Harrison's Reports (1959)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1321, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 187S. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: 1270 SIXTH AVENUE Published Weekly by TT . e<.„t„ «ir;nn Harrison's Reports, Inc., United States $15.00 New York 20, N. Y. Publisher U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 fUDiisner ^ot,o/lQ 1RI-n . ,_ „ . „ „ . P. S. HARRISON, Editor Canada 16.50 a Motion Picture Reviewing Service . pICOULT Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Manaeine Editor Great Britain 17.50 Australia, New Zealand. Established July 1, 1919 India, Europe, Asia 17.50 its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Circle 7-4622 A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XLI SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1959 No. 2 VOGEL PROVES HIS WORTH Sure to be hailed by the industry in general is the announcement this week by Joseph R. Vogel, president of Loew's, Incorporated, that his company has achieved a "clear-cut turnabout" in that every branch of its operations throughout the world is profitable. For the fiscal year that ended on August 31, 1958, Vogel announced that the company earned a net profit of $774,000 after taxes, as compared with the $445,000 net loss after taxes experienced in fiscal 1957. Even more encouraging is his disclosure that the company earned a net profit of $2,625,000 after taxes for the new fiscal year's first 12-week period, which ended November 20, 1958, as compared with the net loss after taxes of $1,291,000 in the similar 12-week period of the past fiscal year. Vogel pinpointed motion picture production and distribution as the phase of the company's operations that had responded most dramatically to reconstruc tion and rehabilitation efforts, which provided the ground work for the strong showing in the opening quarter of the new fiscal year. The extent of this improvement is illuminated best, said Vogel, in the company's earnings break' down, which shows that film production and distribution achieved, by itself, a pre-tax profit of $2,187,000 during the 1*2 weeks ended November 20, 1958, as compared to a pre-tax loss of $4,378,000 on this operation in the same period of the previous year. This reversal, declared Vogel, is "the most significant factor" in the turn-about. It was due "principally to the greater box-office appeal of our more recent productions coupled with a sounder cost structure which has been established in all phases of the picture making and selling process." As to the company's motion picture production outlook, a special brochure accompanying the an' nual report describes 41 forthcoming MGM re' leases, headed by "Ben Hur," the super-multi-million dollar production, filming on which was completed in Italy this week after seven months of camera work and three years of active preparation. It is one of the most costly pictures ever produced, and its anticipated running time is three and one-half hours. This program of pictures, developed under the supervision of Sol C. Siegel, the new vice-president in charge of production, with Ben Thau, studio administrator, includes a preponderance of Broadway plays and best-selling novels, and is described by Vogel as the strongest line-up of MGM attractions in years. Fourteen of the productions listed in the brochure are either completed or in the final editing stages, while two are currently in production. The company has scheduled starting dates of 22 other productions by mid-summer. The restoration of Loew's to a profitable basis and to its rightful position as a leading producing and distributing company is indeed gratifying and it certainly stands as a tribute to Vogel's fortitude and courage against great pressures. At the time Vogel assumed the presidency of the company in October, 1956, it had slipped considerably from its former position as the top company in the business because its internal affairs were in a constant state of turmoil due to the activities of dissident stockholder groups that sought either to institute changes in company policies or to unseat the management and gain control, their suspected purpose being to make a quick profit through liquidation of the company's assets. Vogel immediately launched a house-cleaning program aimed at effecting badly needed economies, revitalising operations and restoring the company to its former eminence in the industry. He took bold action on many matters, but his constructive efforts were constantly hindered by the campaigns of obstruction and harrassment carried on by the dissident stockholder groups. He tried to appease them in order to keep the company's internal quarrels from being exposed to public gaze, but when they mistook his forbearance for weakness and heightened their attacks, he courageously decided to seek a showdown by submitting the facts to the company's stockholders at a special meeting that was held in October, 1957. This resulted in a victory for Vogel in that the shareholders voted overwhelmingly to enlarge the board of directors from 13 to 19 members, thus giving him an effective working majority that enabled him to carry out policies and programs that heretofore had been obstructed by the dissident factions. These dissident board members did not stop their obstructionist tactics, but their opposition had been rendered ineffectual and, as the record shows, Vogel proved his worth by guiding the company back to its once proud and profitable position. A most heartening development in the internal at fairs of the company took place last week when a group headed by Nathan Cummings, a prominent industralist, purchased the substantial stock owned by the dissident element on the Loew's board. In announcing the acquisition, Cummings, who has become a board member in place of Joseph A. Tomlinson, stated that his group is joining Loew's "as a (Continued on bac\ page)