Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1957)

THEY MADE THE NEWS VOGEL JOSEPH R. VOGEL, president Loew's, Inc., and his associates in the company's management, in a move to ward off a proxy fight, last week agreed upon a slate of 13 directors which are reportedly acceptable to the leaders of dissident stockholders. This slate will be submitted for election at the annual stockholders meeting Feb. 28. The upheaval in the Loew's board was made to pacify a group of stockholders headed by Joseph R. Tomlinson, holder of some 180,000 shares, who has charged management with nepotism and favoritism, and had threatened a fight for control. The new board nominated comprise six proposed by company management and seven presumably offered by Tomlinson's group. Lehman Brothers and Lazard Freres, investment bankers, who together own about 350,000 shares, also took part in the selection and approval of candidates. Vogel remains the only member of management in the new slate. Tomlinson said he believed nominating of the new board "is in the best interests of Loew's share owners, employes and the public". Vogel stated that he had "held many meetings with various groups of stockholders who, by now, are surely convinced that we are responsive to their wishes and desirous of placing Loew's again in a position of one of the leading companies in America." He expressed his appreciation "to my associates on the board, starting with Arthur Loew, the retiring chairman, and including Howard Dietz, Charles C. Moskowitz, Benjamin Melniker, Charles M. Reagan, F. Joseph Holleran and G. Rowland Collins, who volunteered not to stand for reelection to the Loew board." Arthur Loew announced that he will devote full time to Loew's International. UNITED ARTISTS made the headlines again with propitious pronouncements about its prospering and expanding operations. In the latest developments, the management group announced: (1) the company grossed $65,300,000 world-wide in 1956 as compared to $55,000,000 the previous year; (2) UA will release approximately 48 features in 1957; (3) top budget productions will be stressed on the theory that there will be a "surfeit" of minor films; (4) UA has held preliminary discussions with a number of exhibitor organizations which have indicated an interest in helping to finance UA product. President Arthur Krim also said the company is giving consideration to public financing through a stock issue. Informed sources believed such a move to be a certainty in the very neir future. On production plans Kiim had this to say: "Over the past few months, United Artists has been making a careful study of exhibitor needs and market conditions to determine our production planning LOEW'S NEW BOARD SLATE JOSEPH R. VOGEL, president, Loew's, Inc.; GEORGE A. BROWNELL, lawyer, partner, Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Sunderland & Kiendl; FRED F. FLORENCE, president, Republic National Bank of Dallas; LOUIS A. JOHNSON, lawyer, partner, Steptoe and Johnson. Former Sec'y of Defense; K. T. KELLER, former chairman of the beard of Chrysler Corp; GEORGE L. KILLION, president, American President Lines, Ltd.; RAY LAWSON, chairman, Lawson & Jones, Ltd. Director, Royal Bank of Canada; STANLEY MEYER, motion picture executive, formerly associated with TV star Jack Webb; WILLIAM A. PARKER, chairman of the board of Incorporated Investors, Inc.; FRANK PACE, JR., executive vice president General Dynamics Corp. Former Sec'y of the Army; OGDEN R. REID, president and editor, New York Herald Tribune; JOHN L. SULLIVAN, lawyer, partner in firm of Sullivan & Wynot. Former Sec'y of the Navy; JOSEPH TOMLINSON, industrialist, Tomlinson Bros. Construction. position ... In recent weeks we have noted announcements by other major companies that they are going into the lower-budget field on an extensive basis. We feel that there will be no shortage in this area and possibly a surfeit. As a result United Artists will cut down on smaller-budget features in 1958 and concentrate on 'A' pictures — picture that can play on their own as top features in any theatre in the world. We believe that this program will insure a more profitable operation for both exhibitors and ourselves." The UA president also reported that the company currently has an investment of approximately $40,000,000 in product about to go into release. Although its 1957 and 1958 production will be 100 per cent financed by itself, new financing possibilities are being explored, according to Krim, because of the desire to bring as many top-calibre projects to the screen as possible and because of the prospect of a tightening of bank credit. Above, from left: v. p. William H. Heineman, board chairman Robert S. Benjamin, Krim, and v. p. Max E. Youngstein. STEVE BROIDY, Allied Artists president, told the trade press in New York that his company will continue it? move into the big-time with a sb.te of 36 to 40 pictures in 1957. Production costs, Broidy declared, could run to $15-20 million. He also revealed that AA expects to gross between $15 and $16 million in 1956, of which $3 million will come from the foreign market, and that the '57 intake should be even higher. Next year's program will include three or four big-budget films, the AA chief stated, at a cost of up to $3 million each. Half of its total output will be independent productions in which AA cooperates in financing to a certain extent. "We are maintaining an open door policy toward independent production," he told the press. Allied Artists has 20 films finished or in production. Below, from left: vice president Edward Morey, sales head Morey R. Goldstein, executive v. p. George Burrows, v. p. Norton V. Ritchey. [More NEWS on Page 18] Film BULLETIN January 21, 1957 Page 17