20th Century-Fox Dynamo (February 1960)

MOIICEI IT TWO EXHIBITOR-HEADED COMPANIES SHOWMANSHIP ATTRACTIONS That 20th Century-Fox, with a former national circuit op- erator as its President and an ex-independent exhibitor as head of its studio, should have three leading members of the exhibi- tion fraternity producing showmanship attractions, in Cinema- Scope, for its release is not surprising. API, which this year will make 12 showmanship specials is headed by Robert Lippert, veteran operator of a West Coast circuit. The newly formed Shergari Corporation, which will produce “The Golden Touch”, is headed by Frank H. (Rick) Ricketson of Denver, formerly Vice-President and General Manager in charge of theatre operations of National Theatres, Inc.; Ted R. Gamble, well-known northwestern circuit operator, and veteran director George Sherman. API has completed its first five mass-appeal action, mystery and outdoor dramas. They are “Young Jesse James”, “13 Fighting Men”, “Desire In The Dust”, “Valley Of The Redwoods”, and the star-packed “Double Indemnity” mystery type melodrama, “The Third Voice”, on which a full report appears on an- other page in this edition. ROBERT LIPPERT 44 ^ ‘Young Jesse James”, also fully reported in this edition, is an ideal showmanship package, full of action as it dramatizes the true story of that outlaw’s youth. Involved in that attraction are most of the notorious outlaws who terrorized a growing West, including the Cole boys, Belle Starr and others. 441 T3 Fighting Men” is an- other original drama, with an element of surprise, based on a group of Confederate sol- diers and their commander who refused to honor Gen. Lee’s surrender to Gen. Grant . . . and went on to create havoc for both North and South. “Valley Of The Red- woods” is a beautiful, roman- tic adventure of fearless men and brave, self-sacrificing women who endure hard- ships to help carve out a peaceful existence in an area that resists intrusion from outsiders. “Desire In The Dust” is the drama of an impover- ished group, a story that Lip- pert describes as “a cross be- tween ‘Tobacco Road’ and ‘Long, Hot Summer’ ”, API also has in prepara- tion for domestic release dur- ing 1960 such major screen- plays, in De Luxe Color, as “Secret Of The Purple Wreath”, based on a Saturday Evening Post story; a ro- mantic, wild animal-jungle drama, full of action, human interest and suspense, and “The Big Show”, a spectacu- lar circus drama to be filmed in Copenhagen’s colorful and famed Tivoli Gardens. Additionally API is pre- paring a showmanship “horror” combination com- prising “I Am Legend”, based on a story by R. Matheson who wrote “The Invisible, Shrinking Man”, and the ten- tatively titled “Freak Maker 46 • y : .. &£ BARBARA EDEN New Producer NICO MINARDOS Two New Stars Debut In "12 Hours To Kill” With his tentatively titled “12 Hours To Kill”, John Healy makes his debut as a feature producer for this company. However, for two others in this API CinemaScope melodrama it is a first-time appearance as stars. The new, young stars are Nico Minardos and Barbara Eden. Minardos plays a European engineer, who, on arriving in the United States, becomes the sole eye-witness to a murder. The killing had been ordered by underworld chieftains who demand an unrelenting search by their mur- derous hirelings to find the witness and put him out of the way before he can tell his story to a crusading district attorney. Edward Cahn, who is also the director, collaborated with Jerry Sohl, in writing the screenplay. Minardos and Miss Eden head a cast that includes Grant Richards, Gavin MacLeod, Richard Reeves, Russ Conway, Art Baker and CeCe Whitney. Neither Miss Eden (no relation to Elana Eden who plays the title role in “The Story Of Ruth”) nor Minardos is a stranger to viewers of this company’s vehicles. Miss Eden was featured as Gary Crosby’s sweetheart in “A Private’s Affair”, while Minardos was the bombastic, young Brazilian who violently courted Clifton Webb’s older daughter in “Holiday For Lovers”. A one-time Greek guerrilla hero in his country’s successful defense against an attempt by Communists to control Greece, Minardos has starred in numer- ous television shows, including “Adventure In Paradise”, “Five Fingers”, “Sugarfoot”, “General Electric Theatre”, “77 Sunset Strip” and others. Miss Eden, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin and pioneers of the West, was born in Tucson, Ariz. She was educated and brought up in San Francisco. After a stint with the USO and some Little Theatre acting, she was screen- tested by several major studios, but nothing came of it. However, she did obtain an agent, Louis Shurr, who succeeded in getting her a screentest at the 20th Century-Fox studios for the role in “Peyton Place” that was eventu- ally assigned to Terry Moore. On the recommendation of drama coach Helena Sorrell, in August 1957, she was signed by Buddy Adler who changed her name from Barbara Huffman to Barbara Eden. "Golden Touch” First From Two Famed Showmen! Shegari Corporation, headed by exhibition leaders, Frank H. (Rick) Ricketson and Ted R. Gamble, and director George Sherman, has selected “The Golden Touch” as its first CinemaScope pro- duction in color for release by this company. Filmed in Mexico City, “The Golden Touch” is based on an original screenplay by Daniel D. Beauchamp. It will star Richard Basehart and feature Stu Erwin, Arthur Shield and Rex Allen. Basehart was for several years under contract to this country. In recent years, however, he has appeared mostly in screenplays produced abroad. However, Basehart is rated one of the finest dramatic actors in motion pictures. Before making his film debut in 1945 in “Cry Wolf”, Basehart had earned a distinguished Broad- way stage career. He starred in “House On Tele- graph Hill”, “Fourteen Hours”, “Decision Before Dawn”, “Fixed Bayonets”, and “Titantic” for this company. He also headlined with distinction in “Moby Dick”, “La Strada”, “Reign Of Terror”, ^Tension”, “Stranger’s Hand” and “Repeat Perform- ance”. Basehart is currently co-starring with Lana Turner “Portrait In Black”. Arthur Shields is one of the outstanding char- acter actor of screen and stage. For this company he co-starred in “Drums Along The Mohawk”, and “The Keys To The Kingdom”. He has also head- lined in MGM productions. “Rick” Ricketson, holding several master de- grees from the University of Kentucky and Univer- sity of Denver, was a reporter for the Kansas City Star and Denver Post before associating himself with this industry. His first post was as exploitation representative for Paramount in the Denver terri- tory. He launched his meteoric theatre operating career, in 1924, as President of Consolidated Theatres and successively served as President of Fox Inter-Mountain Theatres and Vice-President and general manager in charge of theatre operations for National Theatres, Inc. Ted Gamble, with degrees from the University of Washington and University of Oregon, started in the entertainment field as assistant manager at the Pantages theatre in Seattle. Subsequently, he held executive posts with the Orpheum vaudeville circuit and other theatre operations. In 1940 he formed the Gamble Theatres in Seattle, resigned in 1942 to become national director of the War Finance Division of the United States Treasury Department, but returned at the conclusion of World War II. He is also head of the Northwest Television And Broadcasting Corporation. George Sherman, who is the producer-director of “The Golden Touch”, started in the creative end of the industry in 1932 as assistant to Mack Sennett and become a full-fledged director six years^ later. Among his better known attractions are “The Bandit Of Sherwood Forest”, “Sword In The Desert”, “Comanche Territory”, “Spy Hunt”, “Tar- get Unknown”, “Steel Town”, “Raging Tide”, Border River”, “Johnny Dark”, “Treasure Of Pancho Villa” and “Reprisal”.