Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

•HOSE WHO TRADE BY THE LAWS OF COMPENSATION— that which the market taketh it sooner or iter giveth back — will be pleased to learn that this is no le maxim to do business by. Take the case of movie tares in the amazingly short-term run of two months, inuary and February, 1956. In January, called by some "jaundiced January" in honor those who tasted bile rather than profits, film company tares for their pains sustained a blistering 145/g point loss, ow comes February and the self-same stocks commandeer jolly 15% point rise. Thus the market not only gaveth ick, it threw in a sweet 7/% point bonus to boot, as though • prove it can be highly compensatory when it wants to. All this statistical byplay springs from the chartings of le Film BULLETIN Cinema Aggregate below: Film BULLETIN Cinema Aggregate* FltM COMPANIES THEATRE COMPANIES Composed of carefully selected representative industry issues. One mild note of distress : theatre shares sold off. But on't let this disturb your digestion. Theatre shares traitionally lag behind the price movements of their conjugal larket partner. On the film company side, the entire month of Februry seemed a rising portamento, orchestrated by the voluble horns of Loew's, the occasional percussions of Warers and the subtler, less noticable, strings of 20th-Fox nd Universal. Higher octaves were heard from Columbia nd Paramount as well. Pleasant is the showing from Cojmbia in the face of grey-sky earnings news for the 27 /eek period ended Dec. 31, 1955: $1.43 per share vs. $2.59 Mr the equivalent prior period (26 weeks to be exact). Vith "Picnic" in release and a number of other first water lms toeing the mark, this situation is worthy of investlent study. Warner waxed warm on rumors of a backlog sale at "$25 share" to elements who are reported ready to pass the lventories in turn over to PRM, Inc., an erstwhile auto arts manufacturer with a fat tax carry-over, plus a bundle f liquid assets. Accordingly, Warner spurted close to 4 oints for the month. With 55mm CinemaScope and "Carousel" drawing bouuets from all quarters, 20th-Fox countered its January re FINANCIAL BULLETIN MARCH 5. 1956 By Philip R. Ward lapse with a 3l/2 point February gain. Paramount, hitherto contracted Dricewise below realistic levels in the wake of dividend disappointment, rallied with a 2y& point surge. O . . . BUT FEBRUARY BELONGED TO LOEW'S . . . especially that fateful week ended February 25, a four-day trading week in which some 153,000 Loew's shares changed hands to make the stock second most active in Big Board transactions — and the week of the stockholders' meeting. In retrospect, three main conclusions may now be drawn from the events of that busy term : 1) A good many shares of Loew's were sold. 2) Arthur Loew will do all right as company president. 3) The decision to appoint Mr. Loew to his post was perfectly timed. Almost from the moment a wiry, medium-sized man with pencil-line mustache pounded on a table and announced, "My name is Loew, Arthur Loew" — you had the feeling management would face no Thermopylae that business day. From the moment you heard Lewis Gilbert's smiling, friendly inquiries, you were sure the opposition would be strictly Little League stuff. Arthur Loew had mended his company fences well. The sole remonstration from bi^-time elements fell to the cultivated Brooklynese of Judge Lewis Goldstein: "The roar of Loew's lion has been reduced to a whisper." But even the good, gray judge, trustee for the Lowenstein Foundation, Lester Martin, and others, handed his support to management — for another year at least. Foundations want no part of proxy contests. Since they exist on the income from their investments, they adhere to this Chinese laundry rule of thumb: no dividend, no holdee stock. They simply sell out. Apparently the Judge — and others — see increasing income in sight. Loew handled his big test with quiet confidence. He had good reason. The battle lines had been drawn and demarcated well in advance of the 10:00 AM meeting hour. The support of the major dissident factions had been won — once more, for a year at least. On management's side was this big plus, as expressed to Financial Bulletin by one of the major Wall Street firms directly interested in Loew's affairs: Arthur Loew's new stewardship of company affairs. Fair play, you see, demanded the newcomer be given ample opportunity to set things in order. Any other move would have smacked of injustice. Operating on the theory that a new broom sweeps clean, dissatisfied interests checked their fire-arms at the door and said, OK we'll go along for a spell. Proof that all is well : Loew's stock keeps selling and climbine. Our money says there will be not even a whisper of a proxy fight come February, 1957. Film BULLETIN March 5, 1954 Page 7