Boxoffice-March.10.1951

THAT
morsel of philosophy anent the
uneasiness of the head that wears a
crown, which was rendered archaic with
abolishment of most of the world's royalty,
might find paraphrasing in Hollywood's current
avalanche of award bestowals, which
every year are growing more numerous and,
resultantly, less important individually. To
wit:
"Sore is the arm that reaches for the
kudos."
Photoplay's annual gold medals-distributing
clambake launched this year's lineup,
followed a few weeks later by a comparable,
and characteristically well-staged, venture by
Look magazine. On the very next night, the
awards-snatchers went around once again at
the yearly "golden globes" event of the Hollywood
Foreign Correspondents Ass'n, subsequent
to which came the distribution of
"silver movie" citations for motion picture
achievement by Redbook magazine.
Then, too late as always and increasingly
anticllmactic, will be staged the granddaddy
of them all, the annual awards event of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
scheduled for March 29.
Covering a year during which Hollywood's
output was not outstandingly scintillating,
it is most natural that the recipients of the
above-listed kudos are the same—with slight
variations—in each instance. By the same
logic, most of them are favorites among the
nominees for the Academy's 1950 honors.
Comes the night of March 29 and their
respective arms may be so charley-horsed
that they'll encounter difficulty in carrying
their Oscars off the Pantages Theatre stage.
By then, the glorified ones among the
beautiful people will probably be so bored
with accepting plaques, medals, awards,
golden globes, silver movie bestowals and
what-will-you-have, that poor ol' Oscar will
not look nearly as shiny as he did in earlier
years when he was not subjected to the intensive
competition that has made him lose
much of his luster in the eyes of the press
and the general public.
Of course—and on the ill-wind theory
there are those who are happy about the
whole thing. Witness: The tradepapers that
manage to clout the selectees for a few pages
of "thank you-all" advertising, no matter from
whom or whence came the kudos; the
cabinet-makers who build display cases and/or
shelves to house the bumper collections, and
the trucking companies retained to haul them
all home for the arm-sore winnahs.
Again it's open sea.son in Cinemania for
the avid headline hunters and them Hollywood
hilUs are resounding to the "yoicks"
of the house committee on un-American
activities. But that's too succulent a morsel
to dissipate in the limited space remaining
to complete this week's chore.
What's puzzling is why Senator Kefauver's
committee Investigating gambling practices in
48
California has overlooked Hollywood. Certainly
the good senator and his associates
should see grounds for suspicion in the fact
that upcoming features include:
"Inside Straight" (MGM).
"The Sure Thing" (Columbia).
"Secrets of Monte Carlo" (Republic).
"Chuck-a-Luck" (Fidelity Pictures, for 20th
Century-Fox)
"Skid Row" (Joseph Bernhard-Anson Bond,
also for 20th-Fox).
Further to assure that the 1951 awards
hysteria reaches a new high in ridiculousness
comes a release—cloaked in anonymity, but
obviously stemming from Al Horwits' Universal-International
praisery—informing that
the American Humane Ass'n has inaugurated
a special award, presented and named in
honor of Richard C. Craven, veteran film industry
humanitarian, for filmdom's best
trained animal actor.
Presentation of this citation augmented the
distribution of Patsy (picture animal top star
of the year) trophies and awards at a benefit
premiere staged by the humane organization
of IJ-I's "Bedtime for Bonzo" at the
Carthay Circle Theatre on March 6.
Says Trigger: Make mine hay.
Intelligence from Lou Lifton, Monogram's
publicity impresario, that Leo Gorcey, starred
in that company's "Bowery Boys" series, has
purchased a 10-acre almond ranch in Reddings.
And nuts to you, too, Leo.
Producer Paul Short plans an early start,
for Allied Artists release, on "The Frog Men,"
and 20th Century-Fox has nearly completed
an opus with the same title. Both are concerned
with the exploits of the navy's underwater
demolition squads.
Obviously, both cannot be permitted to
reach the nation's screens under the same
title, and, resultantly, much controversy
in tradepaper columns—has ensued. Perhaps
the issue could be resolved by putting Darryl
Zanuck and Paul Short under water to
determine who should demolish whom.
And at the same time they can establish
that movies are wetter than ever.
A gander at upcoming product gives assurance
that for the time being, at least,
Hollywood n^ted not worry about a Margaret
Sanger award being added to the groaning
list. Note:
"Rock-a-Bye Baby" (20th Century-Fox).
"A Baby for Midge" (Warners).
"Oh, Baby" (Universal-International)
"Don't Cry, Baby" (Warners).
"The Day They Gave Babies Away" (EMmund
Grainger-RKO)
"Billion Dollar Baby" (Samuel Goldwyn-
RKO).
lATSE Continues
Wage Hike Demand
HOLLYWOOD—Continued efforts to reach
agreement between studio labor liaison representatives
and the lATSE studio locals
concerning the latter's demand for cost-ofliving
wage boosts were being made at midweek
despite an earlier rejection by the
lATSE of a producer proposal for a ten-centan-hour
boost and other adjustments.
An additional and subsequent stalemate was
encountered when producer representatives
refused to talter their stand that a reopening
of the lA bargaining agreement be set back
to October 1953, although the union has been
holding out for an October 1951, reopening
date.
The same ten-cent hourly boost has been
offered to the five unions which are members
of the studio labor basic agreement, and that
offer has been under advisement.
In an effort to negotiate contracts similar
to the agreement recently reached with the
major producers, the Screen Writers Guild
has charted huddles with the Society of Independent
Motion Picture Producers and the
Independent Motion Picture Producers Ass'n.
An SWG negotiating committee was scheduled
to meet with IMPPA representatives
Thursday (8) and sessions with the SIMPP
will get under way later in the month.
* « *
A general membership meeting of the
Screen Producers Guild will be staged Monday
(12) at which President William Perlberg
will make a progress report and plans
will be discussed for holding an election of
officers and board members early in May.
Irving Asher is chairman of the nominating
committee.
Anthony Landi Rejoins
I. G. Goldsmith Unit
HOLLYWOOD—Anthony Z.
Landi has rejoined
the I. G. Goldsmith production unit
to function as associate producer on "Gardenia,"
which Goldsmith is readying as a
United Artists release. Landi and Goldsmith
were previously teamed on "The
Scarf," which will go into early distribution
under the UA banner. Subsequently Landi
had been associated with Lou Schor, independent
producer.
Teachers Vote 'Cyrano'
Top Educational Film
HOLLYWOOD—"Cyrano de Bergerac" has
been voted "the best educational film of 1950"
by the California Teachers Ass'n, and Producer
Stanley Kramer was scheduled to be
presented the organization's first annual
award Saturday (10).
To Topline Andrews Sisters
HOLLYWOOD—With Alex Gottlieb and
Jean Yarbrough—two veterans of the theatrical
film field—serving respectively as
producer and director, filming has been
launched on the first in a proposed series
of video films topllning the Andrews Sisters,
radio and recording singers. The unit
is headquartering at the Hal Roach studios.
BOXOFFICE March 10, 1951