Monday, Mar. 07, 1949

Big Deal

When film production lags, most cine-moguls chew their fingernails. But while Producer David O. Selznick is killing time, he makes a tidy profit with a sideline which Hollywood calls flesh-peddling. Unlike an actors' agent, whose commission is fixed at 10%, Selznick gets fat loan-out fees for the stars who are under contract to him as a producer. Because he is Hollywood's shrewdest publicizer of talent, his stars are in great demand. His profit is the fees, minus the salaries he would be paying the players anyhow.

Last week Producer Selznick announced the closing of his biggest loan-out deal--probably the biggest of its kind in movie history. For a price that ran "well into seven figures" ($1,500,000 was a likely guess), seven Selznick stars will go to Warner Bros, for a total of eleven or twelve pictures: Jennifer Jones (whom D.O.S. is expected to marry this year), Gregory Peck, Joseph Gotten, Louis Jourdan, Shirley Temple, Rory Calhoun and Betsy Drake.

The deal was as timely as it was big; Selznick's studio and releasing organization were at a standstill. He was planning a European junket to get his fingers into a couple of British film productions. Insiders said that he was just waiting until his heavy investment came rolling back from his latest, long-delayed production, Portrait of Jennie. Meanwhile, though he lacks the kind of ready cash that he needs to make his kind of picture (Gone With the Wind, Duel in the Sun), he would have some pocket money.

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