Variety (August 15, 1951)

Wednesday, Aigul IS, 19S1 ncnnn ‘Package Hearing’ on Anti-Trust Policy to Hold Up ABRUPT Deal Washington, Aug. 14. + As a preliminary to considera- tion of the ABC-UFT merger, the FCC last week decided to test out its new anti-trust policy and select- ed for hearing a group of applica- tions involving United Paramount Theatres, Inc. Commission’s action virtually kills any chance of early approval of the AB-PT network. By wrapping into one hearing package various long-pending ap- plications of Paramount Pictures Corp., UPT, Allen B. DuMont Labs. Balaban & Katz Corp.. and related companies, the Commission will determine: 1. Eligibility of Paramount Pic- tures to hold radio ^r TV licenses. 2. Status of UPT as a separate entity. 3. Whether Paramount's 289o in- terest in DuMont constitutes con- trol, as held in a proposed decision. 4. Paramount policies with re- spect to making Alms, stories or talent available to television. 5. UPT plans for theatre TV — whether they would favor UPT theatres in selection of programs. 6. Possible arrangements be- -tween Paramount and UPT in op- eration of their respective Ty sta- tions. 7. Steps taken by Paramount to comply with terms of the consent decree entered into as a result of anti-trust violation. Basis for the Commission’s in- (Continued on page 15) Schwartz to Rep RKO In Talks With Greene On Theatre Bd. Setup Conference is expected to be held later this week between Sol A. Schwartz, prez of RKO Theatres, and David J. Greene, who heads a dissident Wall St. minority stock- holder group. Greene adherents have been plugging for adequate representation on the circuit’s board. Schwartz has been on the Coast, where he is understood to have been in confabs with controlling stockholder Howard Hughes and his aides. Noah Dietrich and Tom Slack. He returned last week, but Greene has been out of the city in the interim. With Greene’s return today (Wed.) the two men and their counsel are expected to get to- gether in a few days. Whether Hughes has agreed to any compro- mise is being kept hush-hush until the meeting. Meantime, Greene and his asso- ciates are laying the groundwork for a proxy Aght at the annual stockholders’ meeting in Decem- ber. They claim among them to control a sizeable enough chunk of shares to give Hughes a Aght and will also circularize other stockholders for proxies. Aim is still, however, for a com- promise rather than a battle, none of the downtowners looking for- ward to a scrap with the multi- millionaire Hughes. Skouras Back io N. Y. Spyros Skouras, 20th-Fox prexy, returned to his N. Y. office Monday (13) after a two-week business jaunt to the Coast. While on the Coast Skouras gave a deposition in the antitrust suit Aled in San Francisco District Court May 16, 1950, by Samuel Goldwyn, denying that either his company or National Theatres, wholly-owned subsidiary of 20th- Fox had ever entered into any agreements with a competitor to remove an open San Francisco market from Goldwyn so the latter could not get a fair price for his product. Skoura3 also spent considerable time at the studios. Arthur Mayer Plans COMPO Exit ’Definitely’ Arthur L. Mayer declared last week that he definitely planned to design his post as executive v.p. of the Council of Motion Picture Or- ganizations as soon as the “Movie- time U S A ,” campaign during Oc- tober and November is ended His Arst plan after leaving COMPO, Mayer said, is to do abso- lutely nothing for awhile. Then, probably he would become more active in the foreign Aim distribu- tion Arm in which he has been associated with Edward Kingsley, he stated. Tlu? COMPO topper, who has held the Job for a year, has made a number of efforts to resign. Each ^time. however, he has been per- suaded to stay on awhile longer, industry execs are hopeful that he f »oi e more can be talked into stay- 111 ? on * but Ma y® r -declared that this time he’s determined to quit. Producers Face ‘Blondes’ Pix Nix In Deadline Snag Producers of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." hit Broadway musical, will have to scare up a deal for sale of Aim rights by Nov.^17 or face the proapect of losing that Income. On that date, second anniversary of the show’s debut, silent screen rights revert to Paramount. Par made a version of the origi- nal straight play in 1928. It gave up its story rights in that to Her- man Levin and Oliver Smith, pro- ducers of the current musical, in return for 16 2/3% of the sum they receive for sale of the Aim privi- leges to the current version. Per also has the right to meet the price of any other bidder. Under terms of the deal with Levin and Smith, they must make a Aim sale within 24 months of the show’s preem or both parties re- vert to the status they were in prior to the time they entered their agreement. “Blondes" opened in Philly Nov. 17, 1949. Neither Par nor the producers Is looking forward to the prospect of the deadline arriving without a sale. Par would gain virtually nothing by getting Its rights^ack, since It would be impractical^# re- make a straight version; it couldn’t use any of the music of the present Broadway smash, and it would be dubious ethics and business to get another set of authors to write new soqgs for a musical version. Par is further stymied by the fact that attorneys aren’t exactly clear on whether it owns sound pic- (Continued on page 4) Israel Looms As One Of Top Film Markets Today in Middle East Washington, Aug. 14. The new state of Israel is rap- idly becoming one of the largest markets for Alms in the Middle East, according to Agures just dis- closed by Nathan D. Golden, direc- tor of the National Production Authority’s motion picture-photo- graphic products division. Israel already has 110 Alms theatres with a seating capacity of about 70,000. There is a 2.500-seat house under construction in Tel Aviv, with the same exhibition company planning to build theatres in Haifa and Je- rusalem. Prices range from the Israeli equivalent of 28c to $1.18 per seat in the country. In larger cities the average feature plays to a full house, and it is generally necessary to make advance reser- vations. An Interesting sidelight into the theatre-going habits of the Middle East Jewish population cornea from Iraq, where exhibitors In Baghdad report they h*ve suffered losses of from 25 to 40% at the boxofAce as (Continued on page 54» 1ST IH X '47 BUT Nationwide survey made by Paramount of theatre grosses in- dicates the film industry hit an important milestone during the past few months. For the first time since the big b.o. slide started in 1947, biz is currently better for a sustained period than it was at the same tujie the previous year Par’s quiet study of grosses of all types of theatres indicates that overall film income is 6% to 9% belter than, it was during the sum- mer of 1950. Survey covered houses playing both Par and its competitors’ pictures. Individual theatre income is not necessarily up. although in many cases that is a fact. Drivc-ins, how- ever. which have added to the size of the overall audience, have ac- counted for a good bit of the rise. There are more ozoners in opera- tion this season than last. One of the most significant angles of Par’s continuing pulse- taking is that the upward curve, which started about May 1. has gone steadily higher since then. There have been large weekly Auc- tuations and irregularities, but the general direction of the median line of the chart is very definitely north. Big question now, of course, is whether the good news will con- tinue when the big TV shows re- turn to the air in the fall. An im- provement in grosses last summer suffered a reversal in September (Continued on page 15) Movietime’ Drive Cues Uncertainty By Ad-Pub Heads on Exhib Co-op Help Wanted: State Dept Herbert Edvfrards, director of the International Motion Picture Division of the State Department, is seeking 10 or 12 leaders of the film industry to serve on an ad- visory panel to work closely with the division on films shown in for- eign countries. Edwards, who is in N. Y. to con- fer with Turner Shelton, deputy director of propaganda films for the State Department, said that it would be several weeks before he expected to complete the panel. Already similar advisory panels have been organized for press and radio. Lack of Navy Co-Op Stymies Sale to Pix of Novel Rapping Navy Interest of major Aim companies in .«obtaining screen rights to Her- man Wouk’a best-selling poyel, “The Caine Mutiny," has dropped to the bottom. Dramatic story of destroyer dur- ing World War II received excel- lent reviews and rated the best- seller list for months. However, because it ts critical of the Navy and because the Navy is thus not inclined to cooperate with Aim- makers on a screen version, “Mu- tiny" is going a-begging among pic producers. UA Encouraged By 2 Bank Deals For Pix Angeling United Artists’ new management crossed its most signiAcant mile- stone last week since taking over the company six months ago. Two banks, one in New York, the other in Los Angeles, tentatively com- mitted to advance coin for three pix for UA'release. For more than two years no bank would Anance Alma for UA distri- bution. Moneymen were fearful about the company’s stability. Their rejoiner to requests for loans was always: "How do we know UA is going to be in business 24 months from now?" It takes two years or longer for a bank to re- coup Its loans ordinarily. Willingness of Bankers Trust. N. Y., and Bank of America, L. A., to commit themselves for loans thus becomes a matter of consider- able importance. It Indicates that they have come around to the be- lief that UA is in business to stay. Bank of America commitment is to Stanley Kramer for "High Noon." soon to go into production. (Continued on page 4) National Boxoffice Survey Key City Biz Still Big; ‘My Boy’ Take. No. 1 Spot; Walt Di.ney’. ‘Alice* Second, ‘Boat’ Third Despite torrid temperatures in numerous key cities covered by Variety this week, strong fare is giving Arst-run theatres their best week in months. The Ave leading grossers look to reach nearly $1,- 200.000 with the Arst two Alms alone accounting for $583,000. Some indication of the number of patrons Aocking into Aim houses is seen in the smash trade being reg- istered by “That’s My Boy" (Par) in a St. Louis house despite the absence of matinee performances. “My Boy” is taking over the na- tional boxofAce leadership current- ly after “Show Boat" (M-G) had held down No. 1 spot for four con- secutive weeks. It is closely fol- “Movietime U. S. A." drive it not generating unbridled optimism among the men responsible for making it work—the publicity-ad- vertising directors of the major companies. A number of them are frankly dubious of getting sufAcient exhib cooperation to guarantee the hoped-for biggest promotional razzle-dazzle of all time. That was evfflent from discussion at the last meeting of the pub-ad toppers on the “Movietime" drive. Session took place in New York last week to further nail down mechanics and devices for the campaign, which will run through October and November. With the di&lribs committed to spend better than $600,000 and untold energy and manpower, pub- ad toppers are still doubtful of getting matching effort—no coin is being sought—from the exhibition side. Without full support on the local level, feeling is that the drive can well turn into a minor sputter rather than major Areworks. Pub - ad toppers, as a result, immediately adopted two plans suggested by Jerry Pickman. of Paramount, to promote participa- tion by exhibs and public. Robert (Continued on page 15) MPAA Maps Wedge Vs. British Bill That Would Hit U.S. Cos. Motion Picture Assn, of America la quietly organizing a flying wedge to fight a bill scheduled to come up in Britain's Parliament In September. It would limit divi- dends of British corporations to sums no larger than average they paid during the previous two years. Measure would be a tough blow to U. S. distribs. They all have subsidiary corporations set up in England and get a portion of their Income via dividends declared by (Continued on page 18) eighth. “Frogmen" (20th) and “Convict Lake” (20th) round out the Big Iff list in that order.- “Law and Lady" <M-G), “Sirocco" (Col), “Mark of Renegade" (U) and^ “Teresa" <M-G) are runner-up Alms in that sequence. Besides "Capt. Homblower." “Rich. Young" and “Belvedere," which likely will be heard from additionally in the future, two other new entries show promise. “Thunder on Hill” (U) is sock in Providence and smash in Boston on initial playdates. “Magic Face” (Col) looms lively in Buffalo. “Happy Go Lovely” (RKO) Is rated fair in Frisco. “Ran All Way” (UA), good in St. Louis, is only Ipvn n. y n!!v, liC th l roh W r. nd ™nn'ln B *" Denver. "Guy Who C.me neck and neck wUh the P.r7moun‘ ! * 20,h '’ K C - * nd comedy for total coin. Both range from Ane to terriAc. "Boat" Is dropping down to third position mainly because it is on extended-run In most localities with few new openings to lift this strong musical. “Capt. Horatio Homblower” (WB). due in next at the N. Y. Music Hall, is copping fourth money, although initial week on release to any extent. Louisville, looms fast in Omaha. “Ft. Worth” (WB) is okay in Omaha and good in Montreal. “Lit- tle Egypt” (U) is holding strongly in '.econd Chi week. “Oliver Twist” (UA), no great shakes in L.A. and Cleveland, looms sock in second N Y. round. “Francis To Races" (U). big in Seat- tle. looks Ane in Philly. “Kon Tiki" (RKO) is okny in Moonlight Bay," another from some Ave keys, and is now in its Warner, is capturing Afth spot. Sixth place goes to "Belvedere Rings Bell" (20th), which is not faring as well as hoped for thus far. “Rich. Young. Pretty" (M-G) is landing seventh position while "Peking Express" ■ (Par) will be 20th week at N. Y. Sutton, where it will stay past the 22d session. "American Spy" (Mono) is good in Denver as well as several other spots. ' (Complete Boxoffice Reports on Paget 9-11) Trad* Mark Registered POUNDED BY SI ME SILVERMAN Publish** Weekly by VARIETY. INC Harold Erichs. President 154 West 46th St New York IS. N Y Hollywood IS 6311 Yucca Street Washington 4 UM National Press Bulldlnf Chic*** 11 SIS No Michigan Ave. London 8 St Martin s PI. linn , WC1 Trafalgar So. SUBSCRIPTION Annual 910 foreign 111 Single Copies 85 Cents ABEL GREEN. Editor Vol. 183 1M No. 10. • •see# 54 62 6 INDEX Bills ...... ..... Chatter .... Film Reviews House Reviews 20 Inside Legit 56 Inside Music 46 Inside Pictures 18 Inside Radio ,. 30 Inside Television 36 International 11 Legitimate 95 Literati 61 Music 42 New Acts 20 Night Club Reviews 50 Obituaries .63 Pictures 3 Radio-Television 24 Radio Reviews 30 Records 42 Frank Scully 61 Television Reviews ....... 31 Vaudeville 5(1 DAILY VARIITY Published la Hollywood by Pally Variety. Ltd.) •15 a Yaar. 580 Foreign