Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1956)

av, November 20, 19ob MOTION JTICTURE DAILY 3 ate 'Oscar9 ^initiations .From THE DAILY Bureau ^LYWOOD. Nov. 19— Nominajbr the 29th annual awards of pjidemy of Motion Picture Arts bees will be announced Feb. 183 |t is announced by George Sealicademv president. All pictures hnted by the nominees will be |?d for Academy members at Blemy Award Theatre in Holduring the last week in Februd the first three weeks of Approximately 1,800 members te for the final winners. I Academy board of governors pted earlier this year not to j; the coming nominations. The presentation is set for March 57 loick, Stars Attending <ecca' Bow Tonight :j-incer David O. Selznick and -'"Century-Fox stars Betty Lou "itnd Warren Berlinger will head •>f celebrities and civic and soignitaries attending tonight's : ie of "Rebecca," at the Nor[ Theatre. All proceeds from \ jgram will go to the Federation 7 Handicapped. ' "Rebecca" premiere will also o commemorate the 21st an-''iry of the Federation. Headed :' Leo Mayer, the organization ■handicapped citizens in respon: iidustry positions. r Prizes for Best =g' Theatre Drive |T id Artists has announced a con1IT theatre managers in which of $2,500 in cash and an expaid trip to Hollywood will be :Uor the best campaign in behalf 5 King and Four Queens." The " I the biggest single cash award ...,ferecl to showmen in connec' u ' L tli a local campaign contest, ng to Roger H. Lewis, UA najll irector of advertising, publicity — jlnitation. "King of Showmen" competifif open to every theatre in the ^'States and Canada, playing the 3r to June 1, 1957. The Russ■roduction is in CinemaScope for Christmas release by UA. (, rt Waterfield and Jane Russell ^;-Field, Clark Gable (a star of Idljji) and Roger Lewis will join panel of motion picture trade ,; ion editors to select the win •Jpze of the theatre will not be |L3'Of consideration in the judging -_':'ier the amount of money spent ' campaign nor the comparative : e returns will be evaluated. j will be based solely on in originalitv, practicability, -J:€ and efficiency-, j campaign submitted must t least five of the following Universal Sales Meeting Set On Coast Dec. 3 Universal Pictures Co. will hold a week-long sales executives conference at the Universal-International studios starting Monday, Dec. 3. It will be attended by the company's sales executives from all sections of the country and Canada including the home office sales cabinet, the district managers and representatives of Empire Universal of Canada, according to Charles J. Feldman, vicepresident and general sales manager who will preside. Will Treat 1957 Product The week-long series of meetings, which will also be attended by the company's advertising and promotion executives from New York and the studio, are designed to brief the sales executives on the company's pictures to be released during 1957, to review sales policies and to outline promotional plans. Following the studio sales executives conference, the division sales managers will hold a series of regional sales meetings with the district managers, branch managers and salesmen in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Chicago, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Washington. Top Officials to Attend Milton R. Rackmil, president; N. J. Blumberg, chairman of the board; Alfred E. Daff, executive vice-president; Edward Muhl, vice-president in charge of production and David A. Lipton, vice-president, will join the sales executives at their week-long series of meetings. Feldman, who will preside, will head the home office sales cabinet which includes F. J. A. McCarthy, assistant general sales manager; P. T. Dana, Eastern sales manager; Foster M. Blake, western sales manager; Henry H. Martin, southern sales manager and James J. Jordan, circuit sales manager. Television Today WB Signs Abbott BURBANK, Calif., Nov. 19 Jack L. Warner has announced that George Abbott will produce "Damn Yankees" the Broadway musical, as a motion picture for Warner Bros. Production is scheduled for early 1957. RKO 4DEW Line' Short For Television, Screen Of a high order of interest, production skill and national significance is the RKO-produced documentary subject, "Letter from the DEW Line," which was previewed last Thursday before the invited press at the Essex House in New York. The Air Force was luncheon host with the General Tire & Rubber Company, which will sponsor the subject, to be shown between the halves of the professional football game scheduled over CBS nationally Thanksgiving Day at noon, E.S.T., also sponsored by General Tire. The DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line is that electronic system in the Far North beneath the Arctic Circle which will be our first line of defense in the event of enemy air attack. When completed it will afford the United States and Canada four to six hours in which to bring into action its anti-air forces. Here is a vital subject about which the whole country should be informed and here is a prime example of how television can do just such a job. Later RKO plans to offer a two-reel film subject, further carrying the message to the nation's people.— C.S. A. British TV Executives Study American Methods LONDON, Nov. 19-Three leading British TV executives are currently visiting America. They are Howard Thomas, managing director of ABCTV; Cecil Bernstein, managing director of Granada TV, and John MacMillan, program controller of Associated-Rediffusion. Although ostensibly there to study American TV methods, all three are understood to be interested in Hollywood films now sold to tv interests. The British Broadcasting Corporation has agreed with producers and distributors here to a controlled release of feature films— 20 in a year— '( over the BBC network, but commer | cial TV contractors are unlikely to agree to such a restriction of their M program plans. Won't Cover Olympics Under Limit: Agencies Motion pictures of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games will not be available for theatrical or television showing unless the Olympic Committee makes a last minute change in its stand to limit coverage, the American and European news film agencies have declared officially. A year-long negotiation has ended with both sides still in disagreement over policy, the organizations reported. The newsreel companies of several countries proposed to form a pool to film the games at their own cost and to limit the use of the pictures to three minutes in any one newsreel up to a total of nine minutes per day. In addition, the Olympic Committee was offered full commercial rights to the entire coverage of the games in Australia and parts of the world not covered by the members of the news pool, the organization said. The committee refused the proposal, according to the film pool. Instead, the committee suggested that the newsreels could have three minutes of film a day, but that the amount of film sent from Melbourne would be limited. The pool rejected this counter-offer on the grounds that the restriction would deny proper news coverage. Alfred Buys Theatres New NBC-TV Lineup LIVINGSTON, Tenn., Nov. 19Leland Alfred has taken over the Ritz and Sundown Drive-in theatres here from Mr. and Mrs. Fred Rose and Mr. and Mrs. Dwain Peterson, purchasing both properties and equipment. categories: advertising, exploitation, promotion, publicity, tv-radio, retail cooperation and civic activities. The work done in the various categories requires appropriate documentation by tear sheets, photographs and certification from participating television and radio stations. Application blanks and rules of the contest will be included in "The King and Four Queens" pressbook. A new weekday morning program , lineup for NBC-TV has been announced by Mort Werner, Nicepresident of notional television programs. Effective Dec. 31, "Home" will shift to the 10-11 A.M. time, replacing "Ding Dong School," which! will go off the air Dec. 28, Wernerj said. An audience participation program, "The Price Is Right," starring! Bill Cullen, will follow "Home." Beckwith Joins NT A Aaron Beckwith, for the past tw years vice-president in charge r MCA-TV's New York office; hr joined National Telefilm Associates £ director of business development. TV Called Ideal for 'Explosion' Advertising NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 19-Television is the ideal medium for the new technique of "explosion advertising," Robert McFayden, NBC manager of sales and merchandising plans, said here last week in a speech before the Advertising Club. McFayden said that "explosion advertising" is becoming increasingly important as the public grows more sophisticated and more surfeited with advertising. The new technique, he said, attracts the attention of the public by lifting the sales message above "the noise level in the market place." Warwick Films Plans fWew TV Company LONDON, Nov. 19-Warwick Films Jhas announced plans to enter the tv jfield. Executive producer Irving Allen Bsaid here last week "We will put a lot lof money into the new company and ■build up a very large organisation." |Four series of 39 films will be made Sfor tv. They will be for Anglo-U.S. srelease and deal with the following fsubjects: "The White Hunter," "The UBlack Knight," "Interpol" stories and Han unnamed subject with Indian backSgrounds similar to those of the forthIcoming Warwick theatrical feature, 'Zarak."