The Independent Film Journal (1954)

Financial Notes RKO Theatres Up Consolidated net income of RKO Theatres Corp. and subsidiary companies for the sec¬ ond quarter of 1954 rose to $418,666.37, after taxes, which compares with the $92,240.54 re¬ ported for the second quarter of 1953. Cur¬ rent quarter includes profit of $12,267.05 on sale of capital assets, before taxes, while the 1953 quarter includes a profit of $5,569.59 from this source. Net income before deductions for the first six months of the year was reported as $955,117.79, which shows an increase from the $366,553.32 of the first half of last year. The net after deductions was $904,024.80 for the 1954 period as compared with $417,602.32 in 1953. Technicolor Volume Up The consolidated net profit after taxes on income of Technicolor, Inc. for the six months ended June 30, 1954, is estimated to be $622,784 by the company, and is equi¬ valent to 32 cents a share on new stock out¬ standing:, which shows a decline from the 84 cents a share of the first half of 1953. The company adds that volume operations for July are “substantially in excess” of the volume of any coresponding: second quarter. G PE Net Rises General Precision Equipment Corp. re¬ ports consolidated net profit for the six months ended June 30 as $2,541,652, which shows a rise from the $1,469,066 of the first half of 1953. Net for the second quarter of 1954 was $1,485,993, showing an increase from $804,156 of the comparable 1953 quar¬ ter. Quarterly profits equalled $1.86 per com¬ mon share, against $1.21 of last year. Prof¬ its for the half were $3.37 against $2.22. Republic Increase Republic Pictures Corp. and its subsidi¬ aries have reported for the 26 weeks ended May 1, 1954, a net profit of $1,045,393 be¬ fore taxes and $480,393 after taxes, which shows a slight increase from the $1,019,150 and $473,150 reported for the same period of the preceding year. RCA Sets Record Earnings of the Radio Corporation of America, before taxes, for the first six months of 1954, amounted to $39,603,000, setting an all-time record for the companv, according to Gen. David Sarnoff, board chair¬ man. Net after taxes reached $19,268,000, which showed a six percent increase over the 1953 period. Sales were up eight percent. Earnings equalled $1.26 per share, compared with $1.18 per share of the first half of 1953. Universal Refinances Milton R. Rackmil, president of Universal Pictures Co., Inc., announced this week that arrangements had been completed with The First National Bank of Boston for the re¬ financing of its debentures. Accordingly, the company has elected to redeem on Sept. 1, 1954, its outstanding 3% percent Sinking Fund Debentures, due March 1, 1959. There are presently outstanding $2,393,000 of said debentures in the hands of the public, he disclosed. COMPO Ads Please Majority Of Editors Only one of 31 editors and publishers who have so far replied to a COMPO question¬ naire have expressed disapproval of the series of advertisements the group has been inserting in “Editor and Publisher,” accord¬ ing to the latest report. Meanwhile, the two latest ads in the series quote favorable re¬ views of current films and show that movies are an all-year business. COMPO received 21 favorable replies to their survey questions. Seven replied that they have not read the ads, while another was non-committal. The lone objector stated that the ads were too long and that the idustry’s appeal should have been made to the public through newspaper advertise¬ ments. The 22nd ad in the series was headed “Adjectives, sure, but this time they’re not ours.” The ad quoted Otis Guernsey, Jr., movie critic of the New York “Herald Tribune,” who, when selecting the 10 best films of the year, noted “there’s enough to justify a list of 20 or 30.” Others cited were AP writers Wayne Oliver and Bob Thomas and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The 23rd in the series stresses the change in show business tradition which has made the movies an all year round business. The ad points out that some of the best films are released in the summer. It quotes the Bureau of Advertising that “you can find 94 percent of the people at home any time during June, July and August.” Bi-Oral Sound To Debut With Release Of “Hansel” Hollywood. — Bi-Oral Sound, a new form of motion picture sound recording and re¬ production has been developed by Michael Myerberg of New York and will be used for the first time this fall -with the release of his new feature film, “Hansel and Gretel.” Bi-Oral was demonstrated last week at the Warner Brothers Huntington Park The¬ atre before a group of Hollywood sound experts. Available for standard or any other type of film, Bi-Oral is described as con¬ sisting of two magnetic strips placed on the outside of the sprocket holes of the film played simultaneously through the right bank and left bank of speakers by means of a CinemaScope magnetic pickup. Of special interest to the industry is the fact that the film also carries the standard optical track for use in theatres where no magnetic re¬ production equipment is available. According to Myerberg and his associates, the new system adds a realistic effect to sound never before achieved. General Film and Sound Services, a division of Western Electric, cooperated with Myerberg on the Bi-Oral tests. Film Dividends Increase Washington. — Film industry publicly de¬ clared dividends in the first six months of 1954 at $11,717,000 were well above the $11,108,000 paid in the corresponding period last year, according to the Department of Commerce. June dividends at $3,482,000 were below June, 1953, at $3,932,000 largely because of a change in dividend month by National Theatres. New Posts Vincent H. Jefferds was appointed man¬ ager of the Walt Disney character merchan¬ dising division, in which post he will super¬ vise all merchandising sales promotional activities of Walt Disney Productions. Jef¬ ferds will serve as liaison between Disney Productions and sponsors of the DisneylandTV show. He will continue to direct national tie-in promotions of Disney films. Charles Goldsmith was appointed man¬ aging director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pic¬ tures Ltd. and the New Empire Ltd., with headquarters in London. Goldsmith joined M-G-M in 1931. During the war he served as chief of distribution for the film division of the U.S. Office of Information. Sam Eckman, Jr. remains chairman of the two British units. Ben Babb rejoined Selznick Releasing Or¬ ganization as advertising-publicity chief, in which post he will start immediately on plans for the re-release of “Duel in the Sun.” Babb worked for the company from 1946 through 1949. William E. Cheesman was named field sales representative for RCA theatre prod¬ ucts in the Eastern and Northeastern regions. Cheesman succeeds Bernard Scholtz, retired. The former has been with the company since 1930. Arthur H. Levy joined I.F.E. Releasing Corp. as sales representative for Washington and Philadelphia. Levy, who replaced Mike Siegel, has 23 years of sale and branch man¬ agerial experience. Elias Kalisch, of the Loew’s sales force, was promoted to home office assistant to Burtis Bishop, Jr., Midwest sales manager. Lie succeeds the late Sidney Lcfkowitz. Gary Stevens, formerly with the Blaine Thompson agency, joined the Warner Bros, studio staff to head the radio and television division of the publicity department, under Bill Hendrick. Stevens has produced such radio shows as “20 Questions” and “Lunch¬ eon at Sardi’s.” RKO Stockholders Given Time To Turn In Stock RKO Pictures board has authorized an extension until Sept. 30, 1954 for stockhold¬ ers to be permitted to exeereise their privi¬ lege of tendering stock to the corporation for redemption at $6 per share, according to James R. Grainger, president. The board extended until the same day the time in which Howard R. Hughes may accept the corpora¬ tion’s offer to purchase his 1,262,120 shares of stock at $6 per share. The 884,900 shares of RKO Pictures stock owned by the Atlas Corn, will not be ten¬ dered for redemption, Grainger told the stockholders in a letter. He added that he did not know what action Hughes would take about his stock. Roxy Declares Dividend A quarterly cash dividend of 37V2 cents per share on the outstanding preferred stock of the Roxy Theatre, Inc., has been declared payable Sept. 1, 1954 to holders of record on Aug. 16, 1954. 22 THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— August 7. 1954