Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

What They'te hiking About □ □ □ In the Movie Business □ □ □ They're talking about HAPPIER DAYS AHEAD. Symptoms are bursting out all over . . . Unspectacular but steady increments in first run grosses generally . . . Spectacular grosses for such new celluloid candidates as "Carousel", "Picnic", "The Conqueror" and "The Benny Goodman Story", specifically . . . Most choice first-run houses are booked to the hilt two, three and four months ahead — unDrecedented practice . . . This is the prelude to the introduction of Hollywood's much heralded big guns for this sprin? and summer. With the grandest quantity-quality product pool in some years timed to enter general release as TV closes shop for the sunny season, all conditions point to a revival of that old-time boxoffice rhythm. 0 Reliable west coast sources are saying the "OSCAR" NOMINATIONS SHOW may have seen its last TV camera. The studios, say they, have had enough. Bungled in both format and performance, the show simply hasn't come off — in fact, end result actually works to aggravate industry public relations by dissipating popular notions of glamour and substituting awkward stammering in its stead. Besides, insiders fear, show takes edge off the romance of the "Oscar" finals. 0 What's this about an AMALGAMATION OF FOUR TOP DIRECTORIAL NAMES— names of the first water — for the purpose of "untrammeled and unfettered" inde production? 0 THERE'LL BE NO STOCK-SPLIT or recapitalization of Allied Artists common stock, recently rumored. As put by AA treasurer George Burrows to Film BULLETIN'S financial man: "Who ever heard of splitting a $5 stock?" Burrows admitted, however, that a plan to bring fresh capital into the company is underfoot and has been accorded a friendly listening by AA's New York bankers. Infusion of new dollars would, if anything, take the shape of long-term debentures or a senior preferred flotation. Need for cash, said Burrows, is tied to company's impending metamorphosis into big-time operations. 0 In the backwash of the WARNER FILM LIBRARY DEAL comes this footnote with a David Harum flavor. Having but one library to sell, Warner's took up negotiations with two separate buyers simultaneously. While Kalmenson was hammering out the deal with the buyers in New York, we hear the freres Warner were quietly dickering with another interested party on the west coast. O No surprise to industry knowledgeables is news of DAVID O. SELZNICK'S LEAVETAKING OF RKO. Intimates will tell you D. O. S. is too handsomely heeled, too intellectually stubborn, to exert himself at the biddings of others. He just won't be bothered making more than an occasional film at his own sweet time. 0 LOOK FOR THE ADVERTISING HEAD of a major film distributor to step into a more vital role of influence in the affairs of his company very shortly. 0 There is talk about a boo-boo by Arnold Bernhard's highly regarded Value Line in its most recent ANALYSIS OF COLUMBIA PICTURES (Film BULLETIN, Feb. 20). VL erroneously listed holdings of the Cohn family at "about 175,000" shares. Actual holdings amount to about 300,000 shares. Significance of slip-up: underestimates of holdings by ruling interests sometimes offer temptation to ambitious outlander groups. VL, which has for seme time pegged Columbia as "Fully Priced," may have suffered another oversight in failing to consider vast grossing potential of "Picnic" in assessing company prospects. Columbia vice president Paul N. Lazarus, Jr. expects this show to rank with all-time Columbia grossers. O ERIC JOHNSTON'S DOWN-BEAT CANDOR, subject of much recent controversy, is supported by MPAA officials, who maintain truth is vital to aid the fight on remaining admissions tax. This — despite absolute thumbs down on tax cuts this year by Treasury Secretary Humphrey. Many industryites would prefer a more buoyant demeanor in public, reserve candor for the confines of congressional hearing rooms. 0 Despite brave new talk about CHANGES IN THE PRODUCTION CODE, prevalent opinion now says it will take no less than geophysical cataclysm or a visitation from outer space to budge the document's language. 0 OSCAR NOMINATION OF THE LATE JAMES DEAN is posing a profound ethical problem which many elements hoDe will not rear its head again. This opinion contends sentimentality — a natural off-shoot of the Dean case — may influence Academy Award voting and thereby obscure the legitimate artistry of the deceased. Whether Dean's performance rates the Oscar, and many say it does, a precedent should be established for comparable future circumstances. This would assure fairness both to the departed as weil as living nominees. Perhaps a special award is the answer. Film BULLETIN March 5, 1954 Page ?