Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1954)

Friday, July 9, 1954 Motion Picture Daily Canada Dates Set for 20th's 'Scope Reel Twentieth Century-Fox's hour-long demonstration film, "The Advancing Techniques of CinemaScope," which will conclude its domestic screenings today, will be presented to Canadian exhibitors beginning Tuesday and will also be forwarded to London for exhibition on Wednesday. The Canadian screenings of the demonstration reel will start in University Theatre in Toronto on Tuesday, It was learned yesterday, with screemngs set as follows: Montreal, Palace Theatre, July 15; St. John, -t'aramount Theatre, July 20; Winnipeg, Capitol Theatre, July 23 Calgary, Capitol Theatre, July 27 •' Vancouver, Capitol Theatre, July 29. T\yo prints of the CinemaScope film will leave the 20th Century-Fox home office on Tuesday for London and screenings throughout England and the continent. Additional prints will tollow to offices in Paris, South America the Far East and Australia. After tne film has been presented throughout the world, 20th-Fox is planning to edit the reel into two separate 20-minute short subjects for public exhibition. One is to deal with stereophonic sound and lenses with the other telling of the forthcoming product from the studio. Seaton Heads SDG Critics' Award ■HOLLYWOOD, July 8.-George beaton has been appointed chairman of the Screen Directors' Guild critic's award committee by George Sidney, Guild president. Seizing with Seaton on the committee •^tjiis .year will be Claude Bmyon, Delmer Daves, Willis Goldbeck, E. H Griffith, Rouben Mamouhan and Robert Wise The committee will check reviews written by more than 300 critics throughout the country and the award to the outstanding critic will be presen ed at the Guild's annual dinner early m 1955. TV's 'Treasury Men' For Theatre Screens "Treasury Men in Action," television program of the past four years, will be made into a full length motion picture. Bernard J. Prockter, president of Prockter Television Enterprises, is in Europe now inspecting French and English locales for production early in the year. The picture, like the TV show, will be made with the cooperation of the Treasury Department. The picture has been financed but casting and distribution matters are still indefinite. 'Zero' July 16 Hell Below Zero," Columbia's Technicolor adventure drama of the Antarctic whaling fleet starring Alan Ladd, will have its New York premiere at the Globe Theatre on July 16. 'Living' July 23 Paramount's "Living It Up," starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, will open on July 23 at the Criterion Theatre here. 'Wagner Tax^ — Bottled piawiies Of MswwTE m*iw 011*01 WHO MGGtD ■noil. TO WLt THE RUINOUS S-fcAPMSSKW TAX, AGAIN we URGE vou. tTAKE THE COTTON CHIT M OF YOUR EARS. SOB ^ AN HEAR. THIS PRjOTEST FROM AVENUE UTHEATIEMTf^NS WHO Mf KIMtNtJ »n« VCSIS, OawCTdOUS TAX WAGNER TAX SOTTLE^, Independents Attend RKO Sales Meet Albert Greene, Brooklyn exhibitor, wants his patrons to know they are paying an admission tax to the city, and he wants them to know whose tax it is. Greene placed the "Wagner Tax Bottle" shown above next to the box office of his Avenue U Theatre. He supplied his cashier with special "tax pennies," pennies which he had chrome-plated, and, instead of adding the tax to his ticket prices, he provided pennies in change and, by the signs shown above on the tax bottle and at right, he directed his patrons to deposit the tax in the "Wagner" bottle — one cent on children's admissions and three cents on adults. The sign tells patrons their pennies "will help pay the salaries for juicy patronage plums" of City Hall appointees named by Mayor Wagner recently. Come Aug. 1, Greene says he will take his tax bottle to City Hall where some of the Mayor's "high-priced, payroll politicians" could be used to count them. Greene wants other New York City exhibitors to join in his penny payment and Aug. 1 march on City Hall campaign. Greene is the man who sold New York City subway tokens for 10 cents when the Transit Authority raised the fare to 15 cents before it had an adequate supply of the tokens ready for the public. Tax Collections Up In Chicago for June CHICAGO, July 8.— Theatre tax collections for June were $103,520, as compared with $85,921 for June, 1953. Total amusement tax collected for June, 1954, was $156,751, as compared with $148,007 for June, 1953. Theatre taxes collected in the first six months of 1954 totalled $573,314, and total amusement taxes for the same period were $912,169. This was a marked improvement over 1953 when theatre taxes for the first six months totalled $518,856, and total amusement taxes collected were $867,294. Nat, Carbon Names 3 Vice-Presidents Arthur C. Bryan has been appointed vice-president and general manager of Consumer Products, William H. Feathers has been named vice-president and general manager of Industrial Products of National Carbon Co., a division of Union Carbide and Carbon Corp., and Walter A. Steiner has been appointed vice-president in charge of development, it was announced here yesterday by A. S. Johnston, National Carbon's president. 'Caesar' Opens Strong CHICAGO, July 8. — M-G-M's "Julius Caesar," released at popular prices, opened at the Loop Theatre with a strong box office that indicates a healthy gross of $18,000 for the first week ending tomorrow. Chesapeake 24Week Net Up to $502,271 Chesapeake Industries, Inc., yesterday reported net income of $502,271 for the 24 weeks ended June 19, compared to $468,181 for the similar period last year. Krushen Touring to Aid UA Promotion Alori Krushen, United Artists exploitation manager, today will begin a cross-country swing to meet with exhibitors, UA branch personnel and field exploitation representatives on advance promotion plans for the company's forthcoming releases, including Joseph L. Mankiewicz' "The Barefoot Contessa," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner; the HechtLancaster "Vera Cruz," starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster ; "The Purple Plain," starring Gregory Peck, and "Suddenly," starring Frank Sinatra and Sterling Hayden. Medieval Trappings As 'Richard' Bows HOLLYWOOD, July 8.— Knights in armor, heraldic trumpeters and costumed page boys peopled the forecourt of the Egyptian Theatre here tonight for the invitational world premiere of Warner Brothers "King Richard and the Crusaders." A distinguished audience attended the opening, which was dedicated to by-line celebrities of the press as well as to box-office personalities. Representatives of independent producers who release through RKO were among those attending the final session yesterday of RKO's two-day EasternCanadian sales meeting at the Hotel Warwick. Charles Boasberg, general sales manager, presided at the meeting. Those present included James A. Mulvey, president of Samuel Goldwyn Productions ; Irving H. Ludwig, sales executive of Walt Disney Productions, and Irving Lesser and Seymour Poe, of Producers' Representatives. Home Office Executives Attend Additional RKO executives from the home office who attended the final day included : Charles Drayton, assistant treasurer; William J. McShea, manager of branch operations; Emmet J. Cashman, manager of the print and negative department ; Edward McGuire, legal department ; Arthur Good, head of the 16mm department; Frank Angotti, purchasing agent and home office manager ; Milton Altholz, assistant to Sidney Kramer, short subjects sales manager; Seymour I. Feig, head of competitive bidding department ; William Dahler, Lou Miller and Art Joswig, sales approval department ; Irving Cane, head of contract department ; Ben H. Grimm, advertising manager ; Dave Cantor, advertising manager, and Dave Cantor, exploitation manager. RKO will hold its final regional sales meeting for Western and Rocky Mountain sales areas on July 12-13 at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco. SPG College Awards Are Being Expanded HOLLYWOOD, July 8.— An expanded program for the Screen Producers Guild intercollegiate awards competition, established a year ago, has been put into effect by SPG president Arthur Freed, who dispatched invitations to 104 American colleges and universities to participate. The competition is for the "best amateur motion picture conceived and created in colleges and universities." Prizes are gold, silver and bronze medallions, as well as honorable mentions, and the student principally responsible for the winning film is given a week in Hollywood. 'Crusoe' Opens Today "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," a United Artists release in Pathecolor, is set for premieres today at the McVickers, Chicago ; Downer, Alilwaukee; Loew's Palace, South Bend, and Loew's Strand, Syracuse. Publicists Ball Set for Oct. 15 The Screen Publicists Guild (New York) will hold its second annual Movie Page Ball at the Hotel Pierre here on Oct. 15. Tickets will be $5.00 per couple plus tax.