The Exhibitor (1953)

EXHIBITOR 17 Paramount 3-D ers Now Available In 2-D This Was The Week When . . . . The studios of the J. Arthur Rank Organization were revealed as having 16 films in production in England, with 10 in Technicolor. . . . The world premiere of UA’s “Donovan’s Brain” was held in San Diego, Cal., in three theatres. . . . The annual general meeting of all Shea Circuit managers was scheduled for Pittsburgh on Oct. 27 and 28, according to Gerald Shea, president. . . . Hallmark Productions, Inc., stopped all future plans for roadshow motion picture productions, but will continue to distribute four films it is now handling. . . . “Annapurna,” which will have its American premiere at the Trans-Lux 52nd Street, New York City, had its first public showing in this country at the Keene Valley High School, Keene Valley, N. Y., as a benefit. . . . U-I revealed that “Walking My Baby Back Home” will be given a comprehensive pre-selling campaign. Columbia's board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.061/4 per share on the $4.25 cumulative preferred stock. . . . RKO set the world bows of its “Appointment In Honduras” for the Missouri, Kansas City, and Palace, Cleveland, for Nov. 4 and 5, respectively. . . . Paramount held the world premiere of “Botany Bay” at the Fox, San Diego, Cal. . . . Imperial Film Distributors announced the acquisition of “Climbing Mount Everest” for this country. . . . 20th-Fox set the world bow of “How To Marry A Millionaire,” in Technicolor and CinemaScope, for the Rivoli and Globe, New York City, on Oct. 29. . . . UA scheduled a starting budget of $500,000 for advertising, publicity, and exploitation of “Act Of Love.” . . . Fine Arts revealed that it would distribute three features from London Films in this country, “Twice Upon A Time,” “Folly To Be Wise,” and “The Passionate Sentry ” Kalmenson Announces WB Program With Emphasis On Story Values Chicago — Ben Kalmenson, Warners’ vicepresident in charge of distribution, pre¬ sided over a two-day sales meeting of district managers last week. Product for release during the next four months high¬ lighted the conferences. Production discussed included “So Big,” “Calamity Jane,” “Hondo,” “The Beggar’s Opera,” “Thunder Over The Plains,” “The Eddie Cantor Story,” “The Phantom Ape,” “The Diamond Queen,” “The Boy From Oklahoma,” “Three Sailors And A Girl,” and “His Majesty O’Keefe.” Emphasis on top story properties is the keynote of the Warner Brothers’ program, Kalmenson said at the meeting. He declared: “Each picture will be available in the forms which give it maximum box office returns. We are selling motion pictures — stories, multi-million dollar production values — not aspect ratios and dimensions. The most important dimension of every picture is how deep it hits the public. A variety of product for every kind of theatre situation will be produced for distribution by Warners in a manner designed to make the best possible use of the individual story’s possibilities, whether in wide-screen WarnerScope, 3-D, 2-D, or anything else. “Warner Brothers intends to continue and to expand the policy of top stories indicated by some of the recent Warner deals for current best-sellers like the Book-of-the-Month club selection, ‘The High And The Mighty,’ starring John Wayne with Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Lionel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, Jan Sterling, and Robert Newton, directed by William A. Wellman; ‘Battle Cry,’ Leon Uris’ best-selling novel; George Stevens’ production of Edna Ferber’s ‘Giant,’ to be directed and produced by George Stevens in association with Henry Ginsberg; ‘So Big,’ Edna Ferber’s Pulitzer prize story; ‘Mr. Roberts,’ a Joshua Logan-Leland Hayward production, based on the play by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan; and Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Dial M For Murder’ in WarnerColor, starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.” Among the first pictures for distribu¬ tion in the new WarnerScope process will be “Helen Of Troy,” set for immediate production in Rome. A recently acquired story property is “Anastasia,” an exciting romantic drama by Marcella Maurett. Among the other important properties which Kalmenson mentioned as forth¬ coming productions of the Burbank studio were: The life story of General George S. Patton; “East Of Eden,” based on John Steinbeck’s story, to be directed and pro¬ duced by Elia Kazan; “The Talisman,” by Sir Walter Scott, including filming in wide-screen WarnerScope and WarnerColor, David Butler directing; “Triple Jet Ace,” from the Korean war exploits of hero Captain Joseph McConnell; “A Star Is Born,” starring Judy Garland and James Mason, with Charles Bickford and Jack Carson prominently featured, Sid Luft producing in Technicolor from a script by Moss Hart, and George Cukor directing; “The Eddie Cantor Story,” in Technicolor, starring Keefe Brasselle and Marilyn Erskine, produced by Sidney Skolsky, and directed by Alfred E. Green; “Calamity Jane,” starring Doris Day and Howard Keel in a Technicolor musical, produced by William Jacobs, and directed by David Butler; “Crown Of Glory,” by Agnes Slight Turnbull, to be produced by Henry Blanke; “Black Ivory,” from the Polan Banks novel; “Land Of The Pharaohs,” to be produced and directed by Howard Hawks, developed as a novel by Nobel prize winner William Faulkner, also writing the screen play; “Hondo,” in 3-D WarnerColor, starring John Wayne in a Wayne -Fellows production, and intro¬ ducing Geraldine Page; “Daniel And The Woman Of Babylon”; “Rear Guard,” J. Warner Bellah’s story, starring Guy Madi New York — A. W. Schwalberg, presi¬ dent, Paramount Film Distributing Cor¬ poration, announced last week, at the meeting of division managers that Para¬ mount is making available immediately prints on “Sangaree,” “Those Redheads From Seattle,” and “Flight To Tangier” for both 2-D and 3-D exhibition. Barney Balaban, president, Paramount Pictures, addressed the opening session of the scheduled week-long meeting of division managers and home office execu¬ tives. Approximately 24 executives, in¬ cluding assistant division managers and heads of various home office departments, attended. Schwalberg and E. K. O’Shea, vicepresident, Paramount Film Distributing Corporation, shared in keynoting the meeting. Other speakers included Jerry Pickman, vice-president in charge of advertising, publicity, and exploitation, who will con¬ duct special sessions on promotion. Pictures on which the meeting is con¬ centrating include.-' “Roman Holiday,” “The Caddy,” “The War Of The Worlds,” “Little Boy Lost,” “Those Redheads From Seat¬ tle,” “Flight To Tangier,” “Cease Fire,” “Here Come The Girls,” “Forever Fe¬ male,” and “Money From Home.” Meanwhile Adolph Zukor, board chair¬ man, Paramount Pictures, and George Weltner, president, Paramount Interna¬ tional Films, Inc., left by plane for Paris, the first of five European capitals they are scheduled to visit during October and November in conjunction with the world¬ wide motion picture industry celebration of Zukor’s 50 years in the film business. Russell Holman, Paramount Pictures production executive, left for Rome to join Zukor and Weltner. son, in WarnerColor, David Butler direct¬ ing, and David Weisbart producing; “Them!,” a science-fiction thriller, star¬ ring Edmund Gwenn, James Whitmore, James Arness, and Joan Weldon, Gordon Douglas directing with David Weisbart producing; “His Majesty O’Keefe,” in Technicolor, starring Burt Lancaster with Joan Rice, produced by Harold Hecht, and directed by Byron Haskin from the story by Lawrence Klingman and Gerald Green; “Lucky Me,” starring Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers, Eddie Foy, Jr., and Nancy Walker, directed by Jack Don¬ ohue, and produced by Henry Blanke; “The Boy From Oklahoma,” in Warner¬ Color starring Will Rogers, Jr., and Nancy Olson, directed by Michael Curtiz, and produced by David Weisbart; “The Bounty Hunter,” in 3-D WarnerColor, starring Randolph Scott, with Dolores Dorn and Marie Windsor, directed by Andre de Toth, and produced by Sam Bischoff; “Three Sailors And A Girl,” in Techni¬ color, starring Jane Powell and Gordon MacRae, with Gene Nelson, directed by Roy Del Ruth, and produced by Sammy Cahn; “The Phantom Ape,” in 3-D War¬ nerColor, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's “The Murders In The Rue Morgue,” starring Karl Malden, Claude Dauphin, Patricia Medina, and Steve Forrest, pro¬ duced by Henry Blanke, and directed by Roy Del Ruth; and “Thunder Over The Plains,” starring Randolph Scott, with Lex Barker and Phyllis Kirk, produced in WarnerColor by David Weisbart, and directed by Andre de Toth. October 21, 1953