Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1956)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY 80, NO. 99 NEW YORK, U.S.A., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1956 TEN CENTS Hoard Meet PEA Studies ltry in Two lm Festivals ed to Participate \lexico and Cannes ticipation in film festivals in o and France was considered ft board of directors of the MoPicture Export Association at sveekly meeting, it was reported. MPEA has been requested to |ipate in the Mexican film festi ihich will take place Dec. 3 to honor the 25th anniversary of ltroduction of talking pictures t country. Also the Cannes Film al Committee in France has d the MPEA that their annual il will take place May 2-7 and (Continued on page 3) kk Appointed UA \ District Manager ie Tunick, United Artists branch ^er in Philadelphia since 1954, peen elevated to the post of m district ger, it was .need by liam J. man, vice.ent i n ' 2 of dision. The atment be; effective diately. his new on. Tunick have his (uarters in Gene Tunick |1 a d elphia n i. mage the operations of Boston, New Haven, PhiladelBuffalo and Cleveland ex( Continued on page 3) eleuision ^ Today Gradwell Sears Is Dead; Funeral Rites Tomorrow Gradwell L. Sears, 59, formerly president of United Artists and for many years distribution head of Warner Brothers, died yesterday at his home in Harrison, N. Y., following a brief illness. Sears, educated at the University of Missouri, entered the industry in 1919 as a salesman with the old World Film Co. Funeral services will held tomorrow at 2 P.M., in George T. Davis Funeral Parlor, 14 Le Count Place, New Rochelle, N. Y. Survivors include the widow, Ebba Peterson; his mother, Alpha Sears Hisey, of Asheville, 111.; a son, Richard; a daughter Mrs. William Girardi, and six grandchildren. ABC-TV Has Leased Warner Bros. Studios HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 22-Leonard H. Goldenson, president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, and Jack L. Warner, president of Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., yesterday announced that arrangements have been concluded whereby the full facilities of the Warner Brothers Studios will be made available to the producers of filmed programs for the ABC television network. New cutting rooms, offices and projection rooms will be constructed to accom(Continued on page 6) Loew Quarter Earnings Up Loew's, Inc., earnings for the first quarter of the current fiscal year ending yesterday will be approximately $1,603,000, or 30 cents per share, as against $298,000, or five cents for the same period of the prior year, it was reported by the board of directors Wednesday. Estimated earnings for the year ended Aug. 31, 1956, were approximately $4,625,000, or 90 cents compared with $5,311,000 or $1.03 for the prior year. The board of directors declared a quarterly dividend yesterday of 25 cents per share, payable Dec. 24, 1956, to stockholders of record on Dec. 6, 1956. Richard M. Crooks also elected a member of the board at the meeting. Crooks' election apparently fills one of {Continued on page 3) landau Urges Greater Use of Film on TV (Picture on Page 6) In two to three years, television will be providing motion picture producTelevhlon tion companies with Todau revenues ranging from * " " sixty to eighty million dollars annually, in the opinion of Ely A. Landau, president of National Telefilm Associates. Speaking at a meeting of the Radio (Continued on page 6) REVIEW: THE GREAT MAN Universal-International Hollywood, Nov. 22 Producer Aaron Rosenberg has given novelist Al Morgan's book about the bad and, in a measure, the good in the world of radio and television, as it was and as it is today, a forthright and robust run for its money in this decidedlv less devious division of show business. As if determined to get even, so to speak, with the stage and radio and television producers who (aided bv novelists, commentators, columnists and magazine writers) have been telling the world this long time how dreadful Hollywood and its people are, producer Rosenberg and director-star Jose Ferrer, who also sat in with novelist Morgan on writing the script, riddle the electronic medium beyond recognition of its best friends. To this profession and those professions, the picture stands up as intensely, intimately interesting entertainment. If the wide public happens to respond similarly to its protracted probing of a dead star's (Continued on page 3) Urges a Stand Myers Scores Companies on TV Sale Policy Subject Seen Heading Allied Board Agenda The production-distribution companies came under the fire of Abram F. Myers, chairman of the board and general counsel for Allied States Association, Wednesday for their "both sides of the street" position on television film distribution and sales. Myers, in an article written for the Allied convention brochure, the text of which was released in Washington, declared that he is "tired of seeing the theatres absorb all of television's punches without fighting (Continued on page 6) Abram F. Myers UAK Annual Income Reported $303,91 8 A consolidated income of $303,918 for the year ending Aug. 31, 1956, has been reported to stockholders of United Artists Theatre Circuit by George P. Skouras, president of the company. Gross income for the year was put at $10,863,917 by the company's annual financial statement, released this week. Skouras pointed out that if the ( Continued on page 2 ) Texas Business in '54 Reported Ahead of '48 From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, Nov. 22-The 30 film exchanges in Texas— 24 have payrolls — recorded total receipts of $22,588,000 in 1954, according to the Census Bureau, which reported that four motion picture production (Continued on page 2)