Variety (September 1952)

PICVOIKS W I II P^^tWrf ■W cdnesday*, ^«i]pt'eitKib«i:^ 17, 1952 NEW YORK Harry Rubin, director of projec- tionists at the Paramount Theatre for the last 35 years, hotiored by industry associates at a dinner last night (Tues.) at Rosoff's Restau- . rant. Arthur Sharby, operator of sev- , cral Long Island theatres, took a /long-term lease on the Gem, Far Rockaway, N, Y., from Haring & Blumenthal through theatre bro- kerage firm of Berk & Krumgold, Europe Theatre, in the York- ville section-of Manhattan, reopens under new management Oct, 1 but retains its former policy of . screening Hungarian, Czech and Greek Imports among others. - Les Sugarman, former trade- paper scribe and Columbia Pic- tures publicist, joined A, F. Films, Inc., as sales rep and publicity director. John Tassos, former Paramount publiciH who went to Florida on medical leave last December, named publicity director of a num- ber of 3t>blne hotels in Florida. ■ He’ll handle the Roney-Plaza and Gulf Stream, Miami Beach; McAl- lister, Miami, and Boca Raton Ho- tel and Club, Boca Raton. “Savage Triangle,” new French . film directed by Jean Delannor and produced by Joseph Bercholz, opens next Monday (29) at the Paris Theatre, New York. Joseph 'Burstyn is the distrib. , Irving Sochin, Universal's shorts ! subjects topper, .left over the ; weekend to tour, five midwest ; cities to spur shorts sales. He’ll ; visit Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, 'Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Malcolm Scott, formerly 16m sales manager for RKO and Cur- ;rrculTnn'Films, named N. Y. sales i chief for Princeton Film Center, Inc. New Strand Theatre, North Tar- " rytown, N. Y., filed bankruptcy the Strand, moves up to Day’s old post. John Ready of WB tTheatres bookkeeping department upped to Stan Horners’ assistant in contact office. Bentley Theatre in Monogahela, which recently closed, reopened as radio and television store. William Gray sold the Bentley when he ac- quired the Anton in the same town. Hazelwood, which shut down more than a month ago when M. J. Shapiro terminated leasing deal, to reopen Nov.-1'with its owners, Mrs. Dora Landy, and Mrs. Mary Stein- berg, widows of Pittsburgh exhibs, in charge. ; Arthur Manson is handling dis- tribution of “The Medium” in this territory. Pic just opened a lim- ited roadshow run at the legit Nixon. Big RKO Trading Negotiations, which culmi- nated in the purchase of RKO pictures control by the- Ralph. Stolkin syndicate Moh* day (22) midnight were accomr panied by an unusually heavy JUCO trading volume on the N. Y. Stock EKqhahge: over the past week. Prom last Wednes- day (17) through yesterday (Tues.) some 136,600 shares changed hands. Biggest volume was regis- tered on Friday (19), when 57,500 shares were traded. Breakdown for the week shows that 6,300 shares moved on Wednesday, 25,000 oii Thurs- day, 57,400 Friday, 24,000 Monday and 23,900 yesterday. RKQ hit a high of 4% yester- day, a low of 4% and closed at 4V^,ioff an eighth. Amusement Stock Quotations For the Week Ending Tuesday (23) ■ New RKO I ‘Little Sacrifice’ S etltion in N. Y. Federal Court sting assets of $20,010 and $138.- listing assets of $20,010 and $138,- .l540 in liabilities. Judge Sylvester ::J, Ryan appointed Leo Kaplan as receiver. PITTStiURGH Jack C. Day, manager of Strand in Altoona, promoted to city man- ager of the Fabian theatres there. He succeeds the late D. J, Shep- herd., Calvin, Melhorn, assistant at (sssE Continued from page S s=;J show they’ve remitted or invested varied amounts against future prof- its. As a consequence, it’s under- stood, the $9,900,000 Which is to be blocked over the next year largely could not have been converted into dollars anyway* The $5,900,000 figure was arrived at via some complex figuring, the basics of which go like this; The U. S. companies, which are guaran- teed a minimum of $4,000,000 un- der the Eady setup, claimed this source should have brought them a total of $5,500,000. The British, in turn, conceded remittances of only the guaranteed $4,000,000 as “dollars in New York,” and the U. S. outfits accepted this. The British thereby “saved” $1,500,000. As it continues, on paper, the new plan provides that the compa- i^ies may take out only $1,100,000 under the Eady system. Since they claimed $5,500,000 over the past year and are now permitted the reduced figure of $1,100,000 (called the producers’ share for. the U. S. companies), the British “save” $4,400,000. The total is the $5,900,- 000 which the American outfits agree to waive. Continued Iroip page 3 telefilm unit for custom-made TV pix but the immediate aim is to get rolling with the feature film program. There has been no dis- cussion of. any* sale of the com- pany’s backlog; to television. . WhoTl Head Production? . Takeover by Stolkin and his pards was accompanied by a flock of rumors regarding personnel. In line with this, Louis B. Mayer’s fu- ture industry role has been the suh*' ject of much conjecture since he ankled Metro. Among those also mentioned in some-circles as pos- sible candidates as production boss are Sol C. Siegel. Pandro S. Berman, William Perlberg and Jerry Wald. No appointments can take place until the new board of directors meets in New York in about 10 days. Formal announcement. also Is looked for at that time on specific policy and plans. Status of prexy Depinet also expectedly will be clarified at the meeting of the new directorate. It’s presumed that the Hughes appointees . to top-level > studio po- sitions are less likely to remain on the payroll than those with the stu- dio many years. Among the foi*mer is C. J. Tevlin, in charge of studio operaHons. All contracts with RKO will re- main in force but the new buyers do not get one of the studio’s big- gest money-making stars, Jane Russell. She’s under contract to i the Hughes Tool Co. This pact in no way figured in the sale nego- tiations. Contract stars now at RKO In- clude Robert Ryan, Robert Mit- chum, Keith Andes and Mala Powers. Producers on the lot in- clude Edmund Grainger, Lewis Rachmil, Robert Sparks, Sam Weis- enthal and Irwin Allen. Included in the deal, of course, I are RKO’s toportant distribution contracts with Samuel Goldwyn and Walt Disney. Top-level sources here state that the Goldwyn and Disney pacts have no “escape clause” and the two film-makers will continue to release through RKO. (Quotations furnished by Dreyfus A Co.) Olivia Needs Rest Hughes Loan Continued from page 3 JCSSSC* the Hughes stock. Koolish, inci- dentally, is president of Empire Industries, Chicago mail order house. Edward “Buzz” Burk, who, like Ryan, is a San Antonio oil- man* will own 10% in association with Sherrill Corwin, Southern California theatre owner. Corwin’s holdings amount to about 2%. First payment of $1,250,000 was In the form of a cashier’s check made out to Hughes. Stolkin and his associates take over manage- ment but the actual stock will be placed in escrow within the next two to four weeks pending com- pletion of the final payment to Hughes. In another economic aspect of the Hughes bowout, there is no in- demnification of any kind in the stock switch terms. In this con- nection It’; pointed out that two Wg lawsuits are pending against Hughes and the corporation. These are Paul Jarrico’s action for screen credit on “Las Vegas Story” and Martin Gang’^ libel complaint growing out of the recent Hughes- Jean Simmons litigation. There are numerous private antitrust suits now pending, instituted by exhibs. Similarly, there is no in- demnification in the event of stock- holder suits stemming from the sale. show under his management, she is not committed to him in any way and would be willing to re- turn to the stage for any other producer. Determining factor, she emphasizes, would be a script that she felt would be-right for her. The star points out that her de- cision not to appear in, Hammond’s scheduled production of “Portrait of a Lady,” William Archibald’s ^amatization of the Henry James novel, grew out of several compli- cating> factors. She had intended to return to New York for the start of rehearsals early in September. Meanwhile, she signed with 20th- Fox for “My Cousin Rachel,” which was scheduled for shooting early in the Summer and would be completed in time for her to take the legit assignment. Free for ‘Portrait’ However, the picture was de- layed because of changes in the choice of director, so actual shoot- ing didn't start until July 28. Mean- while, Hammond ‘ wanted to go ahead with “Portrait” early In; the fall, so Miss de Havllland withdrew from ihjt projects je-ven-.-thaugh she liked the Archibald adaptation. Since then, Hammond has switched plans and is currently in produc- tion with “The Gambler,” starring Alfred Drake, and will do “Por- trait” In the fall. Miss de Havilland thus would still have been free to do “Por- trait,” but in the meantime she had obtained a divorce in California from novelist Marcus Goodrich, and her attorney advised her not to go to New York for any extended pe- riod until the decree should be- come final, a year hence. So she is remaining here until the fall of 1953. “I need a rest and look forward to one very much,” Miss de Havil- land says. “From January, 3951, when ‘Romeo and Juliet’ opened in Detroit, to May 17, 1952, when ‘Candida’ closed In New York, I played 432 performances.” During that period the actress never missed a performance, although on at least one occasion during the Continued from paft jt ^ ' -■ r -r - ■* ment, she ‘Candida* tour her young son, who n in any traveled with her,*was‘seriously ill ng to re- with a virus infection, any other Miss de Havilland’s only pros- she pective future film stint, aside ;cript that from “Main Street to Broadway,” or her. ig ^ proposed adaptation of the at her de- Graham Greene noveli “The End ammond’s of the Affair.” However, it will not “Portrait be made, if at all, until late spring .rchibald’s or early summer of next year. If iry James she accepts any film bids, that in- al compli- eluded, it will be “because the itended to script attracts me greatly.” New York Theatres -RIDI (ITT lltll tUl'- liock<fil«r C«fit4r MARIO LANZA le ^^BECAUSE TOU'BE MINE*^ ie if o ^ e d m MilTU MMRtW' C«(w hy TKHNtCOCOt • An M-O-M now* smTAdUMi uMt meirATiMi MOt Mw* OUTDOOt lUnillHMiNT. MKVKl I IromCoett I I toCoMt S ever V* Conlevy Refreiliinent Service fer MIVI - IN THIATRES ^ THEATUR FOR RENT DewNtown lecHeii Recheftter. New York. Cepeelry e|i|K«x. 900. Imme- cHefe eccMiMHicy. J, liMiiiaK. 2if Iroadwoy, New Yerk. iA 7-S400. TTTTXTT ALL SEATS RESERVED Seats on sale 8 weeks in advance the filni with a new dimension WORLD PREMIERE lEPT. JflTH. BOX Office ROW open. BROADWAY THEATRE, 63rd St. and Broadway. Performancaa dally at 2:30 “Hd Sun. at 2,5, and 8:40. Seats $1.20, $1.80, $2.30, $2.80. Address mall orders to Broadway Theatre or phone Cl 6*6723. OrKNINQ NIOHT sold out.