Variety (Feb 1949)

MISCEIXANY Wet1nesilay« Februaif^ 2, 1949 Indie Producers Laugh Off Idea Of 'New Code' in Picture-Making Suggestion by a radio commen- tator last week that the Society of Independent Motion Picture Pro- <iucers adopt a liberalized produc- tion code of its own—which a few days later was transformed by a Broadway columnist into a state- ment that the Society was already planning to formulate a new set of moral standards—hasn't even been Ihought about by SIMPP members or officials. SIMPP laughed off the idea, and insiders were quick to point out that any such-scheme as a. code separate from that formu- lated and • administered by the Motion Picture Producers Assn. would be naive and inconsistent with ; the knowledge of: the back- vground and inner ramifications of - the workings of the code. Idea was originally advanced by Gilbert S'eldes on his "Lively Arts" show on WNEW, N. Y., Sunday, Jam 23. The following Wednesday <26) Danton Walker, in the New York. News and syndicated papers, stated that Samuel Goldwyn and Ellis Arnall (prez of SIMPP) are going to draw up a new code. Other writers Immediately picked up the item and expanded on it with loud. hurrahs. Seldes' idea grew out of the previous week's battle between Goldwyn and Eric JohnstoHj prez of the Motion Pic- - tUre Assn. of America and its affiliate, MPPA, which operates Joe Breen's Production- Code-Ad- ministratij6n setup. 'Fallacy' Pointed Up would be required to accede if they wanted their product to reach a reasonable number of theatres. Industry critics not wholly familiar with the workings of the Breen office also .err in, thinWng that the production code is an in- flexible instrument. Technically it is, but there is great variance pos- sible m interpretation. The liber- ality of this interpretation flexes iContinued on page 53) SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK i ♦ ♦ M t MM t»»*»» By Frank Scully m » 4 ^ ; Eisenhower Book Set For Tele Pix By20th,ABC.MOT Filmization of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Crusade In Europe" excj usi vely for television trans- mission by the American Broad- casting Co. was get yesterday (Tues.) in a four-way deal among ABC, 20th-Fox, Doubleday & Co, and the March of Time. Book cur- rently topping the nonfiction best- seller lists, is to be depicted in a series of 26 two-reel documenta- ries, which will be produced by MOT in con.i unction with 20th. ABC is paying a reported $400,- for which it 347th Week! •3,549 Performanc«« AU-tirae long run reoQi'd In. the lesitimate theatre. • KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1949" El Capitatt Theatra, HollywQpdi Cal. Ana HOW in world-Wide v "BILL AND C00« .. Ken MurrayV - ;A«ademy Award Film; 000 for the series, , , - ., ... i. iv, f 11 , ■ gains exclusive rights for 211 Goldwyn-Mayer, implementing an- Insiders pointed out the fallacy, ,^o„ijig rf^us, the network can ! nouncements made when the sta- i''L''?°Jf„i'l?;,!f^"r.cLw^^^^ them as many times as it de-| tion changed its call letters from sires on either its own or non- affiliated stations and can sell them for sjionsorship tinder the best deal obtainable.: Films are never to get theati?ical release,, wlilch automatically rules but the (Continued on page 20) of tion by critics of the industry that the-majors like: the production code and subscribed to it wholly because they wanted to. Actually, the majors are no fonder of it than the indies or any other film- makers. They follow its tenets for the same reason that SIMPP mem- bers'will undoubtedly continue to ■ir^becatise. it ■ Is ■ a matter of eco- nomic necessity to do so. : ; 1 There are, of course, moral | issues involved in the industry's] atlherence to the principles of the PC A, but when everything else is stripped- awayi .it eventually gets down to a matter of dollars and cents for the producers. Were'they not to insist on adherence to the code, some film-makers would un- doubtedly quickly step beyond the bounds of propriety and immedi- ately there'd be a tremendous hue and cry across the land that would reflect on all the producers in a boycott on Hollywood pictures or in local censorship legislation. It was, as a matter of fact, to escape such a boycott that the code was originally drawn up. It was formulated with the advice of tlie Catholic Church to get the heat off the industry when the Legion of Decency was campaigning to keep Catholics out of theatres. Results threatened then to be financially disastrous to producers, and there's no desire ; by either majors or indies to have a repeti- ..tion now. Eliminates Pressure Equally important, presence of Cohn Wants hemiiim From 'Born Yesterday' Star Hollywood, Feb. 1. Number of femme stars are pitching to Harry Cohn, Columbia prexy, for lead in "Born Yester- day," but he's holding out for an arrangement that will guarantee the studio return of the $1,000,- 000 it paid for the Garson Kanin legiter. It is understood he'll only make a deal with a star who is willing to make at least two other pix for the studio. Cohn feels he is in a strong bar- gaining position, since such out- standing roles are {bWrand^ femmes and their agents know they can insure boxoffice standing by doing the part. j Hollywood, Feb. 1, Since almost anything marked I'confldehtial"' has now become proof, per se, of a subversive mind, perhaps it -wqttld bir sinft^^^ novelty) to release a signed confession admiring that tHe t^aSon 1 went to Tucsott was te check if the Jim Hefteraii in 20th-Pox's Version of Rosemary taylbr'S "Chicken Every Sunday" wasn't r^iaUy an alias fpr Mose-Drachman.,..; ■V"'''-.^- Maybe it Would be the better part of valOr, ,as valor is appraised thesp* days, if I confessed that I've known various members of the tirachinan menage for 30 years, and if I have kept it a secret all this time It's because r didn't know it was disloyal tor Xiolmijists to sttf^^^ ,and-Usten'for.a;'Change, '.::.'-'V. ^■'i-^iV:'-'-. The Chaise Lounge Sports Editoi' Tucson is my home town. I recently rnade by first Visit in 24 yeatsi ' but it's still my home town. What's more, they remembered me; ; coming from a tinsel town where you dp :well; to be .rememberea 24 hours, 24 years represents a lot of remembering. Beyond growiisg.-'- from 20,000 to 140,000 Tucson has not changed much since 1924. Where a generation ago Mose Drachman meant westvn hospitality now it's Hoy Drachman, and where Harold Bell Wright was thO literary light when I was the chaise lounge sports edit<>r of the Arizona Daily Star^ now it's Rosemary Taylor-^whose maiden haine, incidehtaUy> Vvas R^^^ mary Drachman. I lived the four happiest years of my life in Tucson and have a ■ weakness for confusing happiness with blessed events, Long before doctors told Pegler that Tucson had rattlesnakes which could feed Hirii a venom in case he felt his supply being dried up by tax collectors, I already had discovered that the town'is sunshine could cure everything, including snakebite. And among the many beautiful people in that beautiful oasis none was more beautjiful ilisiide imo^^^o^^^ Drachmans;' :'y'- The family originally came west before the Civil War: Their soB,- Mose, was said to have been the first white child borri in Tucsonv but actually it was hi§ older brother Harry. Harry; now 80, confirmed this priority-to me recently. T ■ ■ .A Man ■ Of Color;. Anyway , Incidentally, the word "white" is used loosely in this case because all the Drachmans, and particularly Mose, w^re as brdwn as a well-fed Indian squaw chief. Mose's wif^,; however,: was a blonde,/smallv frail ^ and rosy-cheeked gal from Danville, Va, ' Her name was E^^ She had come west originally as a healthseeker, but She oiitliyed old Mose-by 11 yearSi Theirs was the first Abie's Irish: Rose merger I had ever seen, and a happier married couple never lived. In "Chicken Every Sunday" Mose Drachman is portrayed as fre- quently involvendo and temperamentally unfitted to plod along in the harness of a good provider. For one investment he made in a lauiidry that paid off, a seemingly endless stream of gold mines, olhvells, ranches, hotels, theatres and even banks went broke under his magic touch. This never shocked him half as much as seeing his wife turning their hacienda into a hash-house in order to tide things over during his many one-man depressions. His wife's open confession of their plight seemed to leave him speechless with fury. I realize that this follows the well-set "Life With Father" pattern of American literature. Fathers are forever choleric and Incompetent; local promotion. mothers calm, sweet and efficient. But at the time I knew Mose Drach- One Of the stanzas will be the man he was a bank director, with ample real estate holdings, and a member of the board of regents of the U. of Arizona,'' with one daughter at a high-priced college in California and two boys at the state uni* versity. In brief, a solid citizen. That he was chumped in deals many times I have no doubt, but some of these reversals took on a different hue when dowered with the patina of time. For instance, when Arizona became a state In 1912 some bar- tenders in Tucson figured they couldyOut in oh the gravy. They passed the hat around for funds to send Mose: to. ;tte^ WMGM To Acquire Coast Stars In M-6 Mutual-Aid Pact WMGM, Loew's-owned N.Y. indie, has just put the finishing touches to a mutual-aid pact with Metro- WHN last year. According to the plan, .the station will air six hours of Hollywood: features every week, using Metro's players and proper-" ties. The deal will give WMGM per- sonalities and programs that would be almost impossible for an indie to get on its own, and in return the studioi will receive valuable (Continued on page 53) BEHE NOT EXCLUSIVE ANY MORE FOR WB Hollywood, Feb. 1. After 18 years with the valley ] Prescott. They ordered him to bring back the state capitolv or the Schary Uses Special Cruiser to Ease Injury Hollywood, Feb. 1. .; Metro production head Dore Schary will have a wheelchair put- - . put contraption tp take him down, the PCA seal on every print goes | the long corridors at Culver City far toward eliminating pressure of i for the next two or three months local civic, church or social groups j, because of his recent mishap and on their municipal and state poll- back injury, whieh necessitates tieos for censorship legislation^ 1 wearing a metal brace. In order to avoid surgerVi the film executive must stay off his feet for a number of weeks. "- Incidentally, his aide, Armand- Deutsch, just got back to the studio after being bedded for two weeks with virus infection Only seven states and a handful of cities now exercise, censorship powers over films. If restrictions by the PCA are thought tough,:-it c«n be imagined what would hap- pen with every state and thousands of municipalities each having a tlifferent code to which film-makers studio, Bette Davis went off War ners' exclusive contract list over the weekend. Old contract was re- written to allow her to make one outside picture annually in addi- tion to one annually for Warners. Pact with WB is for four years at $150,000 per film, or $600,000 total on new non-exclusive basis. Neither her fir-st pic for studio un- der new termer, nor the first out- side pic has been set. During her tenure at Warners she copped two Oscars, "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938). House Report Cleanses HVood of Red Taint state penitentiary, or the state insane asylum. By the time Mose reached the trading post all the pork had been cut ■ and passed to other towns—all except the state university. Nobody wanted it,, and Mose and Tucson got stuck with it; "What'Il You Have, Professor?" When he returned with this bauble, his bartending.backers screamed that they had been robbed. "Whoever heard of a professor buying a drink?" they bellowed as one man. It took Mose years to live down this one, but today if Tucson has one asset to be prized above ^all others, it's that same state university. On another occasion I recall that Mrs. Drachman had invited three of us waifs to dinner one night. A guy named Al Kieson, who bad known Mrs. Drachman's family back- east, got us the "in," but it was .Jack Keevan's charm that got us invited more than once. Rosemary was sweet on him, too. • Keevan was a huge, handsome hunk of man who was getting through the U. of Arizona school of mines on a wink, a prayer and my tutoring, I was invited to dinner, too, because I knew»Emlly's Book of Etiquette from pillow to Post, and these jerks didn't dare pick' up a fork without a nod from me. During the dinner Keevan was regaling the table with details of a mining coup he had pulled off that afternoon. Seems, unknown to me, Suhseription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ ' Please Send VARIETY for One Year To (Pita-se Print Name) Street City. Zone. State. Rtgular Subscription Rates for Ont Ytor—$10.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional P^RMETY Inc. 154. Watt 46th Street New York 19. N. Y. 'They'r* Washington, Feb. 1. House Un>American Activities Committee, reporting on its work - - . in the last Congress, found some I we had bought in on an asbestos mine near Globe and. before the year signs of Communism in Hollywood, was over we would all be millionaires. Mose listened and his eyes glistened, until he heard Who were the burglars back of the bluesky stoek-seiUhg ettterpi?ise. "You'd better stop payment on that check," he advised, worse than Pqnzi!" "We can't do that," .said Keevan. ''I gave theiinTt cashier's certified^ check." , ■,■>;;■' Mose looked grim. "I guess you've lost your money then, boys," h« said.,. ■ ■ How to Chump: a Gluiton ■ "Are you in this, Albert?'' Mrs. Drachman wanted to know. Kiesojit -said no, he wasn't. Kieson was the Sort of guy you'd expect to be chumped first. If you said to him; ^'Hey; what tittie is iti Stupe tell you the time and five minutes later he'd 'say, "Afld lurthermore, blamed it on the "Unfriendly 10" and pretty well gave a clean bill of health to the remainder of the industry. -_. — — Report, put out last Thursday (27) was a watered-down version of a highly controversial report covering all fields in which the committee had investigated during 1947-48. Y; Assemblyman's Bill To Ease Pain in Neck my name's not stupe^" Smart arrmudpacl^ Albany, Feb. 1. "Mr. Drachman," I said* "do you thiiifothese guys would give up the: cashier's check if we tempted them with a bigger take?" -j He thought a moment and guessed they might. "You mean," he said, "if you went to them and said that the deal looked so go6d that your friend Kieson wanted to get in on it too, would they bite?" "Yes," I said, "and then we could get bacte'our $li00O cashier'.s cheCK, give them a $2,000 personal check of Kieson's and get to the bank In the morning early and stop payment." "It's daring," said Mose, "but it's worth trying." "Not with my money it's not worth trying!*' cried Kiesoh. ; v But we soon convinOed Kieson by breaking his left arm fwliich m that wonderful climate healed overnight) that he was taking no risk, without a great straining of the i whereas if Keevan lost our dough Kieson would have to support the neck. I three of us for the rest of the winter. Assemblyman Francis X McGowan, Manhattan Democrat, has introduced a bill requiring that tickets for theatres, sports arenas, etc. be marked "partial or obstructed view" in case they are for seats behind posts, in corners and the like. Assemblyman said that people often pay high prices for tickets only to find themselves in seats where they can see little McGowan, a lawyer,, also put in a measure which would compel all referees at boxing, spairring or wrestling matches to undergo a physical examination, , including eyesight and hearing, within an hour before the contest f i ii ' tj - I I ' M l" n^ Mose rehearsed the plot with us till we got one we could print- Then we rushediteff with Kieson's check to outchump the cheaters. Mose called the president of the bank and told him to stop paymeni on the eheck. Our switch went through perfectly. Thanks to Mose we had got our dough back and were thus able to buy our own chicken every Sunojy instead of mooching furthej; ^ biggei^^ Jjgjj^ In Arizona.