Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1955)

Friday, March 4, 1955 Motion Picture Daily 5 Technicolor's Net Profit (Continued jrom page 1) Fox Video (Continued from page 1) shows featuring characters popularized in many 20th-Fox pictures was discussed along with the creation of programs starring new characters and personalities. The utilization of studio contract players in TV films as a spur to stardom also came under discussion. The talks also centered on the possible length of the shows, ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours, and the production of spectacular shows contingent on the requirements of advertisers. The slotting of shows during key viewing periods and other pertinent information as to the selection of story material for the important children's audience was covered in the talks. Top Officials Attend Leonard H. Goldenson, president of ABPT, headed a group of ABC-TV executives attending the meeting. With him were Robert E. Kintner, ABC-TV president ; Robert Weitman, vice-president in charge of TV programming ; John Mitchell, vicepresident in charge of the network ; George Schupert, vice-president in charge of film syndication ; Robert Lewine, director of the TV program department ; and Donald Durgin, director of sales development and research. Twentieth-Fox executives at the conclave were Al Lichtman, director of distribution ; Joseph H. Moskowitz, vice-president and Eastern studio representative ; Charles Einfeld, vicepresident ; Donald A. Henderson, treasurer and secretary ; and Martin Michel, TV and radio director. 'Saturday' Stars at Lancaster Premiere Stars of the entertainment world headed by Victor Mature, Stephen McNally, Sylvia Sidney and Margaret Hayes, who are topcast in "Violent Saturday/' will travel to Lancaster, Pa., for the world premiere of the 20th Century-Fox CinemaScope production there on April 1. The show business people will join a party of newspaper, TV, radio, magazine and film trade press representatives at the launching of Buddy Adler's initial production for 20th Century-Fox, opening of which will highlight a two-day junket through the heart of Pennsylvania. A banquet and a torchlight parade through the heart of Lancaster will precede the initial showing at the Colonial Theatre managed by Charles Koerner. Charge Partnership Violation in O. C. OKLAHOMA CITY, March 3.~ J. B. and Dovie Seale of Lockley, Tex., are seeking an injunction in Federal court here to prevent Jack and James Hull, Oklahoma City brothers who have had a booking firm on Film-row for the past several years, from touching theatre partnership funds. The Seales in their suit also asked dissolution of the partnership. They allege that the four entered into a partnership last Aug. 6 to operate the Ada Theatre at Ada, and that the Hulls were to direct the operation, but were not to take any pay out of profits until they had paid the plaintiffs $3,750. the year 1954 in a very strong liquid position, with $14,742,040 in current assets against which were $5,274,655 in current liabilities ; namely, net current assets of $9,467,385. Of the current assets, $11,872,452 are in cash and United States government obligations. Taking an optimistic look at the long-term future, Dr. Kalmus emphasized "improvements in quality of product and service which are only beginning to be realized from our strenuous technical program of the last 18 months, a strong belief in further important improvements to be realized during 1955, and the eventual success of our long range research and development program." Optimism is justified Dr. Kalmus said "with our work in television beginning to show results with the prospect of profitable diversification with substantial earnings from our British affiliate and good prospects in France and elsewhere abroad." In 1954, Dr. Kalmus said, Technicolor had commitments for 88 featurelength pictures produced in color by Technicolor or with prints by Technicolor. "As for this year's demand," he said, "currently 92 feature-length pictures in color by Technicolor or with prints by Technicolor are either under contract or in preparation for production photography." "Taxes of all kinds, totalling $3,261,027, represented 9.41 per cent of our sales dollar for the year, of which $186,459 was paid as payroll Social Security taxes," he said. "Income taxes for 1954 were equivalent to $1.31 per share of outstanding stock as compared with $1.18 per share available for dividends." Net sales of products and services for 1954 amounted to $34,654,980 as compared with $37,701,770 for 1953— "which did not include commissions received from the affiliated company, Technicolor, Ltd.," Dr. Kalmus said. During 1954 the sales volume of Technicolor 35mm. positive prints Reach Settlement In Rappaport Suit From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, March 3 — A private anti-trust damage and injunction suit brought by I. M. Rappaport of Baltimore against five distributors and two theatre circuits were settled for cash today after three weeks of trial in Federal District Court here. The settlement was agreed to by the parties, at the urging of Judge Luther Youngdahl. The suit was brought on behalf of Rappaport's Hippodrome and Town Theatres against Loew's, Paramount, Warner Brothers, United Artists and Universal and against the Loew's and Stanley Warner circuits. It alleged that the Hippodrome and Town had been unable to get enough first run pictures from 1947 through 1951 due to a conspiracy among the distributors. The suit sought $900,000 damages and an injunction that all future~bids be opened. The cash settlement agreed on today was not disclosed. The injunction demand was dropped. amounted to 529,906,813 feet, a decrease of about five per cent from 1953's all-time high. Dividends have been paid continuously for 19 years beginning in 1936, Dr. Kalmus pointed out. "The total paid on shares is $19,979,749," he said. Approximately 27 per cent of the 1954 dividend was paid out of capital, said Dr. Kalmus, which in the opinion of counsel, would not constitute taxable income but would be applied to reduce the price of the stock. Dr. Kalmus said approximately $385,000 was invested in permanent assets in 1954, making a total permanent asset investment since Jan. 1 1945, of approximately $8,000,000. During 1954, Dr. Kalmus said, the television division was particularly active, "aggressively entering into numerous experiments with producers of films for television.'' In the foreign field, Dr. Kalmus reported, the British affiliate, Technicolor, Ltd., showed a before-taxes profit in 1954 of £730,756, compared with £905,696 for 1953. The corresponding profit after taxation was £362,756 which was £28,060 greater than for 1953. The higher net profit after taxes was due to lower provision for excess profits levy. Technicolor Motion Picture Corp. received 1954 dividends from Technicolor, Ltd. of %277,2,79 after $124,820 was withheld for British tax. The shares of Technicolor, Ltd., owned by Technicolor, Inc., are carried on the balance sheet at $278,877 but its recent market value was more than $5,000,000, he said. During 1954, Technicolor, produced 64 pictures in color by Technicolor or with prints by Technicolor, and 31 feature films are in production or active preparation. Negotiations for a Technicolor affiliate in France were completed last year, Dr. Kalmus said, and the company, Societe Technicolor, was organized. Technicolor Motion Picture Corp. owns about 50 per cent of the stock in the company, which was formed with a capital of 1,000,000,000 financing. Goldwyn to Shoot 'G & D' in Cf Scope Samuel Goldwyn has selected CinemaScope as the medium in which his production of "Guys and Dolls" will be photographed, 20th CenturyFox announced here yesterday. The announcement said the latest designs of camera lenses developed by Bausch & Lomb will be turned over to Goldwyn for the start of shooting in Hollywood in the next few weeks, francs (about $3,250,000). 3 Heller Dividends CHICAGO, March 3.— Directors of Walter E. Heller & Co. have declared regular quarterly dividends on the company's common and two classes of preferred stock. The dividends are 35 cents a share on the common stock, $1 a share on the 4 per cent cumulative preferred, and $1.37^4 a share on the 5lA per cent cumulative preferred stock. All dividends are payable March 31 to holders of record on March 18. Heller is active in film financing. Disney (Continued from page 1) Disney is subject to clarification on only one point, as yet undisclosed publicly. Disney will leave here for New York by plane on Saturday to obtain the required clarification, it was said. He previously closed similar deals for television film exploitation of Disney theatrical product both in Italy and France. Cyril Edgar, Disney's London sales manager, said he anticipates an announcement of the closing of the B.B.C. deal by early next week. The five TV films involved in the deal are designed for promotion to TV audiences here of Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "The Lady and the Tramp" and "The Vanishing Prairie." They were prepared originally for the Disney Wednesday night television hour in America. However, no regular telecast hour is involved here. The films are designed for occasional use instead. Schlaifer (Continued from page 1) rangements with Jack Schlaifer, who resigned from United Artists this week, to take this picture. Schlaifer will leave immediately for Miami and Jacksonville to supervise the saturation bookings of the film in Florida. The exploitation and advertising of all saturation openings in each of the territories is being handled by Terry Turner for the producer, Visual Drama, Inc. 'Eden' Premiere to Draw Cast Members Leading members of the cast of Elia Kazan's Warner Bros. CinemaScope production of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" will attend the picture's world premiere next Wednesday evening at the Astor Theatre here which will be held for the benefit of the Actors Studio. Raymond Massey, Jo Van Fleet and Richard Davalos will be present for the opening, where they will join Kazan and Steinbeck in the audience at one of the most unusual premiere evenings Broadway has ever seen. Leaders of society and the entertainment world will act as usherettes, and an after-theatre French champagne supper and private entertainment — ■ starring, among others, Marilyn Monroe — at the Sheraton Astor Roof is included in the $50-per-ticket scale. All proceeds go to the non-profit Actors Studio. 'Robe' and 'Glenn' In Mexico's Top 4 MEXICO CITY, March 3. — A Mexican comedy and an American religious theme picture were the top box office champions here last year. The comedy, "Tailor Made Gentleman," starring "Cantinflas" (Mario Moreno), this country's top moneymaking film comedian, led all with a grand gross of $111,965 in 44 days. Close runner-up was 20th CenturyFox's "The Robe," which grossed $103,891 in 70 days. Another Mexican film, "When I'm Gone," was third with $80,175 in 42 days. Universal-International's "The Glenn Miller Story" garnered $72,350 in 63 days.