Variety (April 1950)

;April 1950 r^V:-. msa Coutlnuei from pafo | cies in regtraint ot trade. Thei?e ig np freedom of competltiqi) ^ for product. Pigtrib has to take what can get :becaus€>^ he loiows there's no use offering his ftlms to the fellow across the street. Lat* ter will invariably And that he, has no dates available for film$ from a company that habitually deals with his comjietitioii. Prdduct-SRlitting is in :some cases completely open and accept-^ ed, but is generally by Oral -jagree^ . ment which . hone Of^ the parties will admit to but which is recog- nized, by everyone involved. Pis^ tribs have. never been in position to beef abiOut the practice, since they themselves were in a way party^ it and their .affiliated chains were involved. Violation of the anti-trust laws is said to be rather easy to prove by both circumstantial and actual evidence and it is on that basis that Goldwyn and MacMiUen went last week to Herbert Bergson, as- sistant attorney general in charge of aiitl-trust proseCutiohs. fjOeW’s and RKO lik N. Y.; ■ ' On the circumstantial side, ' SoT ci ety of Independent Motion Pic- ture Producers has re^pprtediy graphed New York bookings by the Loew and HKp circuits. Some distribs are repped by red crayon on the graph and others by blue. It is shown that there's virtually never red-crayon product pri! the HKO side or blue-crayon oh the ' Loew's; side.' MacMillen's squawk had to do particularly with the New York situatioh, v(rhile Goldwyn was con- cerned with Fox-West Coast, agaiiiSt which he is now propping a suit. While United Artists took no di- rect hand in last week’^ beef, SIMPP is understood to have gar- nered cohsiderable factual mate- rial from. UA prexy Grad Sears. Sears claims that the LOew and. RKO circuits operate under; Vvhat he calls, -‘the Hotel Chgtham agree- pieht," which he says was arrived at by top reps of the two chains at the Hotel Chatham, N. Y., in 1932- Sears is former general salesman- ager for Warner Bros. In addition to the product-split^ ting, OoldVi^yn laid before the D;! of J. evidence of collusive bidding in many areas. He is said to havO numerous examples where circum- stantiaily, at least, it appears ob- vious that there is agreement among exhibs oh who was to bid for what product and how much. He claims that: product divvying and collusive bidding can reduce the take on an important picture by the difference between profit and loss, and could be .responsible for putting producers out of busi- ness, In some -quarters; it is said that the difference the practices make throughout the country might mean about $300,000 to ah average picture, SIMPP has already made, an effort to get an anti-productrsplit-r ting clause included in the ruling of the New York federal court in the industry anti-trust case. Pro- posal was made too late, however, and was not included in the judg- ment recently handed dowh against Warner Bros;, Metro and 20th^Fox. Plea was made by the Society to Bergson last December. On Jan. 9 he indicated his interest by send- ing a note to U. S. Circuit • Judge Augustus N. Hand, advising him that the Government would push for inclusion by the court in its judgment of the following para- graph prohibiting the defendant .exhibs: " “From consultihg or agreeing expressly or impliedly with any competing exhibitor as to whether particular pictures shall be li- censed to particular exhibitors or as to whether the pictures of par-, ticular producers or distributors shall be liceh se d to particul ai* cJf- hlbitors.” Bevgson added in his note, in way of explanation: v^It is with extreme reluctance that at this late .date we are advancing the above pro- poseid additional provision; We have, however, been Concerned for a long time over the point made: by this court in its‘ opinion of July 25, 1949,_^that there Was ap absence of ; competition. among the defendant exhibitors for the product of the various distributors; that is that the product of one distributor reg- ularly went to, one of the defend- ,ant exhibitors and that the product of another distributor regularly Went to another defendant exhib- itor in places Where more than one defendant had theatres. ■ The re- ducers within the past few months of this kiud of stratificatioh of the distribution of film product has led us to feel that :the,-judgment in this case should contain an Injunction against the defendant exhibitors or successors lifiecting such* stratifica- tion by collusion. Cointinued from pas* 4 ably will continue to functionis. Hike most other TV its problem is getting a sufficient sup- ply pf.’gbod feMure product. Other then that, Sehrs is under- .stood to have reported to the. board on his meeting in Washington last week; with Reconstruction Finance Corp. officials in eri effort to get Goveniment aid in financing indie production. UA's own product sit- uation is good, with enough pix in the can now: to carry it through 'October. '--: ; V With five Others; in production, editing or clpse to the starting line, distrib ;Will have no trouble getting through the year. Acqui- sition of new product for the pe- riod beyond that; however, has slpwed down and ; niay prove troublesome if the financing situa- tion continues tight. : Added to the slate last week was Sam Spiegel’s “Cost of Living," cp- starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes. It is n.dw in production in Hollywood,; with jo vLosey direct- ^mg,‘- •• - - L.' ' a Contihued ftom page i in 1943 he became executive head of productidn, the post he will re- linquish July 1. In the original mergeri Schenck, Canuck and Goetz.were givsn 50% of the comipon stock in the 20th- Fox company While the,Fox Film Corp. , stockholders were allotted the rest of the shares, plus $39,- 000,006 in preferred stock because of, the 49% Interest Fox held in the National Theatres circuit An- other angle was that 20th Cenlury r'eceived $5,806,000 ; in preferred stock as payment for the complet- ed pictures it brought into /the merger., Schenck. will remain in Miami until May 6,. when he will return to California. To date he has dis- posed of the major portion of his 20th-Fox holding^ and will unload the rest of it before July 1. Cohtinued. from par.c 1 siejal Artists) “don’t really know the terms of SAG’s partnership agreement and if We can get our view before them we can convince them of its practicality.’’. Two key Issues which divide TVA and the screen unions are:, (1) SAG'S position that it should ne- gotiate for vidpix and TVA handle live tele negotiations, with the re- sulting contracts becoming the property of th^: partnership; and (2) TVA’s plan for settling dead- IpCks between east and west by joint membership meetings on the basis of a 75% mennbership Vote. SAG considers the latter formula “inequitable because TVA’s mem- bership outnumbers oilrs and it is like settling differences between the U. S. and Switzerland on the basis of a population vote." George Heller. TVA national ex- ecutive secretary, feels that the TVA proposal is “truly demo- cratic" and “assures not only ade- quate, representation for all: con- cerned, but will also guarantee that the wages and working conditiohs in Tv will truly represent the wishes" of performers affected. TvA spokesmen said they did not feel Reagan’s pilch wouid cut any ice with Equity. Which has supported TVA for the. past eight months.’ SAG, meanwhile, told Va- HiETY that if the 4A’8 hoard graiits TVA jurisdiction oyer vidpix “it will mean nothing, since five of the 4A’s seven members are the heads of TVA wearing different hats." SAG said if TVA gets the greeniight for negotiations it is still the film actors who will de- cide' their collective bargainihg represehtaiives, and the screen .thespers . “will back the SAG, which has been reppihg lhem^ c'urrence • of ebiTiplalrtts by pro-' all these years." . . MAjRRIAGCS Dorothy Radnlck to Vince Scott, Pittsburgh, April 15. He's on IVCAEtitaff,:.;^^., Betty Marie Sweitzer,to Fredric Shadley, St.; Xouls. April . 15; He's the., son of palph ; H. Shadley, Meadville, Pm*- . theafre . owner; . ; Margo Tyler to Eddie ;Morah, Las Vegas, Feb. 26. He’s<.a ;screett 'writer.; v' ":*; Jocelyn Brando, to Eliot T. Anir sof, Tarrytown, N. Y.,; April 13. Bride is in cast of the Broadway company of “Mister ftoberts.'V Mergeiry May Strau$S to Stanley Frederick Schrieider, New York, April 18. He's son of A. Schneider; veepee and treasurer of Columbia Pictures^- ^ Nancy Scott to, George Taylor, Belfast, Ireland,. April 8. : He’s a legit Comic; biide^s a pianist. • Beatrice Herschkowitz Jto Paul M. Sokol, New York, April 16.* Bride is associated with her .mother, Anne : Hersclikowitz, in theatre party agency; ' Audrey Peiters; to Garry Davis, Ellsworth, Me;, April 13. Bride is a dancer; he's son of Meyer Davis, society band impressario. birtHs Mr. and Mrs: John Derek, Son, Hollywood; April 13. Mother is the former PAti Behrs, film starlet; father is a contract player at Co- 'lumbia.-' -■ Mr. and Mrs. Burt Tobias, daughter, Chicago, April Ip/ Path-, ei* is trumpeter in Carl Sands' Ori- ental theatre orchestra. Mr. and Mrs.: Lewis Kiupnick, sort, New York, April 4. Father's with Abbey Albert band at Ter- race Room, Pitt. Mr. afid Mis. Perri Salati, son, Pittsburgh, March 22. Father manages Peoples Theatre, Taren- tum,'Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Berkebile, daughter, Johnstown, Pa., March 28. Father manages Strand thea- tre ■;there. - Mr. and Mrs: Greg Garrison, son, Chicago, April 11. Father is di- rector of ABC-TV'f “Super Cir- cus.” Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Rooney, son, Hollywood, April 12. Mother is. Martha Vickers of the screen. Father is a film star. , Mr. and Mrs. Mort Greene, daughter, Hollywood, April 12. Mother is Jan Wiley, actress- father Is a songwriter. ' Mr. and Mrs. David; Kovar, son, Hollywood, April 12. Father is a cameraman. Mr. and Mrs. James H. Reardon, daughter, Los Angeles, April 12. Child is the granddaughter of E. J. MeNemara, circulation manager of Daily Variety. Mr. and Mrs, Frank :Rooney, son, Mt. KiscO, N, Y., April 14. Father is a fiction writer and ex-actor; mother, the; former Helen Hardy, was secretary to^ M^ Mr. and Mrs. Rudi Fehr, daugh- ter, Hollywood, April 14. Father is a film editor at Warners. ' Mr, and Mis. Bernie Glaser, daughter, New York, April 14. Mother is the former Merrill vTbwne, assistant r a d i o afid tele producer; father is an associate ed- itor of Coronet mag. .•u •Li • ■ - • CLARRHCE A. ‘ Clarence Af (Chick) CohertV former film exec;'died in Ne^. York after a hekrt: attaqk, April He; hfid been strickeh' the day before at The Lambs, where he had made his home. ‘ ; Cohen had been a geiieral sales manager for Wbrner Bros, for 15 years and subsequently went into exhibition and operated film the- atres in lower New York, 111 health forced him to dispose of his theatres and go to Tiicson, Ari?„ hecause bf heart and bronchial ail^ ments. While there he wrote a cplumn for a local newspaper and was also a sportscaster on radio station there. He returned"to'N. Y. eight years ago and had been press counsel for Brunswick Mills Co. He had written several sOngs, in- cluding “Arizona Moon," which was made the official song of that State, , For years he had been ac-^ tiye in the affairs of The Lambs. He was a brother of the late Sid- ney Goheh, prez of Independent Motion. Picture Exhibitors for many yeaTs.' A brother and two sisters survive. .Jordon H. Eldrid, 76, former vafide performer; ? died hi York,- Eldrid, bord in EnglaJnd, spent years tbpring vau'de circuits both in the U. S* and his native country; Starting in 1697 as ah actor with a Chi- cago rep company; Bldrid wrote* produced, directed and appeared in vaude units until 1926. His last :j5tage role was with “The Bat" on tour in 1926. Foilowing his vaudeville exit, -Eldrid got a job as a gtiide for the New York Times, , At the time of his death he was sllll with the Times, serving in Its circulating library^* • A/wife, brother and sister sur- vive. : WALTl^ F. BATCHELOR : Walter; P.' Batchelor, 56, topflight talent agent, also legit and pix producer; died in New York April. 13, At time of death he was as- sistant casting director for 20th Geritury-Fox films. However, al- though inactive in the agency field for past several years, due to his production activities and subse- quent post with 20th, he still main- tained a sizable interest in the Walter Batchelor Theatrical En- terprises, which he founded some- time ago, although latter has been operated since by Henry Dagan d. ; While in the agency field, Batch- elor had repped such top talent as Fred Allen, Rudy Vallee, Libby Holman, Clifton Webb,^ the . late Helen Morgan anff others. He was also producer of roveral Broadway shows, including "Of All People." In films he was co-producer of “Copacabana," with Monte Proser, and “It’s In The Bag," Fred Allen starirer, which he did with Jack Skirballv Wife and a daughter survive. hew:n M/hanscom Helen M. Hanscom; former vaude and concert singer, died in Ghicago April 10. During World War I she was a membbr; of the Elsie Janis overseas troupe, but had not sung professionally for the. past 20 years. she was the daughter of the. late Charles Hanscom, former concert master of the MetrOpplitan Opera Co. and the late Isabelle; LeMar- chand, noted harpist. MRS, HENRY FONDA Mts. Frances, Seymourr Brokaw Fonda; 42, estranged wife of Henry Fonda, currently appearing in “Mister Roberts," suicided in a sanitarium at Beacon, N. Y.. April 14, where she had been undergoing treatment for a nervous break- down. Couple bad separated some, time ago and a divorce action was about to have begun when Mrs. Fonda suffered a nervous collapse. CBS-Metrp Cpniinned Irom pase t and none of those winding gestures by the time keeper. ^ As is customary in any fracas, It’s the innocent bystander who gets whacked, in this case it was Lux Radio Theatre, the be.st friend a picture ever had. Caught in the middle When tempers were flaring, the J. Walter Thompson agency was forced to pull “The Bride Goes Wild” with the same Johnson arid June Allyson and substitute Gary Grant and Betsy Drake in “Every Girl Should Be Married,’V which was done last spring by Lux. Ironi- cal it is that Johnson and Grant figured in the double incident, both coming and going. Spokesmen for CBS say they wbuldi like to iive happily \yith Metro, but they are* fearful of setting a precedent in allowing the studio plugs Inoved up front or in the middle.: Once you do it for MetTOv they argue, the others v^H demand it arid there you are. What M-G doesn't. understand, say the CBS crowd, is that the sponsor has something to say about where the credits should go. He pays, the, freight and should have a voice in what goes on his program, espe- cially wheq it's ’put-and-out. adyer- tising for a product other than his iown* JOE DUNLEVY Joe Dunlevy, 66, veteran min- strel and vaude performer, died April 15 in Cincirtnati. Starting as a soft shoe dancer In the summer theatre at old Chester Park, Ginciririati, he sprouted into the blackface field as a partner of Dan Fitch, who headed a minstrel troupe with which Dunlevy re- mained after it became J. A, Go- bum Minstrels. Later he joined the George Primrose Minstrels. His first Vaude work was with the comedy act of Coakley, Han- vey & Dunlevy, billed as the “Mudtown Minstrels." Switching to a two-act; Dunlevy teamed with Harry Frankel. Their part- nership ended when Frankel en- tered radio for his famed Singin’ Sam series for BarbasoL After yaude’s washiip Diinlevy settled in Cincy and did radio and i Tv stints, his latest with Crosley’s ■ WLW-L.' He leaves a sister. , GEORGE B. ,comers all - George B. Gomersall, 64; film salesman, died April .14 in Cin- cinnati. For past 13 years he covered Kentucky for Universal Pictures exchange In .Cincinnati. He was a member of Variety Club Tent 3 and of Salesmen’s Coliseutri. He leaves mother, a sister and three brothers, one of whom is Ed- ward T. Gortiersall, former Uni- versal general sales manager and now owner of theatres in Elgin and Kankakee, 111 JAY A. KING Jay A. King, Sr., 70, former the- atre owner and film producer, died in Philadelphia April 14. At one time King pwried theatres in the northeast sectioii ofPhilly and was one of the. pioneers in the business, working with the Lubin j Picture Corp., when they operated ; there. * Wife and three sons survive; HAROLD J. CARLOCK Harold J. Cirlock, 56, salesman for RKO in Albiany for the past eight years, died April 12 in St. Peter’s hospital there. Carlock^ was connected With the film busi- ness for. k quarter of a century. A native of Paterson; N. J., he is ;survived by his Wife, a son, a daughter, mother and two sisters. DANIEL S. TUTHILL Daniel S. Tuthill, 53, radio ar- tists' representative and former general sales manager and assisr tant to the president of the Na- tional Broadcaking Co., died April 14 of a heart ailment in Norwalk; Conn. Tuthill began his career in ad- vertising in 1925, when he joined NBC. In 1941 he became executive vice president of the National Con- cert and Artists Corp. He e.stabr lished his own agency in 1946. handling radio production and ar- tists. A member of the Radio Fiorieers Club, he was a founding member and former director of the Adver- tising Club of New York. Surviving are his wife, a daugh- ter and a brother. t WILLIAM ORR AVilliam Oir, 67, legalite with i Loevv's, Inc., died in New Yotk, I April 18. Orr, with Loew’s since 1923, served as company’s legal contact for Washington, D. C. He was a newspaperman prior to joining the film company. JACK SWEENEY Jack Sweeney,- 61, former .v.recn actor, died April 12 at his home in Hollywood. He was associated with Mack Senriett in 1916. MAURtCE M. RUBENS I Maurice M. Rubens, 65. one of the founders of Publix-Great States theatres and veepee of the compariy until six. months ago, died April 13 in Joliet, 111. He was also president Of the Royal The- atre Co; of Joliet.. In 1927, he and his brother 'founded the Great States chain, which they sold to Balaban & I Katz in 1933, Rubens remained as : v.p. and director of adverUsirig arid publicity until his retirement [ last year. ’•nvived bywife, a I son, two bro i;TS and two si.sters. 1 - ..Edward'tranter,.. .'••Td,-; .vet. ' sport.s writer, died in Buffalo, j April 17. He was the father of ' Don Tranter, radio editor of Buf- ! falo’s Courier-Express and Jim ; Tranter, radio editor of the Buf- falo Evening News. John Koreck, 61, forriier ba.s.s violinist with the Pennsylvania ; Symphony Orchestra, died in Phil- i adelphia April 14. CiaVence (Ace) Bragunlcr, 47, died April 14 of a heart attack while on location / with Warners’ “The Bfeaklng Point" troupe at Newport Beach; Calif; Father, 72, of actrei^ Margaret vSullavan, died in Norfolk,; Va;. April 11.