Variety (September 1952)

MCltriUKS atres Balk at TV Price Demands Hazen Productions, is due back In On Walcott-Marciano, Holding Out sSS’viSa'S dies with Hal Wallis. Hefty nick being demanded of+* ~ Meantime, unit’s flack, Walter heatres for • l^rge-screen rights to aq A Seltzer, arrived ea$t over the week- he Joe Walcott-Rocky Marciano ^ /wcriigc begin drumbeating on “Come Ight in Philadelphia Sept. 23 is Average admission price to Bacl^ Little Sheba,” which is {iving Nate Halpern, prez of The^ charged by theatres carry- slated for Paramount release this re Network Television, a tough jjjg large-screen telecasts of fall. He’ll be in New York about a relling job. Flock of houses, in- Walcott-Marciano fight week. finding tele-equipped ones in the from Philadelphia Sept. 23 PVamer chain, have refused to sign ^Ul probably average better Jeals. than a $3 top, including tax. MJI nil , Although current prices are QuUd Theatre, N. Y., is jAAC [fin If inVA liigher than for any previous fight, charging $4.80, and another ■ v if bargaining follows past patterns New York house may do the ^ ^ • a WB and the others will be signing game, which Is the highest tap A A a lit the last minute. Cham, it is yet for a fight telecast. Many ll|| I A|1vnr|||V pointed out, made $3,000 profit on other theatres, such as those V** VtVllUV* lilg, ail $11,000 gross in Philadelphia jn the B&K chain in Chicago, . « ««« « and is reported moving equipment which got a $2.40 top for pre- if 1 ■ I from PhiUy, which will be blacked vious bouts, are asking $3.60 | WWAllyn out this time, to one of its houses for this one. * I f vugv Despite the circuit balks, suffi- ' Maryland censor board’s state- cient number of houses have inked || * • ment last week that continued pacts to enable TNT to guarantee AeCATlQiaC KlIVIIKf blue-pencilling is necessary, be- the International Boxing Club, pro- ii55(H;lalCa UllY nuL cause of increasing deviations from motors of the Marciano-Walcott ^ J the .Johnston office code by Holly- fray, the approximately $100,000 . ^ m wood, was brushed pff by industry- minimum it demanded. Deal for I P|V rUA last gasp of large-screen tele was only tentative LlllUCll I lAf LlVC political appointees grabbing at until 'that figure was reached last » * ' ^ straws to keep their jobs. week. r* 1 ■ II’* 1 Strong effort is under way by Aiding Halpern in achieving that V a Ia i a y IflAA the pic Industry and civil rights figure was the gimmick he set up of UlllC lU f lUCU groups to end censorship, following getting the fight to large-screen- _ the recent decision of the U. S. equipped houses on the Coast by a » Hollywood Sept 9. Supreme Court, which held that film relay in Chicago. Unable to Linuert-nroduced nix entitled to the same Con-^ get direct lines to the far west be- Sate of 107 L ppert p p gtitutional guarantees of freedom fause they were pre-empted for to television, for approximately censorship, as the press. regular commercial shows, TNT has lj' associates who are buy- Maryland board, threatened with and then^Dutting this interest in films made since ® result of a ruling by fight in Chi and then putting this ,j, pressed the issue be- tbestate’s Attorney-Generalfollow- anvwhere «««se of his productfon curtailment ing the Supreme Court opinion, “ • H^^ern is result of a long-standing hassle came back last week with the com- near the full route, HMpern is t^e Screen Actors Guild over ment on Hollywood’s flipping hoprful of haying Sale to video of pix made after the morals in its annual report to the In Coast tteatoes before tt is fin i. 1948, CTtoff date, when Soyernnr. additional coin must go to the ^ ‘'Certatn Hollywood companies, Coast houses a strong selling point, faced with intense competition since there will be no radio or ^ ^ .-nnowf caaii*, intxav..^cfc within their own ranks, in addition home 'TV of the boutvand fans will . to the scare of television, have re- (Continued on page 16) merge wUh jS Erode? on a deviating from the V- code to which they have long been Hefty nick being demanded of ® theatres for • Ifirge-screen rights to the Joe Walcott-Rocky Marciano fight in Philadelphia Sept. 23 is ^ving Nate Halpern, prez of Thea- tre Network Television, a tough selling job. Flock of houses, in- cluding tele-equipped ones in the Warner chain, have refused to sign deals. „ Although current prices are higher than for any previous fight, . if bargaining follows past patterns WB and the others will be signing at the last minute. Chain, it is pointed out, made $3,000 profit on au $11,000 gross in Philadelphia and is reported moving equipment from PhiUy, which will be blacked out this time, to one of its houses In another area. Despite the circuit balks, suffi- cient number of houses have inked pacts to enable TNT to guarantee the International Boxing Club, pro- moters of the Marciano-Walcott fray, the approximately $100,000 ■ minimum it demanded. Deal for large-screen tele was only tentative until 'that figure was reached last week. Aiding Halpern in achieving that figure .was the gimmick he set up of getting the fight to large-screen- equipped houses on the Coast by a film relay in Chicago. Unable to $3 Fififht Aver$Lge Average admission price to be charged by theatres carry- ing large-screen telecasts of the Walcott-Marciano fight from Philadelphia Sept. 23 will probably average better than a $3 top, including tax. Guild Theatre, N, Y., is charging $4.80, and another New York house may do the same, which Is the highest tap yet for a fight telecast. Many other theatres, such as those in the B&K chain in Chicago, which got a $2.40 top for pre- vious bouts, are asking $3.60 for this one. Associates Buying Sale to Video Coast houses a strong selling point, since there will be no radio or home TV of the boutvand fans will One. (Continued on page 16) V trlbStion basis. Lippert wouldn’t ^“"8 *’®®" Await Fight’s Results I tr*b ^ *thi ^ I and or^?amzations are ad* Before RKO Sets Terms On Walcotl-Marcianr??^ VU nait^vu-maiwuiiy. distributed since SAG Selling terms on the Joe Walcott- place^ him on the unfair list. Sam- (Continued on page 20) Rocky Marciano fight pix will de- uel Fuller owns “Steel* Helmet’’ pend “on what kind of a fight it’ll and Gary Cooper owns “Three Des- n IT T LI I • • be,” according to Sid Kramer, perate Men,” so neither is involved jjCC liO IrOUDle LinUm itKO’s shorts subjects topper, in the overall transaction. ^ RKO’s shorts subjects topper. Kramer Indicated that the sales However, deal being negotiated policy will more than likely in- does include “Rocketship M, volve a percentage deal. Shot . Jesse James,” ^‘Return of Exec feels that deals will be ^le jesse James,” “Baron of Arizona,” ten. be set immediately after the bat- “Lost Continent,” “Savage Drums,” Up Telemeter Prod. For Palm Springs Test tie in Philadelphia Sept. 23. Hollywood, Sept. 9. “Bandit Queen,” “Deputy Mar- Preliminary negotiations with To shall” and “Little Big Horn,” latter number of majors have indicated and editing, RKO has arranged for jg ^ 3,951 release, three relays of cars, with two cars MAAnwhlte T.i that there will be no difficulty lin- fee filmed by seven camera crews. RKO snared the film rights last week, giving the International Box- ing Club a substantial guarantee . but making no advance. In its pre- vious deal with the IBC, film com- pany shelled out $300,000 in ad- vance for 'the Robinson-Turpin and Pen-Saddler' fravs last year. It WeJiie«day, S«|»feiwlie)r 10, 1952 Just Good’or Baf By JOE SCHOENFELD Holljrvvood, Sept. 9. Hollywood’svchanging production economics are going a long way towards disputing the sensitivities of producers regarding the possible labelling of their pictures as “A,” “B,” “C,” or worse . That great common denominator, the hoxoffice, puts its own brand on pictures—^just “Good” or “Bad.” Years back, a picture was labelled far in advance of completion by (1) its budget; (2) its shooting schedule; and (3) its cast. A diminution of any or al) of these three factors in comparison with the ballyhooed super-duper “A’s” gave pictures the complexion of “B” or “C” classification. What has always concerned producers regarding this type of • pre-exhibition libelling is that the public would not give the pictures a fair chance. In other words, the picturegoer who reads that a picture is of “minor league” budget or cast would most likely pass it up. • x,. Actually, this type of reasoning was fallacious even m the old days when there was a definite line of demarcation in film produc- tion and pictures were labelled “A” and “B” by the distributors and film salesmen themselves. Obviously, not all pictures were “Gone With the Wind,” yet many of the so-called “minor leaguers’ made ar lot of money and consequently must’ve drawn many people who had read that these pictures weren’t exactly super-colossals. The wheel is now turning to the point that the J^ery economics of picture business is more and more focusing attention on stream- lined production and savings -on shooting time, casting and other budgetry and quality items. Sojne studios are pointing with pride to the fact that they are able to shoot pictures now in a matter of days, rather than weeks. These studios do not feel that this type of publicity is damaging to the picture’s eventual boxoffice. And it isn’t. Nor is it damaging to the boxoffice if a picture is publicized that It cost say $500,000 rather than $1,000,000. The public has long since gotten weary of claims of multi-million dollar productions* All that filmgoers were ever interested in is “what is it like on the screen?” And too often the multi-million dollar production has looked like $500,000, while the modestly-budgeted but well- made film evidenced greater quality and engendered greater ex- citement. /—R^sibly the sensitivities pf some producers regarding an “A” /or “B\label on their product-dates back to the days when the compantes vied with one another in their advertising claims of their respective pictures. Out of that era came a fantastic vocabulary of adjectives for motion picture press agents. But those were the days when the film industry was still somewhat in its infancy; when many pictures could get by with exaggerated claims of “something new” for their audiences. It was not intended, how- ever, for the producers to wholly believe their exploiteers’ ballyhoo. But the days of that*type of adjective-competition among pro- ducers* mouthpieces are long since gone. The executives who study public reaction to pictures know that in the great majority of cases there is no evidence that theatre-going is based, pro or con, on publicity regarding the shooting time or cost of a picture. The public has learned from experience that the number of shooting days and the picture’s cost are not the determining factors in a picture’s quality. The cards at every sneak preview overwhelm- ingly give the answer that the entertainment is the thing—^the story’s development and the showmanship with which it’s presented. Casting is a factor, too, in public acceptance of a picture—but in this respect there’s also a tremendous amount of sad evidence that no amount of stars can save a poor and uninteresting story. On the other hand, there’s evidence now and then that an exciting picture without stars is readily accepted by the public. Which all boils down to the cogent point that there’s just no way of belittling a good picture to the theatre-going public; and con- versely, there’s no way of building up a bad picture no matter how much window dressing it gets. The public is smarter than the advertising adjectives. Since film theatregoing is no longer a habit with most people, but a matter of choice, the ticket-buyer now also listens more closely to friends’ or neighbors’ advice as to what pictures to see. It’s unlikely that friend or nei^bor would dream of saying: “Don’t go to see ‘The Long Ride,* It didn’t cost enough.” Or: “Don’t go to see ‘The Long Ride.* It Was shot In only 15 days.’* {Reprinted from Daily Vabiety) tnree i^iays 01 cars, wmi two v Meanwhile, Lippert has sold 16 ing up first-run product for the test in ^ of his exchanges for approximately oJ Telemeter planned for Palm I from Philly to New York. Cars w u $325,000, and has six left to com- Springs in February, exec v.p. Carl be plete consolidation. Leserman said last week. Leser- Kramcr said that the fight would ^ declared that he had talked m A. . ^ T I. with four or five companies and RKO snared the film Tnn PlYlfPC I|ldl3 received one refusal, week, giving the International ^ I lAllCh U1 lUtlld subscription-TV sys- ^g Club a substantial guarantee t P J W;]l IT 0 T tern, in which Paramount is a half but making no advanc^ In its p:^ 111 uOOQ illll U. lOui owner, has been virtually commut- vious ilT Fourteen top-ranking personal!- ing between here and New York to pany shelled out $300,000 in ad Indian film industry will set prod’uct for the test. He’s due vance fpf'the Robinson-Turpin and in New York next Monday back east at the end of this week Top Pixites of India bfif took a ^15) for a four-week, eight-city tour in an effort to actually wrap up ft? the U. S., Includini a visit to some of the deals. to ob^ Hollywood. Invitation to the In- We have finaUy made the com- mnrp ranUoiTfn fts euirantee filmltes was extended by the panics aware of what we are doing vua?an^^^^^^ State Department and Eric John- sud why ” he commented. “Con- this time. RKO s guarantee was noi Motion Picture Assn of sequently, they are all interested, disclosed, but it reportedly went ATeVic^rexy. and I don’t think there will be an^; high since it had to compete for m • _i_ * •. . difficulty in linlnc un nictures ’* the film rights with Harry Brandt . Tour is part of a program to hoi- LeserLS said the Palm Sp?ings the film rights witl Jind United Artists. ?«to^at'”SSa4*‘S triM wlU corshts ofTS^ U. s’! film reps at ^e iSatVai and probably a, few other capitals. Producer; whor costars with Claire Bloom, arrived in Gotham for the Coast yesterday (Tues.) with a to Palm Springs. That will be com- pleted this month and will be test- ed prior to Telemeter itself. Palm Springs residents will pay a fee to • V/. iijjii icpa rtt me AllLCAiiauunai rkrnfrra-mmincr Charity ‘Limelight’ Bow i? Planned for London bem-wkri”€MS Charles Chaplin, now in New * camera- carrying shows from Los Angeles York, will leave for Europe next among the others. 3o Palm Springs. That will be com- weok to supervise the opening of ' ^ pleted this month and will be test- his newest production, “Lime- ■Rjo'crpaf flOMPO TrAim^ to Telemeter itself. Palm light,” in London, Paris, Stockholm . Aruupe Springs residents will pay a fee to and probably a, few other capitals. Tounng Indiana TownS hooked Into the system so they Producer; who costars with Claire Hniivwnnf^ o receive regular L. A. signals Bloom, arrived in Gotham for the ^ • P * * on their home sets. Coast yesterday (Tues.) with a Twelve screen per^n^Uies, larg- ' — ■ ■ ■ nrint of the film. single group of COMPO “Movie- Instead of aiming for a Com- tourists to date, left Po|fj(in^C ForPlffn mand Performance of “Limelight” for Indianaplis, where they will lUlWUllb rUlt^lga 11UU. in London, as had been planned ®PuL luto three units to visit In- Hollywood, Sept. 9. 1 originally, large - scale charity towns, under guidance of Harry M. Popkift, producer of preem is now intended. When this Rouibusch and Marc “The Well” and the upcoming is set, Arnold Picker, UA’s foreign Woli. “The Thief,” is planning to shoot department chief, and v.p. Max Group consists of Rex Allen, one or more films abroad. Youngstein will trek to London to Anne Barcroft, Jack Beutel, Mari Producer, who has frozen coin work on details. Blanchard, Mary Castle, Gene in Europe from earnings of his pix . Arthur W. Kelly, long-time asso- Stevens, Audi Murphy, Bill Shirley, there, plans to leave for the Conti- clate of Chaplin, is the film-maker’s Forrest Tucker, Joy Windsor'and nent next month to survey studio iftles rep on the film* Carey Wilson. J facilities and location sites. Hollywood, Sept. 9. Twelve screen personalities, larg- est single group of COMPO “Movie- nritit of the film. cat amgic giuup 01 movie- Instead of JLing for a Com- U.S.A.” tourists to date, left mand Performance of “Limelight” for Indianapolis, where they will in London, as had been planned three units to visit In- orlglnaUft large - 6Cale____ charity ‘Miracle’ Gets Showing In 10 N. Y. Theatres “The Miracle,” Roberto Rossel- lini’s controversial Italian film, which gained a Supreme Court de- cision over screen censorship, will be shown simultaneously In 10 theatres in the New York metro- politan area starting Friday (12). Film Is part of the trilogy, “Ways of Love,” which also includes “Jo- froi” and “A Day in the Country.” Joseph Burstyn is distributing the thred-part film. Kraike Quits Ed Small Hollywood, Sept. 9. Difference of opinion with his boss caused Michel Kraike to re- sign as producer for Edward Small Productions. Settlement gives Kraike a percentage of profits on “The Bandits of Corsica,” which he prepared for filming. Before he joined the Small or- ganization, Kraike was a. producer at Universal-International. He is mulling an indie project. Europe to N, Y, Frith Banbury Milton Baron iludolf Bing Earl Blackwell Judith Evelyn Lennie Hayton Leland Hayward Libby Holman Lena Horne Howard Lindsay Penelope Munday Edwin Reisklnd Jean Sablon Irene Seiznick Dorothy Stlckney Richard F. Walsh Lawrence Weingarten L. A. to N. Y. Ned Armstrong James Best John C. Bowman G. Ralph Branton Anthony Buttitta Charles Chaplin Bette Davis Dave Epstein Carl Esmond Mel Ferrer Ava Gardner Nathan L. Halpern ,.Rick Jason Anne Jeffreys A. E, Jocelyh George E. Judd, Jr. Arthur Kennedy Lisa Kirk Alan J. Lerner Allyn McLerie Gary Merrill Guy Mitchell J. Carroll Naish Michael O’Shea Tony Owen Marion Parsonnet Walter Seltzer Lenny Sherman John L. Sinn Milton Sperling Robert Sterling Regis Toomey \ Carey Wilson N. Y. to L. A, Luther Adler Ronald Millar Borrah Minevitch Michael Todd Max E. Youngstein N. Y* to Europe Pier Angelf Michael Arlen Inez Bull Marion Gering Nicholas Joy Joel McCrea Russell Swann Lou Walterji