Variety (April 1950)

PICTURES Weiliiesdiiy, April 26 ^ 1950 ' Gf^ve warning that the film ih-^ dustry cannot * hold np under the wave of exhih antirtnist suits was sounded this week by William. F* Rodgers,. Metro's distribution v.p. •^Unless we stem the tide,” Metro* ite declared, “we are going to find product arid everything else suffer- ing. Today 1 ani eriiployed as gen- eral sales irianager. Unfortunately; that is the least 1 do, I am so involved in legal niatters.” Rodgers- chief hope of a solution' is in ah anibitious arbitration. sys- | tern, riiij by and for the industry tinder the sponsorship of the Coun- cil of Motion Picture ; Organiza- tions. As for public r^tlons,^--v^ are as weak as we can be,” hope that GOMPO will establish good public relations,” he added. • “As big and as strong as this in- dustry is,” Rodgers said, “I d^'t believe we can. stand.' up agairist ail these suits,” Rodgers, who is di.strib alternate to Ned E. Depinet, EKO prez, in CQMPQ Will urge adoption of an arbitration system at the next meeting of the group in Chicagov May 8-9. He believes most exhibs want correctiori of .clearance arid run problems rather than court damages. “We cannot leave that meeting until. COMPO is definitely formed arid eperat- •fng,”'■ he-, .said .Rodgers is'inclined to talce Itght- Iv the claims that showmariship is a dying art. “The most important people in the industry have a real sense of what is showmanship,” he added, “I-ye seen wonderful cam^ paigns run with resounding suc- cess.” To furthe;: showmanship, he said. Metro is scheduling: three re- gional sales meets during May In: New York, Chicago, San Francisco and one in Toronto In June. “Annie Get Your Gun,” Metro's big musical; will play at advanced prices in eight Loew’s test erigage- ments, opening May 2, Rodgers dis- closed. These bookings will pre- cede fixing of a sales policy and any other selling. It is believed this is aimed at piling up big revenues as a demonstration to other exhibs that they can voluntarily boost their scale for the pic and shoot at bigger boxoffice. “Annie” preeriis in Atlantri, San Francisco, Cleve- land, St. Louis, Dayton, Evansville, Norwalk and Hartford for a cross- the-board test of all situations^ Rodgers would like to see exhibs come up with some ^iiatlonal pro- motional idea before' his company lerids finaticial support to local campaigns. .Referririg to requests for backing from local gr^lltt in Boston, Baltimore and elsewhere, he said* rWe dpri’t want to do it in 3^ exchanges in 25’ difiEerent waysi We would like to support some idea which has a national as- More Settl^mehts Indicating the big cost now saddled on the majors in the rush of anti-trust actions brought agairist these com- .jpariies is the latest settlement' of a treble damage suit.:v Majors will pay out $29,0,009 to the Kimbark theatre ■;cago .;-as ’the: ■■:price. .. ping that actionv one of the largest yefr;4iiiri9et follows 'a deal to plai|^^"put ;; $l,0fi0»000.to William for the final windup of fife se^ ond suit on the Erlariger thea-'' : tre against the companies., . Kiriabark brought : action against the di^nhs and the Balaban Katz chain for $510,000 in treble damages. It charged conspiracy in Jpr^ venting the' house from ; gei- ting product until 73 days after the Loop first-runs arid ; discriniinating in favor of . JB&K theatres. Hollywood,'April 25. Motion Picture, industry is view- irig the investigation of Hollyy wood’s morals 'by Judge Stephen S. Jacksori without undue excite- ment. General feeling is that nO Hol- lywood group should stick out its chin as a target for ‘‘publicity- huriting politicians.” As one mem- ber piit it, “our organizatiori is not inclined to jurnp through Jack- Son’S Tioppl” Jackson met bore Schary last Wednesday and. suggested that MPIC cooperate in arranging in- terviews with iridustry leaders. The MPIC delegates took the re^ quest “under consideration.” Morally fit s to ContlnUied from pace threatened second blast about Hol- lywood. Without adiriitting that the Code anieridihent “would cause him to cancel Out the hearingiSi Johnson declared! that have hoped for that kind 61 result from the first, I have never . believed Federal ceiisorship was the ans>ver.*’ He disclosed that he will shoii- ly ^ introduce,. as a substitute; for his nHgiiiallblll, y iVfifeh called for aotbrs/vproducers, dfetrib- ^1$ an^Wl^y^^ * newer arid murih slm^^^ vari- ety than a montlli^m^vSii^ 22 issue, wheri#V63^ia^ was reatfe^g : A which woula iriereiy ; liberise the. iriter-t^ state transportation of motion pic- ture; films. \ Johnson narrowed the range of his fire several Weeks ago. He got it; down to the point where his hearings will delve only into pre- venting the iridustry from “capi- talizirig on immoral acts by per- forriiers” in Order to prOinote their pictures. . Johnson feels keenly that RKO Went all out to capital- ize on i’afraire Bergmari-Rossel- lirii to build the gate for the medi- ocre .“StrOinboli.” “I have never been stuck on, a licensing bill;” Johnson said, “I don’t; think censorship is the an- swer. .. I believe that self-policing is the right way and. have said, so; .. “However^ there Will be a bill and we are goirig ahead with plans for our May 15 hearings, I plan to introduce my hew bill, which is practically complete, before then, I have had the help of ex- celient constitutional lawyers and you need not have any fear that this will be an uriconstitutiorial bill.-' , ■' • “In Order to have hearings, there | must be a biU or a resolution. So my first bill was a ,yery broad bill, giving us authority: to study all problems' involved arid tp have a hearing covering the entire iriat- ter.” ' Johnson promised “important, well-informed witnesses, who will be able to give more thari ,an opin- ion,” Several will be from the industry. Referring to a demand for can- cellation of the hearings by Sen- ator Alexander Wiley, of Wiscon- sin^ Johnson said he wpuld be glad to have WH^y testify and explain his views. Wiley charged that the Because of recurrent reports bf a Warner Bros, settlement of the Government anti-trust suit, both bears and bulls are having a field day with the WB comirion stock. (Speculating on a favorable deal with a break foi* . the stockholders, there has been sttOrig bullish trading on the stock for the past couple of months; Result has been greater activity in Warners than any other film stock. At the same tiiine, bears are rtill showing interest hi the issue. Sliort holdings in the past 30 days have crept upward to. a total of 10,575 shares against 9,350 in the' preyious semester. It represents the largest short holdings in film stocks. . Only other film shares in which the bears have recently given a play is Unlvertal’s. Short holdings droppejl sharply in the iRst 30 days frorii a previously,640 shares to a current total Of MOO, OnO reason for: the slowdown of indie ftlni prodUctiOii is the “ex^ cessive” charge made for stiidio space and equipment on some rental lots. < That was the statementmade by an independent producer, who was teniporarlly cramped'" for cash arid had to use studio credits in order to complete a deal. Stage space and services cost, him $120,000 althou^ most of the picturevwas shot on location. For deferments, he had to turn over 171^% of his net profits. In his current picture, he soys, he. _has plenty of financial backing and will be able to save abbut $200,000 in production costs by putting coin on the; line. Distrib sales;toppers admit to being disturbed over thO mushrODm- ing habit; particularly in the midwest, of inserting local ads and plugs in regular shortsV Exhibs thereby pick up some extra coin from the comer merchant While giying the impression that the briefle is being shown at the “courtesy” rif a local: sponsor. Sales execs say that “it has heeri done time after time” but nothing can be doiie about stopping the habit under present licerisirig contracts, ; It is also pointed out that the same stunt: was frequently pulled on Newsreels before distribs clRinped down under a newsreal . contract provision Which bars any addluoris or cuts iii the reels, v Catholic War Veterans have dropped the idea of picketing the Globe theatre, N. Y., Where a reissue pf Charles Chaplin’s “City Lights” is playing, after yalrily proterting to Harry Brandt, operator of tfie Times; Square house, 1ft response tq a beef by a CWV rep, Brandt quipped: “Wh^ don’t you; picket my Mayfair theatre?” Latter showcase is play- ing ‘Guilty of Treasoft;” anti^Comiriie film on the Cardinal Mindzeiity: .case. Brandt brought up the Mayfdir booking to spotlight the neutral policy of any theatre. CWY Were mulling a reprise of their picketing Chaplin’s “Monsieur VerdOux” when that pic played Broadway. Lauding “Border Inciderit” (Metro)^titled in; Mexico, t-’)^in its second w^^l^ ®t the Cine Magerit, “Mercado Huiriano” (“Human Market’ Mexico City, “Lumiere” (Jorge; Mendoza), pic crick lop daily, said: “Pictures like this murt be exhibited free by the govern- ment so as to change the iriind of those thousands of Mexicans who yearn to eniigrate to other lands.” Pic discusses plight of Mex minor- •itiesMn the’U.-S. ' Metro how has 10 pix lined up for tradeshowings ift the next two months, Rodgers noted. Solo Pix Continued from page 3 country,* Brandt believes single feature theatres are holding up better than dualer flickeries. This; experience, he said, is true in his own houses since some of them run double-bills and others single, “Poiible-bills are doing a great deal to chase the customers out of the theatres,” Brandt declared. “I believe we can giye a better show by combiriirig one feature With a varied program Of shorts. After all, there i$ nothing a second fea- ture can do for such films as ’Sain- »ori and Delilah,* ‘Francis,’ ‘Cin- derella’ and ‘Riding High.’ “If the shorts are right, a big picture is helped along by them. A bad feature hurts the show, on the other handv we shpuld not forget that shorts for- merly were a valuable stepping- off point for future stars. A good many of them were developed first In shorts/' The case for shorts as an answer to the television test has been talked up lately by other exhibs. It is pointed out that the briefies meet video bn its owri grbuiid, pro- viding the public with a varied series of subjects and a change-of- pace. /Sbuthern exhibSi operating mainly; in a ; ■single-bill section, have reported better business than the average over the country, In^ terstate chain in Texas, for im stance, has suffered no relapse in grosses from brie year ago. Washington, April 25. Colorado’s Senator Edwin C. Johnson endorsed the principle of Reconstruction^ F i ft a ft c e ‘ Corp. loans for independent .Motion pic- ture Production yesterday: : (24), providing the pix carry the Mo- tion Picture Assn, of America code seal and are. made by. actors of good morals.; - Johnson made his point ih a let- ter to Harley Hise, chairman of the RFC. The Senator’s lettef quoted at considerable length from a re cent story in Daily Variety in which Sam Bischoff predicted the RFC would make film production loans. *T am greatly interested in the production of films by inde- pendent producers,” wrote John- son. ‘T believe they should be given every encourageirierit. How- ever, if a government agency makes production loans to them, it should insist in its loan contract that the films produced do not contribute to juyeriile delinquency. “No Federal funds should finance films Which do not qualify for the MPA A code seal under the direc- tion of the Breen office. Arid Fed- eral funds should not be invested in films in which the artists em- ployed are riotbrious violators of good morals, Most sincerely I hope that the projected loan to the in- dependent producers may.be ap- proved, arid that it iriay inchide a clause, in the contract which will afford - some pfotectipn to Ameri- -caii youth.” Continued firdm ^page 3 Johnson bill wbuld set up a ’'po- lice State irionster” and “gestapo,” in a statement on the Senate fioor last week. Johnson today called on Senator Alexander Wiley (Wise.) to be the first witness in the hearings May 1‘5. Invitation was made in a hot letter to Wiley retaliating for the latter’s attack against the bill on the floor of the Senate. Wiley had Called the proposed law, un- constitutional. . Primary objective of the hear- ings, Sen. Johnson said, Would be to find some voluntary solution. As for the Wiley objections, the sblon retorted: “Obviously, you missed entirely the dangers to American youth inherent in this film (‘Stromboli’). No film can be wholesome if artists appearing therein have rotten arid notorious private lives which have become public scandals.” American Country for the next five years. This; represents approxi- inately 25%, of total gross that Yank pix register each year, Aft- pther important feature calls for the unlimited Importation of Amer- ican films into Argentina. There has been a tight system pf licenses in effect for the past years with no .films brought; into the country in the past 13 nionths. The one big obstacle; still re- maining is an agreement on the frozen curfericy either now amassed in Argentina or Which will pile iip during the five-year stretch ahead, Jphnston is asking for Wide lati- tude in the use of this cbiri, while Cereijb wants the companies to be confined to namw limits. Brightening prospects of a deal follow lengthy diseussibns which started oft Cere jo's arrival in this country. John McCarthy; head of MPAA’s international wing, •par- ticipated in these talks until two weeks ago when he flew to Europe. It Is expected: that Stanton Grif- fis, U. S. Ambassador to Argentina, and chairman of Parampunt’s ex- ecritive committee, Will join in now that he has reached the IJ.S. on a visit. ' ' . For 'a time, Argentine officials insirted on a quota of 200 pix year- ly instead of the 500-600 brought 4 : Oxford^ Miss.* April 25. • Separate percentage^chiselling suits Were filed here in the Fed- eral district court against Homer J. Williams by Metro, Warner Bros., Universal and Columbia. Williams pperates the Grenada arid Pix theatres In Grenada, Miss. Each suit charges under-report- ing receipts on percentage pix and demarids damages to coriiperisate for distrib losses. Oft a voluntary crusade, Johnson before the dollar shortage‘hit ^ the country. However, it is under- stood. that Cereijb has relented on this stand in. favor of the 75% freeze on future remittances. No dollars have: been sent but of the country In the past two yeats^ Johnston , outlined part of the pact at a meeting of ; foreign iriari- agers last week. He then trekked to D C. for further tplks with the Argentine minister; Major shelves in Argentine are practically empty of product because of the long ban on imports. Most of the companies exploded that "it is“just dandy but I don’t hear the fumblirigs of one gritting under way.” : He cited to 'VViley examples of “Stroriiboli” ads in Colorado including: “Sena- tors say it is red-hot, lurid sex” and “Rossellini says it’s wonder- ful.” : Continued from page. S laws can be speeded at the p relations group’s meeting m Chi-' ^ cago May 8 and 9. . Basis for the by-laws will be in outline worked out during the last CQMPO session in Washington in December. Draft bf suggested or- ganization was prepared by a sub- committee chairmanned by Harry Brandt and then was revised dur- ing a two-hour discussion by all the drilega^s. .•.. Final draft, which the lawyers haye been askpd to study prepara- tory to the Chi confab, is contained in the iriinutes of the Washington meeting. Grlftls B. A, to p> : ' Buenos Aires, April 21. ^ On the eve of his departure foir Washington, U S. Ambassador Stan- ton Griffis touched bn the pibblem of American pix In this country. Speaking at the University Wom- en’s club, Gfriffis' referred to Yank distribs who for many months have been shut off from the impbrtatibn of new or current filins on the per- haps Very tenable theory that the Argentihe government did not wish to pile up additional peso deposits until the dollai* probirim was. solved.” In ihls matter, the diplomat added, *• I felt that the greatest goodwill propaganda that einanates from the United States comes through its motion pictures, and I hoped that America and Argentina alike would not be shut, off from them.” Griffis did not make any definite statement as to how the film problem is to be solved. . He said that the geftriral economic problem of import licenses and dol- lars has not yet been solved. UA Bidding Continued from pace 9 clarihg that situatiOii open foi ; bid- ding. UA, however, is encouraging theatremen to request auction selling by annouftcing that it is setting up the* machinery to handle it on a large scale. Its sales force was given the initial word on open- ing wide doors on bidding at a confab of eastern branch managers New York weekend befoi'e last. Lazarus Monday (24) left for the Coast where he’ll huddle With western branch maftagers'rtovvard the end of the week to aequainjt them with the new policy. He will be in Chicago next Monday 1) for a similar conclave of mid western branch managers. Meafttimie, Fred Jack, westeiii and southern genei- ai saiesmanager, will hold: a meet- ing for southern branch managers in Dallas Saturday, (29). Although many exhibs objject to bidding because of its tendency to push up reritals, It is welcoriied by a good many iridepend^enls.. H gives subsequent-runners who Jvave riot been able to get the product arid run they think they can handle ah opportunity to iriake a stab at it. In some cases they succeed in winning pix arid establishing a bet- ter ;policy. While in. others they ' find the process too costly arid re- vert to former runs. ; ’ In numerous other situations, however, distribs Claini there is collusion on bidding. Competing exhibs, rather than fight each other to ther detrimeftt of both, agree on product spllttihgv This practice was coftdeniried as sup- pressing epmpetitioft in sqUawk.s made to the Dept, of Justice two weeks ago by the Society of Inde- pendent Motion Ficture.Producrirsi Sampel Gpldwyn and Eagle Li on .