Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1957)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY >L. 81, NO. 11 NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1957 TEN CENTS lestival Prods. tew Art Film Oo.Will Open ;! Exchanges iirm Has Two Pictures ^eady for Distribution By LESTER DINOFF j Festival Productions, Inc., a newlyirmed corporation with a capital of 5 50,000, will set up eight film exI'anges throughout the United States I the near future to handle the disijbution of art product in color and jde-screen, it was announced here -sterday by president Capt. I. R. Maxwell. !' Captain Maxwell said Festival is lady to distribute two productions, (Continued on page 6) upan's '56 Box Office ece/pfs Show Increase From THE DAILY Bureau I TOKYO, Jan. 12 (By Air Mail).■ (pan's box office receipts for 1956 'mped to over $195 million comKred with $153 million for 1955. A I tal of 509 full length features were oduced. : f Revenues of distributors of Amerij.n and European films dropped jightlv to $21 million compared with : >1,121,000 in 1955. Some 600 new Jeatres were built, bringing the total I over 5,600 now in operation. lew RCA Appointments for Folsom and Burns i David Sarnoff, chairman of the luard of directors of the Radio Corp. I America, yesterday announced the I ection of Frank M. Folsom as chair I an of the executive committee of the I hard and John L. Burns as president lid a director of RCA. General Sar■)ff will continue in his present ca(Continued on page 6) Television Today *y 0'Donnell Sees Arbitration 'Beneficial to Everyone' An industry arbitration system, as re-proposed by Theatre Owners of American and Allied States Association, "would be beneficial for everyone," in the opinion of Robert J. (Bob) O'Donnell, general manager of Texas Interstate Circuit, who arrived here yesterday from England. O'Donnell, who was abroad for a short vacation, said he "sincerely hopes there can be a meeting of minds between exhibitors and distributors on arbitration." The industry exhibition leader also conferred here with officials of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations on the Federal tax reduction campaign. Goldenson To Receive Humanitarian Award The 1956 Humanitarian Award of the March of Dimes will be presented to Leonard H. Goldenson, president of American Broadcasting Paramount Theatres, Inc., by Basil O'Connor, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, it was announced yesterday. G o ldenson will receive the Award for his "long time devotion to human welfare activities' (Continued on page 6) 'Continuing on the Rise' Theatre Crosses Up All Around Country Circuits Credit Improvement in Product And 'Change in the Public's Attitude' Theatre grosses around the country have been climbing since "sometime last November" and are continuing to rise after a phenomenal Christmas-New Year's, record-breaking period, according to executives of some of the biggest national Says Promise to Study N.Y. Tax 'Being Kept' L. H. Goldenson at Special to THE DAILY ALBANY, N. Y., Jan. 15-Senator Macneil Mitchell has announced that the joint committee which he and assemblyman Fred Preller had headed and which promised to recommend a study of the New York City amusement tax, was one that functioned only as a campaign group for legislative candidates on the Re(Continued on page 2) House Group Continues Two Tax Subcommittees From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, Jan. 15. The House Ways and Means Committee voted today to continue for the coming Congress two tax subcommittees. One, headed by Rep. Forand (D., R. I.), will study excise tax changes and other excise problems. The other, headed by Rep. Mills (D., Ark.), will investigate tax loopholes. DCA To Release 23 Films in '57; Plans Big Promotional Campaigns By GUS DALLAS (Picture on Page 3) A releasing program of 23 pictures in 1957, principally foreign product, to be backed by heavy promotion and merchandising campaigns through a new distribution network was announced yesterday by Distributors Corp. of America by Fred J. Schwartz, president of the company. DCA will also step up the financing of production and co-production for the coming year, according to Schwartz, who said that he hoped to be able to announce definite plans for "late 1957 and 1958 releases" within three months. A "demand on the part of exhibitors for features that will pull audiences away from TV sets into theatres" and (Continued on page 3) theatre circuits. Commencing with the Stanley Warner Corp. announcement last week that their chain's receipts have been improving week by week since November to the "biggest in their history" in the week ended Jan. 5, other circuits have reported "substantial" and "exceptional" improvements in national grosses over the same period. Experienced theatremen, although pleased and hopeful of a trend, feel that there are two natural reasons for the upsurge in attendance: better product than at this time last year, and another "inexplicable" turn in the public's attitude which is sending them back to the theatres. An American Broadcasting-Para( Continued on page 2) 'Thrillarama' to Reopen, Roadshow Plan, Feb. J From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 15 "Thrillarama Adventure," withdrawn for recutting and color-check following a preliminary premiere in Houston last fall, will open at the Capitol Theatre, San Diego, on Feb. 1, Thrillarama Corp. president Albert H. Reynolds told Motion Picture Daily today. The attraction will open at the Strand, Milwaukee, Feb. 15th; at the (Continued on page 2) FBFM Will Result in Better Films: Broccoli Better quality product from British studios will "undoubtedly" be a direct result of the organization of the second British producers group, which was announced yesterday, according to Albert Broccoli, director Of Warwick Film Productions, who is. (Continued on page 6)