Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1947)

.1. .1 t iicrr. I A Kt'iicriil niiU's miiiiiiK'''-, coiilactiiiK (iriKlwell Nears. vii'C-pri'sidi-iil , in l.oiidoii. wlierf Scarx prepares tii address llie eonipaiiy's rjK'eiit siileM eoiifereiK'e in New York b.v transAtlantie leleplioile liook-np. .Milton Knsell was ele<>teil \ ii e-president in charge' <if d<>niesti<' ssiles of tlie SKO <M-K:aiii/.atioii. Mono^'rain pri-\.v Steve Broidy (seated) arranged tiiiai plans for the worhl premiere of '-Lonisiana" in Shreveport nevt fall, with Ralph Leaderbraiid. head of I-a. Jr. Chambers of (onimetce, produ<-er I>ind<-ley Parsons, and Albert ■i. >lie'», pnblie relatiinis director of the La. ( . of C. Harry ISerinaii (sealed), was named Pliila. branch manager for I'lU , and St.iiiley Ki>sitsky (left), sales manacer. Oflerini; Congrats are I'red Kolirs, I'KC disl. niBr. ; .lite .Minsky, K-I„ dit.t. sales super, and Wilson Turner, salCNman. OtUIS DIfifSI (Cor.Unued from Page ~) UA SALE OFF, PRESIDENCY VAGUE After almost intermediate negotiations and rumors hiid United Artists sold countless times, the final decisions as announced by Mary Pickford, who shares the stock ^vith Charles Chaplin, leaves the corporation intact. Miss Pickford's statement, which revealed that all negotiations concerned only her interest in UA, came after Chaplin issued a statement that he had not received any offer for his interest in UA, that he does not intend to part with his half interest and that he had had no meetings with Miss Pickford relative to sale of the corporation. George Bagnall was mentioned as successor to Edward C. Raftery as president of the company ,and Arthur W. Kelly v.'as suggested as vice-president, according to reports in some of the trade papers, but Miss Pickford called the reports "premature" and that no decision would be forthcoming on UA's presidency until after "I have an opportunity of discussing the matter with Charles Chaplin." Miss Pickford left New York by plane for Hollywood July 10. • • • ATA MPTOA APART ON INTERVENTION The talks late last week between MPTOA and ATA executives on the proposed merger of the two organizations reportedly hit their first snag as ATA's stand on intervention in the industry anti-trust suit remained at odds with MPTOA's policy of handsoff. ATA execs Ted R. Gamble and Robert W. Coyne declared that the affiliation would not be consummated if MPTOA refused to go along with the former's intervention plans. The ATA statement was made on the eve of the proposed merger discussions with MPTOA prexy Fred Wehrenberg, who was en route to New York from St. Louis. The meeting was scheduled to open at the Hotel Astor on Friday, July 18. The MPTOA stand, as formulated by a poll of its directors, resolved itself in'o an umiciis curia action which leaves the organization in an observer's status as "friend of the court," while ATA's action makes the intervenor a party to the suit. UA SETS 13 IN SIX MONTHS United Artists will release 13 features, plus one special, during the next six months, it was announced by J. J. Unger, general sales manager, at the closing session of the company's annual sales conference in New York, July 10-12. The special is "Arch of TriUiTiph," Enterprise production slated for an October roadshow release. The list also includes "The Other Love" in July, three in August; three in September; two in October, two in November and tv>'o in December. In opening the convention, Unger predicted that the present business recession "will begin to diminish in August and conditions for all of us will improve thereafter." He noted that despite the recession, today's boxoffice is doing a volume of business more than 50 per cent of the gross realized in the early 1940's. Gradwell L. Sears, vice-president in charge of distribution, spoke to the assembled district managers and heme office executives from London over a trans-Atlantic telephone hookup. In addition to Unger and Sears, speakers included Edward M. Schnitzer, eastern and Canadian sales manager, and Maury Orr, western sales manager. • • • MONO B'S TO RESUME SOON Continued production of Monogram's "B" product secrns assured as the result of a series of conferences held v.'ith leading labor representatives in Hollywood, Steve Broidy, president, told the delegates at the annual convention of Monogram and Allied Artists in Oklahoma City, last week. Lauding the sincere cooperation of the labor representatives, Broidy said that "the new order" would make it possible for smaller producing units in the industry to be able to schedule efficiently a year's product in advance, with the full knowledge that their budgets would not be affected by unpredictable labor increases, thus assuring those pictures to exhibitors "at a fair rental and on a production basis which would eliminate the necessity of making them at a loss.'' He added that Monogram will be able to resume production shortly. Broidy also revealed that after three months of negotiations, Allied Artists has obtained the screen rights for 5150,000 to the career of Babe Ruth and that producerdirector Roy Del Ruth would handle the production. The deal also gives Ruth a percentage of the profits from the film, which the AA prexy estimated at an additional 5250,000. On the eve of the confab, concurrently with the world premiere of Allied Artists "Black Gold" in Oklahoma City, Broidy revealed that the sales quota for Allied Artists and Monogram has been set at $25,000,000. « « * COWDIN ASKS LOWER PROD DIST COSTS Both production and distribution costs are too high and will have to be lov.-ered, if the industry is to maintain its security, J. Cheever Cowdin, Universal board chairman, said last week in a report to stockholders and employees. "It is up to the management to eliminate any wasteful or extravagant practices and up to the workers to do their part by making the most productive use of their equipment and time," Cowdin declared. He reported that the concentration of Universal-International on "A" product, because of the trend by the public to support better pictures, has necessitated the use of Universal's cash reserves and the borrowing of $11,000,000 from banks. He said that the new decree selling method has delayed the distribution of some U-I pictures and resulted in a substantial increase in the cost of distribution. However, in the long run, Covv'din said, the new method v/ill be favorable to the company. Averring that the J. Arthur Rank pictures bein? distributed by U-I can be ex (Continued on Page 26) 10 FILM BULLETIN