Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1951)

Motion Picture daily Tuesday, July 10, 1951 National Pre-Selling Review "On Moonlight Bay" t«CHOW Boat Music Week" was >J launched on a nationwide basis over the past weekend, with M-G-M Records and M-G-M Pictures contacting a complete list of disc jockeys all over the country. Two special recordings have been prepared by the studio which will permit the mdividua jockey to interview Ava Gardner and Howard Keel, as though in person, on separate programs. "Guest Stars on Record" as a radio show has You Are My Lucky Star" as a musical theme. Theatres are advised in a Metro release how to contact their local disc jockeys and obtain the full benefit of the tieup. Dan Terrill, exploitation manager for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, also supplies a list of Westinghouse dealers and distributors throughout the country who will leap into action m cooperative tieups at the local level for the release of "Rich, Young and Pretty " in which Jane Powell and Vic Damone sing "How D'You Like Your Eggs in the Morning?" as promotion for electric appliances. • This week both the Sunday magazine sections of the New York Daily News and the Mirror, with a combined circulation of close to 7 500,000, devoted color spreads to the upcoming Cecil B DeMille production of "The Greatest Show on Earth," based on location shots made with Barnum and Bailey Circus in Philadelphia. The News carried a front cover of Dorothy Lamour in costume and center doublespread with circus scenes featuring Betty Hutton, Jimmy Stewart, Gloria Grahame and Cornell Wilde, while the Mirror had a similar center spread in full color. (Warner Brothers) A TECHNICOLOR FANCY, full of turn-of-the-century song and sentiA. ment is given an attractive polish in "On Moonlight Bay." The romantic comedy is styled in the time-honored tradition and aims at offering entertainment a la carte to all members of the family. Since it is neither taxing in plot nor pretentious in presentation it should meet with the full satisfaction of the average filmgoer. . . , Doris Day and Gordon MacRae play the romantic lead, she as a hoydemsn youngster and he as a socially-conscious college student. After the pair meet, it becomes a sure thing that each is going to have an uplifting effect on the other. When it gets around to marriage, a complication is reached by Miss Day's father, Leon Ames, who objects to the prospective groom because of his radical chatter. _ . . ■ _ , Popping in and out of scenes with juvenile fervor is Billy Cray, Miss Day s 12-year-old brother, who gets entangled in every form of mischief. Some of the best sequences in the film revolve around the boy's dilemmas. Also in the cast are Rosemary De Camp, as Miss Day's mother, and Jack Smith, a stuffy boy friend with a facile way with a song. Miss Day and MacRae sing a number of tunes. Among those heard are "Moonlight Bay," "Beautiful Dreamer," "O, Promise Me," and others. As time passes war breaks out and MacRae abandons his college cap and gown for khaki, 1917 vintage. A few more incidents develop and finally poppa gives his consent to the marriage, bringing a happy ending. William Jacobs produced and Roy Del Ruth directed. The screenplay, by Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson, was adapted from Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington. Running time, 95 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, July 28. Mandel Herbstman Gilhool Huish Sell Two More Theatres Salt Lake City, July 9.— Gilhool-Huish Theatre Enterprises, once one of the biggest circuits in Utah, sold the Lyric and Huish theatres at Richfield to Van Anderson, who also operates the Pamela Theatre, Salina. The sales, seventh and eighth for the Gilhool-Huish circuit in recent months, leave it with only four theatres at present. Republic Must Show 2 Films in Suit 1st NPA Rejection ( Continued from page 1 ) The largest film tieup ever made in the field of men's wear has been set by 20th Century-Fox with Eagle Clothes for "David and Bathesheba." The promotion will involve large scale newspaper and magazine ads, national radio and TV time and an abundance of local-level tieups keyed to playdates. The campaign zvill kickoff with a full-page color ad in the October Esquire, on sale Sept. 9, to be followed immediately with full-page ads in more than 300 top-circulation newspapers. An estimated 3,500 retail outlets will use Gregory Peck stills and posters on the picture in local window displays. The Daily News Record, trade paper of the men's wear, field, carried a full-page ad in advance regarding the tie-up. • The July 31 issue of Look magazine, on the stands July 17, will contain a six-page preview of "Quo Vadis," more space than the magazine has ever before given to any motion picture. Two of the six pages will be in full color, the rest in black-and-white. The article will say "one of the first and most popular of religious novels has now become the most collossal movie ever made." In its July bulletin, the Protestant Motion Picture Council selects another Metro picture, "Excuse My Dust" as its picture of the month, and says, "this gay comedy does not pretend to do anything but entertain, and it will provide hearty laughs for the whole family." — Walter Brooks first appeal, involving Concho Theatres, was approved. Florida state already owns a theatre in Delray Beach, but claims it is badly in need of repair, that the health department has required changes in the rest rooms, and that it is inadequate for the city's needs. The interesting thing is that many civic groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, have brought pressure on the circuit to undertake the new theatre and supported the application before the NPA construction division and the appeals board. The appeals board said that there had been "no persuasive showing that the company is undergoing any exceptional or unreasonable hardship not suffered generally by other firms in the industry." Essaness Sheridan May Be Synagogue Chicago, July 9. — Negotiations for the sale of the Essaness Sheridan Theatre to the Anshe Emet Congregation for use as a synagogue are under way, Ralph Smitha, Essaness general manager, said here today, and attorneys representing the interested parties are trying to work out the deal. According to local real estate brokers, the Balaban and Katz Granada also is available and a local rumor has it being taken over by Loyola University to be used as an audito UPT, ABC File (Continued from page 1) be supplemented then with information on what the stockholders did, and that the FCC will not act before some time in August at the very earliest and then probably only to set hearings on the request. ABC vice president Hinckley, who will probably handle the matter before the FCC, is in New York today and tomorrow. Glassman to Hold Mass. Regional Meets Boston, July 9. — Norman Glassman, president of the Independent Exhibitors of New England and the committee on industry improvement, will hold a series of regional meetings with exhibitors of Massachusetts. The first of the regional meetings will be held in Lowell on Wednesday and leading cities during the summer months. Glassman stated that exhibi tors in large states who find it diffi cult to attend organization meetings in person are entitled to know what their elected officials are doing in their be half. Columbus, O., July 9.— Republic Pictures was ordered by Common Pleas Judge Cecil J. Randall to show to the court two features, "The French Key" and "Winter Wonderland" in a $1,800,000 breach of contract and damages suit here. The suit was brought by the John K. Teaford Co. here, which had loaned producer Walter Combes $315,000 to produce the films. Later, the Teaford Co. acquired* the contract which Combes had made with Republic to distribute the pictures. On March 24, 1949 the company sued Republic, charging that it had not lived up to contract provisions. The Ohio company asked $1,000,000 for breach of contract and $800,000 damages. The suit accuses Republic of having the features shown as support for other films in double-feature billings so their income would be reduced. Date for examination of the films has not been set. Judge Randall also ordered Republic to submit records in the case. Essaness Appeals Woods Decision Chicago, July 9. — Essaness Theatres Corp. filed a petition here today for a rehearing of the Woods Theatre case. A decision reversed a lower court and awarded to the partners of the Woods the option to purchase the theatre building at the price for which Essaness bought it or to rent the theatre from Essaness for three years at the old rental, $60,000 a year. Discuss Allied Plans For N. Y. Convention Washington, July 9. — Plans for Allied States Association's convention in New York in October were discussed here today by President Trueman T. Rembusch, general counsel, Abram F. Myers and convention chairman Wilbur Snaper. Rembusch said advance reservations are already beginning to come in, and all indications are that it will be a stand-out meeting. 'IA' Coast Meet to Set Wage Demands Hollywood, July 9. — IATSE officials of craft and technical unions are due to meet here tomorrow to formulate new demands for wage increases and working conditions. The new demands will be made under the wage reopening clause of the contract between the studios and the IATSE, which represents about 15,000 workers here. The deadline date for renegotiations is July 27. Film studio labor began a campaign for more pay last winter, following which the studios offered a 10 cents an hour wage hike, together with a flexible cost-of-living allowance based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Index. This offer, however, was withdrawn when a number of unions turned it down. Wanger in Broidy Office Hollywood, July 9. — Walter Wanger, recently signed by Allied Artists president Steve Broidy, has moved into his offices at Allied Artists studio. Wanger has been operating out of offices at the Hal Roach lot in ' Culver City. Bachman Takes Over Monogram Exchange Charlotte, July 9.— John Bachman, former manager for United Artists in Atlanta, has arrived here to succeed Hal H. Jordan as local Monogram manager. Jordan resigned to take over active management of his theatre in Dunn. Bachman formerly was manager of the Warner exchange here and left a few years ago for the UA management post in Atlanta.