Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1956)

OL. 80, NO. 1 NEW YORK, U. S. A., MONDAY, JULY 2, 1956 TEN CENTS beginning Now Sustained B.O. Jpturn Seen |3y Goldenson telieves '56 Final Quarter Vill Surpass Last Year's L. H. Goldenson By SHERWIN KANE A prediction that the expected upim in gross theatre receipts this iimmer not only will be sustained but iill result in a better final quarter lis year than Inhibition exerienced in the 9 5 5 fourth uarter, was jiade by Leonrd Goldenson, •resident o f m e r i c a n jroadcastiig Paramount heatres, at the ieekend. The predic•m was based li large part on il.e attractive lineup of releases from (Continued on page 8) rov't Survey Forecasts 956 Better than 1955 From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, July 1-The Comerce Department has predicted that lie motion picture industry business the second half of 1956 will be stter than in the first half, and that (Continued on page 8) Ratify Fox Purchase tf Schlesinger Circuit CAPETOWN, June 28-The £10, )0,000 deal whereby 20th Centuryhx acquires Schlesinger African Thetrcs was ratified here today in the resence of Spyros P. Skouras, 20thiiox president. The largest such deal I the country's history includes 140 l operties in both large and small jtuations. Twentieth Century-Fox ud £1,250,000 alone for the cirIrit's Cape theatres. The purchase | as negotiated last summer and with j day's ratification becomes an ac tmplished fact. Television Today IN THIS ISSUE PAGE 6 ► Spotlighting the news in Television Today: the American Broadcasting Company announces the results of a 16-city survey showing automobile dealers' preference for national advertising on television. ► Passing in Review— The week's highlights in shows. ► In the picture: NTA's Ely Landau discusses his "fourth network." Critical of Their Attitude Roger Lewis Says Exhibitors fail To Take Advantage of Pre-Selling By JACK EDEN A warning that "it's time the major exhibitors more actively support the promotion campaigns of our films or they will soon find themselves without the near-million pre-selling campaigns" was made yesterday by Roger H. Lewis, director of advertising, publicity and exploitation for United Artists. Issuing a warning that "exhibitors should support the promotion campaigns if ~ MKL they feel they tracting larger Roger Lewis audience s," Lewis added that the current campaign being carried out on "Trapeze" will serve as a guide for future promotional programs. While he did not directly pre; j ( Continued on page 8 ) Pistor New Executive Of W. J. German Go. The appointment of John A. Pistor, distribution manager of the motion picture film sales department of Eastman Kodak Co., as an executive of W. J. German, Inc. of Hollywood, Cal., the distributor of Eastman professional motion picture film, has been reported by Kodak. Joining Kodak in 1938, Pistor served briefly in the physics division of the KoJohn Pistor dak Research L ab oratories and with the quality control group before being named assistant foreman of the Cine-Kodak film department in 1939. He later was transferred in 1946 to the company's motion picture sales department where he handled scheduling and distribution of all pro(Continued on page 2) See Soviets Seeking to Enter Berlin Festival By V. VON ZUEHLSDORFF BERLIN, July 1 With a view toward "restoring friendly relations" with West German film officials, the Soviet Government has offered to return its big radio broadcasting building to the West German government and, in addition, grant freedom to (Continued on page 2) July 30-31 TO A to Hold Showmanship Forum in Chi. To Invite 50 Members to P re-Convention Meeting By LESTER DINOFF Approximately 50 members of Theatre Owners of America will be invited to attend a two-day forum at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chi Myron Blank Walter Reade cago, July 30-31 for an exchange of tried and proved business-building ideas and to devise new ones for improving today's box office, it was jointly announced here at the weekend by Myron N. Blank, TOA president, and Walter Reade, Jr., executive chairman of the exhibition group's ( Continued on page 8 ) Tenders Expected; WB Stock at New '56 High With the Serge Semenenko group on the verge of completing their purchase of the Brothers Warner controlling stock interest in Warner Bros. Pictures at the weekend, market activity in the stock accelerated again on Friday with nearly 40,000 shares changing hands for the second consecutive day to send the issue to a new high for the year. It closed at 26M, up 1% for the day. The purchasing group is paying $27.50 per share for the Brothers Warner holdings. From the market action, Wall Street obviously expects the new owners to invite tenders from other stockholders at a price in excess of $26 per share.