Variety (January 1961)

January 4, 1961 Fiftyfifth P^S&IETY Anniversary PICTURES COPYRIGHT-A $6,000,000,000 BIZ SHOW BUSINESS IS A BUSINESS Bv BOB HOPE :: Hollywood. My mother, with that wonderful foresight that ail mothers seem to have, was the first to support my enthusiasm for entertaining. As a hoy she took me to local theatri¬ cals and loudly proclaimed that “her boy could do better.” But my father, with a wage-earner’s typical skepticism, kept urging me to get Interested in a “business.” Today it gratifies me to know that I have fulfilled both their de¬ sires; for mother I am in show business, for father, in “business.” Because today “show business” is a bigger business than steel, or auto¬ mobiles, and entertainers who have had a little luck over the years spend more, time with their tax man than the}' do with their make¬ up man. I served an apprenticeship ex¬ actly the wav mv brother who owns a meat company worked in a butcher store. My “store” was hundreds of drafty little theatres. I may not have worked days, but I sure worked nights. And just as In any business there -were setbacks and defeats. They have happened to every entertainer in the busi¬ ness. But we have Far Eastern Product Honolulu. In an effort to combat tv’s late shows (and late late show’s), Isle theatres are re¬ sorting increasingly to Far Eastern product. Of 20 theatres listed In a newspaper entertainment guide one day last week, eight were playing Japanese films and two were show’ing Filipino features. Blockbusters Of I860; Emerging ‘New Economics’ LET’S CONVENE TO By HARRIET F. PILPEL Let’s have a Copyright Conven¬ tion. I don't mean a Copyright Convention you belong to, although I’m thoroughly in favor of that too. I mean a Copyright Conven¬ tion we can all attend and high time it is for that kind of Con¬ vention, too. All people interested in the pro¬ tection of literary property breathed a great sigh of relief — and well they might have — when in 1955 the United States finally adhered to the Universal Copy¬ right Convention, popularly know'n as the U.C.C. This country, which accounts for such a considerable proportion of the contents of the. mass media of the entire w'orld. should long before that have joined forces with the other leading na¬ tions throughout the world in their efforts to reinforce protection of literary and intellectual property across national boundary lines. Be¬ fore 1955, however, we had ad¬ hered only to inter-American Copy¬ right Conventions and. of course, had had diplomatic arrangements with Individual nations, calling for , reciprocity of protection between the profits and losses ac them and us. But we didn’t — and TAXES COMING UP! Recti Bonanza For the CPA and Tax Lawyers — Inequities Of the Law Nov. Dividend Pace Washington. Dividends by potion picture companies totaled $1,704,000 in November to remain well ahead of last year’s pace, Com¬ merce Dept, reports. The November melon, ac¬ counted for by seven compa¬ nies, compares with $1,312,000 in November, 1959, when five companies reported dividends. The cumulative total through November was $22,049,000 as against $20,643,000 for the same 1959 period. By GENE ARNEEL The rental statistics on the pic¬ ture business of 1960, as presently available, can tell onlv a partial magie'injrcdi ! S»°T for llie *“* «* S“U out ° .. U-hn c frfc ’ralra in iVir* n Vi ir-» o ent. in our industry, enthusiasm,,'',10?.*0 ^ake 1th0,c|Vps anont that can carry a performer from ! the biggest gamble of. them .all — today's failuies to tomorrow’s . meanm: , . „,1U. uo. L — ailu promise. i ^, um£ to the blueclup investors, j we don’t now* — belong to the Berne Like any business I Invested in : T,ie blockbuster negative costs ; international Copyright Convensnme things that paid off, and some j " ere lrt abundance over the last j tioii, and, of course, our friends, that didn’t. I experimented with j -’ear*. perhaps as never before. At • tjie Russians, have remained outjokes, routines, partners, dancing! ; F£ar s eny “Pepe,” “Exodus,” ! side the sphere of international singing, blackface. And through j .“Spartacus ’ and “Alamo” are copyright protection, the year’s of experimentation I de | How important the industries veloped my product, polished it. j ^r.n|e awaiting the boxoffice . involving copyright are to the U. S. revised it and nurtrured it as care: verdict attention must be called, economv was' made clear last vear fully as any manufacturer of “hard Pronto, to the fact that the most w}ien tiie t g Coovri^ht Office goods.” ; « costly and longest of the 1959-1960 ’j reported-and^ the ' n^ was fea So toda> , due largely to good . nanielj Ben-Hur, is the tured in Variety as elsewhere— luck and a lot of help from num-J dollar winner, berless friends along the way, I i Actually, thi (Continuer on page 51) that Industries based on copy¬ Letdowns of 1960 Actually, this production by the righted works account for over six late bam Zimbalist, who. seemingly ; billion dollars of our total national never has gotten full credit as income, more than mining or banktne man who called the produce ; fng or electric and gas utilities, tiori turns (all due credit to the j And the influence of these copy The year’s disappointments In , the domestic market included: William. Goetz’s “Mountain! work of director William Wyler et al.', was placed on the market in Thanksgiving, 1959. But it hadn’t been around enough for Inclusion in Variety tabulation in last year’s anni. . As a matter of fact “Hur” still __uumuiii M-s not around sufficiently for little , — * . Road,” James Stewart starrer, | »)°ce than guesswork so far as full ! music (especially our popular, which looked like a big one 0n ^ domestic playoff potential is con. music), our television programs, first appearance but now’ promises ' (,orned. It’s clocked herein as al i sod increasingly our art. are of to take a moderate $1,500,000 in j f'vady having grossed $17,300,000 major interest and influence domestic rentals; “Surprise Pack1 |n domestic rentals, this figure be; throughout the world, age,” a Stanley Donen production f big regarded as an on-the-beamer, that seemed like fun in script ; 0l\ close to, by even rivals of disstage; but didn’t turn out that way, j tributor Metro. The first-timewith gross figured at $1,100,000; : around anticipation of $33,000,000 ought to be close, they say howe\ er. And then there’s the big re¬ issue-money. Obviously It’s whammo, and figures to be for some time to come. Analysts of the film trade in (Continued on page 47; right industries on our minds and thinking and throughout the world in terms of the public image of the United States and its people, is of course incalculable in dollars and cents and incalculably impor¬ tant. Our movies, our books, our magazines and newspapers, our * Yet the source of protection for sail this — the basic law. which says 'Continued on page 36 “Song Without End,” this being the well-publicized story of Franz Liszt that can’t get above $1,500,000. “Crack in the Mirror” from Darryl Zanuck threw’ off indica¬ tions at the start that It would be top-drawer, surely stronger than its $1,000,000. Joseph E. Levine’s British import of “Jack the Rip¬ per” is doing about $1,100,000. which is hardly, in keeping With mlllion-dollar-campaign Levine. “Sons and Lovers,” after all the fuss, and rated “Best” by National Board of Review', is under the wire at $1,500,000; “Sleeping Beauty,” which got around more fully in 1960, might reach $4,200,000 via areas where it has played only 70m bookings and has yet to go 85m; still short of original hopes. These are some of the less-thanexpectations entries, of which every company apparently had its share. DEFINITIVE BOOK 'Kino* A Comprehensive Volume On Russo Pix Paris. (Geo. Allen & Unwin If Hard Ducat Year-Enders Run Oscar Hurdle Columbia and Hollywood. United Artists Producers Guild’s Diplomatic Team plan to screen (respectively) In “Kino1 Ltd., London; $6>, Jay Leyda has;,VD „ . , „ , . . . come up with a definitive book! Pepe and Exodus for technical , on the Russian and Soviet film j branches of the Acedemy of Mo j from 1896 to 1958. Leyda Is altion Picture Arts and Sciences io?ik .studled/Ttt0Mosc°w iniprior to preliminary balloting on 1934-3/ and was a U.S. film critic , and specialist on the Soviet film nominatI°ns but they re running with English book compilations j int0 knotty problems, and translations of Sergei Eisen End-oy-year release of big pix, rtoin’s essays, “Film Form” and normally regarded as an asset in “Film Sense,” to his credit. (Academy voting, becomes a probLeyda gives the first appearance ’ lem* it’s discovered, when pix are of moving pictures in Russia -andp^ng shown on hard-ticket basis:: . then its growth, first films etc. ■ suitable showcases are scarcer and, ! 1 This is done with fine research and Avhen picture’s in its holiday rum gives a view of a period of then’s economically impractical to ! Nudging Selznick And Civil War Backed by a new’ selling and ad campaign, the late Cecil B. DeMille’s “Ten Commandments” in , its 1960 marketing grossed $2,200,000 in domestic rentals, thus bring¬ ing the Biblical spectacular to the top of the list of Variety’s alltime outstanding money-makers. The total for “Commandments” is now' estimated at $34,200,000, \ compared with the $33,500,000 in 1 dicated for David O. Selzniek’s production of “Gone With the-! Wind.” “Wind,” a Metro release, had been the smash b.o. performer since first unveiled in 1939. It’s a deposed champ that could con¬ ceivably recapture the crown, for the reissue value has proved it¬ self beyond question; it’s good for an added few' million at the rate of about once every five years. A definite threat, too, is M-G’s “Ben-Hur,” which already has slightly over $17,000,000 in the till and could come close to doubling this figure upon its en¬ tire initial playoff. Importantly, Paramount’s release of “Com¬ mandments” and “Wind” already have the revenue in the house, j whereas “Hur” is called upon to j continue its blockbusting pace • throughout the full playoff. j The market has changed con1 siderably, obviously, since Rhett Butler and Scarlet O’Hara first \ came Into view in Civil War south, j The current epics play out on a ’ two-for-one basis — that is. hitting j the 70m situations on usually a ' roadshow’ basis and then being brought back almost immediately to the conventional 35m theatres. Many pictures went into re¬ lease too late in 1960 for accurate determination at this time as to where they rate in the all-time roster of $4.000.000-and-up clicks. There’s just no telling about “Exodus,” “Alamo,” “Pepe,” “World of Suzie Wong.” etc. All are in line for attention next year. By J. S. SEIDMAN, C.P.A. (Seidman & Seidman } Fred Allen once said that the Income tax forms should be printed on kleenex, since we have to pay through the nose. Funny, but darn near true. With income tax rates running up to 91?c, we’re at the stage where our incomes have really be¬ come a collector’s item. Even a pa¬ triot feels bled, white and blue! The most serious part of all this, even beyond the sky-high tax rales, is the tremendous drain of time and energy devoted to taxes that could otherwise be put to more productive use. With taxes grab¬ bing off up to 91^ of our income, we are in the weird situation wheie there is 10 times more to be gained by saving a dollar of tax ! than to earn a dollar of income ! In other words, tax saving has [ become one of the most profitable uses of talent and thought today. If we pick up the tax law, and read the cover, the title sa}s: “An act to provide revenue for the United States." A much more hon¬ est and realistic title is: “An act permanently to relieve unemploy¬ ment among CPAs and tax law¬ yers.” What’s to be done. That depends on how sincere and determined we all are to do anything about it. Wilbur Mills, the No. 1 lax man of the Congress, as chief of the House Ways & Means Committee, has told us howr much can be accompF I ed.He says if we get rid of the special doodads in the law, Uncle Sam could still raise the same dough with rates of 9^0-41^0, instead of the present 20-to-91%. Rates of 9-to-41% begin to make sense. ‘ Let’s therefore take a looi: (Continued on page 43) British Cinema Upbeat Falters London. The upward trend in attendances at motion picture theatre, which collared a lot of trade and press attention, appears to have been shortlived. The latest returns for September and October show a marked downward tendency. In August last, paid admissions jumped by about 20 rc to a weekly average of 12,100 000, but they fell back in September to a weekly count of 10,400.000. There was a further drop in October, off to 9,700.000. The figures are released in the latest issue of the Monthly Digest of Statistics published by the Board of Trade. They are bribed on a sample of more than 3,000 cinemas. DEFER TO GOLDWYN Metro’s Novel-Based Pic Drops ‘Dallas’ From Tag Hollywood. I Russian film development which is lake over large blocks of seats at Screen Producers Guild has little known. It goes into the be-jreSular performances. j named the four of its members , ginnings of the Soviet cinema after To overcome difficultv, studios1 who will become members of the the revolution and its history ‘are trving to set up screenings at boards of the Motion Picture 1 through its good and bad times. It I unusual times— such as Saturday » Assn, of America and its west is objective ard informative and morning — sufficiently in advance ! coast organization. Assn, of Motion a must for buff and pro film peo1 of the Jan. 9 ballot deadline to; Picture Producers. pie libraries. It is well illustraled ! assure the big pictures a fair hear • and annotated with interesting : ing and are connecting a" trade ad view points on the meaning and fu1 campaign to the screenings. | . ,tlu Vle film Siven in the index Art directors, cameramen, cos! to give SPG a by Maxim Gorky, Leo Tolstoy j fume designers, film editors and : operations of and \Iadimlr Mayakovsky. composers start voting Dec. 28 to • Mosk. I cull nominated pix down to ten. I Four are SPG prexy Walter Mirisch, William Perlherg. Jerry Wald and Pandro S. Berman. Move is designed greater voice in MPA A and AMPP. Hollywood. Metro’s title switch from “Ada Dallas" to “Ada" was made in deference to Samuel Goldwyn who in 1937 filmed “Stella Dallas." it was revealed yesterday. Metro asked no questions in changing tag because of the similarity. Move is interesting in that Metro’s pic Is based on Wirt Wil¬ liams’ book, “Ada Dallas,” and since title is taken from copyright material, studio would have had a strong chance to win rights to title even if protested through MPAA's title registration bureau. LawTence Weingarten in pro¬ ducing “Ada” for his Avon Produc¬ tions . banner, with Daniel Mann directing the Susan Hayward-Dean Martin starrer. Ephraim London Proves Law Can Be Fan: In 2 Vols. By VINCENT CANBY In the perhaps too formidably titled "The World of Law” -Simon & Schuster', attorney Ephraim London has compiled and edited ione of the biggest 'two vois., 1.434 j pages'., most expensive 517.59, ! boxed’ anthologies of fact and fic, tion to come on the market this year. It is also one of the most interesting and colorful of literary ; kaleidoscopes wherein "Daddy” and "Peaches” Browning rub shoulders with such diverse types as Joan of Arc, Sacco & Yan/t-tti, Capt. Queeg, Felix Frankfurter, ! the Knave of Hearts and Albert Camus. i London, famed for his practice ; of constitutional law ’"The Mira■ele” and "Lady Chatterley’s Lover” cases', is a notably inobtrusive edl' tor, limiting himself to a mere twopage introduction, but his wit, compassion and clarity of thinking are evident in the tremendous j range of the selections. Volume I, l (Continued on page 49.’/