The Exhibitor (1953)

EXHIBITOR 15 WarnerScope Joins Wide-Screen List As WB Announces Future Product Pool Manning, EXHIBITOR STUDIO SURVEY edi¬ tor, is seen with Sir Michael Balcon, vice-presi¬ dent, J. Arthur Rank Organization, at a recent dinner in Los Angeles with Robert Hadow. South Carolina Exhib Sues New York — The Carver, Rock Hill, S. C., last fortnight filed a $2,225,000 anti-trust action in federal court against Paramount, Loew’s, 20th-Fox, United Art¬ ists, Warners, Columbia, U-I, Republic, and Monogram, charging that the defend¬ ants and the operators of the other four theatres in Rock Hill, the Stewart-Everett Circuit, Stevenson Circuit, and Robert Bryant, conspired to impose unreasonable and unjustified clearances on the licensing and exhibition of pictures of the defend¬ ant companies. Carver Theatre, Inc., operator of the Carver, states it was forced to show pic¬ tures a year or more after the other houses, none of which caters exclusively to Negroes. The plaintiff alleges that it was forced by the defendants’ action to rent the Carver from 1948 to 1951. Brien Heads AMPA New York — Lige Brien was elected president of the Associated Motion Pic¬ ture Advertisers last week, succeeding Harry K. McWilliams. Other officers are Albert Floersheimer, Jr., vice-president; Edgar Goth, secretary, and William Boley, treasurer. Members of the board are Gordon White, Blanche Livingston, Maur¬ ice A. Bergman, Miriam F. Brandon, and McWilliams. Vivien Moses was elected a member of the board of trustees. The membership appointed Burt Rob¬ bins to report on a location where the group can hold weekly informal luncheon session, in addition to regular monthly luncheons. It was also recommended that the AMPA School of Showmanship be continued this fall. Coast Theatremen Settles Hollywood — Southside Theatre Corpor¬ ation last week settled its anti-trust suit against several companies for a reported $75,000. Defendants included Loew’s, Inc.; Paramount Pictures, Inc.; Paramount Pic¬ tures Corporation; Paramount Film Dis¬ tributing Corporation; Griffith-Coleman, Inc., and West Theatres, Inc. Rogers Handling Rank Reissues New York — Budd Rogers last week an¬ nounced acquisition of 20 J. Arthur Rank features for reissue. Distribution will be through Rogers and Unger Associates, which will shortly announce national dis¬ tribution arrangements with territorial distributors. Hollywood — Warners last week joined the wide-screen parade with the an¬ nouncement of its WarnerScope process, at the same time revealing its product'on plans for the future. It was indicated that the studio will use 3-D, 2-D, WarnerPhonic sound, WarnerColor, and Techni¬ color “wherever they are logical and appropriate.” Forty-four pictures for the period be¬ tween now and September, 1954, include the following: “The Desert Song”, starring Kathryn Grayson and Gordon MacRae, directed by Bruce Humberstone, and produced by Rudi Fehr; “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms”, produced by Hal Chester and Jack Dietz, and directed by Eugene Lourie; “Dial ‘M’ For Murder”, to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock; “East Of Eden”, from John Steinbeck’s novel, to be directed by Elia Kazan; “South Sea Woman”, starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo, directed by Arthur Lubin, and produced by Sam Bischoff; “Mister Roberts”, from the Josh Logan-Leland Hayward stage hit; “Mississippi Woman”, by Tennessee Williams, to be directed by Elia Kazan; “The High And The Mighty”, by Ernest Gann, to be produced by WayneFellows Productions, William Wellman directing; Also, “The Charge At Feather River”, starring Guy Madison and Frank Lovejoy, directed by Gordon Douglas, and produced by David Weisbart; “Diamond Queen”, starring Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, and Gilbert Roland, produced by Frank Melford, with John Brahm direct¬ ing; “So This Is Love”, starring Kathryn Grayson, produced by Henry Blanke, and directed by Gordon Douglas; “Island In The Sky”, starring John Wayne, in a Wayne -Fellows Production, directed by William Wellman; “Thunder Over The Plains”, starring Randolph Scott, Lex Barker, and Phyllis Kirk, directed by Andre de Toth, and produced by David Weisbart; “Blowing Wild”, filmed by United States Pictures, and starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Ruth Roman, and Anthony Quinn, produced by Milton Sperling, and directed by Hugh Fregonese; “The City Is Dark”, starring Sterling Hay¬ den, Gene Nelson, and Phyllis Kirk, pro¬ duced by Bryan Foy, and directed by Andre de Toth; “The Moonlighter”, star¬ ring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stan¬ wyck, produced by Joseph Bernhard, and directed by Roy Rowland; And “A Lion Is In The Streets”, a William Cagney production starring James Cagney, and directed by Raoul Walsh; “Beggar’s Opera”, produced by Alexander Korda and Herbert Wilcox, with Laurence Olivier starring; “The Eddie Cantor Story”, with Keefe Brasselle and Marilyn Erskine, produced by Sidney Skolsky, and directed by Alfred Green; “Hondo”, a WayneFellows production, to star John Wayne; Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Master Of Ballantrae”, starring Errol Flynn, and di¬ rected by William Keighley; “Plunder Of The Sun”, Wayne-Fellows production, and starring Glenn Ford, Diana Lynn, and Patricia Medina, produced by Robert Fel¬ lows, and directed by John Farrow; Edna Ferber’s “So Big”, starring Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, and Nancy Olsen, with Henry Blanke producing, and directed by Robert Wise; Also, “Calamity Jane”, starring Doris Day and Howard Keel, William Jacobs producing, and David Butler directing; MPAA Board Acts On Technical Problems NEW YORK— MPAA at the annual meeting of the membership and the board last fortnight expanded its spe¬ cial committee surveying the 3-D and wide-screen situation, headed by Abe Schneider, to include a representa¬ tive of each company. The committee now includes Schneider, Paul Raibourn, Joseph R. Vogel, Wolfe Cohen, A1 Lichtman, Edward Morey, Edward L. Walton, Theodore R. Black, J. J. O’Connor, and Herman Robbins. The committee has already made consid¬ erable progress in alleviating the shortage of polaroid viewers, and is expected to tackle next the screen standardization problem, with a view to come up with a recommendation for a screen suitable to all wide-screen processes except Cinerama, 2-D, and 3-D. Conferences will be arranged with the SMPTE and the Research Council. The board authorized MPAA to work out arrangements with ABC for an industry television show, and also extended the Canadian Cooperation Project for another year. All present directors were elected. These now in¬ clude James R. Grainger, RKO presi¬ dent, and Milton R. Rackmil, U-I president. Officers reelected were headed by Eric A. Johnston, president. “The Phantom Ape”, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s story; “His Majesty O’Keefe”, starring Burt Lancaster and Joan Rice, produced by Harold Hecht, and directed by Byron Haskin; “The Boy From Oklahome”, with Will Rogers, Jr., Nancy Olson, produced by David Weisbart, and directed by Michael Curtiz; “Three Sailors And A Girl”, starring Jane Powell, Gordon Mac¬ Rae, Gene Nelson, Sam Levine, Jack E. Leonard, and George Givot, directed by Roy Del Ruth, and produced by Sammy Cahn; “Riding Shotgun”, starring Ran¬ dolph Scott, and Joan Weldon, directed by Andre de Toth, and produced by David Weisbart; “Lucky Me”, starring Doris Day, to be directed by Jack Donahue; “Them”, produced by Ted Sherdeman. Also, “A Star Is Born”, starring Judy Garland, with Sid Luft producing; “Madamoiselle Modiste”, from Victor Herbert’s operetta, to star Kathryn Grayson; “Rear Guard”, by J. Warner Bellah; “Man O’ War”, to be produced by Sid Luft; “Gown Of Glory”, which Henry Blanke will pro¬ duce, from the story by Agnes Sligh Turnbull; “Helen Of Troy”; “Black Ivory”, “Quietly My Captain Waits”, “Last Train West”, to star Alan Ladd; “Snow Covered Wagon”; “Bluebeard And His Seven Wives”; “Under The Big Top”, and “The Knights Of The Crusades.” THEATRE MANAGERS Experienced. New England Area in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Write J. TOTMAN STANLEY WARNER MANAGEMENT CORP. 70 College Street, New Haven, Conn. May 13, 1953