Return of Smiling Jim

In Jacqueline Susann's peekaboo novel The Love Machine, which focuses on wide-screen sex and power conflict in the television world, the anti-hero is Robin Stone, who advances to a top network job over the prostrate bodies of rivals and girls. Inevitably, show business insiders recognized in Stone at least a passing resemblance to James T. Aubrey Jr., 51. As president of CBS-TV for more than five years, Aubrey ruled with a high hand and a low common denominator of programming (The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction) that for most of that time won CBS leadership in the ratings. After hours, Aubrey said of himself: "I don't pretend to be any saint. If anyone wants to indict me for liking pretty girls, I guess I'm guilty." Partly because of his after-hours tastes, Aubrey was ousted from CBS in 1965. He moved to Los Angeles and set up a small film-production company.

Last week Aubrey returned to power. Las Vegas Financier Kirk Kerkorian, who a month ago won control of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, picked him to be the company's new president to replace Louis ("Bo") Polk Jr., 39, who was fired. Polk had been chosen only last January by Edgar M. Bronfman, whose 16% holding in the company was the largest until Kerkorian bought roughly a 40% share for about $100 million. (Time Inc. owns 5%.) Bronfman and one of three other directors representing his interests quit the 19-man board last week.

Smelling the Public. Kerkorian hopes that Aubrey, whom he met for the first time only two weeks ago, can put new vigor into the ailing MGM lion. Kerkorian wanted a show business veteran to replace financial man Polk, but his choice for the presidency, Herb Jaffe, a vice president of United Artists, turned the job down. Gregson Bautzer, the Los Angeles socialite lawyer who counts both Kerkorian and Aubrey among his clients, introduced the two men at the Beverly Hilton and recommended Aubrey for the job. Bautzer's sales pitch: "Jim Aubrey has a real good sense of smell about what the American public wants to buy for entertainment."

According to Bautzer, Aubrey told Kerkorian: "I don't want a contract. If I do a job on this, the contract will take care of itself. If you don't like the way I'm doing it, you can say 'Get lost, Jim' without any obligations." Aubrey will get $208,000 yearly, plus an option to buy 17,500 shares.

MGM is expected to report a loss of about $25 million for the year that ended Aug. 31. Deficits were biggest in the film and record divisions; earnings from television have also suffered, and of the major divisions of the company only the music publishing business raised its profits. Apparently, MGM's creative people have lost touch with what the public wants in films. Last year nearly all the company's films lost money. MGM's last big hit was Doctor Zhivago.

Kerkorian believes that MGM can go nowhere but up. His operating policy for the company: "Clear out the nonproductive items and keep the productive ones, and you have a successful business." MGM began last year to sell off its real estate holdings, which are scattered from Culver City, Calif., to London. In order to realize some quick profits, Kerkorian is likely to dispose of more.

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