NOVEMBER

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ûUc SmÛ Grant Resigns From RKO; Government Control Sought To Solve Buying Problems Aid for small Independent exhibitors in making film deals to be asked by Abe Berenson. president of Allied Theatre Owners of the Gulf states and member of the national board. Increase in Wholesome Films During Past Year Reported * Catholic Legion of Decency finds only one out of 370 reviewed was condemned, and it was an independent production; 13 of 76 foreign films seen were not approved. Johnston Back From Paris Calls Meeting on Pact Arrived unexpectedly Friday (14) with Joyce O'Hara to report immediately to MPAA executive committee and major company foreign managers on progress of reopened negotiations stymied by subsidiary provisions. -K Arthur Krim Going Abroad To Study UA Problems United Artists president intends to visit England, France and possibly Spain for study of distribution, production and remittance problems; will be away for month or more. -tt Opera for Theatre-TV Screens In Coast-to-Coast Hookup Through precedential deal with Metropolitan Opera Co., "Carmen" with Rise Stevens and Robert Merrill will be telecast via closed circuit on Dec. 11; 30 theatres .signed thus far. -K Record Ascap $15,000,000 Take Expected for 1952 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers collected $10,375,000 for first eight months and expects year's total to reach over $15,000,000; increa.se attributed to television. Harold Mirisch Is Elected To Allied Artists Board Vice-president is approved at meeting of stockholders in Hollywood Wednesday (12); replaces William Hurlbut, who recently sold his Detroit franchise to the company. 'Desert Fox' Stirs Controversy Among Argentine Germans Neo-Nazis and anti-Nazis break into heated argument in print; there are about 2,000,000 German-.speaking persons in the country, about 70,000 of whom are German citizens. * MPEA Member Companies Set Meet on Japan Film Quota Public hearing to be held in Tokyo on problem of sharing 53 import licen.scs for 1953-54 year; Irving Maas. MPEA vice-president, negotiating for increase to 63 licen.ses. Corwin Is Acting Head NEW YORK—Arnold M. Grant, has resigned as chairman of the board of RKO Radio Pictures Corp. and principal executive officer, after holding office since October 2. Sherrill C. Corwin was named acting chairman of the board. He has been directed by the board to consult with David Tannenbaum, prominent westcoast attorney. Tannenbaum flew to New York, arriving Friday (14i, to confer with the board and Ned E. Depient, consultant to the company. The direct cause of Grant's resignation was his inability to secure important men as directors to fill vacancies caused by the resignation of Ralph Stolkin, A. L. Koolish and Ray Ryan, members of the group which purchased the 29 per cent holdings of Howard Hughes September 23, following a series of articles of a derogatory nature in the Wall Street Journal. THREE NEW BOARD MEMBERS Immediately following the resignation of Grant the board met again and named as new directors Charles Boasberg, general sales manager, who has been with the company 21 years; William Zimmerman, general counsel, who has been with it 18 years; and Ross Hastings, who has a 16-year record. Hastings is at present in charge of studio operations. The board also announced the resignation of Ai-nold Picker, executive vice-president, who was to have assumed his duties beginning November 15. Picker will return to United Artists as vice-president in charge of the foreign division and UA board will meet next week to restore his stock participation agreement. Corwin, Los Angeles theatre man and Edward G. Burke jr., who were also members of the Stolkin-Koolish group, continued as members of the board, as they were not the targets of any of the unfavorable publicity in the Journal. Grant revealed for the first time that he insisted on the resignations of Stolkin. Koolish and Ryan, because it was "obvious that their continuation with the company would be a detriment rather than a positive contributing factor to the future welfare of RKO." Since October 22, Grant said, he had made every effort to obtain outstanding men as board members "so that all question of internal integrity of purpose would be removed and the corporation could get on with the urgent job of meeting the manifold problems which it was. and still is, facing." TWO MEETINGS POSTPONED He was asked by Burke at a board meeting November 6 to postpone nomination of directors, because negotiations were under way for the sale of their holdings by Koolish, Stolkin and Ryan. This delay was agreeable. Burke then requested a postponement on November 11, but Grant was insistent that a president must be named, an executive producer hired and a program of productions undertaken immediately in order to avoid further damage to the company. Burke and Corwin again insisted upoii a postponement and Grant agreed to a delay until November 13. At a morning meeting of BULLETIN New York — Two RKO stockholder suits have been filed in New York supreme court. One seeks appointment of a receiver and the other is an action to recover $3,000,000 from Howard Hughes as payment for losses sustained while the companies were under his control. The suits were filed Thursday (13) by Ely W. Castelman and his wife, of Detroit, owners of 2,500 shares of RKO Pictures, and Louis F. Feureman, a lawyer who owns 25 shares. The papers were filed by Louis Kipnis, downtown attorney. Justice Henry Clay Greenberg set November 21 as the date for a hearing. The plaintiffs do not claim the company is insolvent, but assert RKO Pictures Corp. and its subsidiaries have boards of doubtful power and the companies are losing money at the rate of $100,000 a week. The companies also are losing experienced executives, the complaint asserts, and production is at a standstill. The action, aimed at Hughes, said that he made advances to outside producers with "reckless abandon; that RKO was forced to pay the Hughes Tool Co. $100,000 for Jane Russell's services in one picture; that the parent RKO company has sustained losses while Hughes' private enterprises have prospered." William Zimmerman, counsel for RKO, pointed out that the complainants represented only 2,525 shares out of a total of over 3,000,000 shares. the board Grant presented the names of Robert Butler of St. Paul, a director of t!- American National Bank, former ambassadi to Australia and former ambassador extra ordinary to Cuba, and Lawrence Cowen of New York, president of the Lionel Corp., makers of toy railway trains, and a member of the Stock Exchange. Corwin and Ryan refused to second the nominations, so Grant presented his resign nation with the understanding that th( company would not be under any financli obligation to him as a result of terminate of his contract. Grant is a well-known coast attorney. He was a dii-ector of Columbia Pictures up to September 30, when he re signed to join the new RKO purchasers. Grant says he made it clear at that time that he would work in the best interests of all of the stockholders and employes of the corporation "without regard to special interests." Grant's resignation came in the middle of rumors that a new syndicate, headed by Matthew Fox, had purchased the StolkiH' Koolish holdings in the company with th( backing of Henry Crown, Chicago financier. Fox was in Chicago early in the week, but on Thur.sday it was reported the deal had fallen through. 10 BOXOFFICE :: November 15, 19538
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