Variety (September 1957)

> we 18 PICTURES Wednesday, September 4, 1957 Bartlesville Blues Cure? Continued from page 7 in what used to be Video’s 600-seat Lyric. Film service—1 p.m. to midnight —started today, but with only about 300 subscribers. Video won’t give the exact number, arguing this is still the testing period, and no charges will be made until Oct. 1. when its’ hoped at least 1,000 will be on line. The subscription fee is $9.50 monthly, and six teams currently are working hard on running lines into homes. Telemovies will show on Channels 3 and 5, with Channel 4 probably offering only background music. It is being reserved for eventual “live” shows. There is no question that Bartlesville not only knows what this is all about, but is sharply aware of the national attention it is getting. Yet. in Video prexy Henry J. Griffing’s own admission “they are interested but they aren’t breaking our doors down—yet.” Fact is that Bartlesvillers are somewhat divided on the various blessings of the cable theatre. Price is one issue, “Tf they made it $7 I’d go for it without question,” said Reid Pepper, who works at Phillips Electronics division. “I think $10. is high. We don’t go to pictures much. Even if we got Telemovies, he’d still go with his friends.”’ Mike says his father had suggested getting the cable eonnection and cutting out his aHo-rance. He doesn’t think it’s a fair bargain. Pepper and ‘several other men would rather see a system allowing them to pay per attraction, even if it means a coindox attachment to home receiver. “I’d consider that a better bargain, where I can pick what I want to see,” says J. M. Culver, retired real estate man, “I'd be willing to pay a minimum charge.” And here is Mrs. Josephine Perkins who says she signed up “be this thing is lots cheaper than sending them to the theatre once or iwice a week.” She thought she herself would still occasionally attend films “but only if thé show’s real good.” And, added Mrs. Perkins, “We all like to stay at home.” If Barilesville is any criterion film business must face the unpleasant facet that it is out-of-step vith the new thinking and living habits of vast numbers of its customers. Over and over again, Bartlesvillers repeat: “We like to stay home, with tv, because here we c&én be comfortable.” Unlike the east, every home and establishment is airconditioned here in protection against the intense summer heat hovering in the mid-90s. Thus theatre cooling holds little additional attraction. There is practically no talk here ebeut films “not being what they used to be.” People openly admit tney like films. But they find it difficult to get “dressed up to go cuwntown,” which in Bartelsville’s case may mean no more than 2a five minutes’ walk or drive. admission is 60e and 65c and, unike other communities, economics. yay no part here. People have money, They live well. Bartlesville is expanding and new industries are coming in. People are busy with their gardens, with social life and with relaxing with tv. Frequently mentioned is the pleasure of going to ozoners in an openshirt. Some feel TeleMovies will bad Only my son, Mike, does,” Theatre | simultaneously with theatre ‘showing, which would represent a saving. General Precision Laboratories (National Theatre Supply) furnished the studio equipment, monitoring system, etc. Video and Jerrold execs frankly fear “scaring away” exhibitors who inspect fhis ‘elaborate layout, and stress it can be done at much less expense. A large number of theatre men have indicated plans to visit Baritlesville in the next few weeks to inspect the system. Former Lyric auditorium is being readied as an exhibition hall for required. ' equipment and the area is being re| served for a special show to dem‘onstrate that the system can function on a much less elaborate scale. One or two citizens say they are} interested in Telémovies “because summer television programming [has been so bad.” However this ‘complaint is. not. general and the {main impetus still is watching. | good pix comfortably at home. i Sugar Ray Continued from page 3 over the closed-tv rights were settled Thursday (29) after. a series of meetings held before N.Y. State Boxing Commissioner Julius Helfand. Robinson appeared to have emerged victorious in the pre-fight struggle for tv coin. He had threat-| ened to walk,out of the fight unless the TelePrompter Corp., which had offered him a personal. guar antee of $250,000, handled the} closed-tv theatre telecast. However, the IBC insisted it already had a contract with TNT. The settlement hammered out on Thursday resulted in the continued handling of the theatre telecast by TNT as originally planned. As part of the arrangement, TNT guaranteed Robinson $255,000 in. return for which Sugar Ray agreed te conform .to the provisions of cause we have four youngsters and | the closed-tv contract between the IBC and TNT. In addition to the financial guarantee, TNT stated that it had made available a total seating capacity of 500,000 seats. 'TNT noted, too, that “in fairness” to Basilio, it had guaranteed the challenger $110,000. . TelePrompter’s 4 Outlets At Robinson’s insistence, Tele-| Prompter was able to get into the act on a modest scale. TNT agreed to license TelePrompter “to book such theatres” as it is “able to in |four cities’—Amarillo, Tex.; Or lando, Fla.; Medford, Ore.; and Duluth, Minn. What arrangements. or how the coin will be divided as a result of the sub-licensing deal has not been revealed. In all other cities, TNT will continue to carry the fight exclusively. In addition, | TNT will handle the production of ! the telecast. According to Irving B. Kahn, TelePrompter prexy, his firm with‘drew and accepted the “token” participation as a conciliatory move and in the interest of seeing the fight take place. The most imt concession, Kahn stated, assurance from IBC offi fights would be open to all bidders, ‘ Under terms of the settlement spelled out at the five-hour conference af the State Athletic Commission, Robinson and Basilio will ; receive the same percentage from) radio (NBC) and films (United ! Artists) as from the closed circuit i television. Robinson’s $255,000 and 2 ‘cal 702. eials that all future closed-circuit | ly hurt theatres. Others argue kids : Basilio’s $110,000 for closed-tv rep will continue to go while older! resent minimum guarantees against. futks will enjoy living room thea-‘ their 45% and 20% cuts. The IBC tre. But-economic realists warnjis underwriting the guarantees that, even in a high earnings area !since the main contract is between like this one, family budgets like-| the fighters and the promoting orlx won't stand both home movies! ganization. and theatre admission: costs. Equipment Phases Telemovie studio is described as} TNT's ability to ne up a total of the ultimate of its kind and looks ; 500,000 seats is due largely to the. it, with pannelled glass and gold | availability of the so-called portfront topped by sea-green modern-;able and mobile projectors. Of the isiic design. Its front would create :165 theatres signed, only 55 have attention on 5th Ave. The ground-! permanent installations. The others fluor, formerly theatre lobby, con-j will be equipped with the portable | tains four Simplex 35m projectors, ; two for each channel. Machines ! have extra large magazines holding | fore the fight. The mobile units, of 5 400 feet of film of 60 minutes of i which there are 25, have been parplay. «tNormal magazine holds 2.‘ticularly helpful in expanding the Qud feet. Also there are two eam-. potential seating capacity. ‘These eras for each channel afd a slide projector. Tney prefer using 35m machines since a better image is obtained. Eventually it is hoped or mobile units which will be de : theatres and drive-ins and are able to provide picture sizes of 15 x 20 ployed to the theatres shortly be units are especially useful for large: ‘| for smaller theatres and hotel ball| rooms. , oe Immediately following the settlement of the controversy, TNT or | dered more than 25,000 miles of: telephone lines and issued freight instructions for the shipment of the large-screen tv projectors to theatres. requiring them for the telecast. , TNT’s cameras will telecast from | ja specially-constructed elevated scaffold located behind ringside at the Yankee Stadium, N.Y., where the fight will be held. ' Northern Cal.’s $6.50 Top San Francisco, Sept. 3. | Parsons-Pacific Co., run by Frisco theatre-operator John Par-} sons, will televise Sept. 23 Robinson-Basilio fight to five Northern California locations, scaled to $6.50 op. Closed circuit telecast will go into civic auditoriums at Oakland (6,100 seats), Stockton (3,444), Richmond (3,727), Sacramento (4,406). and Parsons’ own 400-seat Telenews in downtown Frisco. Total take could go to $100,000. WB to Pay _Continued from page 3 = other companies in the east, “ace cording to the spokesman for Lo The Vitagraph Era Shutdown of Warners’ labs in its Brooklyn Vitagraph studio over ‘the weekend serves to accent. the} end of an era. For the studios, before Warners acquired t in 1925, were built by American Vitagraph Inc. when the silent film was more or less in infancy.. In subsequent years such bygone stars as Rudolph Valentino, Corinne Griffith, Florence Turner, -Anita Stewart, Alice Joyce, Norma; Talmadge, John Bunny, Flora Finch and Maurice Costello appeared before the Vitagraph cameras. Leon Trotsky, more celebrated in the political field, toiled there briefly as a technical adviser and extra. . With Warners’ takeover, the facilities were primarily devoted to production of “talking” shorts: The shorts were marketed under ‘the “Vitaphone” label. But. film making halted in 1939 and most of ‘the space was utilized for cutting, editing and processing film. -’ Conditions today reportedly aren't feasible for operation of the ‘plant as a lab and what work that’s been handled there in the past will now be taken over by ‘Warners’ existing facilities in Bur bank, Cal., and elsewhere. Someé 200 employees are affected by the Brooklyn closing. : In the future the probable sole link to show business for the onetime flourishing lot will be Studio Four. That was acquired five years ago by NBC.as an originating point for color telecasts. What plans Warners may have for. disposition or use of other Vitagraph buildings have not been made known as yet. , “ ViTEnvisions — — Contfnued from page 7 The signal comes to them by wire and without any scrambling, making a decoding device unnecessary. Griffing said a formtla would obviously have to be worked out under. which big. pictures shared more importantly in the take than the smail ones. He said the distribs would collect approximately the same share of the gross that: they now get from the theatres. However, he pointed. out, assuming a successful operation, -that ‘share should be a lot bigger. than the ‘current take from the theatres alone. Though the Telemovie. operation | here emphatically skirts per-attrac ‘tion billing, it’s noted that the metering concept, once introduced, | could easily. be exterided to. the viewer, allowing him to select his| entertainment and to pay only for those shows he wishes.to see. VIT’s|. main objection seerns to ‘be to the “vending machine” approach. “Once you: start fooling with a man’s set, you get into something you can never finish,” observed Larry Boggs, head of Video’s tv division. “If we could get just a metering device and attach it to an outside wall, so we don’t have to} ing enter the house; that would be a ; different story.” Under the present setup, a Telefeet to as large as 54 x 65 feet. The | movie subscriber is connected to to project into the home channel: portable units are more suitable the main cable.‘ via..a double th let that Cy Feper first saw Lilo ‘jand signed her as the femme lead _the new show tunes before shielded wire. (Video believes that the open-wire type of somnection, which has been proposed as being much cheaper, radiates and is. impractical.) The connection is made at the tv set’s antenna outlet, Also installed is a simple switch. Once it is thrown, the viewer then switches to channels 3 or 3 where the Telemovies are being shown. All of the regular toll-tvy systems require changes in the set. It’s noted that they were originally ‘designed to function via signals transmitted over-the-air. Telemovies actually are the first system designed from the start as a closed-circuit operation, — Lilo’s Commitments Continued from page 7? with the comedienfiesinger and her husband-manager, the Marquis Guy de Ja Passadierre. Henri Betti, who is known for’ his “@’est Si Bon” and other pops, accompanied Leb-. mann. He will do the score for new show.. , It was at the Theatre du Chate for his and Ernest H. Martin’s Broadway production of Cole Pozter’s “Can-Can.” Besides being slated to reopen. the Hotel Plaza’s Persian Room for that New York hostelry’s 50th anniversary season, Lilo has Qct. 16 and 17 commitments.on the Patti Page and “Big Record” ty: shows, and is slated for the Statler (Hilton) _Hotel, Dallas, during the French Festival celebration in Texas, hence the necessity of partrehearsing her new French legiter in New York starting Noy. 4. The Paris preem is scheduled for | between Dec, 10-15. Lilo has a sbanonth “out” proviso, because of a probable Broadway legit commitment for 1958, Comedienne, who just waxed an album for MGM Records, will also record some of leaving for France. , ‘Lilo started at the Chatelet at the age of nine as a classical ballet dancer. Seidman’s Tax Plan mummy Continued from. page 1 “take it on the chin,” he adds, are. the child prodigy, the baseball star, the actress and the professional man. To adjust the inequity faced by the man who has a few good years surrounded by lean years Seidman urges “an honest-to-goodness averaging of income.” While he notes that there are all kinds of averaging he recommends the following program as something that “should. do the trick.” — “1. If the income for the current year is lower than the average income for the preceding six years, figure the tax on the in ‘come for the current year, just as is now done. “2. If the income for the current year is greater than the average income for the preceding six years, figure the tax on the basis of the average income for all seven years. | “3. Figure the tax with’ the use. of the current rates only, and in this way: ‘Seven times the tax on the average income for the sevenyear period, less six times the tax on the average income for the sixyear period’.” As .an example, Seidman says suppose a playwright had a good year in 1957 with an income of $150,000. But assume in the preceding six. years he’s averaged only $10,000 a year. The seven-year average is $30,000 (since he made a total of $210,000 in seven years). The tax for 1957 would all be figured by reference to the 1957 rates as follows: Tax for-seven years: Tax on $30,000 is $13,‘ _ 000 x 7, or 91,000 Less tax for preceding .6 years: — oo Tax on $10,000 is $2, | 500 x 6, or/ $15,000 ‘Tax for 1957 ‘$76,000 “Today on $150,000 income,” Seidman notes, “the tax is $112,000. In other words, under the proposed program the tax would be reduced $36,000.” Naturally, he states, the Government’s revenue will decline under the averaging plan since the fellow with fluctuatincome will pay less in his “better-than-average” years than he has done before. The difference would have to be made up by an increase in the tax rates, “whic is as it should be.” ‘ ‘daffaires at the Gondola Gleanings amu Continued from pase 5 = Film Festival.’ There were some distaff squirms (and a few walkouts) during scenes of violence in the Richard Brooks pic. Audience also started to panic when a crowd seeking shelter from a sudden_rainstorm shattered a large glass door next to the main fest showcase, giving impression of fire danger. People here are wondering if the French deliberately showed their “Patrouille de Choc” here out of competition only a few hours be-. fore the screening of. “Bitter Victory,” which, they seem reluctant to admit, is technically a French pic. Feeling is that the French might have preferred “Patrouille” as the invited entry rather than the more “international” “Victory.” “Patrouille” was, as matter of fact, mentioned some time back as the probable candidate for the second Gallic spot at the festival. _ “Golden Virgin” was selected over three other titles as the ‘stateside handie for Esther Costello”... Mike Francovich in from London for the local opening of the Joan Crawford pic . . Vietor Saville also in... French activity is slowly starting at festival, with star arrivals as well as producers and industry toppers: increasing from across the border . ; . Both Favre LeBret ‘and Bauer, respectively Cannes and Berlin Festival directors, are here ... Richard Davis and Dya Lopert trying to arrange for an early screening of “‘Notti Bianche,” one of the Italian entries ... Lopert has to leave the fest before the end. Vladimir Braun, director of the Russian pic, “Malva,” which will be shown here towards end of the festival, died suddenly in Russia. He had. planned to attend the festivaL Similar thing happened last year, when Jap director Kenji Mizoguchi died as he was about to board a plane for Venice. He is being commemorated by a series of five retrospective morning showings, dedicated to his work since 1936 , . . Angelo Rizzoli, one of Italy’s top producers, is footing all bills for the large group of stars: and VIP’s conneeted with his pic, “Sogni Nel Cassetto,” during their stay at the Lido... There has been a second incident at the-Palace be-: fore an evening showing: another femme star refused a radio inter “The. Story -of. view on her way in, and the ‘inter-. Yiewer pointedly noted the uncoop ‘erative attitude in his interview ... Columbia threw a p.m. cocktail party the day before the local showing of ‘Esther Costello” to in tro Heather Sears to the locally assembled press ... Both festival pix starring Curd Judgens, “Oeil pour Oeil” and “Bitter Victory,” find him ending pic in a struggle of life and death with another man in the desert. In one pic, his opposite is Folco Lull, in the other, it’s Richard Burton. “Something of Value,” the local Yank entry, ‘also ends with a two-man fight for survival ...Poland is showing four pix here out of ‘competition . . .Gustay Machaty, the Czech director whose locally screened (1934) “Ecstacy” sent Hedy Lamarr on her way to stardom, is at-the. festival looking o for 4 young girl to star in the re- make which he’s ready to make in Germany.’ He wants a non-professional, in her late teens. John D. Jernezay, U. S. charge Emb. gave a party at the Lido Golf Club for all Italian. officials at the festival before returning fo the Italian capital... According to an official bulletin issued at the festival, “‘actress. Barbara Hutton has arrived at the Lido and is staying at the Excelsior ... The Jugoslav press is up in arms over reception accorded the Jugo entry, “Samo Ljudi,” at the festival, Some see it as a deliberate anti-Jugoslav. campaign ... Belgrade’s “Politika” {termed the reception “exasperat| ingly chauvinistic and the result of mistrust, irony, and hate”... Alde Fabrizi will show his “Tl.Maestro” here after all—out of competition. Pic was made in Spain and had been once .erroneously announced as the Spanish entry. Al Vaughan to RC&J Al Vaughan, vet publicist, has joined the Rogers, Cowan & Jacobs public relations outfit as manager of the picture publicity department on the Coast. | . In past he’s been ad-pub director for Samuel Goldwyn, Walter Wan-. ger, Sol Lesser and Independent Artists Pictures| ~= °° assy in Rome, fhe indifferent *