Variety (Jan 1949)

206 Foriy-Ourd p^S^Sii^TT AtOumrmty WcdbcMlBjr, Jamatry 5, 1949 AustraBan Film Theatres Forced to Meet Increasing-Costs Problem By ERNEST iUanagivg Director, Hoyts Sydney. Several factors invest the forth- coming rear -with real coniplexi- tie<;, and" the capacity of the Auf- tralian exhibition industry to meet . them will tie taxed, to the utmost..; By comparison with the year 1939 for example, the uncontrollable costs of operating a theatre show verj' substantial increases. Advertising expenditure remains ■ihe : same, but the vCbst of .news-, 'liaSer space, radio tinie'.arid, gen- . eral printing items have soared. ■ thus minimizing the scope of pre- war coverage. It is obvious that onlv substantially increased at- tendances since 1939 have enabled exhibitors tov ^itteet ;tte.'burden of ■ .spiralling -costs,■ 'and ■still return profits; .During tbe^ :ffar : years,-: this was easy, in Australia,, as else-, where. As each year since the var has passed, the task has be- come naore difficult. ■ National policies have in no way ' ^eased . the sitiiation: The. federal government continues , to . apply the crushingly. h i g b wartime. _"emergencv'! taxation l eyies on entertainment. On the industrial fronts, union- ism has made great strides, and the application of a 40-hour week and basic wage increases have all .reduced the safety margin between Otitgoiiigs : and income, Australia , todaj*' is ill the .midst of a semi- inflationary condition, and there is a clear danger signal that prices are outstripping wages. 1 Tipped Costs Household costs have .lumped so alarmingly that housewives must economize prudently to purchase the essentials to living. Present on all silles is evidence to psove that TURNBUIX Theatres Lti., AvstralUt)- ■ little remains of the pay envelope for entertainment once the rent, food, clothing ' and medical bills have been met, so much so that the bulk of picture-goers are shop- ping in a most discriminating way for the best show available, and wherever convenient, are by-pass- ing the others. All these considerations inevit-' ably must cut into theatre receipts, and effective antidotes do not sug- gest tiiemselves readily, except, of course, the great cure-all of better pictures. In view of all the cir- i cumstances, no Au.stralian exhibi- tor can view his trading prospects for 1949 With complacency. He , will certainly have to operate his theatre ivith the utmost vigor and apply tbe arts of showmanship in their' fullest and best sense. Twelve months ago, British product showed great promise and attracted patronage to match the performances of the long-estab- l.ished American films. In 1948, the ground so quickly won has not been held. The year has been distinguished by the success of "severalnfiffrtilms^froifl" the United Kingdom, but on the debit side, is a disturbing percentage of com- parative failures.. I believe this state of affairs to be only transit tory and look forward to the new year telling a much happier story. Comedies and comedy - dramas of ever.v-day life are; what Aus- tralian audiences seek today. An over-ejnphasis on heavy drama and "problem" pictures as far as this country is concerned is a costly adventure. • One simple fact still stands out; when we have a really good film to screen, we have found a ready response from the public^ Loses Appeal on Tax Rap i Chicago, i Mike Potson, former owner of Colosimo's, lost his appeal of his , two-year prison sentence in Chi > federal appeals court: I Court, confirmed lower court's finding -that Potson had evaded paj-menf of $l€2,16e in ipcome taxes for years 1940 through 1943. Nationalist Victory at Polls Tipens South African Amusement Spending By JOE HANSON Cape Town. realized, due* almost certainly, to There is nothing of great portent, the fact that these shows have to report on South African amuse- ; never paid their way. The fact ig ments for 1948 except that gener- that the jnajority of South African ally business has been just about audiences cannot, or do not wish RADIO E»£ANN SHOWS nP AM A IMPffnVRMFNT ■ par, or perhaps a little below. Set- to. pay the high admission charges VIUUUA llfU nUf JLIflWll ijaack was caused in May by.the un- neces.sary to cover the heavj- ex- Dublin. \ expected victory of the Nationalist penditure incurred in the sea and Best work in Irish radio in 1948 1 party at the general elections.' air transportation of east and prop, was done by play.-production divi- which seemed to cast a gloom over erties. sion of Radio Eireann under guid- all major key^ities, which are pre- ; The only towns In South .iVfrica ance of H. L. Morrow, who han- dominantly pro-Smuts. The angle with theatres of any size and popu- dled, with station reperatory com- on this is that theatre boxoffices lations large enough to support pany, first productions in English ihere were as sensitive to the vol- legit productions are Johaiines- of Ibsen"s "Brand"'; "I'lnvitation ing as the stock exchange is to local burg. Cape Town, Durban. Port au Voyage'' and "L'lmpromptu du i or international aflFairs. Elizabeth and East London. These Telephone" by Jean-Jacques Ber.' j Money is certainly tighter, and towns are hundreds of miles apart, commerce; generally concedes that; so that heavj', railroad expenses business is slow and will sag; still ; jnvist be, added to the inM^ more as a isesult of the new gov.^ iiaportationi aiid^tt emment's . import-control,, restric- recovered fcom fi tions aimed i at conservation of do)- , The result ii usually: a heavy 1 ossl The last show seen here was Ivor nard, and Pirandello's "Henry IV," Station also gave premieres to J. B. Priestley's "The Long Mirror," Alfred de Mussefs "On ne Badine pas avec ramour," and a ; six-in- South Africans Take Their Pix Very Seriously By JOHN ABBOTT (Co-Jtfnftapmg Director, Francis, Day Hunter) stallment version of Philip i lars. Importation of most luxury Rooney's bestseUing novel "The articles is prohibited, and only es- Golden Coast." Latter was given sentials may be brought in under within three weeks of book's publi- permit on a reduced quota. Result cation. : iwill be a return almost; to wartime Maire O'Neill, bac-k from U. S. austerity* which might, at first ; on "vacation, made a radio appear- ; sight; imply that the people, having . attraction. ;anee in John Millington Synge's 'no commodities to buy, will have -"Riders to the-Sea'i with the rep ^ore money-1o spend-on -amuse- — --^tt'it'l*.!^'' troupe, plajing part of Maura, ments. Seeing, however, that the emplified-fay the fact that two c, ^which she created at the Abbey measure is tied up with shortness theatre in the play's first produc- of money, it is obvious that ready tion in 1910^ cash will become scarcer still, with : Radio continued" under state the inevitable results at the box- control, with C-E. Kelly, deputy . office. ■ - — director, being upped to director ! Attitude; noted last year, of .cine- to succeed John Brennan, who re- ma^^^ns picking and^^^^^^^ ^he^artists'ScrdepI^ored the There has been a trend towards Good business can still be done; by lighter enlertainment although an outstanding film such as. to there is a lack of good comedy think of a few that have played script writer.s, and plans are ap-■ here during the year, "Night and proved for an increase in pro-1 Day." "Gentleman's Agreement." grams. These, however, are being ■ "Jolson Story," and, on the Eng- held up pending construction of ad- ' lish side, ."Hamlet" and "Spring in • ditionai studio. space. Most popu- : Park Lane.'' ADjthing mediocre : lar programs were quizzes, and : can only be relied upon for a short j these have now been extended, i run. Litttle new ralent seems to be} The industrj-, generally, has [available, and less than one-third i since the close of the war adopted of the vocalists and musicians audi- a mark-time attitude. With acute NoveUo's "Perchance to Dream," which played Johannesburg arid Cape Town only at the beguming of the year; Now "Oklahoma!" is coming out as this year's Christmas traction. > ■■■■■■ Difficulties of legit here are ex- com- panies that have been touring in straight plays hav^, had to give up ' ovslng to lack of support. One was - ■ Jed by Nan Munro and the other by Marda Vanne and Gwen Ffrang- con-Davies. under the direction of; ■ African Consolidated Theatres;-' lored the poor support given to the stage by South African audiences. Government Theatre ' Only permanent louring com*' pany now left is the South African National Theatre, a group which was launched in March with the aid of a government grant. They not only play the larger cities, but do one or two-night stands in every' town possessing a hall and a siz- able population. ;So far two toun. London. For me 1948 was a year of travel, with just that mixture of pleasure, iind business that maintains lively interest in new surroundings and escapes boredom. After the U. S. 1 decided to try something where the pace was a little slower, and the first choice was South .Africa. As there had been an interval of about 3,'5 years since my previous visit, I was pre- pared for some changes, but not quite so many as I found. The-first reaction was the near- American complexion of the prin- cipal cities. That goes for cars, electric washing machines; radio . sets, jukeboxes, films, musical in- struments and even clothes mir ported from the States, while the United Kingdom supplied' woolen goodSj scotch whisky, machinery, .china, pianos, and about ^O' o of the cars. South Africa has great future possibilities, but there's one big problem—the native question. The white population of the ^^hole Union is about 2.500,000, with a "native" and;colored one oi over 8.000.000. All unskilled labor, whether It be for the mines, farms, or domestic work, is done by the native boys. South Africa badly needs -an influx of Europeans, but the only openings for men iire: skilled artisans, particularl.v in Ihcv engineering and building trudes; and for women shorthand t\ pi>;ts, and anyone, with capital,to de\ eiop ■ industry. ■ . ■ . : On the cultural side. South Africa, like many other newly de- veloped countries, somewhat lags behind and is. rather conscious of it. The principal entertainment, and almost the only one apart from some high class concerts; i.s the cinema, which is still called the Bioscope. In. the more important cities like Cape Town; Johannes-^ burg and Durban, there are some fine up-to-dsite houses. Unlike the States and Engla'nd, where a visit lo the flicks is regarded as some- thing casual, the South Alrican tak.es it rather seriously, alniost as, Wfr 'do a-visit to the theatre. *' ; SThere is obly one show a niRht,; excepting Saturdays. The first i half consists of a newsreel, a car- : toon and about; a dozen, advertising . shorts. Then - comes the interval I and the second half, with one fea- , ture picture. Good American films ' often get a release prior to a Brit- ish showing. I found the biggest change in . Johannesburg. In 40 years it has grown from a mining camp into a miniature New York. It accounts lor about 35% ot the world's gold. . One of the big eyesores around ' Johannesburg is tht dumps from which the gold has been extracted, and as it has been chemically ■ treated, nothing will ever grow on . them. The language is bi-lingual, Eng- lish and Afrikaans, and by law all notices must be in both. All broad- cast announcements must also be in both languages. ; Broadcasting, as in England, is practically. a government monop- oly and derives its revenue from the issue of licenses to the owners of receiving sets. Due to the lack of home talent, a considerable amount of "broad- easting is done by means of gramo- phone records and transcriptions purchased from the BBC or Amer^ lean'broadcasting companies. . |.'; .. .. ..; Seeregation. . . ' . ! The population is divided into European and non-European. The Europear»5 consist of wliites. whether born in, Europe, South Africa or any other part of the world, so long as he is not colored. Nori-Europeans cover natives, col- ored and Indians, The color bar is harder in South Africa than in any southerft state of the. U. S. There arc separate seats on rail- way stations, carriages, waiting rooms, and even queues for trolley cars and buses. While in-South Africa, I received a cabled im-i Jation to serve as - a ■ delegates of the Performing Rights Society at the International Con- ' iederation of Authors and Com- posers, held in Buenos Aires in ■ October, and as this seemed to hold promise of ,an opportunity to study conditions in a fresh part of the world, I promptly accepted. This Is the Confederation that „„i, . r " ~ —r- hBA'e been carried out, presenting .tioned are considCT^d possibles for housmg shortages still imposing both English and Afrikan plavs, programming. After a brush with restrictions on any but the mo,st but the financial results have not ;Jocal dance orchs, the station ar-i urgent building, the erec^^ Of ranged a couple of comBjs of its i new theatres is still a long way ofl'. 0W71 for regular airing. j and the threatened influx of the ■ Sponsors are still slow about maior companies has not yet mate- ; taking air time, largely because! rialized. ; only lunchtime segments are sold a j:hange of policy to sell peak-1 lives now established in South bieen made public. Besides this, a repertory com- pany operates in Cape Town under the direction of Brian Brooke, a ,^ j ^ ; ..voung English actor. Starting a the big producers have repre.senta- : ^^^^-^^ ^^^^ venttire Thus, although most of listening periods in the evening : if;iea,"th-ey aVI^nt {o reTease "^^^T^TT.^^'fJ^^l^^'J'^e. popular, and appears to be battling I through, though hot wifhout per ... ..J ~ Y crses Some reshuffling has taken place I would produce a considerably J through cxistinsi channels; higher interest from advertisers. i An advisory council on branA- i ' Reshuffle Quttets ;.casting was named by the govern '. „ ^ ment m the fall and commenced ' in Ihese outlets. Towaid?"the^end I addition, legit has to a lal^t meetings; so far its work in as- ' of the vear RKO concluded a deal *'^''ent been kept alive by amateur sLstmg policy-shaping has not been i with 2dth-Fox to release oh latter's slramatic companies that have noted. ,]oca] circuit, and Sir Alexander achieved a high standard in presen- Korda Productions have changed j ^^^^ 9'^ P^ays m plac?* jlike,-\the-...-i:att3€';,th6atrft-, .m. ■■■Cape ■.,TowB\.'an.d 'tjiis'" :.Libi-aiy ...:theatt*,, . JbhaMeisburg. .Difficutly^^^^^ air- ways been th«i. lade «f Suitable theatres, and a step in the right di* rection has been taken by the es- tablishment of the Civic Theatre, in Cape Town by public subsSffp- tion and government grant. A suit* ■ able bttildiiig has: .been acquired and is at present; -being eohveifted , into a theatre, iseating , eajfiacity. the year t)erore was held in Lon- VTa^^'^ *° ConsOli- don and was responsible for the i „ / f,^''''**- threat of proceedings against I Production . of ' fuH-length fea- ASCAP under the Sherman anti-: ^M,""** Afrikaans dialog, start- ; trust laws by the U.S. Government * couple of years ago. was con- • with the result that, although reo^ ' tmued. African Film Productions , resentatives of ASCAP had al-' ^^^^^-''^^ ^ comedy, "Dr. Kwak." ready left for London, the Society ""^ another company. Unifilms. hastily withdrew from the C6n-! historical vehicle. ■ federation. ; "Sarie Marais." In addition, some At B.A. practically all countries I companies have done, or sent delegates from their national i "'^'l shortly be doing, location work ; about %fiO performing rights societies with ' °" stones with a South African , „ „, , ^ the exception of the U S , background, but these cannot be , Ballet, always verj' popular here, — regarded as local productions. Visit "^s been m the doldrums for some Staskc 1^ of Sir Michael Balcon during the owing to the departure over- The Confederation, as a matter J'^^r probably presages active par- s^^s of most local t-alent. In 1948 of fact, is perfectly harmless It ticipation of his comuany in film- the South African .National Ballet gives an opportunity for delegates ' ™^^in8 here. of Johannesburg combined with to air their, views and meet old During the session of Parliament the University Ballet of Cape Town friends socially, .As hosts, the Ar- recently ended, the new Govern- * tour under sponsorship of geptine Society (SADIAC) was en- hient announced its intention of ' titled to and received full atten- imposing a quota s.vstem on South fion. which included a personal African cinemas by making it corn- welcome Peron.; Popular music consists of native sambai; arid tangos, with a mixture of foxtrots, but sales are not par- ticularly large. There is a good African Consolidated Theatres. The annual season of grand opera, which has now become a regular feature; was also present- ed by African Theatres with a com- bination of local and imparted art- ists. Here, again, the heavy cverr . head of opera present-ation put this season in the red. DOWN UNDER MOPPETS CANNOT SEE'VERDOUX' to ;ali from President • P"lsory for all houses to. shov? a percentage fprobably about. Ci-ifyf ) of tocally-made filrhs A small but ■ vociferous; section of the commu- nity has for a long time agitated < _ _ „ for more Africaans pictures in; demand for phonograph records, cinema programs, and their view- "■■ not only domestic'pressings, but point probably has the sympathy of platters from the U. S, the Nationalist govemmejit. Jukeboxes are getting into cafes ' The language of mo.<rt. of the big- but not into saloons. Unlike the gfr toMTis is predominantly Eng- demand for records, there is litt.le ish. and the needs of the Afrikaans- , call for sheet music, excepting for speaking element has so far been ■ ^"cational and standard. met by dubbing the local newsreel 1 ■ ^'^ * ^""^^"5^"^' unlike, and any South African-produced i Charles Chaplin's "Monsieur \er- Brazil, s not a party to the Berne.shorts or documentaries in Afri-.do,,v" «c -w cnii^ble for chil- Convention it has cop.vTight laws kaans for exhibition in country !^*^"^. sn^^^^ tor ui that t-ake the point of view that if ; centers. Hea^'y session prevented i ^^^^ * a work is cop.vright in the country • this legislation from being intro- Chaplin pic to ever get the red-' fr.h I'i? author is a national, dnced, and it is not known whether ! light on Jure dating in the Aussit t should au omatically receive pro- the Government intends proceed- Jnnr tection in the Argentine without; ing with it in 1949 or not. sector. any formality. It provides strict 1 On the legit side the hope thai ! Monsieur" bows into the Mayi air penalties for infringement. That's there would be a postwar influx of here for Hoyts on deal wih UA as good a formula as I know, visiting shows has not so far been early in the New 'Srear. Censor Alexander Sydney, has t-agged