Variety (February 1959)

Wednesday, February 11, 1959 VSSIPFr' FICTUtttS MIMEOGRAPH VS. MINT MONEY 'Group-Think’ Kills Selling Slants? Contents and looks of film advertisement !s suffering from an overdose of interference “from the top” at several of the major companies, ad-pub executives complain. “It's simply a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth/* one said last week. Beef is that ads, instead of representing the work and decision of specialists, are actually the product of “group decision,” which makes for little individuality and virtually prohibits a search for new approaches. When a different kind of ad is blueprinted, It’s either modified along conventional lines by the brass, or else it’s run and the man- in-charge is made to realize that the full weight of responsibility in terms of the'eventual “payoff** rests on his shoulders. What irks the ad-pub boys is that the changes in ads, carefully designed for balance or that special approach, are frequently or¬ dered by men at the top who not only know nothing about adver¬ tising, but in effect are addicted to some old-fashioned notions that dictate that ads must show as much “action” as possible, even if this clutters up the design. Instance is related where ads were designed with different types of audiences in mind. The sketches were presented to a vice presi¬ dent whose knowledge of advertising is remote, to say the least. He ordered various elements taken out of each of the ads and thrown into one overall ad. The whole purpose of the original de¬ sign was destroyed.. ~ “In this business you never argue with your boss, particularly not these days,” commented one of the advertising men. “Pretty soon you-learn to know what he likes, and that’s the way you rough out your ads. You may be in a rut, but at least you’re safe.” System works pretty much the same way on the Coast. Designer Saul Bass once explained why he preferred to work for individual producers rather than for a studio. “Once you work for a studio you get caught in the ‘group decision* mentality. Nobody wants to take the responsibility for anything, so everybody plays it safe and criticizes. If it’s a success, he was behind it all the time, If it’s a failure, he knew it would be, all the time.** Effect of the buck-passing procedure in N.Y. is one of great-in- sechrity. Even the top ad men are affected by it and seek to broad¬ en the responsibility via consultation with sales and administra- . tive executives, and in several cases'with the presidents who, nor- • mally, would be removed from that level ef activity.' U.S. Senate As Ektion-Checkers; Chi Boothmen Re-Nominate Slates; Chicago, Feb. 10. Under the watchful eye of an overseer, and with U. S. Senate probers figuratively looking over their shoulders, some 400 members -of Local 110, Motion Picture Oper¬ ators, last Thursday (5) picked two slates for top union offices to be voted bn March 3. The choices were made at a special meeting after earlier, nominations had been set, aside by Richard F. Walsh, prez of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Walsh’s action had been taken at the behest of IATSE field rep Glenn C. Kalkhoff Sr. after the latter investigated charges that two original nominees were "ineli¬ gible.” Kalkhoff finally concluded that new nominations should be held, but ruled that all previous nominees could- run if picked again. Last week’s culling prodifeed the same administration ticket as be- fdre, but dropped two of the origi¬ nal opposition candidates, one of whom—George R. Hall—had with¬ drawn the first time with the dis¬ covery he had served five years in prison for conspiracy in the 1935 bombing of a rival union’s “school” for operators. Hall had been slated in opposition to secretary- treasurer Clarence A. Jalas for business agent of the local. The job has’ been vacant since last March following the death of Eu¬ gene J. Atkinson. Also to he voted on in March are president and a successor to Jalas. Past Haunts Men Kalkhoff, who supervised last i week’s nominations, investigated both Hall and Jalas, the latter hav-r ing been tripped on ineligibility charges at the same time for hav¬ ing once invoked the-fifth amend-, ment before a Federal grand jury delving into operations of the lo¬ cal’s welfare and pension fund. Whereas an opposition slate was originally thought to have a fair, chance to win, it’s now figured that all the hassling and “parental” in¬ trusion has only fortified the Jalas forces and made them virtually a shoo-in. . It’s pointed out, too, that Jalas' would be right at home sliding over to the business agent slot. He has an intimate knowledge of the job, since for many years he spelled Atkinson during frequent and protracted absences by the lat¬ ter from his desk. Kalkhoff, from Milwaukee, will be back in town to supervise the March balloting. Charges have frequently been made that the local, currently un¬ der Senate Rackets Committee scrutiny, is infested with hoodlum elements. Said to be one of its members, is John Accardo, brother of Tony Accardo, reputed crime syndicate boss here. ‘Running’ As of 187 “Some ‘ Came Running” has grossed $2,575,009 in its first 187 key engagements, according to figures compiled by Metro’s sales department. Engagements total 410 weeks of playing time, with 37 still holding over. FILM AD BUDGETS (Alumni of Morris and MGA Shops, Jurow-Shepherd See Properties Magic That Baits Elusive Stars New Loew’s State Opens With Monroe-Curtis ‘Hof “Some Like It Hot,” the Marilyn Monroe-Tony Curtis-Jack Lemmon starrer released by United Artists, will open the renovatec Loew’s State Theatre on Broadway in mid- March, presuming the house is ready at that time. If not, it’ll berth in another showcase. No day-dating with the east side is planned for the mo¬ ment. This apparently is the time of the year for quite a few of the film company pub-ad chiefs to sound off, either through press conferences or enthusiastic hand¬ outs, about the need for national pre-selling of films and the great effort each respective company is putting forth in that direction. Advertising and publicity budgets in all cases are “revealed” as being above that of the previous year, giving the implication that every release is being backed with an unprecedented , to use the favorite adjective of the press departments, campaign. The pub-ad chiefs apparently see no inconsistency in the news of their grandiose spending plans and news of simultaneous cutbacks in publicity and advertising personnel., Actually the pattern is fairly traditional. On the one hand, ex¬ ecutives may clamor after the Christmas letdown any year for a return to old-fashioned showman¬ ship and better publicity and ad¬ vertising campaigns. They “report” each year they are alloting more; money for this purpose. Mean-! while staffs shrink. . ! With the possibly sole exception ■ of United Artists, the film compa¬ nies are operating their pub-ad! activities with reduced staffs, par¬ ticularly in the field at point-of- sale. Some of the more aware i&die producers, especially those v^ho like to do a personal soiling I job, , are recognizing this situation J when they personally hit the hin¬ terlands. A perceptive hit-the-trail ] producer can quickly guess that a “rushed-in” fieldman does nr.t have the know-how in local affairs as does the' staffer permanently sta- Uonel , Hollywood. Feb. 10. Hip industries are also cogni-j producer team of Carlo Pont! zant of the fact that the much- . Marcello Girosi has set up a heralded advertisingexpenditures iQ-oicture.program of indie films Aim Law to Curb 'Sneak’Mergers Washington, Feb. 10. The Senate’s anti-trust subcom¬ mittee Monday (9) approved legis¬ lation requiring big corporations to give Justice Dept, and Federal Trade Commission 60-days notice before any merger. In general, notice requirement would apply to outfits with a combined worth of $10.000,000'or more. FTC would also liave power to seek preliminary injunctions pend¬ ing trial of anti-merger cases. Justice already has this authority. Billy now goes to narert judiciary committee, where it died last year. THEIR PRODUCT; LOREN Ponti-Girosl Also Set Six Other Features, 10 In All are often figments of the imagina¬ tion. Rarely does a company spend what it says it will. There are budgetted at $20,000,000. Four of these are being made for Para¬ mount release, but no further deal exceptions, of course, for specific j, asye t been closed fo^ remaining features but for the most part sbo ah star Sophia Loren, there is a considerable discrcr u Currently shooting “Heller With between the announced pub-ad a Gun” as third pic for Paramount, budgets and the actual outlay. following “The Black Orchid” and This was pointed up recently in “That Kind of Woman,” producers a meeting between the executives; will complete the fourth for Par of one company and Spokesmen for before embarking upon their: pub-ad -employees who complained jskedded six, to be turned out over: about dismissals the very week the , a three-year period, company “announced” a record; Sextet include “Carmen,” based promotional budget. One of the j on Prosper Merimee yarn, to be executives is quoted as remarking: directed by George Cukor in Spain in substance: “You guys are o'-'l j next year; “This, Too, I Saw,” pros. >You know that the-figure was | original by Walter Bernstein, to- be only released for publicity pur- directed by Alberto Lattuada. Pro¬ poses. Actually, our publicity and ■ ducers are dickering with Martin advertising budget is much less Ritt to helm “The Girl from Amer- than last year” iea.” Balancing Act, Optimism & Economy, Under 20th s Centre Ring Spot Spyros P. Skouras, 20th-Fox prexy, last week summonned Alex Harrison, general sales manager, and Murray Silverstone, 20th’s foreign topper, to the Coast for confabs said t<urevolve around the question of how-to affect economies in the operation of the company. Though 20th has a number ot potentially hot boxoffice proper¬ ties set for release during the next few months, Skouras nevertheless is represented as determined to ef¬ fect a 25% cost cut throughout the company. The big question is: How is this to be accomplished? Salary cuts and personnel reduc¬ tion are in discussion or have al¬ ready been decided on. The em¬ phasis now is on the domestic and international distribution setups. Can they be reduced without im¬ pairing 20th’s efficiency in handling a lineup of some 40 to 50 pictures this year? 20th is somewhat unique in that its sales executives are convinced, and have so argued with Skouras, that the costs of maintaining a full organization, run as economically as possible, are well worth the ulti¬ mate benefits, i.e. the volume of billings. View at the homeoffice is that little is to be gained from drooping exchanges In the U.S. or even from mergers with other out¬ fits on the level of physical distrib¬ ution. Buffalo Instance In the one instance—in Buffalo —where several of the companies got. together to jointly run a ship¬ ping depot, 20th elected to play odd man out on the theory that it was shipping film as cheap, if not cheaper, than anyone else. Essentially the argument is that, in partially tearing down the dis¬ tribution structure, costs may go down at one end, but are apt to go up at the other, with prints in transit for a longer period of'time and salesmen having to travel fur¬ ther. All this is based on the as¬ sumption that'the volume of prod¬ uct handled stays at a fairly high level and doesnt.drcp hr low i n ro 20 pictures. At that point, main¬ tenance of a full setup becomes im¬ practical, it’s argued. 20th, which may let some sales¬ men go, points to the Warner Bros, example as a “lesson” in eco¬ nomics. Warners eliminated sev¬ eral branches, but soon after that reestablished most of the offices. Industry executives, from time to time, have argued that the pres¬ ent distribution setup is “archaic” and that—this is a favorite beef of independent producers—dis¬ tribution costs are beyond reason¬ able levels. Yet, apart from the argument that volume product re¬ quires a volume type of effort, it’s also realized that the competitive¬ ness among the companies is an obstacle, with no outfit wanting to give ground while the other retains its position. Situation is somewhat different Diversity In story material and flexibility in operation are the aims of the-new, young production team of Mdttin Jurow ana Richard Shepherd who are perhaps repre¬ sentative of the “new faces” slow¬ ly moving into the film-making end of the‘.business. Having delivered their first pro¬ duction, an offbeat western, ‘The Hanging Tree,” starring Gary Cooper and Maria Schell to War¬ ner Bros., pair is preparing to launch “The Fugitive Kind,” film version of Tennessee Williams* “Orpheus Descending.” Film, star¬ ring Marlon Brando and Anna Mag- nani, will be filmed in New York starting in late April. United Art¬ ists will release. The casting of such salable and sought-after names' marks some¬ thing of a coup for the new produc¬ tion team. They attribute their success on this score to tne proper¬ ties, with Jurow observing: “It’s easy to get the stars if you have the story they want to dp.” As a further example of their ap¬ proach to film-making, their pro¬ duction company has on its draw¬ ing board a spectacle, “The Fabu¬ lous Showman,” dealing with the life of P. T. Bamum; a flim version of Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” and a mystery dealing with Richard Prather’s Shell Scott stories. The.last three projects will be made as part of their six-picture deal with Paramount, calling for the delivery of the pix over a three- year period. The agreement with Par represents a sort of settling down for the ambitious team. “It’s' hard to move from one company to another,” Jurow said in N. Y. this week. The association with one distribution firm over an extended period, he pointed *out, allows the four projects simultaneously with- indie company to work on three or out the necessity of worrying about individual financing. Experience of the pair in the agency field—Jurow having been with William Morris and Snepherd (Continued oh page 20) Assoc. Brisk In ; London, Feb. 10. A major share deal involving 350,000 ordinary stock,units in As¬ sociated British Picture Corp. (with a par value of 70c) has been closed on behalf of the trustees of the Maxwell family. It equals about, one-thrid of the family’s holding in the corporation. According to an official state¬ ment made by the lawyers to the trustees, the shares have been sold because of the necessity of making adequate provision for estate duty contingencies. The family is re¬ taining its remaining two-ti?ird in¬ terest ABPC stock, which has trebled in value in the past year mainly as a result of the giant earnings of its commercial tv subsidiary, is cur¬ rently quoted at $6.85. According to City reports, the purchase price was in the region of $6.10 per share on the deal. Sir Philip Warter, chairman of ABPC, is the son-in-law of the late John Maxwell. The shares disposed of -represent abouv 1214% cf the corporation’s capital. Warner Bros, has a 37V6% investment in the company. A week earlier. Sir Philip noti¬ fied stockholders that the profits for the current yea’' nc^t April would be in the region of $13,000,000, roughly $5,000,000 bet¬ ter than in the previous year. abroad where distribution costs | continue to rise. Metro and 20th I Jeanette McDonald, star of many have merged their operations in motion pm'-v** rv.- ’ nd sr.\: > :?l smaller territories and, de- Arlington RoUman, baritone, will i;. n ’ (vi their experiences, may day o:c-ri?hi 4 • id r ntic do so in additional ones. [City’s Warren Supday, Feb. 22.