores for its 31 exchanges to National Film Serv- ice, headed by James and William Clark. Selznick "Releasing Organ- ization has used the service fop' over two years and Eagle Lion an- nounced a similar deal with it this, week. If Par inks a pact for physical handling by NFS, pressure for other majors to do likewise will be strong. Understood contracts would provide for lowering of pcr- reel rates with the expansion of the operation to additional com- panies. Reportedly, .suggestion for all- industry- adoption of the plan was recently made at a meeting of company presidents. No uniform action was agreed on but. the pres- sure -for cost-saving measures is expected to push most majors into the combined use of private outfits ;, such as NFS.- If Par signs, it will be able to shutter cosily backroom operations and move-into office buildings for frontroom exchange bookings and billings. Under the plan, NFS sets up vaults and shipping quarters in; 31 cities. By telephoning instruc- tions to these quarters, exchanges «an order shipment and processing of prints when required. . EL deal was signed by William J. Heineman, company's distribu- tion veepee, after protracted nego- tiations. Selznick closed with NFS when his proposal for combined operations was chilled off ; by the majors immediately after the war ended. Gershwin Festival Continued . from, page. I tee, so it is all up to UA and the Nassers now in agreeing on pro- ducers. Sears Will leave New York Fri- day for the Bob O'Donnell dinner in Dallas, going from there to the Coast over the weekend. His exec aide, Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., will accompany him to Dallas, U. S. names particularly, associated with Gershwin and his work to visit London for the festival. So far, (he lineup includes a 60 Or 70 piece symphony orchestra under the baton of Ray Martin. There M'ill also be a special swing section led by bandleaders Carl Barriteau and Leslie Hutchinson. _ _ A special f eature is also to be-made ing picture ; these would probably I Of large-.scale excerpts from be the lowest terms in the Industry and definitely below the actual cost of distribution for UA. "Love Happy" is being directed by David Miller. Aside from Harpo, Chico and Groucho Marx, Gershwin's opera, "Porgy and Bess," which has never been per- formed here. Festival would mark the first time that a concert of contempo- rary music of this class has ever cast includes Marion Hutton, Vera-' been given such a large-scale stag- JSIlen and Itona Massey. 1 ing in Britain. Allied Inli.O. SB Continued from page *• — of cashing in on such notoriety. Robert Mitchum and Robert Walk- er were particularly singled out by the exhibitors. The Allied States board adopted a resolution disapproving the con- ciliation plans being considered for adjusting'differences between film distributors: and theatre owners; Col. H. A. Cole, Dallas, Tex., re- viewed the past history of Allied, and warned the association that television will be one of exhibitor's future problems. "It's up to us to watch television, so when the time comes we can be prepared to guide it in a way it can help rather than hinder our industry," Col. Cole said. William N. Ainsworth, national president, presided. He was pre- sented the key to the city by Mayor De Lesseps Morrison, who wel- comed the delegates. W. A. Pre- witt, Jr., convention chairman, and Abe Berensen, Gulf States Ass'n prexy, also welcomed the delegates. Film players on hand include George Murphy, who will emcee convention banquet tomorrow (Wednesday) night; Chill Wills and Tom London, Republic players. MPEA Future S CdnUnued ixom page 5 ;ss Korea is open to question. While these countries were a dead loss to the American companies up to a few months ago, the situation has now changed to the extent that some distribs are anxious to han- dle their own; product there. In Germany, the U. S. govern- ment's European - Cooperation Ad- ministration Is making avallabla funds to cover outtof<-pocket costs of operation. In Japan, the Wat Dept. is making similar funds avail- able. In both countries,; too, there is a good possibility that the Gov- ernment will make it possible soon to use frozen film rentals for local investments. As for Austria, film companies are already getting some of their coin out. Korea is a minor terri- tory that is operated Iniconjunction with Japan. In Holland, another MPE.\ ter- ritory, that outfit is already operat- ing in a limited capacity, with com- panies doing their own selling. Th« final MPEA area is Netherlands East Indies. Discussions next week will .take up territory by territory, with a vote on continuing in each. Ses- sions were orginally slated for thli week but were postponed because of the absence of some company execs. Talks on the territory-by- territory future of MPEA were initiated at a meeting in New York last week. It has been known for some time that United Artists, because of de- fections by most of its indie pro-; ducers, will probably pull out of the MPEA when its contracts for the various areas expire; If UA" is the only company to quit, rest of the distribs will probably go on. If, howeveii Metro, Paramount or one of the other top companies in the foreign field refuses to renew with the association for any or all territories, rest of the distribs like- wise would balk. There is constant fear that one company, operating on Its own, could outsell the others, operating collectively, and profit at their expense. Also, in no small way affecting: the future of MPEA are personal feelings. Numerous foreign depart-, ment execs have consistently, op-; posed the organization because it lessens their authority by taking territories out o* their hands. If its continued operation is voted, It may well be by the company proxies over the active or tacit dis- approval of the foreign managers.