Variety (December 1950)

Wedit esdayt December 13, 1950 9-Company Comparison Following is a comparison of net, earnings of nine film companies for parallel periods of 1949 and 1950. They are based on latest available financial reports or reliable estimates. Figures for Co- lumbia, Metro, Monogram, Universal and Warner Bros, cover a year, while Paramount, Republic, RKO and 20th-Fox are for nine months: 1949 1950 Columbia .$1,007,514 $1,981,487 Metro 6,744,761 7,500,000* Mono (1,108,433) loss (263,342) loss Paramount 4,494,769t 5,698,000 Republic 730,116 830,922 RKO 1,919,228 608,632 20th-Fox 8,200,013 6,595,723 Universal (1.125,851) loss 1,500,000* Warner Bros. 10,466,000 10,271,000 $31,328,117 $34,722,422 Kstimate. Report not yet filed. V Pro forma for production-distribution company. PICTURES 29 10% Profit Hypo Continued from page 3 Pioneers' Directorate periods most of this top-budgeted and in some cases poor product had been cleared away. Thus film amortizations, which heavily weigh the year-end financial sta- tistics, were much reduced. Other Economies j Foundation of Motion Picture Economies were also effected in pjoneers will hold a meeting to tions. Whether these and picture j directors, Jan. 6 at 7 9 budget cuts can be maintained ''in ’ Seventh avenue, N. Y. This confab the face of generally spiralling in-1 will replace the annual meet, Nom- j flation in the U. S, is, of course, a ; [nations for directors include Jack W6 Per-Share Earning in First Upbeat Since ’46-’47 Despite Lower Profits ; prime worry for pic execs. : Alicoate, Barney Balaban, Harry Must Not Forget Published Material For Films—Goldstone' Hollywood’s policy of looking for | original stories and offbeat stuff in recent months should not be pursued to such an extent that pub- lished material is to be forgotten. That’s the opinion of agent Jules Goldstone, recently in New York for confabs with publishers and literary agencies. Published material, said Gold- stone, who heads the Goldstone agency, has long been a substan- tial basis of motion pictures. But, he added, there’s been a leaning away from this soui’ce In the past few years. Exec cautioned that if the trend persists we could go “too far and make a mistake.” Goldstone, who recently sold a short story of Frederick Hazlitt Brennan’s to RKO, disclosed that the studio paid $20,000 for the property. Yarn is “They Sell Sail- ors Elephants,” which is said to be intended as a vehicle for Groucho Marx and William Bendix. Agent planned to make a short stopover in Chicago enroute to Hol- l\wood. Gardner Undecided Some of the profits shown in: , both 1949 and 1950 represent sale 1 Brandt, Steve Broidy, Jack Cohn, : of capital assets—primarily the- i Sam Dembow, Jr., Ned Depinet, I atres with which the affiliated | Qyg Eyssell, Si Fabian, James R. companies were forced to part t der the antitrust consent decree, j Grainger, Abel Green, William . However, these roughly balancej.Beineman, John J. O’Connor, Bob. Aanli rvff ■ In fViA #>r»nrtnQT«5cr»n''i i1 Com each other off in the comparison' of the 1949 and 1950 earnings. O’Donnell, Martin Quigley, Sam Rinzler, Herman Robbins, Gradwell On PJt. Pic Distrib: S" .'“rs show up in WB, Metro and dOth ' Initial feature made by Rd Gardner in Puerto Rico is currently being shown major distribs in New York. Film, a mystery and chase thriller with a P.R. back- ground, is titled, “The Man With My Face.” Gardner hasn’t decided yet whether he’ll give the pic to a distrib for releaTse for the usual fee by his counsel, Milton Kramer. Barry Nelson plays the lead in the film. Gardner is considering further production in Puerto Rico, where he lives and tapes his radio show, “Duffy’s Tavern.” Puerto Rican production gives him a con- siderable tax advantage on both films and radio. Group is a fraternal organization comprising filmites who have been ; mained in the loss column during i i>^ th.e industry for 25 years or statements for several years. 1 Only one company—^Mono—re- r the past year. It considerably re- more and participates In distribu- SWG Strike Continued from page T Gunn^s *Judy^ Preem ‘ Fantasy for Judy,” musical short representing Texan Dan Gunn's initial venture in pix making, and which stars his nine-year-old daughter Judy, will be preemed in Dallas. Houston and San Antonio on Dec. 26-27-28, respectively. Ar-i rangements for the tri-city bow are being directed by fellow Lone Starrer Robert J. O’Donnell, gen- eral manager of the Interstate cir- cuit. Gunn plans to do other shorts under the aegis of Dan Gunn Pro- ductions. Allied Aloofness Continued from page 4 licve the latter org will eventually come in en masse. They anticipate Allied members in the field will be taking a crack at arbitration if an attractive system is devised, and tliis would have to be followed by the Allied board’s formal entry. So far as the distribs are con- cerned, there’s almost, but not en- tirely, an unanimous vote in favor td arbitration. At least one dissent- ei* is Eagle Lion Classics, which has irowned on the idea of identifying iiself with the other companies in uHhm' matters and is not in the to go along w'ith them now, EEC is said to feel that aligning itself with other distribs might tionu'how threaten its freedom of aclion. For this reason it never Joined the Motion Picture Assn, of America. Cowan-Pickford Continued from page 5 ‘Rain,” C owan now gets rights are “J ^Mrect Scene,” “Sorreli and Son,” Greeks Had a Word for It,” “To- uighl or Never” and “Dorothy Ver- sion of Haddon Hall.” Cowan’s Contribution , to the A A pot, to "Inch he now retrieves rights, com- prises “Babylon Revisited,” “Presi^ U'’nr’s Husband,” “Personal Story u Ernie Pyle,” “Beckoning Fair t ne.” “Free Press” and “Sun Yat ocn. ' ^ owan hopes to produce “Pyle” “Babylon” himself and to ''-e denis with other indies for onsing of the remainder. j of rights, then waned to allow only ; dramatic and publication rights I while the Guild held out for film, I television, remake and sequel rights as well. Guild agreed to forego television temporarily until contract for latter could be nego- tiated. Producers also demanded lengthy delays for opening tele- vision question, Tuneberg said, , wliile no common ground could be ! found on Matter of minimum sal- : aries. Sought $350 Minimum Guild wanted to increase present , $187.50 minimum to $350, but ten- tative agreement was reached at $250 for. writers .with 52 weeks’ experience or a screenplay credit. Tunberg compared the $250 figure to that Of other crafts, citing such figures as first assistant director, $261.25, or $260.56 for art director in his first year in industry. He also pointed out other talent groups are sympathetic, and that the Screen Actors Guild, whose con- ■ tract expires Dec. 31, will include : in its negotiations for new pact a I demand for additional payment for j use of film in video. I At press conference prior to ' meeting, Tunberg said a favorable I strike vote would result in imme- ! diate notification to producers that 1 the Guild was cancelling present I agreement on required 60-day no- I tice. Under Taft-Hartley law, pro- , ducers’ representatives can then be i forced to hold daily conferences in I an attempt to reach solution. If I unsuccessful. Guild cap move for I strike at the end of 60 days. Strike Alternatives I First, there’s possibility of one- , day strike by writers at all studios,* then there’s concentration on one lot for total strike there, then there could be an industry-wide strike i call.- Tunberg added that abuses I generally occurred at only few stu- dios, and these are likely to be the fir.st . targets. Of 665 active writers, 515 are associate membei's,, only about 50 hold term contracts. Their status in event of a strike is still undetermined as there’s no clear- cut precedent on status of those pacts with companies. Tunberg also pointed out that 509o of members average $7,500 anually. while one-third average less than $5,000 yearly. He re- vealed that a few major studios are currently granting separation of rights to top writers on individu- al or contract deals, but Guild feels all writers should have such pro- tection. Meeting heard wire from Oscar Hammersteiri 2d, Authors League prexy; Moss Hart, Dramatists Guild prexy, and Helen Hull, Authors Guild leader, stating trio felt sepa- ration of rights of utmost, impor- tance. UA Difficulties Continued from page. 3 duced the red ink, however, from oF relief to members in the I 1949, cutting the deficit from $ 1 ,-I industry. 108,433 to $263,342. Company is j expected to show still further im- ! provement, since it now has out of ' the way a number of high-budg-i I eted and generally unsuccessful pix. Universal moved from the loss to the profits ledger during the year, Estimates are that its earn- ings for the fiscal 12 months end- ing Oct. 31 will be about $1,500,- 000. That compares with bad news to the tune of $1,125,851 in 1949. RKO’s ‘Gloom* Not So Bad While RKO shows the greatest decline in the figures tabulated herewith, the gloom is not quite as great as it appears on the sur- face. Profits of $1,919,228 for the first nine months of 1949 included $1,505,472 from sale of theatres, so the operating net was actually only around $400,000. First 39 weeks of the current year showed earn- ings of $608,63^, of which $216,- 000 was income from sale of capi- tal assets, making for operating profits of approximately the same $400,000 as 1949. Col’s year ends June 30 and it has filed its complete report for fiscal 1950. Metro winds up Aug. 31 and it has not yet issued its statement, so its fiscal "year-end total in the accomp|inying tabula- tion is based on an estimate. Same is true for U, which ends its fiscal period Oct. 31. WB completes its fiscal stanza Aug. 31 and filed its 1950 report last week. Mono winds up June 30 and has filed. Rep ends Oct. 31 and has not filed, so its figure in the tabulation herewith is for nine months. Paramount, RKO and 20th base their reports on the calendar year. ! Their nine-month figures, as re- ported, are used in the tabulation. Cut-Rate 2d-Runs Continued from page 3 Mary Pickford and Charles Chap- lin and it i.s believed that no ap- proaches have been made. Identity of the group on the Coast with which negotiations are now in progress continues to be veiled. Talks are known to be go- ing on, however, with the poten- tial buyers by Loyd Wright, at- torney for Chaplin, and Clinton La Tourette, counsel for Miss Pickford. There were no indications of how the negotiations were prog- ressing, but trade observers were not optimistic that this would come any closer to consummation than the myriad of pther such deals in recent years. Harry Mul- ler, UA’s controller, returned to New York over the weekend from a week on the Coast during which he gave a complete rundown on company financial affairs to the negotiating group. Jacques Grinieff, who in the past several months has made a number of offers to acquire control, went to the Coast from New York at the end of last week. His plan was to stand by for a final effort if other talks fail. McNutt and McNamce Paul V. McNutt and Frank L. McNamee, who became board chairman and prexy, respectively, in a switch of management control last July, are known to have no knowledge of what negotiations are taking place on the Coast or the identity of the potential buyers. McNamee has indicated his ex- ! pectation of departing the company j in a relatively short time. Mc- ! Nutt’s intentions are unknown. UA’s worsening financial situa- tion was made clear by the latest f While consolidated net profit continued on the downbeat, finan- cial statement issued by Warner Bros, showed the first increase in per-share earnings since the peak 1946-’47 fi.scal year, when the major’s net of $22,094,979 repre- sented $3.02 per share. Latest WB report, which covers the year ended Aug. 31, 1950, shows a profit of $10,271,000, equivalent to $1.46 per share on the 6,997,300 common shares out- standing. Earnings for the pre- vious year amounted to $10,466,- 000, representing $1,43 per share on the 7,295,000 shares then out- standing. Firm has been buying its own issue on the open market dur- ing the past year, explaining the decrease in the number of shares outstanding as of the end of last August. However, another factor is the net profit sales of capital assets which, in the year covered by the new report, was listed at $1,461,000. This compares with $877,000 in the previous year. WB disclosed gross business, in- cluding film rentals and theatre admissions, ahiounting to $126,944,- 000. This represents a drop of $8,015,000 as compared with the previous year when the gross reached $134,959,000. I save 509r and more” (from first-1 report on its incc^e. Gross for .run downtown prices, they meant). : week ending Dec. 2 was $211,0()0, : Elmer M. Graham, in charge of , lowest in years. Since UA s dis- , the co-op buying agreement pro- 1 tribution fee averages just over : gram, said the release was sent to i 25;^ of that figure, its take would I papers prematurely. He said that | be around $55,000. With after it had got out, the Regent! erating nut of better than ^5,000, management “got so many squawks : this represents a loss of $20,000 a from other exhibitors that they had ' week at this point. It is understood to call the deal off.” Graham referred other ques- tions to J. A. Rightly, of the co-op ; that UA suffered a net operating deficit of $500,000 for the first 10 months of 1950, division of the CIO’s education de-' With no new pix going into re- partment. Rightly also confirmed . lease, the income will decline rap- j the scheme, saying that Jack Gold- i idly. Most of last week’s income ' har, president of Goldhar-Zimner | was from “The Men” and “City : Theatres, Inc., operators of the j Lights.” Former has played off vir- I Regent, finally called it off when ! tually all its key bookings and ren- ! “it looked like he was going to 1 tals will diminish. “Lights” may have trouble with other exhibitors also do a fast fade, since the Cath- who were against cutting prices.” olic War Veterans are pushing a campaign to keep theatres from booking it because of Chaplin’s al- Distribs Atom Pic ,, ^„ i Sam Lake has acquired for U. S. i leges'!. leanings ; distribution “Pattern for Survival, Total Assets $60,336,554 Total current and working assets amount to $60,336,554, which in- cludes cash of $20,443,925. Current liabilities are listed at a total of $15,528,079. WB’s advances to out- side produc'^rs took a big jump in the most recent year, being listed at $7,367,333. Same item in the 1948-’49 fiscal year was down at $1,311,662. WB disclosed its inventories as follows: released productions, at cost less amortization, $6,903,880; films completed but not released, at cost, $5,631,009; productions in progress and charges to future pro- ductions, at cost, $9,352,687; rights and scenarios unproduced, at cost less reserves, $1,346,874. In the past year, WB sold the fee's of five theatre properties, the lease of a sixth, and a warehouse for a total of $1,366,000, of which $1,105,000 was in cash with the balance to be paid in 10 years. Additionally, as part of its partner- ship dissolution program, the com- pany relinquished its 50% owner- ship of four houses, bringing a total of $946,000 in cash. Firm also has entered into a pact to sell two other theatres owned in fee for $300,000. Of this, $125,000 is to be paid in cash and the bal- ance over a period of two and one-half years. Other divested properties in- cluded a majoi'ity stock ownership of Continental Lithograph Co. and Los Angeles radio station KFWB, proceeds of which brought a total of $710,000. Of this amount, $530,- 000 was received in cash, the bal- ance receivable within one year. WB’s funded and other long-term debt amounted to $11,548,000 as of last Aug. 31, which was $3,259,000 less than the previous year. Firm’s principal item of funded debt is a 2% bank loan in the amount of $9,546,000, payable in semi-annual installments of $1,591,000 com- mencing on Nov. 1, 1951. Only new pic on hand is the I. G. Goldsmith-Joseph Ju^tman-CaiT Leserman-David Loew “Three Hus- bands.” It is doing very tepid biz. RobcM't Stillman’s “Sound of Fury” a two-reeler produced by Milton ! Salzburg, pf Cornel Films. It deals •with steps to be taken for protec- ; tipn from atom bomb attack. , ^ j i. j Lake was recently named pro-' has played five test dates and the ! ducer’s representative for Inter-1 producer is playing it very close to .American Productions, outfit the vest from here on in until he headed by Philip N. Krasne, which ' sees which way the UA Wind blows. : makes the “Cisco Kid” series for ' Harry Popkin turned over “Sec- I United Artists release. Lake was ' ond Woman” some weeks ago, but i until recently sales exec with Ed- * will approve no bookings. This t *.v. » i ward Small in New York and be-: lea.ves UA without even a release [ other date. Instead, the siuaio 1 fore that was with Paramount and ! for Christmas, best b.o. week of the went to the Justice Department Sclznick Releasing Organization. I year. * ahd made the stipulation. WB Sets Price Continued from page 5 which expires in eight* years, on the U. S. theatre, Hoboken, N. J. 20th Talks Due . Washington, Dec. 12. Justice Department expects fur- ther conferences this week with attorneys for 20th-Fox on the mo- tion picture anti-trust decree, but negotiations with Warner Bros, are temporarily marking time. Government lawyers are wonder- ing whether the Loew action of the other day means they intend to file a divorcement plan by Dec. 30. Loew’s claimed that the six months’ deadline for filing the plan did not expire Dec. 6, as the Anti- trust Division contended. The firm signed a stipulation that the ex- piration date was Dec. 30. What is interesting is that Loew’s did not go into the trial court in New York and asked to be relieved from filing on Dec. 6. or Dec. 30, or any Instead, the studio