Variety (June 1957)

10 PICTURES Wednesday, June 5, 1957 PMUEff U.S. EXECSREFUTETOO MANY 5 THESIS Berlin, June 4. Only about three percent of the American films released in West Germany fail to recoup their costs, according to-the managers of the U.S. companies headquartering at Berlin. Disclosure punctures the peren¬ nial German argument that too' many American films are being brought into the country, and that a cutdown would actually serve the Hollywood interests since so many releases don't even recoup dubbing costs. Though Berlin has only 260 film theatres against 5,100 in the rest of West Germany, the city accounts for fully eight percent of the American in dusty's total Income. Part of the reason is that the U.S. pix make their impact primarily in the big German cities. The Germans overall get approx¬ imately 60^ of the screentime in Germany for their own films. Rest goes to the U.S. and other coun¬ tries. In Berlin, the Germans cap- tue about 50Cc to 55% of the ( total sereentime in the 260 theatres. Be¬ tween 20% and 35?c goes to the Americans. It's noted that the American, companies operating in Germany today don't release a single Ger¬ man film through their own chan¬ nels. The American managers say that the 3% that show a loss in Ger¬ many are on the whole the bigger pictures. “We don’t have much trouble with the smaller films, since they cost a lot less to prepare for this market.” All U.S. releases here are dubbed into German. Mu¬ sicals, and to a lesser degree com¬ edies, are b.o. poison in West Ger¬ many.. Occasionally, dramas also will disappoint. “Baby Doll,” for instance, isn’t showing much life in Germany. Television the Menace; Regina Theatres Ask Relief From Taxation Regina, Sask., June 4. ' A committee of the city council Js considering a request by Regina theatremen that the amusement tax be dropped completely or substan¬ tially cut. A submission to council contended the city^p tax was dis¬ criminatory and' held that televi¬ sion was providing unfair compe¬ tition. Last year, Regina’^ seven thea¬ tres contributed $115,637 to city coffers and an additional $281,485 to city business, the theatremen said jn their brief. With one ex¬ ception they operated at losses run¬ ning as high at $ 2,000 a month. Early this year, one house was forced to close after 40 years’ op- ei*ation % Television was blamed fer attend¬ ance decreases totalling 951,306 from 1954 to 1956. “Yet television viewers are not taxed by the city for viewing exactly the same me¬ dium of entertainment they see at the theatre,” the,brief said. Charging the tax is “discrimina¬ tory,” the brief said the average business tax paid by 1,912 other local businesses in 1955 amounted to $385, compared with $9,484 paid by seven theatres on the average seat and amusement tax basis. In 1954, the theatres with a total attendance of 2,366,039 paid $83,- 134 In amusement, tax, while two'; years later, with attendance at 1,404,733, they paid $56,778. Ia 1956, the seat tax at 75 cents a seat amounted to $3,050; real es¬ tate taxes to $34,826 and amuse¬ ment taxes to $56,778, for a total of $94,654. LUANA PATTEN VS. UNIVERSAL Los Angeles, May 28. An amended complaint is due wljjftln the next two weeks in Luana Pipien’s declaratory relief suit agamst Universal Pictures challeng¬ ing the legality and validity of her seven year option contract. Studio had filed a demurrer and a motion to strike certain portions of the complaint. Before the scheduled arguments were held. Miss Patten’s attorney, Herbert Pearlson, reached an agreement with studio counsel Jo¬ seph Dubln Snd Charles Druten on the demurrer and said he would file an amended complaint. New Curl?: ‘Too Morbid* Regina, Sasic., June 4. An appeal board'sitting in i Regina -has upheld a decision i of the Saskatchewan motion picture censor who rejected the United Artists film,.“The Delinquents,” on the ground .that it is “too morbid.”. The film, also rejected in the province of Alberta because of - “immorality, -violence, drink¬ ing and brutality,” was passed by the Manitoba censor with a few cuts. One member of the appeal board in Regina termed the film “morbid” and said it “mixed fact with extreme hor¬ ror fantasy.” Another rejected it because “the purpose of art of any kind is that it lead an observer to good- (sic) and I feel that no good could be done by this picture.” Federal Aid, As Is, Has No Reality, Say Theatre Men Washington, June 4. An appeal to tiie U. S. Senate for easier credit terms for theatres, particularly for mortgages, was made yesterday (Mon.) by Theatre Owners of America. The appeal, in the form of a memorandum, was submitted to the Subcommittee on Small Business of the Commit¬ tee on Banking and Currency by Philip F. Harling who will appear before the committee on behalf of TOA. The memorandum points out that although the Small Business Ad¬ ministration has made theatres eli¬ gible for loans, the conditions -are so restrictive that "onl^ two small theatre applications have been ap¬ proved to date.” Particularly onerous to theatre- men is the stipulation, that a the¬ atre in order to qualify for a Gov¬ ernment loan must submit evidence that he has been turned down by a recognized private lending institu- [ tion. “This requirement,” sayS the I TOA memorandum, “raises a nega¬ tive presumption that the prOspec- i tive borrower is Insolvent; that his credit is not sound; that he can¬ not efficiently run his business and perhaps his character and reputa¬ tion are subject to question. No American businessman wants to be placed in such a compromising position.” In addition, TOA notes, that the “onerous collateral requirements” and the voluminous data that must be submitted before the applica¬ tion can be - considered has led many theatremen to abandon any attempt to put an application through the SBA. , - Cathodic Critic's Own Data On Legion: In Six Years, 0f2353utl2Got/C' That the Hollywood film Indus? -try is : “above" 'board” on grbupds of morality Is stated by this week's full-page ad taken "in Editor A Publisher by the Council of. Mo¬ tion Picture Organizations. COMBO quotes from a piece in Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic weekly, by-John" E. Fitzgerald, Article analyzes a span of six years and notes that in that period .2,295 domestic (United States) films were reviewed by the National Legion of Decency and of these only 12 , mostly made by in¬ die producers, wore “condemned,”; Productions given “B” ratings amounted to 2l% of the'total. It is further noted by Fitzgerald that the New York Film Critics in the past 22 years have not selected as the year's. best any “C” .pictures and in. only six cases have given the palm to a “B” feature* “Nine of the 1956 top 10 choices of both the New York Times and Daily News were Legion-rated as morally objectionable,” comments Fitzgerald. While these statistics are not being questioned, it's still a fact that many releases of the past sev¬ eral months have not been- inno¬ cent of some element of sexy by¬ play, brutality (sadism, depending on the degree) and “offbeat” rang¬ ing from "suggestions of hemoero- ticism to narcotics addiction. Show Biz Unions Join . In Picket of L A. House Los Angeles, June 4. Frank Fouce’s Million Dollar Theatre, which has long special¬ ized in south-of-the-border attrac¬ tions, both live and on film, is the target of the first cooperative or¬ ganizational effort by show biz unions in recent history. Building Service Employees Union also is joining in the drive. American Federation of Must dans, American Guild ‘of Variety Artists, IATSE stagehands and IATSE projectionists have joined^ in the all-out drive to. organize the’ house which has long been non¬ union. Campaign was mapped after lengthy negotiations with , Fouce proved fruitless. AFM has already, arranged to halt the importation of Mexican bands and AGVA is work¬ ing on similar plans to halt Mexi¬ can acts. U’s 25c Dividend Board'of -directors of Universal declared a 25c. dividend yesterday; (Tues.) on the. company’s common stock. Melon is payable June 28 to stockholders of record June 14." Skouras Practices What He Preaches [SHOWMANSHIP AT STOCKHOLDER MEET] By HY HOLLINGER The conducting of an annual stockholders’ meeting is an art and Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th-Fox, apparently has mastered it. In language that Skouras himself terms as neither Greek nor English, he conducts a meeting- with showmanship and, at the same time, there is a manner about him that exudes confidence in his guidance of the company. Skouras is a performer. He requests the first name of each stockholder posing a question and addresses each one by his given name. When s t ,-aking of deceased executives, he adopts a ; rev- erant and sepulchral tone. He ‘ provides a homey touch to the meeting with his comraderie manner of introducing each company executive. . * He makes a big hit with the femme stockholder contingent by injecting his family into the proceedings. “I hope 1 you will for¬ give me,” he says, “if I introduce my wife and family.” He then proceeds to ask Mrs. Skouras, his daughter-in-law, his son, and his brother to stand up so they can be seen by the stockholders. Skouras good-naturedly anticipates the questions of Lewis Gil-, bert, the ubiquitous, hot-tempered “crusader” for “owners’ rights,” and banters with him in a friendly manner. • As a result of his contribution to management-stockholder rela¬ tions, Skouras received an award from the United Shareholders of America at 20th’s annual meeting recently. *‘Wben our heroes appeared jiatless, you hat-sellers descended on Hollywood; when our heroes appeared tie-less, you vendors of cravats ’Were ’six'feet deep at Stmfeet ‘arid Vine* And today, when Ve show'the : joys , of the,French. Riviera beaches, we get portfolioed amhassadoriu from both the California and Florida beachheads. i'“And do you remember ‘It Happened One Night?’ The executives . of America's bus lines were'delighted—the bus depots were swamped with customers who’d se£i romance 'on the moviels bus and wanted some of the same for themselves. ‘/“But the undershirt makers were' not pleased in the Ifeast. Clark Qable was-.Something of' a red-blooded pioneer in that film. ' He didn’t wear an undershirt. - Now this was- just fine with Claudette Colbert, but it wasn't- just fine with B.V.D.—and possibly with BBD&O. Even tffday I would Hate to confess that I haven’t word ah undershirt’ since. There might be ah undershirt man in the house ”—Eric Johnson "in an Address before the New York Sales Executives Club, New. York t May 28, 1957. • 20th execs Robert Goldstein and Joseph 'Moskowitz, ostensibly in _ Rome orf company production business as well’ as pic casting chores for 20 th, are said also'to be checking into their company’s invested - interests in David O. Selznick’s “A Farewell to Arms,” currently shoot- * ing in Cinecitta Studios. .Pic, which gets a 20thurelease,' is said to have run" into budget trouble recently, following Charles Vidor's directorial - take-over from John Huston, and is known to be running slightly be- , hind allotted schedule. Goldstein and-Moskowitz will probably be-shown a considerable , portion of the pic’s footage already in the can while in Rome. Pic stars Jennifer Jones, Rock Hudson, while featuring a large, supporting • cast. Part of the film Industry’s institutional campaign -which is now' projected includes measures to be taken looking for modification of advertising billing, requirements. That the billing demands of star# is a major prOblemUs for sure. _ - ,* . Not.too long ago, for example, William Wyler and Paramount wanted- to cast the late Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy in “Des¬ perate. Hours.” They liked the idea fine but dach insisted on top billing. Not equal billing, but top billing. There was no way of doing this to the satisfaction of the performers, sp Wyler subscribed Fredriq March for Tracy.* Screen Actors Guild members have, been a$ked. to. cooperate with . AFL unions' picketing some of the top hotels in Palm Springs in an effort to organize the resort ; >ciiy. SAG, in. a memo- to Its members, said it was joining with the Hollywood’AFL-Film Council, California State Theatrical Federation, AFTRA and other labor groups in back- . ing the campaign and urged members not to- patronize the' non-union - establishments "being picketed. Included* in the list were such top . spots as Desert Inn, El Mirador, - Saddle & Sirloin, Racquet Club, , Biltmore and Howard Manor. •; - • - • ‘Video .Can’t Pay For Itself’ Continued from page. X —.1. . 1948 library to tv and indicated that a Sale or a-method of release will be determined by the end of this year, * He estimated the cotn- pany’s pre-1948 hiventofy amount¬ ed to some 700 pictures as .com-: pared with about 300 for the pe¬ riod after 1948.' He* declined to estimate the value of . the library; but. indicated that “it-is worth more today , than it would have been if we had disposed of it eirUer.” •. \ - '. • ■ . * Elaborating un the: quesuop. of tv economics, Balaban pointed out that production ccists had gone up astronomically, that tv set satura¬ tion is being .approached,' and that the problem or reconciling tv rat- ingi with higher costs to the spon¬ sor is becoming more discouraging to advertisers. “This'is evidenced 'by the number .of cancellations *of programs, switching from* tY to other forms of advertising, and the high mortality rate of tv personal¬ ities,” he -said;'He maintained, that,; as a result, a new source of tv pro¬ gramming “seems inevitable.” . Paramount, he said, is more con¬ vinced thad ever that a “cash sys¬ tem” is the best method of collec¬ tion for pay-see and' that is why par - has selected- the Telemeter system. “People like to buy their entertainment as their whim* strikes them” he-said, “and want to do, it quickly and conveniently.” . Balaban said the incentive ‘ for good programming would disap¬ pear if pictures were sold jia toll tv at a flat monthly' fee. The box- office rewards, he stressed must go to those, who deliver the best ,en- tertalnment. “The public must be free to picked pay in a competi¬ tive market,” he .declared. This was an obvious refutation of the flat fee system * being tested in Bartlesville, Okla. Although Par is encouraged by steps taken^lby the Federal Com¬ munications Commission toward consideration of air broadcast pay tv, International Telemeter, Bala¬ ban stated, is prepared to proceed with a closed-circuit system. “This is now technically ready and has been submitted to leading manu¬ facturers for bids,” he said. Bala¬ ban added that the cable approach will he the most effective' method for getting toll tv “off the ground” quickly. Discussing the theatrical market, Balaban said that traditional thea¬ tre outlets “have demonstrated their ability to continue as our basic source of revenue, although at reduced levels.” He noted that feature indtiOn pictures would' con¬ tinue as a “potent and profi table factor” in the entertainment ‘busi¬ ness—whether, they .are shown in. : theatres or on television, , ■ Balaban also gave-an encourage - ing report of Paramount's diverse fication -in other fields,-particularly ♦ ih ^electronics. Telemeter Mag-* netics Inc., a subsidiary of Inter-* national' Telemeter, he noted; is gaining recognition. : io,_the elec- 5 trorile cofiiputor and. data-process- ing fields. He told of development* ! in’ other .Paramount- subsidiaries* i including. Chgpmatjc Television . Laboratories, Dot Records, and Autornfetric Corp. The Par president predicted that earnings for the second ; quarter ’ will be ahead of the same quarter ’ a year ago. He noted also that the company “may well Kaye” one' of the largest inventories, of com¬ pleted pictures 4n the industry; He reported,-too, that the company-is planning a . number of productions . , abroad, • In contrast to the uncertain con¬ ditions prevailing in the domestic market, Balaban reported that the company's foreign Operations “con* tinue to hold at a satisfactory level”-and that the company had * some $ 6 , 000,000 in blocked funds " abroad. • In the formal proceedings of the meeting, the stockholders reelect¬ ed, thejenf ire slate, of: board of di¬ rectors and approved a resolution to eliminate ISO^OOO shares from the authorized capital stock of the company. Balaban disclosed that at the end of 1956 the company" had retired a sufficient number of- Shares to reduce the capitaT struck ture to slightly below 2,000,000 shares as compared with 3,300,000 shares outstanding In 1950. By shrinking the capitalization, Bala¬ ban pointed out, the company has- been able to continue its $2 divi* dend rate “during good times and bad.” Total of 1,478,451 shares, or 73% of the outsanding stock, was pres¬ ent in'person or by proxy at the- harmonious meeting. Houston Yqriety Has Now HQ Houston, June 4. Variety Club of Houston is in new quarters. Will celebrate new location June 6 . It's a former nite club near the Shamrock Hotel.- - Houston Endowment recently gave the Variety Club $90,000 to^. pay off the mortgage.