The Exhibitor (1951)

10 EXHIBITOR This Was The Week When . . . MGM revealed that Jesse L. Lasky, as¬ sociate producer of “The Great Caruso,” would make a tour of seven cities in advance of the film’s opening, in Pitts¬ burgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, Houston, Tex., and San Francisco. . . . MGM’s “Pete Smith Spe¬ cialty”, “Wrong Way Butch”, was voted the National Committee on Films For Safety Award as the “Best Theatrical Motion Picture Produced For Release Dur¬ ing 1950,” the third time he has won. RKO’s “Danger Sleuths” won honorable mention. . . . Warner Theatres’ zone ad¬ vertising men met in New York for the purpose of setting up a new three-month boxoffice building campaign. . . . RKO’s Canadian districts set aside two weeks, commencing on May 4, during the “Ned Depinet Drive” to honor division chief Charles Boasberg. . . . Adolph Zukor, Para¬ mount Pictures board chairman, was hon¬ ored at the 30th anniversary luncheon of the Tucson, Ariz., Rotary Club as part of the festivities for “The Last Outpost.” . . . U-I announced that winners of the U-I, Modern Screen, and Pepsi-Cola “Bring A Star To Your Home” contest in Denver, Charlotte, Terre Haute, Ind., and Colum¬ bus, O., would be visited this month by Piper Laurie and Tony Curtis, co-stars of “The Prince Who Was A Thief,” and spend a day with the stars. Further negotiations between the Colos¬ seum and distributors were resumed in Minneapolis, the union asking for a 10 per cent plus general pay increase and higher expense allowances. . . . “New Mexico,” UA release, was named “Picture of the Month” by Parents magazine. . . . The world premiere of “Queen For A Day”, UA release, was held in Waycross, Ga., with Edith Meiser and Darren McGavin on hand. . . , The Oscar won by Jose Ferrer was presented to him by Puerto Rican governor Luis Munoz-Marin at ceremonies in San Juan, with appropriate ceremonies, with Ferrer then turning it over to the University of Puerto Rico for its permanent archives. Peter G. Levathes, short subjects di¬ rector for 20th-Fox, revealed that 14 sub¬ jects would be released in the next four months. . . . Castle Films announced that “Survival Under Atomic Attack,” first in a series which it will release under the auspices of the Federal Civil Defense Ad¬ ministration, was available on 16mm. . . . Columbia’s “The Brave Bulls” had its world premiere in El Paso, Tex., with Texas openings following. Monogram set its second regional meet¬ ing for the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colo., on April 27-28. . . . Irving Maas, vice-president and general manager, Motion Picture Export Association, left for another globe-girdling tour of MPEA markets. . . . John C. Flinn, MonogramAA advertising and publicity chief, re¬ vealed that the company would issue streamlined pressbooks. . . . Jerry Pickman, Paramount national director of advertising, publicity, and exploitation, Technicolor Shows Record Growth _ NEW YORK — Technicolor operations in 1950 showed a marked increase in sales, footage, and gross profit over 1949, according to the annual report of Technicolor, Inc., and its subsidiary, Technicolor Motion Picture Corpora¬ tion, covering operations for the year ended on Dec. 31, 1950, and distributed last week. During 1950, 70 feature length films were produced in Color By Techni¬ color, as compared to 45 in 1949. An impressive new record for 35 millimeter positive print output during 1950 was established, with a total of 312.398,508 feet shipped, representing an increase of 45,070,601 feet over the previous year of 1949. Approximately 70 feat¬ ures are now being produced, are in preparation at this time, or are under contract for production in 1951. Technicolor’s net sales in 1950 were 823,454,250.24 as against $20,170,763.13 in 1949. Consolidated net profits before deductions amounted to $5,182,184.44, compared to the previous year’s total of $4,815,274.03. Net profit after all deductions totaled $2,216,173.28. Denis Files Suit New York — Armand Denis, explorerproducer of jungle films, filed action in New York Supreme Court last week against Lewis Cotlow, the R. J. Reynolds Company, and The Daily News seeking $150,000 actual damages for allegedly using for a Camel cigarette ad a picture from his film, “Savage Splendor,” released by RKO in 1949, without giving proper credit. SIMPP Permits Revealed New York — Seven of the 10 additional permits approved for SIMPP for distri¬ bution in Germany were allocated last week. Recipients were Stanley Kramer, two, and Samuel Goldwyn, Walt Disney, Sol Lesser, David O. Selznick, and Edward Small, one each. was in Canada for huddles with leading exhibitors. ... A motion picture trade press committee for the second annual United Cerebral Palsy campaign was announced. B'way Grosses Still Hit Average New York — With the exception of Radio City Music Hall and the Strand, where business was good, the rest of the Broad¬ way first-runs continued at about the average of the past several weeks. Accord¬ ing to usually reliable sources reaching Exhibitor, the breakdown was as follows: “ONLY THE VALIANT” (WB). Strand, with stage show, hit $30,000 for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with the opening week expected to tally $59,000. “THE MATING SEASON” (Para.). Paramount, with stage show, announced the opening week at $57,000. “RAWHIDE” (20th-Fox) . Rivoli claimed $12,000 for the fourth and last week. “I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLE¬ SALE” (20th-Fox) . Roxy, with stage show, took in $55,000 from Wednesday through Sunday, with the second week sure to top $67,000. “FATHER’S LITTLE DIVIDEND” (MGM) . Radio City Music Hall, with stage show, garnered $88,000 from Thursday through Sunday, with the opening week heading toward $138,000. “THE GREAT MISSOURI RAID” (Para.). Globe reported $9,000 for the sec¬ ond week. “THE MAN FROM PLANET X” (UA). Mayfair claimed $13,500 for second week. “BORN YESTERDAY” (Col.). Victoria anticipated the 16th week at $24,000. “FOURTEEN HOURS” (20th-Fox). Astor announced the sixth, and last, week at $9,000. “UP FRONT” (U-I). Loew’s State tal¬ lied $20,000 on the fourth week. “ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN” (U-I). Capitol, with stage show, was heading toward a $40,000 opening week. Smith On National Tour New York — Long range distribution plans for the 20th Century -Fox sales organization are being discussed at a series of round-table conferences nationally by Andy W. Smith, Jr., vice-president and general sales manager, it was revealed this week. Smith left on a swing around the coun¬ try to meet with branch managers of every domestic exchange office on the lineup of product scheduled to be released through the fall. Ben Kalmenson, Warners vice-president, recently presided over a sales meeting of the company's district managers and home office executives at the New York home office, and seen, left to right are, Robert Smeltzer, central; Norman Ayers, eastern; Henry Herbel, west coast; Roy Haines, western; Samuel Schneider, vice-president; Ed Hinchy, head, playdate department; Kalmenson; Mort Blumenstock, vice-president in charge of advertising and publicity; John Kirby, southern; I. F. Dolid; Jules Lapidus, eastern and Canadian; Bernard Goodman, supervisor of exchanges; Haskell Masters, Canada; Robert McGuire, auditor of exchanges, and F. D. "Dinty" Moore, control. Forthcoming WB product as outlined. K«mwL , '(XrtWMKW. April 18, 1951