Variety (February 1950)

^ednetday* Fdbnnwy 1, l9S0 ncTtnuBs ; Germiftn msirket is beinff yiewedf by Ui S; film as eventually' becoming second Only to Britain in importance as a source of in- come* Tbey see it as potentially producing betWeen; $10,000,000 and $12,000^00 a year. Compahies are currently getting $17,O0O,0OQ in cash out : of Britain. With such heavy coin in pros- pect, major Companies have been hassling with the German govem- ment for; the past several months pn the terms it set iip for the grant- ing of import permits; to U. S. pix. Compromise seftlement was agreed to laist week and permit^l5 for 1950 for each of the 10 Motion Pic- tivre Asshi of Americarrtiember companies:—^were handed over by the Germans last Friday (27). Meantime, ihdependent produc- ers have failed tp’ get the permits they have requested. While some are squawking that they are delibr erately being froien out of the for- mer Reich—as they have similarly charged, in Japan-—^most pf the in- dies feel that the delay is justi^ fiable until the Germans figure a way to limit liidie permits td a rea- sonable number. 4E*mbleny4s-foeaiized-in^deals-re^ Ip Senps of Viilea Oatm iHolly wOod,: J^ Progressive Pictures has been formed, here for ? series of video shorts; with ‘‘Bronco Billy" Anderr son, early western star, to do group of oaters when suitable material is found. Company has capital stock listing of $200,000^ With an author- ized issue of $25,000. Gilbert Maxw^^ is president; Nathanm AndersOn. yeepee; Herman Budan, secretary- treasurer. ; cently made by Samuel Goldwyn, Edward Small and other independ- ents with German distribs for re- lease of a dozen or more of their pix in Germany in 1950. Add a flock of indies With 12 pix each to the 150 permits granted the majors and it becomes obvious that the German J market will be flooded, most observers agree. Refusal of the Germans to grant permits to indies brought cabled protests this week from: Ellis G. Arnall, president of the Society of independent Motion Picture Pro- ducers. He urged John J. McClpy, U. S. High Commissioner for Ger- many, to “void arbitrary action" by (Continued on page 54) MPEA Aid in Japan To Major film companies wi)\ ot permit Indie efforts to obt^ -u im- port licenses for Japan to become a focal point for attack on the al- leged monopoly position of the Mo- tion Picture Export Assn., it was learned authoritatively this week. Rather, the MPEA is said how to be making efforts to have Gen- eral MacArthur's heaidquaj-ters in Tokyo okay the licenses requested by Samuel Goldwyn and Walt Dis- ney for the importation of their pix into Japan. Society of Inde- pendent Motion Picture Producers has been preparing data for pre- sentation in Washington to bolster charges that the MPEA has a mo- nopoly on importing pix into Ja- pan. , Goldwyn and Disney, Read- ing SIMPP members, have been stalled in prelimihary efforts to oh- tain the necessary permits. This wduld be the basis for a general-: Ized attack on MPEA. MPEA, which is a. CDoptjratiye distributioii agency maintained by the major U. $, companies under terms of th e Webb-Poinerene act, has been a frequent target of Philadelphia, Jan. 31. Blame for poor relationship be- tween film distributors and exhibi- tors was laid squarely in the laps of the distribs here today (Tues.) by Allied of ,Eastern Pennsylvania members^ At their annual mem- bership meet, the iiidie exhibs claimed the film exchanges were “Woefully undermanned." Charge was based on results of a survey taken among 400 exhibs in this area, both Allied. members and non-members, listing the favorite and least-friendly companies, as far as the theatre operators are concerned. Majority pf exhibs answering the survey averred film salesmen called them “very infrequently*" They declared almost unanimously that the branch managers “practically j never" call on them in their the- atres. According to Allied spokes 7 men, it shouid be the branch man- agers’ job to know indiyidual the- atres and; locations. . Thus, they poirited out, failnre of the ex- change chiefs to move out of their offices is largely responsible for the Unfriendly relations existing between the two industry branches. On the company having the “most valuable" product, almost twice as many yotes were recorded for 20th-Fox, as for Metro, its near- est competitor. Twentieth also won by a nose over M-G for having the “fairest sales policy." Most exhibs claimed that all major distribS ex- cept United Artists insisted on percentage deals, as against a choice of flat rentals, although some reported, 20th also gave them their choice. Exhibs also listed by name those companies they claim are violating the consent decree by. insisting pn selling their product in block?. Six ;companies were accused by insist-' ihg exhibs buy shorts and news- feels beloi’fi . getting a chance to book feature product; Meet, presided oVer by general manager Sidney Samuelson, voted unahimously against the sale of any- theatrical filnt. to television if the film industry does not uri- deftake the . projected survey to discover why more people aren’t steady fiimgoers, 20th-Eox will defi- nitely; do the job on its owni Idea was suggested by sales, veepee Andy W. Smith, Jr., at the, cbm- pany’s second annual Showmanship meet last week at the homeoffice. Smith suggested going so far as to conduct an actual bell-fmging, dooi'-to-doOr survey^ either by the industry on a cost-sharing basis. or by some .existing . Qpnsumer rer search group. ; Eollowing up on the idea, 20th execs declared this week they would try to start the survey with- in the next; year. Move would be a difficult one, they pointed but, because the size Of the necessafy research'makes it toiigh to find a starting point. : First step might be huddles 'with , Parent Teachers Assn, groups and exhibitor organr izations to find a plapC: to start the survey..- Smith termed the problem of non-filmgoefs the most serioUs now confronting the industry. He pointed out that only 13,000,000 peo ple in thp U . S. see the aver- age picture,; of the 110,000,000 physically and finartciallx able to* attend theatres. “Therefore," he said, “we have a tremendous reservoir t)f 97,000,000 potential customers which must be tapped if our - industry is to grow arid prosper. These people have the money. These people are going to buy entertainment in some form. It is our job to see that the entef- (Gontinued from page 6) Pix Hollywood, jan, 31. John H. Auer will produce and direct “Hit Parade of 1950," a re- vival of the former series of musi- cal shows at Republic after a hi- atus of three years.; Last time it hit the screen it was “Hit Parade of'1947."; This time the picture will lay more stress bn the romantic theme, based on an original yarn, “Mike Was;; a Lady," authored by Law- fence Kimball and Audrey Wis- berg. Michelangelo ‘Sleeper’ Dickered by UA For STMPP proxy Ellis G. Arnall., . i u- Webb-Pomererte. statute pennits Jand for suppofl of the Council ot cpmbiries for operatioris abroad that would bb prohibited by the anti-trust laws domeSticaliy. . Ar- naH’s charge is that the law does not permit actions by the MPEA abroad that wbuld harm other U.;; S., pfodueprs. MPEA has no explicit agreement with Supreme ebminand Allied Powefs . that gives it ekclusive rights in Japan; biii it is believed Its word in favor of admitting the SlMPP product Would carry ebn- sidefable weight Goldwyn and Disney now have a sales rep try- ing to make necessary arrahge- niepts in Tokyb. Were they; grant-, ed import permits, they could share iti the $1,600,000 convertibility fund: which the TJ. S. government provides aiid coUld begin piling up fpzen yen which might have con- siderable value at a later date. Motion Picture Organization s cur rent fi^ht for repeal of the Federal amusement tax, United Artists last week started negotiations to handle national dis- tribution of What appears at the moment to be one of the most sur- prising “sleepers" in New York theatre history. Picture; is' “The Titan," a camera study of the paintings and sculpture of Michel- angelo., It has no living actors. The 70-mmute film opened at the 400-seat Little Carnegie Jan. 21 and hit over $9,000 its first week, just slightly below the house rec- ord set by Noel Coward’s “Brief Encounter," A.pparently set for a long run, it Was greatly aided by excellent reviews in the'New York dailies and in Time mag. Owners Robert Flaherty, Robert Snyder and Ralph Alswang, amazed at their own success, have not yet giveri UA an answer on its distribu- tion offer. They are considering several Other proffers from outfits specializing in aftie releases.: UA,’s j plan is to turn the film over, to the • special unit the company set up under Harold Auten to. handle ; J, Arthur Rank’s. “Henry V" for ; art houses, colleges and cultural ; groups. i pie is the first om art to play as , el feature, ■ It was filmed in Rome j and Flore nee in 1938-40 by Swiss ; prod ucer Gurt Oertel and ra n 95 (Gontinued on page 20) The total of potential damages in some 94 exhib antitrust suits I now pending against the eight ^ majors has reached $322,000,000. Startling accumulation of treble- damage actions was disclosed this vveek by a statement filed with the Securities , & Exchange Coniniis- sion by Paramount. It represents an all-time peak in monopoly cases,; At. the same time, the Para- mount statement was inclined to treat the suits as a routine occu- 4^ Motion Picture Assni of Amer- ica board yoted unankiiously. yes- terday (Tues.) to accept charter membership in the Council of Mo-; ; tion Picture Organizations, thereby furthering. aU-industry acceptance of the unit. Only tWb major or^ ganizations now sitting out, are the Theatre Owners of America and ; the Society of Independent Mo- tion Picture Producers, TOA has called an exec commitr tee meeting for March 2 Of 3 in New York, following the postpone- ment of final action at its recent regular meet. SIMPP has not yet set anbther huddle to, discuss GOMPO. Delay in the TOA con- fab until early March ends ; any faint! hope that COMPO’s fofm al birth would be staged by the Feb. 20 deadline set by; RKO prez Ned E. Depinet, head of the brganiza- i tion, at the recent; Waishlhgton meet; of participating groups. Ah earlier TQA meet had beeh hoped for but a number of, key of- ficials of the unit are curf eh tly Va- cationing in Florida arid will not return until late in FebruailV Among these are Sam Pinanski» TOA prez; Arthur Lockwood, board chairman, arid Si Fabian, executive committee member. There is no question that TOA will ratify GOMPO after clarifica- tion of several moot points includ- ing the technique used for raising the group’s funds and how the coin is to be spent. Unanimous ratifi- cation had been asked by Depinet by Pebi 20 so that a final meet could be held early in March. Both dates will be postponed. MPAA board, in addition to ratifying COMPO's. resolution, unanimously inserted an addi- tional paragraph at the suggestion pational risk. “Paramount regards , the legal proceedings referred; to ; above as Ordiriary routine litigar f tion incidental to its business;" the ; SEG report declared. exhibitors* voluntary contributions based on iOc. per ,$100 of film rentals. Washington ^ meet provided that “each such In further ainplification, the. j.oi,tj.ibution of 10c. per $100 of statement said; “Hpwever, experi- (mature fl,,„ rentals actually coh ence of Paramount With respect to suits which have been pursued to final judgment or have been set-j tied , indicates that the ultimate liability will be only a small frac- tion of. the amount claimed." (GontinUsd on page 47) U. S. in Church Deal Remarkable progress of the Americart industry in freeing its (Gbntinued on page 20) UA INDIES TREKING NX TO TALK PLANS on Eastern distribution committee of. the Society .of Independent Mo- tion Picture Producers is slated to meet at the Society’s quarters in New York tomorrow (Thursday». Gov. Ellis G. Arnall. prek, who ar- rives in New York today from At- lanta, Will preside.. Meeting will be for the purpose of canvassirig the foreign situation, particularly Germany and Japan.. James A. Mulvey, prez of Goldwyn Productions, is chairman of the dis- tribution committee, Joseph Bernhard; Film Glassies prexyy headed Goaslwards yester- day (Tues.) to fix distrib deals with indie producers. Befnhai’d is airriing at a lirieup of product to , be released next fall after FG’s i currerit ro,stel^ of eight pix. Gur- fent. year will be the company’s biggest fip.m the viewpoint of the nuniher of pix released. Returns ori FC’s two big money- makers, “Lost Boundaries” and “Not Warited," which were releasr ed last year, show the former to have put; $l;500,000 in the com- pany’s till to date! .with an addi- tional $500,000 expected. “Not Wanted" earned over $1,000,000. On the ba.sis of thesd two pix. FC had its best earning period in the : final quarter. of 1949.. Parallel stateinent by the new; United Paramount chain, also list-1 ing the total, echoed the same Sen- j timerits. i Suits continue to be filed at a ' two-three rate monthly. While a few have resulted in thumping j frozen coin abroad is seen in the verdicts, such as the action of Wil- near-completioh of a second deal liam Goldman in Phiiadelphia and! within a matter of weeks to clear Jackson Park in Ghicago, most are l$l,300,000-worth of blocked Italian settled on the basis of rectified j lire. A similar deal to thaw 1,000,- clearance and run, with possibly “a 000,000 lire was okayed only a few dollars’* thrown in. Lately, [few weeks ago, giving the 10 mem- ber companies of the Motion Pic- ture Assn, of America a total of $2,600,000 Out, of Rome. The new deal, approved by the MPEA board last w^eek, is similar in all respects to the previous one. It is again with a :Catholic church Number of indie producers group that supports its leasing through United Artists will Pperation , in Italy through the col- ’ be in New York during the next lection of funds in the U. ;S. These . two weeks for .confabs with ^9^ . homeOffice; chiefs On releasing and , for lire released to the ; ad-publicity plans for their prod- gioup^s h^adquafters by the; Yank ' ucl. Parade was led off by W. Lee firm.s, in Rome; Wilder, who arrived last Friday The two new deals are patterned (27) to discuss his “Once a Thief." on one made last. March with the |.Gpsar Romero-June Havoc co- North Amefican G(\llb^ ■ starrer, scheduled for release in chafitable organizatibri w h i c h June^^ ;, " , maintains a seminary for training I Benedict Bogeaus is .slated to priests hear Rome. That cleared * ■ arrive fiom.Hoilywood Friday ( 30 ) ;850.()()0,p00 .lire to. the dol- i.to di.scu 5 S plans for “Johnny One- la*', giving the American cortipa- Eye." Prints of the picture, which; nies slightly over $l,000,0p0-ror a- stars Wayne Morris arid will be lotal of rnoreithan $3,60p»()00 from reJeased in May, preceded the pro- Italy in le.ss than a year. This is ’ ducer to N; Y. Also Scheduled \to beside other individual deals made be in N,; Y. this week is Harry Pop-; by producers and distribs for con- kin, who. will huddle ori his “Gham- ■ vcr.sion of; frozen: currbricy; there. ' pagne for Gaesar,” on which he Ram Pf most recerit deals was [ will bring: in the first finished ver- not with the North American Gob sibn. Popkin will also talk with iege, although the identity of the UA homeoffice execs about his. organization has not been dis^ “D.O.A.," riow going into its initial, closed. It is definitely known, how- release. j ever, that it is ript th^ Stanley Krahrier and George itself.. . Glass, latter veepee of Krariier Pro- ’ Rate of exchange on the new : ductions, will arrive about Feb. 10, deals, is 750 lire to the dollar. That to discuss “The Men," story of GI • provides a differential in favor of paraplegics starring Marlon Bran- the GatholiC charity of abbut 125 do. “Men" is to.go but for release points- iisince the official rate of [about next: August. [exchange is 624 lire.