Variety (Mar 1949)

ITednesday, March 30, 1919 P^-RMETY ricrriJBES BRITAIirS HOT ROW ON U.S. PACT D.C. Politicos Assault Vs. Brit. FOm Quota Mounts, Promising Results 20th Using Tiny Mike On 'Everybody Does It' Hollywood, March 29. New miniature microphone is getting its first workout in "Every- body Does It" at 20th-Fox, Linda Darnell wears one in a lapel of her blouse in a staircase scene, with the little milce con» nected to. the, sound track by tiny invisible wires. New contraption does away jvith the cumbersome boom, which is impractical in cer- tain scenes. Washington, March 29. 4 A real drive to break down the 40% British film quota and coin freeze has begun to develop, with mbunting optimism that something worthwhile for the industry will develop. . « .i. , » , Ernest Bevin, the British foreign secretary, is due in this week and, on Capitol hill and in industry cir- cles, the belief is shaping up that they will build a bonfire under him this time which will crack the British iron curtain. Substantial pressure is being put on Secretary of State Dean Acheson to demand a square deal for our films in ex- change for the aid we are giving England. These are the developments of the past week: 1. Senator William F. Knowland \ (R " Calif.) fired the opening blast j f T\*\ A Uh a hot speech in the senate In |||lA|||mn 11VAf Ust We"dnesda"y~(23) in"which he] 111 l/IIvHIllla vVCI charged the British have .been un-1 fairly discriminating against our | ( fill's. . , „ , -i, ■ 2. Next day he followed up with a ietter to Secretary of State, Acheson, asking what steps are bC' | Ileadaeh; involved in determin- ing taken by our State Department i ing what;s good propaganda abroad to break down restrictive practices I and what isn't has hit the, film against our films in England. | industry with full force as a result U. S. Pix Abroad Good Propaganda SEE SNARL NEXT Britain is in for a stiff battle from the American film companies when the time comes next year for renewal of the Anglo-American films agreement. Rough-andrtum^ ble scrap was in the cards at best, but the move last week for reduc- tion of the quota by a "mere" 5% -^contrary to what the U. S. in- dustry feels was every logical con- sideration—has American film execs so burned they're ready for a tooth-rand-nail setto. There's only one difficulty—and that's an overwhelming one—that they face in putting: up a battle: They have no weapon^ at the moment. The heavy artillery they were able to use two years ago in their fight against the 75% tax : .wjis_ an. embargo on_shipment of- Hollywood product to England. It • is highly unlikely that all of the majors will agree to such drastic action again. And unless there is complete agreement, an embargo would be valueless and thus would not be tried. Exhib-Spdbted TV Co. Would Be limited at First to N.Y. Area 3. Five Republican Senators—| of widespread criticism of the pic-1 that the Execs of the know they will pull an U:S. companies not be able to Operation of an ejchib-sSrBdltiat« ed television .company ;|d boeJt. ex- clusive shows for .large-scrieen play-' ings vifill probably 'be limited; at the outsfet to theatres in the New ■ York metropolitan are^i Tentative ■ decision to that effect; was mad». by Theatre Owners of America's exefcutiye committee, al>a .meeting held last weiek. Important exhibs who are not members, of TOA, such as Fred Schwartz, head of Ceh-- tury circuit, and Hai^ry Brandt will probably be invited to join the company; : The new tele company, still in the planning .stage, vvould consist poUtah area. Experiment. would be . strictly one for N. Y., with • the; idea of branching out to other video centers if the " company proves pr;iciicab!e. Because of its rt'siricUon to X. Y., unit would - not be sponsored specifically by TOA. although the group will fos- ter its formation. ■ .■; ■ ;'■ Concentrating pn the hot tele- I vision question, TOA exec commit- > I tee voted iov a thorough investiga- , tion into large-screen possibilities; ' rr r-, , Engineer will be hired to. survey With some 55 films played so far . the field and make a report on Less Ridic London, March 29. Board of Trade prexy Har- old Wilson's flaunting of de- mand by exhibs for a substan- tial reduction in the 45% quota had tempers hot this week. Sir Alexander King, president of the Cinemato- graph Exhibitors Assn., in commenting on the slim 5% quota cut announced by Wil- son last week, declared: "Wilson's action only makes the whole thing 5% less ridic- ulous."' B'way Burning Pic Product At W/o Higher dip Knowland, Styles Bridges of New Hampshire, Robert A. Taft of Ohio, (Continued on page 18) Bergman to Move Up As Blumberg's Aide at U, Upton to Shift East Maurice Bergman, Universal's eastern ad-pub director, is due to take over, a newly-created job of executive assistant to Nate J . Blum- berg, company president. Change Will occur around June 1 when the current U. S. Savings Bond drive ends. Bergman is directing the in- dustry's participation in th e Treas- " nrycampaign. With Bergman vacating the east- ern ad^pub spot, David A. Lipton, U's national ad-pub chief, will move his office from the Coast and headquarter in New York. Al Hor- wits, who recently shifted west to assume the post of studio publicity chief after serving in a similar capacity in the east, will head tiie Coast operations. tures selected by the Yugoslav gov-1 n jg j-qj, f^'T,^'<L*'"M^HL"p).'i'^.t"r'vv!ii? i '"'P^'S that a lot of other I jumped almost 20% over a Similar , 1?/ ^^lJ^''':t?:!lJ::^rfi ; t^ngs may happen to change the ! three-month period last year, when | [ to the engineer has been made, (Continued on page 18); . Assn^ MPEA maintains it is pre-1 halanpp hpfnrp tkpx? cif iiAirn «ntv. i , cisely those films for which it is \ Sh Board of Trade p'r^exy C th<i same houses projected' only 46 ■ (; j > ]JJa„' pictures. Six of the houses are using more pix in 1949, five show i now being raked that have shown Wilson a year from now to dis- best results for this country m I cu^g renewal of the agreement by , inal runs overseas. j ^hich they are permitted to remit I less while in two thea res numeri Squawks arise from three of the ] jtiy-^QQ QQo g year ' i''^^ bookings remained constant, eight pix which the Yugoslavs have I lu- ;^ iu ' ' selected from a roster of 100 sub-j . P"*;'^'"8 they are countmg on milted by the MPEA. Trio are '"\r^^Hnf,L L"nLF-i!{ "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," I (C ontmued on pa ge 14) Watch on the' ■ ■ ~ ■ ■ • ' '^Citizen Kane" and Rhine." First is* a satiric spoof on Congress, second shows the venal- ity of a newspaper publisher and a third was a pre-war eft'ort that brought out the lack of realization by Americans of the struggle that was "'going on E. M. Loew's Dicker First Outside Pic Into B'way Par in 6 Years .,„.„ . .. ,, .. . . ,. I For the first time in many years Mfl ^ J?i V ^'"^ ^'F^ °i 1 tlie Paramount theatre, company's '49. .Globe also was tough on prod- - - - . ' . » Mayfair scored the greatest spi' ral. jumping from enly one film in | uct with seven pix sprocketed to date this year compared with two for the similar '48 quarter. Music n n r li r /it * Hall and Roxy were unchanged. Tftir PjIT Q li. r I hsin Former house exhibited four films (Continued^ on page 20) Boston, March 29. -Er— Mt -toew—circuit "operator" Contrary-to the-belief-t-hat-l-he-i-with-t-heatres blanketing-tlie-east I ^ « „ , pictures might be turned again.st coast, is negotiating to buy the 1 pi VtaA Ovfir ReD S the U' *S. by' pro-Soviet .propagan- Paramount-aftiliated Maine & New i t»CCIUg UCU VYCI ncjl 3 dists, the MPEA pointed out that • Hampshire circuit. Loew would | <n 1 p„J|p,-' AIJ* AatlkrC "Mr. Smith" was banned in Bui-1 take over the 28-theatre circuit | VMM KjWCl UlUie Udiei5 garia and "Watch on the Rhine" , outright by buying off both Para-1 ^ running battle between Eagle 1 was iiixed in Czechoslovakia. No mount and its ^pards, Joseph P. 1 Lion and Republic has fiared up | (Continued on page 18) '" "" — Broadway showcase, is booking a film of another distrib. Columbia's "Undercover Man," Glenn Ford starrer, is set to follow "Bride of Vengeance," next to go in the house. It should play around Easter Week. —Booking a non-Par film is be- - lieved^due- to the. shorter, runs flf- pix in the showcase this year. While Par's releasirig schedule has been no fastei- during the past ■ (Continued on page 14) Unde?the '^-e^ent setup, Charies 1 Korda, FrCnch DuC 18th Simonelli, exploitation head, is 'also supervising the N. Y. publicity. wing with Phil Gerard acting un-1 ,der Simonelli as pro temp publicity ■'chief. Lipton is expected to'name a permanent publicity topper when he makes his permanent shift to N. Y. MoVe-up of Bergman would fol- low the recent pattern at United Artists. There, Paul N. Lazarus, Jr„ after supervising ad-pub chores, was upped to the job of .exec as- sistant to Grad Sears, UA's pre/.i Kennedy, John J. Eord and Gebrge W. Lane, Jr. The dickering with Loew has been prolonged because of the dif- r" > I IT O n I I ficulty of Par and its partners in rOr AnSlO-U.d. l^arleyS getting together on the proposition , , -,. I although it is reported that both Sir Alexander Korda and Sir t^vor a deal. Par had Wiinded out Henry French, director general ol ^ ^^^^^gx other interested parties but over the two companies' rival series of "Red Ryder" western pix. The skirmish got under way last week when EL's Coast attorney. Leon Kaplan, dispatched a legal note to Rep demanding, that the company either withdraw its series of "Ryder!" reissues ^or spotlite in its ads that the pix" aire both oldies the Briti.sh Film Producers Assn., 1'^^.^^^ unable to get the go-ahe.ad and black-and-whitos. To date. EL sign from Ford and his associates, 1 TEAM RAFTERY, CASKEY AS MAJORS' SUIT REPS are sciieduied to arrive in New York on the Queen Elizabeth April 18. They are to attend the , ses- sions of the Joint Anglo-American Film Council in Washington April 21-23. ' J. Arthur Rank, the third mem- ber of the British delegation, ar- rived in New York last week. He I leaves today (Wednesday) for Palni Beach, where he will huddle , ^ with Robert R, Young,, controlling • the few new, big pictures are he- stockholder in Eagle Lion, which ing blamed by exhibitors this week (Continued on page 20) National Boxoffice Survey Warm Weather, Dull Pix Clip Biz-^'Door,' 'Mother,' 'Kiss,' 'Ball Game,' 'Honeymoon' Pace Field flock"of exhib anti-trust distributes part of"the Rank prod-; for generally sluggish trade With a iiui^n. ui CAiiiu c».in-m..iv actions nearing trial throughput j "^t in t he U. S ^ the country, major defendants I " have hit on an Informal team of | Jolniston Office Annual New York lawyers to represent them in the forthcoming legal tiffs Duo consists of Edward C. Raft- ery, of O'Brien, Driscoll, Raftery fit Lawler, and John Caskey, of Dwight, Harris, Koegel & Caskey. . Twosome will travel from trial-tor trial repping for most of the majors. Raftery and Caskey pushed off for Los Angeles this week with Austin C. Keough, general counsel lor Paramount, to shape up de- tenses on three or four Coast ac- tions now close to trial. They will vork on coordinaUon with local counsel. Practice of picking a couple of ami-trust experts to handle legal Chores for all companies has been ™ operation for several months. «attery, for Instance, repped •Jnited Artists, Universal and Wai- "5* ^Sfos. during the recent Dip- son trial In Buffalo. ! Lenten influenct! and slight re- cession in general biz in some key cities covered by yAj?iETY ails6 will keep grosses down. MeetinSf Set for April 71 "Knock on Any Door" (Col).. A 1 (iin Mntinn ' with a batch of new playdates, is Annual meeting ot the Motion , . . i nosition Picture Assn, ot America, several , ^^Pj^^ "Mother Is Latter was ha- times postponed, is now set /"^ Sman" (2Wh) Latt April 1, Principal business on 11^ i'/^^^'^teaderiast week. Third agenda is ^ ^pt'O", ^oa' ^ °' 1 pUice goes to "Kiss in Dark" (WB), directors. is an'-'^/P«t'=^ "''^V"" ■ released in time to cash in on Jane changes wll be made m the pres-i . .. . ent membership. Eric Johnston, MPAA prcxy . . will preside at the session and at is copping fourth money \ynue the board meeting which will fol-1"1'amily Honeymoon <y> is a Discussion of the new 40'>.f strong lifth. "South of St. Louib relations' (WB) again IS in sixth slot. , Joan Unseasonably warm weather and Warner pix brought back to ride on Academy laurels, racked up nearly $100,000, but was surpris- I ingly mild in a number of keys covered by Variety, Of new filmslaunched this week, "Ma ^tid Pa Kettle Paso'' (I?ar) lopk most promls- 1 ing. Forjner hit a smaSli figure oh preem' 4h three: K. C. houses, [ and also Was big in another key I city, "El Paso" did surprisingly 1 Well at N. Y, Paramount in view ' ot slow Broadway conditions. "Plit- post in Morocco" (UA), another Trade M-irU Kecistsred . F(>l-NDT;n F,Y SIME SU.VBUMAM Piili1l!ilil>(1 \V«c1<I.V by VAWIHtll., In«i Sid Hiivertnaiii PreSlcleht 151 West 4CUi S5[„ New YoTU 10,; N. T . llnUywood SB • CSlI Yucca Street ■ ■. ■■. .Wasliinjfloii 4 .... 120- NoLioiiiti I'reBS BulMlilf ClitrfiEO 1 8(!0 No, MiMliffitt): Ay<>. , London WCS • • 8 St. Martin's VI., TrafaTsaf. Ba. srnscnH'TioJi Annual..... .tlO Forelsn..,,, .III SiTlsle Copies,.SB Cents Vol. 174 12U No. 3 Wynian's Academy award. "Take Out to Ball Game" fourth (M-Gi while low. Sbicms,''conTinuancrof «ie Mo^! of Arc'^(RKO) moved up with the newcomer, was not smash on N, Y. leeoff. .■ "Wake of Red Witch" (Rep) is great in Toronto and smash in Denver this round. "Red Can,von" (U), while okay in Toronto, shapes only average in Bo.ston, "Walked by Night" (ED is doing fine in Detroit, "Portrait of Jen- public i'lX'%\'c1iire' Ex'doiT*As^ ' money contenders to place seventh i n£e^' looms big in K, C, "Chicken tion in Germany, Austria. Japan; while "Bed Shoes" (EL) wound up \ Every Sunday" (20th) is nice in , and Korea, and other current mat-; eightli. | Portland, j ters are on the agenda. Top runner-up films are "To Sea I "Whispering Smith still is solid ' Johnston's schedule and the ab- in Ships" (20tti), "Hamlet" (U) and , on second Chicago week. "Cana- j sence of some company toppers in ' "So Dear to Heari" (RKO) in that ' dian Pacific" (20th), okay in Bos- Florida and on the Coast have , order. "Hamlet" spurted on win-; ton, looks fast in Chi. | caused the postponements of the, ning Academy top pic award.. (Complete BoxoZ/ice Reports oti i annual meeting. i "Johnny Belinda"-"Sierra Madi-e," • Pajfcs 9-11). I INDEX Bills. ,. ., 46 Chatter 54 Film Reviews ;... 13 House Reviews 47 Inside Legit .........,.-. 48 Inside Pictures .......... 18 In.side Radio , 35 Inside Television.. . 32 International 16 Legitimate 48 Literati .... ............ 53 Music ,..,, 36 New Acts , 47 Night ClubOReViewS ■ 44 Obituaries ; 55 Orchestras 36 Pictures , ,,...; 3 Radio , 22 Radio Reviews .......... 24' Records 36 Frank Scully 53 Television 27 Television Reviews 31 Vaudeville 43 DAIM VAKIBTSf (Published In Hollywood hj Dally Variety, Ltd.) tlB a Tear—t:o For^ltlt