Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1953)

4 Motion Picture Daily Thursday, December 31, 1953 Trench Line' (Continued from page 1) where the picture opened this week without a Code seal. All details of the St. Louis premiere were handled by the RKO studio staff here with Harry Arthur and his F. & M. associates. The RKO Radio distributionpublicity-advertising forces at the home office were given instructions not to interest themselves in the St. Louis premiere arrangements. Yet another RKO Radio production, "Son of Sinbad," is ready for release and has not been granted a Production Code seal, nor has the advertising for it been approved by the industry's Advertising Advisory Council. Speculation here is that Hughes may open the picture, regardless, as he did "French Line." In opening the latter, RKO made itself liable to a $25,000 fine for breach of its P. C. A. agreement. Action on imposing the fine may be taken at the January board meeting of the Motion Picture Association of America in New York. Should Hughes refuse to pay the fine, the company's membership in P. C. A. and, presumably, the MP A A, could be cancelled. No Police Action Vs. 'Line' in St. L. ST. LOUIS, Dec. 30.— Members of the police morality squad here said they found two sequences in "French Line," playing at the F. & M. Fox Theatre here without a Production Code seal, to be objectionable but recommended no action by the Prosecuting Attorney. They said, however, they stood ready to carry out any order against the theatre the latter might direct. The prosecutor, in turn, said he plans no action unless the police seek a warrant. Meanwhile, despite derogatory notices by reviewers, the film continued to do good business, obviously aided by the heavy publicity attendant upon its opening. Production Unit Set By Peck and Parrish HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 30.— A new independent film production company has been formed by Gregory Peck and Robert Parrish, who have just purchased screen rights to "The Wonderful Country,' novel by Tom Lea. They plan to produce the film in Mexico. Peck currently is in Europe. He will leave there on Jan. 3 for Ceylon to make "The Purple Plain," which Parrish will direct and which United Artists will release. fffllt (Itr* |tffl» rfpt» ffff* [fffh MOVIEIAB'S new preview theatre brings TO THE EAST the ultimate in projection. • Three dimensional projection Three channel interlock projection • 16mm interlock projection MOVIELAB THEATRE SERVICE, INC. 619 W'S4th'St:. NY 19. N. Y. •JUd.on 6-0367 Editor Tells Cause of Cure for Bad Publicity (Ed. Note — The following letter from, Alex Murphree, drama editor of the "Denver Post," was zvritten in response to a Tradewise editorial column in Motion Picture Daily of Dec. 21, The column pointed out contrasts in neivspaper attention given, on the one hand, to the arrest of a minor Hollywood character for drunken driving and, on the other, to holiday entertainment provided troops in Korea and elsewhere by Hollyzvood personalities, and the voluntary appearances of others at benefits for tornado stricken areas in Mississippi. Because Mr. Murphree' s letter sheds light on the other side — the newspaper's— of the question, and because it contains potentially valuable sug-t gestions to remedy the situation, it is being published in full herewith.) Editor, Motion Pictuee Daily : Your "Tradewise" column in MPD on Dec. 21 put a probing finger on a serious motion picture industry problem but it doesn't seem to me it quite touched the sore spot and the diagnosis, therefore, went a bit awry. Says Korea Story Was Played Up Any press service reporter covering the police beat, the divorce courts and other spot news sources in Los Angeles can get all the details of scandal stories about Hollywood characters, big or little, Gail Russell or the "inactive feature player" you mention. The story about the Hollywood contingent going to Korea and Alaska was played up in our paper and many others far above the scandal stories. Then what happened ? One of the industry's publicity hungry featured players with the aid of one of the industry's press agents, no doubt, stole the play with a tasteless gimmick about an ermine bathing suit in which the sappy quote was uttered that she "thought it made me look a little like Santa Claus" (or a shore leave dinner?). We got the story about the disaster fund shows from no source at all. Information Group Suggested The answer is a top level, industrywide publicity committee, probably within the COMPO setup, which will supply upbeat material from Hollywood, plain, unadorned and without whitewash. Since many of the ones who went to Korea were free-lancers, you can bet the studio publicists wasted no time on them. Therefore, we were inadequately served with pictures and material. Besides it was apparently the thinking of the studio publicists that it would be hard to tie in the name of the latest picture, complete with credits. So what? So let it go, they seemed to say. The holiday publicity pictures — celebrating the birth of Christ, mind you — were the traditional cheese cake Entirely re-styled .. .a newer BEACH ' OCEAN FRONT • 40th to 4llt Sic. COMPLETELY AIR-CONDITIONED N.Y. OFFICEi TR 4-3193 Your Hosts, The Family Jacobs shots of dames with their derrieres wrapped in tinsel and their breasts pinked out with a sprig of holly. The stories about Christmas gifts led off with a Jerry Lewis gag. If the Hollywood stars did anything for the underprivileged or in any other way showed that they had a great big heart to wear for Christmas, the story was not sent by the studio publicity departments or the press services. Used Only as 'Filler' Now, it was all bright copy and we shoveled some of it onto our pages as filler. ' But we would have appreciated, do appreciate and will run with top play any story out of Hollywood that paints the celluloid heroes in a better light. I know a great many fine folks in Hollywood but I do find that it's the cheap ones who talk about nothing but sex who get the play in interviews. Why? Because the Good Joes and Janes apparently can't think of anything quotable to say. A good public relations program would put some colorful, industry-useful words in their mouths before they went out on a personal appearance iunket. I note that COMPO now has a publicity_ committee and I wonder if it is going to be useful in any other area except tax reduction. Sees Press Agents Inadequate It also might be a good suggestion to appoint an advisory committee on industry public relations from among working newspapermen who know, love and write about motion pictures and the people who make them. They would be broad-minded enough to plan stories that would reflect credit on the entire industry, which is something you need not expect from press agents whose daily bread comes from doing a job of a single studio and its properties and not the industry as a whole. Meanwhile I suggest that the trade press quit assuming that the reason amusements editors use material which gives Hollywood a hit on the head is that they take a perverse delight in damaging the industry. We make our living from the motion picture industry, too. We like it ; we respect it. However, we can't help what Esperanza says about John in a divorce court and we have no way of preventing Robert from accusing a cop of stealing his driver's license. We are not so stuffy that we don't enjoy a smarty-pants crack about sex which some one told Marilyn to say, though. 'The Worst Part' The courts, the police and the stars' own big mouths do a complete job of telling the worst part of the Hollywood story. The press agents are plenty hep on setting over the trivial Dart of the Hollywood story. Who is telling the better part of the story? If anyone is. it isn't reaching my desk. Very truly yours, Alex Murphree, Drama Editor. The Denver Post 'Rob Roy' Bows Feb. 4 "Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue," Walt Disney's all-live-action feature, will have its premiere at the Criterion Theatre here on Feb. 4. In the THEATRE Equipment World . . . • • with RAY GALLO THE ADVANTAGE OF stereophonic sound to motion picture technique and the wide appeal it has demonstrated to the theatre public are cited in a new booklet called "The New Look in Motion Picture Presentation," by Fred C. Matthews, vice-president in charge of sales for Motiograph, Inc., Chicago, and newlyelected president of TESMA. The booklet also contains a description of Motiograph's five different models of stereophonic sound equipment for various size theatres and a list of its many installations in theatres during 1953. There is also a list of the company's equipment dealers throughout the country. • Clark Rhoden of the Popcorn Institute, Chicago, reports that over 5,000 theatres from coast-to-coast are getting excellent results with the "3-D promotional kits" which the Institute prepared to boost sales at theatre snack bars. The kits contain point-of-sale display pieces in bright colors for placing at the stand, as well as in the lobby and other areas. This theatre promotion is part of a huge advertising and publicity campaign which the Institute is sponsoring in cooperation with a number of firms, including the Severf-Up Co., Morton Salt Co., Wesson Oil and Snowdrift Sales, Inc. • Something new for the drive-in refreshment stand is offered in a salty cracker-flavored cone in which to serve hot cliili. Perfected after long research by the Arational Cone Co. of St. Louis, the new product is being put on the market zt'ith a special formula chili by the Chili Cone Co. of Kansas City. The cup-type cone can be eaten just like an ice cream cone and thus eliminates clean-up problems, the manufacturer points out. • Also for refreshment service is a new under-the-counter cash drawer of large capacity, recently introduced by the Indiana Cash Drawer Co. of Shelbyville, Ind. Known as "Model G-l," the unit has two sections — the lower with 10 currency compartments and the upper a sliding tray with five coin tills for handling loose coins, and five compartments for handling packaged coins. The drawer is made of white oak with an exterior finish of natural lacquer. The interior is finished with several coats of shellac and lacquer. That Get You BEST RESULTS and Always YoarN.it Arrive ON TIME Is What You Get From CHICAGO 1 327 S. Wabash NEW YORK 630 Ninth Ave FILMACK