The Exhibitor (1953)

14 EXHIBITOR This Was The Week When .... C. Bruce Newberry, Republic director of sales, visited western exchanges on his trip to the west coast to confer with President Herbert J. Yates. . . . Atlanta, Detroit, and Montreal retained the lead in the fourth week of the third six-week lap in the UA “Bernie Kranze Drive.” . . . MGM again effected a national promotion tieup with Quality Bakers of America, plugging MGM pictures and players in 96 cities. . . . U-I announced that Jane S. Mcllvaine, author of the book on which “It Happens Every Thursday” is based, would help promote the picture with visits to key cities. . . . Columbia declared a quarterly dividend of $1.061/4 per share on the $4.25 cumulative preferred stock. Allied Theatres of Michigan held its convention in Detroit, with the possibility of a national conference of film buyers due at the conclusion of the sessions. . . . Gary Cooper and UA’s “High Noon” were announced as the winners of the Fourth Annual Reno Silver Spurs in Reno, Nev., for the best western and western player of the year, with the spurs to he presented on May 15. . . . Bell and Howell Company’s income for the first quarter was announced as $315,554, equal to 62 cents a share on the common, com¬ pared with $297,271, or 58 cents per share, in the same 1952 period . . . Exhibitors and Paramount field men gathered at Mutual Broadcasting System stations all over the country to listen to a close circuit broadcast of details of the special tieup of the network's sponsorship of “Western Week”, May 10-16, and of Paramount’s “Pony Express”, with Jerry Pickman, Paramount vice-president, and Sandy McVarish, Mutual promotion executive, addressing the group. ... U-I revealed a promotional tieup with the General Foods Corporation in connection with “It Happens Every Thursday.” . . . The opening of “This Is Cinerama” at the Warner Hollywood, Hollywood, was preceded by a terrific publicity and exploitation campaign. . . . Production was completed by MGM on a Joan Crawford trailer for use by the United Cerebral Palsy campaign, during May, titled “One Woman's Family.” . . . Arlan Pictures acquired distribution of “The Seven Deadly Sins” in this country. RKO’s “Sea Devils” had its world premiere at the Empire, London. . . . RKO announced that the issuance of a special government stamp commemorating the sequicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase would be used to promote “Louisiana Territory”, in 3-D. ... It was announced that “The Greatest Show On Earth" had been selected for the second Annual Film Award of the Daughters of the American Revolution, with Cecil B. DeMille accepting in person in Washington. Mervin Hauser Named RKO Eastern Ad.— Pub. Head HOLLYWOOD — Mervin Houser was last week named eastern director of advertising and publicity for RKO. He also will supervise the company’s eastern sales promotion and foreign publicity departments headed by Leon J. Bamberger and Rutgers Neilson, respectively. Ben Grimm will continue to func¬ tion as advertising manager under Houser. 20th-Fox Proxy Battle Continues New York — Charles Green last week mailed to holders of 20th-Fox’s outstand¬ ing 2,769,486 shares of common a proxy staterhent soliciting votes for an oppo¬ sition slate of five directors and for two resolutions to come before the annual meeting on May 19. He also urged that stockholders vote down a management resolution to end cumulative voting which will be submitted to a special meeting called by the com¬ pany’s board of directors on May 5. Green’s nominees are, in addition to himself, Patrick J. Frawley, Jr., manu¬ facturer, Paper-Mate fountain pens; Harry T. Silverman, secretary -treasurer, Dorset Products, Inc.; Robert Roy Dann, New York attorney, and William B Rothschild, vice-president, M. Rothschild and Com¬ pany, importers and exporters. In his statement Green denied that he seeks control of the company and says he questions allegedly excessive salaries paid to officers and directors, allegedly excessive expense allowances, and certain provisions of the certificate of incorpora¬ tion. He says it is the intention of his group to keep Darryl Zanuck with the company, “but on some revised form of contract.” Other necessary executives would be retained. Green expects to spend $50,000 rounding up proxies. At the May 19 meeting, besides electing directors, stockholders will act on three resolutions, two by Green, and one by Rosalind Mia Copping, recommending that a woman be considered for appointment to the board of directors. This resolution is favored by management. The Green resolutions, both opposed by management, are designed to limit the discretion of the board, and to require that certain types of transactions be sub¬ mitted to stockholders for decision, and would limit the annual payments to an officer to $100,000. One of the resolutions would eliminate from the certificate of incorporation a paragraph permitting the board, with the consent of the stockholders, to authorize contracts between 20th-Fox and indi¬ vidual directors of companies controlled by them, with the directors involved permitted to vote on such contracts. Green claims such a provision invited abuses, but management contends that the auth¬ orization conforms with the corporate law of Delaware. As to the salary limitation, management points out that the production and dis¬ tribution of films is a highly specialized and creative business, with experienced personnel limited, and replacements secured only by meeting the market conditions. In a message to stockholders, President Skouras reviewed the progress of CinemaScope, pointed to the financial progress of the corporation, denied the charges by Green against him and others in the cor¬ poration as categorically untrue, and re¬ viewed the complete picture of how Green finally came to confer with him. He wound up by saying: “On the basis of what I have set forth in this letter, I appeal to you for support of the slate we are offering and the con¬ tinuance of the present management. Many of you already have indicated your con¬ currence in the policies of this manage¬ ment and your desire to avoid the transfer of control to hands alien to the best inter¬ ests of this corporation, the motion picture industry, and the public, so that the ex At a recent press conference in New York City, 2Gth-Fox President Spyros P. Skouras disclosed the slate of business; educational, and military leaders management proposes for the board. pansion for which we have struggled so hard will be richly rewarding to those who have long been shareholders in this cor¬ poration. With your support, we can justify the patience you have shown dur¬ ing the dark periods we have undergone. We have the opportunity because we have acquired scientific improvements, which I believe have put motion picture making and exhibition on a new basis. We have a great store of executive capacity and creative and artistic talent which already has put this company in the forefront of our industry. We are about to grasp the fruits of our struggle and sacrifice, and a new day is dawning for the millions who are devoted to screen entertainment.” Skouras charged Green with “resorting to cold war methods in order to inti¬ midate me.” Skouras told stockholders that Green, at their first meeting, arranged through Harry Brandt, said, “I want to be president of the company,” and added that “he wanted to have his own people, his own directors, his own accountants, and his own attorneys in 20th-Fox.” Skouras warned stockholders that efforts of the Green group to place five nominees on the board of directors at the May 19 meeting posed a danger to the corporation. 3-D At Arkansas Meeting Little Rock, Ark. — Through the efforts of Ed Williamson and Joe Young, War¬ ners, and Jim Carberry and RowleyUnited Theatres, a screening of "House Of Wax” will be a feature of the conven¬ tion of Independent Theatre Owners of Arkansas at the Marion Hotel on May 5-6. The screening will take place at the Center on May 5 at 9.30 a. m. April 29, 1953