Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

8 DECEMBER 5, 1960 Film & Tape GARNER’S VICTORY OVER WARNERS: In a dramatic & surprisingly quick verdict, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Arnold Praeger ruled Dec. 1 in favor of James Garner in his dispute with Warner Bros., thus freeing the Maverick star from his contract. Judge Praeger said he would decide later on the amount of damages Garner should receive from Warners in his breach-ofcontract action (Vol. 16 :48 p9, 47 pl3) . The Judge said that “Warner Bros, had no justification for laying Garner off, particularly in view of the testimony of Jack L. Warner (WB pres.).” Garner wept when the verdict was announced. He told us, “I’m so happy, I don’t know what to say now that I’m free.” Warner Bros, had invoked the force majeure contract clause against Garner and Jack Kelly, stars of Maverick, and Clint Walker, Cheyenne star, last March 3, on the grounds that it couldn’t get scripts because of the writer strike, which began Jan. 16. Garner then claimed this to be a violation of his contract — which made him a free agent. Warner sued for breach of contract, and Garner counter-sued for release from his contract as well as $106,000 damages. (Kelly and Walker were restored to the Warner payroll.) A crucial point in the argument of Garner attorney Martin Gang revolved around the interpretation of force mejenre, and his contention may be precedental. Gang argued it was not enough under force majeure for a studio to show it was hampered by a strike. It was required also to show its “inability” to produce films, because the writer strike, by testimony of Warners’ own executives, did not prevent that company from continuing production. May Affect Future Force Majeure Clauses Warner Bros, refused to take Judge Praeger’s comments as the final verdict, and a spokesman, when asked if WB would appeal, said: “Inasmuch as the judge has not given his complete & final decision, it is not possible to make any comment.” Industry attorneys were of the opinion that if Warners appeals and the decision is upheld, studio attorneys may have to rewrite force majeure provisos to avoid Garner-type litigation. Garner immediately received offers to star in movies from 3 major studios, including MGM and 20th-Century Fox. “I don’t really know yet what I’m going to do,” he told us. “We haven’t allowed ourselves to think past this point. I’ll do a couple of [theatrical] features a year, but no TV.” He & his agent will mull the various offers being made, then reach a decision, he said. Warner witnesses included Pres. Jack L. W’arner, vp-TV executive William Orr, exec, vp Steve Trilling, Orr’s assistants Harold Hugh Benson and Richard Bluel, producer Coles Trapnell and asst, story ed. Carl Stucke. Through the testimony was woven a story of how WB acquired approximately 100 scripts during the WGA strike which began Jan. 16 and ended June 20. Also disclosed was something the trade had long suspected— that Warners frequently took a story which had been used jn one, series and adapted it to another. At times the trial was deadly serious, at others amusing— as when Judge Arnold Praeger confided he had never seen a ^^(lverick, adding: “They are not within the range of my cultural background.” His comment on Westerns generally: .“I've often thought that if they had a factiial background, the West would have been ,de_pppulated.”, Orr, the initial vutriess, testified thal'wheh the immin ence of the strike was apparent, “we exhorted everyone to use any means possible to find material & people who could make shootable scripts. We asked writers to work for us. We had no legal obligation to keep them from writing during a strike.” He said that when the strike came, seasonal production on Maverick and Cheyenne was finished, and while the first Maverick of the 1960-61 season had been produced, there were no further scripts. Continued Orr: “We had some success in getting scripts on various series, but not with Maverick and Cheyenne.” He termed Maverick an unusual series, requiring skilled writers who could understand the offbeat character of its 2 heroes. Orr testified that there was no written agreement between Warners and ABC-TV which shows the series. He said that when ABC-TV had renewed Maverick last December, he had told producer Coles Trapnell to get as many scripts ahead as possible because of the strike threat. Warners then began interchanging scripts between series, and at one point Trapnell “converted” 3 Cheyenne scripts into Alaskan episodes. However, “we felt the continuation of this policy would lead to a reduction of overall quality,” Orr testified. He said he’d told Warner that “strike or no strike, we will continue making TV pictures,” and all series were completed. Enter: Jack L. Warner Last Warner witness was Pres. Jack L. Warner, who described the key March 2 meeting as a “general business conference,” and recalled that at that session it was said that “they could keep going by re-adapting old scripts.” Warner said the studio had hiked its TV production from one to 8 hours a w'eek, and it could w’ell go back to one if its shows didn’t have quality. He testified that he had made the decision to invoke the farce majeure provisions of the contracts of the 3 actors involved as “good business judgment.” “If the circumstances came to the point where we couldn’t proceed with any show, naturally we would take advantage of that clause,” he remarked. Asked if the studio’s TV arm had met its commitments, he replied, “I don’t know. I imagine they did, because I didn’t hear anyone complaining.” He said he didn’t recall setting a date for invoking the force majeure provisos. He said that while he had made the decision then, it may have been weeks later before it was put in force. Gang told him it was a part of the record that Garner received his suspension notice March 3. “We had work for Garner, a movie, ‘Fever in the Blood,’ but he wouldn’t show up,” said Warner. (Gamer denied ever having been offered this picture.) Warner admitted under cross-examination that just before Garner was placed on suspension, the studio had arranged for him to appear as a guest on a Bob Hope TV show, with WB & Garner to split the $10,000 fee. Asked by Gang if he had given any consideration to other such work for the actor before placing him on suspension, Warner indignantly said “I’m not a booking agent.” Asked if Warners’ series were on ABC-TV, Warner replied “I don’t know. ,it’3 all done ih N.;Y.” ' ’ .V. Asked about an April press release to the trades in which he'was quoted optimistically in regard to W’amers’ TV & riiovie production, Wafner acknowledged that he had hot oiily made the quote but, “I wrote the release.” Quizzed about the statement which came in the midst of the strike, Warner hedged^ and said some of his quote was true, some of it wasn’t. “You have to be optimistic in this business. It’s what we call good propaganda,” he said. "