The Exhibitor (1953)

12 EXHIBITOR New York News Letter By Mel KonecoH THE campaign for Brotherhood reached its climax recently when some 1200 industryites gathered in the Waldorf-Astoria to honor seven leaders of the communi¬ cations field and high¬ light the industry’s participation in “Brotherhood Week”, sponsored by the Na¬ tional Conference of Christians and Jews. Sol A. Schwartz, na¬ tional amusement divi¬ sion chairman, pre¬ sided, and thought that the campaign this year should prove most successful when the final results are in. The honored guests, Walter Fuller, Curtis Publishing Company chairman of the board; producer John Golden; Wil¬ liam Randolph Hearst, Jr.; Jack Howard, pi’esident, Scripps Howard; Danny Kaye, representing the acting profession; David Sarnoff, RCA chairman of the board, and Spyros Skouras, president, 20th CenturyFox, received gold medals from the NCCJ. Golden, who was ill, had J. Robert Rubin accept his award while the Kaye medal was accepted by Schwartz as Kaye was performing at the Palace. The dinner was marked by an extremely effective dramatic presentation, “The ABC’s of Brotherhood,” by Mort Sun¬ shine, which featured Quentin Reynolds, John Cameron Swayze, Ben Grauer, Kaye, Mel Allen, Bob Considine, and Conrad Nagel. Musical entertainment was pro¬ vided by Margaret Phelan, Jack Russell, Bill Hayes, and the Billy Williams Quartet. Principal speaker was former VicePresident Alben W. Barkley. A PRODUCER MEDITATES: Veteran producer Cecil B. DeMille was in briefly last week, and announced that his plans for filming the most costly film of his lengthy career, “The Ten Commandments”, have been delayed to await the outcome of the battle of third -dimensional films as against wide screen presentations, and to see which has the greater public and exhibitor acceptance. He expects the film to go into production in about a year, and it will be filmed in Egypt and in Holly¬ wood. The producer reported that Hollywood was in an excited state, what with the various systems and methods being tested and tried, but he refused to make a pre¬ diction or even express a preference for any of the systems. He reported that his batting average as a prophet was low, once having said that there would never be a horseless carriage, and he refuses to get out on a limb once again. The tried and proven method will become the Konecoff Redbook magazine's 1952 Movie Award winners were recently announced on the west coast by editor Wade H. Nichols, second from left, on the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis radio show. With the accent on youth in the 14th annual presentation, Redbook hailed Martin and Lewis, extreme right and left, as "best young comed¬ ians"; Leslie Caron, center, "best young foreign actress", and Marilyn Monroe, star of 20th-Fox's "Niagara," as "best young boxoffice personality." DeMille system of future production. He is studying the various systems un¬ der discussion, and reported the Cinema Scope process as very good and quite interesting, but this still does not mean it has his approval. His decision to await developments also stems from the fact that he made a feature, “The Godless Girl” as sound came in, and the picture did very little business in the wake of the new industry arrival, and he determined not to be caught again with his film down. He thought that Hollywood would sur¬ vive all shapes, forms, and colors of fea¬ tures as long as the subject matter was good, and in that case there would always be public demand. He did express a little apprehension as to whether wide screen showings could encompass filmed scenes demanding dramatic intimacy, and whether two figures might not be lost in the overall. Also, regardless of film develop¬ ments, he thought that the studios would be in good shape as long as they had good dramatists, producers, directors, etc. People will come in to see good films. PRODUCTION NOTE; The third-dimen¬ sional bug has also bitten the Italian industry, and producer Dino De Laurentis announced recently that he has entered the 3-D race with the first film to be made in Italy to be “The Odessey Of Ulysses”, and to star Silvana Mangano and Kirk Douglas. It will go before the cameras in April, after Ben Hecht and Hugh Gray prepare the screen play, with G. W. Pabst to direct in Eastman Color. Karl Struss will direct the photography, and William Schorr will serve as asso¬ ciate producer. Cameras are being built by the Richardson Camera Company in Hollywood. The film will be made in both regular dimension as well as 3-D, and De Laur¬ entis isn’t sure whether an English lan¬ guage version would be filmed simul¬ taneously. De Laurentis announced that his deal with Paramount called for 10 films annu¬ ally to be distributed by Paramount in Italy and elsewhere, depending on the character of each film and its suitability. The contract runs for two years or 20 films, and De Laurentis stated that Cin Trade Pays Respects To Adolph Zukor New York — Key entertainment feature of the Adolph Zukor Golden Jubilee din¬ ner tonight (March 4) will be the first public showing of “The Adolph Zukor Story”, film11 featurette presenting his “success story.” Announcement of the screening of “The Adolph Zukor Story” as a highlight of the evening’s entertainment program was made by Harry Brandt, chairman, dinner committee, and Robert J. O’Don¬ nell, international chairman, Variety Clubs International year-long series of nationwide tributes commemorating the 50th anniversary of the opening of Zukor’s first penny arcade on Union Square. “The Adolph Zukor Story” was pro¬ duced by A. J. Richard, editor, Paramount News, and the staff of Paramount News, with the assistance of Russell Holman, eastern production head. Paramount Pictures. Rep. Eng. Shorts Also For TV London — Herbert J. Yates, Republic president, announced last week that his company would produce 12 half-hour films in Britain this year, and intimated that it was not coincidental that the films will be of convenient length for TV, adding, “We will make telepix in Hollywood, Brit¬ ain, and other countries. The subjects will start shooting with R. G. Springsteen directing the first three. emaScope will be investigated. De Laurentis also announced early pro¬ duction plans for three other major films in color. De Laurentis has opened nego¬ tiations for top Hollywood actors. AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM: A comparative infant in the business and an independent as well, Picture Films, releasing the art circuit success, “Leonardo Da Vinci,” did something down-to-earth recently that is constructive and effective and helpful. The outfit headed by Herman Star, who also co-produced the film, had the film booked into a number of houses locally, and it decided that it would be a pretty sensible idea to sit down with representatives of the circuits and the house managers across the breakfast table to discuss ideas, exchange thoughts, go over the campaign, etc. The result was a beneficial outcome that included a cooperative advertising plan, cooperative student tickets good at all houses, exhibitions, contests, and tieups all coordinated to get the maximum out of the dates. Sandy Weiner and Ed Finklestein, handling the actual distribu¬ tion, and Starr are to be commended, and the majors may well take notice. P.S. Breakfast was good, too. Circuits represented included Skouras, Century, Rugoff and Becker, Cinema, Springer, Brandt, B. S. Moss, and TransLux. Individuals present included Jerry Sager, Thana Skouras Sweeney, Tom Rodgers, Dave Sadoff, Lucille Tannenbaum, Conrad Fontaine, Fred Wilks, Jack Cohen, Ed Rosenfeld, George Fayles, Cy Newman, Lillian McVeigh, Bill Rosenfeld. Bert Eckstein, etc. March 4, 1953