Variety (April 1957)

Vednesday^ jpyll 1957» PICTURES 11 t'SniE’rr 111 FILM EXECS Favorites (Mostly) Carry Off Oscars [BUT THERE WERE STRANGE TWISTS THIS YEAR] By FRED HIFT While this year finding very little fault with Oldsmobile com* mercial the sponsorship aspects of the Academy Awards telecast last Wednesday (27), industry execs in Gotham agreed pretty unanimous¬ ly on a different beef: It was just a plain dull show. Most showmen asked to give their reaction had a difficult time pinning down their reasons for the negative response. There was sub¬ stantial agreement that m.c. Jerry Lewis was something less than hilarious, even though it was al¬ lowed that he worked with an ex¬ ceedingly “cold" and unresponsive audience. ' Others felt that the show this year simply lacked suspense in the categories that counted. Several repeated a suggestion that's been made almost ever since the Awards have been telecast, i.e., that the show be held to one hour, with the technical awards handed out off-the-air, or at least with no more fuss than the reading off of names. “Frankly, does anyone among the public care who did the best soundeffects last year?" was one response. Said another: “They should just cut out the technical credits and restrict the show to the top cate¬ gories in which people'are inter¬ ested. With some more entertain¬ ment thrown in, this could be a really |:ood show, particularly with all those famous faces in evidence." There was widespread criticism of Dorothy Malone's gigglingly garrulous performance in accepting her Oscar as best supporting ac¬ tress. “I felt embarrassed for her," commented one indus.tryite. Re the inclusion of the technical awards, the argument- was made that this wasn't a show put on for the public but, rather, that -it was an occasion on which the public was privileged to look in on an in¬ dustry affair. On that basis, point was made that the Academy had every'right to honor the “men be¬ hind the screen” at that' time. Others say that the show is spon¬ sored, and that this in itself im¬ poses on the Academy a respon¬ sibility to keep the event from be¬ coming a dull affair. ‘CALYPSO'JOE’ WARNS AA ON TITLE USE Honolulu, April 2. ^ Bill Matons, who's billed himself as Calypso Joe for 18 years, isn’t cheering Allied Artists’ announced film, “Calypso Joe." He says he's had his lawyer write the studio a letter demanding how Come? Entertainer-promoter says he’s spent lots of money building up the name and figures he has earned exclusive right to the title. Matons notes that he has regis¬ tered the name Calypso Joe with the Territory, his supper restau¬ rant is known as Calypso Joe’s, its owning corporation is Marian- Calypsd Joe Ltd., he’s copyrighted songs under the name Calypso Joe, and in 1951 he registered a' screen script with- the Screen Writers Guild under the title “Calypso. Joe’s Calypso Club Trinidad.” Wobber’s Catholic Appeal Ad for 20th’s ‘Heaven’ San Francisco, April 2. Twentieth Century-Fox took two- column ad in weekly archdiocesan paper, The Monitor, last weekend to plug ^'Heaven Knows, Mr. Alli¬ son" and its Legion of Decency rating. Ad reads: “We are proud to have merited the § Legion of Decency's A-1 family rating for our new Cinema-Scope and color hit, *Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'.” Ad names Northern California theatres film is now playing—and,, Js sighed by Herman Wobber, 20tli’s western divisional manager. Hollywood, April 2. Three dark-horse winners pro¬ vided the stretch excitement in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts' 29th annual'Oscar race which was marred this year by boo-boos, can¬ cellations and threatened legal hassles. Most of the top categories, however, followed expectations with “Arouhd the World in 80 Days" named the Best Picture and Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner winning the nod as the Best Actress and Best Actor, of the year. Academy upbuild got off on the wrong foot at nominations time when a Bowery Boys picture, “High Society,” was nominated for Best Original Story in the mis¬ taken belief that the nomination was going to Metro’s “High So¬ ciety,” a remake of “Philadelphia Story." Also nominated, but ruled ineligible, was Michael Wilson for the screenplay of Allied Artists’ “Friendly Persuasion." Academy debarred Wilson because he had been an unfriendly Red probe wit¬ ness, “High Society" subsequently was withdrawn~leaving two writing categories with only four nominees each for the first time in Academy history. One of the upsets was in the Best Original Screenplay category, the award going' to Albert Lamorisse for “The Red Balloon.” Robert Lewin had been favored for “The Bold and the Brave," his first screenwriting- entry. There w*as added irony in the “Balloon" vic¬ tory since producer Ilya Lopert had been incensed at the Academy for putting the fiirrvin the feature category rather than treating it as a short*. Other two upsets were in Best Supporting Actor and Best Song category, the former, going to An¬ thony Quinn (“La Strada”) over the pre-race favorite Robert Stack, and the latter going to “Whatever Will Be,” which edged out “Friend¬ ly Persuasion." George Stevens won the Best Direction award, as* foreshadowed, Pull Back ‘Untamed’; Re-Edit WB Feature To Duck legion C-Tag Warner Brothers’ “Untamed Youth” has been withdrawn from circulation for “reediting” and now is due to be issued again the end- of April. Official version is that the Mamie Van Doren starred was being pull¬ ed “to make it tighter." However, it’s understood that ' disapproval from the Legion of Decency had a good deal to do with the yanking,, which extended also to trailers and ads. ' •The picture has a seal from the Production Code. Thus, it’s theo¬ retically in the same category as “Baby, Doll." However, WB pre¬ sumably didn’t think “Untamed Youth" important enough to. get into ‘another hassle with the Le¬ gion. Legion of late has been tighten¬ ing up again, handing out large number of “B”—Objectionable in Part for All-ratings. Last weekly Legion report showed 13 films in the “B" classification. ■ BOSTON’S EMBASSY CO. FEEDS 400 EXHIBITORS Boston, April 2. With some 400 exhibs from all over New England as luncheon guests, Embassy Pictures Corp. puts on a hard sell for all Embassy product at Sidney Hill Country Club Tuesday (9) at noon. Joe Le¬ vine, prexy of Embassy, will intro Jim Nicholson of American Inter¬ national, who flys in from the coast for the date; Budd Rogers of RKO; and Terry Turner and other- film execs. George Kraska, Embassy press chief, sent glassed frames with dollar bills emblazoned in gold, “It’s clear to- see Embassy Has That Midas Touch." and Dorothy Malone won the trophy as best supporting actress. Five Wins Each “80 Days" and “King and I” split honors as the winners of the most awards for the year, each getting five wins. Technically, “King and I" was the victor since one of its awards, for art direction, carries with it additional Oscars for set decoration. In addition to the'“King and I" trophies, 20th copped' the Best Actress award and the Irving Thal- berg award, which went to Buddy Adler; giving the studio the victory in the company sweepstakes, with a total of seven awards. United Artists was in second place with five, thanks to “80 Days." ‘ Special awards this year went to Eddie Cantor for his years of serv¬ ice to the industry as an “ambassa¬ dor of goodwill" and the first an¬ nual Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award went to Paramount’s Y. Frank Freeman. Outstanding Production "AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS,' Michael Todd. Co., Inc., United Artists Michael Todd, Producer. „ „ Best Actress INGRID BERGMAN, “Anastasia," 20th Best Actor YUL BRYNNER, “The King and I,” 20th- Fox. Best Supporting Actress DOROTHY MALONE, “Written on the Wind," U. Best Supporting Actor ANTHONY QUINN,- “Lust for Life," Metro. Best Direction “GIANT/* Giant Production, Warners, George Stevens. Best Motion Picture Story “THE BRAVE ONE," King Bros., RKO, Robert Rich. Best Screenplay (Adapted) “AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS," James Poe, John Farrow, S. J. Ferel- . man. Best Screenplay (Original) “THE RED BALLOON." Films Montsourls, Lopert *Films Distributing Corp. • (French). Albert Lamorisse. Cinematography (Black and White) .. “SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME,” Metro. Joseph Rhttenberg Cinematography (Color) “AROUND THE WORLD IN'80 DAYS," Lionel Lindon. Best Original Song “WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE" (QUE SERA SERA), “The Man Who Knew Too Much/* Fllwite Productions, Inc., Paramount, Music and Lyrics, Jay Liv¬ ingston, Ray Evans. . Best Score of e Drama or Comedy “AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS/* Victor Young. „ . _ Beit Scoring of a Musical THE KING AND I," Alfred Newman, Ken Darby. Art Direction (Black and White) “SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME,” Metro. Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm F. Brown. Art Direction (Color) “THE KING AND I," Lyle R. Wheeler, John DeCulr. Set Decorations (Black and White) “SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME/’ Metro. Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Glea¬ son. Set Decoration (Color) “THE KING AND I," 20th-Fox. Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox. Costume Designing (Black and White) “THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC,” Colum¬ bia. Jean Louis. Costume Designing (Color) “THE KING AND I/' Irene Sharaff. Special Effects “THE 10 COMMANDMENTS," Motion Pic¬ ture Associates, Inc., Paramount. John P. Fulton. ^ Sound Recording "THE KING AND I." Carl FaulkneY. Best Foreign Language Film “LA STRADA,” Pontl-DeLaurentiis. Dino DeLaurentiis, Carlo Pontl, Producers. Film Editing “AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS," Gene Ruggiero, Paul Weatherwax. Short Subiects (One-Reel) “CRASHING THE WATER BARRIER." Warners. Konstantin Kaiser, Producer. Short Subiects (Two-Reel) “THE BESPOKE OVERCOAT," George K. Arthur, Romulus, Producer. Short Subiects (Cartoon) “MISTER MAGOO’S PUDDLE JUMPER," U.P.A. Pictures, Columbia. Stephen Bosustow, Producer. Documentaries (Feature) "THE SILENT WORLD." A Filmad- F.S.J.Y.C. Production (French), Colum¬ bia. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer. Documentaries (Short) “THE TRUE STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR,” Camera Eye Pictures, Inc. Louis Clyde Stoumen, Producer. Clast III RANGERTONE, INC., Richard II. Ranger, development of a synchronous record¬ ing and reproducing system for quar¬ ter-inch magnetic tape. CONSOLIDATED FILM INDUSTRIES. Tod Hirsch, Carl Hauge, Edward Relchavd, automatic scene counter for laboratory projection rooms. PARAMOUNT, technical departments, engineering and development of the Paramount lightweight horizontal-move¬ ment Vista Vision camera. PARAMOUNT (in collaboration with ROY C. STEWART & SONS), Dr. C. R. Dailv, transparency department, engineering and development of the HiTrans' and Para-HiTrans rear projection screens. METRO, construction department, new hand-portable fog machine. REPUBLIC, Daniel J. Bloomberg. John Pond, William Wade, engineering and camera departments, Naturama adapta¬ tion to the Mitchell camera. CANADIAN PROVINCE’S ADMISSIONS SLUMP Edmonton, Alta., April 2. Admissions to “places of amuse¬ ment" in Alberta last year de¬ clined by more than 3,500,000 from 1955, according to the annual re¬ port of the provincial secretary. Most of the loss was probably by film theatres. , The report showed a drop in total admissions of 18.5% to 15,- 481,023 after a 10% decline in 1955. However, provincial taxes on amusefiients dropped, by ‘ only 10.4% last year “due to the trend to higher admission prices," the report said. Break for Subsequents: Bergman Cops Oscar As ‘Anastasia’ Comes In Minneapolis, April 2. Ltfcal subsequent->run neighbor¬ hood houses had their best break in many a moon when “Anastasia” be¬ came . available for them and opened in the'- earliest 28-day clearance slots the next day after Ingrid- Bergman won the Academy Award as the year’s best actress for her performance in it. Picture had rurt of nine weeks at loop 400-seat World, grossing approximately $55,000 and setting house record, at advanced $1.25 ad- jnission. In the neighborhood "‘houses it’s being scaled at regular prices. [AND IS' EVERYBODY EMBARRASSEDt\ Hollywood, April 2. Nation-wide buzz over “Robert Rich,” the apparently non-exist¬ ent, or least non-identified, writer who copped last week’s Oscar as “Best” has no final confirmed solution at Variety’s presstime Tuesday. Academy of Motion Picture Arts itself, this being the final embarrassment of many connected with this year’s poll of the Hollywood studio crafts, has ducked out of all further discuss- sion “on advice of counsel”—whether legal or public relations not stated. - Persistent rumors that the unknown winner is one of the boy¬ cotted writers of yesteryear (see Dalton Trumbo’s kidding com¬ ment in another story this issue) has not given- the film colony desirable publicity, Frank King of the King Bros, whose picture, “The Brave One” copped the honor describes Rich as “a boy we bought script from in 1952.in Germany. He’s a photographer- writer, wears a goatee and we are trying to locate him to bring him to America. I’ve already sent five cables.” He hotly denied writer was one'of Hollywood’s “Unfriendly 10” witnesses before Congress on the issue of Comunism in Hollywood. * There is a Robert Rich who is a nephew of the King Bros. The award was accepted by Jesse Lasky Jr. for the Writers Guild whose rolls ihclude no Robert Rich. To complicate matters there’s al¬ ready an allegation of plagiarism anent the award-winning story. Unless the true identity of Rich is established Academy board may vote to cancel the prize or give it to the writer with the second highest number of votes in the recent poll. SEEMIIX By GENE ARNEEL Annual Academy Awards show on television once again proved a great publicity device, perhaps the greatest the film industry has at its disposal since an estimated 50,000,000 persons caught the show on tv. Questions in New York trade circles center on what the industry has gained. Recognition to “80 Days” was almost anti-climatic, one more honor. Can it mean much at the boxoffice? Picture has been doing great business right along—a commercial hypo in this instance hardly needed. “King and I” and “Giant” have played out their most important dates. Ditto “Anastasia.” Oscar attention can help only in the late runs, what¬ ever re-dating can be had and sub¬ sequent reissue. Considering this, some voices in eastern distribution and exhibition point up the great value, -by con¬ trast, that*, could accrue to new, unreieased pictures if they were permitted to share in such a tv’d spotlight. And this, again, brings up the film industry taking over sponsorship of the show.- Oldsmobile still picks up the check and naturally is intent upon selling vehicles. If the industry were to assume sponsorship, there could be material about new pro¬ ductions aired on the program-— either excerpts from the produc¬ tions themselves or dramatic or musical sketches played out live. Acad boss George Seaton has been pitching for such industry presentation for some time. But .member companies of the Motion Picture Assn, of America, primarily the company presidents, can’t see it his way. The standard answer is. “why ■ should we pay for a television show that brings attention to someone else’s pictures?" This kind of think¬ ing " has persisted for years. It doesn’t impress showmen that over long haul most of the participating outfits draw benefits as their pic¬ tures find favor with the voters. But relatively new are the pri¬ vately expressed suggestions about plugging away for new pictures on the tv show. The hour and 45- minute tv program would provide ample time for each distributor to show off one its best new proper¬ ties. In this way all distribs would benefit and, as it’s pointed out by observers in the east, the Acad show would be film industry’s own and there would be no need to plug away for a Rocket 88. PAR SHARES: $35,621 ON TV EXPECTANCY Paramount stock on the New York Stock Exchange hit a new high for the year of $35.6214 yes¬ terday (Tues.) as Wall Street con¬ tinued to consider the film com¬ pany’s potential income from the sale of its picture backlog to tele¬ vision. New high is in contrast with the low of $28.25. . Issue had been static until six - weeks ago when the spotlight was thrown on the expected tv income which, on a gross basis, could amount to $25 per share. This was noted in a Variety Page 1 banner story. * Since that time market analysts employed by the brokerage houses have shown keen interest in Par and over the past week Bache & Co., published an endorsement of the stock for its clients. Ludwig, Chinich West For Buena Vista Sales Confabs Irving Ludwig, Buena Vista domestic sales manager, and Jes¬ se Chinich, western division head, left New York over the weekend for product meetings with district managers and ‘ sales reps in Los Angeles and Denver. ' They’ll be talking distribution of Walt Disney features as well as the Disney shorts which BV took over from RKO when- the latter company dropped its domsetic re¬ leasing organization.