Variety (April 1957)

Vedneeday,. April" 3, 1957 United Artists' Gross & Frofit [1951 THROUGH 1956] Geneva, April 2. »r The “International • Entertain- A . _ c V . T j ment Workers” was tentatively or- Actor oal&ries Lied ganized here last week when 34 To Upped Admish delegates of theatrical media labor ■■■ unions in Europe, North and South 1 —- : America and Asia set up a prepara- . Tokyo; April 2. tory, committee of 16 at the Inter- The 1953 “five-firm agreement” •national tabor Office, relic of- the, drawn up by Toho, Shintoho, Daiei, League of Nations. Irving Bfown, ghochiku and Toei is expected to the AFL-CIO travelling envoy who be dissolved when the Japan Mo- headquarters in Paris, became a. tion Picture Producers* Federation member. is established shortly. This new International will The agreement was pacteft to the evolve into one of the 20 ;odd “sec- five majors to keep the newly- retariats” (mostly, administered formed Nikkatsu company from from various European centres) raiding their studios for stars, which (a) set up world-wide ex- The new organization will have changes of data pertaining to labor ag itg mem b e rs the aforementioned and (b) operate a reciprocity of q U f n t e t plus Nikkatsu, Tokyo Eiga, -favors, unfair lists and so on among i£y 0 f 0 Eiga and Takarazuka Eiga. craft workers in the different na- L ag ^ f our are non-members of tions. Such secretariats operate j apan Motion Picture League with their own funds and autono- f ounded i n 1945 . mously, but depend upon, and -npak'for affiliated bodies CThe The new federation will aim at secretariat idea is 100 years old — expanding markets, setting .up nothing recently ln V cnted.-Ed.) ■ New organization has political aga i ns t the move to restrict the- .significance and timing since the a j- re scre ening time. thos^of 1 France “and were The five firm agreement back- finally disillusioned with Commu- hiked^ evCntuallv nism after the Russians massacred f the Hungarian workers last Jeadmg to increased theatre ad- fall. “International Entertainment „.•« al1nw Workers" is within the_ family of .Jhe new' federaUon *“ow The new federation will allow the International Confederation of Free Trade "Unions whose offices by any ofthe nine members. Com¬ are in Brussels, Belgium.« panies expect salaries of stars to be thereby reduced. Previous agree- The purpose of the group or- men f restricted activities of actors. ganized here last week is to pro- .. _* tect performers’ economic and so- -cial interests and promote the anti- UCMA Tfi PRnnilPFRS* •totalitarian principles of the Con- iTlLlUU iU I IWl/U vLilW). - The anti-Communistic stress is INTUITION OBSOLETE not accidental since Europeans, Hot Springs, Ark., April 2. along with Hollywood and Broad- Producers can no longer rely on 'way* have been taught that the “intuition”; they must be more party-liners constantly seek to re- care f U i in selecting their, subject cruit members, fronts or catspaws ma tter before production begins among the arts. The film studios on a picture. This advice to Holly- ©f Rome and Paris until recently WO od was given yesterday (Mon.) openly reeked of pro-Soviet senti- by George Kerasotes in an address merit -among the crews. This has here before the annual convention substantially changed because of of the' Independent Theatre Own- the'aforesaid disillusionment. (Die- ^ rs of Arkansas. tutorships of Spain, Portugal, Do- “We have a ‘tough audience’ minican Republic, etc., are not eli- which is very* Elective and has gible either.—EdJ many activites to compete for its Next Steps leisure' time,” Kerasotes said. “We The two immediate steps which must know our fan and tailor our the preparatory committee of 16 production for this market. I?ro- has in mind are these: duction is too costly and there pre S}) Confirmation of theatrical too many fatalities due to poor craft union support. For the U. S. judgment and planning.” this means _ an active courting of . Kerasotes contended that the Actors Equity, American Guild of problem of the product shortage Variety Artists k and so on. Amer- could be eased “if the pictures lean Federation of Musicians and now produced were more playable the International Alliance of The- and had the ingredients of box- atrical Stage Employees are al- office.” He cited specifically “The ready pretty well committed. Barretts of Wimpole Street” ( 2 ) A founding congress will w hi c h he said might have been be -convened within six months m a ppealing in 1930. However, he some European city to be desig- stressed that today’s audience nated. At that, point the “Interna- wants “Rock Pretty Baby.” tional Entertainment Workers” “The producer,” he pointed out, twhichhps a paper backing at pres- “should know his audience before ent oi 750,000 workers in 10'coun- b e expends his production budget, tries) will presumably become a j s a imost impossible for dis- reality and a staff would, come into tribution and exhibition to sell^a existence. movie when the movie fan has no Some of Problems interest in the story and the sub- existence. movie when the movie fan has no Some of Problems interest in the story and the sub- Apparently the only previous j ec t matter, no matter how well story about the plans set afoot here the technical end is developed and in Geneva last week was that pub- consummated. It will not succeed lished m Variety' March 13 under $ j s no t appe aling to our audi- the banner “Global Talent Secre- ence *» tariat.” That story mentioned as • Noting the need for pictures that growing problems about which a p pe >l to yopfig pepple - and craft unions were anxious to or- w omert, Kerasotes urged; producers gamze internationally, currency to jh^ke use bf resbarph and ,analy- takeout in various frozen countries, sis 0 f public opinion and .trends the occasional problem of interna- before, they embarked -op their tional stranding of talent and production programs. ° crews, the difficulties of negotiating _; working permits in some lands, the non-uniformity of practice from country to country as regards in¬ come tax, severance pay practice and social security measures. Typically, international labor sec¬ retariats work closely with the for¬ eign offices of free countries and seek to write into treaties (i.e., conventions) definitions of rights and privileges and methods of prac¬ tical punishment of chisSlers. N. Y. to l. a. • Annemarie Dueringer Alfred C. Edwards L. Wolfe Gilbert Raoul Levy Julie London N. Richard Nash Debra Paget Leslie Stevens Roger Vadim N. Y. to Europe Claudio Arrau Nate J. Blumberg Jean Cameron Harold Erichs Gracie Fields Leon Fromkes James W. Gardiner Jean Goldwurm Joan Greenwood Manny Gurian Julie Harris Bob Hope ' Claude Horton Alphonse Hustrei Irying R. Levine, Bernard ,Luber J. Carrol Naish Harry Novak Mortimer S. Rosenthal Thomas Scherman Berl Senofsky Forrest Tucker Shulman’s Unpublished Novel Ta 20th-Fex at Record $250,000 Tag Hollywood, April 2. Max Shulman’s “Rally Round the Flag, Boys,” was purchased by 20th-Fox for a flat • $250,000, be¬ lieved to be a record price for an unpublished comedy novel. Tome will be issued by Doubleday this spring with an initial print order of 100,000 copies. “Flag” will ne personally pro¬ duced by Buddy Adler who hopes to cast Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and William Holden in key roles. Yarn, bought from galley proofs, is about commuters whose New England home area becomes the site of an A rm y Nike base. ZANUCK DIRECTS PARIS SCENES FOR‘SUN RISES’ Paris, April 2. Darryl F. Zanuck is really put¬ ting his recent statement, the fact that he is a picture maker again, into literal effect here. He is now directing a few Parisian scenes for his indie production for 20th-Fox, “The Sun Also Rises” with Tyrone Power and Eddie Albert. Though story, based on Ernest Heming¬ way’s old novel, takes place in Paris and Spain it will be shot pri¬ marily in Hollywood and Mexico. Zanuck is racking, up the .needed Paris., exteriors for Henry King who is setting up the production in Hollywood and Mexico. Zanuck informed Variety he has no inten¬ tion of turning director as such. MOSS BUYS 55th ST. ARTIE Future Policy Undecided—May Further Tighten Showcasing. • B. S. Moss circuit is taking over the 55th St. Playhouse in Manhat¬ tan from Cy Harvey starting July 1. ' For the time being, the house Will be continued on a firstrun for¬ eign film policy. . Charles B, Moss, who operates the Criterion among other houses, said the 55th. St. Theatre would be refurbished. Question of the eventual house policy hasn’t been decided yet, he indicated. Harvey, who heads up JanuS Films, said he was signing over the 55th St. Playhouse, which he’s had for a year, to concentrate on dis¬ tribution. He’s currently on the Coast, setting the firstrun date on the Swedish picture,-“Time of De¬ sire.” If the 55th St. is taken off the “aft” market, it’ll serve to further tighten the already tight booking Situation for imports in Manhat¬ tan. It’s understood that, in addi¬ tion to taking over the lease 1 , a siz- . able cash consideration was in- ! volved in the takeover of the 55th 1 St. situation by Moss. - * [ Selling’s 2d% of Profits L Hollywood, April 2. “The Bronze Star,” by Rod Ser¬ ving, has been bought by Bartlett- ; Champion Pictures, and Serling L will receive 20% of ..the. profits for 5 his original ahcHscreenplay. He ; will, begin the screenplay 5 after his current- scripting chfttes r on “Three. Guns,” Robert Taylor starrer, at Metro. v Europe to N. Y. Juliette Greco Gerard Philippe L. A. to n. Y. Lauren Bacall Theodore Bikel Jerry Bresler " Rosemary Clooney Martin Davis William Dozier Y. Frank Freeman Radie Harris Oscar Homolka Ted Post George Seaton Norman Siegel Bianca Stroock James Stroock Elizabeth Taylor Joan Tetzel Danny Thomifs Mike Todd The lid is off the “vital statistics’’ at United Artists; official figures disclosed this week show the company’s gross revenues and net profits have moved upward each year for the past six years. Earnings after taxes amounted to $3,lt)6,00Q ©n gross income, of $64,771,000 in 1956. That the gross was in that area was previously made known but the net, which , is regarded as surprisingly tall, has lust been revealed. Progress made by the independent company is shown in the break¬ down for the five years prior to 1956, as follows; / , ' \. ■ - Gross Net profit Income After taxes 1951 . $20,136,000 $ 313,000 1952 .... 29,468,000 414,000 1963 ... -38,893,600* 621,000* 1954 .... 43,837,000 899,000 ’ 1955 ..’.. .. 54,470,000 2,682,000 t* Does not include « profit of $1,897,000 on t ' * . company.) > of ail investment in an^ affiliated It was, at'the beginning of 1951 that the present owner-management team headed by president Arthur B. Krim and board chairman Robert S. Benjamin took over. They brought the company into black-ink in that first year_after three years of deficit operations. Figures on gross and net over the six years were unveiled in connec¬ tion with UA’s registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission covering a proposed public offering of common stock and debentures later this month. Moving into public ownership for the first^time in its history- UA is marketing 350.000 shares of common stock at a reported offering price of $20 per share and $ 10 , 000,000 of 6 % convertible subordinated debentures due in 1969. Upon sals of the'stock, the “insider” group will still retain a sub¬ stantial majority of the outstanding issue. Geniuses, Egomaniacs and Money __ Bosley Crowther in ‘The Lion’s Share’ Writes Fact- Packed History, of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer By ROBERT J. LANDRY America’s most glamorous indus¬ try—and the one which glamour¬ ized America to the rest of the world—was long “paced” by the prestige, the track record and the clustered stars of one particular company. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Its symbol was a lion, less to top the old Pathe rooster thari-because of the coincidence of Columbia U., where Howard Dietz went, being a lion-guarded campus. Hence the title of the just-published biogra¬ phy of MGM written by Bosley Crowther, film critic of the N. Y. Times. “The Lion’s Share” is, to con¬ tinue the zoological allusion, very meaty, and blood, as well as gold, flows through* the facts-packed ac¬ count. The bloodied heads , along the way were many, ,up to and finally including LouiA B.“ Mayer himself, long the head keeper: . As factual -as the Times, and bal¬ anced, Crowther’s text nonetheless has.its favorite characters—like a novelist has his. Irving Thalberg is surely the “nicest” of the gallery of egotists ^at the studio, as the critic paints'the portrait, though'it is made entirely clear that under the velvet glove of the soft-spoken Thalberg was a dollar-clutching grasp of steely fingers. One feels that after Thalberg the author ad¬ mired most Dore Schary, The book ends with Schary “thrown to the wolves” of dissenting stock¬ holders, just the other day. Crowther seems rather partial to Norma Shearer, too, and makes Joan Crawford out to be a you- knowwhat in a little backstage scene during “The Women,” the implication being /that Crawford waited until Miss Shearer was a widow to give her the needles (lit¬ erally with clacking knitting nee¬ dles during a line rehearsal). As befits a -Times man the au-' thor descends to no scandal for its own sake but where it illumines the environment he turns on the lights. It will hardly surprise any¬ body who has served time in Hol¬ lywood to be reminded that in the old claw and fang* days, the con¬ sidered insult And the calculated snub - were widely practiced though* perhaps it remained true, even in the film colony, that the most authentic rudeness is always unintentional. Crowther’s prose style is admir¬ ably lucid and the research (which he generously Credits to a girl from radio, Harriet Davis Dryden) tires the knowing imagination even to** contemplate. In Crowth¬ er’s words “no one volume could contain it all.” His own manu¬ script had to be slashed- by* 50,000 words to stay inside the 320-page E. P. Dutton volume, retailed at $5. • Omitted from the narrative are the details of the nasty reign of Willie Bioff and the disgraceful cowardice of all the .film studios at that period. Metro’s own cynical attitude of compliance with labor racketeer blackmail was par for the Hollywood course at the time. When the can of worms was finally aired it put Joe Schenck behind Federal bars for four months. Skipped over, too, is the relatively “tradey” issue of Metro. and the exhibitors-r-the cultivated role of “The Friendly Company” (which some skeptics punned into “the fiendly company”). Necessarily readers within ‘ the film industry itself will look for interludes which Crowther has not included. ~No matter that. The re¬ port is full-to-overflowing of data and insight Crowther has, to be sure, submerged the 'critic in the historian. He keeps his train on the rails of the record but fre¬ quently note? the topography of the passing terrain. ‘The Difficult and the Proud’ What net impressions emerge from this marshalling of “the story? Surely that the.Loew-Metro bunch were ever as vital and resourceful as some ' individuals * were over- weeningly arrogant. Again and again it is brought home that the mothers/.of these men reared no weak-willed characters. Like Dave Selznick there were guys at Metro who were “difficult and proud of it.” Quarrelsome, opinionated, in¬ cessantly acquisitive these mer¬ chants of entertainment were fan¬ tastically generous to themselves in self-arranged compensation deals but at the same time they had, until recently, an unexcelled run of dividend payments. Preponderantly Crowther deals with the Culver City studio and its 4,000 employes, a never-never land. He opens his camera periodically to panto the' American economy generally and the other film com¬ panies. Special attention is given the. weird figure of William Fox, who tried to swallow Metro whole and nearly succeeded. Crowther’s reprise Of the Fox raids in the film industry reminded this reviewer of the old Wall' Street proverb, “Be a bull,* or be a bear, but don’t be a hog.” Obviously Dutton’s is aiming at an audience of “civilians” and for them Crowther has literally crowd¬ ed the chapters with names. Again the question, what net impressions emerge? And the answer seems this: many . of^ the figures star- dusted by Metro are the authentic folklore of 20th Century America. For example: Garbo, the inscrut¬ able immigrant; Lon Chaney, Whose actors’ creed took shape in Hindu-like .disfigurement;! Gable, the indestructible' libido of femi¬ nine daydreaming; John Gilbert, the lover they laughed at when be opened his mouth; Mae Murray, the automatic waltz cue; Marion Davies, “the friend of a friend. Growther’s opening material on Marcus L*>ew and the early penny (Continued on page 94)