Variety (October 1952)

Wednewlayv October 29, 1952 M&aetfr PICTURES REMAKES DRAW EXHIB SCORN RKO Down $1,050,000 in 5 Wks. o In the five weeks which have passed since Ralph Stolkin and pards bought out Howard Hughes’ hefty block of stock in RKO pictures, the shares have depreciated $1,050,000 in open market value. Stolkin group bought 1,050,000 shares (including 36,000 from former RKO President Ned E. Depinet) at $7 per share. Market price at that time was $4.75. Qlosing price yesterday (Tues.) was $3.75. Interesting to the trade will be the amount which Stolkin, et al., will now accept for their holdings, in the event they want to unload. Total Hughes price was $7,345,000, via an initial payment of $1,500,000, with the rest to be paid off in two and one-half years. Purchaser, of course, would be required to meet all obligations to Hughes, as set forth in the Stolkin purchase agreement. Majority of Stockholders Now Control RKO for 1st Time in Many Years Wald Named to Head CoL Prod; Excepting Indies, As He Exits RKO For the first time in many years4 the control of RKO is in the hands of the majority of stockholders, in- dependent of any vote-controlling individual or group. Last week’s bowo'ut of Ralph Stolkin from the presidency and board membership, and Abraham Koolish and William Gorman from the board, meant the end. at least temporarily, of a suc- cession of ‘‘single units” at the helm via ownership of stock blocks, from Howard Hughes dating back to Floyd Odium’s Atlas Corp., Ra- dio Corp. of America and Joseph P. Kennedy. Board chairman Arnold Grant states that the replacements on the parent corporation’s board will, like himself, be independent and bent on serving, the interests of all shareowners. In other words, they’ll be unbound by any commit- ments to any minority group. Stolkin, Koolish and Gorman (latter repped Ray Ryan on the board) each will have only the status of individual minority stock- holders, with only the right “to ask normal stockholder questions in the normal way,” Grant declares. Situation will remain thus so long as the Stolkin associates hold on to the 1,014,000 shares bought from Hughes (at $7,098,000) and the 36,000 shares from former prez Ned E. Depinet (at $252,000). Total amounted to 1,050,000 shares for $7,350,000. Would Like Out It’s widely accepted that the Stolkin group has a strong desire to sell out. But the $7 per share commitment which was made to Hughes is substantially more than the control is worth at this time, say some close observers. Thus, while Stolkin and his pards would like to unload they’d have to take' a loss of about $1 per share, or a total of $1,059,000, according to in- siders. It’s recalled that Hughes had been offered $6 per share by, among others, a group headed by (Continued on page 22) With Stolkin, Etc., Out Of RKO, Wall St. Journal Ends ‘Expose’ Series Wall St. Journal’s “expose” series on the biz backgrounds of the recently-resigned RKO officers has been concluded, according to Henry" Gemmill" 'managing ed'’of! the financial daily. Last article, dealing with the “philanthropic” ventures of Ralph Stolkin, former proxy, and A. L. Koolish, Stolkin’s father-in-law and ex-RKO board member, appeared in yesterday’s •Tues.) Journal. Gemmill said the paper “had other stuff” on the syndicate which recently took over control of the film company, but saw no point in continuing the stories since Stol- kin, Koolish, etc. were no longer officers or employees of RKO. “We will watch the company with great interest and take notice ot the personnel changes,” he de- clared, “but we don’t believe in kicking dead dogs.” Editor also noted that news interest had dropped off since the resignations and that except for spot news cov- erage the Journal planned no fur- ther probing of RKO. He stressed L,tUn the reportorial job was (Continued on page 20) Bigs Fete RKO Sales Chiefs Execs of all film companies and prominent circuit and indie exhibs are on the list to attend the testi- monial luncheon for Arnold Pick- er, Charles Boasberg and Walter Branson to be sponsored by the Independent Theatre Owners Assn, at the Hotel Astor, New York, to- morrow (Thurs.). Honor guests were recently ap- pointed to new posts at RKO, Picker as exec v.p., Boasberg as domestic sales chief and Branson as assistant domestic sales head. Corwin Jockeys To Unload Stock In RKO Tangle Sherrill C. Corwin wps seen this week jockeying to unload his 2% holdings of the Howard Hughes block of RKO stock acquired by the Ralph Stolkin-Corwin, etc., group. However, his plans appear at least temporarily thwarted by contrac- tual agreement with his pards. Under the setup, all members of the syndicate are jointly liable for commitments made to Hughes un- der the purchase terms. It’s this tieup from which Corwin hasn’t been able to extricate himself. Corwin’s aimed-for stock inter- est sale reportedly would be a preliminary to his departure from the RKO board and from the post of board rep at the studio. He, Edward (Buzz) Burke and Arnold Grant are the remaining members of the parent corporation’s direc- torate. Corwin is currently in New York but repeated efforts to reach him for comment have been unsuccess- ful. Others in the setup also have been ducking press queries, includ- ing top homeoffice attorney" Wil- liam Zimmerman and assistant board chairman Harry Pimstein, who reportedly have been given v.p. chevrons. All Cos. to Supply Pix For TelemeterTest Hollywood, Oct. 28. Carl Leserman, back from N. Y. huddles with various homeoffice execs, reveals that all majors, save 20th-Fox, have agreed to supply product for Telemeter’s test in Palm Springs next February. Leserman said he hadn’t had a chance to talk with 20th toppers, but anticipates no difficulty getting their pix for subscription TV sys- tem. Mochrie on Coast Scouting Film Post Hollywood, Oct. 28. Robert Mochrie, former RKO v.p. in charge of domestic distribu- tion, is here from New York ap- parently scouting possibilities for a new industry po|it. Mochrie is said to be specifically eyeing a tieup with indie produc- ers whom he would represent in the east on distribution matters. Coupled with the recent, re- newed squawks of exhibs over al- leged trade practice abuses by dis- tribs, as evidenced in recent state- ments by Wilbur Snaper and Col, H. A. Cole, officials of Allied States Assn, of Motion Picture Exhibitors, theatremen are raking - over the production companies for a predi- lection toward remakes. Snaper, Allied prexy, is leading a campaign for new story ideas, charging that the remakes “are seldom better than the originals and’ rarely, if ever, are profitable for exhibitors.” The public, according to Snaper, wants something new and no mat- ter what attempt the studios make to disguise the fact that the pix are remakes, the film-going audience catches on quickly. Allied topper also has sinjilar views of sequels, pointing out that few of the fol- lowups do as well boxoffice-wise as- the originals. When Snaper blasted distribs for trade practice “abuses” recently, he said that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if the produc- tion outfits consulted exhibs occa- j sionally on what tYpe of pix to make. “At least, we’ll be able to tell them what not to make,” he asserted. Apparently a dearth of new story material is forcing the studios to work over properties in their vaults. In addition, it’s an economy device, making it unnecessary for the filmeries to shell out new coin for yarns. Studios go to great lengths to update the stories, fre- quently giving them new twists, turning them into musicals or mak- ing them lavish Technicolor pro- ductions. In addition, they’ll alter the titles, or if the stories are too well known or classics, the film- eries will wage a special campaign to tell the public that they’re new pictures. For example: a Loew’s Theatres’ informal survey on “The Prisoner of Zenda” still indicates that arqund 25% of people inter- viewed are uncertain this is a new picture, a factor the Loew’s-Metro flackeries are concentrating on cor- recting. Warner Bros, apparently shows the greatest propensity for dipping into its story bin for overhauling jobs. Eight of the outfit’s recent, current or upcoming pix are more or less in the remake category. These include “Where's Charley?” (Continued on page 25) Hartman’s N.Y. Look Don Hartman, Paramount pro- duction head, is due in New York from the Coast around the second week of November. He’ll look over the Broadway scene and huddle with Par home- office execs during a 10-day stay. Cinerama Maps H’wood Studio; Sked 1st Feature Hollywood, Oct. 28. Cinerama will either buy or build its own studio here, accord- ing to Merian C. Cooper, general production manager, wh o an- nounced further that the company will start filming its first feature length picture within the next two months. He neither confirmed nor denied the report that the firm is interested in taking over the Re- public lot, where his Argosy Films is currently quartered. Cooper will produce and direct the first picture, and his Argosy partner, John Ford, will probably direct the second. Two films, in Technicolor, are slated for the first year and the number may be raised to four. One under consid- eration is “Paint Your Wagon, (Continued on page 20) Blumberg East Nate J. Blumberg, Universal’s board chairman, arrived in New York from the Coast over the weekend and will remain about a month. He’ll preside at U’s board meeting on Monday (3), heading back to the Coast following the Motion Picture Pioneers dinner on Nov. 25, at which he’ll be honored as “pioneer of the year.” Meanwhile, U prexy Milton Rackmil, who also heads Decca .Records, left yesterday (Tu.es.) for England for what was described “as strictly Decca business.” Top- per will be abroad about two weeks. + / Hollywood, Oct. 28. Jerry Wald has been appointed a v.p. of Columbia Pictures and the executive producer of Colum- bia Productions, studio subsid out- fit, it was announced today (Tues.) by Col prez Harry Cohn. New af- filiation followed by a day the dis- closure that the Wald-Krasna Pro- ductions contract with RKO has been terminated. It’s understood that Wald will have charge of all Col lensing on the lot, that is, excepting for the output of indie units such as Stan- ley Kramer’s. While the Col deal provides that the film-maker will not engage in any continuing pro- duction himself, consistent with his new responsibilities, Wald like- ly will be free to produce at least one major pic a year on a profit- participation basis with Col. Milton E. Piekman, v.p. and gen- eral * manager of the W-K outfit, will continue in that spot so long as W-K exists corporately (see sep- arate story). Piekman will, addi- tionally, switch to Col with Wald (Continued on page 67) Wald-Krasna Co. Due For Dissolution With Wald’s Shift to Col. Jerry Wald’s switch to the exec producer's berth at Columbia will mean the eventual dissolution of Wald-Krasna Productions, indie unit which Wald and his erstwhile partner, Norman Krasna, formed some time ago, according to New York sources. In a subsequent split, Wald bought out Krasna’s interest in the company. As part of the new deal, it’s be- lieved, Col will purchase from Wald equities in the four W-K pix made for RKO release, plus some story properties also owned by the | unit. Formula, it’s said, involves a bottom payment of $200,000 which is to be scaled upward in accord- ance with profits on the four films. These were “Behave Yourself,” “The Blue Veil,” “Clash By Night” and “The Lusty Men.” National Boxoffice Survey Pres. Election Hits Trade; ‘Snows’ New Champion, ‘You’re Mine’ 2d, ‘Ivanhoe’ 3d, ‘Rifle’ 4th The tough opposition of the Presidential election is hurting biz in many key cities covered by Variety this week. Despite this, the big grosserS are continuing to show amazing strength, with the great sessions rolled up by upped- scale films sending the three top pix to nearly $1,000,000 currently. “Snows of Kilimanjaro” (20th), which was a strong second last week, is taking over first place by a-bealthy- -margin,.. “Because. Y.ou.’xe. Mine>” (M-G), which was a big third-position winner a week ago, is pushing up to second. “Ivanhoe” (M-G), which'was first for four successive weeks, is wind- ing up third this stanza. “Spring- field Rifle” (WB), just starting out extensively this session, is captur- ing fourth money. “The Thief” (UA), also just get- ting under way, will take fifth posi- tion, with “Lusty ,Men” (RKO) landing sixth spot. “Quiet Man” (Rep), up on top for several weeks, is capturing seventh place, while “Back At Front” (.U) will be eighth. “Miracle of Fatima” (WB), high in ratings for weeks, rounds out the Big Nine. “Just For You” (Par), “Hellgate” (Lip) and “Somebody Loves Me” (Par) are runner-up pix in that sequence. “Limelight” (UA) stands out as brightest new entry this round. Charles Chaplin pic is big at N. Y. Astor, and smash at Trans-Lux 60th Street, where it’s playing day-date. “Battle Zone” (Mono) is rated good in L.A. “Four Poster” (Col) is do- ing comparatively better on its sec- ond N. Y. round than initial week in two houses. “Something For Birds” (20lh) is okay in' Minne- apolis but dull in three other situa- tions. “Devil Makes Three” (M-G) looms mild in Denver. “Horizons in West” (U) looks good in Toronto. •“-Monkey-Buginess” (20 + K) v ~okay in* Omaha, is doing mild to slow biz in three other keys. “Stranger in Between” (U) is faring well at arty theatres in Min- neapolis, Boston, Chicago and Bal- timore. Film just finished a fine 10-week run in N. Y. “Big Sky” (RKO) is okay in Toronto. “Way of Gaucho” (20th) looks sluggish currently. “Caribbean” (Par) looms fairish in Boston. “Full House” (20th), good in Balto and L.A., still is big on second N. Y. week. “Apache War Smoke” (M-G) is light in L.A. “Strange World” (UA) looks fair in Indianapolis. “Dreamboat” (20th) shapes stout in Washington. “Crimson Pirate” (WB), weak in Chi, shapes okay in Baltimore. “Golden Hawk” (Col) is rated good in Seattle. “Duel at Silver Creek” (U) looks nice in Louisville. 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