Variety (October 1952)

Map Tour of Stix By Producers To Biuld Goodwill for B.O. Move is underway to have the4 135 members of the Screen Pro- ducers’ Guild take to the hinter- lands on goodwill tours for Holly- wood and its films. Film-maker Jerry Wald, who just wound up a whirlwind swing or Texas*, and Robert J. O’Donnell, v.p. of the Texas Interstate chain, are pushing the idea and likely will approach the producers via the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. Aim is to have me producers get from behind Hollywood’s “cellu- loid curtain” to the public for some accurate pulse-taking. Wald feels there’s a “healthy curiosity” about Hollywood, and the producers are well equipped to- answer the pub- lic’s questions. He's plenty high on the ided as a result of his Texas results. On his Texas visits Wald en- countered queries on Red-tainted pix. His stock answer: "Did you ever see a Hollywood film with Communism in it”? As for the commerce end of pix, the film- maker points up that Sears Roe- buck in Rio de Janeiro has special -reps in ..the states to. spot new wearing apparel, household items and the.like in films and see to it that the> Rio branch is supplied with them ahead of the South American release of the pix in- volved. Wald and Milton Pickman, busi- ness head of Wald-Krasna Produc- tions, covered 5,000 miles in six days in their Texas whistle-stop- ping. They spoke to exhibs in 25 different areas, had 15 interviews with newsmen and made numerous radio and TV appearances. While upbeating Hollywood in general, •’The Lusty Men,” Wald’s latest film for RKO release, also was spotlighted. Also as part of the .tour, straight talks were given at various Texas universities and at the San Antonio Lions Club. Wald and Pickman are slated to cover the Boston area on a similar junket beginning Oct. 15. HEFTY MDSE. UEUPS FOR ‘ANDERSEN’ PIC Giving an unusually heavy play to the merchandising approach, Samuel Goldwyn’s New York office and RKO, as the distrib, so far have arranged tieups with 40 manufacturers of clothing and ac- cessories, fabrics and toys - for “Hans Christian Andersen.” Also, Macy’s and other members of the Associated Merchandising Corp., which includes leading department stores across the country, will use “Andersen” as the theme in Christ- mas displays. Other promotions are being lined up in .the music and book publish- ing fields. Also, via a tie-in with a national tobacco outfit, “Andersen” will be plugged in cigaret advertis- ing across the country. Censorship Seals Par’s‘Jacks’,‘Paleface’ Sold Away From UPT In Mpls^on Bidding Minneapolis, Sept. 30. Illustrating anew how the con- sent decree has changed the clear- ance pattern, an unusual develop- ment here finds Paramount’s cur- rent top boxoffice pictures, “Jump- ing Jacks” and “Son of Paleface,” getting away on competitive bids from United Paramount Theatres’ leading local neighborhood house, the- Uptown, to competing inde- pendent theatres for its first area nabe-suburban run in the 1 28-day slot. Inasmuch as lt’s contrary to the circuit’s policy to play pictures at the Uptown day-and-date with or after the independent theatres in question, the Uptown will pass up both smashes. The Edina, a Ben Friedman su- burban theatre, bid competitively against the Uptown for “Jumping Jacks” and won out. While the Edina currently is offering the Martin-Lewis hit, the Uptown, •Which has regular 28-day availa- bility as compared to the Edina's 35, Is “'coxmterhig with -a-“twin-bill of oldies, “The Rains Came” and “Leave Her to Heaven,” the the- atre’s first filing at double-featur- ing. The 28-day slot is the earli- est here after the downtown first- run. “Jumping Jacks” was sold away from the Uptown to the St. Louis Park, a Harold Field-Harold Kap- lan house, whose regular slot is 35 days. Metro zoned the city for the neighborhood-suburban release of “Quo Vadis” and on competitive bids it was sold away from the Up- town to the St. Louis - Park • and Terrace. All three aforementioned pic tures had their downtown first-runs here at UPT, but Paramount’s Martin & Lewis “At War With the Army” and its initial reg ular admission run of “Samson and Delilah” were sold away from the big chain’s loop houses to Ben- nie Berger’s independent Gopher. Because of distributor’s refusal to put the Edina in the regular 28- day slot along with the Uptown and independent Hopkins, it is su- ing the major film companies and UPT for $1:900,000 damages. Continued from page 7 addition to editorial support against Government actions. Many news- papers have stepped up coverage of film news. Others have issued special pix sections. Some have launched promotional campaigns urging their readers “to get out of their living rooms and go to a movie.” N. Y. Mirror, for example, runs a daily box far. up in the general , news section calling atten- tion to the pleasures of film-going. Another aspect of the press’ new attitude is the trend to grant local film theatres the same advertising rates as local department stores. This campaign, launched many years ago, is seeing more and more papers equalizing their rates Press’ new attitude has also ex- tended to national mags. Collier's last week, for example, came out with a full-page editorial rapping the Government’s 16m suit. In ad- dition, many mags have been on the prowl for pro-industry stories. Some of the changes brought about have been due to.the’work of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations, the Motion Picture As$p. of America, the Motion Pic- ture Industry Council and local exhibs who have carried the ball to their local editors. COMPO, MPAA and MPIC have been instrumenta in correcting inaccuracies about Hollywood and in obtaining correc- tions of raps based on misleading information' or lack of pertfnefit facts. Seek to Kayo Ohio Law Columbus, Sept. 30. The Ohio Censor Board's rejec- tion of Superior Films Hollywood remake of the old German .film “M,” the second rejection in 18 months, has touched off a renewed effort by the firm’s attorneys here to knock out the state’s screen cen- sorship law. The board originally rejected “M*’ on April 23 t 1951, because the film was “permeated with crime and depicted a juvenile in complete perversion""-Superior; after cutting! the film and receiving a clean bill of health from all censors except those in Atlanta, resubmitted the film to Ohio’s board, but Clyde M. Hissong, state education director and censor chief, refused to review it again. Whereupon, Superior brought a mandamus action against the board. Ohio’s attorney general ruled that Hissong’s position was Inde- fensible and the board would have to review the cut version of “M.” This they did and rejected it Jn toto on Sept. 16.. Last Thursday (25), the firm of Wright, Harlor, Pur- plus,, Morris & Arnold, acting for Superior, filed a petition in Ohio Supreme Court asking for a review of the .order and basing their case on two points. 1. That the Ohio censorship stat- ute is unconstitutional both in the state and in the U. S. since it is an abridgement of free speech and press. 2, If the statute Is valid, then the censor boat'd has acted arbitrarily and abused its discretion in rejeet- i Ing the pic. PSsilEff Md. Censor Stresses Need to Restrict Foreign Producers Editor, Variety: Baltimore. Our statement to the Governor of Maryland that certain Holly- wood companies have been, deviat- ing * from their own production code does not end there, as Variety’s recent article does. On the contrary, we laid particular emphasig on the productions of many foreign and .domestic pro- ducers, who, never having been signatory parlies to the Hollywdod code, have been, and still are, free to turn out pictures that haye time and again crossed the border line of decency and morality. These pictures are completely beyond the censoring powers and control of Joseph I. Breen’s department, and the bypassing of them when the public is told that the industry has its own set of regulations to make pictures clean and wholesome is a matter which the citizens, of this state are gradually catching on to. Both of these situations have been frequently dwelt upon in our re- ports and in other public state- ments, and we did not hold them in abeyance until the U.S. Supreme Court decided “The Miracle” and Pinky” cases. It is well known to the trade that certain Hollywood producers, no- tably -Samuel- Goldwyn-^and -David O. Selznick, are on record as ad- vocating the adoption of a new production code—one which Gold- v wyn has gone so far as to say will' enable the industry to get away from producing “pollyanna and fairy-tale pictures,” One v wonders just what Goldwyn has in mind putting on the screen in the light of some of the present pictures. But aside from our own findings, it appears that we are eloquently supported by no less an authority than the Theatre Owners of Amer- ica. At their convention held in New York City last September, they adopted, a resolution which called upon the film industry to avoid movies that might be con- sidered in bad taste by any part of the total audience. The resolution stated, in part, that several pic- tures in current and recent re- leases had broached the barriers of the Hollywood Production Code to a pdint where public criticism was invited and the resolution pro- ceeded to recommend that any at- tempt by script writers or directors to “overstep the word, letter and intent” of the code “be instantly Curbed.*’ How does this attitude on the jiart of the theatre owners fit in with Breen's assertion that there has been no relaxation of u the Standards of good taste and de- cency represented by the ‘code? Regarding Breen’s assertion that, in a recent report by Father Mas terson, of the National Legion of Decency, he commended the high moral standards of American mo- tion pictures, we understand that, actually, Father’ Masterson in ad- dressing a women’s organization last month, stated that about 18% of the. domestic pictures had been found to be morally objectionable, or a decrease of 2% over the pic- tures so. deemed, previously. On Aug. 26, 1949, Father. Masterson issued a written report wherein it was . stated, that - American-made pictures were morally deteriorat- ing fo the extent that nearly 20% of them were considered objection- able. This figure, the report added, was the highest since the forma- tion of the Legion of Decency in 1933. Now, as to the article’s state- ment that our board is threatened with abolition because* of an opin- ion by our Attorney General, let itrbe said that - since* the Supreme Court’s decision in “The Miracle” Case, he has taken the position that we are restricted to the censoring of films that are indecent and ob- scene. In no manner, has he even intimated that we, as a board of censors, have no legal right to func- tion under the law of this state. On the contrary, he has suggested that the law be strengthened by the enactment of a statute which, in his opinion, will insure the state's right to keep out pictures that are found to be of the indicated char- acter. Sydney R. Traub, Chairman, Md., State Board of Motion Picture Censors Wednesday, October 1, 1952 *" SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK^ ^ 4h I "H A t M t i t- 4 4 * ^ By Frank Scully Hollywood. Easily fetched by anything in distress the Samaritan in me simply bleeds at the cries of hunger pains emanating from Hollywood. If better pictures can be made at less cost it is obvious that cuts will’ have to be made all along the line. Merely suggesting that the cuts beuin bv cutting off the dead branches at the top isn’t enough. Life must be infused into the old redwood, and that means story-value. So reluctantly I toss away some more of the stock pile which in better times might have been used to send our kids to college. Take ’em, pals. The plots are all yours. Old Title. * New Title “Hizzoner Cal Coover” “Has Anybody Seen My^Cal?” This is a frank effort to cash in on the drink, sex, smoke and skullduggery that goes on in a national political* convention. Cal Coover a>rass check manufacturer, who was bom in New England, reared in the south, educated in the west ^nd made his dough in Chi- cago so much in fact and frou such shady sources that his attorney thought it would be wise to siphon off $10,000,000 and set up the Coover Foundation For Clean Government. It was set up in honor of his first wife, who presumably died from overeating at Monte Carlo while Coover was teaching a<J?londe how to play baccarat. The Foundation decides to pitch for the Presidential nomination of Gen. Mills, a six-star general, figuring he will get smeared so badly in the campaign that it would be no trouble at all to toss Coover in as a compromise candidate. His backers are assured Coover has now married that blonde he has been .running around with since (and be- fore) his wife died. The day the convention opened, sure enough, a schnook named Severance Liveright (a Communist parading as a loyal delegate) flooded the convention hall with documentary proof that Ben. Mills filched his sixth star from a brigadier he had demoted for being too kind" to wives of prisoners-of-war. The general’s wife came forth the next day with the explanation that she had found the extra star in his pocket and, thinking it was one that had worked loose from its mooring, had sewed it on. This ex- planation came too late to save Mills, however, and the convention made the worst of a bad situation by nominating Cal Coover. Coover put on a terrific campaign. Everybady seemingly wore but- tons, cut like stars and as big as stop lights. All bore the legend “My Pal Cal.” But he was running against an incumbent, and the Dopey Voters League, with the slogan “We always vote for incumbents,” swept their old standby into office. Cal won, four states^Maine, where he was born; Georgia, where he was raised; California, where he went to college, and Illinois, where he made millions in slot machines, juke- boxes and brass checks. “The Whining Team” “Too Bad To Win” This is a picture for Frank Lovejoy, who as Rogers Hornsby sort of stole “The Winning Team” from Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleve- land Alexander. It starts with Hornsby taking a bunch of rambling wrecks, including Alexander, from the cellar to a World Series. After they win the Series they all go out on a bender and don’t get over it for the whole of the next season. “You know why we lost?” asks the surly Rajah of Alexander. “Cause your wife, who looks to me an awful lot like Doris Day, wasn’t in the stands for you to wink at when the going got tough. That’s why we lost.” That night Bill Veeck, the club prez, fired him. For 20 years the Rajah rattled around in the stix and then worked himself back in the big leagues as a manager of the St. Louis Browns. He landed a three-year contract, worth $120,000 in any lawyer’s language. Feeling his oats again, the Rajah began riding herd on his coolies and pushed them so hard they were in the cellar by the end of spring. No Doris ‘Day was in the stands^ to soften his cruel tongue. Players whimpered -under his tongue-lashings and all but laid down. So the prez of the club called him on the carpet. Tile prez’s name, by a terrifying coincidence, was Bill Veeck. Junior, this time. “Rajah, I guess you’re through.” “Are you guessing or issuing an executive order?” asked Hornsby. “I should have learned from my*old man’s experience,” said ttfe prez, "when he canned you before.” i “If you were that bright,” ripdsted the Rajah, “you would be work- ing for a living in a wayside garage. Your second-guessing is gonna cost you $100,000.” “You won’t settle for less?” “Not a. penny,” ‘Suppose with you off our backs we go ahead now and win the pennant?” a^ked the prez. “Then F want a bonus.” “Hornsby, you’re a hard man. You need the softening hand of * woman.” “Okay,” said Hornsby, “get me a Warner contract and Doris Day and I’ll waive the bonus.” They shook hands, and as Hornsby came out of Veeck’s office and walked down a tunnel under the grandstand, there was Doris Day to receive him. On one side of her stood a Warner talent scout and on the other an agent. As Hornsby put his arms around Miss Day the agent stuck a contract in his hand like a subpoena. They all laughed and left the ballpark for highballs and Hollywood. Exhibs Honor Biechele Kansas City, Sept. 30. The 34th annual convention of the Kansas-Missouri Theatre Assn, here today (Tues.) and tomorrow will be marked by a testimonial dinner for R. R. “Dick” Biechele, long-time Kansas City exhibitor. Tom Edwards, veteran exhibitor, will be the speaker at the dinner, to be held at the Hotel Presi- dent. - “Keeih Your Shirt On” - - “-Atomic HL* - Hi Hatt, who won his H at Harvard in fencing, is assigned to Alamogordo on a super-secret project/ His job is to see that n# scientists changed shirts. It was his job to change them, not theirs. Virginia Dublin, a specialist in splitting infinitives, is brought to Alamogordo to teach the children of atom-splitters how to split infin- itives to conform with the split personalities of the community. One day, while Hatt’s back was turned, she got his department. She was on the hunt for Jackie Morbid, who was playing hookey. As she tried to leave, Hatt insisted on taking her shirt off. She slapped his face and caused such a row that Dr. Morbid came out to see what all the commotion was about. When he learned his kid was on the loose he became hysterical. A hunt revealed has was off limits. Then came a telephone call indicat- ing he had been kidnapped and was being held-for ransom. The price was simply some formulas only Dr. Morbid knew. Hatt and Virginia forgot their deferences in this new crisis and the next'hour is simply a chase to find the moppet. He is discovered, hav- ing escaped his captors, hanging from a clipp. Hatt makes a rope of shirts, but it is still too short to affect a rescue. Virginia sees the problem and goes behind the mesquite bush. From there she hands her slip and bra to Hatt. In the nick of time Jackie is rescued. Hatt returns the tom bra and slip to Virginia by tossing them over the bush. The security guard and state troopers arrive just in time to miss the whole thing. Virginia is dressed by the time they come crashing into the scene. She and Hatt and Jackie get in the backseat of a rescue car, and while the moppet gets ready for the whacking of his life, the lover* embrace. ^This is a picture for college kids who get a thrill out of unoccupied J unmentionables.