Variety (February 1951)

Wednesday, February T, 1951 PsMWfi PICTURES EXHIBS BEEF, RISES Chicago, Feb. 6. Orders for Phonevision screenings during the fifth week (Jan. 29-Feb. 4) of the Chicago test again dipped slightly from the pre- vious frame, according to figures reported by Zenith Radio to the major film companies, which are supplying the product. Where orders for the fourth week totaled 505, representing about 23% of the possible audience, only 451 orders were received during the fifth round, or about 21% of the possibilities; Following is a breakdown by the time of screenings each day for the fifth week of the test: % of Families Who Saw Reports by Zenith Radio that Phonevision played to an average 26% of the possible audience dur- ing the first month of its Chicago trial have cued a reappraisal among film industry execs of a recent eval- uation of the system by Nathan L. Hal pern, theatre television con- j sultant. Halpern, in'a speech made last July, projected what he thought would be the largest aver- J age audience if any when Phone- vision became a nationwide venture and came up with a figure of 20%. Where Zenith prexy E. F, Mc- Donald, Jr., estimated the potential return to the major film produc- ing companies of over $1,500,000, however, Halpern predicted the film companies would derive aver* age rentals on. their top “A” films via Phonevision of only $250,000. Reason is that McDonald based his prognosticating on the current re- ceiver set circulation of 10,000,000, while Halpern, takmg into account the American public's listening habits to the most popular weekly radio shows, estimated that Phone- vision, even on a nationwide .basis, would “have a boxoffice of 940,000 homes at the very most.” In his speech, Halpern declared that his projection was based on the “most favorable conditions” of a nationwide TV system for Phone- vision and assumed 100% satura- tion of receivers. But, he pointed out, Zenith itself predicted that eventually only one-third of the na- tion’s total telephone subscribers would subscribe to Phonevision. With approximately 14,000,000 homes now possessing phones, that would leave only 4,666,666. avail- able to Phonevision under Zenith’s estimates. In addition, Halpern pointed out, rather than basing the poten- tial audience on the current heavy (Continued on page 53) Super-Colossal Hollywood, Feb. 6. In keeping with the magni- tude of “The Greatest Show on Earth,” Cecil B. DeMille will have no less than six assistant directors handling various groups under the pig top. They are Eddie Salven, Danny Mc- Cauley, Al Mann, Bud Brill, Frank Bauer and Clem "Jones, N. Y. Projectionists To in New York Projectionists Local 306 will insist that its pension and welfare program be included in every contract negotiated in area covered by the union. Local 306, affiliated with International Al- liance of Theatrical Stage Em- ployes, recently gpt green light for plan a,fter flri&l agreement with larger circuits. IA 'unit pow will seek to bfing every member under the welfare program. Loew’s and HKO houses already are in the setup. Negotiations are In work with other circuits, includ- ing Randforce, Skpuras and Inde- pendent Theatre r Gwners Assn, * Under plan, employers pay 5% basic Wage scale for each oper- ator on basis of 54 weeks, which includes vacation relief man. Union members will contribute $3.25 Quarterly, in addition, to regular dues. Thus, program provides for death payments of .$4,000 and re- tirement salary,' due to age, of $30 f week. Health and hospitalization benefits’‘also J aie Incllftfed. 1 1 / J New York State Board of Re- gents, after asking for the filing of briefs on “The Miracle” instead of taking personal depositions at last week’s subcommittee hear- ings, was swamped this week by 82 affidavits protesting the Re- gents’ projected ban op “The Mira-, cle” as being sacrilegious. Affidavits, submitted by religious leaders of all faiths, including the Roman . 'Catholic, accompanied & brief filed with the subcommittee by indie distributor Joseph Bur- styn, who is handling the film’s release. Burstyn, without naming names, argued in his brief that many of those who have condemned “Miracle” have never seen the pic- ture. Distrib also claimed that two members of the Legion of Decency were not opposed to the film, as- serting he Would furnish proof of that to the Regents if requested to do so. Subcommittee is to make Its recommendations by Feb.' 15 to the full Board, which will then decide on whether the film is to be finally approved or banned. Un- der the existing N. Y. state law, the decision of the motion picture division of the Board of Education, (Continued on page 20) MOT’s Jack Glenn Heads Eastern SDG; Noyes V.P. ' Jack Glenn, of March of Time, was reelected to his third hitch as president of New York Screen Directors Guild at annual meeting Saturday night (3). Dana Noyes, free lance, was reelected first vice president. . Leslie. Roush, Roush Productions, was elected second vice-president and Alexander Gansell, Audio Pro- ductions, was named recording secretary. Hans Mandell, also of Audio, was elected corresponding secretary. Ed Seward, free-lance, was chosen treasurer. Elected to the' board of gover- nors were George L. George, Joseph Henaberry, William Resnich, War- ren Murrajb r ahd TIei ; bel' , t Kferkow.' * Approximately 1,400 theatres in the U. S, are utilizing competitive bidding privileges in acquiring their product and bidding tendency appears to be on the upswing de- spite growing exhib squawks. Num- ber of new bidding deals each week exceeds the number dropping out, but the margin is slight and the acceleration of the practice has slowed down, Renewed interest in bidding stemmed from recent court case in Allentown, Pa., where the Boule- vard Drive-In had been refused first-run product by" the majors. Drive-in had been offering higher prices than, the distribs could get from indoor houses, but offers were nixed on grounds that, as general policy, drive-ins were not entitled to same consideration as indoor theatres. When court ruled in favor of the ozoner, a new spurt in bid- ding cases became noticeable throughout the country from both Indoor and outdoor theatre oper- ators. Indications are that each distrib- utor is. handling nationally between 500 and 550 bidding deals Weekly. One major company admitted to 591 auction situations on its books, while another said it handled “around 400.” Meanwhile, Allied States Assn, has been contending that there is nothing in the U. S. vs. Paramount case decree which requires com- petitive bidding except when in- voked by an indie exhib in order to obtain a run formerly held by am affiliated or circuit theatre. Abram F. Myers, Allied general counsel, is reported to be trying to nudge distribs into seeking a formal court clarification of the issue. A formal letter, outlining his interpretation, is expected to go out to the sales managers following the association’s board meeting in Washington next week. Decisions in the Allentown case and another covering the Walbrook theatre, Baltimore, according to Myers, reinforce his view that a distributor may choose its own cus- tomer between two competing in- dependents, provided, the distrib is not in violation of the Sherman act.. Distribs, however, are continuing to grant bidding when requests are made and will go on operating un- der current procedures until in- structed to do otherwise by court order. . Gael Sullivan in D. C. To Clarify Wage Freeze In the Picture Industry Gael Sullivan, executive director of Theatre Owners of America, left N. Y. yesterday (Tues.) for a visit of several days in Washington, where he will seek clearcut clarifi- cation of the wage-freeze order* as pertaining to the film industry, Sullivan hopes for an interpre- tation of the edict, particularly as concerning theatre employes and in light of the fact there has; been no freezing of admissions. Actually, while a specific ruling is a possi- bility, it’s not considered in the trade as likely at this time. Also on his agenda are huddles with Sam Pinahski, TO A president who now is at work on spurring defense bond sales for the Govern- ment, and Marcus Cohn, ; TOA legal adviser on television; On the latter matter, Sullivan is seeking ample notice of the hearing dates to be set by the Federal Communications Commis- sion on theatre TV, so that TOA will, have full time to. prepare, RKO Rushes 'Thing’ . Hollywood, Feb. 6. RKO is planning to rush Win- chester Productions’ “The Thing” into national release as soon as possible. Company hopes to have it in theatres by late April/ Picture Is now in rough cut, with a few sequences still to be shot 1‘,oh location: ' * ’ ’' ‘ “ <v Cauliflower Garden Hollywood, Feb. 6. Warners studio looks like a garden of cauliflowers these days, with nine former pugi- lists enacting riot scenes in “I Was a Communist for the FBI.” Ex-ringsters are Tommy Her- man, Mike Dundee, Joe_ Glick, Jack Perry, Art Sullivan^ John- » riy. Kearns, Phil Bloom, Billy McGowan and Sailor Billy Vincent. As SEG Fades Home Office Employes Local H-63 today (Wednesday) will start campaigning to have union des- ignated as bargaining agent for Paramount white collarites. The contemplated move into Par by the International Alliance of The- atrical Stage f Employes unit follows action on Monday (5) of National Labor Relations Board in ruling that Screen Employes Guild had lost its identity, as it was out- growth of mergers and new affilia- tions with a parent body. Local H-63 will need only 30% of Par workers to entitle it to petition NLRB to designate IA union as bargaining agent. How- ever, indications were yesterday that Par workers would line up with IA by large majority. NLRB ruling is expected to widen breach between Screen Office and Professional Employes Guild and Local H-63, both of which have been seeking to con- trol home office workers. Situa- tion started when SOPEG and Screen Publicists Guild merged in- (Continued on page 20) Arbitration Code Applies Code of ethics fo t labor-manage- ment arbitration is being distrib- uted to all branches of the amuse- ment industry following comple- tion by three organizations active in settling employer-employee dis- putes. Code was drawn up during a two-year period by officials of American Arbitration Assn.,. Na- tional Academy of Arbitrators and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. All arbitrators selected from panels of three groups will be re- quired to follow precepts laid down in the code.. : J. Noble Braden, vice president of AAA, stlid Monday (5) code would make for speedier settlement of disputes because it provides union, man- agement and arbitrators with uni- form Standards of conduct at hear- ings. A number of cases involv- ing motion picture disputes will come in under new code, Braden said. All Peaches and Cream With the Coast SDG Now Hollywood, Feb. 6. General 'membership meeting of Screen Directors Guild Sunday (4) developed into a routine affair with emphasis on the organization’s problems. A spirit of unity pre- vailed which was far different from the previous meeting, last Oc- tober, wheh members voted for resignation of officers following in- ternal strife among the directo- rate over the issue of a loyalty oath. Joseph P. Mankiewicz, presi- dent opening the session said he wanted members, to be apprised of progress since the last meeting and George ' Stevens, George l Seaton arid attorney Mabel Walker 1 •Willebrandl delivered reports. Hollywood, Feb, 6. Threats of possible work stop- pages on major lots and hints that a dissident group may seek to re- place the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes as bar- gaining agent for failure to obtain pay raises since 1947 was contained in a telegram sent to the IA exec Board and president Richard Walsh, at the opening of the reg- ular midwinter general meeting of the board in Tucson yesterday (Monday). Group, calling itself the Com- mittee of Studio Workers, wired the meeting that “lack of pay in- crease since 1947 is creating bitter- ness among studio workers against IATSE. Unless immediate positive action is taken, petition to NLRB replacing IATSE as bargaining agent in Hollywood will follow.” Spokesmen for the group also declared that, while no official strike Is contemplated, work stop- pages may be used as an added weapon to bring on new wage talks. Group claims a member- ship of approximately 2,300, made up of segments in all IA locals. In Tucson, Roy M. Brewer, IA international rep iff Hollywood, said that “in view of past experi- ence with persons who send tele- grams but refuse to sign them,” he questioned whether they were stu- dio workers or represent anyone but selves. He maintained that IA will continue to honor unexpired contracts with studios but added that “in view of changes in cir- (Continued on page 16) SPG Strike Threat Vs. 20th-Fox Eased as Two Ad-Pubs Are Taken Back Strike threat of the Screen Pub- licists Guild against 20th-Fox faded yesterday (Tues.) when manage- ment and SPG buried the hatchet in controversy over dismissal of 10 employes in the adrpublfcity dept. Company agreed to reinstate twtf of the discharged personnel and assured the SPG unit there would be no more layoffs during balance of the year. Reinstated were James O’Neill, national magazine contact, and Harry Hochfeld, in charge of Roxy ads. Other demands by SPG, such as contract revision and cost of living increases, have been tabled for the time being. Agreement reached yesterday in parleys with Jack Lang, 20th r s la- bor’s relations chief, climaxed weeks of meetings and negotia- tions. Initial blowoff came Jan. 19 when dismissal notices were hand- ed to 10 members of the depart- ment at quitting time. Strategy committee was set up and, by a vote of 48* to 3, was empowered to call a strike if negotiations with management broke down, Other SPG units in other home offices rallied; to the 20th group and prom- ised moral support in event Of a walkout. Current contract with publicists expires in September. RENEWAL ON ROGERS , Hollywood* Feb. >6. Question of television rights is stalling, contract renewal talks be- tween Roy Rogers and Republic. Virtually all other p o i n t s , are agreed upon; Film cowpoke hasn’t any teevee. deals at the moment, but he is insisting on tele rights “if, as and when.” Herbert J. Yates hasn’t Indicated whether he’ll accede but specula- tion of peaceful settlenieint is cued by fact company plans to-make n Rogers starrer in Scotland this year with frozen funds. It was postponed last year at Rogers’ re- quest when his vis-a-vis, Dale Evans, (Mrs. Rogers) retired from screen to have baby. Meanwhile, oater star’s deal With Paramount for one picture still stands. It’ll , be made at windup of present I Republic" trin J tl , act iff May; 1