Variety (June 1954)

Wcdttcwdajr* ham 2, 1954 PICTURES - * „ ..... A . Buenos Aires, June 1. Argentine exhibitors met here for four days last week in the first convention they’ve ever hold. Some 500 delegates represent- ing 2,200 houses showed up, bespeaking the seriousness of trade problems. A first objective is the creation of an Argentine equiva- lent of the Yankee COMPO. Current problems of industry include: “Protection” of Argentine features which disadvantages Imports on r which Argentine exhibs tend to make more profit. Pressures” of producers, authors, vaudeville entertainers upon the cinema operators whose prosperity is grotesquely exaggerated in their minds. ■ - ' - ■ “Admissions”, which are kept arbitrarily low by Government edict as. a social gesture to the masses. “Censorship,” which is now conflicting and not centralized and creates much confusion. Say* Campaign in Buffalo Assumes ‘Spanish Inquisition’ Overtones Buffalo, June 1. Efforts of the Buffalo Catholic Diocese to establish a boycott of Basil’s Lafayette and other “affili- ated” theatres in retaliation for the showing “The French Line” were sharply assailed by Rev. John. Pal- las in his sermon at the Hellenic Eastern Orthodox Church here Sunday. Characterizing the matter as having reached the stage of a “Spanish inquisition," he stated that the Catholic campaign to pro- hibit the picture here undermined the basic American way of life. He disagreed openly with Cathojic critics over the picture and said that he h^d seen it and agreed with thousands that It Vvas “lively and tuneful with - no more harm in it than many other works of art and literature" available to everyone without adverse criticism.” “I do not dispute the right of any group to attempt to advise its own members what they may or may not .see,” Rev. Pallas added. “If the members of that group care (Continued on page 20) 1LLIN0IS.T0P COURT OKAYS CHI CENSORSHIP Chicago, June 1. Chicago censorship statute, criti- cized over a year ago by American Civil Liberties Union in the mat- ter of city’s nix on “The Miracle,” was held constitutional last week by Illinois State' Supreme Court. ACLU had scored a* near -victory over - the'statutes last July when' Circuit \Court Judge H.^rry Fisher overrode 'the blue-penOilling of the pic/ but Supreme, Court reversed Judge Fisher’s decision. : ; Case ifc slated for rehearing , by Judge FiAhef, .this time solely",bn the issue of morality. ‘ $25 Top for Peck Preem ~ Detroit, June 1. , World preem of “Man With a Million” (UA), Gregory Peck starrer,. will be a benefit for the American Korean Foundation June 17 at the United Artists Theatre. Loges will sell at $25 each; orch, $10, and rear balcony, $5. NEEDLESS CAMPAIGN Catholics Request ‘Revival’ Still Current ‘Bernadette’ Of William C. Gehring, 20th-Fox as- sistant exec sales manager, was the most surprised man in town last weekvwhen his office was swamped with thousands of letters, all ad- dressed to him personally and ask- ing reissue of 20th’s “Song of Ber- nadette.” It turned out that the mail was in response to an appeal in the Cath- olic publication, “The Sunday Visi- tor,” by its entertainment columnist Dale Francis. Latter had pointed out that this was the Marian year and that “Song” would be a fine picture to be reissued for that oc- casion. He urged his readers to send their request to Gehring. Odd aspect of the mail appeal is that it wasn’t’ actually necessary since 20th has never withdrawn “Song of Bernadette” from release and has prints of it available in most exchanges. Gehring is undertaking to reply to all who have written him. His letter thanks the correspondents for their interest and points out that “Song” “is one of the few mo- •tipn pictures, that never have been .taken out of release.*’ i % Production Bally Lost Via Release Delay: Theatres Publicity void that envelops a picture- between the time of pro- duction and its release is a mat- ter of concern to some exhibitors who feel the distributors could do a more intensive job of pre-selling their product. Argument, advanced by Leonard Goldenson, United Paramount Theatres prexy, among others, is that the production companies would be wise to protect their in- vestment by allocating certain amounts for . plugging a film in fhe “hibernating” period that follows completion of lensihg, editing; etc. As * a rule—although the time lag appears, to be shrinking—it’s still any where;/between six months to a year between the time a pic is finished and the public gets to see it. Exhibs maintain that ,a valuable opportunity is being lost via this lag; The studio spends a certain ariYount of money on publicizing a pidture, while it’s in production. AS a rule, very little is heard of the film until it approaches Its release date. It’s claimed that, were this .time to be utilized, it would per- mit a gradual increase, in audience (Continued on page 18) Theatre circuits report they’re finding it increasingly tough ter get reliable and responsible managerial personnel and particularly assist- ant managers. Situation isn’t des- perate, but it’s serious enough-to rate considerable attention from circuit toppers. Complaint, isn’t so much one of a manpower shortage but it's aimed at the fact that (a,) Its difficult to; get young men willing to make a career out of; the exhibition busi- ness,-and (b) to find personnel with an affinity for showbiz traditions and requirements. Frequently heard beef is that no one seems to be willing any more to start learn- ing the trade from the bottom up. There is something of a sequel to this situation in the foreign de- partments of some of the distribs where execs report they find it dif- ficult to find a crop of new men capable of serving in the overseas market. Various companies at ohe time or another have set up train- ing centers for their “ambassadors” abroad, but none is in existence now. Tendency af the moment is to bring ^English-speaking foreign- ers to the homeoffice and to train them before sending them back into their native territories. Discussing their personnel prob- lems, exhibs say it would he an excellent idea to create a training school to assure a pool of men and women pn which to draw. While the idea has come up on occasions, it has never been followed up in practice since the old Publix man- agers school run # by Barry. Closest approach to it fias been the The- atre Owners of America-sponsored training film made by Filmack. Re- (Continued on page 16) Argentine May Modify 'Protection Of Own Film Product; Classic Scripts Fail to Attain Prestige - Donnelly Pro-Walsh Minneapolis, Jujqe 1. William Donnelly, recently ap- pointed a vice president in the IATSE and business manager for theAFL stage hands’ union here and their motion picture projec- tionists’ international representa- tive from the' Minneapolis area, declares he’ll oppose Roy Brewer’s presidential candidacy. He’ll sup- port incumbent Richard Walsh of New York. Supporters of Brewer say Don- nelly is visiting various locals to hold them in line for Walsh. "Request’ With Threat To Invoke 1905 Law, Hits "The French line’ Indianapolis, June -1. Six theatres and drive-ins sched- uled to open “French Line” simul- taneously Wednesday were threat- ened with court action by Marion County Prosecutor Frank H. Fair- child. Needled by Parent-Teacher complains after film was screened for representatives, Fairchild “re- quested” theatres not to show it, threatening arrest under 1905 state law prohibiting distribution of ob- scene literature or devices, includ- ing pictures, if they do.. Manny Marcus, who operates the Ambassador, only downtown the- ater involved, said he intends to go ahead with showing on advise of R{CO attorneys. Two neighborhood theatres and one dirve-in that had' it booked were undecided. .But two of the three drive-dns among the original .six day-and- (Continued on page 22) Telemeter Given Lotsa Mention At Par Meet While acknowledging that the industry could use more bigger pictures, Paramount prexy Barney Balaban told the company’s stock- holders in the annual meeting in New York yesterday (Tues.) that “Paramount does not plan a speci- fied number of pictures nor does it have a pre-determined overall budget during a given fiscal year.” ' Balaban explained that “in our business we can no longer plan for a volume of pictures to be deliv- ered at some time in the future. The pubic has become most selec- tive in its motion picture prefer- ences.” He stressed that each pic- ture must stand on its own merits and the company’s production pol- icy “for the forseeable future will be to pjroduce every picture that we believe can pay for itself and, hopefully, return a profit in this new r market—without limiting their number, cost or overall budget.” Balabah said Par “would be most happy to add to the number of pic- tures being produced by our studio and will do so whenever the par- ticular circumstances, justify it.” The simple economic fact, he said, is that the more quality pictures the company makes, the greater will be its dollar volume. Unlike many recent film com- pany stockholder meetings, the Par session was marked by an absence of sharp stockholder queries and was concluded without bitter ex- changes and frayed tempers. The meeting, while well attended, was not ISRO. Bones of centention, raised and passed over quickly, in- cluded: the fact that veepee Paul (Continued on page 18) FREEWHEELING PRE-RELEASES PROVISO BY ‘ARBITRATION’ CONFERENCE RECOILS Agreement between distributors and exhibitors participating in the industry arbitration conference on no restriction as to the number of pre-releases issued each year drew a charge of “sell out” from a leader of Allied States Assn. Speaking as an individual and not officially as a spokesman for Al- lied, which refused to participate in the confab, the exhib official said that Allied members would have nothing to do with such a provision and, if necessary, would go to the Government to oppose unlimited issuance of pre-release pix. The one concession made at the arbitration confab last week toward controlling abuses on pre- release pictures was the stipula- tion that a distrib releasing the “special” pix “makes himself sub- ject to the provisions of arbitra- tion.” This restriction was not completely spelled out at the meeting and it will be up to the drafting committee to set down the specific intent of both distribs and exhibs. However, from the re- marks made by A1 Lichtman, 20th- Fox sales chief, it appeared cleared that the only restriction that ex- hibs would go for on pre-releases was the arbitration of “unreason- able” clearance on these pix. It was evident that the distribs would not allow exhibs to decide just which picture can be desig- nated a pre-release. The fact that distribs would allow the arbitra- tion of clearance on the pre-re- leases was laughed off by the Al- lied leader. “By that time you’re out of business,” he declared. On the basis of trade paper reports and conversations with friendly exhibs who participated in the sessions, Allied will study what has taken place so far and then will issue a statment prepared by Abram F. Myers, its board chair- man. The conference, after wrangling for three days on the scope of the arbitration system, agreed to name a drafting committee which would present a plan in .“not more than 60 days.” The sub-committee’s job is to list all possible items of dispute “that we now know about” as well as those that might come up. Each exhib organization par- ticipating will canvass its members anent the issues involving con- flicts-with the distribs. These will be weighed by the sub-committee, for inclusion or exclusion, and (Continued on page 20) Buenos Aires, June 1. Recent indications point to aban- donment of the ultra-protectionist policy in Argentina, or at least of a switch in the conduct of this policy which will be more favor- able to foreign pictures. Currently the Press & Information Ministry and the Motion Picture Council are . parleying on the matter, the scheme most favored being one whereby instead of insuring better playing time for the native pic- tures, the Government would award cash prizes to producers turning out the best material from a national point of view. This switch stems from the pro- ducers’ failure to warrant the pro- tectionism by turning out worth- while productions. They continue inept in the choice, of story mate- rial, and instead of seeking yarns which give some idea of local ad- vantages, they persist in. adapting stories from Ibsen, Dumas, or other classical authors which have been produced so much better in Holly- wood or Europe. Hugo del Carril’s “Las Aguas Bajah Turbias” is the nearest that has been done in re- cent years to produce something individual and the picture has achieved distribution in France and Spain, also Canada. Argentina Sono Film. Mapol, General Belgrano and Hugo del CarrJl recently concluded a deal with the Distribuidora Filmica Centroamericana for distribution of some Argentine pictures in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Domini- can Republic. Also following on the Mar del Plata festival, Spain’s Cesareo Gonzalez agreed to dis- tribute in Spain; advancing coin .prior to distribution, to enable lo- (Contlnued on page 16) MORE HARASSMENT OF "SALT IN CHICAGO Chicago, June 1. It was simply a case of a missing operator. Premiere night of “Salt of the Earth” last Friday (28» filled tfie Cinema Anhex to near capacity, everyone turning out—but the pro- jectionist. In lieu of a pic, the audience received speeches by Herbert Biberman, director of “Salt” and chieftain of Indepen- dent Productions Corp.. and by M. A. Terman, owner of the house. All paying patrons received, re- funds. ' The boothman, Louis Cleppe, had shown previews of the pic all during the previous week and was quoted by Termah as saying he liked the film. However, on Friday he failed to appear and couldn’t be reached at his home. Clarence Jalas, business manager of the operators union Local 110, IATSE, told the Cinema Annex he would send a substitute operator; and. by evening, when the sub failed to appear, all union toppers were in- accessible,. reportedly “out of town.” House had purchased four-inch ads in all the daily papers for two days prior to the opening, and said it would sue for damages if union (Continued on page 18) SMALL TOWN CLOSINGS Falling Grosses Given As Cause In Illinois Chicago, June 1. Falling biz extinguished four more theatres in this region last month, one of them closing just for the summer. A fifth house, the Tampico in Tampico, 111., shuttered May 15 reportedly because of own- er A. Tbnklnson’s illness. On May 17, Bailey Enterprises dimmed the Tazell Theatre in Washington, 111, Abe Werbner closed the Princess in J Lewistown, 111., on May 31, and the Glassford in Glassford, 111., went out on April .25. Frank Stewart shuttered the RivolTin Danville’fot'tfte'^Ommer.