Variety (Dec 1948)

WcdncBday, December 1* 1948 HCllJRBS SI '48 Tops Expectations Continued from pag:*. 1 i or a little better, same as last year. This intelligence^ both domestic and foreign, would be reason for some joyful whooping were the future not so beclouded. Film biz is so closely tied up with g^Fneral economic conditions tit- and f e w seers are venturing any guesses on what they'll be in 1949—Uiat the crystal-gazers are in danger of hav- ing worse done to tliem than Presi^ dent Truman did to Dr. Gallup. The one thing certain is the dole- ful outlook: on the foreign front, Bemittances. will undoubtedly be less than half those for 1948. In- stead of the $90,000,000 this year, the Hgure will probably be around $45,000,000 in 1949, foreign toppers expect, with restrictions on cur- rency - removal getting tougher. This compares with $130,000,000 received from abroad in 1946. AH figures are doUtirs-received-in-New York—^the only kind that coiint :these days: ° Major affiliated circuits in the U. S, appear to be less hard hit in ' the general decline that has taken place since the spring of 1947 than have indie houses; Major chains report grosses for the past three monthshave averaged between 8% and 12% less than the same period a year ago, while the smaller indie houses claim the figure is 15% to 25%, Admi^h Taxes Off 2.4% Theatre ops, incidentally, were having difficulty this week - in squaring statistics provided by the Bureau of Internal Revenue on ad- mission tax collections with their own figures. Collection^ from Jan- uary tlirough September, accord- ing to-the Bureau, were down only 2.4% from the same months of 1947. Revenue for the nine months this year was $282,000,000 against $289,000,000 in 1947. Despite the fact that these re- ceipts include admissions from legit theatres, sports events and other, entertainment- (not cabarets or' roof gardens), the spread was beyond explanation of film execSi Increased revenue by outdoor sports, which they know have cut into their own grosses, was seen by the theatre men as accounting tor only part of the evident dif- :. fereiitial. ■ ' More to Weekend Habit' Drop in midweek business is :Where most exhibs feel they are now getting hit hardest, Film go- ing', it is thought, is returning par- tially to the pre-war standard of a weekend entertainment. Like- wise, nabes are off less than mid- town houses in large cities, indi- cating patrons are sticking closer to home. This hurts the producers, since admish prices in the nabes are lower and the producer-dis- tributor share of income is thus less. Lack of 'much exceptionally strong product recently is charged by some exhibs with the boxoffice decline from last year. There have been too few pix with a quality of excitement that attracts more than normal audiences, they feeL Only product which falls into this cate- gory currently is "Joan of Arc" (RKO), "Hamlet" (Hank-U) and "Red Shoes" (Rank-EL), which have had too limited distribution to be felt nationally, plus "Snake PUj^^(20th) and "Johnny Belinda" Foreitrn Side Ahead On the foreign side, virtually all companies were well ahead of '47 for the first half of this year. From that time on there has been a sharp slide, which has eaten into the Sur- pluses of the first six' months. In some cases. this has carried total income for the initial 11 months below that of last year, but in a number of other cases it still leaves an excess. - ■ The sharp break came June 14 when free payment of dollars by JoanofArc INGRID BERGMAN -.V COLOR BVTECHNICOLOR VVICTORMl CASr OF THOUSANDS lio-HENix .... t '^^^ "IS* 111?™. BETTV GltAlil.i; - J).\N DAII.HY "WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME" ■A.,2ijllv, (Iciisiiry-Foi ;rjtturc liVl^eflintMior'' On Variety Stage—Mickey Roonay ■Risai-lo 4 Antonio •. ■.HafmsniM ,fta?c«li ■ ■ EXcarpts from "Mlla,-Modiste''.'. ■ ■-■ = ROXY"^ *•' SOlli 81. For Example Severity of restrictions on reinittances of U. S. film com- pany income from abroad was pointed up in figures: provided by a top. foreign , exec this week. He slated that on a film which earned a total of $1,000,000 in film rentals overseas, only $175,000 is now being received in the U,S, This is against for- mer days when, with distribu- tion and other charges taken out.' anticipation on a $1,000,- 000 rental was $675,000.- r DAnnF.nMOIiniMti OLIVIA de HAVILLAND tKeSiiakt" Pit 1 IOirKleilliy p™*ic«l Iw yC\m RADIO CITY MUSIC HAll Rockefeller Cenfor ,. , "HILLS OF HOME" : EDMUND GWENN * DONALD CRISP ■ TOM DRAKE • JANET LEIGH ■. and LASSIE , Color by TECHNICOLOR ■■'■•A MetrtSoldwyn-Mayer Pielun SPECTACULAR STAGE PRESENTATIPH Britain was discontinued and the (Eric) Johnslon-(Harold) Wilson agreement of last March became eflFective. That limits British re- mittances^which had- been ac- counting for almost 58% of foreign grosses—to $17,000,000 a year. Aside from other considerations regarding this cut, there's much bookkeeping rigamarole in figuring the divvy to each company. Re- sult is delay in receiving:the all- important "dollars in New York" and this reflects in the statements. In addition to the $17,000,000 in film rentals from Britain, tf". S. in- dustry may set a relatively small additional amount of coin from the earnings of British pix in tins country and from films the Yank distribs make with tlieir frozen coin; in England. Other Snafus Last 6>/2 months of 1948 is high- lighted not only by this drop in British remittances, but snafus in the major film' markets of the woi'ld. For instance, there have been complete stoppages of remit" tanccs from Brazil and Argentina and slashes in Australia, Mexico and oilier important sources of coin. Fortunately, boxolTice grosses for American films in 1948 have been tremendous throughout the world, possibly higher than any previous year in history.: .Thus, re- mittances from' those countries, wliei'c currency^ was not blocked helped toDring up the genBral average income for the year. In 1949 the b o. figures may be ?xperted to continue as high, or almost as Iiigh, as this year—but not remittance. The decline in Brilish revenue will be felt for 12 monllis instead of six, and new com plications are piling up every week- Lale.st is Italy, from which Ameruan companies have been geltins \irtually all their coin via onltl^lll.^ - recognized unofficial somcps. Likewise, the South Afri- can situation is also threatening. Further blockages are bound to come, foreign department toppers recognize, as long as the worldwide economic situation remains as is. Dollar shortages make it impera- tive for some countries to cut do\vn their currency remittances. Esti- mates are that only about,$45,000,- 000 may be expected from abroad next year. Mandiel'O'Briaii IhcIm Jack O'Brian, drama critic and Broadway columnist of th« Associated Press, has been named vice-president of Louli Mandel Productions, new in- dependent motion picture firm, O'Brian resigned his AP post. Mandel, president of the company, said O'Brian's job will include scripts, talent and direction of advertising and. publicity. He also will be ex- ecutive assistant to Mandel in o^her corporate activities. SOPEG Calls Off BVay Picketing; NLRB's Moves Winding up a three-month juris- dictional battle for control of the majors' homeoffice employees. Na- tional Labor Relations Board is setting up. a series of collective bargaining elections ■ in disputed companies between the Screen Of- fice & Professional Employees Guild and Local H-63, Internation- al Alliance of Tiieatrical Stage Employees. Initial balloting for 290 RKO workers will be held next Wednesday (8) with further elec- tions at Paramount, Republic and DeLuxe labs to be set soon after. Main result of the NLRB inter- ventioni as. far as the companies are concerned, is that SOPEG's pressure campaign for negotiations will be called off .With the majors agreeing to bargain with any union with NLRB certification, SOPEG has jettisoned its picket lines before Broadway houses and Is now focusing its activities tta re- organizing its ranks within the companies .. formerly . under : Its jurisdiction. COHNS' STOCK REGISTEY Washington, Nov. 30. Harry and Jack Cohn filed b registration statement with the Securities Exch'ange Commission last week, asking permission to sell publicly 1,414 shares of Co- lumbia Pictures no par common slock. The shares were issued to tlie Cohns and members of their fami- lies as stock dividends in a distrlr, bution made on May 14, 1948. < : The Cohns denied, however, any intention of "immediately selling the stock," according to a state- ment made by them today (Tues.). It was pointed, out" tliat the SEC. registration was a routine matter. Truman Inaugural Metro, UA and Rep May Follow Par On New Autos for Film Salesmen BB Continued from p^ge 2i s to pick up the inauguration cere- mony and on tlie south side of the lYeasury Bldgi on. i*ennsylvania avenue, from which points the cameras will be able to follow the parade in its sweep down the ave- nue from the Capitol. Some indie radio stations which have applied for space will be installed, there. Four major, radio webs, plus the Continental FM network, are to draw: space in the main stand across from . the White House, KFWB, Warners' station in HoUy- Newsreel Snag Washington, Nov. 30. . Fact that Jan. 20, 1949, date of the President's inaugura- tion, falls on a Thursday, has thrown a serious problem into the laps of the five major newsreel outfits, Thursday is the day they make up their weekend editions in the New York horaeoflices. Only way they can include any of the footage on the in- augural ceremony and parade in tlio.se editions. conscquentl.y, is to fly It up in a steady stream from here. As a result, it's expected the reels will have some footage on every plane from D. C. to N. Y. that day. Metro, United Artists and Be- public may follow on the heels of Paramount in distributing new cars to their salesmen as one way, paradoxically enough, of chopping down the overhead in their distri- bution depts. Reportedly, the three film companies ai-e dickering with Peterson, Howell & Heather, Bal,- timore fieet operators, for deals along the lines of the one ob- tained by Par. MetrOi it's said, would furnish all its pix peddlers with the cars, while both UA and Rep want to experiment with 15 apiece. Par has agreed to purchase ap-^ proximately 100 '49 Fords which the Baltimore outfit is to supply within 20 days. These cars will be presented cuflo to all Par sales- men. Film company is paying $1,- 650 each for the cars pr an initial outlay of $165,000. Under its agree- ment, it will also trade in each car after 20,000 miles for a new one. Par is alfeo paying PH&H $4 per> car monthly for administering the system, obtaining the autos, and acting as consultant. Despite this, company figures it can save 4c per mile on business trips taken by its salesmen. This savings would run ■ into several hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly. Under the old system, salesmen use their own cars and Par pays 7Vic per mile on business trips. New setup has th« company pay- ing all gas, oil and repair costs be* sides handing out th« fre« autos. In return, salesmen must pay Pai^ 2c per milo for all private non- business travelling in tho car. Salesmen have the advantage of being able to unload their own private vehi<51et in tht present market which insures them a high- ly favorable price. Same market conditions, it's believed, favor Paramount since the company will lose little or nothing in changing over used for new vehicles after every 20,000 miles. Pathes Shorts Series RKO-Pathe will try something different in piecing together a new factual series of 13 one-reel Screenliners, according to Burton (Budi) Benjamin who has been upped to producer to handle th« shorts. Company will not restrict itself to making the briefies but will actively seek to buy pix fitting in ■ the category made by anyone on the outside. Subject of the doc- umentaries will range over any and all phases of activity in the U. S. Benjamin was formerly ass't to production manager Douglas Trav- ers. His old spot is now filled by Lloyd Durant. First of the new RKO-Pathe series will cover Co- lumbia University's Co'urt of Human Relations. wood, is one of the indies apply-1 ing for space, but the Democratic committee has decided to give lo- cal Washington indies first crack at any available mike positions. All media vill cover also the , special concert and show at the Na-, tional Guard Armory the night pre- [ ceding the inauguration,, .w.hich. is. i to be staged under the personal i supervision of American Federa-1 tion of Musicians' prez James C., Petrillo. They'll also cover the Inaugural Bali the night of Jan, 20 , irom the same armory. - I THANKSGIVING DAY MARKED THE ANNIVERSARYOF THE BLACKLIST Let us give thanks... But Not for the Blacklist For the downfall of inquisitors, let us give thanks. Representatives Vail and McDowell defeated at the polls. J. Parnell Thomas on trial. For the return of the valiant, let US give thanks. 16 re-elected out of the 17 Congressmen who voted against.: citing the HOLLYWOOD TEN for contempt. For this verdict of the people on November 2nd, let us give thanks. And let us show our thanks . - By a return to a free, democratic screen with equal op- portunity for ail. WE GALL UPON THE FILM INDUSTRY TO REVOKE THE BLACKLIST Edith Atwotef Howard Boy Gertrude Berg Kermit Bioomgarden Edward. Chodorov Jerry Ghodorov Marc Gonnelly • John Crosby Clarence Derwent Paul Draper - Arnaud O'Usseao Wolcott Gibbs Jay Gorney Morton Gould James Gow Oscar Hammerstein Ei Y/Harburg Most Hart Lillian Hellman • Nat Hiken Judy Holliday Garson Kanin William Katzell George S; Kaufman John Lardnef John Latouche . ^ Richard Lauterbach Norman Mailer; John Martin ,Bill Mauldin II Arthur Miller . Meg Mundy Clifford Odett S. J. Perelman Harold Rome Lee Sabinson Budd Schulberg Hermon Shumlin. : William M. Sweets Helen Tomiris Loufi Untermeyer Mark Van Doren Sam Wanomaker Richard Watts, Jr. Ira Wollert Au.spte('s: Theatre Division Co-Chairmen Alfred Drake Garson Kanin NATIONAL COUNCIL OF ^ ARTS, SCIENCES AND PROFESSIONS 49 West 44th St., New York 18, N. Y.