Variety (November 1957)

Wednesday, November. 27 t 1957 PfiSIEF? PICTURES HAPPY DAYS FOR NOVELISTS Tax Panic-Muted—Threat Remains All) in Show World on Warninf for 1958—Must Have ‘Proof’ of Spending for Legitimate Expenses Recently, in the 10th. month of the present year, the Internal Rev¬ enue. Service .ruled that each per¬ sonal tax return for* 1957, when filed on April 15, 1958, would have to carry a “flag” on page one giv¬ ing the '.“expenses” right under reported gross income. Something like nationwide “panic” followed. Not that any new policy was really being adopted, but rather that-the regular policy .was being; so point¬ edly planted to explode in the’ taxpayer’s' face.' Among those caught unready with records, in detail, to defend and explain expenses .of a tax- year about to terminate were thousands of shbw folk of all levels of income’. For years they had operated by rule-of-thumb averag¬ ing of business expenses. Not that -they went unchallenged. Theatri¬ cal personages are watched and, precisely 1 audited, with peculiar care by Federal inspectors because > their professional spending is -large, and unavoidably so. • The Treasury has. now ruled that the expense “flag” on page one need not fly April 15, but that starting wi'h 1958 the taxpayer is on warning to keep detailed financial records and.be in a posi¬ tion to support Expense claims. The sigh of relief around the nation on Tuesday (26), had the vibration of thunder. But all thinking persons will not fail to absorb the lesson of the “scare” the revenuers gave everbody. Ours is a culture which lives in the twilight zone of “interpretation” and while Americans have more right to quarrel with the collec¬ tors' than the citizens'of Britain, in the end the power is clear and the titizen pays or else. •Here is not the place to. bring up the many unfairnesses, ‘implicit in the tax laws as written rather than interpreted, which bear down severely upon talent and brains, which enjoy few, If any, of the allowances and shelters open to capital per se. Suffice that all in the show. world should take due note of the new dangers. Rules for 1958: Pay by check . Open charge accounts where possible. Keep an expense diary. Have any and all kinds of "proof” of expenses, included .bills, •receipts, stubs. Billy Graham Biopic? Hollywood, Nov. 26. Allied Artists’ Joel McCrea . sagebrush saga currently in release, “The Tall Stranger,” originally Was to. have been called “Walk Tall." When the picture started production a wealthy Texan, learning of the working title, -insisted he and some associ¬ ates were planning to wrap a religious film around evangel- ,1st Billy Graham and drape it with that “Walk Tall" sobri¬ quet. No argument. Graham is deemed to have many ardent followers who hit not only the sawdust trail, but also the film theatre trail when an oater is being screened. Bardot Film Ires NewCinemirade Elmer C. Rhoden, president' of National Theatres, who is copro¬ ducing three films with Jack L ; Warner in the CInemiracle process, sails with his wife on Friday (29) for an extended European tour to open up new territory for the hew third-dimension process. Be¬ cause-' the first Louis de Roche- jnent. “CInemiracle Adventure” is strong on the Scandinavian lo¬ cales, the Rhodens Will tee off their European o.o.’in.Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen. While In England he will do some quail¬ shooting with -J. Arthur Rank. The process was demonstrated twice yesterday at the Mt, Eden Theater In The Bronx (which is the N.Y. counterpart to the' Mel¬ rose Theatre, - Hollywood, - where the Coast tests have been held). Both Rhoden- and'Warner attended the a.m. screenings^ and -there was another last (Tues.) night. - Three-} others are scheduled fot next Week. Rhoden envisions 35 global in¬ stallations for jCinemiracie, sep¬ arate and apart from the 25 in the TT.S. and two in Canada. Hartford, Nov. 2&. Three local -film houses w}ere criticized Sunday (24) by Catho¬ lic priests of St. Joseph’s: Cathe¬ dral for* showing objectionable pix. Specifically, singled out for cas¬ tigation by the Rev. Bradford H. Coltob and other priests of the church was the Colonial Theatre, near the church. Currently showing at the filmer is “The Light Across the Street,” starring French film star Brigitte Bardot. Father Colton explained that he and the other priests did not devote a sermon to the film or theatre’s policies, but mentioned them, in a. group of - parish an¬ nouncement. ' AH masses were notified that “objectionable, moy- ies are playing in their neighbor¬ hood.” . “The Colonial” he said, “is mak¬ ing a fast buck with condemned films.” He later' explained to newsmen that by. this he meafit the- theatre’s fare is largely movies disapproved by the Catholic Le¬ gion of Decency. . Two other film .houses which have been offering foreign films came in for criticism by Father Colton. The Art and the Cine- Webb. -He did not name the lat¬ ter but identified by its location as “that one down in Wethersfield.” Latter town is a suburb of Hart? ford and has only one house. The Cing-Webb. Father Colton also blasted the advertising policies of the Colon¬ ial Theatre. He called them "out¬ rageous.” Said he .did not know whether the other pries*, s had com? mented on the ads. According to Daniel V. Murphy^ manager of the Colonial Theatre, h^ bad not been contacted by any clergyman on the matter asof Sunday night. — Wald Hunks Targets Too Limited; Producers Confuse 44 BOOKS SET Films are losing a huge poten^ tial audience because the industry is aiming toe* much at specialized targets in its.sales approach, pro¬ ducer Jerry Wald maintained in* New .York over the weekend. • Wald; fresh from a trip through the- south where he discussed his. upcoming “Peyton Place,” held film: exploiteefS were setting tp. narrow an aim. “Too many times, we aim our selling at either the teenage group, or else at the so¬ phisticates, and we ignore the mass audience that is waiting for word 1 about our films,” he said. . : Producer pointed to the myriads of clubs,organizations, * church groups, etc. functioning throughout the country and said Hollywood (Continued on page 29) Hollywood, Nov. 26. Hollywood fllmtkers wIH throw their biggest literary Sunday punch in a decade, with a minimum of 44 novels poised by the majors for filmization during the first six months of 1958. Of the total, greatest number of novelsrto-pix will be made by 20th- Fox, which will shoot 16 book prop¬ erties by next June. The upsurge in book .filming is attributed to an effort to win back the lost theatre- going patrons. To do so, Holly¬ wood’? new attack is concentrated in wooing the “book worms” back to the film houses. . While aU of the majors haven’t as yet laid out their 1958 product tion schedules, studio spokesmen feel, the following properties will roll during the first half of ’58: • The 16 novels being transfered to the screen at 20th-Fox include, “The Diary , of Anne Frank,” auto¬ blog, which George Stevens will prch duce-direct; “Mud On the Stars,” by - William Bradford Huie, pro¬ ducer-director Elia Kazan; “Ten North Frederick” by John O’Hara, which Philip Dunne directs for pro¬ ducer Qharles . Brackett; “A Cer¬ tain Smile,” by Francoise Sagan, director Jean Negulesco, producer Henry- Ephron; “The Captive” by the Gordons, Samuel -G. Engel pro¬ duction; “Gemma Two Five,” by Victor Canning, also to be pro¬ duced .by Engel; ‘The Big War” by Anton Myrer, Jerry Wald produc¬ tion; ‘Tender Is the Night,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, David O. Selz- nick production;" DeLuxe Tour” by Frederic Wakeman which Robert L. Jacks'will produce for Darryl F. Zanuck productions; ‘The Sound and the. Fury/’ by. William Faulk¬ ner, to be directed by Martin Rittj for Jerry Wald; “Rally Round the Flag, Boys,”.by Max Shulman, Bud¬ dy Adler production which Leo McCarey directs; “Bachelor's Baby” by Gwenn Davenport which Henry Ginsberg produces; ‘The Wandering Jew” by Eugene Sue which Nuhnally Johnson produces- directs; “These Thousand Hills” by A. B. Guthrie, producer David Weisbart; “Blood and Sand,” by Vincent Blasco Ibanez, to be pro¬ duced by Henry Ephron, and “The Small Woman,” by Alan Burgess, which Mark Hobson qproduces-di* rects. WB, TJ’a 5 Each Warner? and Universal both plan to put five novels before the -cam¬ eras during the - six month period. At WB, “Home Before Dai*k,” by Eileen Bassing,' Which Mervyn Le- Roy produces-directs; "The FBI Story” by Don Whitehead, pro¬ ducer LeRoy; ‘The Nun’s Story” by Kathryn Hulme which Fred Ziiine : mann directs for producer Henry Blanke; “The Philadelphian” by Richard Powell which Alex Match produces; and “Letter from Pe¬ king” .by Pearl Buck which Mar¬ tin Rackin produces. U’s quintet are—“And Ride a Tiger,” by Rob¬ ert. Wilder, which Helmut Kautner directs for producer Ross Hunter; “Bon Voyage” by Marijane and Jo¬ seph Hayes, producer Ross Hunter; “The . Last Outlaw” by Clifton Adams which MaxweU Shane will produce;. “The Galilean” by Frank G. Slaughter whlth Douglas Sirfc produces; and “ThA Wine of (Continued on page 30) Awards a Crazy Quilt to Writers Considerable Vexation Vented at Guild Meeting— What Team Uniform Do Leaders Wear? Overture ‘Old Man’ HoUywood, Nov. ii6. Warners is sending “The Old Man and the Sea” out with an overture, S‘udio has quietly filmed a sequence involving the studio orchestra, batoned by Dimitri Tiomkin, playing the main themes from the Leland Hay¬ ward. production. It will be shown ahead of the man title credits to give the effect of an actual theatre orchestra providing an overture prior to a performance. Idea was used once before, by 20th- Fox, on “How to Marry a Millionaire." Stunt, in effect, makes an ac¬ tor of Tiomkin. For the first time' fn all his years Of asso¬ ciation with the industry bis face will be seen on the screen as he conducts the orchestra of the overture. ‘AndersonviDe’ Cost $5J Hollywood. Nov. 26. Screen Writers branch of Writ¬ ers Guild of America West on Thursday night reduced the screen¬ writer awards in the Academy race from three to two, in accordance with Academy requests, but not un¬ til a furious debate raged over the reduction. Academy of Motion Picture Arts Sciences has asked all branches to reduce their re¬ spective nomination categories, to streamline the annual event. Branch met at the Academy li¬ brary, and as it turned out chief targets of the opponents were Guild reps to the Academy—Acad prexy George Seaton and Valen¬ tine Davies. They were assailed by Daniel Fuchs, Sydney Boehm and George Wells, who in their at¬ tack charged that Seaton and Davies hadn’t consulted the writ¬ ers-on the reduction, and that they were representing the Academy, not the Guild, in the matter. Fuchs was indignant about it, and said writers Weren’t even noti¬ fied about the proposed reduction. Charles Brackett and Dudley Nich¬ ols rose to the defense of Seaton and Davies, saying they felt three .1 awards were too many, and Malvin j Wald endorsed their position, and : accused the protesting writers of ! being overly concerned with the « ... At _ j* # l<lt . , . viui jr VVULC1UCU Willi U1B On thfc theory that the business * economics involved rather than is better than ever—if you have an attraction,” George Sidney stated this - week he wouldn't be ‘'surprised” if the cost of “Ander- sonviUe” goes above $5,000,000. This is on the basis of the scope of .the production he has in mind although the specifics haven't been) set yet. independent film-maker,'- who's aligned with Columbia, said he’s had the Mackinlay Kantor property for a year and a half and during most of this time Daniel Taradash has been at work on screenplay. Transferring the monumental novel to script form has been a sizable job and Taradash has reached the point Where he has a 350-page draft. Sidney, who now has “Pali Joey” in release, said he’s not j necessarily concerned about the! length of “AndersonvHle,” his reasoning being that nothing’s too long if it’s good. He said in New York this week he hasn’t decided on the screen process but has entertained the idea of doing the . picture in Cinerama.! However, he hasn’t seen the new Cihemiracle system yet and in¬ tends to view this upon his return to the Coast this week. As for the costs of “Andersonville,” there’s to be a major item in the logistics, considering that 20,000 extras will be employed in the Cjyil War stock- the awards themselves. Brackett and 'Nichols contended not only were three writer awards too many, but that actually there should be only one, just as there is one for directors, producers, etc., and Intimated a proposal for a sin¬ gle writers award may be brought up in the future. Branch prexy Frank Nugent then proposed the award for “best original story” be eliminated, that the* two Oscar categories for writers be for “best adaptation” and “best original ma¬ terial,” latter kudosing -both screenplay and its original basis, and this proposal was adopted. During all the arguing, Stewart Stem complained that Nicholas Ray had garnered an Academy nomination for best original story on “Rebel Without a Cause,” the (Continued on page 20)* L. A. Awakens To TTireatTrisco May Win Pix‘Festival’ United Ariiflt' 'Gfvur Whiian' Francis M. Winikus bemoans Us. Fate In Paris pnotliar Editorial Feature In tfce upcoming : 52d Anniversary IS umber of PSRIEff Hollywood, Nov. 26. Los Angeles city and qounty of- , - - ... . ficials have expressed concern over ade scenes and all will have to be: the prospect that some other citv herded and fed. j might be chosen the site for the Sidney also revealed he's set to 1959 International Federation of do a picture with;. Cantiflas, the? Film Producers Assn.—sanctioned Mexican star, as the key character; film festival. Indignation y r as among perhaps five stellar per-j aroused by story which indicated formers. It's'an original and now ’outlook is rosy for San Francisco collaborating on the script are : being Chosen one of five world Sonja Levien and Leonard Spigel-j sites for film festivals sanctioned gass. Tentative title is “Pepe.” by the international body. Cantiflas has made only one! Frisco has groundwork already English-speaking picture to date,' kid, a first, with unsanctioned fes- this being “80 Days Around thej tival scheduled to start there World.” Col has - been releases his j *>ec- 4 - Spanish-language productions for- _ Letters expressing interest in more than 15 years. luring festival to L.A. have -gone out from Stephen D. Gavin, chief : exec assistant to L.A. Mayor Foul- son, and John Anson Ford, chair¬ man of county board of supervis¬ ors. Gavin, in a letter to industry leader Mervyn LeRoy. wrote, “If the industry is anxious to bring this festival to Hollywood, the city would cooperate in every way pos¬ sible, but it’ is our feeling that the lead should be taken by the motion picture leaders.” i Ford, in a letter to Hollywood ,, , „ .. ' n “^{Chamber of Commerce exec secre- whichElia Kazan will make] tary Claire T. .Grimes, wrote: “Your concern regarding the San Francisco Film Festival seems well founded. But what do you— ‘they’ propose to do ‘Dunbar’s Core’ an Insert; Beal Novel Reaps $50,000 As Paring Block for ‘Mud’ "Dunbar’s CoVe,” by Borden Beal, has been acquired by 20th- I'Fqx for $50,000. ’ Unpublished novel will be incorporated in Wil¬ liam Bradford Huie’s “Mud on the Stars,” which Eli for 20th release. The BeaL book was brought out by Scribner a month ago. Like ( “Mud- on the Stars,” it deals with ' or we—or the Tennessee. Valley Authority, i about it?”