Variety (May 23, 1951)

PICTURES , May 23 , 1 «SI Ferrer Labels Himself as Stupid And Careless’ on Commie Org Ties Par's Canadian Saks Meet in Taronlo May 31 P*r a mouse's Canadian sale* 41* vision RiU bold Ks annual t if f s- tins la Ta ronli . May INvat I, Rith Csrdoo IMMmm. C V««hin|lM May 22. * Plain vlupid rareie**oe**” to Jose Fermi tie-ins Rita kit Ring organisations, the and logit * star told tho >tou«e t'a - American Activities Commit toe today Den> mg em| tically any loia of amt i of his association* with the \anouftly shaded Red group*, the performs r said he sought to **ss* plain not excuse” I nations The gold, was his or n li Ferrer told the • endorsed the ci of Benjamin Davis for the N Y City Council on the belief that Doris ros a Democrat He profe s eed no hnoa ledge of the fort Doris was a Common lot Party of tho Connell for four tr did he know that tho od artthdraurn their of Davia. ■ a Dolly IN. Y. Commie publication • story which listed him among tho of a May Day rally. Fen | he learned only a roupls of months ago that May Day Is an odiciai Cas n munM He said he didn't recall ship of the roily hut “might have Ferrer, ashed If he had It to do again, stressed he would com pletely refrain from any links with any groups or individuals whom he P u s peeled of being on the left. Did he have any suggestions an paeans of re nde ring the Tarty leas effective In the theatre business? Ferrer had ready answers to this. He Rould outlaw the Com- munist Party and all Comm activity. “Lam convinced the O munist Party la an Instrument of a It simpler and Hearer if the munist Party i >ld w i d e ly pnhiicice the fan MM Attorney General's office and the House Committee are available to actors for guidance on their par UHpntion in or endorsement of any activity of the sort orhlch brought him before tbe House by bis attorneys. Abe Fortaa, of tbe Washington firm of Arnold Fort as A Porter and New York lawyer Ldwla M Iteiskind the 2d-year-old Oscar sinner took the stand before tbe largest audi* since John Garfield s stmt. After preliminary questioning, ittee t > i , «n* n i 4 . n, swung around to his Holly clear that be an page 1 *» Attending f N.Y. Judge 0K » Transfer ru. Of RKO Suit to ( oast l -» I Federal Judge Samuel Kaufman loot week granted RKO’a motion rhlf( to transfer a IU30 00I plagiarism suit brought la N. Y. Federal Court against the studio by Joahph An s rot ice will pres of Distributing Americans Look to Germany, Japan As Important Picture Markets and Jerry to Lot Angeles Court Jurist gave the green!tgItt I to the switch over Anthony’s pro- test after RKO claimed the move would facilitate the appearance of the yarns. “Sister Eve and **Make Believe Ballroom of the Air.** rial from his works la Its pic- ture, Bachelor and Ike Bobbytox- er.” Denying tbe allegation, com- pany discloses (hot tbe screenplay, by Sidney j Order FBI Probe Into Testinony By John Garfield Washington May 22 Dissatisf ac tion withgi the House Un-American Activities Committee over the recent testimony of actor John Garfield broke into the opeo last week on two fronts. Committee ordered the Garfield transcript turned over to the De- partment of Justice with a request for sn FBI going-over It wants to know how the GarAeld statements and denials stack up with FBI RKO Foreign Pix Plan Stirs Paris Porta. May It. Disclosure that RKO will distrib- la (he U. B. Co by the y's foreign chief Phil Reis- dun ng the inn's Continental Uphold Relocation Of Theatre as Bingo Lure Buffalo May 22 Appellate Division of the Su- preme Court has unanimously up- held revocation by City License Director John F Rollek of (he li- cense of Old Vienna which has been operating here for nearly It years with a combination p o l i cy of Rollek out of Japan and their “Axis” chiefly for kings that the of pictures was merely collate rial sod that the entire policy wot In effect a lottery in vio- lation of the Stale gambling laws. alii now are anticipating that tho two former enemy countries eventually will figure prominently in the world Aim market. Likeli h ood is (hot when both an s r osiami r ally trade and monetary restrictions are eliminated. Japan and Ger- many will yield about SI2.049 OUtl annually for Hollywood Alm-mak- A A currently representing the Li distributors la Japan, la gras ao average of fionono weekly, or Its equivalent la local currency. la that this level, uklrh • to over $5,000 000 yearly. A number of Europeao All ers are inclined to discount the re- ported new RKO release preferring In wait and see if it tually materialises Others, ever consider the plan feasible be- cause Americans have become lo- etary remittances to the U. ft lifted. It rould go higher wf say that substantial revenue from tbe U. ft market would be a llfesaver for them, and also would tend to lower local barriers against Hollywood product Meantime Reisman left far London, where be will stay a week before returning In N. Y. Under new setup RKO baa ac- quired two British pis for western hemisphere distribution. One la the independently-made “Li 11 Mar PV Chi Results Very Successful C M F\ III varied, dependent an the number Sez McDonald -.rv "ir ^ ~ In Germany limited to the west- n sector, of course. American it At s have been raking In gross uineos of about 55.000.00i to 57 • 000 000 . the average Chicane May 22 Results ef Zenith Redia't recent Phooevtslen test In Chicago on a * preliminary analysis.* PV Is be ’ su cce s sf ul far beyond our e sped at Iona.** Zenith pres E. F. McDonald. Jr, declared this week He claimed that the 300 test families “attended” Alma via TV at a rate three-end-e-half times greater than the 47 times per week which, he said, la “considered as te TV Rifks at Stake Is UA Sait Vi. Six Over 25 Retires Question of whether the holder nf reissue or residual rights to a film also owns the TV rights may he determined in a suit which Untied Artists filed in N. Y. Fed- eral Court last week against Mag- nus Films. Inc.. Masterpiece Pro- ductions. Jacques Grtnieff. Her- man Greenfield and Paul Brodrr. UA wants an injunction to restrain the defendants from licensing home 25 pictures to television UA claims that the defendants infringed its copyrights to the filass by televising them since April. 1350 w it hoot permission Fender of the prints pending settle- ment of the action are also asked Imolved in the litigation are II Walter Waager pis. right from UA bad six from United Artists Corp Case arises out of UA*s transfer •f the 25 films to Gnnieff several years ago Deal was subject to certain terms One of them ac- cording to the dist rib's legalites O'Brien. Driscoll. Rsftery 4 Law^ ler carries with it the under- standing that the TV rights to the Mock of pictures were not included b the agreement. After the films were turned over to Gnnieff. k was learned, be later farmed them out to f«yf the other defendants Group of pu includes such Waager prod*sc- tions aa “I Met My Love Again. ’ “Foreign Co rres pond s at." Block- •de* “Trade Winds* and Ztcr- Baitj Yours.” on (he wli committee on April 23, GarAetd denied that he ever knew a Communist In Holly- •ood or on Broodway or that the Communists had ever approached him for assistance and that he h. J been unaware until recently t tat there was a Communist Party lm the motion picture colony He know ledge of any activities and Insisted he was a militant anti-Communist way In which the ntee showed di«i < with his testimony came last Fri- day l ltl during the questioning of Roy M Brewer international rep in Hollywood for the Interna- tional Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees While Brewer was desert hint the violence in the Con- ference of Studio Unions strike of 1345. he was asked what field played lo that strike “John Garfield.” waa the reply, “headed a committee which In chided John Howard Lawson, and I hey arrved notice In a public tfatement that they would he oo hand aa obs e rve r s to protect the civil rights of the strikers They sent s telegram to that effect to Jack Warner " < Lawson la one of •Continued on Page I Si REFUSES TO DISMISS DEMIS' LIBEL ACTION Motion for dismissal of a libel art Wn by Indie pic producer Ar- mand Denis against tbe R J. Rey- nolds Tobacco Co. New York Dolly News and Lewis Cot low was denied In N. Y. Supreme Court Denis is asking damages of 5275.000 It stems from publica- tion In tbe dally of full-page ad- sf a testimonial by Merck Buys WB’» N.Y. Warehouse for $1,000,000 Merck Pharmaceutical has bought the Warner Bros warehouse at 010 West 54th street. N. Y„ for over 5I.000.UUU. and tbe WB department has been merged into the West 44th w , .street homrofftre The heavy prop*. Cotkn. la behalf of (be ogre KrntTy etc . .Ill be ahunlrd out lene ’ and tbe other the Marcel Heilman-Peter Rathvon-ABPC Al- | the average for American musical. “Happy Go Lovely.” star- attendance la theatres ring Vere-Ellea. Cesar Romero and With a decision still pending Dovtd Niven. Object of the new with the Federal Communications policy waa to bring more variety { Commission an whether to grant into the Industry, and he suggests PV a commercial green light, execs • Continued on page 55i of some of the major Aim comp* ——— nie* which furnished product for Heavier Taxes Cal ! “ pv •"* —■"* McD “““ • Into Teckncaler Net; $540334 far Qtr. Heavier tax bite rut Tec boi- 'S net proAt for Use quarter last March 31 to 5540 334. equivalent to 50c per share, cor- discloaed this week Lam- ps re with 3032 344 or 04r for the comparable Aral quarter af 50 George F. Lewis, v p. and era! counsel, reporte slon for taxes amounted to 507f- 020 in the recent period, os against only 5434.702 In the ’50 quarter. Figures were sn noun red at Techai s annual stockholder* meet- ing in N Y. at which four members of the hoard were reelected for three-year terms They were Evera- key Childs. Jr. David ft Shat tuck. Murray D Welch and Lewis- Lewis told the session that Techo is current output of 74 fea- tures annually la about tbe limit for tbe time being He said this amount of processing represents capacity, and material shortages virtually bar expansion of facilities at present Lewis presided over the meeting in the absence af prexy Herbert T. Kalmus. wbo Is In Europe on , fPWtoni Wyler N. Y. to Europe Rudolf Ring Arthur Blake Irving Cohen Roaita Dial Albert Elias Jaaaes H Gariork Abel Green Sol Jacobson Alfred Katx Lydia Miaeviteh Bruahilde Pfeiffer U ft. distrlba drop their operation via MPEA in Japan an Jan. 1. On that date they all go into open competition with their own separate operation* Mean- while, Irving Maas. MPEA chief- lain. now la in Tokyo seeking lo a quota an pie i mp orts If It goes through the measure would limit entry of American Alms Into Japan to 150 per annum. Presently swatted from Ger- many is a moving all barriers to tbe (ton of U. E pix. la with the recently negotiated inter- national trade agreement. This means American distrlba will bo free to ship aa unlimited number of Alms to Germany with only tho qua li Ac at ion that Gorman eshihs reserve 27% of their screen Hi for native the PV testa analysis may eral of the companies have their own statisticians and researchers studying results of the Chi experi- ment and declined to elaborate oo their objections until those studies have been completed But they pointed out. McDonald s projection af the PV box of Ace Agures against an audience af 10.000 000 video set- owners la too optimistic to be re- •NAk. Houv -A * V t and Mean* nUPlt- Zenith chief claimed that the to- . tee. with 1 U new omnibus tax bill U1 PV gross for tbe 00-day test period waa 50.750. sr aa average (Continued on page 551 Haase Grasp Votes To Erase Excise Os Fibs, Pbotof Equip! Washington. May 22 N. Y. to L A. Bill Doll Herbert Preston Virginia Gibson L. Wolfe Gilbert Grace Hartman Leland Hayward Edith Head Henry Jaffe Mickey Knox Mario Lrtgia Joe McCooeilie Thelma Ritter Joe ftchoenfeld Jim Seward Mario Toaattl H M. Denis* complaint is that Callow. who had been engaged to assist him oo the Aim. was not even in Africa at tbe time tbe s cenes were shot and had nothing to do with the photographed adventure mate- rial shown in the ads Plaintiff charged that by permitting bun- self to be photographed in the ads Cotlow bad breached bis contract. He alse charged that tbe publica- tion made It appear that be. Denis, bad been representing himself Uleely as the Aim s producer. i *,*’t • id* r • J udS ufarturtr la ttw M «•**.! uu * otd vtugraph - m allegedly depicted a* Brookl>m, .here the lllai priirt- the ber» la matt taken front [ in, hat been rbteiy formed . '“"‘J'U Eventually, the aide by-rack n Web Dean teased fee RKO re- building, at Non Ml and MS Wert “*** ' 44th street will and ooe or tbe other of the of Ace buildings sold. Right they’re two sprawling sites, with multiple projection r oam s , etc. WB Up* A. L. Jordan Arnold L Jordan has been pro- moted to chief film buyer and booker for -the Warner Bro* Cir- cuit in New Jersey Jordan, who’s been with the chain for 34 years, will I,ler In Newark. Joi Raul Segnitx Herbert Sotow Toasy Spivakovsky Europe to N. Y. Vaughn Anthony John Davis Dean Dixon Herb Golden Hanya Holm George Marek J. Arthur Rank Phil Reisman Roger Rko Mrs. £. G. Robinson # 4 t e A almost ready for su bm i s sion to tbe House, has voted to eliminate the excise tax on raw Aim and This Id ca tho other t purchased by the Hollywood Alas studios Theatres would not have to pay tbe tax oo The tax an rawstork Is now 15%. On cameras and other equipment M Is 25*>. The new tax hill woul d change both items to 30%. Cooamittee hope* to get the hill before the House within the next week nr so. However R will _ ably be September before Use Ux bill gets through the Senate ••d differences between the House and Senate are L. A. to N. Y. Walter Abel Sanford Abrahams Joan BlondeII A. Pam Blumenthal Sidney Buchman David Cole Richard Conte Jerome Cowan Olivia De Haul land Paul Douglas Howard Duff Fred Finkleboffe Joan Fontaine Michel Green Hugh Herbert William Keighley Abe Lastfogel Kano Mitchell Joe Pasternak Barron Polan Paul Rader N. Peter Ratkvoo Manie Sacks Charles Smith D. Jimmy Wxkriy Frank WkiUtock • •