Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

2 Motion Picture Daily Friday, October 14, 196( Receives Quigley Award Plaque Edward Brunner, third from left, manager of Loew's New Capitol theatre, New York, receives plaque from Eugene Picker, president of Loew's, Inc., as winner of the 26th Annual Quigley Awards Contest as the best showman for 1959 in the large situations category. Looking on are, at left, Ernest Emerling, Loew's vice-president and director of advertising-publicity, and Martin Quigley, Jr., editor, "Motion Picture Herald," and, at extreme right, Sidney H. Rechetnik, editor, Managers Round Table. Brunner won the award as manager of Loew's Valencia theatre, Jamaica, New York City, his previous post with the circuit. PERSONAL MENTION HARRY MANDEL, vice-president of RKO Theatres, left New York yesterday for San Francisco and Los Angeles. • Carl Peppercorn, vice-president and general sales manager of Continental Distributing, Inc., is in Washington from New York. • Fortunat Baronat, Universal International director of foreign publicity, has arived in Tokyo from New York on the first leg of a tour of the Far East. • J. Myer Schine, president of Schine Theatres, has returned to New York from Gloversville and Albany, N. Y. • Joe Reddy, Walt Disney Studios director of public relations, has arrived in New York from Hollywood. • Morgan Hudgins, of the M-G-M studio publicity staff, has left here for Nova Scotia, where he will cover the sailing of the schooner "Bounty" for Tahiti, where "Mutiny on the Bounty" will be filmed. • Van Fox, NBC-TV director, and Ed Pierce, producer, have left New York for Detroit. • Maj. Daniel Angel and Anthony Havelock Allan, British producers, arrived in New York from London yesterday via B.O.A.C. • Jud Parker, of Embassy Pictures' advertising-exploitation staff, is in Buffalo today on "Where the Hot Wind Blows." • Honey Sanders, television actresssinger, has left New York for Dallas. • Larry Davee, president of Century Projector Corp., has left New York for Worcester, Mass. gems of v showmanship! SPECIAL TRAILERS by national screen service Production, Distribution LA. Employment Up From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 13. Motion picture production and distribution employment in Los Angeles increased during August for the fourth consecutive month, the Security First National Bank's research department reported. The industry's employment has climbed to its highest point since last February, just prior to the strike of the Screen Actors Guild. At 24,000, the recent total was two per cent above a year earlier, and at a level which has been reached only rarely, for brief intervals, during the past 12 years. Contrary to an overall slack in employment, as compared with the record years of the mid-40s, the industry's wages and salaries total more than ever before. In 1959 payrolls amounted to approximately $300,000,000, or 2.4 per cent of all wages and salaries paid by all employers in the Los AngelesLong Beach metropolitan area. In 1946, one of the industry's banner years, the total payroll amounted to $280,000,000. Katz Leaving JJAA Norman Katz, director of foreign operations for United Artists Associated, is resigning effective with the expiration of his contract in March, 1961, it was announced yesterday by Arnold Picker, vice-president in charge of foreign distribution for United Artists Corp., of which U.A.A. is a subsidiary. Katz has held his present position with U.A.A. and its predecessor company, Associated Artists Productions, since 1954. Small Independents On the March: Cates By WILLIAM WERNETH A new hope for the future of the smaller independent film producer was expressed here to Motion Picture Daily by director Joseph Cates, whose low budget "Girl of the Night" is receiving class "A" distribution in first run houses across the nation. Cates' Van Guard production, which began its first run in Cincinnati on Columbus Day, is being distributed by Warner Brothers. Made on a $350,000 budget, the film will begin showings in 22 Los Angeles area theatres on Oct. 26 and is set for a New York opening at the Criterion on Nov. 11. Cates, a veteran of 13 years of tv production described his first film as a psychological examination of the circumstances which motivate an intelligent woman into becoming a call girl and stressed that the picture had not been made for reasons of "overt sensationalism, but rather as an examination of the analytical process. He went on to say that the fact that his film was receiving first run promotion by a major studio pointed to the fact that there were "no more hard and fast rules in the motion picture business." Cates said that he believed more young directors, with capable technical background, would take unusual subject matter and make pictures with known stars that would be both different and successful. "The way is now open to exciting films made on a low budget," he stated. "But new directors must not sit by and wait for it to happen. It is still necessary to gamble, try and fail until success comes. Each successful director makes his own opportunity." New Crest Studios Are Formally Opened A press and industry cocktail partylaunching the formal opening of thei; new motion picture division was hek last night by Crest Studios at their offices and studios at 130 West 42nt Street here. The company, in business for nine years, recently completed an extensive expansion and remodeling program under the supervision of Joseph G. Aurrichio, president of Crest. Special equipment was also installed tc service the photographic needs of the film industry. Aurrichio has the distinction of being the only member in the photographic field with 25 years of actual motion picture experience. Wometco Net ( Continued from page 1 ) period shows gross revenue of $2,979,132; gross revenue in 1959 was $2,315,709. Expenses in 1960 were $2,585,676 as compared to $2,016,789 in 1959. Net income after taxes for the 36 weeks ended Sept. 10, 1960, amounted to $700,937 against $510,306 for 1959. Gross revenue in 1960 was $8,506,085, with expenses of $7,249,811. In 1959 these figures were $7,056,088 for gross revenue and $,987,689 for expenses. Depreciation amounting to $452,000 was included as a deduction from income for the 36 weeks ended Sept. 10, 1960, as compared to $347,000; for the same period last year. Weiss to Hollywood Nat Weiss, 20th Century-Fox publicity manager, flies to Hollywood today for a series of meetings at the studio with studio publicity director Harry Brand and his staff to coordinate upcoming campaigns on the company's product through the end of the year. While on the West Coast, Weiss will hold meetings with Eddie Yarbrouh, ad-publicity head of the Los Angeles branch, and with Don Yarbrough, ad-publicity head of the Los Francisco office on the projected promotional and merchandising campaigns for the western openings of the! company's top holiday releases. Cohn on 3-Week Trip Ben M. Cohn, assistant foreign manager for Universal International [ Films, will leave here today on a three-week trip to England and the} Continent to confer with the company's representatives overseas on final preparations for the December European launchings of roadshow engagements of "Spartacus." Cohn will visit London, Brussels, Frankfurt. Dusseldorf, Vienna, Rome, Barcelona and Paris. MOTION PICTURE DAILY, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Sherwin Kane, Editor; James D. Ivers, Managing Editor; Richard Gertner, News Editor; Herbert V. Fecke, Advertising Manager; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager, TELEVISION TODAY, Charles S. Aaronson, Editorial Director; Pinky Herman, Eastern Editor. Hollywood Bureau, Yucca-Vine Building, Samuel D. Berns, Manager; Telephone HOllywood 7-2145; Washington, E. H. Kahn, 996 National Press Bldg., Washington, 4, D. C; London Bureau, 4, Bear St. Leicester Square, W. 2. Hope Williams Burnup, Manager; Peter Burnup, Editor; William Pay, News Editor. Correspondents in the principal capitals of the world. Motion Picture Daily is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., 1270 Sixth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, New York 20, Circle 7-3100. Cable address: "Quigpubco. New York" Martin Quigley, President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Raymond Gallagher. Vice-President; Leo J. Brady, Secretary. Other Quigley Publications: Motion Picture Herald, Better Theatres and Better Refreshment Merchandising each published 13 times a year as a section of Motion Picture Herald; Television Today, published daily as part of Motion Picture Daily; Motion Picture Almanac, Television Almanac, Fame. Entered as second class matter Sept. 21, 1938, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y„ under the act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates per year, $6 in the Americas and $12 foreigu Single copies, 10c.