Variety (April 1953)

We&ieadsy* April 22, 1953 PS&Tgrr PICTURES 3 BIG GROSSERS BUOY MARKET Films’ Downtrend Data—’46-’52 Washington, April 21. Following are highlights of the statistical survey given the House Ways and Means Committee, prepared for the Council of Motion picture Organizations and showing the state into which the motion picture industry has plummeted since 1946: "A total of 5,010 four-wall theatres, 33% of the total, have operated at a loss since 1952 and are in distress today. Total of 917, or 28% of all drive-in theatres, operated at a loss in 1952. Total of 1,493, or 45% of all drive-ins, are in the red on admissions. Without income from concessions exhibitors would have operated in 1952 at a loss of $147,785,000. “Today, the motion picture industry accounts for only 18.8% of household expenditures for entertainment, contrasted with a representation of 36% in 1946. During the last seven years, the average weekly attendance rate for motion pictures in the U. S. declined 43.8%, from 82,400,000 weekly in 1946 to 46,000,000 weekly at present. If the rate of movie attendance drops another 4.7% next year, as the trend now indicates, the industry will be back where it was in 1935, during the depths of the depression." “The larger grossing theatres have been harder hit than the smaller ones, being off one-third in their gross business from 1946 to 1952.” “The industry’s corporate income after taxes has plummeted from $187,000,000 in 1946 to a meagre $31,000,000 in 1952. Un- distributed corporate profits for each year have shown an even greater shrinkage, from $123,000,000 in 1946 to about $1,000,000 in 1952. Dividends have been held up, but the figures show that today there is a dangerously thin margin separating the money for dividends and corporate income;” Film Tax Fight Hinges On White House, Treasury Dept. Greenlight Washington, April 21. Whether the Council of Motion Picture Organization succeeds in getting the 20% excise on motidn picture admissions killed appears to depend entirely upon a. “yes” or *‘no” sign from the White House and the Treasury Dept On the basis of yesterday’s (Mon.) hearing before the Ways and Means Com- mittee, that body and the House of Representatives as a whole will vote strongly for such legislation — providing the administration does not object. With administra- tion approval, the Senate would be expected to add its okay. But. if the word is “no,” then the bill will be pigeonholed. Spokesmen for COMPO said they had huddled with the Secretary of Treasury and experts of the De- partment, presenting all their facts and figures. But, they admitted, they* did not yet know whether it would be thumbs up or thumbs down. The Treasury Dept, has yet to show any sentiment toward the tax elimination. The Department in the past has voiced a disinclination to cut taxes until further progress is made in the balancing of the budget. No specific plan has as yet been mapped for Treasury reps to ap- pear before the House Ways & Means Committee. Yesterday's appeal found a ready audience on the Ways and Means Committee itself. The bill under consideration was authored (Continued on page 18) Find Holiday Bookings Murder on Average Pix; Can’t Back Competition Distribution reps are doing a reappraisal of holiday playing time, which has been traditionally sought after, and finding it may not be so desirable after all. In a general wav. theatre business is best during the holiday periods. But in many specific cases over Easter Sunday and the vacation week that fol- lowed the competition was so tough that average pix were sluffed off. Companies had a crop of top pix in release over that session, in ad- dition to those more or less in the average category. The less-than- spectacular entries, competing with such b.o. pix as Walt Disney’s ‘Peter Pan,” United Artists’ Moulin Rouge,” Columbia’s “Sa- lome,” 20th-Fox’s “Call Me Mad- am,” etc., lost out. Distribs, of course, will still angle for holiday bookings with the bigger pix because of the generally stronger tone of business and the d p p e d admission scales. But chances are, because of the* Easter experience, there will be less in- clination to seek such dating with us M%Is niq of Releases., + 4r # 4 • 9 Dot Lamour as Indie Toronto, April 21. Following her current stage tour, Dorothy Lamour and her husband, William R. Howard 3d, plan their independent filming of “South Sea Island," this to be produced by Eddie Welsch, who wrote her orig- inal “Jungle Princess,” plus other South Seas film themes for Miss Lamour. Film is scheduled to roll this fall, with a dicker for 3-D cur- rent. Husband - wife proposed indie j production, however, will not in- j terfere with Miss Lamour’s other films. LEADS 81 US! By GENE ARNEEL In line with new public interest in films and the firmer tone of business generally, there’s a wid- ening list of ctyck pix now in circulation to help bolster the morale of trade execs who have been pondering the where-do-we- go-from-here perplexities of 3-D and panoramic screen processes. No one has found the recipe for cooking up only money-making product, and there Has been no squeeze out of lemons from the market. But the films which are successful are growing in number and the coin they’re taking in, in many instances, is spectacular. The hoopla re Cinerama, Cine- mascope and other bigscreen and dimension techniques gets part of the credit, as having caused a re- awakening to screen entertainment in general. “The public is alert to films,” says Leonard Golden- son, president of American Broad- casting-Paramount Theatres. “They are talking about them again.” Prominent among fhe “blue chips” pix is Walt Disney’s “Peter Pan,” which is now shaping as the cartoon-maker’s greatest com- mercial success. “Pan” is certain, to amass $8,000,000 or more in domestic distribution revenue, i.e., rentals collected from exhibitors (Continued on page 21) Col’s look at Us’: DhnenskmTerision But No Suspension Columbia execs are stressing a policy of “business as usual” in production with more than the usual amount of product now lens- ing, or set to roll shortly'. While swinging into 3-D and largescreen techniques. Col pix also will be available in the conventional 2-D, the latter point being underlined, by the company as indicating a j continued flow of product for all j exhibs. While most other outfits are ) stalling on new pic-making to catch ; up on the new dimension trends or, { as with 20th-Fox, having retooled j for Cinemascope, Col execs state that the outfit's studio activity has continued uninterruptedly. Com- (Continued on page 14) Warner Family Buys Up More Stock in Film Co. Members of the Warner family are further adding to their hold- ings in the Warner Bros, pic com- pany via’ purchases of common stock on the N. Y. Stock Exchange. Wall Street insiders relate that the stock buy-ups are strictly inves- ments in the outfit, and do not mean any impending “deal,” as is sometimes suggested by such stock activity. ° Jack Warner, v.p. in charge of production, picked up 31,925 addi- tional shares, bringing his holdings to 226,099 shares owned directly and 12,750 in a trust in which he is beneficiary. Albert Warner, v.p.-treasurer, bought a block of 5,000 shares. He now directly owns a new 7 total ■of D.C. Solons Bite Pix Quality at Tax Hearing, Rap ‘Inflated’ Salaries Washington, April 21. At one Stage in the COMPO tax hearing, the session wandered off into the field of the quality of Hollywood product. Rep. Tom Jenkins (R..O.) told Pat McGee, one of the COMPO spokesmen, “I think one trouble is that you’ve been paying entirely too much for pictures. Some little girl gets $5,000 a week and in my district, a Com- mon Pleas judge gets $5,OCO a year.” “The competition for talent,” re- torted McGee, “depends not on* us but on the public. But in their com- petitor, television, the same thing is happening. There are only one or two people like Milton Berle and (Continued on page 21) Gotta Rewrite Court’s Book of Rules On Film Sales in ‘New Pix Era’ They’re Really in Tone Hollywood, April 21. Paramount handed Jay Living- ston and Ray Evans a new song- writer contract to supplant their old one, which still had three years to run. New pact is for five years and is non-exclusive, permitting them to work elsewhere when not busy at Paramount.- They plan to write for legit musicals and TV. Producers Guild Raps Film Heads Re ‘New Era’ Rush Hollywood, April 21. New thinking by top-level man- agement to restore calm to the in- dustry confused by 3-D and wide- screen developments was de- manded at a most outspoken Screen Producers Guild luncheon meeting with the press this week. Producers urged a united industry front on public relations and re- search. Members blasted the in- dustry for rushing into new photo- graphic and projection processes without having done research work that could have established stand- ardization and eliminated con- fusion. Industry is similarly behind in public relations, it was charged. It was agreed that until management, production and distribution get to- gether for the good of the industry as a whole, the industry will be beset by confusion and cross-pur- poses. While decrying present poses. While decrying present con- ditions with resultant heavy studio retrenchment and payroll slashes, SPG members are hopeful of the industry’s future. Most agreed that the transition should be settled within four to six months. It was emphasized. However, that this wouldn’t have happened at all, if management had been forward thinking enough to* set up continuing research pro- (Continued on page 21) In view of the upcoming “new film business,” (he court-ordered set of rules governing the distrib- utors’ licensing methods either must be overhauled or will be ren- dered inapplicable in large part, according to some legal opinion in the trade. / Industry anti-trust decrees were fashioned by the courts with only conventional 2-D pix in mind, it’s pointed out. With 3-D’ers already in release and the trade converting to largescreen at least limitedly, the old court injunctions and spe- cific instructions on dollar business will have to be updated in some way. The restraints on fixing admis- sion prices will still stand, it’s fig-? ured. But the decree provisions on selling picture-by-picture and thea- tre-by-theatre demand new classi- fications. Also, the rules on clear- ances and availabilities must be amended. No Surprise There haven’t been hints yet of courtroom brawls with exhibs on the handling of the 3-D’ers, but if a suit is filed it will not come-as any big surprise to many film com- pany lawyers. While the law directs the distribs must sell their pix on an equitable basis to exhibs, it doesn’t say any- (Continued on page 6) National Boxoffice Survey Biz Continues Stout; ‘Salome’ Champ, ‘Moulin’ Close 2d, ‘Madam’ 3d, ‘Hans’ 4th, ‘In Dark’ 5th There is the usual letdown this session after all first-runs bene- fited by the Easter school vacation period. But trade is holding generally better than expected in many situations covered by Variety. A number of key cities reported unusually copl weather and rain as stimulating biz. In con- trast. a 4-inch snowfall in Denver over the past "weekend hurt. First place is being captured by “Salome” (Col), although closely pursued by “Moulin Rouge” (UA>. Latter is remarkably strong in all spots currently, being as sock in Minneapolis, Portlands Ore., and Indianapolis as tn the bigger keys. “Call Me Madam” (20th) is wind- ing up third, with a surplus of holdover and extended-run dates naturally cutting down its total. “Hans Christian Andersen” XRKO- Goldwyn) is pushing up to fourth position, while “Man in Dark” (Col), just getting started, is land- ing fifth money. Sixth spot goes to “Trouble Along Way” (WB), with “Off Lim- its” (Par) in seventh. “Desert Legion” (U» is finishing eighth with a flock of new play-dates. “Ma, Pa Kettle on Vacation” (U) is landing ninth and ‘‘Peter Pan” (RKO-Disney) is 10th. “Little She- ba” (Par) and “Battle Circus” (M-G) round out the Golden Dozen in that order. Of a long string of new pix, sev- eral show great potentialities. Probably outstanding as a smash grosser is “House of Wax” (WB). It is getting-a terrific total in two L.A. houses, and is still sockeroo on second week at N.Y. Para- mount This 3-D film also teed off in smash fashion in several Texas kt?y cities. “Titanic” (20th) is rated strong on its initial date in L.A. “Hitch- Hiker” (RKO.) looks nice in Den- ver and okay in Baito. “Girl Who Had Everything” (M-G), also is dis- appointing in Chi and L.A. “The System” (WB), another new entry, is mild in Washington but stout in Louisville. “Girls of Pleasure Is- land” (Par), so-so in Cincy, looms neat in Buffalo. “Trader Horn” (M-Gi, out on reissue, is .sock in both Boston and Providence. “Small Town Girl,” from same company, looks hefty in K.C. and okay in Cleveland. “Importance of Being Earnest” (U) shapes big in Boston and Fris- co and okay in N.Y. “Never Wave at Wac” (RKO» looms good in Denver. JpTall Texan” (Lip), jnild in L.A., is nice in N.Y. “Tonight We Sing” (20th) okay in Cincy, is slow in Chi and slim in Frisco, and L.A. “Sombrero” •M-G» looks neat in Chi. “Mississippi Gambler” (U) is strong in Louisville. “Niagara" (20th) .shapes trim in St. Louis. (Complete Boxoffice Reports on Pages 8-9) 2,500 Houses Will Shut In 2 Yrs. If 20 % Admish Tax Isn’t Voided: COMPO Louisville, April 21. Before Kentucky Assn, of The- atre Ow r ners, holding a two-day convention here last week, Pat Mc- Gee, Denve,r, co-chairman of the Council of Motion Picture Organi- zations, predicted an estimated 2,500 filmhouses will close within the next two years, if the present 20% Federal admissions tax is not removed from tickets. McGee said the Fed tax has been indirectly responsible for shutter- ing of 4,500 film houses since the (Continued on page 18) Trade Mark Registered FOUNDED BY SIME SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VARIETY, INC. Harold Erichs, President 154 West 46th St. New York 36. N.Y. 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