Variety (March 1952)

4 FXdUMES Business at first-run theatres re- bounded with remarkable v^r near the end of last month. Wash* Jngton’s Birthday providing the bulk of the stimulus. Result was that, the four strongest films in February grossed over $2,800,000, according to reports from Variety correspondents in 25 representa- tive key cities. Although challenged by * two newcomers, "Quo Vadis” (M-G) finished first nationally last month for the third month' in succession. The Italian-locale epic held at a high-money mark with over $960,- 000 grossed in February despite it being on extended-run or holdover In many spots. . "Greatest Show on Earth" (Par) roared, ahead from far back in the pack tb cop second place easily. Phenomenal showing by the Cecil B. DeMille optis was made, al- though it wasn't out on any exten- sive playdates until the final week in the month. Like "Vadis," it also is playing at upped scales. The big Circus pic hung up almost fantastically high totals in many keys. Film now is in its eighth , session at Radio City Music Hall, and may continue on until late this month. Third money went to "Sailor Beware,” also from Paramount, with Close ttf $800,000 for the four Weeks. The Martin-Lewis comedy shapes up as one of the outstand- ing grossers of the year for Par. "Bend of RiVer”' (U) copped fourth position, a great upsurge in (Continued on page 22 ) " Metro has optioned an original story by John S. Toldy and Lewis Arnold, "The Story of Mme; *Cail- laux.” Toldy also writes uiiider the, name of John Pen, Option is for nine months, dur- ing which time the authors will seek to obtain waivers from prin- cipals and descendants' of the people mentioned in the yarn. . It is biased oil a true story that oc* curred in France i in 1914. The Mme. Caillaux of the title shot j and killed the editor of Figaro, a French newspaper, because of his abuse of her husband, a Cabinet minister; .Strong likelihood e x i s t s that there will be a change in the re- leasing deal between Sir Alexan- der Korda and Lopert Films. Dis- tributing Corp. before the British producer returns to London from New York next week. Lopert will continue to handle some of the Korda product in the U.S., but a change is being worked out in the financial arrangements. Korda has been In N.Y. for the Plan 5 in 3 Years With a sudden plethora of Stories on hand, the Alfred Hitch- cock-Sidney L. Bernstein indie unit, Transatlantic Pictures, is planning five films in the next three years. That was revealed by Bernstein in New York this week, prior to his return to the Coast. Unit, which releases through Warner Bros., had been stymied for months by inability of the partners to locate a story the part- ners felt suitable.. Among the proj- ects they now have in work* Bern- stein said, is "Catch a Thief,” to be made in Europe in the fall; It’s from a Random House novel by David Duncan. Also on the schedule is "I Con- fess,” which . Transatlantic has owned for a number of years; It will be made in Canada and the U. S. Screenplay has been pre- f ared by Leslie Storm form the rench play of Louis Verneuil. Some of the quintet will be made by directors other than, Hitchcock, Bernstein said. Hitchcock will con- tinue; also to direct pix for WB k under his combo studio^ndie deal I with the company. F1C RETS, U5. TAIK BEFORE FRENCH HUDWi past month, but has transacted very little business besides that with Lopert and the signing of Maurice Evans last week to play Sir Arthur Sullivan. in the forth- coming "Gilbert and Sullivan,” Korda, suffering f rom a severe skin ailment* has been under con- stant medical, treatment in N.Y. Details of the new Lopert deal are still much under wraps. Since Lopert, which has been financed by real estate, ops Robert Dowling and Robert Goejet, has been hand-' ing Korda large advances for blocks of pix, it is presumed that changes will be made in that ar- rangement and in distribution fees and recoupments. Lopert has turned over the lesser Korda pix to Snader Productions for sale to both theatres arid TV. Contingent. Upon being granted a labor permit by the British gov- ernment. Evans Will start in "G&S” April 15. He’ll be in Eng- land until: July 15. Robert Morley will play the other member of the musical team. Korda's “The Outcast of the Is- lands.” produced and directed by Carol Reed, will go Into Dowling’s Victoria Theatre on Broadway fol- lowing "The Marrying Kind,” which opens next week. Reed re- turned to England last week after two weeks in N.Y. for publicity in- terviews and some last minute changes in the pic. Washington, March 4. Reps of the American film indus- try will huddle with the State De- partment March 14 on preliminary plans for renegotiation of the French-American film pact. Agree- ment expires next June. Eric Johnston, Joyce O’Hara and John McCarthy, plus James Mul- vey, of the Society of Independent Motion Picture; Producers, will represent the film, companies in the groundwork discussions, No date has yet been set for meetings with the French government, nor are there any present plans for Johnston or any of his aides to trek to France. Allison* Rivoli Co. Sued In Pittsburgh % Action Pittsburgh, March 4. Ray Allison and the Rivoli Thea- tres Cov have just been named de- fendants in six percentage suits filed here in U. S. District Court. Separate suits were filed by Par, Loew’s, 20th-Fdx, WB; RKO and U-L Houses involved are the Rivoli, Altoona; Rivoli, Colver; Hollywood, Hastings; Hollywood, Johnstown; Rivoli, Ebensburg; Rivoli, Cresson; Rivoli, Portage, and Rivoli, Beaver- dalc, all In Pennsylvania. Buying Greene's 'Affair' Hollywood, March 4. Louis B. Mayer is near purchase of "End of the Affair,” Graham Greene's novel, fi*om David Lewis, which would give him three prop- erties. Lewis, when he optioned the Greene book, said he planned a package in which he’d serve as producer, Other Mayer properties are “Joseph and His Brethren” and "Paint Your Wagon.” * Two will be made abroad, according to present plans, with “Joseph” slated first in Egypt if political conditions there permit; "Affair” would be made in England. Europe to N; V. Julian T. Abeles Helena Bliss Daphne du Maurier Anthony Hawtrey Gloria Hoye Jack Hylton Abe Olraan Leonard Patrick Carl Ferutz Sylvia Rayman Richard Rosson Michel Safra Spyros P. Skoura* 1. "Quo Vadis” (M-G). 2. "Greatest Show" (Par). 3. "Sailor Beware” 3>ar)< 4. "Bend of River" (U). 5. "Lone Star” (M-G). 6. "Room One More” (WB)* 7. "Salesman” (Col). 8. "Call Stranger” (20th). 9. "Woman Dangerous” (WB); 10.° "Girl in Port” (RKO). U. S. film industry's hew agree- ment with the Spanish government became effective last Saturday (1) despite the fact the status of im- port permits for United Artists and. Republic is still undetermined. Madrid has been unwilling to give any ground on an interpretation of the pact that is contradicted by the American companies. Point at issue Is physical pos- session of import permits for the indie companies; Spaniards insist on giving them to local distribs, with whom Rep and UA will have, to deal, rather than giving them to the Yank firms, Which could then choose their own distribs. Americans had no choice but to accept the Madrid interpretation or let the whole deal fall through. Since it was generally favorable, it was decided to make the contract effective as of its stated starting date and continue to try to work out the UA and Rep aspects. It is thought likely they will hot have too mhch trouble if they divide their product among two or more Spanish distribs. UA has a total Of seven licenses and Rep six. Indies have a total of 20, and other U. S. distribs—those who have at least. five branch offices in Spain—have 60. Monogram will get two under the indie allotment, which will present no problem to the company* and producers affili- ated with the Society of Independ- ent Motion Picture Producers will get five. In addition, a pool of 20 licenses is in the hands of domestic distribs and will be available to any Comers after they’ve used their own permits. Pact, worked out by John G. McCarthy, director of the Motion. Picture Assn, of America’s inter- national division, calls for a 636,- 000-peseta (about $6,000) charge per license. That’s about half what the permits were bringing before the agreement became effective. FWC Divorcement Sale Los Angeles, March 4. Fox-West Coast has 14 Califor- nia theatres, to unload under the divorcement decree but is ham- pered by the insistence of the De- partment of Justice on the sale of the divested houses to other I exhibs. There is no trouble in find- ing prospective buyers among com- mercial businesses or religious or- ganizations, but exhibs who have been losing money in their own houses are reluctant ..to invest in theatres the majors are trying to sell. F-WC houses being offered for: sale in Los Angeles are the Fox Belmont, Melrose, Arroya and Western. Theatres offered in Southern California are the Alpha, in Bell; the Rosemary, Ocean Park; Strand, Redondo; Avalon, Wihning- ton; Nuart, West L. A.; one in San Diego and One in either Pasadena or San Bernardino. Northern Cali- fornia houses are the Hiho, Paso Robles; the Fox, Turlock, and one in Oakland, N. Y. to L .A. Bert Allenberg Lex Barker Eddie Cantor Wendell Corey Arlene Dahl George Forrest' F. Hugh Herbert Alexander S; Ince Burl Ives Robert L. Lippert Richard Rosson Dan Terrell Henry Tobias Robert Wright Adolph Zukor Col. Henry CroWn, Chicago in- dustrialist, who is a member of 'the board of: Columbia Pictures, holds 17,374 warrants for the purchase of common stock of Universal, ac- cording to a report filed by U with the Securities & Exchange Com- mission Friday (27). Report' notes that as of Nov. 3, 1951, U had Outstanding 218,809 Warrants for purchase of common stock. In addition to Crown, among warrant-holders are Decca Records, 32*500; J. Cheever Cow- den, former chairman of the U’s board, 64,438, and Charles D. Prutzman, former v p. and general counsel, 20,250; Other sources disclosed * that Crown, his son, Robert and Arnold Grant, who’s also a Col board mem- ber, jointly own 27,000 U war- rants. Holders of warrants are entitled to buy common stock at $10 a share before April 1, 1956. As of yester- day (Tues.) the market price for U common was $12: Universal, at the close Of its fis- cal year, Nov. 3, 1951, had 117 civil antitrust suits pending against it, according to; a report filed with the Securities & Exchange Com- mission Friday (29) by the com- pany. Report notes that there were 100 such suits pending as of Oct. 29, 1950, and that 55 additional suits were instituted during the fis- cal year of 1951. Of the latter suits, charging violation of the Federal antitrust laws, 38 were dis- posed of. In listing salaries of officers and directors, the report indicates that J. Cheever Cowdin, former chair- man of the board, received $48,461 as a consultant. It’s believed that this payment represents part of. the company’s settlement With Cow- din, who is no longer associated with Universal. Remuneration of all persons as a group who were directors or officers during, the fis- cal year totalled $545,280. Of this sum, proxy Nate Blumberg re- ceived $79,500, veepee John J. O'Conivor, $45,050; treasurer Leon Goldberg, $39,750; studio manager Edward Muhl, $51,650; global sales chief Alfred E. Daff, $51,500. Gold- berg received a $7,500 hike over the previous year, Muhl $7,450 and Daff $16,225. Report says that no bonuses, shares in profits or pen-, sions were made to any of the named individuals. However, It (Continued on page 28) L. A. to N. Y. Ben Babb Vanessa Brown Janis Carter Hy Dabb Roy Disney Brian Donlevy Jeff Donnell Marilyn Erskine. Barbara Halo Philippe Halsman Paul F. Heard * Katharine Hephuih Jack Hirshberg John Hodiak Connie Krebs WauhillaLaHay Jesse L. Lasky Robert L. Lippert Ted Loeff Eddie Mayehoff Harrison K. McCann Virginia O’Brien Charles Palmer Sid Pink Aldo Ray; Maria Tallchief James Woicott N. Y. to Europe Betsy Blair Lew Grade Lennie Hayton Lena Horne Ben Rose Uday Shankar Tamara Toumanova PTodnenday, March 5, 1952 on nan * Mitchell Wolf son, president of Theatre Owners, of America, will appoint an Arbitration committee this week, and the group, in turn, immediately, will ask the distribu- tors to call An all-industry huddle looking to the adoption of an all- around acceptable arbitration sys- tem* . TO A last Week made known its proposals, providing for a national administrator at $25,000 annually plus local arbiters who’d collect $50 per diem ■, and traveling expenses. The national topkick would be se- lected by the ; Secretary of Com- merce from a list of . five .names to be submitted with the approval of the Motion Picture Assn, of Ameri- . , • ~ _. • * , • ca and. the national ad regional exhib trade groups. Expense , entailed in TOA’s rec* ommended plan set off little reac- tion’. Toppers of Allied States Assn., which '• has been clamoring for an "inexpensive” system, were silent on the. rival org’s offering; This made it further apparent that the two outfits intend to treat the entire arbitration idea deli- cately; that is, refraining from any public : statements on each other’s proposals. Indication is that both Allied and .TOA; plus the distribs, Will seek to find as many mutually- agreeable points in an overall plan; as possible before going into the controversial ' subjects. These doubtless will include rentals as an arbitrable item and costs to exhibs. TOA’s argument for the. money end of its proposed system is that any workable and reliable opera- tion must be handled’ by competent persons, and they simply must be well paid. It’s further underlined that the Department of Commerce would have no voice or authority iii any film proceedings. Commerce Sec- retary Sawyer offered his assist- ance in setting up a system when he addressed the TOA conclave on the Coast some time ago. TOA feels that Sawyer could hardly be suspected of partiality, that he’s, well backgrounded in commerce generally, including film opera- tions, and consequently would be a good man to c elect the national administrator. Sawyer at one time operated a few theatres in Ohio. L U-Decca I Continued from pace 3 sssa! quisition of the assets of Decca by Universal is being studied.” U directors now are supposedly familiarizing themselves with the voluminous fact-finding by the board committee, chairmanned by Preston Davie. Board members also have before them two reports made by Ebasco Services, Wall St. financial survey outfit, -with, its rec- ommendations. Directorate will discuss these findings at a session later in the month and then probably meet with a committee of the Decca board, which has been doing simi- lar exploration. At that time a decision wil be made as to the most advantageous form of mer- ger. There are two possibilities* the board committee points out in its findings. One is an exchange of stock* between U and Decca, and the other is the sale by Decca of its assets to U. The second method is believed to be the one favored by the com- mittee. There are two principal reasons for that. One is that from a tax standpoint U couldn’t come out better via a buy of Decca’s assets. Secondly, a .purchase would not require approval by stockholders at the annual meeting in July. This would eliminate the possibility of the merger being kicked over by the shareholders. A tworthirds affirmative vote is required. J. Arthur Rank* who controls 14% of U, has looked somewhat askance at the merger move,: al- though he has officially taken a strictly neutral attitude. Should bo oppose It, there’s a possibility that he could find stockholders representing an additional 20% of the outstanding sharea to line UP with him and thus kill the merger.