20th Century-Fox Dynamo (February 1960)

SPECIALISTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF BOX OFFICE “BLOCK-BUSTERS" Pictured on this page are six acknowledgedly outstanding specialists in the creation of box office “block-busters”. They head their own producing companies whose attractions are glob- ally distributed by this company. Over a period of more than 30 years no other combination of as many producers has brought forth more box office successes as this group has. Even the very brief outlines of their careers submitted on this page supply cor- roborative evidence of the accuracy of that statement. DARRYL F. ZANUCK, head of Darryl F. Zanuck Productions, Inc., is this year celebrating his 25th anni- versary of association with this com- pany, for it was a quarter of a century ago that his 20th Century Pictures merged with the then Fox Films to flower into what is today known as 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. Like most of the producers, whose wares this company will release, Zanuck started his motion picture career as a writer. He is the only producer who has thrice earned the much coveted Irving Thal- berg Memorial Trophy for outstanding production: in 1937, 1944 and 1950. For 31 years he has set the screen enter- tainment fashion. He produced the first JACK CUMMINGS, whose inde- pendent producing company bears his name, has completed the Todd-AO pro- duction of Cole Porter’s “Can Can”. Starting out as an office boy at the MGM Studios when he was 17, Cum- mings became a producer of short sub- jects in 1934. Two years later he ad- vanced to feature producer, his first being “Born To Dance”, starring Eleanor Powell. Since then he has com- piled an enviable list of box office hits including “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers”, “Kiss Me, Kate”, “The Strat- ton Story”, “Three Little Words”, “The Last Time I Saw Paris”, “Teahouse Of, The August Moon”, and others. 10 “talking” feature-length picture, “The Jazz Singer” with A1 Jolson. Few pro- ducers can point to a record that in- cludes such important pictures as “The House Of Rothschild”, “How Green Was My Valley” (1938 Academy Award winner), “The Grapes Of Wrath”, “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947 Academy Award winner), “Wilson”, “Pinky”, “No Way Out”, “All About Eve” (1951 Academy Award winner), “The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit”, “Jesse James”, “Lloyds Of London”, “In Old Chicago”, “Alexander’s Rag- time Band”, “Island In The Sun” and others too numerous to mention in this limited space. He has completed his first motion picture for 1960 release: “Crack In The Mirror”. MERVYN LEROY, recipient in 1945 of a Special Academy Award for direction of “The House I Live In”, as head of Mervyn LeRoy Productions, Inc., has just completed his first “block- buster” for 1960 release by this com- pany: “Wake Me When It’s Over”. No producer-director active today has turned out as many major box office triumphs as has LeRoy. A i^ative Cali- fornian, he was born in San Francisco in 1900, LeRoy was in vaudeville be- fore entering the motion picture in- dustry as a gag writer. Between 1927 and 1937 he served as director and in the latter year became producer-direc- tor. As a director he turned out such memorable pictures as “I Am A Fugi- tive From A Chain Gang”, “Gold- Diggers Of 1933”, “Five-Star Final”, “Oil For The Lamps Of China”, “Little Caesar”, “Tugboat Annie”, “Anthony Adverse”, “Johnny Eager”, “Random Harvest”, “Madam Curie”, “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”, “Little Women”, “Any Number Can Play”, “Quo Vadis”. “East Side, West Side”, “Rose Marie”, and “Mister Roberts”. He produced and directed “Strange Lady In town”, “Bad Seed”, “Toward The Unknown”, “No Time For Sergeants”, “Home For Dark” and “The FBI Story”. Few film- makers have matched LeRoy’s sheer diversity of material: comedy, musi- cals, melodrama, phychological drama, documentary, adventure, tragedy, spec- tacle, romantic drama, biography, fan- tasy and the drama of social protest. Whatever makes human nature inter- esting and dramatic has been grist for his mill. JERRY WALD, under the banner of Company Of Artists, his independ- ent producing company, is scheduled to deliver at least four major attrac- tions for release by this company in 1960: “The Story On Page One”, “Sons And Lovers”, “Let’s Make Love” and “Return To Peyton Place”. A former newspaper man, he too, launched his career as a screenplaywright. When he entrusted the release of his product to this company, in 1956, he brought with him more than 25 years’ experience in picture-making, with a record of suc- cesses matched by few men. His first production for release by this company WALTER WANGER, President of Walter Wanger Productions, was gen- eral manager of production for Para- mount for 10 years, an executive pro- ducer for MGM, Columbia Vice-Presi- dent and an independent producer since 1945. In addition to “Cleopatra” which he has scheduled for filming early this Spring, Wanger’s 1960-61 at- tractions for release by this company include “Mountolive” and the tenta- tively “Dud Avocado”. Among his more notable film entertainment achieve- ments one most list “Another Language”, “Washington Merry-Go- Round”, “Fugitive”, “Stagecoach”, “Gung Ho”, “Battle Zone”, and last year’s “I Want To Live”. was “An Affair To Remember”, in 1957. Subsequently he delivered such box office triumphs as “Peyton Place”, “Long, Hot Summer”, “Mardi Gras”, “The Sound And The Fury”, “The Best Of Everything” and others. He was awarded the Irving Thalberg Me- morial Trophy for outstanding pro- duction in 1948, the year in which his “Johnny Belinda” won an Academy Award for its star, Jane Wyman. Born in New York, 47 years ago, Wald in the 1930’s wrote screenplays for “They Drive By Night”, “Varsity Show”, “The Roaring Twenties” and “Brother Rat”. As a producer his record includes “Mildred Pierce”, “Humoresque”, “Sadie Thompson”, “Queen Bee”, “The Eddy Duchin Story”, “Clash By Night”, “The Damned Don’t Cry”,“Key Largo” and others. Wald, incidentally, is one of the few producers who continuously gets promotionally behind his pictures. SAMUEL G. ENGEL, under the aegis of Samuel G. Engel Productions, Inc., has two of this company’s most expensive productions scheduled for 1960 filming. The first, “The Story Of Ruth”, has been filmed. His second will be a Todd-AO picturization of Mary Renault’s best-selling novel, “The King Must Die”, which he plans plac- ing before the cameras late this year, for public viewing in 1961. Engel’s en- try into the motion picture industry dates back to 1929, when he became associated with Darryl Zanuck. He has been with this organization since the 20th Century-Fox merger in 1935. Prior to his entrance into the entertainment world, Engel was in the retail drug business. Born in New York in 1904, he started in film production as a writer, his first being “The Big Shake- Down” with Bettfi Davis and Charles Farrell. But, his rise in the creative end of this business zoomed spectacu- larly after his completion of four years’ service in the Navy. Since then he has either supplied the screenplays or pro- duced “Crack-Up”, “Lancer Spy”, “My Darling Clementine”, “Street With No Name”, “Sitting Pretty”, “Come To The Stable”, “Jackpot”, “Rawhide”, “Mr. Belvedere Goes To College”, “Follow The Sun”, “Belles On Their Toes”, “A Man Called Peter”, “Daddy Long Legs”, “Boy On A Dolphin” and others. He wrote and produced the Navy documentary, “December 7”, which won a Special Academy Award in 1942.