Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1954)

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VOL. 76. NO. 109 NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1954 TEN CENTS Disclose List Exhibitors in DC A Operate 1,005 Houses Schwartz Sees Co. Boost In Capitalization Soon By MURRAY HOROWITZ Major exhibitors throughout the country are represented in the Distributors Corp. of America stockholders list, made public here yesterday by DCA president Fred J. Schwartz. Schwartz, at the same time, disclosed that DCA is contemplating increasing its capitalization, the $1,000,000 of DCA preferred stock having already been fully subscribed. DCA stockholders, scattered throughout the country operate {Continued on page 6) Fred Schwartz Smith Leaves USIA; Shelton in His Post Frcm THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, Dec. 7. — Andrew W. Smith, Jr., is resigning effective Dec. 11, as chief 'of the U. S. Information Agency's Motion Picture Service, and will be replaced by the present deputy chief. Turner B. Shelton. This was announced today by the (Continued on page 6) D oiling er Asks Study Of Admission Prices special to THE DAILY BOSTON, Dec. 7.— Film rentals and advanced admission prices keynoted the address of Irving Dollinger, of New Jersey Allied, in an address delivered here today at the convention of Independent Exhibitors, Inc. Dollinger made a strong plea for (Continued on page 6) TOA Mid-Winter Meet Feb. 13-15 The joint mid-winter meeting of the executive committee and board of directors of Theatre Owners of America will be held Feb. 13-15 at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington. The sessions previously had been tentatively set to start on Feb. 5. Walter Reade, Jr., chairman of the board, and Alfred Starr, chairman of the executive committee, will preside. Fabian Again Asks Unity OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec. 7. — Reiterating his stand of a year ago. Si Fabian, president of Stanley Warner Corp., today called for "one big organization" of e.xh i b i t o r s which, he asserted, could move the industry ahead five years in it'^ thinking with a period of s i x months of concentrated effort. Fabian, speaking at the annual convention here of the Theatre Owners of Oklahoma, attacked moves by some indus(Contimtcd on page 3) Si Fabian BoxoMce Stimulant M-G-M 'SALUTE TO THEATRES^IN '55 Campaign, to Run from Jan. 1 to April 30, To Use 'There's More Fun at Movies' Slogan Plans for a nation-wide campaign by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to help increase theatre business in 1955 and designed as a salute to the company's exhibitor customers were announced yesterday by Charles M. Reagan, vice $16,500,000 For Cinerama As of Nov. 27 By LESTER DINOFF .\t the end of the 14-montli period ending Dec. 31, 1955, "This Is Cinerama" and "Cinerama Holiday," which will have been exhibited in 16 United States and Canadian cities by then, will have grossed about $20,000,000, Ira S. Stevens, treasurer and assistant secretary of Cinerama Productions, Inc., informed company stockholders at a Barbizon Plaza Hotel meeting held here yesterday. Basing his assumptions on the average attendance of 65 per cent at the 13 theatres in the U. S. now presenting "This Is Cinerama," Stevens stated that the $20,000,000 anticipated (Continued on page 3) 'There's No Business Like Show Business' [20th Centitry-Fox] (CinemaScope) SOME extraordinarily happy results entertainment-wise, which is, of course, to say commerce-wise, flow from a prodigal mmghng of many top-flight talents before some of the best utilized technical developments the screen has displayed since the opening of the get-themout-o£-the-living-room era last year, in this wonderful motion picture, "There's No Business Like Show Business." It is, most assuredly and unreservedly, worthy of its title and living proof of it. The quality of the performances of Ethel Merman, Donald O Connor, (Continued on page 3) Charles Reagan president and general sales manager, at a luncheon with trade press representatives at the Sheraton Asfor Hotel here. The campaign will be officially titled "MG-M's 195 5 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration." The slogan for the salute will be "There's More Fun at the Movies!" While the promotion activity will be undertaken by M-G-M from Jan. 1 through April 30, the company hopes that the momentum will be maintained indefinitely. In describing the campaign, Reagan said : "I believe there is every indication that 1955 will be a great movie year and that the upswing started in '54 will continue and will be accelerated. We are convinced that this business is (Continued on page 6) Tnterim' Extension For NT Divestiture From THE DAILY Bureau, WASHINGTON, Dec. 7. — The Justice Department has agreed to give National Theatres an "interim" extension of its Dec. 7 divestiture deadline until Jan. 10. Before that date, it is planned. Justice and National will work out another, longer extension which _ it is hoped will be the final extension of National's divestiture deadline. Under the original 20th Century(Continued on page 3) HAROLD HECHT presents GARY COOPER ★ BURT LANCASTER "%i£R£k CRUX" IN SUPERSCOPE IN THE FEB. ISSUE OF • More than 4,322,140 Primary Readers THE MAGAZINE FOR YOUNG ADULTS