Variety (November 1957)

7 Wednesday, November 13, 1957 POSstlBTf PICTURES . > ♦ ♦ 9 M l » ♦ ♦ + t♦♦♦♦♦ ♦»» +♦»»+»♦♦14 M » » f ♦ » ♦ ;; New York Sound Truck ;; i ♦ ♦ ♦♦ ♦ + ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ »♦+■+ ♦ » ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ »♦♦»+ ♦♦♦♦» * ♦ ♦ 4 t Suzy Parker, whose acting in “Kiss Them for Me*’ .last week’got strongly, panned by several; N.Y. scribes, continues to go to acting school twice a week. She needs guts after the comments . . . even the Mirror . Marlon Brando in for some rare interviews re “Sayonara” . . . French Film Office topper Joseph Maternatl will circulate at the TOA convention in Miami . . .-Since it was reversed in its ban on “Garden of Eden” (nudie), the N.Y. Censor office has-been swamped With similar- type pix, nixed in the past. Sidney Poitier, up for role of Porgy in Samuel Goldwyn'a “Porgy and Bess,” was refused script approval by. producer and released from his commitment. He feared “Uncle Tom’* angles v . . Lindsley Parsons and John H. Burrows will produce “The A1 Capone Story” for Allied Artists release, with Jack De Witt to write screenplay. Eight 20th-Fox execs participated last week at a private dinner at the * Waldorf, given by prexy Spyros P. Skonras for production chief Buddy Adler. Studio’s production plans were discussed. Adler" Coasted the same night. ; . Some companies' are unhappy about national magazine (Time, Newsweek, etc.) film reviews appearing before the N.Y. scribes, at least, have had their Say. Fear the mags are a bad influence. Mike Todd, due to announce the winners of the top presents at his Madison Square Garden party Nov, 281 So many gifts were stolen from the Gar¬ den floor, Todd had to buy a flock of newmnes. He’s due back Dec. 15. . . Kenneth MacKenna, Metro’s studio story chief, in frOm the Coast on a two-day quickie to gander two legit entries as possible film proper¬ ties. He o.o/d Sain Locke’s “Fair Game” 1 on Broadway and journeyed to New Haven to glom the Aldous Huxley-Beth Wendell play, “The - Genius and The Goddess.”... Samuel Goldwyn has signed Oliver Smith as production designer for “Porgy and Bess.” Irene Sharaff will design the costumes. Konben Mamoulian, who will direct the picture, and.N. Richard Nash, who is writing the screenplay, report to the Goldwyn - studio next week . . Kim Hnnter will not appear in Gannaway Inter¬ national’s film’s “Maybe Smith.” According to Miss Hunter’s represen- ‘ tative, the actress was offered the role, turned it down; and there were ' no further negotiations . ... Charles Deegen, Metro homeoffice .assist¬ ant to southern sales manager John J. Mahoney, back at his desk after la long illness . . . John Patrick, who scripted “Les Girls,” back from the-London command performance of the. picture . Eva Gabor in • from the Coast to aid in ballying “Don't Go Near the Water.” . . . Bert Freed, currently appearing in “Romanoff and Juliet,” will double in a film assignment. He’s In cast of Universal's James Cagney stirrer, “Nev¬ er Steal*Anythihg Small,” currently shooting in Gotham. Victor Hoare, managing: director of Lion International, has returned to London after . talks, here with .distribs regarding “Our Yirgin Island,” now in “pro¬ duction In tbe West Indies, picture,, being produced by Countryman - Films Ltd:, stars John Casaevetes and Sidney Poitier . . . Richard Base- hart off to London for the premiere there of “Time Limit.” . Feeling that “The Bfg Country,” Gregory Peck-William Wyler production for United Artists release, deserves “big” treatment, UA is sending giant mailing pieces and stills to newspapers ... ' . Frank* Kaapler’i first release since splitting with Walter Reade—the .French “Razzia” with Jean Gabin—opening at the World Theatre, N.Y. Nov. 48 . .-Paris Theatre, ejecting to hold “And God Created’Wom¬ an” iihtU February, now is .booked up until Fall of 1958, . according to -U.S. Fathe topper, Rnncan McGregor. ; N.Y, Times Magazine this Sunday (10) bad a. layout picturing- eight “Queens of the foreign Honywoods.’’OnIy one^—Gina Lollobririda—Js well known to American audiences. Two others have had a. slight im¬ pact. They. are Brigitte Bardot an*d Diana Don. - Indie fiim and tv distributor Ben Henry, former British sales head for ‘Universal, back to London tomorrow (Thors.) on the Queen Mary after a flying trip to Hollywood to set some overseas film representation deals. Ediophor, * 20th -. Fox’s color theatre, television system, was demon¬ strated again last vvefek to a group including a number of prominent ex¬ hibitors. Showing took place'.at 20th’s experimental theatre in the Bronx,' with prexy Spjtrr P. Skeoras attending. Show, was transmitted .from the Park Sheraton/Hotel by chief engineer and research topper Earl L Sponable. No Immediate demonstrations of .the system for. the .trade-are in prospect. - ; .. . William Zinsser, N.Y. Herald Tribune film eritic, to4he -Coast for a -three-weekonce over of the Hollywood scene - . - Jack Tirman, veteran -Warner Bros, publicist, has opened his own N,Y. office. Irving Wind-; .lsch, another WB vet, has .joined Loeff it McElwaine, Coast publicity .firm, as its N.Y. representative .. . “Les Girls,” Sol C. Siegel's produc¬ tion being released by Metro, into key. engagements and will be* fol¬ lowed by more than 200 dates diiring Thanksgiving week ^ . A Japanese best seller called “Banka” (Elegy) • will be published in English in the U-S. next spring when a Japanese film based on the nov- el will-be exported to America. Beacon-Press of Boston will publish in. the'tl.S. Yasnko Harada is the author of the story which is set in Hok- kdaido, Japan’s northernmost major island, Story concerns a young girl .who falls in iove with an architect. She tells his wife of their affair and the wife commits suicide although the wife has bCen having an affair herself'with a student High school teachers Bin Ttbltlti and Atsulshl -Tamanaikl did the translation and Were quite surprised: when. 14 U.S. ^•publishers responded favorably to their feelers. Howard Minsky making the rounds <st exhibitor conventions to make With the Telemeter pitch. He’s eastern sales chief of the home toll sys¬ tem . . . ‘Ethbl EdrelL quit the Columbia publicity department to free lance ..,. Stanley Kramer due back from Europe tomorrow (Thurs.).. .. Remarkable likeness between. We* Bryan, actor just signed by Rbuse- ' Greene Productions, and the late James Dean. SeymOnr Poe, elcec v.p. of IFR Releasing Corp., getting a new two- year eontract from the IFE.board in Rome, Time Magazine managed to write the Lonls B. Mayer obit without -mentioning Nicholas M. Scfcenck... City College students studying film- making are preparing film dramas for use on the Police Academy tar- gST range. Idea Is to duplicate’ as much as possible the conditions un¬ der which men actually must, fire. hfPEA’s Far-.East rep. Drying Maas, to New Delhi to huddle with Charles Egan on the situation in- India where imports have been cut to .10% of the old quota, UJS, distribs had a backlog,: but .will begin to run short early in ’58 , . . ’Mr. and Mrs. Emanuel Sllverrtone (he's 20th- Fox’s foreign qxec) tossed a big golden; anniversary party, for Mfs. Sil- verstone’s parents, Mr. and Mis. 'Joseph Frooa. Qthec Froos daughters' /are Sylvia and Betty, both in showbiz. Mrs. Ida Froos used to accom¬ pany tlaughter Sylvia on her tours , MPEA topper Erie Johnston re¬ turned to the UB. from London. Monday morning (10) ahe'ad of sched- -ule r *, , 20th now pitching “Ten North Fredrick” -to Sir Laurence Oliv¬ ier? It’s currently cast with Spencer Tracy. Sounds like a put-up job but, anyway,* a moppet on a television'show identified Cecil B.-DeMille as “the man Who broke the Teh’Command¬ ments.” . ., Striking J* "tiie resemblance between: newcomer Wes Bryan and.the late James Dean, Radio-television promotion getivitiep at Columbia, heretofore operat¬ ed independently, have beeiCtransferred to the publicity departmebt beaded^ by.,Ilm4enae* Schorr. f Tokyo, Nov. 12. Paramount is getting ready to market'Its Biblical epic; ‘Ten Commandments,” in lands domi¬ nated by Moslem, Buddhist and Shinto sects. Excepting the Phil¬ ippine Islands, Asia has only 30,- 000,000 Christians and 1,700,000 Jews. This is in contrast with a Moslem population of 256,000,000, Hindu 309,264,000 and Shintu 30,000,000. In-light of these statistics, Par is hopeful of conquering the Asi¬ atic territories with “Command¬ ments” by selling the production as a spectacle focusing on good versus evil and oppressed peoples rising up against tyranny. Following a three-day meeting of Par execs here, ad-pub v.p. Jerry Pickman said the expectation is that $7,000,000 "Will be gotten out of the territory in film rental, this Boxscore on ‘10 CV The record of ‘Ten Com¬ mandments,” as detailed by Paramount— Total boxoffice gross: $26,- 500,000. Film rentals to Par (as of Nov. 7): $16,250,000. - . Openings to date: 917. on the basis of experience with the picture in the United States plus the boxoffice patterns set by pre¬ vious Par films In Asia. Par’s strongest entry of the past in India, for example, was “Sam? son and Delilah,” based on Bibli¬ cal characters. Of India’s total population of .432,672,000, there are only 6,000,000 Chriitians. Hin¬ duism and Brahmanism account for 35%.; Same feature* was pop¬ ular throughout Asia,; thus Par execs say they have no reason to expect any sales resistance * to “Commandments." „ As a matter of fact the.Cecil B; DeMille film already is set to play one Japanese circuit in a -deal pro¬ viding a guarantee of : three times the amount ever before; given, Of Japan’s 86,700,000 population, only a small fraction; is Christian (Protestant, Catholic and Greek ^Orthodox). By comparison, - there are.. 200 Shinto sects *and - 2Q7 Buddhist. Pakistan, population 75,68?,0pp r is virtually all Moslem. Philippines are dominated: by Christians. Of the island’s*, total population of 20,000,000, 78% are Catholic and 10% are of the Agli- payan Church. r “.Commandments” has played in only two cities outside the States so far, these being. Rome and Mi¬ lan. It’s to open in London late this month. Tokyo engagement is /pencilled in for the spring. TV’S MARTIN MANUUS MAY DIRECT AT 20TH Hollywood, Nov. 12. Martirr Manulis,. producer of CBS’ Playhouse 90, will move to 20th-Fqx as a theatrical film pro¬ ducer next year, if current nego¬ tiations being handled by the Wil¬ liam Morris agency jelL Deal be¬ ing negotiated for Manulis, one of the top producers in television, in¬ volves a" participation arrange¬ ment. Manulis is under contract to CBS until March of 1959, but negotia¬ tions are now on to obtain his rer lease from the network next June, when the current “90” season ends. Maniilis’ CBS pact allows him to produce theatrical films, "but he hasn’t been able to> find the time since he’s kept so busy turning out all the live 90-minute dramas, and I speeding the summers readying ) the next season’s output. Franklin ~ Productions Inc. has been authorized to conduct a mo¬ tion picture business in New York. Capital stock is 200 Share's^ no par value. Levine, Herabar & Solator were filing attorneys at Albany, HOLLYWOOD CHARITIES James Stewart Reports Best 3-Week Collections Ever i Hollywood, Nov. 12. Largest tbtal for any initial three week period in the history of the Motion Picture Permanent Chari¬ ties was reported at the first meet¬ ing of the MPPC campaign force by Chairman James Stewart who predicted the 1958 drive will be one of the most successful in recent years. During the first three weeks,! a total of 20,577 filmites pledged: $954,146. In a breakdown of contributions, Stewart reported that execs, de¬ partment heads, guilds and corpo¬ rations had pledged. $520,713; I labor’s executive committee, em¬ bracing all studio crafts of AFL and indie unions and guilds, $433,- 433; and Samuel Goldwyn Founda¬ tion. $30,000. Bra-Size Complex In D.S. Blamed On . Screen Amazons San Francisco, Nov. 12. ■ Impact of American film “stand¬ ards,” from Jane Russell to Jayne Mansfield is partly responsible for a new neurosis among U.S. wom¬ en, three plastic surgeons agreed: here. And, added one of the doc¬ tors, the emotional upset is bet¬ ter treated by a surgeon than a psychiatrist. Dr. Milton Edgerton, who teaches at Johns Hopkins^ Bal¬ timore, said: “Our methods do more for the disturbed woman than the psychi¬ atrists can.” ■ Film companies more and more are hiding jiehlnd an artificial le- | galistlc shield in their determina- ; tion not to come face to face with ; exhibitors in any kind of airing of trade disagreements, according to theatre sources. Some exhib spokesmen said this week they’ve been hopeful of setting up an in¬ dustry meeting on trade practices but have been encountering road¬ blocks in the form of “distributor alibis.” Film company officials are tak¬ ing the position, it’s said, that they’re fearful of participating in any kind of trade discussion be¬ cause of their vulnerability to anti¬ trust charges. 'They’re wary, they say, of joining together, along with theatfi; operators, in talks relating to trade matters with the excep¬ tions of arbitration, conciliation and institutional advertising cam¬ paigns. •= 6 Most recent call for an industry get-together was made by Edward Hyman, United Paramount v.p., who is seeking revisions in distrlb release schedules so that quality product would he made available at other than only holiday periods. Allied States, at its convention earlier this month, endorsed the Hyman proposal. Exhib sources claim the reason for the distrib aloofness is not rea¬ listic because even the Department of Justice, if approached, would okay an industry-wide meeting de¬ signed to stimulate free trade, and such a purpose could be attested to by all parties. Rental Averages, 31 to 35%, Part Of Goldwyn Case The disturbed .woman is one. Said ; the doctor, who thinks her* breasts are too small. Dr. Edger- to^-added that she is neither a stagestruek teenager nor a lonely spinster, rather: ; “Our patientsTahge in age-from 28. td 38. All but one out of a series of 32 are married. Most of them havjp children.” He was one of three surgeons participating in a panel of the American Society of Plastic and ^constructive Surgery. The others •Were Dr. Gustave Aufbricht of New York' and Dr. James B. Johnson of the University of Southern Cali¬ fornia. -lir. Aufbricht reported: “Breast augmentation is not new. If was done at least as long ago as 1895 in* Germany ... What is new .is the number of women now seek¬ ing this type of operation , . ■. 16 years ago women who came to the plastic surgeon all wanted to have too-Iarge breasts made smaller. ‘Today these women are dissat¬ isfied, feel inadequate. It is not hard to find the reason, in the so¬ cial climate, in the emphasis on ■ remarkable bosoms* brought about by the adulation paid certain pub¬ lic personalities, whose names I need not mention.” INSERT NEW LETTER’ TO CLARIFY/RAINTREE’ Hollywood, Nov, 12. In a rare instance of additional filming for a picture already in release, Metro has lensed a silent insert of a letter for “Raintree County.” ; Shot under the direction of Ed¬ ward Dmytryk, the Insert will re¬ place the letter footage in the orig¬ inal print in which. Montgomery Clift - discovers that Elizabeth Taylor has left him. The studio felt that additional explanation was required. The letter amplifies that she has gone home to Georgia. San Francisco, Nov. 12. Illness of Federal Judge Edward P, Murphy delayed resumption of Sam Goldwyn’s $1,755,000 antitrust suit against 20th-Fox, National Theatres and Fox West Coast un¬ til today (12), but GoMwyn’s law¬ yer, Joseph Alioto, took deposi¬ tion from Albert E. Sindlinger last Friday (8). Research analyst Sindlinger was called as witness to authenticate COMPO figures given to House Ways and Means Committee in 1953 and subsequently updated to 1956 for Senate Small Business'Com¬ mittee. Goldwyn ‘statistician Jo¬ seph A. Walsh previously had tried to introduce figures but had been blocked by .defense counsel Arthur B. Dunne, whose conten¬ tion that best. evidence of Sind¬ linger statistics would be from Sindlinger himself was upheld by Judge Murphy. Basie figures taken, in deposition showed percentage of boxoffice paid as film rental from 1946 to 1952 for motion picture industry as as whole. The percentages: