Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

ednesday, October 19, 1960 Motion Picture Daily 3 itt. Business Up fter 'Series' Dip Special to THE DAILY PITTSBURGH, Oct. 18-Business midtown theatres, hard hit by the ;orld Series, picked up appreciably ice it was over. Several of the theatres closed at 9 M. on the last night because of poor isiness and the fear of incidents in)lving the celebrating mobs. 1 Films doing good business again inude "Surprise Package" at the Hair's; "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" at ie Stanley; "The Angel Wore Red" the Penn; and "Jungle Cat" at the quirrel Hill, all sure holdovers. Marcus Plan' ( Continued from page 1 ) es will continue to give the plan ieir whole-hearted cooperation." Harry Hendel of the Allied Motion icture Theatre Owners of Western snnsylvania pointed out that the sucjss of the "Jungle Cat" promotion .id a special significance because Alleiieny County, containing Pittsburgh, as 10 per cent unemployed and the iree adjoining counties Lawrence, ['reene and Butler, have a 12 per cent pnemployed situation. He quoted pureau of Labor statistics to show lat there are 400,000 unemployed in ie State of Pennsylvania. I 'Looks Good,' Says Seidelman i Larry Seidelman, Buena Vista ranch manager here, said: "While (,oly partial figures are at hand those e have seem to prove the comparave value of the plan. It looks good, lowever, until final figures are availble, no definite conclusion can be :ached." Exhibitors and Buena Vista officials re comparing the results of the enigements of "Jungle Cat" with rosses on "White Wilderness," anther Disney picture, j Other comments on the first j eek's results on "Jungle Cat" were > follows: Joe Bugala, general manager of j tonessen Amusement: "The plan is a the right track. I'm 100 per cent >r it." Ken Winorgrad, owner of the Orintal Theatre, Rochester, Pa.; "I'm ell satisfied with the results. The Ian proved very successful in my leatre." 'We're Quite Happy' Victor Notopolous of the Notopoius Theatre Circuit, Altoona: "We're oite happy with the results at the apitol Theatre." The plan, which consists of extra Ivertising shared equally by theaes and the distributor, was set for to groups of theatres. The first enigements were in key-run theatres i the following cities and towns in Western Pennsylvania and West Vir nia: Western Pennsylvania— Erie, Meadlie, Oil City, Franklin, Butler, eaver, Newcastle, Sharon, Roches Russia and Italy Enter S.F. Festival With Pictures That Won at Cannes Special to THE DAILY SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18-In the next few days of the fourth annual San Francisco International Film Festival, which opens tomorrow night, Russia and Italy will again compete with the same pictures they entered at Cannes last Spring in the competition which saw Italy's "The Sweet Life" emerge as grand prize winner and the Soviet's "Ballad of a Soldier" runnerup. This will be Russia's first appearance in the San Francisco festival. Italy has entered all four years and last year scored a grand slam here with Roberto Rossellini's "II Generale de Rovere" for the best film and the best direction. Another major award— best actress — was bypassed by the judges on the grounds that not a female performance in the entire festival was worthy of a Golden Gate Award. "Sweet Life" is Federico Fellini's account of Roman high ( and low ) life. Festival Director Irving F. Levin said that Fellini personally entered the film, which copped the Cannes grand prize. Levin added that Fellini is also delivering the film to the San Francisco festival in person. Director to Be Present However, although placing second to Italy at Cannes, Russia will not be outdone here in the personal appearance department. Not only will "Ballad of a Soldier" be accompanied by its director, Gregori Chukrai, but the latter also will head a delegation of Soviet cinematic artists, including 19year-old Shanno Prokhorenko and her male co-star, Vladimir Ivashov. Russia entered this festival as the result of negotiations made by Mayor George Christopher on his trip to the Soviet Union. Four years ago Christopher appointed "Bud" Levin as director of the festival, which is non-profit and under the auspices of the City Art Commission. For the next two weeks the Metro Theatre screen will reflect 20 films from 19 nations. In addition, there will be upwards of fifty short subjects to compete in nine categories. France's "Love Game" will open the festival tomorrow night. Thursday will see Italy's "Sweet Life"; Friday will have Denmark's "A Stranger Knocks" and Saturday will feature Russia's "Ballad of a Soldier." Two from U.S.A. Although there is no Hollywood entry, the United States will be represented by two independently produced features. These are Barnaby Conrad's "Flight" from the story by John Steinbeck, and "Shadows," directed by John Cassavetes from a script that allowed the actors to improvise their own roles. Other nations represented are Hong Kong, Mexico, Japan, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Israel, Pakistan, Korea, Holland and Spain. Files Anti-Trust Suit Business Film Producer Involving 'Art' Films Changes Corporate Name An anti-trust suit involving distribution of "art" films in Nassau County has been filed by the Bar Harbor Theatre in U. S. District Court in the Eeastern District of New York. There are 21 defendants named in the summons and camplaint including Donald S. Rugoff, Charles H. Moss, B. S. Moss, Rugoff and Becker Management Corp., Zenith International, Continental Distributing, etc. 'Rovere* to Paris Here Roberto Rossellini's "General della Rovere," a Continental Distributing release, will have its American premiere at the Paris Theatre here following its current attraction. ter, Aliquippa, Greensburg, Vandergrift, Washington, Uniontown, Charleroi, Altoona, State College, Johnstown, Indiana, Bradford and Warren; West Virginia — Clarksburg, Wheeling, Morgantown and Fairmont. The second wave of plan-backed engagements is set for 17 towns, as follows : Western Pennsylvania— Corry, Kittarining, DuBois, Phillipsburg, Somerset, Bedford, Huntington, Barnesboro Ridgway, Kane, Patton, Brookville Ellwood City, Greenville; West Virginia — Elkins, Buckhannon and Grafton. Marathon International Productions, Inc., is the new name of Marathon TV Newsreel, producer of business films here. The change is "to more accurately reflect the company's current activities," according Konstantin Kaiser, president. The firm for 12 years has been a producer of public information and news film for both U. S. and overseas industry. Kaiser said under the new corporate alignment, news opeations will be handled by Newsfllm, Inc., an affiliated company. Organized in 1948 Marathon has been international in character since its inception in 1948 as an organization filming overseas news for U. S. newsreels and television. Service facilities are maintained in London, Berlin, Rome, and Paris, with main offices in New York. Atlantis Films Moves Atlantis Films, Inc. has announced the removal of its home offices to 200 West 57th Street here. 'Entertainer' Big Continental Distributing's "The Entertainer" grossed $13,000 in its second week at the Sutton Theatre, bringing the total gross to $28,000. PEOPLE Joseph G. Alterman, assistant secretary and administrative secretary, Theatre Owners of America, will be a guest speaker before the three-day International Convention Planning Exposition to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, starting Nov. 29. Organized as the first "convention for convention planners," the I.C.P.E. will play host to several thousand association and corporation executives who plan conventions, business meetings, trade shows, expositions and fairs. □ Tony Coutsoumbis, manager of the J. P. Harris Theatre in Pittsburgh, has been re-elected Commander of the Pittsburgh Hellenic Post, American Legion, for his fourth consecutive term. □ John J. Maloney, who recently retired as Central Division manager of MGM, was honored at a dinner yesterday at the Penn-Sheraton Hotel. The committee for the affair included George W. Eby, Morris Finkel, George Stern, John McGreevy and Milt Brourman. □ Pat McGee, owner of the Tower Theatre, Denver, and a secretary of Rocky Mountain COMPO, is acting as treasurer for the Colorado Association for Standard time. □ Clayton Pantages, recently promoted from Albany, N. Y., branch manager for 20th Century-Fox to a position in the five-man "sales cabinet" created by general sales manager C. Glenn Norris, will be honored at a testimonial dinner in the Sheraton Ten-Eyck Hotel, Albany, on Nov. 14 instead of on Oct. 25 as originally planned. □ Fred Koontz, of the East Windsor (Conn.) Drive-in Theatre, a unit of the Lockwood & Gordon circuit, has won that organization's state-wide competition to determine which of its managers could produce the most signatures on the anti-toll tv petitions. Koontz obtained over 900 pledges. Brandt to West Coast Richard P. Brandt, president of Trans-Lux Film Distributing and Television corporations, leaves here tomorrow for an extended West Coast trip involving business of both companies. Brandt will confer in Los Angeles with the Motion Picture Academy on the foreign film situation in general, set final plans for the Los Angeles mass saturation play-off in December on "Nude In A White Car," and move on to San Francisco for the Film Festival to meet with foreign producers and look over possible product for distribution. ■