Variety (January 1951)

Wednesday, 3, 1951 Foriy^fifih Anniver$ary PICTURES 33 (An excerpt from the book* *Case History of a Movie*) By DORE SCHARY Hollywood. way to the title card “The Next the several studios pre Voice You Hear,” and the case began to go to the jury. For those first few moments viewing all their feature produc libns in and around Lps Angeles, HOW TO COLLECT AN INSURANCE CLAIM By EZRA STONE B&K NABES BENEFIT BY DESPITE CLAIM Chicago. Figures brought put recently in Balaban & Katz’ attempt to lift , m i ^ ^ u i t • ^ ^ * u the two-week nlavinff time re^trie1 This exchange of correspondence [ hack 1 intend to have a new pair xne two w^eK^playmg time restnc | .^ ofcfed os o public service to ' of glasses that my N. y. optician I the Loop, might hamper .-Yn^mbers of the pro/essipn loho, will have air-mailed to me in Paris, • i. ■ nnf pn«5v to find a theatre i y^^rs the ; the circuit when Federal Judge ML ‘ like myself, have mistakenly be■ I promise to have these glued to Ayhere we can depend, on getting a ! rows down a man stood up really fresh reaction. The regular ‘ all dience of a house which runs a Tot of previews quickly turns pro. Its reactions are selfconscious and. Consequently, ■ useless to us. Also, many poople in the industry like ; ciiael Igoe hears final arguments i hcued that piuning insurance meant my nose with spirit gum and as • this u.'AoV IQ one teas automatically reimbursed an added extra precaution. I’ll ^ people I un^‘‘‘Cr ^^^0^^ ^ presenting a claiht. have the shoes I’m Wearing nailed fi^d^^hea^ siw ^ ' ,, Aboard^ Cu^rd Lin^ ^ ^^hcad M the foot of my a WvTifJiA Jackson Park deeree^at least m Caroma. Saturday, July 1. 1950. bunk.. 1 11 also keep away irpm hv^fiip hnln 1 its general release nabe houses Bailey Insurance Co., other men’s wives and take all my Jnfrt f ^ I thes^e theatres coW i Hoping you . slid into the scene and the three ! ^ . Dear Lem •’ are the same I am people began the breakfast busi1 s locaL: hold * * ness. The camera w’ent close on ! This morning there was a hell of . ' a blow and as I turned about and Myopically yOurS, 1 .i ..rlAtonno Innlr of fHpir • K., u I i , Y \ ' xjti t , i j a ^ 1 lUmeU aDOUU ailU , to get an . ^ . | ’^.9® iooked . upward and just ! When the Jaqksou Park decree qjj p§^ one Seeing own and the other fellow s prod, r chewed— suddenly / there was a ; ef^ct m the latter months of . gj^je forward of the suh deck, a big, Eye dog to the Hotel Favart, Paris, lU't. and they make the rounds | ®^®ker,_ it built into a^ laugh, arid j i947, the >8 houses ^racked up a. when the ^camera xut to. the twin i^^ound total of $3, 075,000^in admis-^j^jj glasses from my i * shot of Johnny looking upward and : 5ions. In 1948, after the decree ■ . . .. ... of the previews. . • ' * V Ai • 1. t_ i. vv/iiiAuj AUUIV1M5 upvvaxu ctjiiu 4.>7^u, viic and <;palpd them lei<;urelv ,Vn iiiKlicnce of this sort betrays j chewing in the same deadpan fash i had fully effected the circuit, ad “vfrboard ft it had itself with flurries of applause and ; ion, the laugh built; into a roar . and i htissions increased to $4,253,000. i "4ad of ' mv elasse* when you hear wise whispers such a.s "I thought Mellor was with Sfevens at . Paramount” you know th been me in Mr. .Ezra Stone stead of my glasses this Tetter Stone Meadows July 29, 1950. «« fKo HMtac. ' T ' • — ; sieau 01 my glasses inis leuer otunc ivicc^uy k "'■St ; . during hearings in the late would be written to my life in Newtown, Pa. time since the otart i full, has attempted to show that siirance people and doubtless by P^ar Ezra: jthe .edict has hurt its business by ! someone else’s hand. i We have been kicking around the ni 'if vou’re going to waste your i o"® snori snot wmich 9ompar ^i^h Pre-Jackj A the glasses hit the the ^bloWn aWay glasses, vlinr After the running you ■ I had felt all along would be our I Attorney Tom and disappeared into the .,"®lFi'"”’® CM niiig. After the_ _ n g .^ l make-or-break point. It wan the ! f®P™s“t“g the Spindrift, I thought, •‘i whether w not the d^ moment at the beginning of the i ^^® | wonder if my insurance will cover would be applicable, scene in Johnny’s room where Joe i ^ a . ^j^jg ,, a floater policy you As you remember, the policy says says, "A funny thing happened on v ^^h^P^^^ble decline, and that the | sold me. They sank as soon ;is ; shall not apply, the radio just now . . . ’’ and told i i99 peculiar to the i j however, to loss or damage by fire, about hearing: the Yoice that > will got the standard foyer routine of the taut handshake, the reverent stare, and the “Basil, yoU’Ve done it again!’’ This may make you fool very good at the nionient, but is small comfort later on when the picture lies . down and dies w itli more tj^pical audiences. Small comfort of a different kind comes from the cynical Old studio hand who was annoyed at the way the preview went. He looks at you claimed to be God. If the audience thoug^ht that Was funny, we were ! dead.* But if . we made, that ; one transition, we were over the hump. The film kept coming closer. ;. Gbainnaii Following a meeting of indus Joe finished the dishes and startgiimly, shakes his head and says ed in toward the living room. \Ve dourly, “ . . . needs a lotta w'ork, cut to Mary helping Johnny with ; try general sales managers in New my boy.” I prefer to bypass all his home work, We cut. back to ; York last week, Warner distribu I immediately checked with the . windstorm, cyclone, tor bridge to fix our posiUon, 65" latl: nado-.^aH. explosion.not attending tude and 40" longitude, in case ! ?/ ®y‘’'®' snjoke^or damage by you or the company cares to Insti i aircraft, burglary or hold tute a search. ; We were rolling . ! along at 34 knots and I don’t think ^ ^ that the z^eDhvrTharflat ‘the skipper would have cared to f^np? W turn about. He’s a nice chap, un ! g^^ p^ your glasses from your nose easUy swayed S W from his course.^ . . . _ ; storm, and possibly a cyclone or I just hope they fell into the.; tornado, and so the company is the inside comments and put my Joe settling down with his paper I tion chief Ben Kalmenson was . . — — ^ r— trust in the comments of the , and glass^ at the radio. We cut | chairman of the sales manj of some needy mermaid or. more than happy to pay in full for back to the full shot across Mary a ggr goTTimittpp for 1951 i .....x. . and Johnny toward the bedroom commUtee for 1951. door. And then the door opened . Acting Kalmensi^ s_ duties as people for whom we actually make the pictures. We decided to take ‘ The Next Voice You Hear” down to the Pomona. Any husband who has driven his wife to the hospital to have ; chairman will be to head the forthsaid, “You'^re''not"listtnrng‘ tuThe Week for the United Artist Theater in I and Joe stood in it, and . Mary radio— what’s wrong?” I should have trusted Bill Well National Conference of Christians 1 & Jews. a baby will recognize my emoj man’s direction. He had held back tional state of “It’s all a mistake— j the disclosure just the right time, \ve never should have gotten into j balanced the scene like a celluloid atre “counting the ballots” and this, let’s go home.” There was a vague fear, would this picture become known as Schary’s Folly, would it become one of the famous failures? Some of the fears were uncomfortably specific: “We’ve come to the wrong town . . . we picked the wrong night, it’s a Friday and the house will be full of youngsters . . . maybe I’ve made all the wrong decisions all the way through the picture . . maybe I’ve . ruined Billy Wellman, I pulled him into this wrong gamble and if we flop he’ll be so disappointed.” I was afraid the audience might not respond, then fright 31 far-sighted professor with the the replacement of your glasses, nearest school of fish. j How’ever, unfortunately, the However, the tragedy did hot , cracked left lens is not covered unend there. I srnugly went below ' der the policy ■ ecause the policy to get my second pair that I re specifically excludes breakage Of membered to slip into my portfolio brittle articles unless caused by at the last moment of frantic pack certain accidents which include ing. Lo and behold, (which inci fire, earthquake, windstorm and dentally about fixes the position thieves. If you can establish the j of my cabin), the left lens was fact that the porter who dropped ball on a column of air, and when Joe told about the Voice saying “This is God— I will be with you for the next few days,” the proverbial drop of the proverbial pin Would have jchoed through that house. We were . home. There would be spot fixes as we went i telephoning In the returns every ] jjj the frame, the luggage on your portfolio was few minutes until we climbed back into the cars and pulled out in the rain for Los Angeles. It was a long ride without much conversation; As the car pulled up into the driveway at my home shortly after 1 a. m-, the phone along, plenty of them, but we were was ringing inside. It was Golden I This I remember was caused by the a thief, we might be able to reopen porter dropping a heavy piece of : the matter of the left lens, luggage on the leather portfolio at ; I enjoyed your letter and am the entrance to the pier. I’m going sorry that I, cannot keep it in my around wearing them, of course, files. If you make a photostat of but it looks like some irate hus it I would then like to have it back band, on catching me in a compro for oUr continual amazement and mising situation with his wife, ’ ^oiusement. home. We went to the St. Charles cafe for a gathering with the town’s civic and religious leaders. . Barrett Kiesling had arranged for them to see the picture and meet with his last report for the night. Out of 279 opinion cards, the picture was rated from “Very Good” to “Outstanding” by 266. I wanted didn’t wait to say, “Take off your glasses.” It’s really not too uncomfortable, but I feel as if I’m looking at everything and every to call up everybody who had | body through a bomb-sight. worked on the picture then and with us later as a sort of test for i there and tell them about it and • lems fall comfortably within your So, if any or all of these prob With best regards, I am Yours very truly, Lem Bailey Company. ■ *r (Advertisement Maritime Workers Union Journal.) Wanted! Any information estab a similar method of selling the pic ened that they might laugh too j ^yj,g general market later much at the wrong places, that people might even honestly consider the story irreverent and walk oul . . . And then, with the. rain suddenly beating at the car windows. I saw an awful vision of the big theatre with almost nobody there but us. The lights were shining on the wet black streets, the gutters were swimming with rainwater and the three theatres we passed entering Pomona were playing great pictures. wonderful shows which had probably corralled all the audience in town, and why hadn’t we chosen a theatre up on the main .street where people could get to it? We turned the corner and pulled up beside the lighted marquee. The canvas banner MAJOR STUDIO PREVUE TONIGHT flapped dismally in the rairij and one lone man was standing at the boxoffice. We gathered in the lobby, trying to look cheerful and honchaJant. Bill Golden, reported that the film was on hand okay, chief pro* jectionist Merle Chamberlain was np in the booth and both cutters were on hand to cover emergencies, and Doug Shearer was inside on the fader, 1 wiped the rain off my glasses and peered through the crack in tile aisle doors. T\4y nose caught the smell of wet wool, and then my eyes got accustomed to the darkness and I saw that we had a packed house. We cro.Ssed our fingers and went;; inside to the little patch of empty seatS; . hous® lights faded down. The curtains drew apart, and on the screen came the title card announcing that this was a preview and Avould the audience please fill in opinion cards after the running. The studio Lion roared; he gave * .*0 Charles Palmer, CopyriRht JfJ Inc.; Excerpt by permliwlotl Hntulom Hou.se. Itic., New Ydrki $.1. on. Their opinions wer. very pleasant to hear. Bill Golden and Staa Markham stayed down at the the thank them for what they’d done. I compromised by calling Wellman and thanking him. Then I thanked God. ACllia Aaxi (JUlllAUi. UlUXV V UUI T," ..l, l rt at r,i,rt sphere of mfluence, please write me at the farm, where I shall be Back home“on the <5 <! * on July 20. Queen Elizabeth, leaving Cherbourg on the 15th. On the way See how simple it is, friends? WAUIS TO PRODUCE FIVE HUBS IN 1951 Hollywood. Hal Wallis, who hasn’t made more than four films annually since joining Paramount as ah indie in 1944, will make five in 1951. 'Two of these. “The Stooge” and “Good^Boy,” w'ill be Martin-Lew'is comedies. Another, “Son and Stranger,” will be lensed in England. Remaining duo are “Peking Express,” starring Corinne Calvet, and “Night Man,” starring Burt Lancaster. to Block i-u.s. JACK SHAINDLIN SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS Motion Picture Assn, of America reportedly has appealed to the iJ. S. State Dept; in an effort to block a proposed program of the Biosebop Bond of Holland which would make distribution of American films in that country COhsideribly more difficult. An industry-wide . monopoly Composed of distributors and ex-^ hibitors, the Bond is scheduled to vote today (Wed.) on w'hether the program, should be placed into effect.,; i Bioscoop members are to ballot ■ on three tegulations. First would limit a theatre from using more than 40% of its product from any one distributor. Bond would also be authorized to pass upon the managing director oi any theatre company. Third proposal calls for importation of pictures m be limited to not more than 25 pix to be hahI died by any one distrib.