Variety (December 1950)

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KflSCELLAiXV Wednesdayi^ December 27, 1950 New Techniques for Pictiire Prod. Hollywood, Dec. 26. Motion picture production re- ciuires a wider range of raw mate- rials, manufactured, products, and standard and specialized equipr jiient than any ot.ier American in- dustry, In addition to these basic needs, more than 250 classifications of specialists and workers in vari- ous arts, sciences, skills, trades and handicrafts are employed on pei> inanent or part-time basis to turn out the 400 or more features' an- nually to supply the market. • Requirements cover all types of. building and construction mate- rials, household equipment and fur- nishings, fabrics,.hard good.s, chem- icals, office supplies, standard and specialized electrical apparatus, specially-designed equipment, cars', trucks, tractors—in fact, virtually every product manufactured. With such a.diversity of products required, and the constant need for improving techniques and- equip- ment-^in addition to adapting new products; for usage—tiie eight ma- jor producing companies of Holly- wood tColiimbia, RKQ, Universal- International, Metro, Republic, Par- amount, 2dth-Fox and Warners) in- corporated the Motion Picture Re- search Council nearly three years ago to function as a centralized organization for research arid de- velopment of new materials, proc- esses, and equipment for its con- tributing companies. The organization is an outgrowth of the Academy Research Council, which was established more than 20 j'‘ears ago specifically to probe the then-new sound devices and techniques. Shortly after the start, the major studios subsidized over- head of the. Academy branch, and recently pulled away to set up its own reSearch^ organization. Spendinjg in excess of $100,000 annually, its key engineering staff of nine covers the divisions of con- struction, physics, standards, elec- trical, design, mechanical, lighting and construction. It also has 200 studio engineers arid technicians on its advisory staff; all of whom are, from time to time, called on to lend aid in research or develop-^ ment programs instituted by the Council. Council As^ Liaison In addition to its pure research, the Council functions as a liaison laetWeen its members and manu- iContinued on page 40) Ex-Champ Braddock Okays Film Biog Ex - heavyweight fight champ James Braddock has approved the story treatment of his projected biopic by Howard Irving Young, and the property is currently be- ing handled by the Paul Kohner agency in Hollywood, Rights to the property, which will probably be called “The Brad- dock Story,” are held by producer Richard Czinner. Duraiite’s Lab Tieup Now it will be “Durante, the Well Groomed Man.” Company manufacturing “3 Gut Of 5” prep- arations for men (shampoo, hair dressing, scalp cream, after-shave lotion and shaving cream) has been licensed by the NBC-TV comedian to be renamed Jimmy Durante Laboratories, Inc,, and will adver- tise under the new name after Jan.-l.'- Durante has been using some of the products for several years. Artliiir Koher glorifiDt the pitchmen in u humorous piece Y^SayYaNot Saddisfied^ Y’ Say Ya Want More Fa Ya Money on amusing byline itory in the 45th Anniversary IS'nmher of p^fitETY OVt !SEXT W EEK Legjt-Tele-Musicals Part of Cudia Setup Located Near Phoenix Phoenix, Dec. 26. Blueprints for a three-point proj- ect embracing legit, television and musicals are being drawn up by S. P. B. Cudia, local showman, whose Cudia City enterprise is lo- cated just outside the city limits of Phoenix. Physical setup, valued at $200,- 000, takes in 125 acres and includes the Cudia City theatre, a 250-seat- er, and a large indoor set with a 70-foot stage and a seating capac- ity of l.OOO: Latter is being primed for traveling musicals, roadshows, and TV, with smaller theatre being reserved'for gaslight mellers. Thea- tre is part of a western set that Cudia built in 1939. as locale for filming sagebrush sagas, and is cur- rently being utilized as winter showcase for traveling stock groups with ten-twent-thirt- repertoires. Deal calls for stock group to re- tail all b.o. receipts, on admission of $1, with house collecting revenue on potables. Patrons are seated at tables to watch the performance, while house waitresses circulate among the payees. In addition to TV films, also in the making is Cudia’s idea of turn- ing out a series of 52 TV westerns, in color, ifhcler label of “The Ro- mance of the West.” Series would be marked departure from usual cacti continuity and would deal se- riously with the historical develop- ment of the we.st. Each film would (Continued on page 40) I SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK WILL MAHONEY THE INIMITABLE Currently (Vomiiruing' Third Week Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailby Circus, Havana, Cuba Represented by ASSOCIATED BOOKING CORP. Washington, Dec. 26. / Hollywood comes off fairly well in the compromise excess profits tax bill which the Senate approved last week and which the House will probably okay on Jan. 1. The measure includes provision for two of the biggest headaches troubling the big companies— taxes on their frozen coin overseas, By Frank Scully J Assay, Ore., pec. 23. Hollywood gave itself a Christrtias present, to which the more favored of its residents no doubt will point with pride for many years to come. Well, five anyway. They bought back at public auction an Oscar they had given to the late Sid Grauman only two years before. Margaret Herrick, representing the Academy, bought up the goldplated bauble, worth perhaps $45, for $450. ’ The idea was to keep the statue from falling intd some well-heeled peasant’s hands^ Family pride, it seemed, was involved, though what would have happened-if Graumaii had riiade a will and had given it to any one of an army of. nobodys now claiming they are legitimate heirs, is strictly in, the realm of conjecture, It is claimed that no Oscar has ever fallen into outside hands, though it seems to me I remember one having been picked up a few years ago in an ashcan. Still it is good to see even a small display of family pride, though it was a little sad to see how fast those who had an interest in keeping this memento within the Academy family rushed off to pursue more frivolous matters once the Oscar had been rescued from more lowly ■ hands.' ' j Around the wMls were all sorts of paintings, sketches, and photo- : gx'aphs which had once belonged to “the master showman who had j raised the standard of exhibition of motion pictures.” In-the main, j they were pretty terrible examples of contemporary art. This need not be construed as px'oof of how bad Gr-auman’s taste was in art,, but rather the taste of those who gave him these things* After all you accept a gift in the spirit in Avhich it is given, and niany people loved Sid Grauman and gave him the best they could afford. In fact, judged by the higher standards of sculpture, Oscar himself is rio great shakes. This may get me a letter from Douglas Shearer, r who i understand designed it, that might well go down, in history as a companion piece to the Prcz\s letter to the Washington mu.sic critic kWho didn’t think too much of Margaret’s singing. But I was hit quite ; hcifd by critics in 1950, and as Bugs Baer once said in another epn- i nection, it vvas like throwing rice at a Chinanian. It was nourishment : to me. Real Art For a Buck As further proof of HollyW’ood’s sentimental attachment to the by-products of its main business of manufacturing good commercial motion pictures, original posters of Charlie Chaplin, a great friend of Sid’s, and Douglas Fairbanks, the Academy’s first president, went for and on the succe.ssor companies to : practically nothing. I think one of Doug and Mary iiold for $1 and the Big Five, resulting from di- j one Of the immortal Chariot sold for $3. Such posters could not be vorcement of the theatre interests/! made for less than $100 apiece. That would put their intrinsic value In both instances the industry got = at twice the value of a copy of the Oscar. just about what it requested. However, these aren’t all the new taxes pictures have to worry about. Early next year Congress begins exploring new soui'ces ol (Continued on page 47) . Davis, Guinness, Booth, Mitchell, Blackitier Get Frisco Critics Citations In fact there was a Chinese paperw'eight, a beautiful little thing, that W'ent for $1. It must have cost $50 to make and cast it. There were four Chinese panels, works of art which will not likely be made again in that sorely troubled land, that went for $45 apiece. They rep- resented a real buy. Though much of w-hat went on sale was of prop quality, some of it, even if sold by the foot, should have brought much more. A huge canvas, about 10 feet by 8, painted by Howard Chandler Christy, \vent for $150. It was a glamorized presentation of Constance Talmadge in riding togs and guarded by Russian wolfhounds. The canvas in this one alone could run into a lot of money, and I Was surprised some frugal painter didn’t buy it up and ciit the canvas and the frame into sizes which would bettei* serve his o\yn serious works. I was looking for a similar portrait of Marion Davies but it didn’t go on the block while I was hanging around the gallery, i looked ! to see some smart press agent get himself in right with the Hearst San Francisco, Dec. 26. The San Francisco Critics Coun- cil, consisting of critics and drama , dynasty for life by paying a fancy figure for this one. _ A 1 I U * A n ! Helen Hayes Back To Fix in ‘Son John’ Hollywood, Dec. 26. , Leo McCarey persuaded Helen ! Hayes to return to the screen as I star in “My Son John,” his first i picture . for Paramount under his new pact as producer-director. It wiU be Miss Hayes’ first pic- ture since 1936. Filming starts March 1. I editors representing all Bay Area i newspapers, last 'veck voted its an- nual awards. BaUotiijg honored Bette Davis and Alec Guinnes'^, as actress and actor giving I hie best screen per- i formances of the vear. Honors for the best stage performances went to Shirley Booth, as an actress, and Thomas Mitchell and Sidney > Blackmer (tied) as actors. “If You [Please,” starring Frank Fay, was [ voted the \von;t musical production i of the year, ! “All About Eve” was declared I made the pilgrimage to the auction with Simeon Gest, an old friend of Sid’s and the brother of the late Morris Gest. Few people west of the French Minister of Beaux Arts know as much about these things as Simeon. In fact some of the better things in the Grauman collec- tion were gifts of his to the master showman. We were particularly curious to see how a painting by John Decker, after Gainsborough’s “Blue Boy,” would fare among Hollywood’s art collectors. Decker was an excellent painter. Walter Wanger, in fact, once paid $5.0,000 for eight portraits by Decker to embellish a motion picture. One Way To Notoriety Showbiz OK in Paris Xmas Paris, Dec. 26. Despite riieager Christmas res- ervations at theatres and niteries; a last-minute onslaught filled all amusement ceriters. Thousands Of Parisians left town, j However, hordes of: holiday-bound hinterlanders more thari filled the void. Subscription Ordei 12 27 !• . Mi Enclosed find check for $ Please send VARIETY for Lo • • • • • « • • «.« . . . . . . ■ , * » r ■ • • • • • •• • (Please Print Name) Street'. • • • ■ • • ■ e "• • • • • a• f • • • • • * « • * • • » v.f • • • ' ■ • • ■ 'S' <1 ty., • * i e ■ • • • • • •' Zone.,.• StAto. * • • • • • • Regular Subscription Rate$ One Year—>$10.00 two Yeors—$10.00 Conado and Foreign—$1 Additional per Year PSrIETY Inc, 154 West 44tli Street New York 19* N. Y. I language film: “Black Rose;” worst 1 screen performance: Hedy Lamarr (actress); worst sereen perform- ance: Mickey Rooney, (actor); worst stage production (non-musical): “Strictly Dishonorable;” worst stage production (musical); “If Please,” But Decker is best remembered for taking classics such as “Blue Boy” and replacing flie face used by the artist in the original with i-i. 1 . i. 1 « 1 some Hollywood character. He put Bill Fields’ face in a portrait of the best E!igli.“i-language film, V h I Victoria. He made Morris Gest as Rembrandt’s “A Man In I ^unset B(ml(jvarff ^ ^and Jvina | ,* Frans Hals’ “A Gay Cavalier” and painted in the ; Hearts and Coronets tied for s^c-. David Belasco. He took another Frans Hals painting, and ond place. Other awards: chanced it into John Barrvmore as Hamlet t. Best foreign-language film: “Bi- u into jonn Jiaiiymore as Hamlet. cycle Thief;” best stage procjuction “Blue Boy” Goes For $25 (non-musical): ‘‘Death of a Sales- man;”, best musical: “Lost in the His painting of Sid Grauman after Gainsborough’s “Blue Boy” was Stars;” best stage performance presented to Sid many years ago at a banquet in Sid’s honOr, which (actor): Thomas Mitchell and Sid-1 was held at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood. Simeon Gest presented ney Blackmer (tied); worst English- | the fantasy. Grauman’s old mother was distressed by the conceit, but everybody told het it was all in fun, and in fact was worth lotSi more than most of the things people gave her little son with the big ideas. Maybe so, but all it brought was $25 at the auction. Like most of Grauman’s treasures, it probably gathered dust in storage. While his mother lived they shared two rOoms at the Am-' bassador hotel, and after her death Sid confined himself to one foOm. You ; He was Very ab?ent-niinded. Gertrude Skall, his secretary for 21 years, I and the co-administratpr of his estate, once gave him a present—-a beautiful cigaret case A visitoii caught him unarmed the next day l and Sid told Miss Skall,“Quick, fix up that gift on my desk there and ‘ give it to this guy.” Then as an afterthought he said, “Take out the card first. It might have pome from him.” i That Gtauman was no busiriessman is best proved by the fact that 1 he died without making a will. Sid resolved to do something about it I In fact he had made a will but had never signed it. He particularly I wanted to take care of George Ormiston, who had been Belasco’s head I carpenter and Graumari’s as well. Ormiston, now 75, had a stroke and ■ is completely paralyzed, so the kindness Sid intended.to pass on to him Was never consummated. in fact, the same wa.s true of Gertrude Skall. With Sid’s death she .‘lost her job at the Chinese theatre and, except for this job as cO* I administrator, she would have nothing. As moi'e than 25 persons have claims on the estate, not to stress a carload of characters clairriing to be his relatives, it is doubtful that • she will be able to buy an annunity out of her services. I R()y J. Goidenberg, the auctioneer, announced he was proudly pre<- ^ senting the “momentums.” He probably had it right the first time, j Certainly beyond that flash of ardor the Academy people showed ■regarding $id*s Oscar, nobody was paying much for a Grauman I memento. Trovel Expert Ricliarcl Joseph details why there will be 506^000 Americans on the Lam in ^51 In 0 iort of d last-Hihg touriiiii b|nge ★ ★ ★ an Interesting editorial feature ‘ in the 45th Anniversary Number of P^YHETY OUT i\EXT WEEK