Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1956)

idav, November 7, 1956 Motion Picture Daily Continued from page 1) their acquisition to the time tlm's release," he said, j over the company's releas•dule for the coming year, the executive said he plans "to i;avy advertising and publicity bear on each of our films." er said that one part of this L commencing with "Baby Provides for the department to 1 "a pre-release publicity manii'hich will be included all publeaks, ideas on what has been ivhat will be done, national |etc." s It Better than Pressbook jnger said that in many irithis "pre-release publicity would be of better service ' pressbook which has lost its •mess. The exhibitor's utilizaa pressbook now is very, very j to a point where he just ! advertising mats, and in some Is, nothing at all. Our idea is j all of our home office perfieldmen, salesmen and others ith the manual on each film. ;t would get a complete knowlall ideas concerning publicity Id be of better service to the Ys Publicity Awards Project Is Held Up PO To Present Case orand Committee Council of Motion Picture Orons' national tax committee jtify the House Ways and Committee that they intend to rief or have a representative ,before the Forand Committee se taxes, Robert W. Coyne, counsel and a member of the i triumvirate, said here on 3rrand Committee is scheduled hearings on excise taxation 26. on Video Continued from page 1 ) , ige Trendex rating of 29.4 for >le show. Lawrence Welk on reportedly drew a 17.4 ratng one hour of the film. Sid oulled a rating of 10.3 during lei hour on NBC-TV, acta Trendex. esults were closely studied by s of the motion picture indus|riew of the great number of matures which will be appearv screens more frequently this Business was called "absoormal" by several Broadway managers. aurentiis Firm Continued from page 1) .vill serve as vice-president, aurentiis is here to talk with ia officials on production plans new film, "The Seawall," the of which is scheduled to begin xt year in Ceylon. He plans New York about one week. ( Continued committee and its press relations and Audience Awards sub-committee, emphasize that this deviation from the plan tentatively set for the Audience Awards campaign does not reflect any friction with the Academy Awards group, or the MPAA advertising group which has come up with several projects requiring exhibitor cooperation. The letter says, in part: "A development in the Audience Awards project should be reported to you. The promotion was planned by the Press Relations Committee and its sub-committee for Audience Awards, and approved by the COMPO Board on Sept. 25, 1956 as a part of a larger TOA plan for pubhe relations activity. "Following the announcement of the plan . . . opposition was voiced by Academy Awards officials in Hollywood who expressed the fear that the activity at the time decided upon would tend to conflict with the Academy Awards and might lessen the impact of the latter promotion. from page 1 ) Elmer Rhoden, national co-chairman, was disposed to agree to some extent . . . because of his feeling that the post-Christmas dates would not provide maximum value to theatre operators who hoped to book winning pictures to advantage. "An additional reason entering into this decision is the projected program by the MPAA Advertising group, which has received much publicity and which includes a proposed 'Oscar Derby' and a number of other projects which would require exhibitor cooperation. It is anticipated that this latter planning will be coordinated with the TOA recommendations to COMPO for business building (including Audience Awards) and a few days delay has appeared warranted even though COMPO has not been officially approached concerning the MPAA group's proposal. "We want you to know that this deviation from the plan tentatively set for Audience Awards does not reflect any friction between the groups mentioned." Havas Named {Continued from page 1) appointment of Havas, who will operate under Ned Clarke, foreign sales manager of Walt Disney Productions, takes effect Dec. 3. He will have his headquarters in Paris. Havas is slated to supervise the entire European distribution setup of Walt Disney product, both in the theatrical and television fields. He will be in over-all charge of Walt Disney Film Distributors, Ltd., in the United Kingdom and he will also supervise the release of Disney product through the established independent distributing organizations on the continent. For the past eight years Havas has been Latin-American sales supervisor for RKO. Prior to that he was RKO European sales manager. O' Shea's Status (Continued from page 1) that technically he had not resigned but that it would be unfair for him to continue as a member in view of the fact that he will be spending a large part of his time at the studio and would be unable to take part in the deliberations. Paul Quinn, RKO executive and O'Shea's alternate, continues to serve on the Code subcommittee. 'Giant' Business {Continued from page 1) fourth week, with $107,000 estimated for the week ending tonight. Meanwhile in Chicago it grossed $52,796 in the first four days of its second week and is expected to equal or surpass its big first week of $80,000. At Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood it is continuing its first two weeks' pace with $44,000 seen for the third. The picture is also doing well in new openings including Miami, where $65,000 is estimated for the first week; in Cleveland, where $41,000 is seen for the first week; Pittsburgh, where $50,000 is expected and New Orleans, with $45,000 seen. Set Critics9 Awards HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 6. The American Cinema Editors has set Dec. 6 as the date of its third annual critics' award presentation to be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. San Franciscans Like Three-Hour Plus Films Special to THE DAILY SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6 Earl Long, manager of the Paramount Theatre, is convinced that "good films of unconventional length are appreciated here." He made the observation upon reporting that the opening day of Warner Bros.' "Giant" was the highest for the theatre in ten years in spite of the fact that the first show began at 10 A.M. There were standees for every performance through the last show starting at 11:40 P.M. "Giant" was preceded at the theatre by Paramount's "War and Peace," which enjoyed an excellent run, Long said. Meet Set for Friday On 'Oscar Sweepstakes' The merchandising and promotion subcommittee of the Motion Picture Association of America's Advertising and Publicity Committee will meet here on Friday to crystallize its plans for staging an "Oscar Sweepstakes" in conjunction with the forthcoming Academy Awards, it was reported. The meeting, which will be presided over by Alfred Tamarin of United Artists, will be held at the Harvard Club here. Tamarin said on Monday that the plan thus far has been outlined on broad aspects and the committee now will proceed to formulate it by including experiences of similar "Oscar Sweepstakes" projects which took place last year in Canada and in other parts of this nation. According to another representative of the advertising-publicity committee, the "Oscar Sweepstakes" idea "will be launched this coming January with or without sanction of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences." He said that the Academy's viewpoint thus far on the proposal "has been vague. They seem to feel that the public will not see all of the films which are eligible. I wonder whether all of the Academy's members see all the films eligible before they vote." genuine motion picture edition of a novel," says Box Office Branson To Coast Walter Branson, RKO vice-president in charge of world-wide distribution, left yesterday for Hollywood for a series of conferences with RKO president Daniel T. O'Shea and William Dozier, RKO vice-president in charge of production. While there Branson will also look at the company's forthcoming product. He is stopping off at Chicago enroute to the coast. Not a "condensation" — not an "abridged version" — a fabulous adaptation by Bernard Geis, former Coronet editor — foreword by Dr. Atwood H. Townsend of N.Y.U. The complete picture-story of the "world's greatest novel" in a cavalcade of photographs and sequences far surpassing mere text and illustrations. TwePicTurursrotra' LeoTelstoyS PEACE At your bookseller $198 FREDERICK FELL, New York "Besides its entertaining qualities, the book should prove a valuable reference volume— and a possible collector's item." The Hollywood Reporter