Variety (April 1950)

PICTVRSS April 1 <», 1950 K^cperimental steps are currently Kinder way which may clear the road to a V^holesale return by dis- tributioii to the sale of product on Hat rentals rather than percent- ages. Number of top sales, execs are ooiivinced that some drastic action must be takeh to reduce the apeeulative natureof: distribution by passing more .of the risk, along with the bait of scoring a killing on a big picture, to the theatres. Upshot of this urge to cut specula- tion is a strong movement to widen enormously the number of situations sold on hats. Dramatizing ihe new thinking BOW permeating film ;forces, one major distrib will shortiy embark on a novel experiment to test the revenue possibilities of flat rentals ;sold across-the-board for a single picture. As a tester, the major will select One exchange territory where every situation oh a selected film ivili be booked oh flats alone. . In selecting the film to serve as a guinea pig, distrib will .cull a fea- ture regarded as an aver age grosser.;- Under the plan n o w being mapped, fiats will be fixed by de- termihing the, averagei rehtals paid by each exhib fOr the last four or five films bodked iU the house by the .distrib. Entire point of the plan is to determine how well the distrib can do hot only in nabes and subsequent-runs but also de- luxe houses in key cities. > As a cohsequence of changed thinking by distribs, the National Allied committee headed by Col. H. A. Cole which Will be making the rounds: of. sales offices in a drive for wider sale on flats may win far greater cohcessions from the majors than in their previbus hegiras. The Cole group is beat- ing the'drums for a better break so far as small nabe houses arb concerned. Previous vis-a-vis visit to distrib execs last year won some promises of more sales bn fiats but Allied has continued to show dis- satisfaction over performance oh these promises. Influential wing in distrib quar- fers sees a big return to fiats as orie answer to distribution’s' cur- rent troubles. By volume booking of flats, it is argued, a distrib can figure how to break even on some pix how suffering b-O; losses and make a modest but satisfactory (Continued bn page 20) Pbr. the first time since 1942, Parambunt is planiiing; a fhlUscale conventibn. as a feature pf its bpen- ing; year in the prbductibn-distri- butioh field alene. Tentative de- clsibn tb call the big meet this year was; reached by Alfred . W, Sphwal-: berg. Par’s distributicn veepee, at the recent huddle bf divisibiial sales chiefs, Nc Iccale has; yet been chbsen, but it is likely that tlie cbnYentibn ^iH assemble at the studio in June. . Under the initial plans, meet will run. more than the usual three days, probably lastiiig for a full week. Step is regarded by Par- amounters ah a Way of hypoing showmanship and whipping up en- thusiasm for the cbihpahy’s p^rbduct lineup. • Continued fi:om paft 3 BINFORD’SNO, ON'OUTLAW’ Memphis, April I8i , “The Outlaw” has practically been in a swmgihg door at the bf- fice of Memphis censor Lloyd T. Binford. It now has set some kind of record of having been banned twice and freed twice to play here. Latest developments in the right-about-face game came yester- day (Monday) when at, 9 a m. the. octogenarian blue-penciiler an- nbimced the RKO film had „ been nixed for Memphis showing. Two and one-half hours later he said It had^ been okayed. ; - ^In announcing his ban Biriford «aid it was because RKO had ‘‘not complied . with conditions they agreed to,” He later declared the pic could play as scheduled (Loew’s State May 3 or 4) because “the movie people had agreed” to the Conditions. The, conditions, he explained, wete the deletion of “a salacious picture used b.n billboards and in' . newspapers that was not in the film itselfy trailers that were nbt aeceptable and some sceineS in the Pic had been, nixed by Binford Once, before, ; He lifted that ban last Feb. 7 after setting his “con- ditions.” RKO accordingly ar- ranged its playdate. Yesterday’s ban followed Binford's discovery that the “conditions” had hot' been met.'-.. RKO execs have had a rbiigh time in. meeting Binford’s demands *mce the ads of which he com- plained were designed by cbntroll- ing stockholder Hovt'ard ilughes nnd he had issued orders that ho . crhanges Were to be made in them without his .okay... Switches here are believed to be the first ..major ®nes he has peiriiiitted In the ad- vertising. Loss Of about $200i000 in. do- mestic operation fof the first three months of the current year is un- derstood to have been reported to the United Artists board by prexy Grad Sears at a session of the di^ rectorate in New York yesterday (Tuesday), , Red ink, it is said, was not viewed too seriously,' since it cohi- pares with a $1,000,000 loss in the first quarter of 1949. That Was overcome in later months to show a profit for the yeari Strong prod- uct cOming up that might give the company gross film rentals of bet- ter tlKin $400,000 for several weeks running is counted on to again overbalance the early-in-the-year losses. Foreign department is undef^ stood to: have hit the bfeak-eveh j point after a number of years in the mipus column. That’s been accomplished by closing down money-losing branches ' in many areas and turning distribution oyer to ffanchi^ehplders. iVhere UA is maintaining its own offices, severe cuts • have been made, including elimination of all employees to whom the company had commit- ments for payment in dollars. Reportedly of some concern to the board and management is the video department set Up a couple years ago, Its income has been averaging under $3,000 weekly, which results in an operating loss. Nevertheless, UA feels that it may eyentually be a highly profitable department and important to the future of the company, so it prob- (Continued:dn page 63) New York bankers and Wall Streeters with whom Ellis G. Ar- nall, prez of the Society of Inde- pendent Motion Picture Producers, has been in negotiation on a. plan for indie production financing; will meet with him and SIMPP mem? hers on the Coast May 2, 3 and 4. Gfoiip, which Arnall * refuses to identify as yet, will fly out for the meetings a:t the end of this month. ArriaU, who is at his home in Georgia this week,, heads for the Gpast dyer the weekend. Hell spend about two weeks huddling with his membership on the financ- ing arid other problems. He’ll prob- ably leaye for Loridori toward the middle of May for the Anglo-U.S. [ films agreeirient negotiatioris. Indie financing plan on which the New York group goes to thfe Coast envisions the setting up of a fund via flotation of a stock issue of about $2>000,000. This would provide second money, with a bank that is interested in the plan offers ing initiaf). finaneirigi W. E. FEAMK’S AOTO SPILL Minneapolis, April 18. W. R. Ffank> film producer and ownef of 15 theatres* Including seven nabe houses here, suffered head and internal injuries When the station wagon which he was driving swerved off the foad and efashed into g tree. erable contrdversyi Net result of the friction was his departure from the; PCA in aft aura of some bitter^ ness on both sides. Since theft he has been serving as special assist- ant with the Federal Security Ag^ncyj from: which h® has obtained a leave to accept the ICC post. For id yeari; prior to his Holly- wood experience, Jackson was a judge Of the New York juvenile court. Aft investigation: he inade for Mayor LaGuardia in 1940 re- sulted in the banning by the Mayor of 34 magazines from newsstands. Jackson claimed they were contrib- uting to juvenile delinquency, Jackson’s job with the Johnson gfblip is classified as “technical consultant.” H© is to jmake an “on- the-spot” check- of condilihns in Hollywood to support Ihe Colorado soloii’s claim that; film producers are exploitingj misconduct of stars j for boxoffice purposes.; Jackson Vs. Gov’t Control jlbllywood, April 18. Judge Stephen S, Jackson, sent here by the Senate Interstate Gom- irierce committee to survey the morals of Hollywood's film :folk, opened his investigatioft" With a statement tliat he unalterably op- posed government control or regu- laUorit. of motion pictures. He hopes* he explained, to persuade the in- dustry to work .but i(solution of its morality problems and to obviate the necessity of Federal policing. Jackson will spend two or three Weeks here collecting information for the senatbrial' committee re- garding Senator Edwin C. John- son’s bill,: which proposes the li- censing of actors and pictures. His assignment, he said, does not entail “Undercovei’ snooping,” but will be cbnfifted to securing information which might lead to elimination of the unfavorable publicity heaped on the film industry during recent months. He added: •T have no authority to state What actioi\, the Interstate Com- merce Committee will take on the licensing bill, but it seems to me, personally, that if ^sbrne effectiye program can be worked out iii the industry itself, we should be able to aybid Federal controls, I hope to meet with industry executives and serious-minded people in and but of the industry. “Senator Johnsbn is not in favor of Federal censorship—only as a last resort. Censorship is repellant to him; but if ho effective steps are taken some one has to fake action in the interests of the American people. , ^ -1 Wgshingl^ft, April ig. . Insidft;l)uft( in Washlftg^n last week Wd6 that Ellis O. Amall, for- iner'goverftbr of Geoi^ia and now prez of thft> Society of inde- pendent'Motion Picture Producers, had glveir the industry a star- tling demonstration., of his political potency. He put on for SlMpp members a five-day capital razzle-dazzle, topped by.Sainuel obid- wyn’s meeting with President Trunian, that few trade ftssociatiori reps or lobbyists for .any industry could equal. It’s SMd that^ Mqtiori picture Assft. of America -members, as well as Slhlppite^, were' duly impressed With the AVnall performance. Governor started the week by staging a luncheon for Gold \v\ft in the Capitol ftftaf^ters of Senate secretary Xeslie Biitlew Senator Bifen McMahon of Coftfteotlbut was ostensible host and dll but one , of the PemocratiC meinhers of the powerful Interstate Commerce Committee, Which goveihris film andtother media legislMion, were present. That was followed by meetings by GoldWyn with Attoi - ney-General Howard McGrath arid With assistant A-G Herbert Bergson, in Charge of anti-trust matters. . : Next day saw Qoldwyn’s meeting With the President. That was followed by ArnalVs in troductibn of William C*. MacMillen, J r;; to Bergson, MacMillen is exec veepee of Eagle Lion, through which a \ number of SIMPP members distribute. He had a squawk bn i he New York ibobking situatibn. Theft Arnall met with the Federal Trade Commission; That accomplished,. Arnall took Grrad Seals United Artists prexy,'and indie producer Sam Bischoff before top policy officials of the Reconstruetion Financfe Gorp. to make a pitch for Government financing. As an added zing, the SlMPp prez took along Max Siskind,:Washington attorney, who is former law partner of William Boyle, chairman bf the Democratic Na- tional Committee.. Arnall earlier in the day conferred, with BoyJe on party politics. > Ariiall went back before the RFC next day to wind lip the week by making a further plea for unbottoning of the Federal coffers to help the Indies. . 5 Pix Shootine at Same i..m • Hollywood, April 18. - First three weeks in, May will be busy ones bn the : Republic lot, with five pfbductlbns shooting at the same time. * : ; Two of them, “North of the Great Divide” and ‘•Tofero,” start May 1. Others are “Hit Parade of 1950,” “Rio Bravo’* and “The' Black Hills.” ^ 9f L. A. to N. Y. William Bendix Murray Bolen Joseph Breen George Burrows Richard Condon David Diamond Hamiltpii Dunham John Erickson Ed Ettinger, Jr. Jose Ferrer Max Gold Alan Gundelfin ger: Mitzi Green Hedda Hbpper Henry Jaffe Kitty Kalleu Dorothy Lamour Aieeft Leslie Russell Lewis Marilyn Maxwell Kay Mulvey Walter O’Keefe J, Arthur Rank Irving Rapper Mickey Rpoifiey Helen Rdse William Baal Mark Schreck Nick Seyano Barnett Shapiro Douglas Shearer Harry Sherman Sbl.Sibgel Frank Stanton Stewart Stewart Bejiiile Williams Howard Young Herbeit J. Yates Europe to N. Y, Kroger Babb Nicholas Bela Gracie: Fields Nat Karsoft ; /'ij.. Negotiating meetings by Eric Johnston and Ellis G. Arnad with the British government oni renewal of the Anglo-U. S. films agree- ment will probably be held in mid-! May despite the hearings .sched- uled in <;*Washington May 15 On Senator Edwin C, Johnsoft’s Fed- eral licensing bill. Motion Picture Assn, of America and Society of Independent Motion Picture Pro- ducers prexies will skip the Jbhn- sbn hearings ini favor Of the Lon- don negotiations. Johnston is slat'ed to ineet in New York tomorfow with presi- dents of . MPAA-member com- panies concerning the date of the talks with British Board of Trade prexy Harold Wilson, it was re- ported from London yesterday (Tuesday) that Wilson has sug-. gested May 4 as the meeting date. The two American / reps insist that it be later than that, however. [ .Arnall Will be on the Coast for ! confabs with his member^ during the first week in May, while both he and Johnston; want to attend the session of the Couhcil of Mo- tion Picture Organizations in Chi- cago May 8 and 9^ They donT see, thereforev how they can be in Lon- don before about; May 15. , It is vital that tW meeting With Wilson he held soon, since the current pact expires June 13. Negotiations were originally slated for March but were postponed by Wilson because of the recent elec- tions and the shaky majority won by the Labor party. ' Yanks will seek renewal of the agreement by which $17,000,000 is permitted to be epriverted an- nually out of American earniiigs (Continued on page 20) N. Y to i. A. Larry Barnett Johnny Dugan Georgia Gibbs A1 Jolsoii Marvin Liebman Milton R. Rackmii . EUa;Raiftes Ronald Reagaft Jiile Styrte Ren Thau Doug Whitney Although the Council of Motion Picture Organizations is slated to meet May 8, just onie Week before Senator Edwin G. Johnson starts hearings on his bill for Federal li- censing of the film industry; itie overaU public relations orgariju- tion is not expected to take any di- rect action to head off the Johnson legislation. There is thought to bp too much variety of .opinion within thb industry itself to permit a con- certed move. Hearings by the Colorado sena- tor on his charges that scandals and misconduct in Holl 3 rwood are used by producers to exploit films is probably the prime public relations problem of the moftient. There is thought to be no possible chance Of his bill passing, but he’s bound to get heavy press, radio and tele- vision coverage of his Washington hearings. Nevertheless, COMPO, ;\v h i c h Was conceived as an all-industry instrument for combatting such anti-Hollywood publicity, riiay weII prove impotent iii this test, W hi le it is certain that none of COMPO's 10 constituent groups favors Fed- eral licensing, Johnson’s bill is getting plenty of “we told you so comment in exhibitor quarters. Both "Allied StateA Assn, and Theatre owners of America have at various times urged efforts by Hollywood at tighter control over personal actions of stars and other film workers. Thus, while they are antpgonistic to Senator JohnsQiVs proposal directly, many Allied a nd TOA members do favor some sort of industry self-regulation along the same line. On the other hand, an equally important constituent group in COMPO* Hollywood’s Motion Pic- ture Industry Council, is . solidly against any effort at reg u 1 at i iig (Continued on page 20 ) N. Yv to Europe Tohi Arnold Marquis & Marquise de Cuevas Leo de Lyon Ed Dukoff Betty Field Clifford C. Fischer , George L. George Samuel Goldwjrii Vladimir Golschmann Benny Goodman Sidney Gordon Rob Hawk Horace Heidt , Irving Hoffniari Bruce Humberstone Sol Hurok Vic Hyde Sol Lesser , ‘Madge Lessing James Masoft ; Erica Morini Ricardo Odnoposoff Waltfer Beisch Reriee &; Root Elriier Rice David Rose Artur Rubinstein Irene M. Selznick Georgb Weismaii - Jerome Whyte John C. Wilson