Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

1 sday, December 6, 1960 PEOPLE Motion Picture Daily S-W Gross at New High, Net Down for '60 Jfred R. Corwin, for 12 years ■ctor of international information the Motion Picture Association of erica, has joined Fred Wittner , New York, industrial marketing, ertising and public relations ncy. □ Villiam S. Vaughn, president of ;tman Kodak Co., on Jan. 17 will presented the gold medal of ievement of the Poor Richard b of Philadelphia, honoring him "the leader of a company whose ne in synonyous with progress in communication arts." □ rma Reinhold Monsky, newspaperman who has served the National nference of Christians and Jews public relations consultant, has \% appointed public relations ditor for that organization. In adon to her role as information di.tor, she will be in charge of pub' information for the Greater New 'rk area of the National Conference. □ Wilson Elliott, former publicist for immunity Theatres, Cleveland, and ■ re recently active there in the ,lio-television news field, has joined imer Brothers to handle publicity that company in the Cleveland ritory. □ Vlax Shabason, who replaced lph Pielow recently as MGM inch manager in Pittsburgh, and u-old Henderson, Paramount salesin who has been elevated to the st of branch manager in Cleve Iiid, will be honored on Dec. 12 at luncheon to be held in the Park benley Restaurant, Pittsburgh. Don Icks, Paramount branch manager, 11 be chairman. □ Hugh Prince has taken over manement of the Movieland Drive-in leatre, Sanford, Fla., for the j ,oyd Theatres circuit. □ Cecil Cohen has completely refur•shed and air-conditioned his Roxy t » leatre, Jacksonville. □ tjjr Sam A. Newton, former Jacksonville exhibitor, has taken over op: ation of the Florida Theatre, Grovejiiind, Fla., from Roy Bang. Impostor' Available 'or New Year's Dates Universal-International is accepting ■ecial New Year's Eve dates on "The reat Impostor," its comedy-drama irring Tony Curtis. The New Year's Eve dates which ill be backed by specially prepared ;wspaper ads, are being tied in with niversal's advance word-of-mouth impaign on the picture. "The Great npostor" will have its word premiere mid-February. (Continued from page 1) previous fiscal year, was the third highest in the history of Stanley Warner. The consolidated net income, after all charges, was $3,513,800, equivalent to $1.73 per share. This compares with net for the previous year of $4,812,000, equal to $2.38 per share. Certain unusual operating expenses were incurred in the 1960 fiscal year arising from the introduction of new styles of foundation garments and large promotional expenses for the Playtex, Isodine and Betadine products, Fabian noted. The operating profit for the last half of the year was lower than had been anticipated owing to a decline in theatre receipts occasioned, in part,' by the reduction in the number of releases of motion pictures. Production by the studios was materially curtailed by a 21-week strike of die writers and by a sixweek strike of actors. In commenting on the prospects for the current year, Fabian said, "We expect our earnings to be materially better than those for 1960." Fabian also pointed out diat Stanley Warner was in a strong financial position. "Current assets totaling $45,566,800," he said, "were $7,000,000 greater than the total indebted ness of the company, represented by current liabilities, long term debt and all other liabilities." Sales of properties and the termination of leases in the 1960 fiscal year resulted in a loss of $653,700 whereas the sale of Cinerama assets brought a profit of $348,000. The net extraordinary non-operating loss was $305,700, 'of which $175,000, equivalent to the saving in federal income taxes which would have been payable except for such loss, was charged to net income for the year and the balance of $130,700 was 'charged to earned surplus. In the prior year the non-operating loss was $3,791,100, of which $2,150,000, equivalent to die saving in federal income taxes, was charged to net income and $1,641,100 was charged to earned surplus, Fabian reported. Box office receipts of comparable Stanley Warner theatres were higher during the first six months of the 1960 year than for the same period during the prior year. Then from the middle of March until the end of July, box office receipts declined, caused by the reduction in the number and the lower quality of motion pictures released. Conditions subsequently improved and box office receipts increased in August and September. In October Sees 'Hard-TicJcef Film Policy Causing Crisis By SIDNEY RECHETNIK According hard-ticket engagements to pictures which don't merit such handling is causing a "great crisis" in the industry today, Sig Shore, who is associated with Valiant Films, told a trade press luncheon at Sardi's here yesterday. "When a hard-ticket engagement lays a bomb," said Short, "its effect is felt in a diminishing of exhibitor enthusiasm for the picture when it gets around to its popular price runs. This results in the showman's giving his playdate less attention exploitationwise than were the picture delivered to him before it became a 'hardticket flop'." Decries Long Tie-Ups Unsuccessful hard-ticket runs for undeserving films also tie up key theatres for longer periods of time than is justified, he maintained. Purpose of the luncheon was to present to the trade press Richard Attenborough, co-star and co-producer of the British-made, "The Angry Silence," which will have its American premiere next Monday at the Sutton theatre here. Attenborough said that "more and more actors in England are entering the production field." He claimed diat this was caused by the decrease in film production by the "larger organizations." Among British actors who also are turning their attention to production, he said, are Peter Sellers, Richard Todd, Stanley Baker and John Mills. Attenborough also reported that motion picture theatres in Great Brit 'Wackiest' Is Set for Holiday Bookings An across-the-nation booking pattern at holiday time has been set for Columbia's "The Wackiest Ship in the Army," it was revealed yesterday by Rube Jackter, vice preseident and general sales manager for die distributing company. Jackter announced that more than 50 key cities in the United States have been booked for the holidays, with over 100 special dates for New Year's Eve, preceding long-run engagements to begin later in January. Hal S. Pelton Dies MIAMI, Dec. 5.-Hal S. Pelton, business, civic and social leader of this city, died at the age of 63 at the Miami Heart Institute following a short illness. He is survived by his wife, Katherine, three sisters and a brother. Pelton, entering the Coca-Cola business with a borrowed truck, built the company into one of the nations largest, selling out in 1937. He was active in Variety Club and several other charitable and welfare organizations. Hong Kong Girl Signed HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 5. Linda Ho, daughter of a millionaire Hong Kong banker, has been signed by producer-director Albert Zugsmith for a starring role in "Confessions of an Opium Eater," his next Allied Artists production. ain showed an increase in business of about four per cent over the past six months. and November box office receipts have been approximately the same as those for one year ago. "Exhibitors are hurt by Hollywood's policy of producing fewer pictures than it did before the divorcement of theatres from production and distribution," said Fabian. "Stanley Warner has been one of the leaders in seeking a remedy. Within the past few months, plans for the organization of a new production company to be sponsored by exhibitors, large and small, have been formulated. We are confident diat all exhibitors including Stanley Warner will benefit, not only through the pictures to be produced by the new company but also as a result of the stimulus diis will give to die production plans of existing producers." Points to Modernization Fabian described the theatre modernization program under way, citing major improvements completed during the past few months at the Stanley, Philadelphia; Catham State College, Pa., and the Warner, Beverly Hills, Cal. Work will commence shortly on extensive improvements to the Strand, Albany, N. Y. He added: "In the last 15 months, three changes have taken place in the diversified activities of Stanley Warner. Its Cinerama assets were sold in September, 1959. We acquired Sarong, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of fabric girdles and bras in February, 1960. And in September, 1960, after the close of the fiscal year, we purchased Southern Latex Corp., a company engaged in the business of compounding synthetic latices and similar chemicals for the carpet and textile industries." The company operates 15 factories located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, West Germany, Mexico and Venezuela. Has Upstate TV Station In the leisure industries field, Stanley Warner operates, in addition to more than 200 motion picture dieatres, Station WAST-TV covering the ' marketing area of Albany, Schenectady and Troy. In the consumer goods field the company is represented by the Playtex and Sarong divisions. Pharmaceuticals are divided into the proprietary division with Isodine as its basic product and Tailby-Nason ediical division which markets principally a group of Betadine products. The industrial chemicals division produces and markets syndietic latex polymers, under the Tylac name, and its Southern latex division, compounds latices and similar chemicals for use by the carpet and textile industries. For The Quiekesf And Best Holiday Promotion Trailers Send Your Order To FILMACK '"^^ 1327 SO. WABASH CHICAGO 5