Variety (July 1953)

Wednesday, July 1,1953 PICTURES Hollywood, June 30. Collapse of the Joseph H; Hazen- Ilal Wallis corporate setup, which : came as a surprise even to execs on both Coasts who have been close to the indie company, is generally re- carded in the trade ^s temporary,, m\h the Hazen-Wallis combo to fe- suhic Operations. not too far off: in the future.-: Announcement of the . dissolution was .made here oven fne weekend. . : . '. • • Production Unit has been; a profitable operation and, according to insiders, a good part of the earnings have, been kept in the. company., H-W has been releasing through Paramount the past -five years. If there’s to be a: liquida- tion of all assets, the indie- Outfit would have a net worth, including cash reserves, of close to. $6,- 000-000, j according to trade esti- mates. , Capital gains-, tax consid-, erations influenced the move to dls- ■: solve, it’s suspected. “' Among indications that the H-W will set up production again is that fact that as recently as within the ,- past few weeks the unit registered • new titles of features with; the Mo- tion Picture Assn, of America. Neither partner is. ready to tor: mVally announce future plans at the present time but Wallis will main- • tain; his office at Paramount until August. .. / - .. • Release of. the latest; H-W fea- ture,“Money From Home,” will be . announced Within the next three months. It was nOt included in the company's contract With Par. ; Wallis had planned to produce \ (Continued on page 14)' ; U S. Maps Feature Probe Pix Abroad Hollywood, Juno 30. .Motion Picture Industry. Council appointed, a special committee to. st u dy. r iin a way ” fi 1 m production Overseas' in tire, hope of finding a solution- of that nruch-debated: problem. Chairman of the committee is Carey. Wilsori; head of the Screen producers Guild, Other members are B; B. Kahane, Gunther Less- ing,. .Steve Broidy, Roy Brewer, John .Dales, Jr.> Alien .Riykih ahd Arthur Freed. ' : The State Dept,, is going; into the production of propaganda features, company execs were told yester- day (Tues.) at a meeting with j. Che ever Cowd i ri,.. n e Wl y ap- pointed head of the Department’s international motion picture serv- ice. ;■/. -'.'•/. : , Confab, which took place at Mo- tion . Picture Assn, of America headquarters in N.Y.. was arranged l)y MP A A proxy Eric Johnston. •Purpose' Was to let C.owdin give the dislribs a blueprint of his. inten- ; tions, the accent being on “let’s do more with the money available,” Cowdin also probed .execs as to their, attitude on the possibility of handling both features and shorts with the American.message abroad; Distribs in the past have worked with the State Dept, by releasing Government shorts arid newsreels in various area’s of the world. While the companies are expected to continue to give: State, their full cooperation,' some doubt was ex- pressed yesterday whether it would ho wise for the studios to; mix lonsing ofentertainmentandpropa- g'Uida features on their schedules. Committee has reportedly;, been s.'.'l up in Hollywood to advise. State dn .feature production; • .; ' One exec observed, '.'‘‘We'Tn'us.t'n’t :'••• 'Continued on page T'4 j '■'/ .Finalization: of the Cinerama ProductiOhs-Stanley Warner / deal is expected to take place late to- day. (Wed.). Attorneys for both companies burned the- midnight oil Monday, and yesterday to tie down the; legal phraseology of what has been described as “a complicated deal.” Board, members Of Cinerama, have been alerted, to; stand by for the final approval and signing. As SOOn .as the pact is inked, the S. H. CSj) Fabian circuit will vturn over to Cinerama' Productions a p.heck, representing coin ad- vanced by Cinerama for additional equipment, Cinerarna Productions had ordered 20 sets of installations from Cinerama, Inc., the licensing and manufacturing company, arid, some of the equipment has been delivered, In addition, pay merits are'due. ': Cinerama - Productions prexy Dudley Roberts, Jr. told associates yesterday..,'(Tues; >: “I'm wa it in g,for- th e check.” : / • ; While Fabian broadly ■outlined to Cinerama officials his plans for production, which Sw will under- take in / addition to operating Cinerama theatres;, a Cinerama source Said his exact plans depend op decision of the Dept, of Justice. Since SW, ah offshoot of Warner Bros., comes Within jurisdiction Of the consent decree judgment, the Justice Dept, gr.eenlight is neces- sary. : ..Trio of SW execs, general man- ager and veepee Harry Kalmine, veepee Nathaniel Lapkin and at- torney Stuart Aarons, are . cur- rently . in Washington conferring With / Justice Dept., officials. Under the proposed deal, Fabian (Continued on page 10) Vidpix producers are again eye*, ing the theatrical market. Although sporadic attempts to inVade the- atres have been made in tlie past,' the ventures died long before the j films Were properly assembled for J possible marketing, / New: yen is based on the anticipated, product. shortage during ' Holly wood's re- gearing to new ‘techniques. : /; 'Tele pix it es. are taking the real- istic view that their efforts Will find few lasers among AmericaM exhibs. Their sales pitch will be aimed mainly at the foreign mar- ket (viz; Sheldon Reynold’s “For- eign Intrig.ue” series) and. pos- sibly ;.at. U; S; secondary houses op- erating on a dual . bill .pqlicy. With the tremendous number of tele pix being made, / vidpix,. pro- ducers Are firmly convinced that a considerable a mount; of the footage caii be adapted for theatrical orit- lets. Such’ series as “I Love Lucy,” j “Gangbiisters’’ and the upcoming ' “Topper- are cited as examples of telepix that can be assembled int o fuli-length theatrical films. In ad- dition, tlVere’s . footage- similar to the. tliree-paiT film on the bank robber, ; Willie Sutton, that can be edited: into a . feature presentation. Proponents . of the idea are not overlooking the possibility of three-part omnibus films, . which caii be; put together from many o/ the available liaLHVoiir. vidpix. '•/ Vidpix makers are not brashly .; : (Continued-' on page 14) Rodgers: ‘Just Great’ .: Commenting on. his iinpres-■; sion. of the Todd.-AO demon-, strat ion, .-Richard Rodgers. said •in N. Y. last week (24) that it, '.Was “just great.” lie added' that he liad, gone to Buffalo as a completely unprejudiced ob- • server.' •’•/• : ''.- . “After all,,; Oscar TI a m ni e r- stein and 1 could have walked. away from t he . t hiiig without any difficully whatever," he stated. “We found It incompa- rably improved over any other: system we’ve, seen so far. It’s a .. tremendous tiling. ” Under/ t lie origj ha l air a n ge . ment wit h R & 1.1,. the pair could have bowed out unless a satisfactory test . of Todd-AO was / presented to them , by Aug. 1; '• /■'■• $ 2 , 170,000 Robert Rosscn, who has been in- active since tlie House Un-Anieri-• can ' Activitic's controversies of a | couple of years ago. is returning to film production, ■lie’ll operate as an independent ■ and reportediy. is set with a two-picture distribution deal with United. Artists*. , RosSen is now scripting the first, titled “/'Alexander the Ch eat,” .which"7he’ll also direct and pro- duce. Second property isn’t set yet. Rbsseri’s last pix were “All the King’s Men,”: Which won the Acad- emy Award as; best product ion of f Continued on page 14) • In a last-minute hitch, which.; could possibly upset the entire television series .projected-•Jointly- liy the Motion. Picture. Assn, of America and American Broadcast- ing Co., .James (’. Petrillo, prez of the American Federation of Mu- sicians, has indicated lie’ll demand, on hehaif of the union, a payment of $25 for each musician employed in each film shown on TV. It Iras been furtlier hinted that J’etriJIo. will want other pay.ihenls in the form of contributions to the AFM’s w'elfare fund.. .Other key unions, rea 1 (zing it’s a non-prifit venture, are not demand mg extra, rerun •dlls.. ; : •• . Telecasts, each running a lialf- liour, ■ liaVc ’been designed as insti- t u l ion a I pi u gs lor tlie film business with tin* profits,, calculated at up to $5,000weekly if the. shows nab • (Continued on page 10) With “Oklahoma” now definllely . set. for widcseroeti lousing via the: Todd- AO -process, as t he resuit of a : oiie-siidt demonstrat ion for Magna Theatre Corp, exees and Richard Rodgers & ()Sear J1 anutierstein 2d at the Regent Theatre. Buffalo, last week; industry.-won’t get a chance to appraise the system until it’a ready for showing. at the Rivoll Theatre, N. Y. . /•• Indicative of Magna’s determina- tlon : to take, its time in iHiveiling: live process, the spee.iaequipment at the Regent has been dismantled. Trade had been expecting to pre- view Todd-AO in Buffalo in the near future, bill now that, the board: has had a chance to see What tlie -system can do, the company is in. no hurry to hold further dcmoR- sfratiorisS. until some “even more startling things* are set,’.’ accoedirig to showman Michael. Todd who has been ■ pole nt I n . devc i oiling his hew system with collahoration of tlie .American Optical Co. Magna board meets today (Wed.); on policy mutters. Meanwhile, it’s, learned that R&1I will particii)ate in I lie “Okla-' h()mn” film take through a 40% Interest in tlie pic. Pair also pock? ets $.1(000,<)()(). for the screen rights and owns 2() r ’?. «(’ Magna which in turn has a 2() r ’V cut in the R&.11 (Continued on page 10). MPAA; to Ike Job Col. Richard McDonnell, special represenlat ive for the Mot Ion Pie- ture Assn, of America,-has submit- ted his resignation to the MPAA board. McDonnell came inio prom- inence in. Hie film trade recently when he negotiated deals with the Japanese government for until aw? ing over $0,000,000 of . American company; earnings In tlie Nippon state. " On best of terms with MPAA (Continued on page 14.) Iiaiiwiici Soaring Mercury Clips Trade; ‘Beast’ in 1st Place, ‘Cinerama’ 2d, ‘Sangaree/ ‘Arena,’ ‘Space’ Next /■s. inlWk. f onlinually improved worldwide groks figures reported by Universal to the Securities & Exchange Conv mhMori tended to obscure the fact . lat the company has chalked up ;iic . greyest. amount of . domestic u.uness in its modern history; in . .^ngle, June/Week. Which tied in " Jin . a. company sales, -drive/ U re- o!»*d. .$2,170,000 in billings for theatres, ; 01 bPgqy officials nixed any )opia anent the record figure; 'i'.vwj- ’that such domestic ( Ca nada) b usine ss vo l- ri; above normal for any company in the trade, rn/ / 1 ■ made a remarkable Fe- its heavy deficit oper- t Continued on page. 14) Seek Separate Deals on / Deepies Sold Overseas [v • Aw-anej.of the potential appeal of : 3-D arid widescreen pix abroad, the industry' i$ playing .it safe in •/making'-' its foreign deals with 'countries where price ceilings are. part . of any/ agreement. >.■ - Most recent., example is Norway, where a new.pact/has/been sighed; j It states speciffcaily that the terms ! of the. deal cover only conyentional ];product. Where’ five pix a year ! could be singled .out; for /higher | terms . than the maximum. 50 °r, - quintet doesn’t take’ ; in . any 3-D. pix; •' Industry’s attitude, is that it !.wouldn’t - be fair to mix; together : standard arid 3-0 films, since lat- ter are more expensive to produce and,/ for a certain period of time at least, can be expected to bring i a boffo bo. • Aril erica ns' are re- ! ported!y not .imeeting with tOo i;m.u_cj[L-PPPPSlt io n in their cOnten- j (U ). ninth. With many spots just marking time awaiting the arrival of the July 4 weekend, numerous key cities are suffering a biz relapse, as result of the torrid- weather; Some of the slrongor pix started out pfe- h olid ay but the.number of different films playing plainly indicated the tendency to . fill in- with available product, or hold pix until the Fourth of July. Only in a few scat 12 list. “Dream Wife”: tM-G ), ^Des- ert Song” IWB) and “Lilt” (M-G) are .1 he runner-up pix. . Launehing of “Moon Is Blue”. .(UA), In two representative keys, highlights the new product, it is terrific in f’Jiicago and smash: in San Francisco. In former city, it is giving the Woods;, where playing, its biggest week In two years. “Glory Brigade” 120th) is okay in tered keys was weather/rated fa- > Detroit and fair In Chietrgo. _ .,, _ ;.vorable for the boxbff.iee,. . . “Great . Sioux Uprising”- ,(U), | ■... ■ . . ‘‘Beast From 20,00(1. Fatlmms” also new, is s'peko iri C’hi but only,; ; If ( WB.) ,; second last w.eqk, is pushing | f(»i.r ;i.n St:. Louis. “Melba”- f U.A.).;is-.j;;.i..gj|j^, . / ; up to No. .1 spot by, dint of Some 11.i ral-ed:--'solid./'.bri/.N./ % prceiri ; a.t^-"the J '| r .i., H . playdates, majority of Which. are ! Gdpilot. “Dangerous. When Wet” i; i ( . ■Triirlo M;irk UpKlftlprort FOUNDKO -11V SIMi: .Sir.VFKM'AN Published Weoklv by VARIETY, INC. Harold Hrlrhi, ■F > rosidonl 151. West .45th' St. Now York :i0. N.Y Hollywood 29 IJ.’llJ Viin-a SIivet Washington 4 1252 Nallohal eross Hulldln/r Chicago 11 . • 012 No. MichlKan. Ave. ^London WG2 - 0 SI: Martin's TI.,. Trafalgar So. sufisriui'TioN . Annual . $J.() - ForolfO' $U •SiiiiUe C*<»|>it*s 2 ,-j 'Cents. AJH'U/OItKKN. Ed I i or / voi. j o i.- '#%$£&:■ '•09 I &'t ' 1 ■ INOTX 120- No. 4 brisk ib terrific; Manner, in ‘which i (M-G), nice in N. Y., looms' .big in this. has caught on .throughout the ; Givi, btjt Slow .in"' Portland, Ore. mazing even .the most “Let’s Do It Again” (Cbl > shapes | chi.bitor^ : . -I -.’.rin'e . in L.. A.' Also new,. “Houdini” ; country is amazi Optimistie. ex “Cinerama” (Indie)', cashing in 'Par.) is Dig iri.Omaiia. 6h the vogue- for 3-D pix, is pushing / .“Fort .Ti’’ .(Col). is sockeroo in ! to second position..: highest rati rig - Detroit, but fair: in Boston.- “Han- ■ f thus far.’ /“Sangare.e”..(Par.), well nah Lee” (Indie), nice jn Pliiily. 1 Film Revit'ws House. Revley s'/, inside L'egii inside. Mtisie -. Inside Radio . .; '.. Inside 'Tel.(*visibn Inlernaliorial 4 ft .54 ft , 45/! '50 .42 34. 30 ii ' which had. been chairip for two sue-, ' LA ), sturdy in Toronto arid Scat-;;;i Nigiit Club Reviews .'.. ■. ! Big Town” (U) is seventh; “Pickup ers of Seven Seas”. v UA) looks fine.; ; on South St.” r20th.) is winding up ; in Portland. , t I eighth; with “Queen Is Crowned” ; “Remains To Be Seen tM-G», ; vision Ws Record Reviews /. Television Reviews TV-Film ,, i okay in Portland, is lean in. Minne- i Vaudeville **. « • » 9 . tion that 3-D product • terms should be negotiated separately,. ( There ai’o price ceilings in many j countries, including such inipor- 1 tant markets as Italy and Holland. i c=f ThcWaZ^fAATrmrvw3Treffort/r^aT)oIiSr I is capturing 10th position the first 1 in Omaha, is'fair in K. C. and mild ..; i week out in circulation. “Scared v in Indianapolis. i ;• Stiff” (Par.) . and “South S^a ; '.(Coinplete Boxoffice Reports on / Woman” CWB.) round out the big [ Pages 3-9;) ' ' Hi 55 3 10 24 37 20 18 43 DAILY variety . (Published in Holly wood .by Daily Voi'iPty, .-Ltd-.) . $13 a Year. $20 Foreign