Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1962)

CALENDARiEVENTS JUNE JULY s M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 9 10 1 1 12 13 14 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 29 30 31 JUNE 1012, Louisiana Theatre Owners annual convention, Fountoinebleu Motel, New Orleons. JULY 16-18, Virginia Motion Picture Theatre Ass'n annual convention, Chamberlin Hotel, Old Point Comfort, Va. 17, 18, New Mexico Theatre Ass'n 17tti onnuol convention, Farmington, N. M. AUGUST 69, New York State Allied and New Jersey Allied joint convention at Kiomesha Lake, N. Y. SEPTEMBER 79, Association of the Women of the Motion Picture Industry 9th annual convention. Hotel .Muehlebach, Kansos City. 1114, Independent Exhibitors, Inc. ar>d Drive-In Theotres of New Englond regional convention, the Belmont, West Horwich (Cape Cod), Mass. 18, 19, Allied Theotres of Michigan 43rd annual convention, Sheroton-Codillac Hotel, Detroit. Second Annual Festival At MIT to Begin June 12 BOSTON — A program of festivities with film stars, directors and producers from the U.S. and Europe is planned for the opening of the second annual International Film Festival to be held at MIT’s Kresge auditorium June 12-24. The selecting committee, comprised of Boston film ci'itics Elinor Hughes, Herald; Marjory Adams, Globe; Alta Maloney, Traveler; Nora Taylor, Monitor; Peggy Doyle, Record American; Guy Livingston, Boxoffice, has chosen the following films for presentation at the festival, June 12-24. ‘"The Unsent Letter,” Russian; “Simitrio,” Mexican; “Arms and the Man,” and “Objective: Stalingi-ad,” Germany; “The Playboy of the Western World,” Ireland; “Cairo Station,” Egypt. These films have been cited by the committee for specific excellence. Other films cited will be announced shortly. Jurors, who will select for general excellence at the festival, include Elliot Norton, drama critic, Boston Record American; Gyorgy Kepes, Norman Holland, MIT faculty; Lawrence Wiley, Harvard; Sam Hirsch, BU; Joseph Figurito, BC; A1 Capp, cartoonist. RCA Quarterly Dividend Of 25 Cents on Common NEW YORK — The board of directors of Radio Corp. of America has declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share on the common stock, payable July 23 to holders of record June 15, 1962. A dividend of 87*/2 cents per share was declared on the cumulative first preferred stock for the period July 1, 1962, to September 30, payable October 1 to holders of record of such stock September 21. Fermac Enters British Film Production-Distribution TORONTO — Fermac Graphic Industries, Ltd. of Toronto is entering the British film field and plans to produce five featurelength films to be released in the United Kingdom through Warner-Pathe, British subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures. Distributors for the rest of the world have yet to be designated. David Feldman is president of Fermac. The new production-distribution company, in which Fermac will hold a 50 per cent interest, will have a total capitalization of $2,500,000 through agreements whereby England’s National Provincial Bank will advance the company four times the amount of its capital fund of $500,000. In addition to Warner-Pathe, Parroch Films and Humphries Laboratories will be associated with Fermac. Fermac’s entry into the British film industry was influenced by the Eady Plan, which the English government subsidizes domestic-controlled film production to the extent of 70 per cent of costs. Canadian actor-producer Neil McCallum is associated with Jack C. Parsons, British theatre circuit executive and motion picture producer, in Parroch Films. Jesse Crawford, Renowned Theatre Organist, Dies CHICAGO — Jesse Crawford, who won renown in the 1920s as the organist at the B&K Chicago Theatre, died at the age of 66 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. In 1918 Balaban and Katz brought Crawford to Chicago from Los Angeles, where he played the organ in a downtown Los Angeles theatre. B&K installed a second organ in the Chicago theatre when Crawford married Helen Anderson, also a theatre organist. The Crawfords moved to B&K’s Paramount Theatre in New York in 1926, where they performed until 1932. WB Retitles Asquith Film NEW YORK — “Guns of Darkness” will be the release title for the Cavalcade-Concorde picture produced in England for Warner Bros, release under the title “Act of Mercy.” David Niven and Leslie Caron are starred in the picture which Anthony Asquith directed on location in Spain with David Opatashu and James Robertson Justice featured. BOOK REVIEW Kine & TV Year Book 1962. Published by Kine Weekly, London. 536 Pages. The 48th edition of Kine Weekly’s year book again is a concise and informative reference volume for the British film and television industries. The 'various categories are separated by convenient index tabs, each describing the data therein. Categories include trade organizations, biographies, circuits, equipment companies, distributors and product, along with corresponding information for the television field. A handy-ribboned bookmark, provided by an ice cream company, also is included for convenience. Practically all data required by people within the two industries are listed in the 536 pages. — A. S. 'Tweefsie' Gets Big Role In Civil War Production BLOWING ROCK, N.C.— Tweetsie, the narrow gauge railroad train that is a tourist attraction here, will be in a movie being made by Unusual Films, the motion pictm-e production unit of Bob Jones University at Greenville, S.C. The scenes in which Tweetsie bears the body of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to its final resting place in Virginia are being shot this weekend. The cast iron coffin being used is of Civil War vintage, being made in the 1860s by Crane and Bread Co. of Cincinnati, which is still in business. The two-hour color film is based on General Jackson’s contact with Gen. Richard Stoddert Ewell, who became an outstanding Christian as a result of Jackson’s influence. Tweetsie has been given a new coat of green and gold paint and bears the name, “Virginia Central Railway,” for the film. 'Barabbas' London Event; New York Date October JO LONDON — The world premiere of Dino de Laurentiis’ “Barabbas” was held at the Odeon Haymarket Theatre Monday (4) with the producer, his associate producer, Luigi Luraschi; Kenneth C. Hargreaves, distribution executive for De Laurentiis, and Lon Jones, publicity director for De Laurentiis, attending. Arthur Manson, international campaign director for the film, arrived from New York for the event. “Barabbas,” in Technirama-70 and Technicolor, is the first film to play the Odeon Haymarket, which is the second new film theatre to be constructed in London since World War II. Columbia Pictures is distributing the picture on a reserved-seat basis. In New York, “Barabbas,” will have its American premiere at the DeMille Theatre October 10, also on a reserved-seat policy of ten performances weekly. Universal’s “Spartacus” was the last two-a-day film to play the theatre from October 1960 through October 1961. Films, Jnc., Has Available J,500 Films in J6mm WILMETTE, ILL.— More than 1,500 fulllength features and short subjects produced by major and independent studios can now be rented in 16mm for nontheatrical showing, Films, Inc., a subsidiary of Encyclopedia Britannica Films, Inc., has made public via a 160-page catalog. Listed in 13 groups are the following: Action and adventure, comedy, drama, light drama, musicals, mystery and crime detection, the fantastic, westerns, war themes, religious themes, children’s films, short subjects and cartoons. More than 300 feature films, plus many short subjects, are available in Cinemascope. The company distributes the films through eight exchanges from Boston to Portland, Ore., with one to be added in Detroit, October 1. 14 BOXOFFICE :: June 11, 1962