The Exhibitor (1950)

EXHIBITOR 11 RKO Reveals 28 Future Releases New York — Twenty-eight major film attractions with top-flight stars, completed or in production, will be released by RKO in the last half of this year and the early part of 1951 in a program instituted by Howard Hughes, managing director, pro¬ duction, it was announced by Ned E. Depinet, president, last week. Robert Mochrie, vice-president in charge of sales, announced that eight films from the group would be released during June, July, and early August. These include two Technicolor productions, “The White Tower” and Walt Disney’s “Treasure Island”; two Samuel Goldwyn pictures, “Our Very Own” and “The Edge Of Doom”; “Where Danger Lives,” “The Wo¬ man On Pier 13,” “The Secret Fury,” and “Born To Be Bad.” Currently in release are “The Capture” and “Wagonmaster.” “Jet Pilot,” now being filmed in Tech¬ nicolor under the personal supervision of Hughes, co-stars John Wayne and Janet Leigh. Other Technicolor productions in¬ clude “Two Tickets To Broadway” and “Sons Of The Musketeers,” starring Cor¬ nel Wilde and Maureen O’Hara. This fall will also bring the general release of “Joan Of Arc.” Three Skirball-Manning productions are in the RKO line-up, Claudette Colbert in “The Secret Fury,” now current; “The Story Of A Divorce,” starring Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan, and “Appointment In Samarra,” based upon the John O’Hara best seller, starring Gregory Peck. Two Howard Hughes productions, “Ven¬ detta” and “Mad Wednesday,” will be in the early fall schedule. “Vendetta” stars Faith Domergue, Hughes’ new screen dis¬ covery, being introduced in “Where Danger Lives,” with Robert Mitchum. “Mad Wednesday,” directed by Preston Sturges, stars Harold Lloyd. “Alias Mike Fury,” mystery drama, has Victor Mature, William Bendix, and Terry Moore as stars. “Come Share My Love” is headlined by Irene Dunne and Fred MacMurray. “Walk Softly, Stranger” brings Joseph Cotten and Valli. Cary Grant will be seen in the LuntFontanne stage hit, “O Mistress Mine.” “It’s Only Money” stars Frank Sinatra, Jane Russell, and Groucho Marx. Miss Russell will also be seen in two other features, “Montana Belle,” in Trucolor, and with Robert Mitchum, Vincent Price, and Tim Holt in “His Kind Of Woman.” “Carriage Entrance” stars Robert Mitchum, Ava Gardner, and Melvyn Douglas. “The Gaunt Woman” will have Dana Andrews as the hero of Edmund Gilligan’s adventure. “Mad With Much Heart” stars Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, and Ward Bond. Color Tele. Proceedings Open Washington — The Federal Communica¬ tions Commission intimated last week that the records in the recently concluded color television proceedings would be kept open to give Paramount Television Productions, Inc., and Chromatic Television Labora¬ tories, Inc., time to submit testimony and proposed findings on their new color tele¬ vision tube. Supreme Court Refuses Review; WB, Loew's, 20th-Fox Lose Fight WASHINGTON— The U. S. Supreme Court last week affirmed the judg¬ ment of the New York Statutory Court last week affirmed the judgargument in the case, which means that Warners, 20th -Fox, and Loew’s must file with the New York court a plan for divorcement within six months, with divestiture due at the end of three years. Para. Profit Steady Balaban Declares New York — Barney Balaban, president, Paramount Pictures Corporation, told the stockholders of the company at the first annual meeting last week that estimated earnings for April and May are main¬ taining close to the average for the firstquarter when $1,441,000, after provisions for income taxes, were earned. He pointed to the action the day before of the U. S. Supreme Court in uphold¬ ing the decree as regards divorcement and divestiture for Loew’s, Warners, and 20thFox, and said that it indicated the recom¬ mendation of the Paramount management concerning the reorganization of the old company. He stated that revenues were down to the more stable revenues of 1941 and 1942, and that every effort would be made to bring down the studio overhead. Balaban said that the company could no longer depend on a steady flow of dollars from the foreign business, that the earn¬ ings of Famous Players Canadian Corpor¬ ation, Limited, were holding up well, that analysis had failed to show any direct relationship between the rise of television and the decline in grosses, that the com¬ pany has high hopes for using television as a medium for advertising motion pic¬ tures, and that only by reducing the num¬ ber of shares of stock outstanding to a level consistent with present earnings and the outlook for future earnings could the new Pictures Company hope to continue a reasonable dividend policy. Paramount in 1949 received about $8,000,000 less in dollars from foreign oper¬ ations than in 1946. Balaban told the stockholders that if circumstances should make it advisable to liquidate its Allen B. DuMont Lab¬ oratories holdings, valued at $15,000,000, stockholders will be probably offered the opportunity of exchanging Paramount shares on some basis bearing a relation¬ ship to the respective market value of the stocks. Two resolutions sponsored by stock¬ holders James Fuller were defeated. Ful¬ ler, however, had plenty of comment to make. Asked from the floor if Paramount would sell rights to its films for TV show¬ ing, Balaban said that sales from TV rights now could contribute but a negligible part of film costs. The stockholders approved manage¬ ment’s proposal to retire 614,794 shares of stock purchased by the company since Jan. 1. Balaban said he sought a reduc¬ tion of a third or more of the shares out¬ standing. Para. Men Meet In Los Angeles Hollywood — Some 250 members of Para¬ mount’s selling forces from 32 branches, home office, and studio, gathered this week in the Ambassador Hotel for the company’s first national sales convention since 1940. The convention is being attended by home office and studio executives, division man¬ agers, division assistants, branch man¬ agers, sales managers, salesmen, booking managers, office managers, and field exploiteers. Geared to the theme of “Paramount’s Blueprint for the Future,” the convention is covering the integration of distribution and studio activities, selling plans for forthcoming product, and plans for the company’s annual sales drive, which opens on Sept. 3, and runs through Dec. 2. A. W. Schwalberg, president, Paramount Film Distributing Corporation, heads the meetings. The men also heard Barney Balaban, president, Paramount Pictures Corpora¬ tion, and other company executives. In addition to Balaban and Schwalberg, the home office delegation includes: Adolph Zukor, chairman of the board; Paul A. Raibourn, vice-president in charge of budget and planning; E. K. “Ted” O’Shea, vice-president, distributing cor¬ poration; Russell Holman, eastern produc¬ tion manager; George Weltner, president, Paramount International Films, Inc.; Oscar A. Morgan, general sales manager for short subjects and Paramount News; Monroe Goodman, executive secretary to Schwalberg; Hugh Owen, eastern-south¬ ern division manager; A. M. Kane, assist¬ ant eastern-southern division manager; Phil Isaacs, Owen’s assistant; Fred Leroy, head, statistical department; Joseph A. Walsh, head, branch operations; Arthur Dunne, head, contract department; Mar¬ tin Friedman, head, playdate department; Louis Phillips, assistant general counsel, and Lawrence Flynn, head, traffic depart¬ ment. The national advertising, publicity, and exploitation department is represented by its director, Max E. Youngstein; Jerry Pickman, assistant director; Sid Blumenstock, advertising manager; Mort Nathanson, publicity manager; Sid Mesibov, ex¬ ploitation manager; Robert Montgomery, Carl Clausen, department controller, and John Tassos, field exploiteer. J. G. Wilson Mourned Philadelphia — J. G. Wilson, executive vice-president, Radio Corporation of America in charge of the RCA Victor Division, died last fortnight at his home in Wynnewood, Pa. He was 50 years old. Born in Alma, Ill., he rose to the posi¬ tion of executive head of the RCA Victor Division after 30 years of succesful expe¬ rience in the fields of finance and merchan¬ dising. He joined the Radio Corporation of America in June, 1944, as admin¬ istrator of accounts and finance for the RCA Victor Division. One year later, he was named operating vice-president, and, in 1947, was elected vice-president and general manager. He advanced to the posi¬ tion of executive vice-president in Jan¬ uary, 1949. June 14, 1950