Motion Picture Daily (Apr-June 1956)

iiesday, April 10, 1956 Motion Picture Daily 3 . . . NEWS ROUNDUP ew Home for RKO-Radio After a third of a century on upper ries of Meadow Street's Fihnrow, : RKO-Radio exchange in New iven has been shifted to a first or setting. All exchanges will be ving the structure within a year e building is part of a huge tract liked for city re-development, and, yet, there has been no word of a n building to house exchanges. anos Builds Drive-in George Manos and his son, Tom, i building a new 1,000-car drive-in "Canton, O., on Route 153. They je contracted with Ben L. Ogron 1 Ohio Theatre Supply Co. for all jipment. Theatre is expected to completed about May 1. rcle Lab Issues Directory The first edition of "N. Y. C," a ;ket sized directory of film servs available in the New York City a, has just been released by Circle m Laboratories, Herbert R. Pilzer, »:sident of the company, anmced. Compactly designed, it j5 the names, addresses and phone jnbers of over 600 firms, ti i! m tec-Cooper Contract gned vlarty Wolf, Altec Service Corp. i =3S manager, has announced the ■ wing of a contract with Cooper •jndation Theatres in Oklahoma y. The agreement, negotiated by .J. Zern, Altec Southwestern divil manager, Dallas, involves the terion, Harbor, Plaza and Tower atres, all in Oklahoma City. Zern assigned Altec field engineer T. Transue to provide technical servin behalf of the optical and eophonic sound equipment in the )per Foundation houses. pinquet to Honor ITSE's Walsh lichard F. Walsh, international sident of the IATSE, will be guest honor at a banquet on May 5 ich will be given by New York trict No. 10, at the St. George -el, Brooklyn, N. Y., it was annced by district chairman Thomas rtha. fie banquet will honor Walsh for election to the executive council dhe combined AFL-CIO. )ther guests of honor slated to at1 the May 5 banquet are Russell vning, managing director of Radio J Music Hall, and Deputy Commoner Charles W. Halloran of the v York State Department of As High as 25% in Chicago South and Midwest Report Upward Post-Easter Trend Although the Northeastern states have been hard hit by storms, thereby cutting into the post-Easter grosses, the South and Midwest appear to be showing signs of strength, box-office-wise, according to Motion Picture Daily field correspondents. The Atlanta area is reported feeling an upward trend of about 15 per cent over the same period last year. Sonny Shepherd of Florida's Wometco circuit said that patronage compared favorably with that of last year even though Easter came earlier this year. Al Weiss, division supervisor for Florida State Theatres, stated that although the season "started slow," business has been picking up. A Paramount Gulf spokesman reported business was spotty in New Orleans. "Picnic," the attraction at the RKO Orpheum, registered "towering" business reportedly surpassing that of the 1955 Easter attraction "The Long Gray Line." 'Carousel' Strong "Carousel," the first CinemaScope 55 film shown in New Orleans, continues its heavy drawing power in its second week at the State Theatre. Drive-in theatres and neighborhood houses in the New Orleans area report business is far better than that of last year's Easter and post-Easter periods. They attribute the improvement on better product and the Academy Award selections, such as "Marty," which was the attraction in a great number of theatres. Others chalking up box-office successes were "Rebel Without A Cause," "Mister Roberts" and "Love Me or Leave Me." In Chicago, post-Easter business increased from 10 to 25 per cent over the same period in 1955, according to a survey of theatres in the Loop and in neighborhood sections. Six Films Cited Loop theatre managers attributed the optimistic picture for 1956 to the entry of such top product as "Alexander The Great," "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" and "Miracle in the Rain," all of which opened in Chicago last week. Managers said "Picnic," "The Rose Tattoo," "The Conqueror" and "There's Always Tomorrow" were "lifesavers" as they outgrossed last year's business by approximately 15 per cent. Neighborhood theatres shared the same financial fervor with the showings of "I'll Cry Tomorrow," "Rains of Ranchipur," "Marty," "Last Frontier" and "Body Snatchers," which out-grossed similar attractions for 1955, it was said. Schaefer on 'Comanche' George J. Schaefer has been appointed producer's representative for Carl Krueger's CinemaScope production of "Comanche," a United Artists release. $1,000,000 'Oklahoma' Gross to Date Here An estimated 400,000 theatre-goers have paid a little more than $1,000,000 during the first six-month Broadway run of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma" in the Todd-AO system, presented on a two-day, reserved seat, road show policy. Rivoli Theatre officials, who made the estimate, reported the six-month period ends tomorrow. The picture opened here Oct. 1.3. Trans-Lux '55 Profit Reported at $143,878 Trans-Lux Corp., and its whollyowned subsidiaries, reported that operations for the year ended on Dec. 31, 1955, resulted in a net profit of $143,878, it was revealed in the company's annual report by Percival E. Furber, president and chairman of the board. Furber, in sending out the annual report to Trans-Lux stockholders, also announced that the company would hold its annual meeting here on April 26 to elect a board of 11 directors. The Trans-Lux net profit was derived after providing for income taxes amounting to $52,603 and after a reserve for amortization depreciation amounting to $101,073. The net profit of $143,878 compares with the net profit from operations for the preceding year of $184,612, after paying income taxes of $51,670 and after a reserve for amortization and depreciation of $82,998. Points to Product Shortage Furber declares in the annual report that "in general, theatre business this past year has reflected the substantial shortage of films being produced by the major companies in Hollywood and showed a downward trend. Because of this, the company has decided to further its interests in acquiring the distribution rights in the Western Hemisphere for motion pictures produced independently both here and abroad." Nominated as directors are Chester Bland, Harry Brandt, Richard Brandt, Robert Daine, Jay Emanuel, Furber, Aquila Giles, Edison Rice, Jacob Starr, Ralph Wiener, and Milton C. Weisman. It is also reported that Furber, as board chairman and president, received a remuneration of $31,430 in 1955 and that the total remuneration to the directors and officers as a group totaled $142,210. Includes Gera Corp. RKO Theatres Votes May 8 on Taking Arcade RKO Theatres Corp. yesterday announced that stockholders will be asked to approve the acquisition by RKO Theatres of all the assets of the Cleveland Arcade Co. in exchange for 1,043,706 shares of the common stock of RKO Theatres and the assumption of liabilities. Cleveland Arcade's principal asset is 84.4 per cent of the common stock of Gera Corp., a diversified enterprise engaged in textile finishing, electronic research and manufacturing, weaving of synthetic fabrics and various real estate operations. April Conclave Deferred Tire meeting of stockholders has been called for May 8 in lieu of the annual meeting deferred from the second Friday in April. Stockholders will also be asked to authorize the board of directors to make an offer to acquire the 15.6 per cent of Gera Corp. common stock not owned by Cleveland Arcade in exchange for an additional 216,294 shares of the circuit's stock. Celebrities Expected At 'Flannel' Debut Celebrities from all phases of show business, headed by Gregory Peck and Marisa Pavan of the picture's starring cast, will be at the Roxy Theatre here Thursday night for the gala March of Dimes premiere of Darryl F. Zanuck's "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." In addition to Peck and his wife, Veronique Passani, and film star Jean Pierre Aumont, who recently wed Miss Pavan, others present at the opening of 20th Century-Fox's filmization of Sloan Wilson's novel will include Shirley Jones, French actress Nicole Maurey, Celeste Holm, Barbara Ruick, Linda Darnell, Andrey Meadows and Polly Bergen. Marks 30-Year Point The premiere marks 30 years in the film industry as a producer for Darryl F. Zanuck, who started his career as a screenwriter. All proceeds from the opening of the picture topcasting Jennifer Jones and Fredric March with Peck will go to the polio-fighting organization in observance of the first anniversary of the development of Salk vaccine. The production in its first week at the Metropolitan, Boston, registered $26,121, against $20,061 for "The Left Hand of God" and $23,771 for "The Seven Year Itch." A seven-day mark of $18,241 is reported at the Harris, Pittsburgh, which shades "The Left Hand of God" and "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" by margins as high as $6,000.