Variety (April 1959)

22 PICTCTIES Goldwyn Asks New SanFrancisco Trial San Francisco, April 21. Lawyers for Samuel Goldwyn have asked that the producer’s nine-year-old $4,500,000 antitrust suit against 20th-Fox and National Theatres be retried before a Fed¬ eral court jury. Case was tried a year and a half ago before Federal Judge Edward P. Murphy, without a jury, but Judge Murphy died late last year without handing down a decision. Goldwyn’s lawyers, Joseph Ali- oto and Maxwell Keith, decided to wait on Ninth Circuit’s decision on whether Embassy Theatre anti¬ trust suit—which Judge Murphy also tried and also left undecided —would get a jury trial. Ten days ago Judge Lloyd Burke ruled a jury could sit in next time Em¬ bassy case was tried. So late last week Alioto and Keith filed a similar appeal for | jury. Arguments on motion will j be heard next w r eek. Less Than 20th-Fox Got In Guild Pact at WB, N.Y.;: Coast Chaps Still Champs; The N. Y. Screen Publicists; Guild and Warner Bros, have : reached an agreement on wage ■ hikes for certain senior publicists ! and on a new minimum of $150.50 for the seniors. The Warner deal, second to be concluded by the SPG under the wage reopening clause of its con¬ tract, is not regarded as satisfac¬ tory an agreement as was pre¬ viously negotiated with 20th-Fox. How r ever, the Manhattan WB unit, with only five members, contends : that it’s the best deal that could be obtained under the circum¬ stances. W T hile the 20th unit obtained a 6 °'r across-the-board increase, only ; a couple of Warnerites received so- . called “merit” increases. In addi¬ tion, Jhe WB minimum is below ; the *55 obtained by the pub-ad staffers at 20th. However, there is ; still a considerable disparity ‘be- j tween the eastern minimums and the $210 received on the Coast by ! publicists doing the same work. With the 20th and WB deals ‘ completed, the Guild is turning its attention to Columbia, Universal and Metro where negotiations will start shortly. DORIS DAY’S ARWIN TO CO-PRODDGE TRIO Hollywood, April 21. Arwin Productions, which has a deal with Universal for Doris Day to star in two U pix, has closed an additional arrangement whereby indie outfit, in which Miss Day is partnered with hubby Martin Melcher, will co-produce three films. Femme star will do “Mathilda Shouted Fire” and “Any Way the Wind Blows” for U under previous pact prior to embarking on new deal. She also has a three-pix com¬ mitment with Metro, first to be Joe Pasternak’s “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” and another three-pix ar¬ rangement with Columbia Pictures, either finished or planned. This trio includes “It Happened to Jane,” recently completed; “Who Is Sylvia?” and “Roar Like a Dove.” WHEN IN HOLLYWOOD Stay on Famed Sunset Strip SUNSET TOWER WEST 8400 SUNSET BLVD. Complete Hotel Facilities Heated Pool & Private Patios Daily—Weekly— & Monthly Rates OL 6-0733 Mrs. Ralston, Mgr. Brochure on Request FROM A TO 3D . . AND THEN SOME ... is the motion picture knowledge of aggressive college graduate with both eyes toward promotion career. Try me. I'm much milder. Writ* BOX V-33, VARIETY 154 W. 46th St., New York, N. Y. P’kniEfr Wednesday, April 22, 1959 Mctaa^Hed'-Simlla^Utled with B&xoMice Moving picture troubles in a television world have considerable similarity of echo in the vexations of the much-beset magazines . Newsstand sales are clipped, as the boxoffice is clipped, by move to the suburbs, rise in hobbies and do-it-yourself, the con¬ stant distraction and the " compulsive ” habit of tele¬ viewing. All this reflects in the ups and downs of mass circulation and the competition for advertising based upon it. The chart which is reproduced below is part of a larger listing of magazines with 100,000 or more cir¬ culation as derived from the Audit Bureau of Circu¬ lation and. interpreted by the Gallagher Report. De¬ spite the.ir woes, magazines shoio some up-trend, again like the film medium. GALLAGHER REPORT COMPARISON OF SUBSCRIPTIONS. SINGLE' COPY SALES AND AVERAGE TOTAL PAID CIRC LATION FOR SIX MONTHS ENDING 12/31/58 WITH SIX MONTHS ENDING 12/31/57 BASED ON A.B.C. PUBLISHERS’ STATEMENTS OF PUBLICATIONS WITH 100,000 OR MORE CIRCULATION. Joe Foster Files Claim On ‘High School Confidential’ Los Angeles, April 21. J Texas Joe Foster has filed suit asking $325,000 plus an account¬ ing, against Loew’s Inc., and Fred¬ erick C. Houghton, attorney,- over j the Metro film, “High School Con¬ fidential.” Action claims he had not been paid for undercover police mate¬ rial he had made available to stu¬ dio for picture, nor been paid the profits irom a novellzation of film, both provisions of a contract he held with Loew’s after latter had acquired a contract originally closed by Foster with one J. P. Catching. Certain other payments ! also are listed as unpaid. 1 Houghton was named as attorney for Loew’s, who had assured Foster [ that all provisions of contract ; would be carried out. Alex Harrisons Staff Shuffles The new 20th-Fox field setup in the States continues to shake down, with additional personnel changes made by Alex Harrison, the general sales manager. A1 Levy, formerly Northeast Dis¬ trict manager, has taken over the Boston branch, replacing Norman Waters. Paul Wilson, formerly Southeast district head, becomes the Atlanta branch topper succeed¬ ing Dan Coursey, and Tom Mc- Cleaster, central district chief, now heads the Dallas branch, with Wil¬ liam Williams moving out. 20th has done away with sales supervision and has eliminated all division and district chiefs. Deplore National Screen 15% Hoist in Prices Washington, April 21. Allied States board criticized over-all 15% price hike by National Screen Service Corp. as coming at inopportune time “Allied is reluctant,” board said, “to believe that National Screen wishes to align itself with those who profess to believe that the business would be better off with fewer theatres.” Out-Smarts Holdups Arlington, Tex., April 21. Arlington Drive-In Theatre was hit by two burglars, and the man¬ ager, pretending he was holding a gun on them, held the two men until police arrived. Two were given four year terms for a series of robberies earlier in and around the Dallas area. 5 Features Yearly Following the release of “Herc¬ ules” this July, Embassy Pictures Corp., the indie company of Boston that has been making a showman ship splash, plans to release five pictures annually. Prexy Joe Le¬ vine revealed Monday (20) that seven films, all completed and ready for release, have been ac¬ quired for distribution. Similar to “Hercules,” all the pictures were made abroad by foreign producers. The non-English language pictures will be dubbed as has been “Herc¬ ules,” although one film, “The Law,” starring Gina Lollobrigida,„ will be released in both titled and dubbed versions. Levine stated that the pictures acquired by his company will be accompanied by the same “hard¬ sell and free wheeling” campaign that has characterized the intro¬ duction of '“Hercules.” Release patterns will be flexible, however. For example, “The Law,” slated for August release, will be booked in both art and conventional thea¬ tres. “Jack the Ripper,” also set for August distribution, will be kicked off via area saturations in Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago. One other film, tentively titled “Destruction of the World,” a French co-production, is sched¬ uled to round out the 1959 release slate of the company. The Embassy topper disclosed that he had screened about 100 pictures before he selected the type of films he felt were appropi- ate for his hard-sell technique. He pointed out that “several million” would be invested in exploitation before the films are ready for the market. Other pix on Embassy’s slate for 1960 release include “Aphrodite, Goddess of Love.” “White Nights,” starring Maria Schell; “The Circus” (temporary title), “Hercules Against the Gods,’ a sequel to the present “Hercules.” Levine said that some of the pictures might be turned over to a major company for distribution, similar to the manner in which Warner Bros, is handling “Herc¬ ules.” Other films, depending on the type of handling required, will be directly released through Em¬ bassy’s own distribution organiza¬ tion. Although he declined to reveal details, Levine stated that his com¬ pany plans to engage in the financ¬ ing of pictures in conjunction with foreign film-makers. He said he was in the process of negotiating several deals. Levine’s ‘Le Loi’ Import Set for Metro Handling For Latins, Empire, Japan “Le Loi” (The Law), a French- Italian coproduction, has been ac¬ quired for U. S. and Canadian re¬ lease by Joe Levine’s Embassy Pictures. Metro has taken the film for Central, South and Latin America, the British Empire and the entire Far East with the excep¬ tion of Japan. The picture stars Gina Lollo- brigida and Yves Montand and was directed by Jules Dassin. Metro seriously considered tak¬ ing the film for the U. S. and using it to institute a new department which would handle imports. How¬ ever, the company decided against it for the moment, and took the view that, without such a special setup, it couldn’t do justice to an import. Levine paid a high guar¬ antee for the Lollobrigida starrer. Picture wasn’t cut in France due to Dassin’s objections. It’s being edited down for U. S. release. U. S. Customs eliminated a brief scene. Lee Steiner agented the deals for Jacques Bar and other producers involved, including Titanus, which coproduced and has the picture for Italy.