Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1954)

2 Motion Picture Daily Monday, July 12, 1954 Personal Mention ADOLPH ZUKOR, board chairman of Paramount Pictures, is in Rocliester from New York today to speak at the ceremonies commemoratingthe cent<'nnial of George Eastman's birth. LoTTE VoRCHHEiMER, secretary to Jerome Pickman, Paramount advertising-publicity vice-president, and Helen Feibelmann, secretary to Sid Blumenstock, advertising manager, will return to New York today from Hollvwood. Fal Parnell of the Moss Empire Circuit, Great Britain; Robert ParRisH, director; and Gregory Peck left here Sunday for Europe by B.O.A.C. Monarch. • Robert J. O'Donnell, vice-president and general manager of the Interstate Circuit, arrived here yesterday from London via B.O.A.C. Monarch. Mrs. Betty Cooley, executive secretary to W. H. Morten SEN, of Bushnell Memorial Auditorium, Hartford, has been discharged from St. Francis Hospital of that city. • J. Raymond Bell, Columbia Pictures public relations executive, has been elected vice-president of the New York chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. • Arthur Silverstone, 20th Cenury-Fox assistant general sales manager, left over the weekend for Montreal and Toronto. • Clay V. Hake, Paramount division manager for Australia and New Zealand, has left Hollywood for Sydney. Don Felix, manager of the Beverly Theatre, Bridgeport, and Mrs. Felix are marking their 2Sth wedding anniversary. • Lawrence Ady, chief of the motion picture service of the Far East Army and Air Force, has arrived in Washington from Tokyo. • Sid Blumenstock, Paramount advertising manager, will return to New York today following a vacation. • Al Fitter, Paramount home office sales executive, has left New York for Cape Cod. • Belle Meyer, assistant to the foreign manager at Madison Pictures, has left New York for Canada. 'Casey' Release Friday "Casey at the Bat," starring Jerry Colonna, fourth in Walt Disney's sixseries "Marquee Musicals," will be placed in national release on Friday, was disclosed by Sidney Kramer, RKO Radio short subjects sales manager. Name Majors, Loew In Trust Suit Here An anti-trust suit asking $2,664,000 was filed in New York Federal Court at the weekend by Associated Prudential Playhouses against eight distributors and three Loew's Theatres subsidiaries. The plaintiff, which operates theatres in Bayshore, Babylon, Lindenhurst and Amityville, L. L, charges restraint of trade and monopoly. It is claimed that the defendants have refused to deal in good faith for the first "community" run of product, even though the plaintiff's theatres are not in direct competition with Loew houses. It is charged that in settlement of an action in 1945, the plaintiff's theatres were given rights to first run after Broadway engagements, but that since 1951, the clearances have been cut to 21-31 days after Jamaica, L. I. Arnall Now on Coast For SIMPP Meeting HOLLYWOOD, July 11.— Ellis G. Arnall, president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers will arrive here Monday to attend the organization's annual meeting at Thursday noon, when he will report to the membership on his recent request to Secretary of State Dulles for clarification of the Government's position with respect to foreign subsidies such as he contends are provided in the Motion Picture Export Association's recently completed French pact. While here Arnall will confer with board chairman Gunther Lessing, executive secretary Marvin Paris, and individual SIMPP members. 'DueV in 250-Date Bow in New England Budd Rogers, sales manager of Selznick Releasing Organization, Inc., announces that the newly re-issued "Duel in the Sun" opens in the New England territory with 250 saturation bookings arranged by Joseph E. Levine, Embassy Pictures Corp., blanketing the Boston and New Haven exchange areas. Starting with day-and-date openings at the Paramount and Fenway, Boston, July 29, "Duel in the Sun" will play all the "A" theatres of the entire New England Theatre Circuit and other circuits and every key run in the territory, Rogers said. The services of Terry Turner and Don Thompson of General Teleradio have been engaged to produce the material for the saturation television and radio exploitation which Turner will supervise, 'Raiders' in L.A. "Hell Raiders of the Deep," I. F. E. American-language release, will have its Los Angeles premiere simultaneously in seven houses of the Fox West Coast unit there on Wednesday. Sharing the bill with it will be "Girls Marked Danger," another new I. F. E. release. Dr. C. F. McKhann Named to SW Board Dr. Charles F. McKhann has been elected a member of the board of directors of Stanley Warner Corp., it is announced by S. H. Fabian, President. Dr. Mckhann is chairman of the board of the Playte.x Park Research Institute, a public service foundation, sponsored by International Latex Corp., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stanley Warner. Fabian also announced the resignation of Lester Crown, who because of the pressure of other business and his residence in Chicago, found it necessary to resign as a director of Stanley Warner. RKO Radio Ending Sales Meets in S,F, SAN FRANCISCO, July 11.— RKO's fourth regional sales meeting, for the Western Division and the remainder of the Rocky Mountain area branches, will begin here tomorrow at the St. Francis Hotel. Charles Boasberg, general sales manager, will preside at the two-day conference, and J. R. Grainger, president of RKO Radio Pictures, will address the sales staff. Edward L. Walton, executive assistant to the president, also will speak. J. H. Maclntyre, Western division sales manager, and A. L. Kolitz, Rocky Mountain district manager, will be present with the following branch managers ; Seymour Borde, Los Angeles ; Joe C. Emerson, San Francisco ; Richard H. Lange, Portland ; Eddy A. Lamb, Seattle; Giff Davison, Salt Lake City, and Marvin Goldfarb, Denver. The schedule for the two-day session will follow the pattern of the recent regional meetings held in New York, Chicago and New Orleans. Reade Personnel in Drive for President The home office and managerial staffs of the Walter Reade Theatres will honor their president, Walter Reade, Jr., with a five-week "President's Month Drive" from Aug. 5 through Sept. 8, the circuit announced. Designed to honor Reade by increasing grosses and nets during the summer period, the drive will carry a minimum of $2,500 in weekly and series prizes for the managers of the nearly 40 competing drive-in and conventional theatres in the independent circuit. ^Cinerama' Patrons Get Special Train BOSTON, July 11.— The management of the Boston Theatre where "This Is Cinerama" is in its 28th week, has tied in with the New Haven Railroad for a special excursion train next Sunday to carry patrons to Boston for the 5 :30 performance. The train will pick up passengers at Providence, Pawtucket, Attleboro and Route 128 to Boston and will return them to their respective towns after the performance. Tradewise . . . (Continued from page 1) exhibitors from every corner of the land at national theatre owners' conventions at which he is a regular visitor, the impression is that no man could have made so many friends in only 35 years. Our own congratulations on Filmack's anniversary may leave but small impress among the huge volume it and Irving are certain to receive, but they are warm and sincere wishes, nevertheless, for a bright and prosperous future for the young company and its energetic, always good-natured captain. TV Set Production Down in 21 Weeks "WASHINGTON, July 11.— Television set production during the first 21 weeks of this year was almost onethird below the comparable 1953 period, according to the Radio-Electronics-Television Manufacturers Association. The association said 2,301,005 sets were produced during the 1954 period, compared with 3,309,757 sets in the like 1953 weeks. May output of television sets was put at 396,287 units compared with 481,936 sets last May. RETMA blamed the May drop largely on a strike in one large plant. Of the total 2,301,005 sets produced during the first 21 weeks of this year, 7,713 sets were color sets and 537,052 units included UHF tuning facilities. Of the 7,713 color sets produced, just under 3,000 were produced in May. Disney, Daiei Extend Contract for Japan HOLLYWOOD, July 11. — Roy Disney, president of Walt Disney Productions, and Masaichi Nagata, head of Daiei Co., Japan, have signed a deal extending for two years the distribution contract covering distribution of Disney product in Japan, where Daiei distributes Disney films jointly with RKO. 'Brides* Premiere In Houston Thursday M-G-M will hold the world premiere of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at Loew's State, Houston, on Thursday with producer Jack Cummings and five of the seven "brides" in the picture on hand to celebrate the occasion. Cummings will arrive in Houston tomorrow from Hollywood while the five girls — Ruta Lee, Betty Carr, Virginia Gibson, Julie Newmeyer, and Norma Doggett — arrived yesterday in the Texas city to begin a round of publicity and exploitation activities to herald the event. MOTION PICTURE DAILY, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Sherwin Kane, Editor; Terry Ramsaye, Consultingr Editor. Published daily, except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., 1270 Sixth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, New York 20, N. Y. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address: "Quigpubco, New York." Martin Quigley, President ; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Raymond Levy, Vice-President; Leo J. Brady, Secretary; Al Steen, News Editor; Herbert V. Fecke, Advertising Manager; G'us H. Fausel, Production Manager; Hollywood Bureau, Yucca-Vine Building, William R. Weaver, Editor, Hollywood 7-2145; Chicago Bureau, 120 South LaSalle Street, Urben Farley, Advertising Representative, FI 6-3074; Sam Lesner, Editorial Representative, 400 West Madison St., DE 2-1111. Washington, J. A. Often, National Press Club, Washington, D. C London Bureau, 4 Golden Sq., London W. 1; Hope Burnup, Manager; Peter Burnup, Editor; cable address, "Quigpubco, London." Other Quigley Publications: Motion Picture Herald; Better Theatres and Theatre Sales, each published 13 times a year as a section of Motion Picture Herald; Motion Picture and Television Almanac; Fame. Entered as second-class matter, Sept. 21, 1938, at the post office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates per year, $6 in the Americas and $12 foreign; single copies, 10c.