Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

^liort Subjects THE NEW RKO Radio advertising publi' city-exploitation department finalizes as follows under chief Richard Condon: Ben Grimm replaces Barret McCormick as advertising manager; Grimm had been assistant tor several years to McCormick who served in his RKO post for 20 years. Leon Brandt, former Eagle-Lion and Lopert ad-publicity director, becomes exploitation manager, succeeding Terry Turner. Kay Norton, who has handled press agentry and special campaigns for several of the film companies, is the new RKO publicity manager. New apDointments in her department include Fred joldberg from Goldwyn, Murray Segal from Paramount and Ruth Cosgrove, formerly with Eagle-Lion. EXHIBITORS' AVOWED desire for more ^ local level handling of their problems with listributors is reflected in Universal's redignment of its sales districts. General ales manager Charles J. Feldman, in disclosing the reallocation, feels that the change 'will enlarge the responsibilities of sales policies in line with the Company's grass roots lolicies" inaugurated two years ago. Former Cleveland branch manager Lester Zucker leads a new district which will include the Cansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Salt Lake City and Denver branches as part of the Western division, now enlarged to three disricts under Foster M. Blake. The other two 're Barney Rose's west coast group of exhange3 and Manie M. Gottlieb's midwest iranches. The Southern division under F. J. \. McCarthy maintains its two districts, and |J. T. Dana's eastern division has three. FINANCIAL : Columbia's net for the year ended June 30, 1952, showed a dip of close io $700,000 from the preceding year. The >rofit after all charges and taxes came to 803,000, compared with $1,498,000 last year, bhe tax bite this year was $760,000, last j ear, $1,170,000. Earnings per share of common stock dropped proportionately more because of the larger number of shares outjtanding last June, 80c per share on 670,669. n June 1951, there were outstanding 634,311 hares, calculated at $1.81 per. I Republic Pictures profit increased for the |9 weeks ended July 26, as the company re\ orted a net after taxes of $807,000, com|ared with $728,000 in the preceding year's |9 weeks. Estimated taxes this year are ;870,000, about $240,000 higher than last ear's period. One of the most precipitous drops in its et was reported by United Paramount Theitres at the three-quarter mark this year. The company slipped to a nine-month net of | >,435,000, after all taxes and including a jipital gains net of $1,465,000. In the previUs year's three-quarter mark, UPT reported >,537,000, including a capital gains net of 1,483,000. The third quarter of '52 netted ,927,000, compared with the '51 quarter of | -.688,000. However, almost $2,000,000 of is drop was the difference in capital gains :t, $300,000 this year, $2,297,000 in the '51 larter. WHICH IS THE GENERAL? 2flth-Fox president Spyros P. Skouras looks capable of stepping into Gen. James A. Van Fleet's (left) shoes in his visit to the second U. S. Division front in Korea. « UATIONAL ALLIED conventioneers will get a special closed-circuit demonstration of RCA large screen theatre television on the second day of the exhibitors' organization conclave in Chicago, Nov. 17-19, at the Morrison Hotel. The demonstration, to be televised into the Terrace Casino of the Morrison, will originate from a local TV studio and will consist of a round-table panel discussion of theatre TV. The stars? Nathan L. Halpern, president of Theatre Television Network, and the Allied TV Committee, Trueman Rembusch, Jack Kirsch, Leon R. Back, Wilbur Snaper, John Wolfberg and Nathan Yamins. 25-YEAR MEN Holding the bowls symbolizing their quarter century service with Columbia are (from left) B. C. Marcus, mid-west division manager: Harry E. Weiner, E. Pa.. S. New Jersey division manager, and Luster ff'urtele, Phila. branch head. By BARN EDITORIAL Plan The Work Work The Plan! With all the valuable advice available to theatremen from COMPO's National Tax Repeal Campaign Committee, headed by Col. H. A. Cole and Pat McGee, it is surprising how often the Committee's carefully worked out procedures are disregarded by exhibitors. The repeal of the Federal admissions tax is undoubtedly one of the most vital tasks facing the industry ;n general and exhibitors in particular. To the latter, it could mean the difference in keeping their theatre open, representing the house's margin of profit. As for the distributors, they can't get film rentals from a shuttered theatre. It must be obvious that a half-hearted campaign to be rid of the discriminatory tax, or individual action by single exhibitors without regard for the COMPO Committee's advice on how best to accomplish this purpose, cannot be effective. More than that, it could even be damaging to the success of the campaign. A case in point was brought up by Robert W. Coyne in a bulletin from the Committee. Citing one of the state reports, he noted that an exhibitor "who thought he was so friendly and so well-acquainted with his Congressman that he could do the job by himself contacted that Congressman in person and received a complete pledge for repeal of the 20 per cent admission tax. "Several weeks passed and then another exhibitor made contact with that same Congressman. He found that the Congressman had changed his mind, saying that it couldn't be very important or he would have heard from other exhibitors ..." Thus, instead of helping the repeal cause, the campaign was hurt because the Congressman received an impression of indifference by exhibitors to this matter. Perhaps the damage was not irreparable. A group meeting is being planned for 20 exhibitors to get the Congressman to go on record in writing, Coyne adds, but the unorganized action was both a waste of valuable time and a potential monkey wrench in the machinery set up by COMPO. As Bob Coyne puts it: "Let's plan our work — and work our plan!" AF MEN AND THINGS: Columbia's big brass turned out en masse to honor three 2i-year men at a luncheon at "21" in New York. Representing three-quarters of a century of service with Columbia, the guests of honor were Harry E. Weiner, E. Pa. and S. New Jersey division manager; B. C. Marcus, mid-western division manager, and Lester Wurtele, Philadelphia branch manager . . . Also at Columbia, Ben Feldscher was upped to branch manager of the Buffalo exchange, moving over from Philadelphia, where he was city salesman . . . James Ricketts, acting branch manager of Paramount's (Continued on Page 23) FILM BULLETIN November 3. 1952 Page 1?