Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1950)

DRY MOTION PICTURE DAILY OL 68. r'°-}0 NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1950 TEN CENTS jross Upturn Keys 20th-Fox Fall Program fo Offer What Showmen isked in Spring Poll Based on a polling of thousands f exhibitors who attended the ompany's showmanship meetings ist spring, 20th Century-Fox has ;t a three-point program to be lunched in connection with its forthDming Branch Managers Testimonial •om Sept. 3-Dec. 30, it is announced y Andy W. Smith, Jr., vice-presient and general sales manager. The poll showed exhibitors want: 1. More pictures of superior quality and broad appeal; 2. A more extensive public and trade merchandising program; 3. An expansion of autonomy operations in branch offices. With this mandate in mind, presimt Spyros P. Skouras and producon chief Darryl F. Zanuck planned production expansion earlier this ar, involving a releasing schedule t three major productions per month arting in September. The company has made a special ap {Ccmtinited on page 5) fLRB to Order )ubli cists Vote Washington, Aug. 13. — The Naonal Labor Relations Board tomor)w will order an election by publicists nployed by members of the Coast rdependent Motion Picture Producrs Association and the Society of lotion Picture Producers to determine whether they shall be represented iy the Screen Publicists Guild, \TSE. The vote is an order followig a hearing in Hollywood in June. Voting will be by "those persons ho create or disseminate advertising r publicity for the promotion of moon picture stars, motion pictures or udios," including only those based 1 Southern California. °CCITO Annual Meet it Cal-Neva in Sept. ? San Francisco, Aug. 13. — The ani ual convention of Pacific Coast Conjsrence of Independent Theatre Owners will be held Sept. 14-17 at CalJeva, on Lake Tahoe. A program of /ork and recreation is now being lanned. 20th's Start'of-Show Policy Gets Mixed Trade Reaction By CHARLES L. FRANKE While exhibitors and circuit heads of this area have, for the most part, demonstrated reluctance at this time to venture opinions of 20th CenturyFox's "scheduled performances" innovation, a number of showmen have undertaken to make tentative estimates of the plan. These estimates might best be described as mixed. In general, there appears to be considerable curiosity about the policy of scheduled performances, which calls for the limiting of admittance to those who purchase tickets in advance for a specific performance and arrive at theatres before the start of the feature picture, which must be shown singly. One circuit head who chose to give a forthright opinion based on what he had read about the policy was Wilbur Snaper, operator of a small New Jersey circuit and president of Allied Theatre Owners of New Jersey. He said he did not believe the policy to be practical. (.Continued on page 5) Smith, Robbins Will Promote 'Vets' Short Andy W. Smith, Jr., sales vicepresident of 20th Century-Fox, and Herman Robbins, head of National Screen Service, will head the general sales managers and distribution committees, respectively, in behalf of the Disabled American Veterans' film "On Stage Everybody" for the industry. "On Stage Everybody" stars Bob Hope and was produced in Hollywood _ with the cooperation of the Association of Motion Picture Advertisers. D. M. Brown, DAV commander, made the announcement. ELC Huddles Will Resume This Week The Eagle Lion Classics merger conferences, centering around title and rights which the company will have to Film Classics pictures together with the claim being handled by FC creditor assignee Irving Kaufman, are due to resume here today or tomorrow with the return of Eagle Lion executive vicepresident William C. MacMillen, Jr., from a week's vacation. MacMillen's vacation interrupted the talks in which Kaufman, FC president Joseph Bernhard and Pathe Industries executives have been participating. Pathe is the parent company of E-L, which has entered into a de facto merger with FC. Three-Day Republic Meeting Opens Here News of what the company describes as "the most ambitious production program that Republic Pictures has ever undertaken" will be described by president Herbert J. Yates and James R. Grainger, executive sales vice-president, to branch managers and home office executives at a three-day sales meeting to take place at the Republic home office today through Wednesday. The meeting will climax recent sales meetings held in Chicago and Hollywood. Reports will also be heard from (.Continued on page 6) Depinet, for COMPO, Pledges the Film Industry's Aid to Truman The American motion picture industry's "full cooperation in the present crisis" was pledged to President Truman over the weekend today by Ned E. Depinet as president of the newly-created Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In a letter, Depinet advised the President that the Council was already mobilized to work with the government. The Council includes representatives of exhibition, distribution, production, the Hollywood crafts and guilds, the trade press and Variety Clubs. Depinet's announcement added that the objectives of COMPO are to improve intra-industry and public relations, and in addition to its cooperation with the Federal government and the United Nations, projects already voted by the Council include basic research, industry seminars in Hollywood and at the grass roots, and libraries of industry information in New York and Hollywood. Wald and RKO Agree on 5-Year Pact Deal Calls for 60 Films; To Invest $50,000,000 Hollywood, Aug. 13.— The biggest independent production deal in industry history reached its final stage last night when terms of a contract binding Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna to produce 60 pictures during the next five years for RKO were agreed upon following eight weeks of continuous negotiation. The contract calls for an investment $50,000,000 in production, with Bankers Trust supplying 60 per cent of the financing by direct loan to WaldKrasna. The pictures are to be made at the rate of 12 annually. The deal, which got under way eight weeks ago when Wald obtained his release from his unfinished Warner contract for a reported $150,000 advanced by Howard Hughes, called for Wald and Krasna to be at the RKO studio during the negotiation period and to line up properties for the production program they would undertake if an agreement on policy and operational procedure were (.Continued on page 5) Dietrich Due Back Here in Few Days Noah Dietrich, RKO board chairman and chief representative of Howard Hughes in negotiations for the sale of the latter's controlling stock interest in the post-divorcement RKO theatre company, is scheduled to return here tomorrow or Wednesday from the Coast and Houston, Texas. By the time, lawyers for Hughes and Harry Brandt may have a report ready on progress in endeavoring to work out warranties applicable next January for consummation of the deal by which Brandt's Trans-Lux Theatres would acquire the RKO Theatres stock from Hughes for a price (Continued on page 5) ParaJs 'Boulevard' Sets a High at Hall Paramount's "Sunset Boulevard" played to the largest non-holiday opening day business in the history of Radio City Music Hall Thursday, Russell V. Downing, executive director of the theatre, disclosed. The gross (Continued on page 6)