Variety (November 1957)

2 MISCBIXAXY Continual Changes In Copyright Values Affect All Show'Biz ‘Quixote’ Jumps Todd Hollywood, Nov. 5. Orson Welles has virtually com- The continual. change taking + place in show business is putting ■ ... y A an added emphasis on the proper 1 (JrSOD WttleS UWH drafting of contracts. That was the 1 v point driven home by attorney Herbert T. Silverberg in an ad¬ dress at the California Copyright Conference on the Coast last week. j Silverberg’s speech, "Rights of pleted a secre t “Don Quixote” film Authors, Composers and Perform- ^ rp T M «jp ers In Television and Motion Pic- , P r °J ect and may have it in release tures To Which They Contribute,” .before Mike Todd even begins cast- stressed the point that "We don’t! s n g hi a much advertised film ver- know how they're going to show : sion of the classic, pictures m the future" and that a : w ni h* nr«pnt- way should be found to develop \ WeUes version will be present property riglits in a performance j ed first on CBS-TV as a spectac- work. Also to he ironed out, he ular and will be released theatri- said, is publicity rights as related | cally la ter. He has been working rf wSer"i **** ^^‘V^Uon medium than originally contracted and directed the film in addition constitutes an “invasion of pri- to starring in it with Patty Me-, vacy" and “publicity rights”is one, Cormack. of the newer problems confronting j CBS helped provide financing in the courts in the changing show. return for getting the rights to business scene. ; show it first as a spec. The attorney also stressed the! -- - -“ Importance of international agree- j ment on who owns the copyright [Q Uami/)/! of a picture. “If only for expedi- APA fCIUCC "681 •> KilvnrLnr* said. “nnlv nnp , WVV 1 VIUVV * Rules More Rigid ency,” Silverberg said* “only one man should own the copyright and that man is the producer." The U.S. goes along with this concept hut in Fra’nce, for example, direc¬ tors, writers and sometimes per-! ~, n __ not 9Q “’.^ rl inl0 the COp -'- righ S Regulations for next ye^ ven- ownership act. .... ' ice Film Festival likely will 4 see a As far as the recording business the more rigid selection is concerned, Silverberg said^that ; svslemt first adopted for the 1956 the area of law covering phono-; e ' V ent. This is the unofficial view graph records is still in confusion. here fbllowing a meeting of the He pointed out that the courts . f es tj Va t organization committee, have gone both ways in trying to ■, fi as forwarded a proposed establish whether a phonograph is set of regu iations concerning the a publication. Fact that a disk still, 1958 iest for approval by FIAPF, can’t be copyrighted will eventual-, the Inte rnational Producers Asso- ly have to be straightened out by ciation> at its next meeting in a new approach from the courts. p aris Nov There’s a trend in the law, Sil- j Though the extent of the changes verberg pointed out, that’s in keep- asked for was not disclosed, it's felt ing with the shifting show biz pat-; (Continued on page 79) terns. In the past judges used to * take a case and decide it on the law. Now, however, the judges are tfying to decide who is right and then find a legal justification for . their view. !■ The address was attended by a show biz cross-section including • Louis representatives of the film, radio., c _„ orQl tv, and recording Industries. * severa Satcbmo’s 8.0. in B.A. & Yogi Berra’s Mask Radio Moscow Raps Cleve. Armstrong, who needs bodyguards during his I present South American tour^ to protect him from overzealous fans, has wired his manager Joe txlaser, : head of Associated Booking Corp., Scribe For Goof Answers for some ad ^ ed protective me as - rri fT rm n , iA .s i . a . : ure s while going to and from the 10 liuuK S 4 utfl Amu IjOlZ ; theatre in Buenos Aires. Cleveland, Nov. 5. | Glaser, known as the unofficial Radio Moscow blamed Cleve-1 manager of the N. Y. Yankees, was land Press radio-tv columnist Jim - asked by Armstrong to send one Frankel with upsetting the big of Yogi Berra’s catcher’s masks Soviet 40th anniversary quiz con -i “to protect his chops." test * l Armstrong is one of the biggest Frankel, who printed the an-;hits of any of the American jazz iwers to Radio Moscow’s quiz, was ! performers to play that country, charged with having goofed when \ Tour has already been extended an he said the last registered case of \ additional week, and * there will unemployment in the Soviet Union \ probably fie more extensions if (Continued on page 79) f some U. S. dates can be juggled. 11/4 Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please send VARIETY for £wo Years To .. {Please Print Name) Street ... City,..Zone_State.., Regular Subscription Rates One Year—$10.00 Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional Ftr Year Z'finiEfr Ine. 154 West 44* Street New Ywk 34. N. Y. P'JUsijSFy Wednesday* November 6, 1957 Prods., Give Youngsters a Chance London Trades’ Merger London, Nov. 5. Britain's • two daily film trades, the Daily Film Renter and the Cin¬ ema, are to amalgamate as from next Monday (11) under the title The Daily Cinema. Sam Harris, [ chairman nf the Cinema, *will be editor-in-chief, and Bernard. Char- ! man, editor of the Renter, will hold a similar job in the new paper. C. H. B. Williamson and R. Ver¬ non Beste will be associate editors. According to an official an¬ nounce last week, the amalgama¬ tion has been made necessary by conditions in the industry and neither paper would' have been able to continue without a substan¬ tial increase in. rates, both for ad¬ vertising and subscriptions. Examine Catholics’ Conscience About Race Prejudice An examination of conscience on racial tolerance for Catholics, pre¬ pared by Monsignor Carl P. Hens- ler and printed in the weekly bul¬ letin of St. George's Church in ; Pittsburgh, ask,ed as one of five i points, “Would you patronize ho- i tels, restaurants, theatres and : places of amusement that refused admittance to Negroes simply be¬ cause of their color?” The National Catholic Confer- j ence News Service, In a story on the “questionnaire,” reported that Monsignor 'Hensler also inquired: “What would you do if a respect¬ able Negro family bought or rented the house next to yours? Would you object to them moving, in?" He likewise asked “Would you rather miss Mass on Sunday than go to a church the parishioners of which are colored?" “Would you receive Holy Communion from a Negro priest?" “‘Would you go to Confession to him?" • Monsignor Hensler called white supremacy “pure myth" from both the religious and scientific view¬ points”; said the Negro, in the North and in. the South, has been the Victim of discriminatory treat¬ ment “to keep him in his place?" E. Germany Bans All Yank Show Biz; Party Meeting Gets Warning Frankfurt, Nov. .5. Influences of the Western (U. S., that is) “enemy" in show biz, in¬ cluding tele, Tadio, light music, popular jazz records, music publish¬ ing and the theatre are all being banned as part of a new culture purge in East Germany, according to reports. East German govern¬ ment is tightening its controls over intellectuals, with new demands that the people under Russian dom- - ] ination stay away from American influences in the field of entertain¬ ment. The Communist Party just ended a two-day conference in East Berlin with over 1,000 cultural leaders present. And the- party orders were to end “Western in- I fluences” in the field of entertain¬ ment. Recently, East German radio sta¬ tions had been playing popular (Continued on page 70) Ambassador’s Takeover By Webb & Knapp Jan. 1 The $10,750,000 takeover by Wil¬ liam Zeckendorf’s Webb & Knapp of the Hotel Ambassador, on New York’s Park Ave., is slated for Jan. 1* when the sum total, less a $500,000 advance, is due. There is a 60Aiay grace period post—Jan. 1. There have been reports, unveri¬ fied, that Zeckendorf is dickering for Max Blouet, w.k. international i host at the £otel George V, Paris, i to come to New York and operate the Ambassador. See Bin? r s Darling Los Angeles, Nov. 5. Marquee at : the RKO Hill- street Theatre is cued to the headlines. It reads “Mrs. Bing Crosby— Kathryn Grant—in*‘Operation > Madball.”’ De Mille Feted like Statesman in Beilin Berlin, Oct. 29. Paramount’s vet producer-direc¬ tor Cecil B. DeMille, currently in Europe for “10 Commandments,” came to Germany for four days' and was honored as if hie were a top-rank international statesman. In Kronberg (West Germany), he was received by Federal Chancel¬ lor Konrad Adenauer. He was the first international picture person¬ ality to be granted a priyate audi¬ ence by the German statesman. DeMille was received by the new Lord Mayor here. A few hours later, the German League for Hu¬ man Rights gave a gala reception ‘for him when he was made honor¬ ary member. | Jabs TV as | Of Hitch-Hikers San Francisco, Nov. 5. “Television is an industry of hitch-hikers, carbon copyists and brain-pickers,” 20th-Fox producer Jerry Wald told an audience qf 200 at the San Francisco Press Club last Friday (1) night. In a humorous but cutting at¬ tack on video, Wald accused tele¬ vision workers of having “no cour¬ age of their own, of being victims of the men in the empty gray flan¬ nel suits.” He defined TV as “the place where you see the pictures you’ve been trying to avoid for years.". By contrast, he said the film in¬ dustry has “learned the hard Way" that “the public doeesn’t know what it wants so you give the jpublic what ; you want” This, he said, is the films’s greatest strength. ‘The public prefers seeing a bad picture for nothing at home than going out to pay to see a bad film. “The problem is to get away from the. assembly-belt proluct ... I once had a teacher who advocated, ‘Always write a. masterpiece. There’s always a market for them.’" Sinatra Stars Sinatra Hollywood, Nov. 5. Frank Sinatra will star in an in¬ die film to be made under the banner of Frank Sinatra Produc¬ tions at Warners late next year. Property has not yet been selected. Sinatra’s next film assignment is VKings Go Forth,” Frank Ross production* for United Artists re¬ lease, in which he co-stars with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. James Cagney warned perform¬ ers: “in my age bracket to stop kidding themselves” and to give young actors a chance to advance in the film industry. He particu¬ larly cautioned his “age group" to avoid over-exposure and to limit theft screen appearances td per¬ haps two pictures a year. Noting the changes that Rave ■taken place in the industry—from, the. contract days when studios made 50 to 60 pictures annually to the present-day freelance status —Cagney related that he was care¬ fully rationing his screen appear¬ ances to two a year. Television and legit have been ruled out by the veteran actor. “I’m too old to have to go to theatre. every night for a long run. It’s just too tough for me at this stage.” In addition, he said it would be unfair for him to sign up for a play and then, if it’s a hit, to decide to leave after a short run. Cagney, who earlier this, year appeared as Lon Chaney in Univer¬ sal’s “Man of a Thousand Faces," is currently working on location in N. Y. for another U film, “Never Steal Anything SmalL" Latter, is based on the Maxwell Anderson play, “The Devil’s Hornpipe," which tells the story of a crooked labor boss. Locations are being filmed on the Brooklyn waterfront. Unusual aspect of “Never Steal Anything Small" is that the crook¬ ed labor boss, played by Cagney, 4 takes over -complete control of the waterfront by singing his way.to labor ezardom. This is the first time in seven years that Caghey has sung on the screen. Last tiine was in ‘The West Point Story." He has eight numbers, all told, in- (Continued on page 7Sf) Film Theatres May Pull Blackout March 26 For Oscar Awards Telecast . In a dramatic move without precedent, America’s film^theatres will take a holiday on the night of March 26 if plans now in the talk stage materialize. As originated on the Coast and already informally endorsed by some exhibitors in New York, the proposal calls for: the shuttering of theatres across the country, during the period of the- Academy Awards television program. Author of the idea is obscure; it somehow was advanced at a recent meeting of prominent filmites on the Coast and, instead of immedi¬ ate brush usually given radical sug¬ gestions, was greeted with surpris¬ ing enthusiasm. Those upbeating the project en¬ vision darkening theatres with lighted marqueds, latter suggest¬ ing that the public catch the tv’er at home. Hope, of course, is to build the greatest audience ever for the Oscar telecast which, under film industry sponsorship for the first (Continued on page 79) DAILY VARIETY (Published In Hollywood by Daily Variety, Ltd.) . $15 a year. $20 Foreign.