Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 6, 1956)

Page 4 PARAM'T MEETING (Continued from Page 1) charge of advertising, publicity and promotion, and Oscar Morgan, chief of short subject sales. Also on hand was Maxwell Hamilton, co-ordinator of worldwide promotion plans for The Ten Commandments. Weltner and Hamilton discussed the unprecedented qualities of The Ten Commandments and Boasberg, saying that only Toronto and Montreal would see it this year in Canada, predicted that it would earn the world’s greatest gross. The job of tackling the sale and exploitation of the Ten Commandments and Ponti De Laurentiis’ War and Peace, the latter film also being one of the greatest productions in history, was an immense challenge, Boasberg stated. Pickman pointed out that the amount of production activity at Paramount was an answer to pessimism about the industry. Morgan asserted that not using newsreels and shorts weakened the entertainment value of the program. From 70 to 80 per cent of newsreel coverage is never seen on TV. Among the films discussed were The Red Nichols Story; Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; Alfred _ Hitchcock’s From Amongst the Dead; and the Perlberg-Seaton production of The Proud and Profane—these being the “extra specials.” Others were That Certain Feeling, The Loves of Omar Khayyam, Funny Face, Hollywood or Bust, The Rainmaker, Fear Strikes Out, Flamingo Feather, Desire Under the Elms and The Golden Journey. Canadian personnel came from coast to coast for the meeting. Among those attending were Pat Hogan and Ralph Thorne from Saint John; Bob Murphy, Romeo Goudreau, Bill Young and Tom Dowbiggin from Montreal; Mickey Stevenson, Ted Dowbiggin, Ambrose Theurer and Ron Emilio from Toronto; Syl Gunn, Norm Simpson and Al Glass from Winnipeg; Bill Kelly, Jim Rea and Larry Gibson from Calgary; Bob Lightstone from Vancouver; and Bill O’Neill, Win Barron and Ernie Heath from the Canadian home office in Toronto. FOR SALE Theatre block in lively central Ontario town, popular tourist area. Includes adjoining store (confectionery and small wares) public hall upstairs, all in excellent condition. Solid brick building, central corner. New projectors, sound and screen, etc, No opposition. Store offers many possibilities, restaurant, etc. Real opportunity for man with initiative. Owner has other interests. Send replies to BOX 25 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. E., Toronto RKO Acquires ‘Rachael Cade’ Charles Mercer’s Rachael Cade. | | CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY June 6, 1956 News Notes NFB FILM WINS IRISH AWARD The National Film Board’s short, The Shepherd, produced by Julian Biggs, won an award at the International Film Festival in Cork, Ireland, where the French-made Les Assassins du Dimanche took the premier prize. A Hollywood film, Pll Cry Tomorrow, was given an award for “the collective high quality” of the acting by Susan Hayward, Jo Van Fleet and Richard Conte. Other awards went to the Shell film unit’s documentary, Rival World, and the Italian film, Woman of the River, for best photography. Individual awards went to Yves Massard for his role as a young priest in Maurice Cloche’s Le Missionnaire; Sachiko Hadari, for her role as a suicide in the film I Am on Trial; and Pietro Germi, director of the Italian film, Il Ferroviere. GLADYS RAWNSLEY HEADS WOMPIS Gladys Rawnsley of United Artists, who took over as president of the Toronto branch of the Women of the Motion Picture Industry on the resignation early in March of Anne Kaplan, was returned to that office at the recent election meeting. Named to the executive with her were May Levandusky of Odeon, first vice-president; Audrey Duke of Odeon, second vicepresident; Marion Hertell, Canadian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association, recording secretary; Olive Copleston of MGM, corresponding secretary; and Ruth Frankson of General Theatre Supply, treasurer, Three former directors and four new ones were elected to the board. Returned were Mildred Banks and Kay Fisher of MGM and Jean MacLennan of IFD. Newly-named to the board were Marjorie Wilson of JARO, Mary Colangelo of EmpireUniversal, Mary Ditursi of ASN and Lois Skinner of Paramount. NBC VS. TV FILM DISTRIBUTORS Film syndicators vs. the network system; that’s how NBC described the present USA TV situation before the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee in Washington recently. “The wealth of fine entertainment, educational and cultural programs invaluable in the diversified schedules of the networks would be repiaced by a continuing flow of stale and stereotyped film product,” the NBC brief stated. It said further, referring to the proponents of toll TV and others: “It was the networks which developed the facilities and skills and undertook the financial risks of building a national television program service — not the film-come-latelys or the promoters with Hollywood backlogs in their portfolios. While the networks were chalking up annual losses of millions of dollars to develop the new medium, the film interests withheld their product from it; and turned to television only after it had been built by others.” Syndicators, who have just formed the Association of Television Film Distributors, called the NBC charges “a smokescreen” to obscure the disadvantage of local and regional stations in competing with network outlets at peak viewing hours. Nor could Independents get enough good film programs, this resulting from existing network practices. USA THEATRE RECEIPTS DOWN Theatre receipts in the USA in 1954 totalled $1.4 billion, a 12 per cent drop from the $1.6 billion of 1948, it was reported by the Census Bureau, which used 1948 as the comparison year for its 1954 statistics. Actually, the gross for standard-type theatres, which decreased by 2,928, going from 17,689 to 14,761 in the eight-year period, dropped by 24 per cent. Drive-in theatres, which increased from 820 in 1948 to 3,799 in 1954 for a gain of 2,979, showed a 350 per cent rise in receipts and was the main factor in keeping the overall decrease in receipts at 12 per cent. There were 18,560 theatres of both types in 1954 and 18,631 in 1948 — a slight drop of less than one per cent. Salaries paid by theatres in 1948 amounted to $303 million, as against $291 million in 1954, representing a four per cent decline. Auditorium theatres showed a 16 per cent decrease in payrolls in the period but drive-ins increased their payrolls by almost 400 per cent. RKO has acquired rights to MGM's ‘Something Of Value’ Sidney Poitier will star in MGM’s Something of Value. BATTEN FILMS (Continued from Page 1) tion Limited. Negotiations are under way. The move of Rapid Grip and Batten to drop its film division, which has been in operation since acquisition of the studio in 1953 from the Paul Nathanson interests, followed important changes in its executive structure. Reg A. Batten, president, became chairman of the board recently and appointed Jack H. Batten to succeed him. The staff of 30 is on notice, with some employment terminations having longer to go than others. Studio production has doubled in a year but the Batten principals are said to feel that the film division makes too much demand on the time of the president. The Battens had a marked interest in motion picture production. Reg Batten was vicepresident and an_ important stockholder in Shelly Films: before acquisition of the studio and is said to have disposed of his Shelly holdings only recently. Vice-president and general manager of Batten Films before the Meridian deal was Jack Batten. The studio, near Islington, was established in 1945 in the former Combine Club, as a joint enterprise of Paul Nathanson and the J. Arthur Rank interests, then partners in distribution. The Rank organization subsequently became partners in Nathanson’s Odeon eircuit, later acquiring it completely. Then Nathanson obtained Rank’s share of the studio, known as the Queensway. It was called Sovereign after that, the name being the same as the 16 mm. distribution subsidiary of Empire Universal Films, Nathanson’s) distribution company, which A. W. Perry heads. In 1951 Ed Harris took over the studio, with Wayne and Shuster having an interest, and ran it as Capitol Film Productions until its sale to Rapid Grip and Batten. Frank O’Byrne, who left Associated Screen News as Ontario manager to administer the studio in 1945, resigned last year. Foster, former Deputy Government Film Commissioner for Canada and one-time head of the Australian Film Board, returned to Toronto some years ago after serving as head of films and television for the United Nations in New York. Roffman, an exMontrealer with an outstanding reputation as a film maker, also came back from the USA to join Foster in establishing Meridian. WANTED TO BUY 800 used theatre chairs. Must be latest models and in Al condition. State size and slope to floor. Send replies to BOX 26 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. E., Toronto,