![]() The crucial thing, as Sam Berke saw it, was to make sure Oboler sold the Gulu partnership interests rather than the film itself. It was also taken for granted that the major studios would soon start producing their own three-dimensional films. Oboler informed them that BWANA DEVIL was doing excellent business in Los Angeles, but 'there was a limited time within which to cash in on it,' since Sol Lesser was bearing down on them with the imminent release of Tri-Opticon. "Back on December 5, Arch Oboler and his secretary, Jerry Kay, had conferred with Oboler’s accountant, Sam Berke, and his nephew, Lou Berke. decided to exercise its existing option, negotiated weeks before with Milton Gunzburg, and signed a formal contract to produce two forthcoming feature films in Natural Vision. He thought it was a very bad film.' The Kalmenson deal lived and died the week of Monday, December 15 by that Friday, Warner Bros. 'He didn’t like the film and he didn’t want to handle it. Kalmenson told me that he would not under any circumstances make a deal for this picture,' veteran Hollywood producer Edward Alperson Sr. Unfortunately for Schaefer, Kalmenson decided to go buy a ticket and have a look at BWANA DEVIL for himself. What started out as a very generous $2 million deal would have ballooned to $2.5 million had Warners acceded to Schaefer’s unrealistic demand. "In reality, Ben Kalmenson had offered to pay Gulu Picture Company a half-million dollar advance on the picture, but George Schaefer wanted this counted as an investment, not a recoupable item from the first income of the producer’s share. only wanted the film so they could 'get it out of the way,' clearing aside the competition for their own 3-D films the following year. Gunzburg had always suspected that Warner Bros. To hear Gunzburg tell it, Warner sales manager Ben Kalmenson had been prepared to offer a whopping three million dollars for BWANA DEVIL, but the irascible Schaefer, resentful over old feuds, picked a fight and stormed out. "Almost forty years later, Milton Gunzburg was still spinning his own fabulous yarn about the spectacular failure of Schaefer’s negotiations with Warner Bros. But any deal involving BWANA DEVIL would have to be approved by Arch Oboler personally. It just so happened that any distribution deal for BWANA DEVIL would net Schaefer 3% of the gross receipts, while an outright sale might mean a fat 5% commission. George Schaefer, only recently appointed as Gulu’s sales manager, seemed to know just about everybody in the business and was making the rounds on both Coasts. ![]() Milton Gunzburg approached Joseph Schenck and Spyros Skouras at 20th Century-Fox. In addition to booking playdates and shipping out prints and equipment, Feder personally sought distribution or acquisition deals with Jack Warner and Ben Kalmenson of Warner Bros., Sam Katzman of Columbia, Harold Mirisch and Ralph Branton of Allied Artists, and George Bowser of Fox West Coast Theatres. Limited partner Sid Feder, a veteran exhibitor, was juggling multiple duties from his base at Gulu’s Hollywood office. "Even before the big premiere, the Gulu partners realized they would need to take BWANA DEVIL to an established distributor, either to handle the film’s release on Gulu’s behalf or to buy it outright. A special design with freewheeling flanges had to be introduced to manage torque and ensure that the film did not snap when the projectors were started, and the earliest prototype reels commissioned by Natural Vision were said to be too large for the metal alloy used in their construction. Even the outsized reels used to hold the prints posed unexpected problems. These double prints then had to be shipped out to theatres all across the country without loss or delay, at twice the usual expense. Left and right release prints from the lab had to be matched not only for synchronism but also for color balance, brightness, sharpness, and contrast. Projectionists, even those with long experience, had to be trained to handle the unusual mode of dual-strip projection. Theatres showing BWANA DEVIL needed more than just an ample supply of Polaroid glasses they had to install entirely new screens with a 'silver' metallic surface and special mechanical couplings to synchronize their projectors. The partners in the Gulu Picture Company, in their new role as ad hoc roadshow distributors, had to become fast experts in esoteric technical matters never associated with any previous feature film. "The staggering instant success of BWANA DEVIL caught everyone by surprise, including the people who made it. Please note that the final product will include thoroughgoing endnotes citing all sources. In commemoration of this significant milestone, please enjoy five rough draft paragraphs from my work in progress, CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH: 3-D COMES TO HOLLYWOOD. THIS WEEK marks the 70th anniversary of the Los Angeles premiere of Arch Oboler's groundbreaking 3-D film BWANA DEVIL.
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