Variety (January 1950)

tfeilne0^y9 Jaimary 18, 1950 PICTtnBB!| ;; Washingtony JanV 17.; > Plaiis for total mobilization of tbo film industry to repeal or reduce tUe 20% Federal admission tax were drawn up today (Tues.) at the meeting of the taxatioh and legisr jation committee of the Cdune.il of Motion Picture Organizations. Board Of strategy^ headed by Abram F. Myers,- sharpened and concretized recpmmendatiojis made by previous; committee meetings in the tax drive. ' Because war films are currently proving to be hot bh; contenders, Parampunt is rushing into reissued general release “Wake Island” and '■So Proudly We Heil” as a pack- aged-hill.--'. Fix had been tested in limited Iiiitihl major step in the cam-! reissue diming the past few niom^^ ‘' and then slotted for June release. However, performances -Of “Battle- ground” and “Sands of iwo. Jiiha’* have convinced Par that the mar- ket is ripe for combat celluloid. Hence, coinpany-s sales fOree has been instructed to push bookings immediately, paign calls foh the distribution of a “press book- to every exhib^ in the U. S. which will act as a guide ■ in ihe education of the public' on ’ defeating the 20% bite. Letters have already been mailed tp branch managers of the niajOr dis- tribs in each of the : 31 exchange centres, Oiitlihing the ifix battle strategy and urging full coopera- tion Of sales forces. In addition, all circuit chieftains and their top exploitation men are being drawn Into the fight. Overall policy of COMPO’s committee is targeted at the formation of all-industry cen- tres in each locality to carry on the propaganda. COMPO’s tax committee has al- ready cpriceived the plaii in cbn^ siderable detaih In general out-^ line, the plan calls for the use of screen trailers and lobby posters as methods of reaching filmgoers. on a mass', scale. Attacking from another “direction, exhibs and branch heada are being instructed to contact newspapers arid broad- m FeVl of ITniversal-s sales staffers will be I tpid at a brace of gerieral distri-: butibn meetr that the company’s recent executive and sales shuffles are now ended and that no further changes are in the wind. Confabs - . _ n• ' slated for this week and next in casters for disseniinatipn of the 1 New York and St. Louis are beirig dustry’S view on the ‘‘nnfair ^nd | summoned to quiet the inevitable burdensom^ . nature of the Fed-: ] further siiakeups, U’s era] tax. ^ Petitions Arid postcards | wants to. still exchange jit- addressed to legislative represen- the shufHe brought tatives. will also be .cireulated., . r wholesale reassignmerits of Problem of .distribution of the the dropping propaganda material may be ncknd:; ton execs : ' through . cooperati^ oL Na^ippM g^t the idea across, both Nate Screen ^ J. Blumberg, company: prexy, and quested Herman Robbins, N william A. SenllvJ disl rihiitinn vee- (Continued on page 15) Adhur Mayer Will Be m Arthur Mayer will definitely be associated with Norman :Elspn in pperatipn of the Embassy circuit arid an associated distribution setup for British films, it was learned this week. Mayer’s son. William A. Scully. distributiGn vee- i pee, will mount the podium. Blum- berg will tell asseinbled staffers that the “readjustment period” has ended arid the force will go ahead as is. Gotham meet runs three days, starting Friday (20); St. Lpo conclave starts the following Tues-r day (24) ; for a similar three-day stretch: Number df other: objectives are announced as part of the meets’ agenda. Scully will urge solution of current clearance problems on “an equitable basis.” He will call for a drive to book as many exhibs Midiael, is counsel an secretary 13possible regardless oL past his- pf Guild Enterprises, Inc., the new ; tory, Distrib veepee is also out to company established by El son for ; down exhib anti-trust actions, the theatre and distributidn ppera- ■ 'ppese, he said, “are beirig unrea- tipn. There was no 1- 4. 4.U* ^ fJdnably brought by exhibitors who - ^ Other hint, this \ could easily settle their differences Wj^k in a ns wer^ to qupsticms as to ^ gpe^^ Blspn .s uackers. that have bothered j consulting film company’s repre- Jlf^e circles ever.sippe;the. former 1 g^otatives as they do iavvyer.s;” ’^^^Ihred Mass: turnout at the meets is ex- toe fivn-house Embassy newsreel [jjpcted: with all personnel from Tiro ^ -J® to divisional chiefs pi ez and treasurer of Guild Enter on prises : and his.wife, Peggy Jane, is ’ as v.p. They and young hand. Mayer also comprise the board of , SuprCIllCi C/OUrt .R61USG& May.r ls iormer, a^^^^^ WV LenS^r Ing-publicity director of Para- . . . Washingtori, Jan, 17. mpunt-PubliX, operator : of the - - Supreme court' yesterday (16) Rialto, theatre.. N. Y,, and .parther refused tp. take . jurisdictioii and; 'vith Joseph: Burstyrt in the foreign Rear an appeal in the ease; brought' film distrib outfit of Mayer fe Bur- by Gurtis Couraiit, motion picture styn. More recently he has been in- ienscrV who claims he has been charge of film activities in Ger- barred from emplpyinent :.b.y Local many as overseer for the U; S; gov- 559. MQtlOn .Picture Photographers. ci-nmerit. H^ has also been re- - Courant; Who; caihe here from Peatedly meritiorib^ to head the In- Pptond in 19i4T and is now a citizen, dustry’^ public relations setup, the chargod the Local would neither Goiiricil of Mption Picture Organ-, bargain for him nor admit him to izations.. . ^: imembership. thereby locking him Elspn' is actively operatirig the 'cbt of work. .The ;U:. S. district Enibassy houses, although^ the deal court in L:A. said it. lacked, jurls- has hot yet been officihllv closed diction in the case, and this view That awaits a final audit;Avhich is was supported by the court of ap- exi^cted by about. Feb. 15:- At Reals./ ^ ^ ^ that time Newsreel •Theatres, Inc., I Action, by the Supreme^ Court vhich operated the houses ;under appears to lock the. door against; W./French Githens, will be dis- further, action by Courant, solved/: . ■■ John McGarthy Eyes WaSh. Washington. Jari; 17; John l\ic.Garthy, Motion Picture 5sn. of America foreign, depart-, ment chief,. was in. .town the past By HERB GOLDEN Greatest irioneymakers over the years have been those films in th,e eategory of “drarnas/^ analysis of Variety’s roster of ail-time tbp- grossers (printed herewith), re- veals; Npt fari behind as consist-: ent *iure for boxoffice coin :bave been the iriusicals. Of all the pictures that have ever hit Variety's “Golden Cir- cle," the ; creme-de-la-creme of filnidom., by .grossing $4,GOO,000 or more in' the domestic (U. S: and Canada) market, 21 are classified as drbmcis, There, are 70 pictures altogether in the list (which in- cludes estimated grosses fbr 1949 releases) With the breakdown as to type as follows: ' :Dramas.... "Zl..-.. Musicals/'-.’.. Gostiime Spectacles 10 //'Comedies'; .O.- With Songs 8 /Westerns 3 Cartoons 1 Almost exactly the sairie pattern holds true for the first 25 films in the list-—those that did approxi- mately .$5,000,000 or better. They included eight dramas, five inusi- cais, four cpstume spectacles, three comedies, three pictures with .songs, one: western. and. 6ne car^ toon; Only five films gave promise Of falling iiito the $4,000,000 or over class in the past year, with the dramas again leading. There Were two of them, “Pinky” and “Snake Pit”, Others were .a musical (“Jolson Sings Again’*), a comedy (“Male War Bride”) arid a costum'e spec (“Joan of Arc”). ..Going down more deeply into the 1949 list to discern a pattern/ of the ;19. pLx. that give promise of turning in rentaJs of $3,000,000 or more seven are musicals, six are dramas, five are comedies and orie is a costume spec. Tren.dtounters might discern in that a shift in public taste - toward the lighter type fare, ^since musicals and coni- edies tbgether comprise 63% of the list as compared with only 50% (musicals, comedies and pic- tures with, songs) in the all-time l^ist of 70 tbp-grossers and 44% in the list of the 25 all-time top- grossers. Whether that really indicates a trend away from drairia as the big- gest b.o. type is believed doubtful. It is thought more likely a cyclical $ituation, with a number of mu- (Coritinued on page 18) N.Y. Hearings Starl^O^^ Proposed 6-Co. Decree I Hearings in N; Y. Federal court : start today ( Wed. ) on a proposed ' decree against the six remaining ; defendants in the Government, ^ anti-trust sUil. it is / believed.'un- likely: that a settlement of the ..suit against Warrier Bros, wiil .be; a.n- , nounced today, since certain . de- : tails must-, still be ironed out. War- i ners and 20tli-Fox, which have of- fered; to settle, vyiU probably argue for a mild decrec/ and ignore their current-dickerings. , Tlirec-judge court will, als.o hear, a plea by Colombia;. Universal arid; United Artists, for a..separate, de- cree, Little’ Three, want a docU- nieiit which would not. include ^hY i provisioris in reference to: exhibir . tipn. since /they are ; rion-theatre- oWriing defendantSv Arguriient by all parties is expected to end m dim Gro^by’s Bingp; Bing ,Crosby’s unique^' pbsi- . tiori as filmdom’s leading box- office star over a period of: years—arid the amount Of coin his pictures have made for ex- hlbS—ris reflected in Variety- s all-time list of top-grpssirig films in this issue. Four of the top ll pictures stap Der Bingle, while he was in seven of > the first 70 (all. of those which have earned $4,000^000 or. more domestically). . ThC' quartet of: : Crosbys airiong the first 11 look in total : rentals in the U. S. arid Canada of $26,300,000, while the en- tire seven bn the list grossed just about $40i000,()00. No other U. S: star ever ap- prpaehed this, record ayerage of almost $6,000,000 gross per film, although Crosby’s starid- irig was somewhat marred this past year by “Connecticut yankee” and “Top o’ the Morn- ing,” which will average $2,800,000/ ’f Grass-foots feaf of *^dpmlriatioia by New. Yofk’^ of the projected all- iridustfy public relations setup wa« the principal reason behind refusal of THeatre Owners of America to stamp its okay on the X/ppnclI of Motion Picture Organizations last week: Balk by TO A at its serill- aririual board meeting in Washing- ton dealt a staggering blow to tho industry’s S d a r i ri g plans for -coMPp.;/-/ While it is believed certain that the exhib group will eventually give its blessing to the as-yet un- born public relatioi\s drgariizatip.nr its decision to give the matter “fufther study” Was seen as. mak- ing one thing sure. That is that Franpis Harmon, v.p. of the Motidii Picture Assri. of America, who hai been acting ^5 secretary of the new setup, and Others associated with what hinterland exhibs term “New York” would find little place in tho final organizatipn. . TO A was expected to be tho Second pf the 10 prganizatibna represented at the 'Chicago arid Washington m e e t i n g s, jwhero COMPQ. Was conceived, to give iti assent to "establishment of tho setup, Uriariimous approval is fo-? quired. Feb. 20 was set; at tho Washirigton conclave in December as the deadline by which each par- ticipating group was tb indicate ifi assent. After such unanimoui okay was received by chairman Ned E. Depinet he was to call a irieetinf in March at which GOMPO would actually be set up formally. / Metropolitan Motion Picturo • : Theatre Owners Assn., headed by T A 41, Tj i > ♦ . . I J-'^P Brecher, last week was first to J. Arthur Rank’s two big entries give its approval. Other groups I in the U. S. market last year, ; were expected to follow almost j ’'Hamlet”; and “The Red Shoes,” i automatically.; Now, with TOA’s are currently engaged in a hotter- ' orgariizaUons will , than-ever duel for top laurels as dude Allied, Independent Theatr#- ' the biggest British grosser of all I. times. “Shoes” has Just pbssed. (the $2,000,000 marker in rentals I garnered by Eagle Lion In the I American market. “Hamlet,’’ han- dled by Universal Will hit $2,000,- 000 within the next 30 days. Both pix are estimated as uUi-; fi 1 * DAI mate $4,000,000 grossers. In parai- 10 l/6t6rinni6 D«U« LtirQ rela^W • Motion Picture Assn, of Amep both companies .have made tois j ^ ■?»- with Rank which nerrhit offsettinff ‘ ^>«riwide survey of the public’s m-, of U S returns o7 these pix iSimsTt’he SSllShnA/ fn w Ptank i^l-^OU apiecc to cover costs. Un- .ider the MPAA proposal, about 100 Moreover, each pic kicked off as /houses Carefully selected through ro^shovv entnes here, . ! out the. country would be used^ Biggest British grosser in: the - the forum for quizzing pix pafroni past was Rank’s “Caesar and Cleo- . on whether they consider reels an patra,” handled by U three years., inducement to pttend flickeries ago, Film did about $2,500,000 but Five reels are curreritly mulling netted only a small amount be-Ythe question with the indicationii cause of a particulariy . expensive | that the survey will be authorized ad. campaign. :Qther big taker wa.sMPAA survey would be con^ which United Artists; ducted by Robert Chambers, head distributed. of the org’s research dept Ghamb- “Shpes” sprinted ahead, last ers recently completed a te.st prob# week when Maurice MaUrer, City into newsfeei habits of New' Yorjk- InVestmg Corp. exef, paid EL i ers at five houses in the city. Sqm# $100,000 for cohtiiiuatlori of an un- ' 4G0 patrons spot-checked by th« limited run at City Investing’s MPAa indic^ted^ 83%/prejfer- Bljou theatre, N. Y. That paymerit : ehce for the playing of reels dur- brought- EL’s entire take from the ing;film shows. ::$ijou to a totai of $419,000, a re.e-: . Big survey/ would follow .th« ord for an qfl'-Broadway house. ;technique . used in /New: York: In (Contiriued on page 47) , lliat instance,; newsreel questioriji •: /"'; ... W’c/G carefully concealed in a . list ; . .. of 30 posers asked the patrons, in- iPhil Dow' Returns 16 U A: ^ eluding such/ lrreleyant /stuff, ai : As Ass-1 Contract Mgr. ferted single or /double featiire^ Phil Dow, formerly assiriant to“^"^®^^^^^ priol^ was hidderi to the /western division riianager of Rptom, an accurate ^answer/to th# United Artists, returned ito that coprited. company Monday (16) as a.s.sistarit : ''-“■/ ...•-. ^ cpntram Jtvanagbh: (GoritinUed on page 18) - Enterprises is buying 10 British pix as a starter for U. S. ^ejease and has kri option Ori 15 ? They’ll be used primarily ; Embassy circuit and then sold to other houses. ‘Fqreign-iari- /week on^ M dealing with guage pix riiay be acquired; later. ^Re EGA guarantees. WiideJ-V Poroiner Talk German Indie Film Holly wood, Jan. IT. Billy Wilder, and Erich Pprnmer 4:are talking about settirig up anltl- j deperiderit company to produce an j original story by Lesser Samuels in Germany late next siimmCr. \Viider . and Sarriuels are working ontbescreenplay* Plans call for Pbmriiqr to pro- duce' arid Wilder to direct: Wilder ] will also put .up part of. the coin. Stephen W; McGrath, who died .Jari.'’'5. on Dow, following his departure' Arthur; Sachsori, who resigned • from uA about four years ago, be- few w'eeka ago as general sales- came a.ssistant to Harry L. Gold, manager for Samuel Goldwyn then sales inahager for Howard Procluctions, is planning tb set up Hughes Productions. For the past as a sales rep for indie producers year he has been aide to George He is understood to have already J. Schaefer, eastern rep for Stan- . lined up the handlirig of tWo top ley Kramer Productions. pix to be released through major/ . Although^hblding the title of as- distribs. / sistant, Dow will handle all the ; Sachsbn headed sales for Gold- 'duties of contract manager. Paul, wyn for four years. Prior to'that Lazarus, Si:*/, who officially holds time he was for many years v/pi the latter spot, la recuperating : and assistartt general salesmanagbr from a serious illnesi/ ' for Warner Bros.