Variety (January 1950)

Wednesday, lannary 18 , 1950 nciWiBS ; If there is any buyer who thinks'f he still has i chance to pick up the 25% interest held by the Warner brothers in WB theatre chain, he can go home and forget about it ^ at least for the time being. That is the positive asser- tion of ah official spokesman for Lehman Bros., Wall Street invest^ meht firm which currently holds exclusive right to sell the stock Interest of Harry, Jack and Atbert Warner. The Lehmans are not prowling for. a buyer. „ : ‘’We are dealing with tangible buyers who have their money oh the barrelhead,” a Lehman Official revealed this week. ”We are hot bn a fishing expedition in any form or, manher. There is no truth to any belief that our firm is looking for a potential purchaser after securing the right to deal ih the ;■ stock,” ■■ ‘‘if a buyer should come in how and indicate a desire to buy the Warner stpek,’ we would tell him to go back to the dugout,” spokes- man added.VWe have no intention of stealing second when the bases are loaded,” ^ ‘ The Lehmans-have the right to act as agent for a reasonable period of time, it was stressed. The deal was created with the Warners “in a spirit of understandirig,” and (Continued on page 18) Man Wants Hollywood, Jan. ri7, Preston Sturges’ deal with Metro to* develop a story idea and, then direct it, has cooled. With wiiter- director and studio, calling it off.; Story had been known as “Mr. Big Froih Littleyiile” and ^Nothing Doing” and Originally was set .as a Clark Gable starrer; / In Kramer Fend Hollywood, Jan. 17. Producer . Stanley . Kramer and his lettuce-king financial angel are understood, feeling over release date of Kramer’s new film,'’“The Men.” Kramer wants to hold the picture back until August, while Bruce Church, the bankroller, is anxious for it to go into distribu- tion as soon as poss.ible so he cah begin recouping his Unvestmeiit. pic, starring Marlon Brando and shot mostly on locatipiv at the Bir- minghaiti Veterans Hospital near Los Angeles, is now in final edit- ing stages. If pushed it could probably go into release by Easter, or sooner. Kramer’s ideav however, is that the pic will profit by being held hack. for ah adequate press and prestige buildup through numerous screenings, interviews, etc. Like- wise, he thinks it Will have a bet-, 1/11 • /IT 'SrM ■ Jack Cohn m Gifts of biz and getting into the subse- quents during the winter,. instead of the summer months, as would happen Lf there was a spring re- Negotiatipns have been initiated by the majors for a settlement of the $8,400,000 triplerdamage, anti.^ trust action brought^ against the distribs and the Warner Bros: cir- cuit by Pbiladelphia circuit oper- ator William Goldman. Talks are bfelieved to include all claims of Goldman arising from the Philly Situation. Goldmah several years ago collected a judgment of $435,- 000 on an action he had filed in 1942. ■ ■ Settlement discussions are be- lieved to be an offshoot of the. cur- rent Warner dickerings with the Governmerit for a Consent decree in the latter’s anti-trust suit. War- ners would like to„ free its produc- tiori-distrihution and theatre chains from the necessity of posting heavy sums as a contingent fund to meet any p^ossible judgment recovered by Goldman. Gurrent damage suit was filed in the Federal district court in Pennsylvania in 1947 and covers a number of years up to that date. Goldman also has a potential suit for the period after ’47; Any settle- ment would cover a 11 claims. Warners stands to be hit hard- est under a system employed by the majors to divide the costs or 1 judgment in anU'trust litigation. WB circuit would pay one-third be- cause it is a principai defendant in the action. Besides this, Wafners as a distrib must fork out a pro- portionate share of the femaining two-thirds. Increase in competition among distributing companies for: .the product of independent filmmakers has considefabiyv^cise^ the financ- ing . situation for ptbduceris of proved merit, \ Result is an an- ticipated upturn in 1950 of indie production, following three years during which most indies werb scratching for coin and many went out bf business. As a result of their desire to add product to their slates, most of the companies are Oifering indies coihr pletion bonds and blher aids to’ finaheirig. Such help is now com-; ing from every oiie , of seven dis- tribs seeking indie product with the. single exception of . lJUited Artists. UA, although the bellwether of firms specializing in indie films and thus closely Watched by the tfade, has failed to consummate any of a number of tieups which it hoped would make possible is also offer-^ ing coinpletion bonds and some help with banks and second money. Deal With Joseph. Justman, on Which UA prexy Grad Sears was working for months and which ap- peared to have the greatest chance of materializing, has reportedly fallen through completely: Although UA’s position is Con- siderably improved over that of the past couple years, clawing at its potential producers by other dis- tribs with better-padded bankrolls (Continued bn page 16) film Jobs Do^ SaCrahientb, Jan. IT. Wages and employment in the motion picture industry skidded iii November,: according to the Cali- fornia State Labor Statistics BuW Webkly pay checks ayeraged $97.16, a drop of $3.05 from the previous month’s average. Num- ber of jobs was about; 3% lower than ia ;November, 1948, 4 Barney BalabiUi, prek of the hew Paramount prbductionrdistributioii company, is taking a low. view of distributibh’s present performance and its chances of profitable ppera^ tioh based on current returns. At the first sMes meet of the newly- born company held over the past iyeekend in, New York, BMaban told his aides that few if any of the major distribution Wings are turn^ Ing in substantial profits from the sale of plx divorced from exhibi- ,tipn;': Balaban painted a; hard strbggle. ahead for any divorced production-/ distribution company to keep in the black in the light of present grossei against the cost of film-making and sale Of product. Par’s topper fre- quently stressed. the need for^ hit sales staffers to extract every pbs-; sibie dollar for his studio’s output .how that the cbmpany’s giant cir- cuit no longer is helping to carry |;the-ball.. His ^Ik made A corisiderable im- pressibn on Paramouriters, who Were somewhat surprised hy the gravity ;Of his warning. Balaban was obviously talking after review- ing not only the latest figures of JSEEKS PNO CONTROL Hollywood, Jan. 17. Steve Broidy, president bf Mono- gram; Scott Dunlap, .jBxec produ-, cer; " Sam Wolfe, attorney, and George . Burrows, treasurer, have pooled their finances to buy con- trolling interest in company. (Quartet now has 10 deals for blocks of stock, but purchases have hot been finalized. Same group recently bought 100,000 shaies from L. E. Wolfsori, of Uncertain On 2Qth Continuance; .28 Number of other distribs, esper the minbr ones, are squawk- ing about an ■unusual sales plan developed by 20th-Fox during the _ past year to hypo; Uquidatioiv of : but also thbse bf Its top product Company is offer- ing films in lots on a “write-ybur- j ont nued o n page 151 own-ticket” policy to exhibs who skipped the- pix when they were originally made available. A feature of the sebeme is that the theatre operator, in deference to 20th allowing him to set bis own price, must pay fbr the whole advance. This is to | aI Lichtman, whose initial con- ayoid his buying SIX or a dozen pix tract as v.p. of : 20 th-rox will ex- at _an^ ailvan ageous. price per fllni I pire Feb. 28; :said this week that and then playing the good ones! j,c j,ad not made up his mind yet "rst.wlule the rest remain on^the whether he will continue in an ' ‘ active, capacity beyond: that date, i Lichtman joined ^ 20th last March ! l under a pact calling for.one year .f Of active service, followed by four .liquidation, ot, film for which the i ycarg as a consultant.. . It is understood that prexy Spy- rbs Skouras and other execs are anxious, for Lichtman to continue in an . active capacity. There’s no .pressure bn hirb, however, to make (Continued on page 18) Goldwyn’s Ghi Stop Samuel Goldwyn, who leaves Hollywood this week for New^ York, will make a dav-and-a-half I and-he has virtually Florida, ‘af premium price nf'jl.gS ! stopoVer in Chicago for interviews , “>»«> h 9 ur the present pact ex- Of 3,044 Col. Shares Washington, Jan. 17. Jack Cohn, Columbia’s exec vee- pee, has made a series of stock Church is one of • numerous |gifts in the past month .totalling M^ealthy outsiders vdip have been' 3 ,044 shares of the cotnpany’s epm- attracted intb film-finw in the jmpn stock. Coftn gifted 1,344 past few years. He , waB cast by j shares to Artists Foundatipn; Inc., Kraiiier as his hacker because p'fja private benevolent unit. In his, agreenient to keep hands off 'other transactions. Col’s biggie has the artistic side of producing and 1 given 500 s hares apiece to his to give the producer a free rein j three sons, Ralph and Robert Cohn bn the business end, too. It is | and Joseph Curtis, Hik wife, thus believed that Kramer can bold I Jeaneite, afsb received 200 shares, the pic back until fall if he Is | Cohn is left with 45,524 shares of Willmg to withstand; Church’s Irc. !Col bommon! Besides he is —-— ■ ■■ Itrustee for a total of 20,557 shares divided among his : wife; and chil- dren. ' ' per share. Negotiations now are on with Buddy Fogelson, Texas millipnaife, one of pompany’s heaviest stocks holders, and with jyirs. Trem Carr, widow of former production head, who owned a large interest. and other publicity on his hew pic, “My Foolish Heart.” Producer will be east about three weeks, then returns to the Coast; for severar we^ks of final work oh “Edge Of Doom” before going to Europe in March. (Continued on page 47) Biz Okay Despite Storms, wo Jiina' Sockb First ; ^Battleground,' ‘SaInsori^ Next Strongest Firstrun biz in key cities cov- ered by Variety this week is level-. /epo ing off but. in high brackets, with | j* revenue very evenly distributed | among top seven or eight pictures, j Storms and cold .weather will cut into trade a little in several spots while plethora bf extended-runs naturally hurts the overall tptal. Despite both factors, business okay.-.'- “Sands of two Jima’.’ Lover” (Par),. “Hasty Heart” (WB)/ “Mrs. Mike” (UA) and “Fallen is J 1 It is understood that 20tb-FoX :Will narrie no. successor to Dan Michalpve as exec V p. of National Theatres,' the company’s Wholly'- Owned subsid/ Michalbye died Dec. 23 of a heart attack in New Ybrk after serving 2Qtb since 1934: , ^ Prexy Spyrbs Skpuras and NT .topper Charles Skburas reportedly feel that there is no point in nam- ing a successor to Michalove at this tune, since the company is Ih the jnidst of hegotiatiohs with the Dept, of Justice for a cbhsent de- 9,^^® to end anti-tru^t actipn against It by divorcing theatres from the production-distHbutibn bperptions. Consummation of the decree Is expected in a relatively short time, • the breakup undoubtedly re- suuing in a rearrangement of the ineatre circuit’s personnel. Sid Rogrfi Naiiied Second To Hughes feiko Studio Hoilywbbd, Jan. 17.i Sid Rogel I has been named No. 2 man at the RKf) studio with au- thority second only to Howard ijughes, managing director of pro- auction.: Gordon Youhgman, studio legalite, and Bickneli Lockhart are slotted by Hughes to the. two exec spots, direetly under Rowell. Duties formerly handled by Joe Nblan will b'^*"assumed by Young- man, who is;,; tagged veepee ih charge of coibmit.mehts. He jiVUl also retain his'rtitle of, veepee "and: general counsel of RKO.- Lockhart will be veepee and general man- ager of the studio in charge bf all phases of physical operation of both the Gower street and Culver City lots. many new films being launched this round but; few are; measuring up so far. “Malaya” (M-G), one of these, is . okay in i several keys and hefty in Philly. ’ “Montana” (WB) looms .big ini Portland but hot so good in two ' other spots. : v‘*Wbirlpbbl'’ (2Qth),! rolling Up cOn.siderable Coin,' Is dls-; appointing as'a big grosser, though .strong seebnd last round, is tak-' okay in three or foUr key.S; ;ing . possession of first place "by ; ‘>soutb ; Sea Sinhcr” • (U) hints sizable margin, John Wayne star-, proiriise on. four initial playdate.s, ■ rer ,is tops ip two cities, sehsa -1 being. top : neW film in St, Louis tibnal to terrific in fiiany others! .with ^bek session. It is neat, in . and breaking records in two other j x^ouisville, standout in Milwaukee spots. Pic is garnering better thkn j and fairly good In N. Y, “Nevadan” $215,000 Ih sbnie 14 keys, although: (Col), also new, is good in L. A. part, of coin Is frbhi hbldbver dhtes; I ^ :^‘My Foblish Heart” (RKO),. , second slot is being captured by [.which , bpens' at N. Y. Mu.sic Hall “Battleground” (M-G), now get-; this week, Is rated good in; L. A ; ting but around the keys; ‘‘Sam-1 “Mrs/ Mike;” vokay tp/biee in ; sev;^ son and; peiiiapy (Par) moves up , eral key5^. shapes sturdy in Chi. _ to third from seventh po.sitiori' “Jotson ; Sings Again^V (Col) while “Adam’s Rib” land fourth. “The Outlaw” (RKO). strong, Is finishing fifth, “Heiress” (Par) ih sixth. 'Town’” (M-G)/ first lavSt session, is taking seventh money while “Dancing in park” (20th) will be eighth. “Ihspector General” (WB); (M-G) will; pacing ; Pitt still with “On : with wow week. Hiding” (U) I “Woman; in vaude looms stiirdy ip St. Louis. “Bride For Sale" (RKO) shapes nice in Frisco,. ‘‘Fighting Ken- luckiah” (Rep) looks great in Mphtreal. “Red Shoe.s” (EL), pri pop-price run in Baltb, is paying pff with")smash stanza, “FprSyte inclined tp drpop currently; ■‘All \ Wpman” (M-G) shapes nice in King-s. Men’’ (Col), !‘Thelma Jor- /Mphtreal, “Wpre Yellow Ribbon” don” (Par) and/“Prihce of Foxes” | (RKO) is fancy in. Tbrontb/ (20th) complete the Big 12 list, i iCorriplete Boxofice Heporis Ace runner-up pix hte “Great i oh Papes lOdi) Trade Bilark Registered FOUNDED BY SIME SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VARIETY, Inc. Sid Silverman. President 154 West 4Gth St., New York 19, N: Y. Holly wbod 18 . 6311 Yucca Street Washington 4 1292 .National Press Building . Chicago 1 360 No.’ Michigan- Ave. London WC2 8 St. Martin's Pl:, Trafalgar Sq: . 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