Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1955)

6 Motion Picture Daily Thursday, March 17, 1955 People Adolph Zukor will be interviewed by Ralph Edwards on NBC-TV's "Entertainment 1955" on Sunday night, March 27. n Ben Colman has been named Eastern sales manager and S. L. Adler has been appointed senior account executive of Screen Gems, television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. W. Parkman Rankin, manager of "This Week" Magazine's motion picture advertising department, has been advanced to the publication's administrative staff. Don Jacques, film consultant, has opened a film production cost control organization here. F. H. Hathaway is closing his two indoor theatres, the Ritz at Struthers, and the Bell at Campbell, both in Ohio, to devote his full time to his Midway Drive-in at North Kingsville. He plans to reopen the four-wall houses in the fall. Edwin Elkins, new president of the Collectors Club of New York and secretary of the Association of Stamp Exhibitions, will be the guest speaker at the Cinema Stamp Collectors' meeting here on March 23 WCBS-TV Acquires 12 Hygo Pictures The acquisition by WCBS-TV here of a package of 12 theatrical films from Hygo Television Films, Inc., has been announced here. The films, released from 1942 to 1951 for theatrical distribution, include "Smash-Up," "Salome, Where She Danced," "Gung-Ho," "Ladies Courageous," "Operation X" and "Eagle Squadron." Distribution rights to all of them were described as having reverted to the original producers, or said to be no longer governed by the distribution rights of the original distributors, which consisted of RlvO Radio Pictures, Universal, United Artists and Columbia. Cunningham Resigns Columbia Ad Post John Cunningham, for the past three years creative advertising manager for Columbia Pictures, has resigned. Cunningham, whose resignation will become effective on Monday is leaving to form his own advertising and promotion firm and will concentrate on motion picture accounts. Review Le&MTm from wzkim GET TO YOU QUICKER ARE ALWAYS BETTER! S«nd U> Your Next Ordar And W« Will Prev* It To You. 1ECEHI St.WikMk DMugl, "Treasure of Ruby Hills" (Allied Artists) Hollywood, March 16 APART from the presence in the top role of Zachary Scott, who hasn't been generally identified with Westerns, this production by William F. Broidy of a story about Soledad, Calif., in 1877 conforms closely to pattern. It has as much killing as has become fashionable recently, which makes the death rate in Soledad pretty high for the duration of the script, and it has less riding than most prairie pictures, although the male population of the town is designated as engaged in the raising of cattle as a principal pursuit. On the other side, it has more principal characters — no less than three main villains, not counting an elderly outlaw who goes straight just in time to get plugged — than most Westerns, big or little. Whether this is good or bad for it depends on one's skill at remembering faces and ferreting out motives. By and large, the film figures to make its rounds of the exhibition circuit without leaving memorable impress of either kind. The direction is by Frank McDonald, one of the most dependable craftsmen in his profession, who used a script by Tom Hubbard and Fred Eggers. In it Scott plays the honest son of a dead outlaw whose pal, the belated reformer mentioned above, tries to keep him from riding into Soledad, where, another pal's been murdered, and where law hasn't arrived yet in 1877. Scott is somewhat foggily shown in the script to be bent upon running the reigning bad men out of Soledad and taking over control (beneficient) by right of his control of the water supply (the treasure of Ruby Hills as per the title). It takes a lot of shootin', killin', talkin' and explainin' to get it done, but he does it, by cracky, in 71 minutes flat. His cast associates include Carole Mathews, Barton MacLane, Dick Foran, Lola Albright, Gordon Jones, Raymond Hatton, Lee Van Cleef, Steve Darrell and Rick Vallin. Running time 71 minutes. General classification. WILLIAM R. WEAVER B.B.C. Books Eight Disney Promotional Films for Telecast By PETER BURNUP LONDON, March 16. — Following negotiations between Roy Disney and Cyril Edgar on one side and Cecil McGivern and Cecil Madden of the BBC on the other, the latter has booked eight of the "Disneyland" TV films which figure in the weekly Disney Hour in the U. S. Amount of the booking fee has not been disclosed. First subject — "Photographers on the Vanishing Prairie" — will be put out on April 12 and synchronise with the West End premiere of "The Vanishing Prairie." A second Vanishing Prairie TV film will go out when the picture starts its general release. Debate Expected A similar practice will obtain in connection with the TV subsidiaries to "20,000 Leagues" and "Lady and the Tramp." In other words, the Disney Organization here does not propose — at least for the time being — setting up a weekly Disney Hour on the TV service. The deal with the BBC will, nevertheless, inevitably promote much concerned debate among exhibitors here. At the instance of CEA, the trade's four associations agreed in January, 1954, that televised extracts from films should not exceed five minutes in length. Exhibitors, moreover, have threatened not to trade with producers who make films also for television. DC A to Distribute 'Animal Farm9 Fred Schwartz, president of distributors Corp. of America, announced that "Animal Farm," the feature film cartoon based on George Orwell's novel, and produced by Louis de Rochemont, will be released nationally through DCA. "Animal Farm" recently had its premiere in New York at the Paris Theatre. Italy's Film Makers To Help Pakistan Develop Industry By ARGEO SANTUCCI ROME, March 16. — A delegation of Italian film technicians has left here for Pakistan to study the possibility of establishing an active film industry and to intensify production in that country. In the frame of the plan for "industrializing" Pakistan which includes also motor car manufacturing with the cooperation of American companies, and textiles, with Japan closely collaborating, the Pakistanian government had asked the cooperation of the Italian film industry for setting in action its own motion picture production. Makes About Five Yearly Pakistan currently produces around five pictures annually and under a five-year plan, the government hopes to raise the native production of fulllength feature films to 40 or 50 films per year by building studios, dubbing and other equipment necessary to active production. The five-year plan also includes the building of additional theatres — raising the present 303 houses to 1,000 and 2,000. The plan to "industrialize" Pakistan's film industry calls for Italian producers to provide technical "knowhow" as well as the majority of foreign personnel and equipment required under the project. The cooperation of the Italian industry is not intended on the grounds of a coproduction system, though it is likely that Italian film makers will participate with a 50 per cent interest in some productions, it was said. Starr 'Ridge' to Tudor Moe Kerman, president of Tudor Pictures, Inc., has announced that his company has acquired the United States distributing rights to "Heartbreak Ridge" from Metro-GoldwynMayer. (Continued from page 1) FCC before the May 9 deadline was stressed by Starr. After that, he said, would come the time for intensive public relations work with emphasis on the cost to the average family of buying unscrambling devices and keeping them serviced. He also pointed to the strong possibility that the most popular TV programs might move out of the free class into the subscriber paid group. Starr stuck closely to the point of view of public interest, with TV channels seen as public property used free by TV transmitters and not to be employed for the benefit of "boxoffice in the home" systems. After showing the 16mm. film "Zenith Presents Phonevision," Starr carefully refuted each of its arguments, giving his audience useful ammunition for local phases of the battle. Points to Palm Springs After describing details of the Telemeter and Skiatron systems, he said, "I'm convinced that only the slot machine system would really work." He explained the Telemeter tests in Palm Springs which were designed to show that televising of features simultaneously with their showing at a first-run theatre could make it possible to work out arrangements profitable, too, to the exhibitor. Telemeter, he added, is now 80 per cent controlled by Paramount. Starr emphasized the stake of advertising agencies in the fight against toll-TV and stressed the effect of this new inducement to families to stay at home, on transportation systems, restaurants and civic organizations, all of which, he said, should be lined up on the side of exhibitors. TV Bid Deluge (Continued from page 1) of the major film companies were even considering at this stage the sale of old feature films to TV. WB to Produce TV Show for ABC Warner Brothers, under the special TV unit to be headed by Jack M. Warner, will produce a weekly hour TV show for the American Broadcasting Co., a subsidiary of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, it was disclosed here yesterday. The deal, although not yet signed, was said to call for a series of TV film shows, which will be telecast beginning next fall. Hold Services for George Poli, 58 NEW HAVEN, Mar. 16.— Funeral services were held yesterday here for George Poli, 58, theatrical booking agent, who died Sunday. He was the nephew of the late Sylvester Z. Poli, founder of the large Poli Theatres Circuit. In the days of vaudeville, George Poli booked acts for his uncle's chain in New England and New York. After his uncle's death in 1939, he went into a partnership booking circuses and other shows around the country. He went into booking on his own in 1945. Survivors include his widow, Margaret Daphne Poli of Rego Park, N. Y. ; his parents, and sister.