Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1956)

1.1! day, July 20, 1956 Motion Picture Daily ■i PEOPLE ton Leonard, assistant director of acertising-publicity for Odeon The,^ss (Canada) Ltd., has been named ,M;ctor of the department, effective Jg. 27. He will replace James Hardinn, who has resigned. □ Vate Oberman, for 30 years booker the M-G-M exchange in Boston, i for the past 15 years head booker, > resigned to make his home in the iiBi s Angeles area, near his married ighter and married son. He has no ler business affiliation in mind at s time. □ Zygmunt Rossiliano, formerly at ew's Palace, Hartford, Conn., is w on the staff of Loew's 175th St. eatre, New York. □ Phil Cowan, of the Columbia Broadsting System television departnt, has been named manager of press relations. He was at one time de news editor of Eagle Lion Films d handled special events for CBS lio. □ George Roscoe has resigned as sales inager in Atlanta for Columbia Pic Ed Thome, former president of iited Theatres Owners of Oklahoma, s resigned his field staff post with idlinger & Co. of Ridley Park, Pa., become manager of the Oklahoma ty Variety Club. es. □ o Hear Arguments in ius Stop' Suit Tues. Arguments in the suit brought by illiam Inge, author of "Bus Stop," d the W-S Bus Stop Corp. seeking restrain 20th Century-Fox from raising the film version of the play fore Dec. 1, will be heard in U.S. strict Court here Tuesday. Judge Richard H. Levet will preside the hearing. In the complaint, Inge ntends that under the contract be■een his firm and Fox the latter jes not have the right to release the n version of "Bus Stop" before Dec. Fox, meanwhile, has put the picture its August release schedule. ord to Direct Lemmon, agney in 'Last Hurrah' A January, 1957, production date s been set by John Ford who will rect James Cagney and Jack Lembn in starring roles of "The Last irrah," a picturization of the best lling novel by Edwin O'Connor. To be released by Columbia, the m will have the same group— Ford, igney, Lemmon and screenplay writFrank Nugent, which teamed tother last year for "Mr. Roberts." AB-PT Profit (Continued from page 1) properties and sites. Thus, consolidated half-year earnings were $5,109,000, or $1.19 a common share, as against $3,438,000, or 79 cents a share, for the same period of 1955. Goldenson pointed out that the ABC Broadcasting Division continued to improve. The theatre business paralleled general conditions in the motion picture industry with profits lower in the second quarter. Third quarter improvement was expected with the availability of a number of good quality pictures. In line with the company program of building the most effective operating position by retaining theatres with good earning capabilities and disposing of less economic theatre properties, Goldenson said that 22 theatres were sold or otherwise disposed of in the first six months. Reporting on the company's electronics interests, Goldenson said that Technical Operations, Inc., in which the company has a stock interest, recently signed a research contract with the Atomic Energy Commission in connection with reactor safety program. 'Producer' Credit Set For Films of Republic HOLLYWOOD, July 19.-Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures today reversed the screen credit policy which frequently has been cited by contract producers as their reason for preferring to work for other studios, where it is custom to give a producer full screen credit. Heretofore producers working at Republic have been limited to "associate producer" credit. Today Screen Producers Guild president Samuel G. Engel and Yates jointly announced that full "producer" credit will be given, in line with all other major studios' policy. Desilu Closes with NTA For Series Production A $1,250,000 deal calling for the filming of 39 shows of "The Sheriff of Cochise" for tv presentation has been finalized between National Telefilm Associates and Desi Arnaz, representing Desilu Productions. The series, created and produced by Morton Briskin and starring John Bromfield, is said to be the first high budget show expressly for tv syndication. Quimby Hospitalized HOLLYWOOD, July 19. Fred C. Quimby, head of M-G-M short subject production, who entered St. Vincent's Hospital here last week on his return from a Hawaii vacation, is resting satisfactorily after major surgery performed today by Dr. Francis E. Browne. Dr. Browne told Motion Picture Daily that Quimby "came through beautifully" and said the operation was for "nothing he should not recover from completely." Ad-Publicity Committee In Tribute to Blumenstock The advertising-publicity directors committee of the Motion Picture Association of America yesterday paid tribute to the memory of Mort Blumenstock, former advertising-publicity head of Warner Bros., who died Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Calif. Their statements said, in part: "Mort Blumenstock was one of the truly great merchandising talents of our industry and a person of very high integrity. He brought great distinction to his chosen field and made many outstanding contributions to its development through the years. Omaha lst-Run to Try 10-Day, 2-Week Limits OMAHA, July 19-Due to a backlog of new product, Ralph Goldberg will experiment with 10-day and two week runs for films at his downtown first-run house, the State Theatre. The experiment, now in effect, finds "Alexander the Great" shifting from the State to Goldberg's major neighborhood theatre, the Dundee. He said if the move proves successful, he will do the same to "The Great Locomotive Chase." Goldberg added that "Alexander the Great" produced good business the first week but it slumped the second week. "Catered Affair" suffered the same fate, he said, while in contrast "Trapeze" has held up well at the Omaha Theatre. "The King and I" opened impressively at the Orpheum last weekend, Goldberg said, and will run for a second week at the Tristates Theatre. 'Away All Boats' Opens At 'Hell' Gross Level U-I's "Away All Boats," which opened in 27 situations from Coastto-Coast on Wednesday, drew the biggest grosses of any U-I release since the record-breaking "To Hell and Back," which opened late last August and became one of the company's best grossing pictures. Early reports, but with full receipts not yet compiled, were received by the U-I home office on the first "Boats" engagements in such situations as Keith's Memorial, Boston; Joy Theatre, New Orleans; the Golden Gate, San Francisco, and more than 20 regular and drive-in theatres in the Los Angeles territory. 'Loreg Live King" to RKO Daniel T. O'Shea, president of RKO Radio Pictures, announced yesterday the signing of a contract with Royal Crest Prod, for the release of "Long Live the King," which will begin shooting in Sweden on Sept. 1 with Michael Wilding in the lead. RKO's distribution rights are worldwide with the exception of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Preston Sturges will direct. . . . NEWS ROUNDUP 'G. & D.' in Brussels Today Samuel Goldwyn's "Guys and Dolls" will have its European premiere today at the Eldorado Theatre in Brussels. The producer and Mrs. Goldwyn will attend the event. ■ 'Mistress for Murder' to UA United Artists will release "Mistress for Murder," to be produced in England by Burt Balaban. Dennis O'Keefe will be starred. ■ U-I Winners to Celebrate The Cleveland Universal-International exchange, winner in the national Charles Feldman sales drive, has invited the exhibitors of the territory to a celebration luncheon at the branch office on Monday. ■ Russell-Waterfield Tour Set Jane Russell and her husband, Robert Waterfield, will make their first motion picture promotional tour together in behalf of their Russ-Field production of "Run for the Sun." They will leave here by plane for Hollywood on Monday, following which they will make appearances in Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth. ■ Two N. Y. Premieres Columbia has announced two premieres in New York on Aug. 1: "Autumn Leaves," starring Joan Crawford, will open at the Astor Theatr-i and "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," starring Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor, at the Paramount. ■ Film Air-Shipments Heavy Motion picture and television film ranked tenth in tonnage among all types of air freight flown by United Air Lines in the first half of 1956, according to R. L. Wangold, manager of cargo sales. Sen. OK's Customs Bill WASHINGTON, July 19. The Senate has passed an Administrationbacked bill to simplify U. S. customs procedures. The House has already passed the measure but a HouseSenate conference will be necessary to straighten out differences between the two versions of the bill. Stanley Warner Dividend The board of directors of Stanley Warner Corp. has declared a dividend of 25 cents per share on the common stock, payable Aug. 24 to stockholders of record Aug. 6.