Variety (October 1958)

Wednesday, October 1, 19,58 — - ■■ . . . ■ j= r PfadEff PICTURES S T TALENT & BRAINS VS ‘MERE $’ 'Overheard’ by Reporter Furlong The following are quotes from a story written by Chicago Daily News sportswriter BUI Furlong on the supposedly secret major league meeting in Chicago, He listened in on the discussions via an airvent from an adjoining room. '■ Commissioner Ford Frick related to the owners that he had been presented with a $150,000 bill by Robert Coyne, special counsel for COMPO, for getting the admissions' tax reduced, to 10%. “The Commissioner feels that we have neither a legal nor a moral obligation to pay him,” Frick said, adding that Coyne had approached him some years back offering to lobby for a tax cut. However, Frick stressed that he had never hired Coyne for that work. “He did a helluva job for us” lobbying for the biU that would give baseball immunity from the antitrust laws, Frick said, “and there is no question he did a good job on the tax thing. However, I don’t like him coming and saying he was representing us when he wasn’t.” * Coyne has denied ever having presented Frick with a bill for get¬ ting the tax reduced. He hid been tinder specific direction from the COMPO board to “go it alone’.’ for the film biz in the tax fight. However, Coyne makes no bones about having done work for Frick in Washington. Coyne Lobbied for Baseball Says COMPO Leaders Knew; Denies Rendering Frick a Bill Sexsational Come-Ons in Ad Copy Recognized as a Gotta-Be-Tackled Problem; MPAA May Go Into Huddle ----- --:-:-♦> Robert W. Coyne, special coun¬ sel for the Council of Motion Pic¬ ture Organization, acknowledged last week that he had lobbied for the major league baseball clubs in Washington, but denied that he had submitted to Commissioner Ford Frick a bill for his services. He said that his association with Frick was known to the COMPO governing committee and “recog¬ nized as not inconsistent with my responsibilities to COMPO,” Coyne’s tie to Frick first came to light in an article written by BUI Furlong in the Chicago Daily News in which he disclosed that the' Major League owners had huddled with Frick on the ques¬ tion of a $150,000 bUl submitted by Coyne for his services in get¬ ting the admissions tax reduced. Frick and the owners, according to Furlong, decided they had no obligation to pay Coyne. Furlong got his story, by hiding out in a room in a Chicago hotel i The baseball execs were meeting I next door and Furlong eavesdrop- i ded on their powwow. J Coyne said he had represented Frick in Congress “during the past three to four months.” In his formal statement he said he had represented^ him “in his pro¬ gram with the recent Congress.” In Furlong’s story one of the owners was quoted as saying that it’s be embarrassing were it to be i established that baseball was pay-| ing a percentage to a lobbyist who ; had succeeded in getting the ad¬ missions tax reduced. Coyne was said to have told Frick that the $150,000 represented 10% of the amount baseball saved by-the re¬ duction of the admissions tax to 10% from the former 20%.' Coyne' didn’t explain • why he wopld be representing Frick in Congress without payment. Nor was there,-an explanation of Coy¬ ne’s actions in the light of a re¬ corded decision by the film biz that it would push its own tax fight in the Congress without join¬ ing hands -with other -Interested parties. Taking Coyne’s statement at face, the entire discussion of the basebaU owners on the subject of‘Coyne’s bill would Seem to have been fabricated by Furlong. The alleged dialog was reproduced In ..some detail in a recent issue of - Sports Illustrated (Luce). Though the Furlong yarn caus¬ ed some raised eyebrows in Indus¬ try quarters, there was virtually no’ comment on it. Sam Pinanski of .the CQMPO triumvirate, reach¬ ed. at his Boston headquarters, said he knew. nothing ’Whatever about the whole thing; which is in apparent Contradiction to Coyne’s statement that COMPO knew— and-approved of—his personal ac¬ tivities on- behalf of basebalL * * <When the .Coyne yam first crackedin the daily. press, both baseball and film industries, sent out * wave ..of - unmistakable, em¬ barrassment which would show on a seismograph. But it was a re¬ markably 'silent earthquake which jarred telephone communications so that executives became lost to contact. After some days of no breath , some tradesters were tran- quilized back into nominal, if not revealing, communication. It is not clearly known whether the baseball industry’s immunity to antitrust regulation ( under, a spe¬ cial privilege) was a factor in the wall of silence .— Ed.) (It’s rumored that Washing¬ ton-wise Coyne may be joining the liquor people, who’ve . been having tax agonies of their own, especially on ware¬ house . bonding. He couldn\ be reached for comment yes¬ terday (Tues.). John Huston Argues for Not Staying at Home Location shooting, though ex¬ pensive and fraught with danger, nevertheless infuses picture-mak¬ ing with the kind of excitement that it needs, director John Hus¬ ton declared in Manhattan last week. “For some of us, the ele¬ ment of risk is an incentive. There is a kind of gamble that is attrac- ! tive,” he added. ' - Huston was~replying to a ques¬ tion on whether treks like the one he and Darryl F. Zanuck took to Equatorial French Africa to shoot “Roots of - Heaven” were really worth it in terms of dramatic and visual values achieved. The entire company got sick in the - extreme heat and a very large, budget was required to-move actors and crew into the inaccessible region. Earlier,. Zanuck had said that, while he was satisfied with the results, he “wouldn’t do it again.” “I am not sure we are capable of doing things ‘the easy way any more,” said Huston. “That’s par¬ ticularly true when working in a studio and with a bad script l know there are a lot of directors who’d much rather work inside, under controlled conditions. As for*| myself, I’d be one of .the world’s worst directors. I’d go very stale working In a studio all the time.” While the need for location shooting is generally recognized in the widescreen era, when studio- built sets tend to look phoney on the screen, some in the Industry have been wondering out ’loud whether the economics of produc¬ tion abroad always add up logi¬ cally. Question is being, asked whether the resultant realism, so costly to achieve, pays off propor- (Contlnued on page 71) • Wealthy independent producers are angling.to become wealthier by way of becoming “independent” in the full sense. This means they want to go it alone jn the way of financing their own pictures and by way of so doing reap all the profits —if any. Case In point, it’s reported, is Sam Spiegel, whose “Bridge on the River Kwai” Obviously will be one of the biggest grossers of the past year. It’s now figured at $12,000,- 000 and the profit, while hard to guess at this time, ought to be sub¬ stantial. Columbia, which financed the production and took distribu¬ tion rights, is in on the profits split. Spiegel’s feeling reportedly is that, had he bankrolled the picture himself, he could have grabbed all the film’s earnings and, further, worked out a better releasing deal. Distributors, upon financing an in¬ die picture, usually take 25% to 30% of the gross as releasing fee plus, perhaps, 50% _of the net rev¬ enue return. Stirring the indies particularly is the deal which Samuel Goldwyn worked'out for the Col handling of his “Porgy and Bess.” Producer staked his own money for the entry —as he has done with all his past productions—and the only payoff to Col is the distributor charge. According to Coast sources, some indies have come to believe that Goldwyn. is paying only 15% of the 'gross for the Columbia dis¬ tribution, with no Col participation in the profits. They’re motivated by this assumption-regardless of its accuracy; neither Goldwyn nor Co¬ lumbia have stated the agreed terms but the charge actually is 18% with Col having no partner¬ ship in the profits. Point is made on the distribution side that the financier takes all the capital risks. It breaks down to the situation whereby the film com¬ pany, having provided the invest¬ ment money, is entitled to a par¬ ticipation in the ownership if the film comes out well financially, considering that the company alone sustains the losses if the film is a fiscal lemon. But there’s more to .it, according to the indie side. The financing is done for the most part on a cross- collateralization basis. This meins a group of productions is financed i collectively, rather than any one picture individually. Thus, if a producer such as Spiegel makes $500,000 on his first picture and loses the same amount origins sec¬ ond, the profit from the first can be charged against the loss of the second. Indies say this means a risk fac-' tor for them, too. For aren’t they gambling with that Initial $500,000 [profit? Also, they’re ante-ing their time and talent. Number of producers in a posi¬ tion. and willing, to provide their own financing is limited. Not every¬ body’s a Goldwyn, But there have been some who have built up pic negative equities in recent years which are adequate enought to ob¬ tain bank money on their own. And they (Spiegel included) are said to be thinking in these- terms. | Excluded at-this tftne are Stan¬ ley Kramer, who has. a six-picture contract with United Artists, and Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. Latter, has. a tieup With UA which provides the company with only 25% of the profits and this is said to be agree¬ able to both sides. Grainger's Burma Okay Hollywood, Sept 30. Edmund Grainger will lens his next Metro production, ■‘Never So l Few,” in Burma, following Burm¬ ese governmental sanction of proj¬ ect. Producer, currently on “Green Mansions,” ' heads for Far East early in year , to scout locations for Tom Chamales’ novel, .now. being scripted by Millard Kauf¬ man. j Valentino Nephew Sues Hollywood, Sept. 30. Jean Valentino, nephew of the late Rudolph Valentino, has asked $35,000 damages in a Superior Court suit against Disneyland Inc.; for unauthorized use of silent film, "The Eagle,” starring Valenttoo and Vilma Banky. He asserts pic, shown at Disney¬ land cinema theatre., Oldie House, violated his rights -as -legatee of star. Anglo-Yank Pact As Waltzing Washington, Sept. 30. The Anglo-American film agree¬ ment was extended today (Tues.) for another year without change. New pact runs to Sept. 26, 1959. As last year, it was a pleasant negotiation. Under the agreement, the Amer¬ icans retain the right to uncondi¬ tionally remit $17,000,000 annual¬ ly. The pact includes several bonus provisions. As a result, the U.S. outfits have virtually no frozen balances in Britain. Negotiating for the British 5 were Sir David Eccles, president of the Board of Trade, and Sir Frank Lee, Permanent Under-Secretary of the BOT. Also Kenneth Huggins, com¬ mercial counsellor at tlje British Embassy. Sitting on the U.S. side of the table were Ralph Hetzel, exec v.p. of the Motion Picture Export Assn., and Griffith John¬ son, v.p. Neither Eric Johnston (who is in Moscow) nor Ellis Arnall, prez of the Society of Independent Motion. Picture Producers, attended. POWER ROLL&'SHEBA/ HIS LEGIT PLANS HAZY Madrid, Sept. 23. Looking biblical in a three-cor¬ nered beard, Tyrone Power has ar¬ rived here for his filming start; in “Solomon and Sheba” opposite Gina Lollobrigida. Old Testament saga in Technirama, financed and, to be released by United Artists, is fcie actor’s first- in a. series of five films abroad. Power and his Copa Productions .partner-producer. Ted Richmond are associated with Edward Small in the upcoming religioso spec¬ tacle. As currently credited, “She? ba” will be an Edward Small pres¬ entation-produced by Ted Rich¬ mond. • Actor failed to confirm Stateside reports- of his Broadway appear¬ ance next spring with Ingrid Berg¬ man . in “Anna . Karenina.” Im¬ pressed with the Moscow Art The¬ atre’s dramatization of the Tol¬ stoi novel and admitting he will continue tp devote • a semi-annual; portion of his time to stage thes- ping, Power unbearded a “no defi¬ nite commitment yet!” He said he presumed the “Karenina” an¬ nouncement was a Gregory Ratoff trial balloon. (Ratoff is slated to stage the venture.) Power said his next film, ten¬ tatively titled “One Against To¬ morrow,” would be done entirely in. Stockholm beginning February, possibly with Lee Thomson (“Ice Cold in Alex”) as’ director and a Swedish actress in one of the two femme roles. . ] Complaints about film advertis¬ ing from all over the country have reached such a pitch that the Mo¬ tion Picture Assn, of America is planning to call a special meeting of ad-pub heads in the near future to discuss the situation. What worries MPAA is that the multiplying protests for once don’t appear to be inspired or planted by any one group, but seems to spring from a genuine concern on the part of the press and numerous ^organizations con¬ cerned with the welfare of the young. The upcoming hearings in N. Y. on sexsational and misleading ad-, vertising are but a part of the de¬ veloping national pattern, though there is little question that one or two well-publicized complaints such as the one emanating from Albany tend to “infect” other cities and to bring out slumbering resent¬ ments. What’s being faced at the. MPAA, however, is that the current "uprising” which also is seeing newspapers demanding the right to “censor” film ad copy, can’t just be waived off in the hope that it’ll die down naturally. While there’s ho “official” com¬ ment at MPAA headquarters, it’s well known that the Advertising Code has been battling it out nois¬ ily with the companies In recent months. Some ads, described as “shocking,”., have been submitted, and even when lengthv hassles pro¬ duce a compromise, the remaining impression is still sufficiently pro¬ vocative to stimulate sharp reac¬ tion. In part, the adsare simply a re¬ flection of the overall trend in Hollywood, which points to a much franker attitude towards sex on the screen. Since sex is still the film *.* most salable commodity, the trend in content is simply given a sharp expression in the ads, which drama¬ tize that aspect of the story. What the Code people are complaining about is that there’s virtually no ad campaign left any more that isn’t “hot” In one way or another, whether it’s via scene stills or the ad copy. Cited is the ad for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” in which Judith An¬ derson points to a bed and declares that if a marriage goes on the rocks, “the rocks are right here.” Of course, this is a verbatim quote from the film, which passed the Production Code in the first place. Whether it’s the type of quote which incites teenagers to ask a lot of questions, which puritanical parents find awkward, is another problem. The ad-pub chiefs are aware that trouble is brewing, but they also know that they have to sell their pictures in a highly competitive market in which pix like “God Cre¬ ated Woman,” sold out-and-out on ttie sex angle, have done sensation¬ ally, while some others, sold with a less provocative approach, have died. Some comolaints are heard, too, re the ads for the horror en¬ tries. but the big beef is over S-E-X. _ Warners’ Baal Rallies, American & European Sales convention both in the U.S. and abroad have been sched¬ uled by Warner Brothers. The International sales meet got under way in London Monday (29) and is cliairmaned by WB Inter¬ national prexy Wolfe Cohen. There’ll be two other powwows, in Paris-end Rome, to be presided oyer by Joseph Hiimmel, manager for Continental Europe. In the U.S., the convention get* going in N.Y. at the homeoffic* Oct. 6. and runs through Oct. 8. Charles Roasberg, general sales manager; will presjd.e and Benja¬ min Kalmensqn, exec v.p., will de¬ liver. the kay address.