Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1956)

Motion Picture Daily Friday, November 2, 1 PERSONAL MENTION WILLLAM J. HEINEMAN, United Artists vice-president in charge of distribution, will return to New York this weekend from a vacation in Montana. • Ralph M. Cohn, Screen Gems vice-president and general manager, will leave here on Sunday via B.O.A.C. for London. • James R. Velde, United Artists general sales manager, will return to New York over the weekend from Chicago • Sam Spiegel, producer, will leave here tomorrow via B.O.A.C. for London. • Joseph L. Mankiewicz, producer, has left New York for Hollywood. • Oscar F. Neu, president of Neumade Products Corp., has entered New York Hospital here for a general checkup. • Seymour Friedman, producer, will leave New York on Sunday via B.O.A.C. for England. Birmingham Press Has Special Film Sections The Birmingham Theatres Association arranged with the "Birmingham News" and the Birmingham "PostHerald" for day and the publication of special motion picture sections on an elaborate scale with color. The Association took one co-operative page in each section and the papers sold local merchants on ad copy keyed to the movies for the balance of the section. Copy in both papers emphasized the "new movies, sparkling with stars and exciting drama" and featured local copy such as Alabama personalities in motion pictures. Brando in iSayonara' BURBANK, Calif., Nov. l.-Jack L. Warner today announced that Marlon Brando has been secured to star in "Sayonara," the William Goetz production of James Michener's bestselling novel of the same title, which Goetz Pictures, Inc., will film on location in Japan for Warner Bros, presentation, with Joshua Logan as director. Golden Jubilee Plan Endorsed Find A I ban Grosses Oj (Continued gram, which includes the Hollywood Press Conference, the merchandising and promotional plan for an "Oscar Sweepstakes," executive field trips, revision in advertising billings, an industry market survey, and advertising campaigns. Coast Trip for Newsmen The business building group liked the idea of the "Golden Jubilee" plan for this coming January, which would be launched by the executive field trip, it was said. The industry figures who would make these field tours would discuss the motion picture industry and its "state of the union" with newspaper publishers and editors. The tours would be followed by the Hollywood Press Conference, in which critics from newspapers in 300 cities with 100,000 or over populations would go to the production center to be given a "birds-eye view" of what the industry is doing there. A complete, detailed report is be fro m page 1 ) ing prepared by the studio advertising-publicity heads in Hollywood on the "Golden Jubilee" program for submission to the MPAA group here next week. It is reported that the business builders group will set up a meeting once the report is received to discuss adopting it. The MPAA committee also referred back to the advertising-publicity subcommittee on merchandising and promotion headed by Alfred H. Tamarin the proposal on staging of the "Oscar Sweepstakes." The plan will be further developed and strengthened so that it also could be launched this coming year in conjunction with the Academy Awards, it was stated. Gil Golden to Report Discussions were held on the industry market survey and on the advertising billings proposal, a report on which is being worked out by Gil Golden for presentation to the West Coast committees shortly. lor' Films on TV Worry Conn. Exchange HARTFORD, Nov. 1-In company with other situations across the country, the Hartford exchange territory is worried over stepped-up flow of major theatrical releases to television. Moreover, observers point out that major distributors have failed to stem the tide via long-promised expansion of releasing schedules. "What the industry lacks today," says Morris Keppner, who is in the indoor and drive-in theatre field in Connecticut, "is a backlog of, for a better descriptive term, block-busters to lure the long lines of audiences, be they old folks, middle age or teenagers, back to theatres. All we have today is intermittent attractions of this calibre and a tremendous amount of so-so product that was satisfactory in the pre-tv era and fails miserably today." Showing of Cantor Film Hurt Barney Tarantul, Burnside Theatre Corporation, East Hartford, told Motion Picture Daily that a recent Thursday night presentation of the Eddie Cantor-Farley Granger-Mona Freeman comedy-drama, "Sizeman and Son," hurt grosses. (The Burnside is a deluxe suburban house). Tarantul asserted that Sunday night programming, highlighted by such as the Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan and Bob Hope shows, cuts attendance drastically in the Hartford area. "I feel strongly that we should develop, for long-range insurance, an industry roster of stars, sign them to contracts that prohibit appearance in other mediums. In this vein, I be Gov't. Answers 20th-Fox In Airplane Tax Case WASHINGTON, Nov. 1. The Government argued today that a tax case appealed to the Supreme Court by Twentieth Century-Fox is "not of general importance" and should not be reviewed by the court. Fox had asked the high court to review a circuit court ruling that the Federal passenger transportation tax does not apply to amounts film studios pay for planes chartered to carry studio personnel taking air photos for picking out production locations. Fox had sued the Government to recapture tax paid on charter bills to the Paul Mantz Air Service for this type of work. Set iWinoV Openings Universal International's "Written on the Wind" is scheduled to open on Christmas Day at the United Artists Theatre in Chicago, the Joy Theatre in New Orleans, the Orpheum in Tulsa, and in other important key situations in addition to the opening at the Paramount in Hollywood to qualify as an Academy Award contender, it was announced yesterday by Charles J. Feldman, vice-president and general sales manager. The film is scheduled for January release following these special engagements. lieve we should support releases starring people like Clark Gable, who have proclaimed their loyalty to the industry and won't appear on television. If we follow a course of starring people who drift from tv to film and back again, we're going in for a schedule of mass suicide." Special to THE DAILY ] ALBANY, Nov. l.-A variety ol tors has caused an estimated dec of 10 to 20 per cent in theatre b ness for the Albany exchange disl this fall, as compared with the si period in 1955. Aside from the admitted stral competition, since Labor Day! television, the reasons for the fal of several highly-praised featura pull solid patronage puzzles indi people. "The public is not attending mi pictures on a large scale at pre the weather is too pleasant," somf | servers say or surmise. Indian mer not only came too late to a substantial difference to driv< but it also adversely affected cor tion theatres, according to the tl ing of this group. Other Factors Cited Other causes advanced for 1|| grosses include: weak product, of pictures appealing to the fi trade and to women; the vast e; sion of credit (particularly on mobiles); tight money; public ur ness and uncertainty; keener sell ' ity by entertainment-buyers; and running too long. Occasionally, the point is made prices in some instances may be high— but most industry observii gue this is not the case. Admitt the box office intake has increase a large number of situations, di the elimination of the 10 per federal tax on admissions of 90c less. This was not passed on ti patrons, in most cases; in fact, described as the margin whicl ables certain situations to rema the black. Few question that television ently is hurting the boxoffice. Brynner Unit Formed Yul Brynner, actor and diri yesterday announced the formatk his independent motion picture ganization, naming Virginia Br) as president. The company be called the Alcoins Produc Inc., he said. f : NEW YORK THEATI -RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL Rockefeller Center GARY COOPER "FRIENDLY PERSUASION" Color by De Luxe An Allied Artists Picture and SPECTACULAR STAGE PRESENTATION MOTION PICTURE DAILY, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Sherwin Kane, Editor; James D. Ivers, Managing Editor; Richard Gertner, News Editor; Floyd E. St Photo Editor; Herbert V. Fecke, Advertising Manager; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager; Hollywood Bureau, Yucca-Vine Building, Samuel D. Berns, Manager; William R. Wea Editor, Telephone HOllywood 7-2145; Washington, J. A. Otten, National Press Club, Washington, D. C; London Bureau, 4, Bear St., Leicester Square, W. 2, Hope Williams 1 nup, Manager; Peter Burnup, Editor; William Pay, News Editor. Correspondents in the principal capitals of the world. Motion Picture Daily is published daily except Saturdays, 8 days and holidays, by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., 1270 Sixth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, New York 20, Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address: "Quigpubco, New York." Ma Quigley, President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary. Other Quigley Publications: Motion Picture Her Better Theatres and Better Refreshment Merchandising, each published 13 times a year as a section of Motion Picture Herald; Television Today, published once weekly as a part Motion Picture Daily, Motion Picture Almanac, Television Almanac, Fame. Entered as second class matter Sept. 21, 1938, at the Post Office at New York N. Y. under the ac! March 3, 1879. Subscription rates per year, $6 in the Americas and $12 foreign; single copies, 10c.