Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1957)

Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, January 30, ik Promotion Plans Approved 'J'clCV'lSion JoddlJ ( Continued Owners of America, MPAA and the West Coast "Golden Jubilee" and the financing of such a combined program. Harry Mandel, chairman of the COMPO press relations committee, has directed Taylor Mills of the MPAA and Charles E. McCarthy of COMPO to colloborate on the preparation of a report setting forth the united program finally agreed upon following a meeting here Monday evening. Called 'The Industry and You' The $50,000 escrow fund has been held by the MPAA which has had charge of launching the 1950-1951 institutional campaign, "The Industry and You," which called for a series of 12 short subjects to tell about all facets of the motion picture industry. Warner Bros. Paramount, M-G-M, 20th Century-Fox, and RKO produced two shorts each with Universal and Columbia turning out one each. The first eight of the 12 short subjects were sold to theatres with the remainder being exhibited free. The fund was, and reportedly still is, governed by a joint industry committee of which Joseph Vogel is treasurer, Y. Frank Freeman, production representative, and the heads of exhibitor groups are members. Meanwhile, the joint planning committee meeting Monday evening was attended by TOA president Ernest Stellings who announced that as soon as the group's plans were finally set he would undertake to raise the money to finance the program. Report Likely This Week Mills said a report probably would be made this week on the results of a preliminary study of an industry marketing survey. He said J. Stevens Stock, survey expert, hired by the MPAA to make the study, had drawn up a list of questions for which the survey should try to find answers and had interviewed several marketing survey firms. His recommendations, Mills said, would be made this week, possibly today, to the MPAA survey committee, which consists of Charles Moskowitz, Abe Schneider and Ralph Hetzel. Mills said that the survey firm finally engaged to do the work might take as much as 90 days or more to complete its task. Joint Effort Best, Says Seadler Si Seadler of MGM explained that from the beginning the MPAA subcommittee charged with studying an institutional advertising plan had felt such an undertaking should be a joint distribution-exhibition effort. He asserted that all the advertising agencies with film accounts had submitted copy for such a campaign but that the copy had been deemed inadequate. Seadler related that after hearing a well known television man-andwife team belittle the movies, he had worked out a tentative plan from page 1 ) which he said might be termed "Operation Movie Habit." This, he said, would consist of brief comments by radio disc jockeys reporting on good pictures they had seen and the enjoyment that everybody could have by attending movie theatres regularly. The upshot of the discussion, which included Walter Reade, Jr., Harry Mandel, Harry Goldberg and Roger Lewis, was that Mandel appoint a committee to work out Seadler's suggestion as quickly as possible. The committee comprises Seadler, Goldberg, Jeff Livingston, Mandel and Charles E. McCarthy. The group approved a suggestion that the Golden-Jubilee of the Motion Picture be inaugurated with an announcement at the presentation of Academy Awards in Hollywood March 27. Mills was directed to confer with Clarke H. Wales of the Producers Association in Hollywood on arrangements. Johnston May Address ANPA The group approved an MPAA suggestion that arrangements be made to have Eric Johnston included among the speakers at the annual meeting of the American Newspaper Publishers Association in New York this spring. Decision on the MPAA plan to have Johnston address regional meetings of newspaper publishers and editors was deferred pending development of further details of the nature of the meetings. A committee consisting of Seadler, Reade, Al Pickus of Stratford, Conn., and Jerome Pickman, was named by Mandel to explore the possibility of producing a product trailer. This trailer would include scenes from coming pictures of each company. It would be shown free to the public at special performances either on a National Movie Day or a National Movie Week, No Action on 'Jubilee Windup' The meeting also decided to defer action on the Hollywood publicity directors' committee's plan for a mammoth jubilee windup celebration, to be held in Hollywood next September. It was also decided to defer adoption of a proposal to undertake the issuance of trading stamps with admission tickets. Mills reported progress in obtaining simplification of producers' advertising billings. The COMPO-TOA plan for implementing the overall program was approved in principle. This calls for establishment of exhibitor committees in exchange areas and the setting up of a COMPO liaison officer in Hollywood to work with studios on the industry's promotion program. Throughout the meeting it was emphasized that the two underlying principles of the program are that it should be aimed at improving business at theatres and that it should be conducted by COMPO. M.P. DAILY pictu Ely Landau, president of National Telefilm Associates, snapped at tY' Savoy Plaza with WPIX general manager Fred Thrower; Lamber ; Feasley vice-president John Bates; NTA sales manager Raymond Nelsoi: salesman William Koblenzer, and executive vice-president Oliver Unge* Warner-Lambert, NTA in Pal ( Continued ner-Lambert during the term of the contract will bring their total time and program costs to over $10,000,000, he said, adding that the revenue to NTA Film Network to be derived from the full sponsorship of the program for the initial 39 weeks will approximate $4,000,000 in gross billings. Landau said that Warner-Lambert will get six spot commercials in its one hour of time. The sponsorship of the balance of the program still available is expected to be announced later this week, he said. Landau pointed out that the 90-minute programs will have four commercial breaks in which nine spots would be from page 1 ) presented and in the 145-minute 4 grams, 10 spots would be preseii "This marks the first time al tional advertiser has bought a fe;I film series on a nationwide ba/ the NTA president tsated. "It I marks the first time a televised fe;^ film series will receive the benefit national advertising and merchaial ing," he said. The feature films which willl shown on the NTA Film Netijj are from the 20th Century-Fox liliiEj of 390 features acquired for televS distribution by NTA last year. I NTA Film Network is owned 50$ cent by NTA and 50 per cenli^ 20th-Fox. One Man's TViews By Pinky Herman PLANS to telecast a major one-hour color TV program daily hasll ready been NBCompleted and starting Monday, Feb. 18, sea O & O stations including WRCA, New York, WRCV, Phila. WRC Wl ington, WNBC New Britain-Hartford, Conn., WBUF Buffalo, KR« Los Angeles and WNBQ Chicago will participate. . . . Tommy Edwatf WERE (Cleveland) ace deejay, scoring with his philosophic Ca platter of "What Is A Teen Age Girl?" (T.E.— Talent extraordinaij] . . . Steve Strassberg, after two years as Publicitv Director for WAS and WABC-TV, has been upped to assistant director press info.}' ABC, under Hank Warner. Steve had been, prior to his entry into 1 publicity director for Eagle-Lion Films and Republic Pictures. HowfC Ehrlich, formerly with MCA succeeds Steve at WABC. . . . Another 1 promotion is that of Bill Sharpe, formerly with WJAR, Providence, w|j been upped to news director KVOD (Denver) and the Colorado M work. Sharpe knows his radio and TV and is headed places. . . . I| ducer Jac Hein, of the "Today" really awakened the town last w| when, to NBCelebrate the program's fifth anniversary, he booked Ell3 Waters, Ann Miller and seven of the hottest musicians in the land|i eluding Marian McPartland (piano) Roy Eldridge (trumpet) J. J. Jofl son (trombone) Bud Freeman (tenor sax) Joe Jones (drums) Chulh Jackson (bass) Art Van Damme (accordian). . . . & & $ Prexy Richard Brandt of Trans-Lux TV Corp. has placed the enjf Encyclopaedia Brittanica Film Library with the Westinghouse BroJ casting Network, the entire work containing 650 titles which cop practically the entire range of human knowledge. . . . Songstress Bet} Madigan CBSigned to appear March 24 on "Ed Sullivan's Show." .