The Exhibitor (1952)

14 EXHIBITOR New York — Leon Brandt, director of advertising, publicity, and exploitation, Lopert, will assume the additional duties of producer’s advertising-publicity-ex¬ ploitation representative on the three Lopert films acquired for general release by United Artists, it was announced last week by Max E. Youngstein, vice-presi¬ dent, United Artists, and I. E. Lopert, president, Lopert. New York — Saul Malisow was last week promoted to 20th Century-Fox branch manager in Minneapolis, succeed¬ ing Ralph Pielow, who resigned. Formerly assistant to mid-west division manager, Moe Levy, Malisow has already assumed his new duties. Hollywood — Resignation of Lester W. Roth as a vice-president of Columbia was announced last week. He will continue until July 1 on a part-time basis. Washington — George Templeton was last week announced as the chief of the motion picture program in the office of the U. S. High Commissioner in Germany. Trade's Education Aid Lauded New York — Eric A. Johnston, president, Motion Picture Association of America, and the heads of eight film companies re¬ ceived scrolls honoring the industry as a teaching aid in the nation’s classrooms last fortnight at a dinner commemorating the 15th anniversary of Teaching Film Custodians. The awards were made at the Biltmore Hotel by Dr. Mark A. May, Yale University, chairman of the non-profit affiliate of the association, through which the eight film companies have provided grade schools, high schools, and colleges with more than 600 selected short sub¬ jects and excerpted features. The film company recipients were Bar¬ ney Balaban, Paramount; Nate J. Blumberg, U-I; Harry Cohn, Columbia; Ned E. Depinet, RKO; Earle W. Hammons, Edu¬ cational; Nicholas M. Schenck, Loew’s; Spyros P. Skouras, 20th-Fox, and Harry M. Warner, Warners. The scrolls expressed appreciation to Johnston and to each of the companies for “making its pictures freely available for the enrichment of education of Ameri¬ can youth.” Rodgers Speaks To Film Board New York — Guest speaker at the meet¬ ing of the New York Film Board of Trade last week was William Rodgers, vice-president, Metro, who spoke on the efforts being made to organize arbitration machinery and conciliation machinery in the industry. Henry Randel, president, New York Film Board of Trade, presided, and Louis Nizer, executive secretary and counsel, introduced Rodgers. Skiatron Seeking Film Washington — Skiatron representatives were reported conferring with Department of Justice attorneys last week on the reluctance of the majority of film com¬ panies to supply product for the projected Skiatron subscription television test in New York. Seen at the recent Warner regional sales meeting in Pittsburgh were: R. A. McGuire, Larry Golob, Norman H. Moray, Jules Lapidus, I. F. Dolid, Mort Blumenstock, and Roy Haines, all enthused. U-I Sales Drive Ends New York — The 18-weeks U-I world¬ wide “Nate Blumberg 40th Anniversary Sales Drive” concluded last week with winners of the $35,000 in domestic prizes to be announced in a few weeks. Nineteen of the company’s 31 domestic branches were over quota as the 17th week standings were formulated. Two divisions out of three and four districts out of six were also over quota. The leading branch office in the 17th week standings was the Portland branch, headed by Arthur Greenfield, with a 10 percent¬ age point margin over Seattle, headed by Donald Gillin, second. New Orleans, headed by C. R. Ost, was third; Kansas City headed by Jack Langan, fourth, and Washington, headed by Joseph Gins, fifth. The southern division, headed by F. J. A. McCarthy, was the leading division, and the district headed by Henry H. Martin and comprising the Dallas, Kansas City, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and St. Louis exchanges, was the leading district. Oregon Tax Voided Portland, Ore. — The Oregon Supreme Court last fortnight ruled void the three per cent admissions tax imposed in Eugene, Ore. A suit was brought by Eugene Theatre Company and Western Amusement Company against the city. Mayer Urges Temporary Three-Man COMPO Rule _ NEW YORK — Appointment of a three-man committee to serve as COMPO’s executive until a president can be chosen at the next meeting of the agency’s executive committee was urged in a telegram sent over the weekend by Arthur L. Mayer, retir¬ ing COMPO executive vice-president, to representatives on the executive committee of the agency’s 10 charter members. The committee suggested by Mayer would consist of representatives from Allied, TOA, and MPAA, the three national organizations on the COMPO executive committee. Mayer urged that these representatives be drafted if necessary. Later, it was announced that most executive committee members had approved the plan to have a trio serve on an interim basis pending the selection of a new president. " Pattern Set For Era" , Warner Chicago— The pattern for a prosperous new era in motion picture production and exhibition has been set during the past year, and it will be strengthened and de¬ veloped to a new peak of endeavor in the coming months at Warners, it was an¬ nounced by Jack L. Warner, executive producer, last week to the company’s western division sales force meeting. Warner gave a prospectus of the studio’s production plans for the remaining threequarters of 1952. He said: “We have learned that noth¬ ing can be so fatal as sitting and waiting for the future. We have learned not to go on the defensive, but rather we have stretched forward to meet the future with dynamic new production efforts and aggressive new showmanship energy.” Pictures to be produced during the re¬ maining months of 1952 will be selected from a group of foundation properties already in various stages of planning and preparation, Warner announced. In addi¬ tion to the films currently shooting on the stages, the studio has a group of 47 other properties from which the 1952 program will be completed. A flexible pool of production possibili¬ ties has always been a studio policy, War¬ ner added, on the theory that it is the duty of the modern picture-maker to keep careful guard not only on the literary market but also on the changing tastes of the public “to whose pleasure and desires our business is dedicated.” Warner invited attention to the fact that the studio schedule of forthcoming pro¬ duction spans a variety of entertainment from musical comedy to adventure drama, and that a considerable portion of the product will be filmed either in the new WarnerColor or in Technicolor. He said: “The current competitive conditions under which we are working render it more than ever necessary that we do not depend on good product alone to do the job for us. Even the finest motion pictures require the enterprising and imaginative impulse of showmanship to back them up. And we are calling on the energetic cooperation of the exhibitor to continue selling the product to his patrons with the kind of enthusiasm that has characterized the marketing of recent hits. “Only in this way, and with courageous production efforts from our end, can we expect to maintain the excellent pace that we have set for ourselves.” Ben Kalmenson, Warners’ vice-presi¬ dent in charge of distribution, wound up the series of three regional sales confer¬ ences with the two-day meeting of western division sales personnel. Pathe Industries Changes Name Cleveland — At a stockholders’ meeting of Pathe Industries here last week, it was voted to change the name of the com¬ pany to Chesapeake Industries, Inc., and to issue an additional 1,000,000 shares of common stock. Reelected were the fol¬ lowing directors: Donald Carter, Edwin Cox, Kenneth M. Young, William C. MacM llan, Jr., Robert W. Purcell, and Charles Shipman. May 7, 1952