Variety (January 19, 1955)

tfedntMlajr, January 19, 1955 PICTURES WB’S ‘WON’T TELL’ BALKS MPEA Mothers and Censors Has the severity of Indian film censorship finally begun to hit home even among the native industry? The magazine Film India, usually anti-American and pro-censor- ship (when it comes to Hollywood pix), has blasted what it calls i he latest passion of the Bombay censors for bosom surgery with scissors.” •Whenever the censors see a woman with breasts, they ask the producers to cut out the footage,” the magazine complained. “Why a woman’s bosoms, the .natural symbols of motherhood, should irritate our censors beats our imagination. Don’t the ladies who sit on our censor board have motherly bosoms? How can their bosoms be separated from our women artists to please our censors?” The mag added that it could understand censorship of scenes showing obscene or suggestive exposure, but that, the way censor- ship was being practiced now. particularly in Bombay, it could only challenge the wisdom of Indian censorship per se. Film India’s editorial was concerned with native productions only. In I lie past it has frequently supported the censorship of U. S. imports which are scissored to the hilt. New York Sound Track ♦ • ♦ ♦+++++♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 4+4 4 4 4 4 ♦ 4 444 »♦♦♦♦•»♦♦♦♦»♦♦♦* Mike Todd and William Goetz back from their European jaunt with Goetz now definitely expected to join Mike Todd Productions as partner or otherwise . If all reports about Gina Lollobrigida being signed nil by American producers were to be believed, she’d now be com- mitted to do “around 80 pix. Fact is, she’s still under contract to one Howard Hughes and can’t make a film in the U.S. pending a settlement Carl York, the MPEA’s Scandinavian rep. in town to brief the. companies on the Norwegian situation and prospects for a rise in Denmark's 30% rental ceiling . . . Ricardo Arias Espinoza, Panama’s new president, has exhibition interests. He was one of a group of Panamanian legislators with theatre interests who pressured for a law establishing admission price ceilings and other rules inimical to U.S. distrib interests. The measure is still pending in the Assembly. Comedian Jerry Lewis has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who fatally beat his cousin, Mrs. Alexander Lanzner. Lewis, currently appearing in Las Vegas, telephoned Irvington, N.J., police with the offer of the reward. Mrs. Lanzner, who was 30. was Lewis' first cousin and former schoolmate. She was waylaid a block from her home Friday (14). President Eisenhower is scheduled to receive a delegation today (Tuesday) from the National Committee for An Adequate Overseas U.S. Information Program (try to abbreviate that!) the chairman of which is Eddie Bernays. This is the group composed mostly of pub- lishers and editors (Paul Smith, Palmer Hoyt, Fleur Cowles) and trade- paper gentry (Sid Bernstein, Reg Clough, C. H. Larrabee) and acade- micians (Harold Lasswell, Ordway Tead, O. W. Riegel), which has made no attempt to include picture people, although much of foreign propaganda is conducted by film. Just-out True (Fawcett) has a piece by Charles Samuels telling male America of “The Great Censorship Rebellion” which promises more realistic films . . . Joe Schoenfeld, editor of Variety’s coast daily, in town last week following the big “Underwater!” whoopdedo at Silver Springs, Fla. . . . Dinah Shore’s opening night at Waldorf-Astoria drew one of largest turnouts of film folk seen at a cafe opening in Jeanne Crain, who recently completed a stint in UA’s “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes,” returned from Paris Monday (17) on the Liberte. Accompanying her were her husband, Paul Brinkman, and the couple’s four children . . . Rudy Vallee, Scott Brady and Gwen Verdon in from Europe Monday (17) on the America. Columbia’s “On the Waterfront” broke Loew’s Theatres Saturday and Sunday records of the all-time champion, “From Here to Eternity,” also a Col picture . . . John Wayne cut short his honeymoon in New York to replace Robert Mitchum in the cast of “Blood Alley,” the Batjac production for Warner release . . . Esther Williams, John Eric- son, George Murphy, and George Sidney headed the Metro delegation for the dedication of William Goldman’s “Nickelodeon” museum in I’hiladephlia yesterday (Tues.). Five Metro stars will hit the provinces to lend glamor to local theatres. George Murphy, M-G’s official ambassador, is down for a 10,000-mile tour in connection with Metro’s "1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration.” John Ericson, Esther Williams, Anne Francis, and Robert Taylor are also set for personals around the country. On the off-beat side, but good for newspaper space in many cities, Metro is touring Clarence Bull, ace still photographer, and William Tuttle, head of the makeup department. F.lmer C. Rhoden, National Theatres prez, and Frank H. Ricketson. Fox Intermountain topper, in N.Y. for talks with William Moclair of the Roxy and 20th-Fox execs. This is Rhoden’s first trip east since taking over NT. GOOD MAIL ADVANCE FOR 2D CINERAMA An estimated advance sale of •hont $40,000 has been chalked up h.v “Cinerama Holiday,” which bous * at the Warner Theatre, N. Y., "dh a charity preem Feb. 8. Of the $40,000 total, some $25,000 came in from a mailing piece sent t" Patrons who had previously writ- ten in for tickets to “This Is Cine- rama. •• Mail return is running about 7%, ''huh compares with Broadway tegii results of about 2% from •nniiar mailings. NUANCES OF FREE CHOICE Muhlenberg Modifies Its Censor- ship of Chaplin Films BENNY'S MIAMI UJA STINT *lack Benny will be guest of a ‘ the United Jewish Ap- J H ‘' shindig in Miami that will auncii the drive for funds this Jear. Fete will be held Feb. 27 and •enny will plane from the Coast It,r the stint. Allentown, Pa., Jan. 18. Muhlenberg College has re- scinded its action of last week in canceling four >arly Charlie Chap- lin films in the “Great Films of Yesterday” series. The college cancelled when the American Le- gion protested. This evoked con- siderable criticism from educators and others, plus editorials in news- papers. Prexy K. Conrad Seegers then decided that the films will be shown, but instead of being shown to the public generally, will be shown only for students and facul- ty. He denied that the “college exercises censorship or proposes to allow outside groups to dictate educational policy,” but said that since a considerable portion of the community appeared to have been against the film, it first was de- cided to substitute another film. SECRECY STULLS New York Film Circles Buzz With Rumors of Distribution Fee Cuts as Majors Woo Product “Master” formula covering all future remittances and license al- locations abroad was discussed by the Motion Picture Export Assn, board in N. Y. last week and while there was an area of agreement, observers felt that acceptance of such a formula by all the com- panies was still a long way off. One of the main stumbling blocks is the .reluctance of War- ner Bros, to provide the pertinent figures. However, commented one of the execs Monday (17), “We can always estimate what they do.” The formula itself is said to work like this: The companies put to- gether their domestic billings and the average billings in eight major foreign territories. In addition, they’d tpke into account a three- year average in the particular mar- ket in question. Some paper tests with this formula have already been conducted and found satis- factory. There is a “minimum guarantee” provision under which two out of every 50 permits would be set aside for the lowest com- pany. This, too, is a matter of dis- pute. Matter of fractional permits is solved under the formula. Board, meeting under the chair- manship of MPEA prexy Erie Johnston, referred the formula back to the committee which de- vised it and which will now do more work on it. Group includes Arthur Loew, Abe Schneider, (Continued on page 20) ISRAEL OKAYS 'THE ROBE' Kept Out Because of Ultra-Ortho- dox Religionists Israeli government has finally passed 20th-Fox’s "The Robe” for exhibition in Israel. It took the personal intervention of Spyros P. Skouras, 20th prexy. to get the Israeli censors to drop their ob- jections to the film. Impression in N. Y. Is that the difficulties arising re “The Robe” stemmed from a small but vocal orthodox group in Israel which ob- jected to the ClnemaScope pic on religious grounds. Censors of Six States Meet in Richmond, Va.; Stress on Pix ‘Sadism’ Censors from six states are set for a two day powwow in Richmond, Va., starting tomorrow (Thurs.) to discuss their positions vis-a-vis the Ohio and Pennsylvania censorship decisions and the new censor law' introduced in the Maryland legis- lature. While no specific agenda for the meet has been set up, Hugh M. Flick, the N. Y. censor, said Mon- day (17) he thought these discus- sions would take up most of the time. However, he also hoped to discuss with his colleagues his mounting concern over the rise of violence and brutality In pix. Invites to the Richmond palaver were sent out by Mrs. Lollie C. Whitehead, director of Virginia’s censor board. Japans Pix Prod. Up l\Vi% in Year Tokyo, Jan. 11. • Japan's film makers had a busy year in 1954, producing 370 films or a 21.5% increase over the pre- vious year. More films were ex- ported than ever before. Reason for the boost was an increase in the number of medium length pix for use on double bills, and an in- crease in serial films. Profits for the industry are es- timated at $80,000,000, a 28% rise over last year. Of the total produced. 75 films were medium length and serials. Sword slinging “samurai” pix. Japan's oateis, accounted for 201. An estimated $1,000,000 was earned from export of films. The number of admission tickets to film houses sold last year is es- timated at 829.000,000. as against the early average of 800,000,000. Ed Grainger at Rep Edmund C. Grainger, vet exec in both theatre operation and dis- tribution. this week joined Repub- lic as manager of circuit sales. He’ll work under Richard Altschul- er. v.p. and director of worldwide sales. Grainger until a short time ago was chief buyer and booker for RKO Theatres and before this was president of Shea Enterprises and eastern division sales manager for 20th-Fox. Would Spread Chicago Censorship To Cover Outlying Drive-Ins Chicago, Jan. 18. The Cook County Board is trying to plug leaks in local censorship coverage existing in unincorporated areas of the county. William N. Erickson, chairman of the board’s legislative committee, said it will ask the state legislature for author- ity to set up a five-man censorship board under the county sheriff to pass on films shown in the unincor- porated area around Chicago. Most of the theatres there are drive-ins. Erickson said: “This is a must. A large proportion of drive-in thea- tregoers are children and young persons who should be shielded from salacious films.” Erickson’s enthusiasm for a county censorship body is appar- ently not shared by newly-elected Sheriff Joseph Lohman. former so- ciology professor at the University of Chicago, who would be the chief censor under proposed setup. He told Variety: “The proposal did not originate with me, but as a law enforcement official, I have no choice but to carry out the orders of the County Board, when and if this project becomes law. For my- self. I believe public authorities should proceed in a very restrained and cautious manner in matters of censorship and I believe that fun- damentally the best type of censor- ship is self-regulation by the in- dustry itself.” Current move stems from the censorship hassle here last summe*’ over showing of “The French Line” at several outlying ozoners. Film was originally cleared by the Chi- cago Police Censor Board, but clearance was later revoked by Po- lice Commissioner Timothy O’Con- nor in response to heavy pressure generated by local groups, particu- larly the Roman Catholic Church. Same pressure had local newspa- papers. radio and tv outlets refus- ing to take ads for the picture. Five drive-ins just outside the city limits then booked the film, but were unable to ballyhoo the attraction because of the local me- dia stand. The then county sheriff, John Babb, attempted to ban show- ing of the film but found he lacked the authority to do so. He confined himself to stationing police guards at drive-ins to forbid minors from attending fiimings. Picture closed after a short run due to lack of ad coverage. Current move is designed to give the sheriff’s office censor- ship powers in cases like this. As the major distributors vie to increase their release slates, indie producers for the first time in many years are finding themselves in the enviable position of facing a seller's market. Not only are the majors competing for topnotch in- die packages to finance, but there’s also a scramble for completed product. The indie producer who formerly went from distributor to distributor practically begging for a deal now finds the distribs stand- ing at his doorstep. The competition has become so keen among the majors that there’s a rumble of undercurrent beefs relating to price cutting and the lowering of distribution fees. At a recent stockholders meeting, Co- lumbia prexy Harry Cohn claimed that Warner Bros, was only emerg- ing with a 10% profit from a re- cent picture. Cohn’s statement was made in answer * to stockholder queries relating to Col’s participa- tion deals. Cohn said this system was necessary in today’s market and that Col was doing fine as com- pared with other companies, nota- bly WB. He did not name the Warner picture, but it reportedly is “A Star Is Born.” There are also reports that WB is lowering the distribution fee for completed films. Usual per- centage demanded by a distrib (Continued on page 20) $15,000,000 Hike Asked For U. S. Info Agency; FCC Also Wants More Washington, Jan. 18. A hike of nearly $15,000,000 for the U.S. Information Agency and a slight increase for the Federal Communications Commission were requested by President Eisenhower yesterday (17) in his budget pro- posals to Congress for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 1955. The budget estimated that the general admissions tax would yield $110,000,000 in the next fiseal year, the same as for the current year. This is far below the $271,952,000 from this tax in fiscal 1954 (the year ending June 30, 1954», before the sharp slash in admissions taxes went into effect. The Treasury expects to get $46,000,000 from the 20% bite on nitery tabs, as contrasted with the $45,000,000 estimated for the cur- rent fiscal year, and the $38,312,000 actually received last year. This tax was not reduced by Congress past spring. Highlights of the budget mes- i sage: 1. A request for $88,500,000 for USIA, compared with the $73,914,- 000 which Congress appropriated for the current year. Of the new total $18,243,000 would go for “Voice of America” radio broad- casts and television, about $2,500,- 000 more than the present year. (Continued on page 20) Clerygyman as Censor . Regina, Sask., an. 18. In (he year ended March 31 last, Rev. D. J. Vaughan, Saskatchewan’s film censor, reviewed and stamped 490 35mm. features, 525 shorts, seven serials, 312 news films. 539 * trailers and 812 advertising films, the provincial government has re- vealed ten months late. He and his assistant also re- viewed and stamped 413 16mm. features, 542 shorts, three serials, 194 news films and 244 trailers. Four features. “Wicked Women,” “Yellow Balloon,” “Dedee” and “Women of the Twilight” were re- jected. "Yellow Balloon” was sub- sequently brought before a board of appeal, which uphold the preacher-censor. Educational films sponsored by universities, and films of the fed- eral and provincial governments are exempt from censorship.