Variety (June 1957)

im s tol 207 No. 1 Pa&Hs&ted Weekly *t 154 Wejf i&h Street* New York 08* N, Y„by Variety, Inc.. Annual subscription. $10. Single copies, 25 cents. Catered Ms second-class matter December 22* 1005* at -tie Post Office at New York, N. Y„ under the act of liarcb 3* 1879. ’ OOPYRIGHT* I95t* UY VARIETY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5,1957_ PRICE 25 CENTS • ■ *. ;> ■ , • : ■ • ■ ■ - -> "-T '■ 1 . r N^tmLoew Agenda: Introducing OOURIVIETS THIN N.Y. Film Distribs Say ‘Unchecked’ Boss Joe Vogel to Press & Public MU n jUIFlK Theatres Stole $100-Mil in 2d Years £oew*s $nef prexy Joseph R. V<b< get is being given the buildup ^eatiuentr Efforts are afoot, as a pute relations gesture, to make. it&gel kfitfjyn to the press as well r to the business and financial oorniiiuiiffer Vogel’s predecessors, both Ar¬ thur M+ Loew and Nicholas M; Schemefcr seldom ventured outside the confines of the motion picture although pow- circles^ was hardly nim l BmB movm outside the btisi- ness. Tit rarely appeared at pub- \ lie gatherings and was never known to meet the, press* As a matter of ‘ fact, Schenefc usually timed his * annual Florida* vacation to coin* ride with the company’s yearly stpcldiolders- meeting. He finally attended one stockholder Session after the investors had complained for many years about his abseficE. Iroew presided at one stockholder '''meeting before he edited the posi- , < tion of proxy abd deoa i fa^iiMh^lield a press conference to :a^|ppaee a . particular project ^ i „ ; • , VogeLs “getting Around" is ’ aimed at increasing the prestige of the company. In addition, the film company igpper la acting as official - embassador in the telling of the ^ company’s story, especially since Leew’* was faced by a proxy fight i recently*: ^ * , Vogel appeased before the N. Y. Security Analysts ^feCently. In ~ addition to giving Wail Streefets |nup-to-date report; on the com* /pany!f activities he answered all eLuestkms relating tolLoew’s plans: Jlhd financial structure^ Tomorrow fihurs;> Yogen* hfi^ing a .iaficte ;-.;eon at the Fiaza-^peJ, Ur^trade paper editojS! *tb make .am nouncement Which sltoMld be m in- Mere# to your jeadw." In addi¬ tion; vogel expressed Ida gratitude •-^dryourJie&nta^^m^he news concerning pur; comipamr and my recent activities as DREYFUS CASE STILL - PaHS, dune 4* ' She French, usually, tolerant on film-subject matter, won’t accept Pi* touching on the Dreyfus Case. This case is taboo here, dose Ferrer found that out when he tried to get permission to shoot exteriors here on his “I Accuse" (M-G), based on the Dreyfus af¬ fair. He was categorically turned down, and Metro decided to avoid trouble and shoot the needed ex- - teriors in nearby Brussels* Another • pic treating this - case about the Jewish officer unjustly accused of espionage, “The life of Emile Zola^JWB), has never been allowed to play here though It can be seen at the French, Film; Musegm.' - * i . Twentieth-Fox is .facing an al¬ most total Southern boycott on its* Darryl F; Zanuck production, “Island In the Sun. 0 The South, according to available estimates, represents about 20% of’ the en¬ tire domestic market, i\ Company, is concerned also about the socalled “fringe^ areas, iu$i ax Louisville And even ®ringfieid, HI., where agitation about racial romance in the film (Continued on page fid) *" JSy GEORGE ROSEN There’S considerable unrest, not to mention anxiety, in the televi¬ sion-industry oyer what to all out¬ ward appearances would # seem to be A' concerted and deliberate at¬ tempt to downgrade the medium. The potshots and the barbs are de¬ signed to spread the gospel that: (1) Television programming is at its lowest ebb in mediocrity . ( 2 ) Television perpetuates and breeds vulgarity . iZY‘Television as an advertising medium is disillusioning ntore and more sponsors . Hot only the television networks but the producer and synidcators of telefilms are apprehensive’over the mounting and what they call unjustified “alarms” being spread coast-to-coast, notably by other media, all intended to convey the impression that from both an en¬ tertainment and sales standpoint tv isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be and that the advertiser and the Viewer are left holding the bag. Concern of the ihdttsiryV facto¬ tums doesn’t necessarily stem from criticisms of the duly, accredited, tv reviewers and columnists, since obviously it’s-their function to help : “police" the medium in the interest of their viewers. But when, for ex¬ ample,* a New York World-Tele-, gram burst forth last week with the; kind of Page 1 headline usually re¬ served for international or domes¬ tic crises that found tv scripter Goodman Ace decrying the medioc¬ rity Of television programs in gen r Oral, such spotlighting of a down- beat tv story was regarded as any¬ thing but accidental. Particularly in View of the fact that only a couple of weeks previ¬ ous, the daily’s tv-ra;d& critic,: Harriet Van Home, did ^fulsome treatment touching on the same ^Continued on page 41) CAREER DIPLOMAT AS ZANUGK’S THEME Hollywood, dyne 4, .Darryl.Zanuck is undertaking a film dealing with the career dip¬ lomat, reportedly with bles§ing of high Washington personages. Government sources recently sug¬ gested such a picture to Zanuck, who relayed idea to 20th-Fox for expression of Company’s enthu¬ siasm for project* Decision has been made to pro¬ ceed with venture with Richard Murphy, now on lot as producer- director-writer developing a treat¬ ment for Zanuck’s indie company releasing through .20th. Murphy recently returned from Washing¬ ton confabs with government of¬ ficials on project Communist Party boss Nikita Khrushchev’s • precedents! tele¬ vision interview on CBS-TWs “Face the Nation” get wide ex¬ posure beginning this week. The interview, which was on film, his already been sold to telceasters in England, Australia, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Cuba and Mexico and will also be syndicated. Ideally in the £L S. for repeatir. The interview, first Of Its kind (Continued on page 40) ► In a period of 20 years distribu¬ tors and their producer partners were cheated out of $100,000,000 in. film rentals by exhibitors who sm> reptitioiisly pocketed more than their agreed share of boxoffiee money. This staggering (and pre¬ viously undisclosed) chisel was claimed by distrib sources this week by way of emphasizing lire threat of still further losses likely to be sustained by new state bills designed to eliminate ‘‘blind checking” of theatres playing pic¬ tures op percentage. The ^100,000,000 loss Was at the rate of $5-mil per year for each of the 20 years prior to 1952, accord¬ ing. to film company informants* Theatremen helped themselves to the hefty- amounts of larcenous coin because the distribs had left themselves wide open to such a grab, it’s said. It was over this period that open checks were con¬ ducted; the exhib knew exactly when his house was being counted and could adjust his percentage re¬ ports to conform with the com¬ pany’s check. No Such conformity was needed during periods when there was no check. However, col¬ lusion ibetween the exhibitor and the individual checker occurred in some cases, according to some dis¬ tribs* Blind checking was introduced to discourage these exhibs .with the taking ways. That it cut down on the losses considerably became m certainty, for the exhib was made unaware of the identity of the checker and when the latter was in the house* .felso, the checker’s reports could be used as evidence in fraud suits against the chiseling exhibs* Now, though, the Texas Legisla¬ ture hast outlawed such blind check¬ ing, as have the law-makers in Ar* (Continued on page 22) r T ▼ T. T TT T TTT T.T ▼▼ T TT ▼' ▼ ▼ ▼ W TT T TT ¥ T'.-T ▼ ▼ T T J X » » ▼ ▼ ^ ^ S • ,.* .* ' ’ ' Church Singers: ‘Low Fees Not Sacred’ n>f.Am fK f robert x dandry ’ * W$khfpitoii, Ji|ife 4 . Least protected and Mast id or- #fcr da Ameneans trsvel «£ JurtVt " ent or Greater New York ate the ^ ' ILS.^eiuuc^UFeau. in cne siD ^ r ^ area’s 1,700 Frotes- pop^tion Mailt, 430 Catholic and 700 JewWi mber oL houses of worship. Thou^i iasiny j j. s foloists* have* operatic 'and cotfoert ivel firedit*>very -few get over |25 J j>er — ‘ %d>bath For. two perfornianeesiand plenty^ of rehearjangw r ' , FasMonable churcbea .of Rfth* Iflfodiron* and Park Avenues 6|iee r iEfr° a year is. about m why Ifer WAgea t nt$, ttraed” baa open ed oi- in Hall, j tT r ' i e^demfeafect ruined the mir- t# for ehiuxh j^aygm. RediA^d budget Were then turned over to the organists Who began using un¬ paid volunteer choirs and soloists. Present grievances are not lim¬ ited to fees,’however* Midseason eanc^lations wtiho^t notice or-sev¬ erance, caprkions changes, of poli¬ cy by ifeurch music committees are inentioiied. One’swank Madison Ave. cbnrch disinksed three pro- fe^iionals With * 15; 13 and 20 yemr* iemwe * respectively without waritiD|^ .*XjBP2&tion or j|pn a •netd ti Action came when iPMI* obi dgraister' accepted a «4l AP imq^r ;cii^ ■ > / |a presid^it- nj^tof new giii^Fa 7 asspeia- tioii* - pl^ip$ r *T& tiie commit- tees ai executiyes, w$e> run the business afiairs of our. Manhattan churchea ran their own ^fiees on the same basis, the morale of their staffs in* the present labor market would produce a dangerously high turnover." . . .. ^ „ s , There are several Agencies spe¬ cializing in placing church singers, among* them 'Stdel^amishii, inga- Wank, Barman A Hail, Mrs. Bliss, Worthington considers them a necessary , convenience* And >says< church singers have no objection to paying commi^Ions on their small*stipends*' Agettts'cannot pro¬ tect singers against music commit¬ tees, however. Th# Angers them¬ selves must band iogp$bef to com¬ pel a node of ethics* Seldom is there anytij^h£ M ^But aurely a chmfth’t verbid contract Aught to be tiMwfrglisr* A number of recent incident* suggest other¬ wise.” Another complaint ft. fall-' ure in some church beaiBfis to give soloists, “btifing^ Jewkh temples (Oopttoued on page fg) HEMWmNUNM Reginald Allen, who has been senior asst, general manager among the four at the Metropolitan Opera House, N. Y„ is exiting there to become executive director of the Lincoln Square Performing Arts Centre. „ His. opera, - symphony or¬ chestra, Universal and J. Arthur Rank film background (he’s also a * jGilbert & Sullivan collector via the “Morgan “Library) mesh with the prospective scope of the big west side development to be.. Allen will office at the Met into the fall and possibly rotate be¬ tween there and the Centre’s pro tem HQ in the Coliseum for some¬ time. Rudolf Bing, off to Europe today i (Wed*) for the summer, is shuf¬ fling duties of his exec echelon, Robert Herman (son of the base¬ ball great) becomes acting business administrator With Henry Wrong as aide. Paul Jaretzki takes* over from Herman as assistaM the Metis artistic director Max Rudolf*