Variety (April 1953)

18 PICTURES Wednesday, April 1933 20th-Green Trade Blows Continued from page 5 not interested in an exec position with 20th. Zanuck i$$ued .a statement trac- ing the Green court action to a desire for reprisals because he and Skouras had refused to go along with him, and sifongly endorsing Skouras as 20th tfrexy. ^ Zanuck indicated h£ would not work with') Green should the latter obtain com trol of the company. jv Zanuck’s Statement. “I am flattered that ' anyone should think me • capable 6f exer- cising the duties of the presidency of a corporation as important as 20th-Foxthe*'Zanuck statement read. “However, ifc is difficult for me to understand why Mr. Green can find logical or justifiable rea- sons for unseating the present executive management of the cor- poration and in the samo-hreath^’ advocate me as hie choiceV|or the presidency.” Zanuck went on to say that he had been offered the -20th presi- dency once before, by Wlnthrop Senate to Probe Dept. Of Justice ‘BrushofP Of Squawks by Exbibs stock control runs “into the mil lions’* at cost, but refused* to pin- Los Angeles, April 7. ’point., the amount. He'’said there Senate Small Business Cohimit- had been various* suggestions^ such tee wound up Its three-day Jnvesti- asithe Green faction taking .four gatipn' - of the - film distribution directors and Skouras five, with business with a promise to investi- dtte neutral pamed, and, then, both’ gate the anti-trust division of the parties getting five ana the board Dept., of Justice because of , its'- being expanded by another five bryshoff of numerous. complaints per^Ops. This, said Green, fell by exhibitors. - through because Skouras allegedly Consensus among the exhlbs at wanted to name his five men. The hearing^ "was that the cqhsent last< proposal involved a 13-man decree, once hailed as a cure for board, with “Green getting five, all exhibitor ills, has made'them Including a, .hanker and another gjQj^er than ever ’because' of the person, and Skouras getting five. manner in which distributors have Ih Green’s version, nothing, came manipulated‘it. A1 Han soli, prexy Of this either, with Skouras finally of ^g 0 uth-L?nn Theatres, testified declaring he -Oould not accept any- that 246 theatres have closed in the one now connected with Green, southern California area. Southern “There is no solution now but to California Theatre Owners* Assn., vgor through with a proxy fight,’ jj e sa id ( had made many complaints Green declared. to the pept. of Justice ind the Green indicated that, should he Federal Trade Commission,' and gain'control, he would - not object t haf both had ignored them, against Skouras, and Zanuck con- Cecil Vinnicof of Vinnicof The- Details Shaky? In presenting^part of his case against the 2&th-For. man- agement to*the press last week (2), minority stockholder Charles Green,proved himself a bit shaky on details. For in- stance, charging that 20th’s Eidophor .color theatre TV sys- tem was today “the forgotten man,” he followed up by em- phatically Stating he under- stood Todd-AO has something very similar to Eidophor, He* was corrected by reporters,' but didn’t appear entirely con- vinced even then. Later, he recounted how 20th-prexy- Spiros P. Skouras had told him how he had “run / in” to Earl Sponable in Europe and how the latter had told him about. Cinemascope. Green again was corrected by those present who pointed out that Sponable was a 20th em- ployee and was hardly likely to have chance encounters with Skouras in Europe while work- ing for the company. Aldrich, hoard chairman of Chase National Bank, and that he then had suggested Skouras for the job. “I want to make it very clear that the opinion I held of Spyros Skouras at that time, I hold at the present time. Tt would be difficult for me to contemplate working ef- fectively as vice-president in charge of production with anyone less experienced or qualified than Mr. Skouras.” • Green’s derivative stockholder’s action was brought in N. Y. Su- preme Court <2) in behalf of him self and Chalgren Associates, a copartnership, and Green Sales Co. Inc. Named as defendants were L. Sherman Adams, Robert L. Clarkson, Thomas J. Connors, Wilfred J. Eadie, Robert E.-Han- negan, Daniel O* Hastings, Donald A. Henderson, Robert Lehman, William C. Michel, Murray Silver- stone, Skouras, Zanuck, TCF ; .Film Corp. and 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. Complaint said > plaintiffs own shares in 20th “with a market val- ue in excess of $600,000,” which confirms reports that Green him self holds about 40,000 shares. It’s believed that, with his associates, he may hold about 100,000 shares and that in case cumulative Voting is retained, he could probably elect one and possibly two directors to the 20th board.' Strongly-worded statement hand ed out at the Green press confab cited “one-sided contractual bene fits” of Slcouras and Zanuck and called them an “outrageous and flagrant violation of the respons ibilities of management to stock- holders.” Twentieth execs were quick to point out that Green was taking his time in complaining about the Skouras and Zanuck contracts. Skouras’ 10-year deal is dated Jan. 2, 1951, while Zanuck pact goes back to Sept. 28, 1949, and runs for 20 vears. Green attacked 20th’s move (a) in calling the special meeting to end cumulative voting, and (b) in con- vening it, too, at Wilmington “when there’s a controversial issue at hand.” Elimination of cumulative voting would be “a violation of the rights of stockholders,” he de- clared. The regular stockholders meet is set for May 19 in N. Y. Green declared that his group’s ^. P K P /l Cl f he Tv r 0 e e fFSSt oh^edthe distrlbutorswithwant- ^fe^hc^wanted^instftuted^Green {"« •* s |g a MoLr S °Tomd ’ be *1-1 of u Pt SO inai customers >vomu ue — ” . j T,:ZZ up, so mac cusiumtus 'yvuiuu ue commented that he there forced to go to. the bigger theatres were .many among thfe 20th em- - Xi. *—j ployees who are “nothing mote than parasites.” Burma Continued from page 2 and pay higher prices. He declared, the consent decrees were useless to independent exhibitors and- had wrought harm to .their business. Marco Wolff, veepee of Fanchon & Marco, charged that there are still -ties between.the distributors and Fox West Coast regardless of play Burmese films exclusively, divorcement. FWC, he de- and the rest play American, Brit* clared, is still a favorite child and Ish, Chinese and, Japanese films. can do anything it likes in getting ^ith the exception of Universal, product-or switching runs ,in the which sends films* out to Rangoon atres, to play concurrently with Ameri- s can release, ami an occasional spe- May Reopen Continued from page 3 cial from Paramount or Metro, Arherican films play here only after they have "finished their runs in India. . .Usually films run for one tyeek Gen: Herbert Brownell. Senate’s fall theatres change bills on Fri- monopoly probers, according to day). “Quo Vadis” arid “The present plans, will make recom- Greatest .Show on Earth” each mendations to Brownell, whorwill played four weeks, and will be good then decide his course. for a lot of repeats. A dud will j n any case> on iy where “flagrant be pulled after .two days. Going violations” of the industry consent My. Way ” “The Blue- Veil” and decrees are found will there be any Trio fell into this category. They attempt to prosecute the distribs. were-simply completely incompre-. Such con tempt actions, however, hensibie to Burmese audiences. are regarded as highly unlikely. The surefire'formula is action in ~ Technicolor. The allowable ex- . 0 , the Il P i , , r ° ac ii ^ “ “ ception Is Esther Williams in Tech- jiSJf? eo l > ®i""® mt/h fh^vfew of rp« ™ titrust decree with, the view, of nicolor. To Burmese -audiences, somehow tightehing. some proyi- Miss Williams can do virtually no th/Tc*- wrnnt* whlfh fPrtoiniv nn pvor. sions or addin g amendments. Judgr ment specifically states that either Pffi?Side-the D. of'J. or the, disfrib defendants—is free to seek changes L u ab °^ if business conditions are altered pounds, have ivolry skin, long black hair and no more curves than a I mailing tube. T rea * Give ’Em JSwordsplay The male stars they go for run along the same lines of attraction of opposites. Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper and Jeff Chandler are very since the order originally was en- TOA’s Continued from page 3” big there, apd Tony Curtis and Reade noted that TOA felt that John Derek will probably pass the consent decree judgments them in the stretch. But the. one should prove' adequate remedies, they really love Is Audie Murphy, “it is for the Dept, of Justice to proving,, by way of exception, see to it that the relief granted'in everything -said about the -others, that' case be observed and com- For in size and general mien, he’s plied with,” Reade stated, not too unlike what the young- n^iqinn nf TO A to annea* he- ?^f 1 ^ 1 "S3nor’^° Wn of b * m ‘ fore the Committee apparently seft as Being. marks a departure in the exhib in'B«i° bi B«cLr“fS“L «’ m Burma by Bucher for Louis de TOA would seek to avoid Gov- Uochemont Productions with gov - ernment intervention in intra-trade eminent assistance, has been en- disputes. First indication of a re- tered by the Burmese government V ersal in TOA’s attitude was a blast 2 1 j the i ssue d several weeks ago condemn- first hme d Burmese-prbduced'film .fag -high-percentage pre-release will be shown outside - ■ r Break for UA Continued from page 4 Amusement Stock Quotations flV.Y, Stock Exchange) For Week Ending Tuesday (7) Weekly Weekly Weekly Tiles. .Net. Bid Over-the-counter Securities Cinecolor 1^4 Cinerama 3% Chesapeake Industries (Pathe) 3% XJ. A. Theatres 10% Walt Disney O. TVs * Actual sales. (Quotations furnished by Dreyfus & Co.) Ash 1% 37/s ■4% 11 % 87/8 — y 4 % — V2 — Vs Legit Crix Stew Continued from page 1 pictures. Originally; it was indicat- ed that no action would be taken until Starr’s return, coupled with a -board meeting. However, with hearings expected to get under way shortly, it’s believed that Reade jnade a hurried survey of the hibs via outlays for the necessary board’s reaction and received the 3-D setup. . green light to commit TOA to an Situation could change, of appearance, course, from the public interest Meanwhile, Allied States Assn., standpoint. Six-week defay will largely responsible for. bringing mean more publicity, which figures about the probe, is amassing data to spell out in more accounts for f or presentation to the Senate UA. Nate Hafpern, producer of body. Members from various ter- the pic, comments that, postpone- ritorles are expected to converge ments of fights invariably result on Washington to relate experi- in added public, interest and a ences with distrib sales policies j bigger gate. He added that exhibs in the different zones. Allied, it’s who already have booked the film expected, will charge laxity on the still intend to show it at the later part of the Dept, of Justice in fol- date - . 4 lowing up on complaints. Sen. An- Stereo-Cine camera crew, which drew F. Schoeppel, head of the had been in Chicago for the fight, subcommittee which held hearings returned to the Coast over the in Los Angeles, has already indl- past weekend when it was an- cated that the body might probe nounced that a nose injury in- the antitrust division of the Justice curred by Rocky Marciano forced Dept, on exhibs’ complaints for not the postponement. “policing” the film consent decrees. sons -Theatre management recently barred Theodore H. Parker, critic of* the Courant, the paper ^an- nounced Monday (6) that in lieu of a review of the local opening that night of the touring “Fourposter ” it would reprint the original notices by Brooks Atkinson, of the N.Y. Times, and John Chapman, of the N.Y. News, of the Jan de Hartog- comedy’s Broadway opening season before last. It was the first such case in ‘show business memory. In announcing the plan, the Cou- rant notice explained that although the Parsons management’s action in barring Parker .“deprives the paper’s readers of their right to knoyr the* merits of thg theatre’s wares before .going to the expense of buying tickets,” it was reprinting the Atkinson and Chapman reviews “in order to protect the public as far as possible.” Angle on the sit- uation is that Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, stars of the original Broadway production pf the play, are playing It on tour. *Stalag’ Squawks Matters took an international turn with reports from London that members of the cast of the West End production of “Stalag 17” have squawked about the play’s panning by the critics. Despite the almot unanimously unfavorable no- tices, Canadian actor Lee Patter- son, >vho plays the lead, claimed that the premiere audience “screamed and yelled” its apprecia- tion of the Donald Bevan-Edmund Trzcinski comedy-meller. In New York, meanwhile, a con- troversy has broken out over rgerits of “Camino Real,” ^the new Ten- nessee Williams drama. The play, which drew a four-to-three nega- tive verdict from the first-string critics, has had violently divided reaction from audiences. Numerous patrons claim the shpw is perfectly clear as to meaning and label it artistic and moving theatre, while others leave the performance shak- ing their heads and muttering, dis- gustedly. Salvo * of letters. - to - the - editor about the Williams opus Were printed in the drama section of last Sunday’s (5) issue of the Times, and there have been many reported instances of playgoers going back to see the offering two and three times. Grosses thus far have been encouraging, but a better indica- tion will be possible next week, after the Theatre Guild subscrip- tion patronage has been used up. Notices for “Affairs of State” in Chicago last week were uniformly unfavorable, with a number of humorous references to the fact that the critics had bought their way into the opening. In contrast to the four pans (Claudia Cassidy, Tribund; Roger Dettmer, Ameri- can; Sydney J. Harris, News; Her- man Kokan, Sun-Times), the Louis Verneuil comedy got a five-to-three favorable reception in its original presentation with 7 a different cast on Broadway in the fall of 1950. In the case of.-“Male Animal,” which opened in Chicago a week previously, the Elliott Nugent- James Thurber comedy drew unan- imously favorable, though qualified reviews. When the revival opened in. New York last spring with two of its three leads different it drew solid raves from the seven first- stringers. “Mrs. McThing,” opening last Monday night (6) in Chicago, got a mixed press. Helen Hayes drew raves as a star, the play got two favourable notices (Harris and Ko- gan) and two brushoffs (Cassidy, Dettmer), On Broadway last sea- son the Mary Chase comic fantasy received four raves, one moder- ately favorable notice and .three pan;?. B’wayEnfry Continued from page 5 ing of * 4 Man” to beat “Wax” to the Broadway, wire, Warners is at- tempting to make up on the bally .front. Company' feels it’s product has the advantage in that it is a tinter. In addition, it’s noted, that in many spots it will have the plus Values of stereophonic sound. While Col unveiled its entry for crix *at its homeoffice projection room, Warners‘will hold a special press preem at the Paramount to- morrow night (Thurs.). It's felt that at the theatre the full impact of the stereophonic sound will come across more solidly. Sine® tickets will also be sold, crix have been notified that reviews can run on Friday (10), official opening day of the picture. Of necessity, film reviewers will have to work like their drama colleagues that night, writing their reviews imme- diately following the showing for the next day’s newspapers. To ac- commodate newspapermen, War- ners is setting up a press room at the Par, providing typewriters and messenger service. Warners has brought the eutirfe starring cast of “Wax” in from the Coast for the press preem. Vin- cent Price, Phyllis Kirk, Frank ’ Love joy and Paul Picerni wiH' be at the opening. The N.Y. preem is the first in a series planned by the company for different areas, with the Gotham opening being followed by a two-theatre debut in Los Angeles. Warners claims a “first” in mak- ing available for exhibs a seven- foot high, five-^oot wide “actual three-dimensional display.” Com- pany, bypassing National “Screen Service, had the piece made up on its. own' and is also serving as dis* tributor. Units, priced at $18.75, are shipped flat and contain di- rections for assembling.