Variety (December 1955)

Wednesday, December 7, 1955 P&RlETr PICTURES GOTHAM’S ‘LOCATION’ BOOM General Motors’ $400,000 VistaVision Tint Short Part of Promotion Show Hollywood, Dec. 6. General Motors is spending more than $500,000 for a lavish film-and- live revue that will fun for only 50 days next year in the biggest pro¬ motional dive into showbusipess the auto firm has yet taken to ex¬ ploit its wares. Company has had an annual live show for some years past, touring five key cities, but the 1956 edition marks the first time that film has been used ex¬ tensively. . A 12-minute film short, which will serve as a sort of first act to the show, now is before the cam¬ eras here with Michael Kidd direct¬ ing and choreographing. It is being filmed in. VistaVision and color at a cost of around $400,000 and pro¬ ducer Carl Dudley has two units currently' lensing the short, which involves ■ a minature roadway and models of the upcoming cars; Kidd, meanwhile, is also making prepara¬ tions for the live portion of the show, which is tagged “Key to the Future.” GM commissioned Jack Brooks to do the book and lyrics for the show and the vet lyricist was called into special huddles with automotive engineers to get all of the car firm’s propaganda care¬ fully placed. Entire show is rhymed, including a “broadcast” segment in which the occupants of a car tune in on the radio to get road information, etc. Show is slated to debut at the Waldorf-Astoria ifTNew York Jan. 18 and will then travel to Miami, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los. Angeles, arriving here in March. It will stay 10 days in each city, doing six performances daily. Warner Release Ending, Batjac Will Suspend; RKO Or UA Link Pend Hollywood, Dec. 6. Pending a decision on d new re¬ leasing deal, Batjac Productions will suspend operations temporari¬ ly after concluding “Goodbye My Lady” and “Seven Men.. From Now,” final pix on the multiple- picture releasing deal which the John Wayne-Robert Fellows indie has with Warners. Talks have been going on for some time regarding a new deal at Warners and ^discussions also have been held with Daniel J. O’Shea about a possible RKO deal and with United Artists. During its inactive period, com¬ pany will develop approximately ten properties which it has held for some time. Recently, Batjac sold “Quality of Mercy” to Arvin Productions as a Doris Day star- rer and the servicing of this pic¬ ture will be the unit’s sole activity for a time. Nostalgia for Closeups Advent of the \yide screen has some in Hollywood yearn¬ ing for the “good old days” when the screen had intimacy and a closeup was an integral part of telling the visual story.* “It’s a mistake to cut out those closeups,” opined actor Gordon MacRae in N. Y. last week whilst touting his latest, 20th-Fox’S “Carousel.” “If you have a good actor in a scene, you might as well photograph him and get the most bene¬ fits,” he thought. Television, which thrives on the closeup, serves to empha¬ size his point, he said._ Rep Keeps Books Closed Despite Loss of Appeal Republic Pictures is putting up a stiff legal fight to prevent a dis¬ sident stockholders group from gaining access to the company’s books and records. Having been ordered by the N. Y. State Su¬ preme Court to make the informa¬ tion available, Republic asked the Appellate Division for permission to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals. Last week the Appel¬ late. Division denied the motion for leave to appeal to the higher court. It’s probable Republic will now go directly to the Court of Appeals asking for permission to argue its case before that court. ' Meanwhile, the Stockholders Protective Committee, of which Bernard E. Smith Jr., a Rep ‘di¬ rector, is chairman, is delaying its activities until it can gain access to the necessary records of the (Continued on page 62) BY STAFF NEEDS New York City and environs continue popular “location” sites for Hollywood - made films. During 1955, each of the major film com¬ panies shot two or three pictures, either wholly or in part, in the N. Y. metropolitan area. Current production plans indicate the pace will continue in 1956. The N. Y. filming activities of the major studios combined with telepix and confmercial film pro¬ duction in the east has resulted in peak employment for members of Local 52, Studio Mechanics Union, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The union, on occasons, has been so swamped with requests for grips, stage hands, etc., that it has re¬ cruited men from other IA locals to help with the w'ork load. Local members of the Screen Actors Guild have also been J'ble to pick up steady employment in bit and extra roles. During 1955, a total of 20 pic¬ tures associated with major com¬ panies employed the N. Y. area as a location site. To the N. Y. filming activity, Metro contributed “The Tender Trap,” “Scarlet Coat” (at Tarrytown, N. Y.) and “I’ll Cry Tomorrow.” Columbia was represented by "The Eddy Ducliin Story,” “The Harder They Fall,” “Solid Gold Cadillac,” and “Long Gray Line” (at West Point); Universal by “The World in My Corner,” “The Benny Goodman Story,” and “The Shrike”; 20th- Fox by “Seven Year Itch” and “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit”; United Artists by “Marty,” “Killfer’s Kiss,” and “Patterns”; Warner Bros, by “Miracle in the Rain” and “The Spirit of St. Louis,” and Paramount by “That Certain Feeling,” “Anything Goes,” and “The Birds and the Bees.” Metro will start location shoot¬ ing in N. Y. on “The Catered Af¬ fair,” based on Paddy Chayefsky’s teleplay, in a few days. In the lat¬ ter part of January, a Coast unit will arrive to film scenes for the Rocky Graziano film, “Somebody Up There Likes Me.” Later in the (Continued on page 27) TVs ‘Incident in an Alley Set for Manhattan Filming; Meyerberg-Kazan Swap Crews Wholesome Anna Christie Offbeat casting inay be reaching a new high with “wholesome” Doris Day to play the title role in Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie.” Hard-bitten character, a waterfront floozie, has here¬ tofore been played by dramatic actresses who chewed up the scenery. Metro’s Jules Schermer will make “Christie” into a musi¬ cal! Roitfeld: Upped Terms for French In U.S. Justified Higher guarantee demands by French producers were defended last week in New York by Georges Roitfeld of Jacques Roitfeld Pro¬ ductions, producers of “Nana”.and an upcoming pic on the “Folies Bergere.” “I know that independent dis¬ tributors in the United States have a tendency to complain about our demands and to call them unrea¬ sonable,” Roitfeld said, “but they overlook, the fact that we are to¬ day inventing very large amounts in our lilms. Wfyy shouldn’t we .ask more for them abroad, partic¬ ularly in the U.S., which is such a vast market.” Roitfeld went on to say that even the admitted instability of the mar¬ ket for imports in this country shouldn’t prevent American indies from properly gauging the value of 1 a film. “When a distributor sees a French film, and he knows that the picture can pass the censors; (Continued on page 27) Hollywood, Dec. 6. “Television is a trailer.” That’s the credo of producer Michael Meyerberg who has bought his second television drama, “In¬ cident in An Alley” for feature film treatment following the earlier “Patterns.” Television points up possibilities which the theatrical feature can then expand and improve. For one thing there are no interruptions for the sponsor’s commercials. Says Meyerberg: “On television ‘Patterns’ was an hour-long show. With the commercials, it probably ran 54 minutes. That’s all that could be done with it. We’ve ex¬ panded the basic idea so that our picture will run about 84 minutes. Consequently, several scenes that had to be shortened on tv, now achieve a new impact.” Meyerberg plans to film “Line of Duty” in New York as he did with “Patterns.” Growing amount of feature film activity there, he de¬ clares," has created a new, skilful and hard-working technical crew that gives a film producer an ad¬ vantage he never before enjoyed in the east. “I’m using the same crew Elia Kazan used in ‘On the Waterfront’,” Meyerberg said., “When they fin¬ ished with , me on ‘Patterns/ they moved back to Kazan on ‘27 Wagon Loads of Cotton.’ By the time he’s finished, I’ll be ready to go again. So for the first time, there is virtually steady employ¬ ment for these people—and we get the benefit of their continued work and growing experience.” KANSAS TAKES COUNT, ‘MOON’NOW BOOKABLE Washington, Dec.- 6. U.S. Supreme Court yesterday (5) turned thumbs down on a re¬ quest by the State of Kansas" for a” rehearing in the “Moon Is Blue” censorship case. High Court threw out the state censorship ruling which barred the film, produced by Holmby Productions and distrib¬ uted by United Artists, from that state. Kansas asked for a' reconsidera¬ tion, which the high court has just denied. epaulettes for two Jaffe, Frankovich Are Given V.P. Status In .Columbia Leo Jaffe and M. K. (Mike) frankovich have been given vice presidential epaulettes' by Colum¬ bia International. Jaffe is a v.p. of the Col parent organization as well. Frankovich recently joined the company as Managing director in Great Brit¬ ain. OUT SOON! The GOLDEN JUBILEE 50th Anniversary Number Of Forms closing shortly Usual Advertising rates prevail Special exploitation advantages Copy and space reservations may be~seftt-fo any Variety office NEW YORK 34 HOLLYWOOD 28 CHICAGO 11 LONDON. W. C. 2 154 W. 46th St. 6311 Yucca St. 612 N. Michigan Av«. 8 St. Martin's Placa Trafalgar Square Hughes’ Deadline: Must Fix ‘Jet Pilot’ By Feb. Or RKO Will Howard Hughes has until Feb. 1 to make whatever further changes he desires in “Jet Pilot,” John Wayne starrer which Hughes pro¬ duced a few years ago at a nega¬ tive cost of $4,000,000. After that, date, RKO takes over the film. This privilege was given Hughes under the deal by which General Teleradio’s Tom O’Neil bought out the company, according toi disclo¬ sures made this week by “inside” sources. The former owner was given a similar concession on “The Conqueror,” also -with Wayne. Hughes had until last month to decide on any revisions and, with this deadline having passed, RKO now has the pic set for release. The history of “Pilot” has been a strange one. RKO execs have yet to see an unreeling of it and the changes Hughes has made since it wound up first shooting have been top secret. Additional work on the production from time to time reputedly sent the budget up to its lofty level. When RKO comes into full pos¬ session of the air epic chances are the release will be held up at least still another few months. The dis¬ tributor will not want to have two Wayne pix out at the same time and “Conqueror” starts out Un February. SKOURAS TO VISIT ALL 20TH EXCHANGES Tour of all domestic exchanges to meet exhibitors and inquire into theatre and selling conditions is planned by Spyros P. Skouras, 20th-Fox prexy, early in the new year. Skouras is expected to visit the keys via a number of separate swings through the country. One of the purposes is to reestablish the 20th topper’s contacts with the theatremen. He can also be ex¬ pected to do a “selling” job on 201 h*s new 55m lensing system.