Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

2 Motion Picture Daily Thursday, March 29, 1951 Personal Mention Para. Aims 'Trio' For Small Towns A sales campaign specifically directed at small town situations throughout the country has been set up by Paramount for its release, "Trio?' Heretofore, the playing time of socalled "art" pictures such as "Trio" has been restricted generally to large cities and a particular kind of theatre. The aim of the new campaign, according to A. W. Schwalberg, president of Paramount Film Distributing Corp., is to reach the general audience in every town at the theatre they regularly attend. The first such playdate was at the Miami Western Theatre in Oxford, Ohio, (pop. 2,756) . Schwalberg said, the exhibitor there used the new ad approach which is the basis of the campaign and which other small town exhibitors will be urged to duplicate. Four More State Legislatures Quit Washington, March 28. — Four more state legislatures have adjourned, according to Jack Bryson, Motion Picture Association of America legislative representative. The four are : Colorado, Nevada, Kentucky and Washington. The only development of interest to the industry occurred in Washington, where bills were passed to limit to five per cent the size of the admission tax that can be levied by cities, towns and counties. So far, 15 state legislatures have adjourned, and five more are slated to quit by April 1, Bryson said. Decision on Plan For Controls Due Washington, March 28. — Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson said the Administration will decide this week whether or not the so-called "Controlled Materials Plan" should start on July 1. He made it plain that there still is considerable doubt whether the CMP plan will be given a green light so long as the emergency does not become much worse. More Drive ins Open in Chicago Chicago, March 28. — Two more Chicago area outdoor theatres will open Friday, the Skyhi Drive-in on Roosevelt and Butterfield near Elmhurst, and the Double Drive-in at 74th and Western. Yesterday, Essaness announced the Friday opening of its North Avenue Drive-in. Opening of these three will make a total of' seven now in operation in the Chicago area. All will play the first or second week of subsequentrun. Another Fabian Drive-in Albany, N. Y., March 28.— Fabian Theatres has leased the Autovision, East Greenbush, N. Y., from Neil Hellman, it was disclosed here. Hellman bought the drive-in from David Willig last January. JOSEPH I. BREEN, Production •J Code Administrator, has returned to the Coast from New York. • Pvt. William Dougherty, formerly manager of Lockwood-GordonRosen's Plaza at Windsor, Conn., has been assigned as a projectionist with a film unit of the Connecticut Air National Guard. Tom Hannon, son of Frank Hannon who is Warner's branch manager at Omaha, is home for a brief stay after completing "boot"-training in the Marines. • Ike Katz, president of the Kay Exchange headquarters in Atlanta, has returned there after a tour of New Orleans, Charlotte and Memphis branches. Lou Rogow of the Pike Drive-in, Newington, Conn., and Mrs. Rogow have returned to their Hartford home from Miami. • Herman Rhodes, general manager Of Dixie Drive-in Theatres, is back at his Atlanta office after a tour of the circuit's operations. P. T. Dana, Universal's Eastern sales manager, is due to return here today from Washington. • Ben Goetz, managing director of M-G-M British Studios, Ltd., has left here for England. • Sidney Kramer, RKO Pictures short subjects sales manager, left here yesterday for Dallas and Memphis. • Grover Parsons, Atlanta branch manager of Eagle Lion Classics, has returned to Atlanta from New York. Post Office Tieup For 'Appointment9 In a tieup with the United States Post Office Department to promote Paramount Pictures' "Appointment with Danger," 21,000 first, second and third-class post offices throughout the nation, employing more than 500,000 workers, will serve as focal points of the campaign, with their cooperation guaranteed by Postmaster General Jesse M. Donaldson, Paramount disclosed here. The film deals with the exploits of postal inspectors. Each of the postmasters has received a poster "plugging" "Appointment with Danger," which will be displayed on employee bulletin boards, along with a copy of a letter which Postmaster General Donaldson wrote Paramount president Barney Balaban commending the film. Wilson in New Post Rochester, N. Y., March 28.— Richard M. Wilson has been appointed superintendent of the film emulsion coating division at Eastman Kodak's Kodak Park plant, Charles K. Flint, Kodak vice-president and plant gen^ eral manager, announced here. Wilson joined Kodak in 1931 and was appointed supervisor of emulsion coating in 1938. ALFRED E. DAFF, Universal ■l\ Pictures' director of world sales, Charles J. Feldman, domestic sales manager, and Maurice A. Bergman, home office executive, will leave here tonight for Chicago and Indianapolis. • Joe Shulman of Shuhnan Theatres, Hartford, and Mrs. Shulman are due to leave here by the end of the week for a month's vacation trip to Europe. • Arthur Lubin, Hollywood director, is due in New York about April 6 en route to Europe for a vacation and to scout locations for his next production. • Johnny Cassidy, RKO Theatres home office publicist, is the producer of the "Irish Memories Revue" which is now playing RKO theatres in this area. • Charles Simonelli, Universal executive in charge of national exploitation, who is due here on Monday from the Coast, stopped off in Chicago. • Tim Whelan pinch-hitted last night for Ezra Stone as producer-director of the Danny Thomas NBC television show. • Joe Sugar, assistant to Bernard G. Kranze, Eagle Lion Classics distribution vice-president, left here yesterday for Charlotte and Memphis. • Nelson Towler, branch manager of Lippert's Atlanta branch, was host to his sales force at a luncheon at the Atlanta Variety Club. • Philip Gerard, Universal's Eastern publicity manager, is due to return here today from the Coast. (Af Run and Drive-in In Unique Film Split Cleveland, March 28. — The Drivein Theatre at Portsmouth, operated by Herbert Ochs, and the Garden Theatre, conventional downtown Class A house owned by George Delis, will play Universal product first-run dayand-date this season, Ochs states. This is a unique policy, mutually agreed upon by the two exhibitors. Another feature of the deal is that while the Garden will charge 45 cents admission, the Drive-in will charge 60 cents for the same picture. Advantages for the favorable difference to the drive-in listed by Ochs are free admission to children, no parking costs and the convenience of informal dressing. DST for Oregon Again Portland, Ore., March 28.— In spite of emphatic protests from theatre owners, state legislators have dumped the matter of daylight saving time into the lap of Governor Douglas McKay, and Attorney General Neuner has ruled that if but one adjoining state goes on daylight saving time, Oregon must also. The law will again become effective on April 1, the same as in previous years. Two Warner Films To Music Hall At the opening session of a two-day sales meeting of Warner district managers and home office executives which began here yesterday, Ben Kalmenson, sales vice-president, announced that two Warner productions have been set to play the New York Music Hall around the middle of June. "Captain Horatio Hornblower," Technicolor production starring Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo, will be followed by "A Streetcar Named Desire," starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, an Elia Kazan production produced by Charles K. Feldman. The sales meeting will wind up today, with the district managers returning to their respective territories over the weekend. 20th's 'Dawn' 'David' On Road-Show Basis Hollywood, March 28. — Darryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century-Fox vice-president, today announced that "Decision Before Dawn" and "David and Bathsheba" will be released on a modified road-show basis, adding, "If there is such a thing as road-show business left, we will do it with these two pictures." Commenting on "Decision Before Dawn," Zanuck said, "I consider this one of the most important films from our company in the past five years. Not only is it, in my opinion, the best entertainment the screen can give, but it will have world-wide significance because of the very implications of the story itself." The picture is from "Call It Treason," the book which won the Christopher Award. Zanuck told of the road-show plans on his first day at the studio since his arrival here. Speed 450 Kefauver Prints to Exchanges Already 450 prints of 20th CenturyFox's 52-minute news feature on the Kefauver Crime Investigating Committee hearings have been processed and delivered to 25 20th-Fox exchanges, it was reported here yesterday by the Emery Air Freight Corp., film carriers. John C. Emery, president of the carrier, said that in many cases the delivery scheduled was faster than that for newsreels. He said prints leaving the New York laboratory at four P.M. are on the screen in Coast cities by 10 o'clock the next morning. In cases where shorter distances are involved, prints are playing in theatres within eight hours after leaving the laboratories. Hike Drive-in Admissions Columbus, O., March 28. — Central Ohio drive-ins are expected to increase admissions to 60 cents this season, an increase of 10' cents over the 1950 admissions. The only drive-in here to open so far this season, the National Auto Theatre of the Academy Circuit, is now charging 60 cents. 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