Variety (November 1954)

10 PICTURES P^Rikfr Wednesday, November 3, 1954 Theatres Renew" Yelp* November and Early Although the major distiribs are scheduling their so-called block- buster product for Christmas-New year’s release, there is. a steady wail currently from exhibitors ask- ing “what do we play in November and early December”.?: A familiar lheatreman’s complaint that the distribs are holding back prodtici for the holiday season arid neglect- ing to provide attractive fare for the “tough days” is again beirig heard rourid the country. Another beef, that’s beginning to sound like a chant, is “we .have, rio idea what picture we'll be playing for Christmas,” Booking, it’s charged, is a day-to-day- problem' and the holiday stanza particularly points up the product shortage. Said an exec of one of the smaller, chains, “I don’t evert know what we’ll get for Now 15.” The release slates of the major companies, it’s admitted, look good on paper, but except for a few key city situations the pictures seldom get to theatres on the dates re- corded on the release charts. 20th’s Roster Discounting the problem in get- ting pix from maker to. seller, the pictures listed as available for. the .November to December period ap- pear promising. Irving Berlin's •There’s No Business Like. Snow. Business” is listed as 20th-Eox'a Xmas-New Year’s entry, However, it’s doubted that it’ll reach more thari a few key spots during that stanza. Other 20th films that’ll be playing around from now to the year’s' end are “Woman’s World,” “The Adventures bf Hajji Baba,” “Black Widow,” arid “Desiree.” 20th also has. available several 2-D pix it has picked up... from indie roduceis .and will let exhibs have: ’em for November-December play- ing They. include “The Outlaw’s Daughter,” "Black 13,” “Devil’s Harbor,” and “The Other .Woman.’* Paramount’s holiday feature is Martiri & Lewis’ “Three Ring Cir- cus.” It has been Par policy for a number of years to release an M&L’er during the festive period. Other Par items that wiil be mak- ing the rounds are “White Christ- mas” and “Reap the Wild Wind,” a Ce'cil B, DeMille . reissue. /‘Rear Window” and “Sabrina” will also be on many screens. Columbia has made no special Xriias pic designation, but will probably . have many dates on “Phffft.” In addition, it’ll provide for November to December airing such items as “The Black Knight,” ; “Fire Over Africa,” '.‘Affairs of Messilina,” “Cannibal ' Attack,” “They Rode West,” and “Pirates of Tripoli.” Warners’ Lineup Warner Bros, is scheduling “The Silver Chalice” for special Christ- mas engagements and “Young at Heart” for New Year’s runs. “Star Is Born,” of course, will be an im- portant holiday entry. Completing the November-December slate will be “Drum Beat” and “Track of the Cat.” “Sign of the Pagan,” a Techni- color C’Scoper, is Universal's con- tribution for Xmas, with “So This Is Paris,” a Techni musical, set for New Year’s. The remainder of tne November-December schedule in- cludes “Bengal Brigade,” “Pour Guns to the Border,’’ -“Ricochet Romance” (a Ma & Pa Kettle entry), and “Yellow Mountain.” Metro is banking “Deep In My Heart,” the musical biog of Sigmund Romberg, for its Christ- mas coi It’s also- offering for .. November-December playing time “Athena,” “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” and “Crest of the Wave.” A pair of Tarzari reissues, ap- parently aimed/at the kid trade, bolsters the slate. Many of M-G’s October releases will be hitting the sub runs at that time, including “Rogue Cop,” “Brigadoon,” arid ‘Beau Brummcll.” United .Artists Xmas-New Year’s entries are Burt Lancaster’s “Vera Cruz” and the Italo-British Venice festival winner, “Romeo & Juliet.’.’ The. slate for November-December is filled out .with “Twist of Fate,” “White Orchard,” “You Know What Sailors Are,” ‘Shield for . Murder,” “The Snow -Creature” and “The Steel Cage.’” In addition, “The Barefoot Contessa” will be Available for many, situations. That Distrih* Neglect December Boxoffice Rolls-Rdyce Biopic Hollywood, Nov, 2. Hadden Mason, English art- ists’ representative, is in town with four screenplays owned. b*y London producers, to in- duce Hollywood stars to sign for British pictures. One of the scripts is the story of Rolls and Royce, mak- ers of Rolls-Royce cars. Allied Heckles TOA Continued from, page 7 SAM PINANSKI, BOSTON, Chicago, Nov. 2. Sam Pinanski, Boston circuit op- erator, did the pitching for the Council of Motion Picture Organi- zations at the TOA get-together. He gave a recap, oh the fight that won the Federal admissions tax fight, underlined how COMPO has resulted in industry uriity on some matters and enhanced the trades relations with the press arid Con- gress. Pinanski updated the TOA-ers on progress toward the COMPO,/pro- gram of group life insurance for industryites; Total of 650 com- panies,. With over 6,000 employes, have . expressed interest. in the project', He said. COMPO’s research work, plans for its national audience poll, its effort to bring: “greater orderliness to the industry’s technological de- velopment and the organization’s efforts in the public service field were detailed by Pinanskh out and you must have gotten one of them,” answered Frank. Angry words followed a state-: ment by Gilbert Nathanson, a lo- cal circuit owner who quit Allied, that all he had heard at exhibitor [ meetings before were a lot of yell- ing and table pounding with noth- ing ever accomplished. Taking exception, Ted Mann, a former NCA presiderit and now a hoard member, said he had done a lot. of yelling and table pound- ing himself and had. no apologies to offer. Resentfully, he wanted to know if Nathanson was insin- uating that he was a demagog?; ■'I’m not trying to scold you or anybody else,” replied Nathanson. “I just ..want., results not words and words are all we’ve been getting Let’s have less rabble rousing and more exhibitor unity.” . Martin Lebedoff, circuit , owner arid NCA officer, cited arndrig Al- lied accorriplishments the recent picketing of the Columbia ex- change, elimination of the theatre music tax and a prominent part in .the admission tax revision, In addition to Reade, other TOA toppers at the luncheon were Al- fred Starr, board chairman; Her- man M. Levy, general counsel; Ray Cooper, vice president; Al For- man, director, and George Kerasa- tos, executive committee member. McGee’s Keynote ANOTHER DETROIT ARTIE Piccadilly Will Be Sol Krim’s Abbey Playhouse Detroit. Nov. 2. . Sol Krim, owner of the T,000-seat Krim, a nabe .artie, has. purchased the 900-seat nabe Piccadilly from Sam Cameron. Piccadilly, closed for more than a year, will operate as an artie under the name of Abbey Playhouse starting in 10 days. Sale price and renovation was in excess of $100,000, Krim states. With the Abbey Playhouse; De- troit will have four nabe arties and one downtown. Continued from page 7 Distributors Corp. of America will have representation in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with a float depicting battle among buccaneers. It ties in with DCA’s “Long: John Silves.” will have another star. Mr.. (J, Arthur) Rank wants a larger share of the American market. Our screens are open to him but he must find a way of appealing to the American theatre goer who so far has shown no interest in most Eng- lish pictures.” McGee deplored what he termed the absence of “leadership and statesmanship” in all branches. of the industry. “I do not criticize producers and distributors for this any rriore than I criticize exhibitors for being naive arid expecting too much,” he commented. He said there were a few exceptions such as Spyros Skouras’ gamble with Cinemascope which,: he added, was “statesmanship of a very high order.” McGee offered to support his statements concerning depressed business with figures. He reported that: 80% of the theatres currently are showing 7% less attendance than last year.. Dollar volume, even with the Federal tax relief, “has not increased materially.” He listed the tax saving at $123,000,000. “Carmen Jones” got quite different treatment as stage play and as film in N.Y. Times. Said Lewis Nichols, 1943: “Beautifully done in every way. Just v call it wonderful, quite wonderful.” Said Bosley Crowther, last week: “Lurid; and slightly farcial . . nothing wrong with the music except that it does not fit the people or the. words” . . . Edward Small still undecided if his “New York Confidential,” made in association with Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse, goes to United Artists, Columbia or RKO. Edward R. Kingsley, out of the hospital following an attack of jaun- dice, now conducting his biz via telephone from his borne. He caught the bug while, honeymooning in Italy . . Hugh M. Flick, the N,Y. censor, confides that his . “fan mail,” demanding stricter bluepencillirig, is on the rise. American Society of Girl Watchers, Inc., has been chartered by. Prentice-Hall to conduct a beauty contests business at Tuckahoe, N;Y. Irving Berlin is a little vexed with some commentators and columnists trying to. read something into the coincidental fact, that Marilyn Monroe sings "After Ycju Get What You Want You Don’t Want It” in the upcoming 20th Century-Fox filmusical,. “No Business Like Show Business.” It’s a 1920 copyright, and was one of the pioneer numbers in the Berlin Music Corp. -catalog when he, Saul Bornstein and Max Winslow, first went into business that .year. “Lazy” and “Heat Wave” are oldies which Miss Monroe dries, The new trines' are sung by Ethel ; Merman and Johnnie Ray in the 20th film. It so happened that “After You Get’’ was selected .by producer Sol C. Siegel, while Berlin and his wife were in Paris, and he merely advised the songsmith that, per contract, this oldie was. culled from Berlin's package deal of. old and new. songs for Miss Monroe. Her recent marital schism ; and the song title is sheer coincidence. Geoffrey Chaucer, art old English scriptwriter, whose quaint spellings and archaic expressions halve, served as punishment for generations of schoolboys, is revived in Tirne mag this issue for the review of Colum- bia’s “Black Knight . . It’s a joke that is more labor than fun . . . Joe Schoenfeld, editor of Variety’s daily in Hollywood, in Manhattan for his regular lookaround . . Because more books are being sold to Hollywood these days, “subsidiary rights” loom large in author think- ing- .•, Resultantly there is discussion Within the Authors Guild of a time-limit beyond which literary agents, who have long since been dismissed, can control picture, sales of old works. John Huston’s “Moby Dick,” which is being shot abroad, has a 20- fect long electronic whale built on d five-andra-half ton steel skeleton by DeHavilland Aircraft and rigged so that every vertebrae nioves. Huston operates the wlrale by playing a console-type instrument at the edge of the two-acre deep water Link. Of Chicago; Nov. 2. Film rentals for drive-ins have increased up to 30%, according to the results of a survey conducted by a TOA committee headed by Jack D. Braunagel and William T. Powell, Asked about the general trend in costs of product, ozoner operators reported ori a territorial basis at: follows: southceritral, 10% increase in the first nine months I of 1954 over the same period in 1953; mid- west, upward about 25% over .last year; northwest, generally about the same level except that per- centage deals on Cinemascope pix have upped costs; southwest, up- ward 15%; midceritral, upward ap- proximately .24%; southeast, up 30%. There was no explanation for the varying degrees of the up- trend around the country. Business at the open-air houses was on the upbeat, particularly in the southeast where an improve- merit. of 25% to 30% was noted. Southcentral was up 6% and mid- west up 10%. Not sharing In bet- ter grosses were theatres in areas where tv has been newly intro- duced or where weather conditions were unfavorable. Eased admis- sion taxes arid C’Scbpb were cited in the northwest as reasons for slight improvement despite adverse weather. Is it necessary for an ozoner to install C’Scope equipment if the competition has it? Houses oper- ating all year around found this a “must,” partially because of the shortage of product: The report added: “Seasonal drive-iris in the north may be able to get by a little, longer due to backlog of winter product, but even this is question- able;” Other points made by the. T0A committee: the distributors should permit the theatremen to decide whether a film is to be played in standard format or ariamorphic; theatremen would do well to be' on guard against the increasing num- ber of professional beggars work- ing the drive-ins; more efficient methods of operation are becomirig more and more necessary. RKO Theatres Nets $1,625,000 in 39 Wks. Recerit upbeat in theatre busi- ness is reflected in RKQ Theatres’ third quarter financial report is- sued yesterday (Tues.) showing a net income of $1,625,009 for the 39 weeks ending. Oct. 2 as compared to $788,331 for the sarne. period a year ago. , Total income from theatre oper- ations for the 39-week, stanza, be- fore deduction of depreciation, dividends, income taxes, and other items, was $4,681,703 as compared to $2,915,917 foi* the same period of 1953. The 13-week third quarter re- veals. a net profit of $720,984, fol- lowing deduction rif $41,048 loss on the disposal of a theatre property. The same. 13 weeks of 1953 re- sulted in a net profit of $370,728- Chicago, Nov. 2, Some smalltown theatre owners are iri a boycott frame of mind. This was demonstrated at an un- scheduled meeting, within the-TO A convention framework,, of nearly 100 exhibs who have lower-case op- erations. Why couldn't a boycott be made to work against a film company whose rental terms too harsh, they wanted to know, It was “illegal,” said Walter Reade, who co-presided with Alfred Starr. The lesser-scale showmen ap- peared Unable to understand why such a giant theatre organization couldn’t put “some pressure” on the distribs In some way. Starr gave them an apparently satisfac- tory answer* saying: “We have an enormous ampunt of latent strength and I think we’re going to use it. No picture can get off the ground without oyr consent. We have the whip in our hands.” Starr didn’t go any further but some sort of working agreement with Allied States appears shaping which would, have the two associa- tions working together in an ef- fort to force eased pic terms; (A few exhibs asked for a full merger.) Agenda for Thursday’s board rneeting includes a vote on Allied’s bid for support for its government regulation plain. TOA-ers rire op- posed to this but in reply to Allied may suggest that the two organiza-? tioris otherwise join forces in deal- ings with the companies. EDWIN D. MARTIN, 34, New Harry Cohn Pact Kayoes Exit Reports Frequent reports during the. past year that Columbia Pictures prexy Harry Cohn was planning, to unload his stock in the company were scotched yesterday (Tues.) by the announcement that the top- per had inked a new five-year con- tract. ' ■>' “The • contract,” Cohn stated, “should dispel, any l-urnors that I am. in a new negotiation for the sale of my Coluhibia stock, nor have I presently any intention of entering into such a negotiation.-’ New. pact will be submitted for ratification of Col stockholders at tlie annual meeting in December, He’ll receive $3,500 weekly salary plus $600 weekly expenses for total of $213,200 per year. Chicago, Nov. 2. Edwin D. Martin (known to his associates as ‘E. D.’), 34-year-old circuit operator of Columbus, Ga„ was elected president of Theatre Owners of America at board meeting in advance of the organi- zation’s annual convention here. The vote was not entirely expected —Martin himself expressed sur- prise-r-sirice there were other can- didates iri the running. There had. been some sounding out of Denver’s Pat McGee as to 'his availability but McGee held Dim- self aloof. There was also sorrie sentiment for Myron Blank, of Des Moi , and George Kerasotes, Springfield, III. Final balloting, however, had Martin as the unani- mous choice. Kerasotes and J. J. Roserifield of Spokane were added to the roster of TOA v.p.’ Alfred Starr of Nashville was reelected chair- man of the executive, committee. Samuel Pinanski. of Boston was appointed honorary board chair- man, which post was vacated with the recent death of Charles Skouras. S, H. (Si) Fabian con-, tiriues as treasurer, Mitchell Wolf- son as chairman of the finance committee and Herman M. Levy as general counsel. Skouras Memorial . Directorate reaffirmed its posi- tion favoring an industry arbitra- tion system and, stated Levy, will press efforts in this direction after the conclave. Board meet also decided to set up some sort of memorial for Charles Skouras and will work the. details of this at another meeting here Thursday (4). Elevation of Martin to the top TOA spot is another example' of the. spotlight focusing on second- generation industryites. He’s the son of Roy Elmo Marti , Sr. whose theatre holdings (also a couple of tv stations) cover a wide area the south. Doug Shearer’s Citation Hollywood, Nov, 2. Douglas Shearer, head of techni- cal research at Metro, has .been cited, by the Office of Naval Re- search for discovering ways and means to simplify studies in the field of nuclear and cosmic.physics. These discoveries, which make it easier to work out. mathematical computations, will bo used by the Navy in certain projects. Arthur Loew to Barcelona Arthur M. Loew, president of Loew’s International, will preside' at Metro’s European conference, set for Barcelona for three days be- ginnirig Nov. 11. . Loew, now in Europe on busi- ness, wiil remain there until after the meeting, He’li he assisted at the confab by David Lewis; region- al director of Continental Europe, Metro managers, sales and pub- licity chiefs from all territories iri , Continental Europe will attend.