The Exhibitor (1949)

22 New York — Upon his return from the Chicago convention of radio broadcasters, J. R. Poppele, president, Television Broad¬ casters Association, declared last week he found a lack of uniformity in equipment for television broadcasting shown by man¬ ufacturers there. This lack of uniformity deprives broadcasters of interchanging units purchased from two or more of the manufacturers. “I expect to bring this to the attention of the Engineering Committee of TBA so that steps can be taken to stand¬ ardize the equipment, and thereby make interchangeability of manufacturers prod¬ ucts possible,” Poppele said. T. C. Streibert, president. Station WORTV, last week announced the purchase of the entire square block bounded by 67th and 68th Streets, Broadway and Columbus Avenue, as a site for the future construc¬ tion of buildings and offices and studios to be used by the TV station. The station is currently constructing two large television studios at 7 West 66th Street. The television box score as of April 21 showed 61 stations operating, 58 CP’s granted, and 319 applications pending. The seventh of a series of television technical training courses will be con¬ ducted for station engineers by RCA in Camden, N. J., beginning on May 9. According to figures released recently by Wayne Coy, FCC, the 50 television stations operating in 1948 chalked up revenues totaling 8.7 millions, expenses were 23.6 THE EXHIBITOR E. M. Loew Reported In Deal For Me.-N. H. _ BOSTON — Reports were current last weekend that a deal was about to be closed whereby E. M. Loew would purchase Maine and New Hampshire Corporation, Paramount subsidiary. Paramount and John Ford each have 50 per cent in the operation. Under the reported deal, Loew and Ford would split the houses. More Trade Films Set Hollywood — Five short subjects which will complete the first series of the indus¬ try’s “The Movies And You” films have been assigned to studios for production. Grant Leenhouts, coordinator-producer of the series, announced last week. The as¬ signments are: “History Brought To Life,” to be made at Paramount; “Moments In Music,” Metro; “The Costume Designer,” RKO; “Screen Directors,” Warners, and “Screen Writers,” 20th Century-Fox. Scripts on all five subjects have been approved by the industry committee in charge, of which Y. Frank Freeman is chairman. The Service Kit Is the Season’s Hit. millions, and they lost 15 millions. In evaluating the above, it was explained that no network was in commercial operation during tl^e entire year, and only 17 oper¬ ated during the entire year. The aggregate operating costs of 14 stations was esti¬ mated at $7,532,000. PRODUCTION Hollywood — “Skyliner,” the Lippert pro¬ duction, starring Richard Travis, Pamela Blake, and Rochelle Hudson, goes before the cameras for Screen Guild release. . . . Marjorie Rambeau has been signed for a top feature role in U-I’s “Abandoned.” . . . “Jackpot Jitters” is the new title for Monogram’s next in the “Maggie And Jiggs” series. . . . Mario Vitale, a 21-yearold Italian fisherman without previous acting experience, will be Ingrid Berg¬ man’s leading man in RKO’s “After The Storm,” being made in Italy. 20th-Fox borrowed Jean Wallace from RKO for the feminine lead with George Raft and Pat O’Brien in “The Bail Bond Story”. . . . Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza, co-stars in the soon-to-be-released MGM production, “That Midnight Kiss,” will be teamed in “Kiss Of Fire,” Joe Pasternak producing. . . . Gordon MacRae and Doris Day have been signed for the singing leads in Warner’s “When Old New York Was Young.” . . . Robert Young and Barbara Hale will co-star in “Baby Is Here,” next Santana production for Co¬ lumbia release. . . . Phil Harris, band¬ leader and radio star, goes into the cast of 20th-Fox’s “Wabash Avenue.” “West Of Eldorado” has been set as the release title of Monogram’s western formerly known as “The Kid Comes West.” Evelyn Keyes has been signed on a loanout from Columbia, for the feminine lead opposite Dick Powell in “Mrs. Mike,” Bischoff-Gross production for UA release. TELEVISION An Equity PictU/P Based on Fred Harman s famous McNaught Syndi¬ cate Comic, "Red Ryder" by special arrangement with Stephen Slesinger. Pre*sold by the biggest promotion campaign ever to back a Western Series . . . with famous newspaper syndicated comic strip ... radio network programs ... and coopercrtive merchandise tieups reaching millions! NOW AVAILABLE .T^^Ride, Ryder, Ride!”, “Roll Thunder Roll!", others in production