Variety (December 1951)

Wednc M, 1951 ncnnm The Big Three music publishing combine (Bobbins, Feist and Miner) in which Metro has a controlling interest, overhauled its corporative' ownership, structure last week with a buyout of three of the four remaining private stockholders. Over $500,000 was involved in the capital gains transaction covering 17% of Big Three’s total holdings. Coin was divided among Domenico Savino, who received $250,000; Bernle Prager and Steve Levitz, Who re- ceived $127*000 each. Sole remaining private stock owner, Jack Bregman, of Bregman, Vocqo& Conn Music Co., has declined to sell his 4% share.. Deal was understood to be motivated by Metro’s aim to simplify the corporative setup Of its subsids in light of the impending di-' vorcement operation. Such simplification is seen easing the stock split once Metro divorces its theatre holdings. Further details in Music Section. " . Although value Of tremendous^ advertising coin outlay for Broad- way preems of pix. has been ques- tioned by some execs recently, company pub-ad toppers, In general have defended the practice. Possi- bility of the establishment of a reported “gentleman’s agreement” /to set a ceiling on advertising ex- penditures for N. Y. kickoffs was vehemently denied by all ad chiefs who could be reached for comment on Monday (24). Ad budgets for the pre-opening and first week campaigns are said to be getting higher and higher. Metro reportedly spent $150,000 for newspaper-ads and $20,000 for posters and radio for the opening of “Quo Vadis” while 20ih-Fox dished out about $50,000 for “De- cision Before Dawn.” One company ad exec admitted that the huge expenditures Were economically un- sound for a single engagement, but he felt it was a legitimate gamble. “It pays us to make sure,” he de- clared. Ad chiefs agreed that it was difficult to earn back ad costs from Broadway film rentals, but pointed out. that a profit had been made on many occasions. In addition, they noted that the N. Y. kickoffs had tremendous national value, with resultant publicity breaks, advertising, newspaper comments, etc. being used to sell the pictures to exhibs throughout the country. Promotional chiefs explained that huge outlays were not set aside for every pic, but were saved for the companies' two or three outstanding products. In many in- stances, one exec pointed out, preem costs are obtained by di- verting coin from other promo- tional media such as> cutting down on trade or national magazine ex- penditures. Ad toppers indicated that they were not ushering in a period of “wild spending,” nor Were they laying out the coim simply to im- press studio heads or indie pro- ducers. Promotional value of each pic, they stressed, is weighed care- fully at homeoffice and studio con- fabs before a decision is reached to throw the works Into a N. Y. campaign. Bill Halligan Mi Mi awn conception of a Hollywood Baedeker another byline piece In the 46th Anniversary Number of US&IEfY OUT NEXT WEEK Ericjohnston Having returned from the Govern- mental Boonidcrotlc wore reappraises Some Notes From My Bureau Drawer on Jntereiring byline. foatire In the 46th Anniversary Number of yAniEtr • OUT NEXT WEEK Compromise On Increased release schedules dur- ing 1951, plus an uncertainty as to future marketing conditions, has trimmed Hollywood product in the backlog, editing or shoot- ing stages by 31%, a survey re- vealed this week. The eight major studios have a total of 175 features now on hand compared with a rec- ord number of 256 at the same time last year. Breakdown shows that the eight companies currently have. around 113 films completed and ready for release, another 39 are being edited or scored while 23 are her fore,, the cameras. End of 1950 saw the backlog of completed plx add up to about 175 features! Some 48 were editing and 33 shooting. Factors behind the sharp reduc- tion, it’s felt; embrace, a variety of other reasons, Studio toppers are Unwilling to build up a large inven* tory in face of a further falling market. .• They’re trying to avoid a repetition of 1945-46 when they were forced to unload a big backlog of high-budget product during the postwar attendance slump. . While grosses climbed perceptibly this fall after, .the^sutumer b.o. dip industry analysts are loath to step out with an assumption. that the „ „ . _ __ panied by a satisfactory method of Hollywood, Dec. 25. upward trend will continue. Film- After maintaining a fairly steady going traditionally is off during level of production for the last 12 the Christmas shopping season, but months, Hollywood is slackening teeloK UP * '«* With the year-end, and will elose But the attitude of the majors out 1951 with only about 20 films seems to be—“we were burned before the cameras. Figure repre- once and it won’t happen again.” s £ n ts a low* mark for the last 18 Thus, although hopeful that busi- rnnn , h c ness will be brisk in 1952, overall A1 , . .. n policy appears to shape inventories of th ® ^am- at sensible levels in case the mar- er .?f as of yesterday (Mon.), nine ket should take a sudden dive. W ^ a . ve before the cal- endar Is changed, Only five new ■51 Releases Stepped Up ones are slated to roll in the dying Releases Were stepped up during days of this year. 1951, but production' Was not Greatest activity is concentrated boosted commensurate With the at 20th-Fox and Universal-Interria- Goldwyn Paying Fares Of Shearer in Bowout Hollywood,. Dec. 25. Moira Shearer’s bowout from Samuel Goldwyn’a “Hans Christian Andersen” due to impending motherhood Will cost both the ballerina and the. producer a .chunk of coin. Goldwyn is footingthe bill for Miss Shearer’s trip from Lon- don as weU as the return fare, Miss Shearer, meanwhile, is paying the rent for the home she rented in Santa Monica with the expecta tion that she and her husband would be here Several months. Miss Shearer, to be replaced by Rehee Jeanmalre, star of Roland Petit’s Ballet de Paris, is married to Ludovic * Kennedy, British writer. Start of the production, starring Danny Kaye, originally slated for Jan. lo, will be delayed about a month, v * Spanish government reportedly is showing willingness to compro- mise on one disputed point in the proposed agreement with the U. S. film industry, but has balked on a second. Negotiations are b e i n g handled in Madrid by M. A. J. Healy, rep of the Motion Picture Assn, of America, on instructions, from New York. ^ Signs of acquiescence have been given by the Spanish to demands that companies which have already paid for import permits get them in addition to the allotment to be forthcoming under the new deal. Nix so far has been given by Ma- drid, however, to the second point. That is that Monogram, Republic, United Artists and indie producers (Continued on page 22, dpped distribution.. This is par- tially' borne out in the tally of 23 pix shooting this week compared with the 33 rolling during the (Continued on page 17) tional. Former has seven films now before the cameras, and will Start “Les Miserables” later this week. U-I lists five shooting. Currently shooting, are two each .at Metro, Paramount and Warners and one apiece at Columbia, Re- public and Monogram. Indies Charles Chaplin, Arch Oboler and Paul F. Heard also are making one film each. Pix starting this week are Wald- „ . . .. . , .. ■ , t iKrasna’s “This Man Is Mine” at Special ^ e RKO; Paramount’s “Military Pc* ~ " liceman”; Republic’s “Song of Youth” and indie Alex Gottlieb’s The Fighter.” Col in Special Ad Pitch At ’Highbrow’ Patrons For ’Death of Salesman’ Columbia Pictures to woo the highbrow audience for the film version of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” in which Fredric March is starred. Magazines sel- dom used for a generel-release pic are being employed to plug the Stanley Kramer production. Full page ads have been skedded for such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, The New Yorker, Saturday Review PAR LAUNCHES BALLY FOR AUDREY HEPBURN AGAINST LEO TOWNSEND Hollywood, Dec. 25. Screen Writers Guild postponed Paramount has launched a star of buildup campaign for Audrey Hep Literature, and the Sunday maga- burn long before the 22-year-old zine section of the N. Y. Times. jj e lgian-bom actress makes her Theory ,of Columbia’s ad depart- . , .„ OQrQT1 ._ in ment is that you can’t take the ^ rst appearance in a higher-education audiences for Actress, currently starring granted, that when you have a pic- the hearing of Lee Townsend, who ture that > s cer tain to interest this had been Ordered to appear before avnup you’ve ‘ got to tell them | • . • , , ., —wwuut it. Of course,. Col feels that whyhis name was piaced on stofRfs « Salesman » a lso has a mass ap- written by Dalton Trumbo and Les- peal> and has „ot neglected the postponement was an- icontinued pit page'17) nounced after Townsend’s attor-. K * nin ney, Martin Gang, informed the 11 Nppscpc fnr WK In SWG board that the scripter’s tes-I IT WIWDW iU1 1W timpny before the House Un-Amer- ican Activities Committee last Sep- tember was of a privileged nature and could hot be. used in a Guild hearing. July in ‘Flexible’ Plan S. film, on Broadway in “Gigi,” is slated for Paramount’s “Rosalind!’ as soon as she completes her stage engage- ment. Par kicked off the buildup drive, with a special bulletin to division, district and branch managers, and special reps. Actress was discovered and signed in . England by Richard Mealand, Par’s former N. Y. and Hollywood story chief and now its British studio rep. Her pact with Paramount calls for two plx a year for seven years, with a limit on the ■ National Board bf Review, the industry“s buffer against censor- ship since 1909, may pass out of ex- istence next year unless a substi- tute source is found for the total financing provided by the majors during the past 43 years. Three companies have, with- drawn their support during 1951 and others are wavering. Total budget of the NBR is only $25,000, but it appears unlikely that even that can be raised if any more of the distribs bow out. Henry Hart, the board's, topper, hopeA possibly to make it self-sus- taining via subscriptions to its monthly magazine and the weekly guide to better films that it pro- vides to film councils throughout the country. Getting coin from those sources, however; is such a long way off that the board may never survive to see it. . NBR came into existence when . nickelodeons were threatened with, extinction by censorship in.the first decade of the century, and it has served the industry as a shield against blucnoses ever since. It operates via . the local groups known as Film Councils through- out the country. Councils are or- ganizations of community orgahiza- 1 tlonsj such as parent-teachers as- sociations, women's clubs and churches. They accept the board’s seal on a pic as evidence of its moral and aesthetic, quality and thus ward off demands for munic- ipal or state censorship. Organization’s original label was National Board of Censorship. Its founders agreed in 1916, however, (Continued on page 16) 3-Year Pact for IATSE With 90 St. Loo Theatres St. Louis, Dec. 25. Members of IATSE Local No. 143 last week signed a three-year wage increase contract with approxi- mately 90 theatres in St. Louis and St. Louis County. New pact pro- vides for a 2Vz% increase at the beginning of each of the three years.. Increase is retroactive to the expiring date of the old con- tract. All of the provisions in the old contract are included in the new ones. The St. Louis Amusl Co., op- erated by Fanchon & Marco and the largest single circuit in St. Louis; the Wehrenberg circuit and the Ansell Bros. Chain are signa- tories to the pact. Meantime, members of Local No. 143-A, Negro projectionists, are still huddling with owners of 13 houses catering to Negro trade over a wage increase. In the event an agreement is not reached they threaten to strike. Local 80 OK’i Rew Pact Hollywood, Dec, 25. First IATSE local to formalize I up to July; 1952 ^ _ • M _ _ . _ M ■ • 'I M _ A J Without announcing the number of pix it will make during 1952 Warner Bros* disclosed last week ^ that it has a pool of; 47 active story humber of Weeks she can be re- prOperties from which future pro- q U ired for. each assignment. She ductions. would be made. also is permitted, to make outside Studio has set 14 pix for release films and legit appearances. However, in an- Miss Hepburn’s contract with the new basic labor contract with nouncement of the 47 story prop- Gilbert p iSw? ce dh?i'«^fe the major film companies is studio erties, Jack L. Warner, studio s expires May 31, 1 ® 53 ; ol ^ i he . ^ giips, Local 80. Pact calls for a exec producer, stressed the fact ever, permitted to take off from 10% Wage hike retroactive to Oct that the i company s production June 4o pet 19^ 25. policy will continue to be a flexi- Other IATSE locals are ready to ble.one as to the n umber of films Sign as soon as contract details are made annually. During 1951, War- atraightened out. hers released 29 pictures. Should the play run until the sum- mer, it is expected that she will go to Hollywood at that time to appear in “Rosalind.” Author Wins Decree On Laurel Lease Failure of Laurel Films to pro- duce his script, “The Criminal,” as a Bro?idway play and. as a picture won playwright Martin Stern an interlocutory decree in N. Y. Su- preme Court, last week cancelling a Dec. 7, 1949, agreement with the firm. Deal was a lease arrange- ment which was to be terminated in the event the, company did not put the yarn on the stage or before the cameras. Stern also sought $25,000 : dam- ages from Laurel. However, the question as to whether damages should be assessed against the de- : feiidant film firm that will* be de- termined by Referee David Weil. He’s to hear arguments and later report his findings to the* court, NLRB Cancels Vote Hollywood, Dec. 25, National Labor Relations Board cancelled the recent election for studio set designers and will order a new ballot after a meeting to establish eligibility requirements. In the election held Novi 15, IATSE led with 67 votes; with 63 designers voting against any union l and 17 ballots challenged.