Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1957)

hiday, March 11, 1957 I ^ Motion Picture Daily felevis'ion Today Yates Gets °^er f°r stock I OUR VIEW IE whole matter of television commercials comes once again— and emphatically— front and cenvith the clear indication that the :ral Trade Commission is going action on the matter. The vexing lem is apparently an eternal one the industry of television, but one concerning which the industever can afford to become comjnt, on the one hand, or resigned discouraged about, on the other, sre is a situation which must aced, boldly and honestly at all !, to keep to an absolute mini the pressures with which the itry will be beset, and to hold til, if possible, the dangers of isive legislation, which is not ssible. Regulation by statute, no 3r in what particular, is dangerunfortunate, precedent-setting. It ce taxes, altogether too easy of sition, enormously difficult to ige from the statute books. Ise, misleading and unfair adverI are the chief targets of the inSgators of the Federal Trade amission who are monitoring telek,i programs like mad. Let us not lie ourselves; they will find much ia is not according to Hoyle, and Di else, unfortunately, that may pome under specific purview and diction of the F.T.C., but will It' rather too easily into that moral lit where the basic tenets of good Bl and common sense are abused f 'iolated. These transgressions in Ksense are just as dangerous as p; others, since they may very fc'ly have the result of alienating ft of the customers, the patrons, leiiewers; in short, the folks who Ron the sets. lppily, there are many, many Ision advertising expressions bin are good, reasonable, intellipi and in taste. The other kind Ibe weeded out. —Charles S. Aaronson ^igecoach9 Immediate agecoach," a one-hour Western ii to be produced by Briskin Proa6ns for Screen Gems, Inc., has 8cj scheduled for immediate producStt t is announced by Ralph Cohn, president and general manager i reen Gems. EVERY DAY ON EVERY CHANNEL TV l 1 BROOKS COSTUMES 3 Wet! 6ltl St., N.Y.C.-Tel. PI. 7-5100 W ABC-TV Leases 50 Col. Feature Films Station WABC-TV has leased a package of 50 Columbia feature films at a reported price of $750,000. Effective April 1, the films will be presented at 11:10 P.M. Mondays through Fridays and at 11 P.M. on Saturdays and Sundays. The film package includes "Talk of the Town," "The Awful Truth " "Golden Boy" and "You Belong to Me," with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck. None of the 50 films reportedly has been shown on television, and all were produced before August, 1948. The Columbia Pictures films are distributed to television by its subsidiary, Screen Gems, Inc., which previously released two other packages — one containing 104 films and the other 52. FPA Signs New Contract With IATSE Local 52 New York's independent film producers, makers of industrial and television commercials, have secured a new, three-year contract with the Motion Picture Studio Mechanics, Local 52, IATSE, representing grips, propertymen, electricians, sound men, carpenters and other studio employees. Although individual producers are not bound by the provisions of the contract as negotiated by a committee of members of the Film Producers Association of New York, it has been accepted by member companies of FPA, and it is expected that others will concur. ABC Appointments The appointments of J. English Smith as manager of TV network programs, ABC, New York, and Sandy Cummings as manager of TV network programs, ABC, Western division, were announced by James T. Aubrey, Jr., vice-president in charge of programs and talent for the ABC television network. Both appointments are effective next week. Join AAP Sales David W. B. Hunt and Kenneth Edward Fay have joined Associated Artists Production's sales department as account executives, it is announced by W. Robert Rich, general sales manager. For the past 15 years Hunt worked for radio stations in Oklahoma and the Southwest territory. Fay was formerly an ad space salesman for "Playbill." 'Flicka' to Return "My Friend Flicka," returns to the CBS Television Network on Saturday, March 16. Gene Evans and Anita Louise star as Rob and Nell McLaughlin, and Johnny Washbrook costars as their son, Ken. ( Continued with members of his family owning about 10,000 additional shares. The Yates family also owns all of the issued and outstanding stock of Tunrud Inc., which was the beneficial owner of 12,200 shares of preferred stock and 206,337 shares of common stock in Republic and 72,585 shares of stock of the Associated Motion Picture Industries, Inc., which has 187,926 shares issued and outstanding. Would be Third Offer The offer, if substantiated, would be the third which the Republic president has received from outside interests in the past year. B. Gerald Cantor, partner in the West Coast banking investment house of Cantor & Fitzgerald, has acquired a 90-day option on Yates' holding at $12.50 per share. Under the option terms, Cantor would acquire a minimum of 650,000 shares and a maximum of 800,000 shares. Prior to its expiration last September, Cantor dropped the option. The next offer came from independent producer John Bash, in association with a national securities firm. Bash and his group offered Yates $10 per share in December, which then was $1.50 over the prevailing market price. Republic Pictures stock is current from page 1) ly listed on the New York Stock Exchange at 6% per share. The company's proxy statement reveals that stockholders of Republic will be asked to elect five directors, for a three-year term, to the company's board which is made up of 14 members. Up for reelection are Richard W. Altschuler, vice-president, Albert W. Lind, Franklin A. McCarthy, Bernard E. Smith, Jr., and Yates. Salaries Itemized It is reported that Altschuler, who owns 330 shares of the 2,004,190 shares outstanding as of March 4, received an aggregate remuneration of $48,500 in his capacities as vicepresident and director of Republic, and president of Republic Pictures International Corp. Yates, as president and director, received an aggregate remuneration of $150,400. All directors and officers as a group received $326,977.50. MP A Heads to Europe Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and vice-presidents Griffith Johnston and Ralph Hetzel, will leave here on April 10 for Europe to meet the organization's overseas representatives in Paris on market conditions and other problems. 'A/