The Exhibitor (May-Oct 1945)

the exhibitor 15 False V-E Day Hurt NEW YORK — Although Broadway houses in the Times Square sector benefited from the false peace rumors last fortnight, a survey indicated that subsequent runs, suburban, and small town business slumped, with the peo¬ ple evidently staying close to their radios at home. SCREEN GUILD PROD. MAKES BOW IN TRADE Chicago — Screen Guild Productions, Inc., is the chartered name of the new distrib¬ uting company formed by 20 independent exchange men who met last week to com¬ plete plans for operation. The company was tentatively known as Cardinal Pic¬ tures Corporation. Officers elected are John J. Jones, Chi¬ cago, president; John Mangham, Atlanta, Robert L. Lippert, San Francisco, and Arthur Lockwood, Boston, vice-presidents; John L. Franconi, Dallas, secretary, and M. S. Schulter, St. Louis, treasurer. Directors include all officers and J. Francis White, Charlotte; Jack Engel, Philadelphia, and Bert Stearn, Pittsburgh. The executive committee includes Jones, Lippert, Schulter, Engel, and Stearn. The New York exchange will be operated by the corporation itself. Jones said the company will not handle reissues, and pointed out that distribution deals made by Screen Guild with other producers or distributors will in no way involve the independent operation of the organization. Franchises have been closed for all ex¬ change centers with the exception of Cleve¬ land, Cincinnati, Denver, Indianapolis, and Salt Lake City, and deals are pending in these spots. RCA Profits Up New York — General David Sarnoff, president, RCA, last week told the 26th annual meeting of stockholders that RCA was ready to expand its television broad¬ casting, and that a new type, advanced model of projection-tube television re¬ ceiver had been developed by the com¬ pany. Sarnoff reported that net profits, after taxes, for the first-quarter of 1945, were $2,987,000, representing an increase of 24.44 per cent over the same period for 1944. Earnings per common share for the first quarter amounted to 15.8 cents, com¬ pared with 11.6 in 1944. Consolidated gross income during the first quarter amounted to $85,385,000. WB Execs To Canada New York — Ben Kalmenson, general sales manager for Warners; Mort Blumenstock, advertising and publicity head in the east; Norman H. Moray, short subject sales manager, and I. F. Dolid, supervisor of ex¬ changes, attended the meeting of the com¬ pany’s Canadian sales forces last week in Toronto. Haskell M. Masters, recently appointed Canadian manager for Warners, headed the Dominion delegation at the two-day session. PARAMOUNT PICTURES EARNINGS TOP 1943 TOTAL New York— Earnings of Paramount Pictures, Inc, for the fiscal year ending on Dec. 30, 1944, totalled $16,488,106 after deducting all charges including interest, taxes, depreci¬ ation, and $1,500,000 additional reserve provided for contingencies, according to the annual report of the company issued last week by Barney Balaban, president. These earnings include $1,745,000 representing Paramount’s interest as a stockholder in the combined undistributed net earnings for the year of partially owned non-consolidated companies. The earnings for the fiscal year, 1943, _ _ _ _ on the same basis were $16,140,821, in¬ cluding $1,556,000 share of undistributed earnings of partially owned non-consoli¬ dated companies. The amount earned per common share for 1944 on the basis of combined consolidated earnings and share of undistributed earnings of partially owned non-consolidated companies was $4.39, as compared with $4.30 for 1943. The consolidated balance sheet shows that cash on Dec. 30, 1944, amounted to $19,787,633, of which $1,827,059 was in foreign countries other than Canada, prin¬ cipally in Great Britain. Total current assets were $64,958,537, and current liabili¬ ties $16,112,057, leaving a net working capital of $48,846,480, an increase of $6,540,877 during the year. During the same period, the interest bearing indebtedness due after one year of the company and its consolidated subsidiaries was reduced by approximately $2,153,000, leaving a bal¬ ance of such indebtedness of $21,120,206 on Dec. 30, 1944. The accounts of the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Paramount Broadway Corporation (owner in fee of the Para¬ mount and office building, Times Square) now known as Paramount Pictures The¬ atres Corporation, are included in the con¬ solidated financial accounts for the year, 1944, for the first time since reorganiza¬ tion. The company held outstanding at the beginning of the year $5,940,500 prin¬ cipal amount of first mortgage sinking fund loan certificates bearing minimum interest of three per cent per annum, with respect to which obligation the company was a limited guarantor. This mortgage on the Paramount building was paid off in full at face amount and accrued interest during 1944, funds for this purpose being ad¬ vanced by the company out of the pro¬ ceeds of an unsecured borrowing, at in¬ terest rates of 2 per cent and 2% per cent per annum, of which $5,000,000 remained outstanding on Dec. 30, 1944. Balaban stated in his closing paragraphs: “There have been unusual developments in the electronic art during this war which have been closely related to tele¬ vision. There is the possibility that this may result in an early widespread use of television. The company is prepared to take advantage of this new amusement art, both in the home and in the theatre, through various interests in television in¬ cluding minority interests in Allen B. Du¬ Mont Laboratories, Inc., and Scophony Corporation of America, and through tele¬ vision transmitters now operated by con¬ solidated subsidiaries in Chicago and Hollywood. “With the war in Europe approaching its climax, post-war problems are the concern of a]l business. Your company and its subsidiaries are not faced with the problem of reconversion of plant and facilities to peace-time operation. During the transition from war to peace, it is ex¬ pected there will be some dislocation of business, the effect of which it is believed may be offset by the large available pur¬ chasing power of the nation, by the return of millions of men and women in the armed forces to peaceful pursuits, and by increasing revenues from certain countries whose markets were closed on account of the war, and from a large backlog of feature productions which have not been exhibited in such countries since 1940. Reduction in war-time tax rates on in¬ come, when effected, will also tend to cushion any such decrease in revenues.” Quarterly Profit Shows Jump New York — Paramount Pictures, Inc., last week estimated its earnings for the first quarter ended on March 31, 1945, at $4,007,000 after interest and all charges in¬ cluding estimated provisions for all Fed¬ eral normal and excess profits taxes. This amount includes $839,000 representing Paramount’s direct and indirect net inter¬ est as a stockholder in the combined un¬ distributed earnings for the quarter of partially owned non-consolidated subsid¬ iaries. Earnings for the quarter ended on April 1, 1944, were estimated at $3,814,000, including $843,000 share of undistributed earnings of partially owned non-consoli¬ dated subsidiaries. The $4,007,000 of estimated combined consolidated and share of undistributed earnings for the quarter represent $1.07 per share on the 3,752,136 shares of com¬ mon stock outstanding on March 31, 1945, which compares with $1.02 per share for the quarter ended on April 1, 1944. Paramount Pictures, Inc., prepaid on May 1, 1945, $1,000,000 principal amount of its note obligations which were not due until July 1, 1946. The payment of $520,000 for the retirement of a corre¬ sponding principal amount of three per cent debentures due 1952 to 1958 of the latest maturities through operation of the sinking fund was authorized. Of this amount, $475,000 represents the sinking fund payment due on May 15, 1945. The regular quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share was declared on the com¬ mon stock of Paramount Pictures, Inc., payable on June 29, 1945, to stockholders of record on June 8, 1945. "Movie Lot" Popular New York — Theatre circuits and other motion picture organizations throughout the country have ordered more than 6,000 copies of “Movie Lot to Beachhead,” the book which tells the story of the motion picture at war, the publisher informed the War Activities Committee last week. The circuits are using these copies as part of their public information program, dis¬ tributing them to Chambers of Commerce, legislators, city officials, civic leaders, women’s club leaders, and veterans’ or¬ ganizations. Foreign sales managers of major companies have also ordered a num¬ ber of copies for distribution by their representatives in other countries, and the domestic sales managers of several com¬ panies have ordered copies for their field forces, to familiarize their men with the work the industry has done during the war. May 9, 1945