Variety (March 1956)

Wednesday, March 21, 1956 Pfis&lETY PICTCKES 3 Legit First Angle for Hecht-Lancaster Buy Rattigan's London Play, ‘Separate Tables'—Spe¬ cial Contract Clauses Precede and Condition Film ■■ « mm 0m mm mm wm mrn Hecht-Lancaster Productions, in a unique film-legit combo deal, has purchased the screen rights to Terence Rattigan's “Separate Ta¬ bles” for a minimum of $250,000. Further, Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster will join in sponsorship of the click London play on Broad¬ way in association with Robert Whitehead, Roger Stevens and Robert Dowling. Gotham opening is planned for next fall. Hecht and Lancaster film part¬ nership has had such pictures as “Apache.” “Vera Cruz,” “Kentuck¬ ian” and “Marty,” all substantial profit-makers. They’ll make their legit debut with “Tables.” Each partner saw the Rattigan legiter in London—it’s in its sec¬ ond year at the St. James Theatre —and mapped plans to sew it up. Under the agreement set by Har¬ old Friedman, as Rattigan’s agefrt, the 250G purchase price could go higher if the N. Y. version of the play draws top grosses over a long haul, the escalator specifics being unknown. As part of the arrange¬ ment, Rattigan will do the screen¬ play, working in Hollywood.' Money for the film rights goes to Rattigan, the British manage¬ ment and the American company. Meaning a small portion of it will revert to Hecht and Lancaster since they’re a part of the Yank operation. Film cannot be released until the play runs its course both in Gotham and on the road. White- head, Stevens and Dowling will have no part fcf the pic. Capitalization for the play will be albng the usual private-investor lines. “Tables” in present form is two separate stories under the one title. These will be intertwined in the film script. Scripts 20th Stockpiling to Avoid Harried Releases Plans to “stockpile” scripts and finished films so as to avoid the rushing of pictures from 4 the studio into the theatres were laid during his Coast visit, Spyros P. Skouras, 20th-Fox prexy, told the homeoffice staff last week. Skouras reported that, by fall, there should be a sufficient ac¬ cumulation of properties to facili¬ tate their merchandising along customtailorcd lines and to assure exhibitors of a steady flow of pix, released at their most advantage-' ous time in terms of their story bne, etc. Quality of 20th’s spring and summer lineup was praised by oKouras who, during his 10-day ?/. ay ™ the Coast, also huddled with Buddy Adler, acting studio cmef on Adler’s new contract, weal has been virtually worked out (Continued on page 14) PERONS’-DEBUtaG FILM DUE IN U. S. A. de Peron Y Evita” a. 16 ?? yth of Peron and Evita), hnPP tine P°titical documentary rni- a s an expose of the Peron h as been acquired for U.S. distribution bv Cy Bronstein of 4 rt Sales - Film, which runs ightly less than an hour, consists Primarily of newsreel shots, some 1 it undoubtedly made under the Peron regime. Main strength of the pic, now oeing fitted with an English nar- ation, is the proof it presents, of he wealth amassed by Peron and /ate wife even as they posed i e . champions , of Argentine orkers. There ate shots of Evita's (Continued on page 49) COLUMBIA SUPERSTITIOUS Happened One Night’ Turns Out Something Else Columbia’s experience with the recent musical remake of “My Sis¬ ter Eileen” is apparently making the film company cautious in se¬ lecting titles for similar conver¬ sions. “Eileen,” released under its original title, failed to dent the boxoffice and some Col execs felt the reason was due to audience familiarity with the title and the feeling among the public that it might have seen the picture be¬ fore. As a consequence, Col is taking no chances with “It Happened One Night,” the 1934'Academy Award winner (Clark Ghble and Claudette Colbert) being remade into a mod¬ ern musical version with June Ally- son and Jack Lemmon. Despite a stiff fight put up by production personnel (including director Dick Powell), the sales and pub-ad staff triumphed and “It Happened One Night” will*be released in its new form under the title of “You Can’t Run Away From It,” the title of one of the songs in the film. During its productioh stages, it was re¬ ferred to under the working title of “Night Bus.” Gunthers ‘Africa Into Film Fiction Screen rights to John Gunther’s “Inside Africa” have been acquired by producer Herbert Kline who ex¬ pects to give certain key episodes in the book a fictionalized treat¬ ment. Kline said last week that three or four writers would be employed to do the various sequences which will be lensed on location in Africa. He himself is doing the adaptation now. Associated with Kline in the filming of the book will be Frank Nugent who is already at work on one of the key episodes with a Moroccan background. Lee Garmes will handle the camerawork and Alex Hamid, w.k. lenser, also will be in on the project as Kline’s as¬ sociate. Producer said Gunthef may do some writing for the film. Pic should roll towards the end of the year and will be in color. New widescreen process is being considered for the venture. Nugent and the other scripters will go to Africa during the year to absorb local color. Kline, who has a strong documentary background (“Forgot¬ ten Village,” etc.) and has pro¬ duced features on the Coast, is huddling with various distributors on the film. Hakims’ Parisian Remake Of Hugo’s 'Hunchback’ Omits Notre Dame Tag In a tieup with Allied Artists,. French producers Robert and Ray¬ mond Hakim, start rolling in Paris April 16 with a Cinemascope ver¬ sion of “Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Title is simply “The Hunchback,” the full nomenclature of the Victor Hugo classic being held by RKO. Property is public domain but RKO has rights to the name via its registration with the Motion Picture Assn, of America. Producer Pandro Berman made an adaptation for RKO in 1939 with Charles Laughton in the lead. It was a Lon Chaney starrer at Uni- Hollywood, March 20. Following its longtime custom, Daily Variety here is predicting the winners of the annual Academy Awards in advance of their official disclosure tomorrow (Wed.) night over NBC-TV. In recent years the prognosis has been on the button, last year being 100% accurate. In its eight years of publishing, these predictions have an .870 batting average. For this year’s predictions a new sampling technique has been adopted giving voters a chance tu go beyond the official nominations, significant in light of dispute this year that a number of outstanding creative talents were not put up as nominees. Daily Variety ex¬ perimented with various polling techniques. While broadened this year for the first time beyond the Academy’s own eligibles, the straw poll has been strictly confined within the film industry. Ballots went to 2,250 within production plus ?50 key exhibitors around country. Of these mailings the response, remarkably high for any (Continued on page 4) BRITISH GOV’T ALOOF TO U.S. MARKET WOES London, March 20. The British government today (Tues.) flatly rejected the proposi¬ tion that it should interject itself into the problems being faced by British films in the U. S. Spokesman for the Board of , Trade declined to initiate a meet- I ing in Washington to discuss the situation, stating that the promo¬ tion of British film in the Ameri¬ can market was not a subject of negotiations between governments, but rather between the producers and the American exhibitors. BOT spokesman also nixed a demand for reciprocity in circuit bookings, indicating that the An¬ glo-American film agreement al¬ ready provided an incentive for U. S. distribs to acquire British product for the Western hemi¬ sphere. He added it was the dis¬ tribs’job to persuade exhibitors to show these films. Another Plum for O’Neils Revealed; , RKO Has $18,647229 Tax Loss’ MOLLIFY STOCKHOLDERS RKO Theatres Needled Out of Wilmingon Annual Meeting Professional hecklers at stock¬ holders’ meetings will regard as welcome a change in the RKO The¬ atres by-laws directing a shift in the company’s annual meeting from Wilmington to New York. The minority holders with the barbed questions are based in and around Gotham and infrequently can man¬ age a trip out of town for any com¬ pany’s conclave. The RKO chain’s meeting will be held in N. Y. beginning next year. This year, as in past, it’s to take place in Wilmington the second week of April. Jan. ’56 Dividend Reports Top ’55 Washington, March 20. Publicly reported industry divi¬ dends for January were $1,451,000, a strong increase over the $921,000 for the same month of 1955. The company payments, as re¬ ported by the U. S. Dept. Com¬ merce:—RKO Theatres, $788,000, compared with $649,000 for Janu¬ ary 1955. Columbia Pictures, $297,- 000; the company did not pay its quarter dividend in January 1955. District Theatres, $15,000 each time. Republic Pictures, $100,000 each year. Allied Artists, $187,000 in January 1956; and $87,000 in Jan¬ uary 1955. Chesapeake Industries, $121,000 this January: nothing the year before. Guild Films, which produces 16m pix for television, cut a $70,000 stockholder melon this January; nothing a year earlier. Commerce Dept, figures the pub¬ licly reported dividends in an in¬ dustry represent about 60 to .65% of all dividends paid. National Boxoffice Survey Storms Slough Biz; ‘Picnic' No. 1 for 5th Round, ‘Carousel' 2d, ‘Holiday' 3d, ‘Oklahoma’ 4th Heavy snowstorms, biggest snow¬ fall in four years or more, in some areas, is pulling down gross totals currently. Storms also cut into biz in other areas but overly-extended longruns, Lent and income tax woes are being blamed for dwind¬ ling biz in many locations. “Picnic” (Col) Is holding the lead nationally for fifth successive session although playing mainly on extended-run or holdover engage¬ ments. Second place is going to “Carousel” (20th), which moves up from fourth spot of a week ago. Additional openings helped this pic. “Cinerama Holiday” (Indie) is winding up in third position, same as last stanza. “Oklahoma” (Mag¬ na)),. listed for only the second week, is pushing up .to fourth place as compared with sixth in the pre¬ vious round. “Rose Tattoo” (Par) will wind up fifth while “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” (M-G) is slipping to sixth spot. It was fifth last week. “Backlash” (U), out to any ex¬ tent for the first time this stanza, is copping seventh position. “Con¬ queror” (RKO), which was seventh a week ago, is winding up eighth. “Invasion of Body Snatchers” (AA) is ninth while “Court Jester” (Par) is finishing 10th. versal in the silent screen era. “Doctor at Sea” (Rep) and Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollo- /“Diabolique” (UMPO) are the run- brigida are the stars of the Hakims’ Wrup pix in that order, version. Ben Hecht did the screen- .Besides “Backlash,” which may play. AA, sharing in production ‘be heard from additionally in the (Continued on page 14) future, there are several newcom¬ er:: which show promise. “Meet Me in Las Vegas” (M-G) looms as most promising of the lot. It is socko in Buffalo, smash in N.Y., good in Pitt and solid in St. Louis. “Rich¬ ard III” (Indie) hints nice pros¬ pects. being stout in N.Y. and rous¬ ing in Washington. “Rock Around Clock” (Col) also reveals possibilities based on its showing currently. It is hotsy in Minneapolis, fair in Philly. good in Denver and great in Seattle. “Kettles in Ozarks” (U) is rated fancy in K.C. “Our Miss Brooks” (WB) continues disappointing. It is okay in Omaha and good in Bos¬ ton but fair in Balto, mild in Port¬ land and dull in Seattle. “Last Hunt” (M-G) is rated drab in Frisco, slow in Denver and Indi¬ anapolis, and mild in both N.Y. and Seattle. “Come Next Spring” (Rep) is good in Louisville but not in two other keys. “Threshold of Space” (20th) is fair in both LA. and Buffalo. “For¬ ever Darling” (M-G) is rated mod¬ est in Cincy and - mild in Omaha. “Never Say Goodbve” <U) is mild in Philly 'and N.Y. but good in Frisco. “Golden Arm” (UA) is stout in L.A. "Battle Stations” (Col), smash in Chi, is good in-Detroit and fair in Cleveland. “All Heavens Allows” (U) looks smash in Montreal. “Prisoner” (Col) is fine in Chi and Baltq and okay in Philly and Frisco. {Complete Boxoffice. Reports on Pages 8-9) "t" Suspected but until now unveri¬ fied factor behind Tom O’Neil’s purchase of RKO Radio Pictures from Howard Hughes is that the company has a deficit on its books of $18,647,229 which can be ap¬ plied against future earnings for tax purposes. Thus, profits up to that level in the future will not be subject to the Internal Revenue bite. This was disclosed in corporate data this week and came as a sur¬ prise to the trade. It had been understood in past that all tax ben¬ efits from the RKO losses over the past several years would accrue to the RKO holding,company which is now largely owned by Atlas Corp., headed by Floyd Odium, and Hughes. The picture outfit last year had loss of $418,556. A carryover deficit of the past brings the total to the figure of $18,647,229 which, in the opinion of the company’s counsel, can be applied as a setoff against future earnings. Corporate tax is 26% on capital gains and 52% on income from operations. Ed Rowley Thinks Theatres Operate T 00 .OM Style Ed Rowley, vet southwest theatre owner and head of the Robb & Rowley chain which is now part of the United Artists Theatre Circuit, has his own views on the whyfore of downbeat of film theatre busi¬ ness. The executive, veepee of UA Theatres likens it to the advent of the supermarkets and the in¬ roads made on the nondescript corner grocery-stores. “Picture houses are no different excepting we still expect the people to come (Continued on page 16) TfiRiETY Trade Mark Registered FOUNDED 1905 by SIME SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VARIETY, INC Harold Erichs. President 154 West 46th St. New York 36, N. 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