Variety (February 1952)

ClamsFp.ra Replies His failure last week to heed a* subpoena of the House Un-Ameri- ^ can Activities Committee for a re- appearance, Sidney Buchman told Variety Monday '(4), was a calcu*; lated risk accepted with a' prefer- ence for facing a judge and jury rather than the Congressional body. > ' i Cincinnati, Feb. $. Lengthy absence of stageshows in the RKO flagship Albee, 3400? Buchman was cited in Washing- seater, will' be broken rMarchijl ton yesterday (Tues.) for contempt with opening of a three-day stand of Congress foi^ his failure to re- by Dean Martin Jerry Lewis, spond to the subpoena. That means Comics will bring along their the veteran Columbia producer- package. Writer must face trial on the issue. . ’ Buchman admitted during a lengthy appearance before, the jj]|l|](*y committee in California in Septem- ber that he had been a member • . of the Communist Party up to 1945. fl*i. J P i. 1 He testified freely but refused to I JfPfl | OF |.f|TITf^lTITll give names of fellow-members or VHVU.1VI VVIllUlipi suspected members. . , The issue which Buchman has .f) 'll'■ : 01 1 A chosen to fight is his being recalled .IVII iflAllCA VI tL-fl by the committee. He said that HwUuyj wli V testifying is such a'physical and ; mental ordeal for^him that going . ■< Washington, ;Feb. 5. . through it again virtually comes Sidney BuchtUdn was cited today under the heading of “cruel and (Tues.) for contempt of Congress inhuman punishment.”• Rather by an overwhelming vote of 314 to than face it, he added, he, chanced 0 of the House pf Representatives, the contempt citation and - now In a 40-minute discussion of a welcomes the chance to fight to resolution proposed'by committee the Supreme Court the committee’s chairman John S. Wood (D., Qa;) “abuse of process.’’ not one voice was raised in defense Crux of the issue on Which Buciv of the former screen writer-pro^ man is protesting is the mysterious ducer. * “Walk’’ by Committee member. Legal wheels were thus set in Donald R. Jackson while Buchman motion to refer case to the U. S. Was testifying last September, attorney for presentation to grand • Following this unexplained absence jury. Maximum penalty for the of- and the completion of Buchman’s fense is a $1,000 fine and a year in testimony last fall, his attorney, jail. R. Lawrence Siegel, observed for In a scathing denunciation of R. the record the lack of a Committee Lawrence Siegel, New York coun- quorum brought about by Jackson’s sel for the ex-studio topper, as well “walk.” ... as of Buchman himself, Rep. Fran- An Arrangement? cis A, Walter (D., Pa.) called this Immediate assumption was that “the most outrageous contempt because of the quorum issue, proceedings possible to conceive.” Buchman couldn’t be cited for con- Walter, as chairmait of the sub- tempt for his balk at naming committee before which Buchman namesi That led to suggestions in testified in Los Angeles last Sep- the press that there had been a tember, as well as acting chairman “fix” and that Jackson’s absence at the time the Hollywoodite failed was by arrangement. Implications to. respond to a committee sub- were heightened by the congress- poena, carried the' ball for the man’s inability to clarify exactly probers irt presenting the case be- where he was when he was sup- fore the House body, posed to be in the hearing room. He told his fellow legislators As a result/ coupled with his « (Continued on page 61) denial of a “fix” Siegel, within 20 -r—————-—■ ' • hours of the hearing, wired the if D 1 i* lir ij Committee that he Was not cbn- flOUSC. K€S0lUtl0|l WOttlQ testing the matter of a quorum; ■ v 0 , . He has said since then that legal UlSDar LaWTeilCe Siegel, search has shown -that while a ■ " VMVV WIV 5 VI f quorum is necessary for a perjury Attnvitllv fnr citation, it is not needed for con- illtUI.Uvj 1U1 tempt—-and thus there is, no issue; Washington, Feb. 5, Jackson, however, feeling his A resolution to disbar R. Law- nonor had been; impugned, Buch^ rence Sieger was; presented to the man believes, insisted on the reprise House of Representatives today in Washington. The producer’s idea (Tues.) as result of the motion to !u that be would be led through cite his client, Sidney Buchman, for the same testimony,, get to the contempt of Congress. John R. ^point of the names and wind up Rankin (D., Miss) 'Tabid anti- cited for contempt for refusing to Communist, urged the House to T a nswer—only this time the Com- pass a resolution to disbar “this mittee would be certain a quorum Communist lawyer from practicing was present. in the Federal courts.” j t° be .dragged through “Every judge in the country that ordeal agai to save- the will recognize this,” he added, honor of a Congressman who can’t Though the proposal received explain where he was? What about some vocal support, committee my honor, demanded Buchman. members were obviously reluctant Rep. Francis A. Walter, acting to back such a move. Rep. Walter chan man, declared last week that pointed out that an anti-Communist it was presumptuous of the pro- measure is currently before the ducer to assume the same ques- American Bar Assn. 1 ^^ Uld v. be , asked ‘ s . aid the Walter made it clear that “no '\? n ? m , dtee bad a new bne J t want- charges except unethical conduct •“T*«f, en u Jr* : have been made against Buchman’s «.,«lH n ^ W # red ful !y more^t^n 160 attorney. We do notimply or have questiohs for more than 2Vfc hours evidence that he is a member of (Continued on page 61) the Communist Party.” A little boy with a childhood penchant for “jiggling and sing* ing”—who grew up to become one of shoW business’ * greats-*-came home to his native New York last week to bq honored in a reception feteing his 60th birthday. The “little boy” grew, up to. become a jiggling, singing Eddiq Cantor, and the occasion last Thursday night (31) at the Hotel Ctyipnodore was a testimonial linked td the current campaign f or the sale of Israel bonds, -? Well-kndwns from all fields com- prised > the audience and. dais. Actual cost of the dinner was de- frayed by a group of Cantor friends, with the dinner realizing an .estimated $2,630,000 bond sale in the current three-year, campaign to raise $500,000,000. .Guests on the dais who spoke in- cluded U. S. yice-preSident Albert W. Barkley, N. Y. Mayor Vincent R. impeUitteri, David Goitein, acting 'Israel Ambassador to the u; S.; Basil O’Connor, president pf the National Foundation -for In- fantile Paralysis; James G. Mac- Donald, former American Ambas- sador to Israel; Milton Berle, and Judge Jonah Goldstein, a life-long Cantor friend. It was the lat- ter who recalled the influence of Cantor’s “Grandma Esther” on the comedian’s childhood. It was Cantor’s grandmother, •' Goldstein remembered, who had referred to the “jiggling and singing” Of Can- tor in her early disapproval of that pursuit. A 30-minute broadcast, emceed by Ben Grauer, included an intro- ductory by Berle, piped-in songs by , Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore from Hollywood, plus a Jack’ ©enrty- Rochester sketch. • (Continued on page 61) House Resolution Would a Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ rvi i T?« rsTi-imi,., One Year Please send VARIETY for Two Years . • • • . • • 0 • t . • •' (Please Print Name) Street City . ... Zone; State ,. Regular Subscription Rates One Year—$10.00 Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional per Year PfaRlETY Inc. 154 Wut 44th Street New York It. N. Y. Washington, Feb. 5. Film boxoff ice receipts from the- atres throughput the nation totalled approximately $1,171,500,000 dur- ing 1951. That represents a decline of about $41,000,000—-or 3.4%— from the approximately $1 t 212,500,- 000 taken in during 1950. ;The figures are based on year- end tax receipts reported by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Washington last • week. Since the collections during any one month represent business done the pre- vious month,- the figures actually Reflect b.o. from Dec. L 1950, through Nov. 30, 1951, rather than the calendar year. Internal Revenue does not differ- entiate between film theatre and other b.o. taxes. However, best possible data indicates that the film levy accounts for approximate- ly 68% of all such taxes, and the figures above are base® on that assumption. Total tax receipts from all forms of amusement were $344,642,962. in 1951 as compared with $356,723,- 866 in 1950. That’s a decline of about $12,000,000. There has never been any official breakdown by the Government of what portion of the total taxes are obtained from filmeries. Industry has long operated on the assump- tion that it was about 85%. Source of that assumption—which may well have been true at one time— has long since been lost. The 68% figure used by: Variety in making the calculations on total film b.o. has a considerably more scientific base. It was evolved by Dr. Jay M. Gould, consulting eco- nomist. in New York, in a survey of pix-versus-TV which he made foT Columbia. Pictures last sum- mer. Dr. Gould arrived at his calcula- tiqp *by a comparison of Federal tax reports with those of 150 cities that do break down their admis- sion tax receipts by source. Also used in his calculations was the Dept, of Commerce’s 1948 Census of Business, which contains Con- siderable data on theatre receipts. Collections during December, 1951, reflecting November biz, were $26,032,781, compared With $26;622,501 in December, 1950. This was the second successive month that 1951 receipts were back of 1950, after beating 1950’s in October by more than $2,000,000. Washingftm, Feb, 5. William Pomerancei former bus- iness agent for the Screen Cartoon- ists and Sfcreen Writers Gtiilds, re- fused to tell r sub-committee of the House U!n-American Activities Committee today (Tues.) whether or not he was a member of the Communist' Party ■ at the time of his studio affiliations. * ■ Speaking in ihohosyllables when- ever possible; and in subdued man- ner and tone, he dodged numerous' questions from Committee; Counsel Frank G, Tavenner, Jr., all eott4 cemed with his Red party ties at the time he was employed by the Holly wood * locals, during the pe- riod when he entered the SCG in September, 1941 to his resignation from the SWG in December, ’46. He also reused to state -whether he had lied when he signed a non- Communist affidavit in June; 1941^ at the time he made successful ap- plication for ir post a$ field exam- iner: for the National Labor Rela- tions Board. Under questioning by Tavenner, Pomerance said he was not now a Communist, but refused to answer concerning his past. “Were you a Communist at breakfast this morning?” Tavenner asked. “No,!’ replied Pomerance. “Were you a Communist; at supper last' might?” Tavenner continued. Pomerance refused to answer. Accompanied by local counsel, the former Guild exec freely out- lined his work history, stating he was employed as a salesman for TV commercials from ’47, but is now idle because of poor health. He frequently “couldn’t remember” details of his NLRB duties, but in- sisted it would have been “impos- sible” for him to influence results of a union election, as suggested by Tavenner. .Tavenner produced testimony of Writer Marti Berkeley naming Pomerance as member of a Com- munist fraction within, the SWG, and charging that latter had been brought into the union because “the comrades felt he was the ideal mart for the Guild.” . Pomerance stood on his constitutional rights in decli ing to comment on this. Pomerance named no names, stating he could - only remember a conference with Emmet Lavery, then prexy of SWG, when he was offered the Guild job.. Questions centered around SWG rather than scg; Washington, Feb. 5. National Production Authority’s freeze on color TV will be lifted when agency officials meet Friday^ (8) with manufacturing industry' toppers to discuss objections to Order M-90. Order bans produc- tion of color equipment for home sets or theatre TV, but will be completely rescinded, Variety learned. An indication that ban will be dropped was* previously given to the picture industry by Deputy Administrator Horace B. McCoy in his reply to a request for a con- ference dn theatre TV prior to Friday’s meeting, which will be- concerned only with home TV. McCoy advised that if the picture industry is not satisfied with “the consequences” of the Friday meet^ ing, he will arrange a separate conference. The Motion. Pictutre Assn, of America artd Theatre Owners of America had been among those that complained that Order M-90 was so sweeping as to bar tint theatre TV, though no criti- cal materials are required,, they had asked for a relaxation or a separate conference to discuss the matter. Strong opposition to ban has been carried to Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson by Paramount Pictures, which is interested in producing color sets incorporating the Lawrence Tri-Color tube, and more recently, by Sen. Edwin c! Johnson (D., Colo.), chairman of the Senate Interstate Commerce (Continued on page 55) Code; Sez Wyler In order to fulfill the demand of adults for “mature” pictures, the industry’s purity code is'“due for revision, v declared producer-direc- tor William Wyler, in New York Monday (4). Wyler said that lie knew of no concerted effort at the moment for revision of the code but that he thought'it Was about time that some changes, were made. “It’s not; the business of the motion picture; industry to be the guard- ians of children,” he said. “That’s the job for parents." Wyler noted, that the Breen office ’ not applying the code blindly mid that the industry’s self- censoring organization was taking into consideration the intent of the producer. He pointed out that such films as “A Place in the Sun” (Par), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (WB) and his own ‘Detective Story” (Pari would not have been as effec- tive if a strict application of the code were made. Wyler , said that there was. a demand from the pub- lic to see something more than pic- tures made for children;. Although he did not call for a complete elim- ination of the code, Wyler suggest- ed a degree of freedom that ap- proached, but did not go as far, as that allowed the legitimate theatre. Breen Okays ’Carrie’ Froducer-director’s comments on censorship Were prompted.by a dis- cussion of his forthcoming Para- mount picture, ‘‘Carrie,” a film adaptation of “Sister Carrie,” the pnce-controversial Theodore Drei- ser novel. Wyler stressed that he had no difficulty with the, Breen, office. On “Carrie” and that the screenplay had b£en approved as submitted. . Wyler believes that the;system of classification of films employed in England—-“fit” or “unfit” for children—might be the solution of the censorship problem. In dwell- ing on the responsibility of par- ents, he indicated that he did not allow his bwfP'&hildren to see “De- tective Story.” He said it Was the duty of parents to determine what their children, should or should not see. . Wyler acknowledged that the in- dustry’s own. code had done a great deal to avoid Federal censorship, but he pointed out there were many rules in the code that pre- vented the making of adult films. In real ljfe, he noted, “the right people aren’t always rewarded.” He said no producer started out to make a sensational picture just “to get by,” but that the object Was to make a good picture. What Makes ‘Entertainment?’ In this connection, he said there was a wide variation in the defini- tion of “entertainment.” ^It has been discovered, he said, that to an extremely large audience such films as “Streetcar,” “A Place in the $un” and “Carrie” fit into the cate- gory of “entertainment/’ Wyler said “Carrie” was brought in at little over. $2,000,000 as compared to $1,500,000 .spent for “Detective Story.” Latter Was completed, he said, considerably under the orig- inal budget while the former ex- ceeded the budget slightly: While acknowledging the necessity for finding a way to cut costs, he said foolish sayings occasionally harm a production considerably. Under his current pact, Wyler has two more pix to make for Par-: amount. Set so far is “Roman Holiday,” which he describes as a “light modern comedy and com- plete departure from anything I’ve done in recent years.” Film, with a screenplay ,by Ben Hecht, will star Audrey Hepburn, British dis- covery currently starring on Broad- way in “Gigi.” Wyler expects to shoot the film -when Miss Hepbur gets time off from her Broadway chores. Wyler is in New York for pre- release exploitation of “Carrie, He said he didn’t believe that pro- ducer’s job ended with completion of the -film and that it’s his job to make himself avaUable to id i “cooking up excitement/’