Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

Whai Tkey'te Talking About □ □ □ In the Movie Business □ □ □ Those who watch movie activities on the financial marts are talking about the sudden move in Loew's last week, and are expecting something exciting to break in the news about that company any day. Our sources say that three different offers for a part of the M-G-M film library will be presented to the board of directors when it meets Wednesday (16th). One of the offers is expected to be accepted. The deals have been on the hot fire (not just conversation) for several weeks and Leo's plunge into the TV market might be an actuality by the time you read this. They tell us Loew's could very quickly zoom all the way up to 30 or above. It climbed 2 points last week. Some observers foresee the possibility that the dividend will be upped as a result of the "take" from the sale to TV. 0 Everybody, of course, is talking about the sale by the Warner brothers, and about Si Fabian's future role in the company known as Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. It's a long stretch from International Latex to Warner Brothers, but in Si Fabian's case it was simply a question of doin' what comes naturally. When he was only a schoolboy Mr. Fabian helped in his father's theatres circuit. Today the personal guidebooks call him "circuit executive". This is strictly true, since he heards the Stanley-Warner Corporation, Fabian Enterprises and S-W Cinerama, plus, of course, holding control of the girdle company aforementioned. It is, however, a description which sits ill on him, for Si is truly a showman at heart and, as those who know him well can testify, a boon companion. If he hadn't learned the business from the ground up, and backed his judgment with his money, maybe Cinerama would never have become the huge success that it is; and, if it hadn't, there might never have been the technological upsurge which brought CinemaScope and the wide-screen into being. Another adjective which has been used is "veteran", which raises the question of when does a man become one: at 40, 50, 60, or 70? Some people we know are professional veterans at 25, and others never are. Si Fabian was born 56 years ago, but he is no veteran ; a term, we feel, which implies hardening of the arteries and a palsied palm. Rather we should call him "seasoned" in all facets of the motion picture industry. It is, therefore, a tremendous relief to learn that Simon H. Fabian and the syndicate which backs him have purchased working control (though not full financial ownership) of Warner Brothers. This is no reflection on the brothers Warner, for they have had the good sound sense to pass the destinies of their great corporation into the hands of a man closely identified with the movie industry rather than into those of, for instance, the Toronto industrial group which, according to rumors, was trying to take the company over. The threat of outside control rightly arouses alarm, for in most instances outsiders are guided by financial considerations. They are out for easy pickings, capital gains and a quick spin-off of assets, which are frequently incompatible with industry welfare. There is no such danger in this case. On the contrary — no pun intended — Mr. Fabian's entry into Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. in a key capacity may well give that company more elasticity. 0 Remember how the sponsors of pay-as-you-see-TV, only a few months ago, were trying to impress everybody by trotting out in their propaganda releases enormous figures of boxoffice potential. The idea was to "sell" Hollywood the idea that if the movie exhibitor were to be kicked out, the film companies could clean-up on Toll-TV. Now there's a switch in the publicity angle. In his recent statement before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, James M. Landis, of Skiatron, was at great pains to emphasize that one of the virtues of TollTV is that it doesn't need a mass audience at all, but can flourish on an audience "too small to attract an advertising sponsor." Who's fooling whom? 0 At least 95 pilot films of TV shows, many of them with top stars in the cast, made at a cost of nearly $3,000,000, are being hawked round the television offices and advertising agencies. Sales are few and far between. One reason: most of them are for half-hour shows, whereas the trend in TV today is for the 60 or 90-minute offering. This trend, forebodes even more competition for exhibitors. O If you believe Hedda Hopper has the inside track, the real story about recent rumors that a Canadian syndicate headed by Lou Chesler, of Toronto, was bidding for control of Warner's is this: Jack and Albert Warner were in favor of a sale at the right price (reportedly $66,690,000 for the company's stock) but Harry Warner wouldn't listen. O Albert Sindlinger, the research specialist, thinks that one reason why more men than women are buying movie tickets today is that the women believe films have too much brutality and are too "tough". How come, then, that they spend so much time over TV, which is far more brutal and even tougher? Film BULLETIN May 14, 1956 Page 9