Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1957)

Tuesday, August 27, 1957 Motion Picture Daily 7 Television Today Who's Where skiatron To,,'TV p,ea On S. F. Agenda Today Production -Exhibition Union Herbert J. Cutting, chief accountant for the Mutual Broadcasting System, has been named director of administrative services. He will be directly responsible for personnel, Surchasing, and similar duties in adition to his supervision of the network's accounting staff. □ S. William Aronson has been pro| moted to administrator in the post control unit of the American Broadcasting Company. Aronson was formerly director of sales service for ABC. □ Joseph H. Ream will succeed the I late Ralph W. Hardy as vice-president i of CBS, Inc. in charge of its Washington, DC, office. Ream, who returns to CBS after an absence of five years, recently served as deputy director of the National Security Agency in Washington. NBC Charges Philco FCC Protest 'Sham' The National Broadcasting Company charged that Philco Corporation is merely conducting another "maneuver in its vendetta against RCA" in protesting the Federal Communication Commission's renewal of license for WRCV-TV, NBC's television station in Philadelphia. NBC made the statement in its reply, filed yesterday, requesting the FCC to dismiss the Philco protest as "sham in its entirety" and an abuse of the FCC's processes. Philco's objective, the NBC reply asserted, is to use the Commission's procedure as a weapon in its $150,j 000,000 treble damage action against j RCA over patent licenses and as a further publicity springboard to in' jure RCA and NBC. j 'O.S.S.' Set for ABC 'O.S.S.,"new half-hour film series based on the operations of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's World War II Office of Strategic Services, will make j its debut on ABC-TV Thursday, SepI tember 26. Ron Randell stars in the series which will be sponsored by the Mennen Company. HflPPV IBE go annua FOR ALL YOUR SPECIAL TRAILERS BEST QUALITY! SPEEDY SERVICE! CHICAGO 13 2 7 So. Wabash NEW YORK 630 Ninth A v » n u • Special to THE DAILY SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 26.-Skiatron's formal application to start a toll-TV system in San Francisco, a tenpage document, is expected to be threshed out tomorrow by the city's Board of Supervisors. Two previously disputed details are omitted from Skiatron's proposals the city fathers must ponder. There is no mention of a charge to customers who watch programs over the Skiatron circuit and there is no restriction against transmitting advertising. The terms of the 50-year operating contract would not exclude the company from offering a combination of pay and commercially-sponsored programs. After studying Skiatron's proposal, City Attorney Dion R. Holm found it "legally acceptable" and sent it to the supervisors without comment. This means the board's finance committee must come up with a report on the application. Limiting Clause Suggested When Skiatron submitted a rough draft of its offer several weeks ago, Holm had suggested a clause forbiding advertising on the closed circuit. This drew an anguished response from Alan Lane, Skiatron vice-president and operations manager. Lane said his firm had no intention of sending out commercials along with its array of plays, movies and sports events. But, Lane added, his company didn't want to risk accidentally breaking its franchise agreement by transmitting a billboard from the fence of a baseball park. Moreover, there was "always a possibility" that a pay program might be partially supported by a sponsor who would lower the cost to the home viewer. Lane won his point, and the restrictive clause was left out of the proposal with Holm's consent. $100, Plus 2 Per Cent of Gross If the supervisors vote approval, Skiatron will be authorized to send its shows to San Francisco customers over the rights-of-way of any licensed public utility. For this privilege and for use of city streets, Skiatron would pay an initial $100 fee, then two per cent of its yearly gross. The franchise would be non-exclusive— any other pay-TV firms could make a similar deal with the city. 'Circus' To Debut "Circus Boy," a family adventure series played against the background of a turn-of-the-century touring circus, debuts on ABC-TV Thursday, Sept. 19 (7:30-8:00 P.M.). Alternate sponsors of the new series starring "Elmer, the Rainmaker," are Mars, Inc., and the Kellogg Company. ( Continued from page 1 ) circuit's organ, the Showman, Ricketson declares: "The transition through which this industry is passing will have an accelerated upturn immediately following a 'big way' wedding of production and exhibition. We do not know how it can be done legally but it certainly is not wrong to talk about what is so obviously a need." National Theatres on several occasions in recent years has discussed with Department of Justice officials in Washington the possibility of its being granted permission to engage in production on its own. While the government has authorized N.T. to proceed with production in its Cinemiracle process, as it did Stanley Warner Theatres in Cinerama, no unqualified authorization for N. T. to engage in standard film production has been forthcoming from Washington. Forbidden by Consent Decree The Federal consent decree under which N. T. was divorced from 20th Century-Fox prohibits the theatre company from engaging in production. The American BroadcastingParamount Theatres' decree contains no such prohibition and that company is now engaged in the production of films. Ricketson's remarks were occasioned by a recent assertion by Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, that his company would have four "big pictures at Christmas time." "That was wonderful to hear," Ricketson writes. "It is thrilling to have big pictures at any time. Metro will probably have a few, so will Warner Bros., Paramount and United Artists, and all other distributors. "Then after the Christmas re leases there will be a dearth of product until Easter; following Easter, until the big TV shows are all off the air, we shall have another product scarcity; then July 4th will open the floodgates to big pictures. In September and October the product cupboard will be bare, and we shall be waiting for Thanksgiving week. Immediately thereafter, pictures will go out on release until Christmas. "This is not a criticism of Mr. Skouras, nor of any other producerdistributor," Ricketson declares. "If we were operating a producing distributing company we would follow exactly the same policy— withhold and mass pictures for the periods of better business. For distribution, this is business common sense. Sees 'Precarious Predicament' "However," he continues, "it does indicate the precarious predicament in which exhibition finds itself. Theatres are the only retail business in the world which do not have an adequate source of merchandise. Eventually, unless there is a change, conventional motion picture theatres may be operating only forty weeks a year. The only solution, we believe, is a wedding, or uniting of production and exhibition. "You could not imagine Paramount releasing 15 pictures a year if Paramount owned theatres. One cannot reconcile the releasing schedules of any of the major distributors today to the steady flow of product which made the more prosperous years when distributors owned theatres or theatre companies had their own producing organizations." "We do not know how it can be done legally," Ricketson concludes, "but it certainly is not wrong to talk about what is so obviously a need." Comm. MPTO to Hold Golf Tournament Today Special to THE DAILY HARTFORD, Aug. 26. The MPTO of Connecticut will hold its annual golf tournament tomorrow afternoon at the Racebrook Country Club, Orange, with upwards of several hundred guests expected. George H. Wilkinson, Jr., owner of the Wilkinson Theatre, Wallingford, and MPTO president, and Harry Feinstein, New England zone manager, Stanley-Warner Theatres, are co-chairmen. Exhibitors committee consists of the co-chairmen, plus James Bracken, James Darby, Irving C. Jacocks, Harry F. Shaw, Max Hoffman, John Perakos; distributors, Henry Germaine, Alex Schimel; publicity, Lou Brown; gifts, Albert M. Pickus, Irving Mendelsohn. Dinner toastmaster is attorney Herman Levy, TOA general counsel. 'World9 in Germany Michael Todd's "Around the World in 80 Days" will open in five German cities in October. Strike Greets 'B0 Days' In Stellings Theatre Special to THE DAILY CHARLOTTE, Aug. 26-A strike of union projectionists marked the opening of the Carolinas premiere of "Around the World in 80 Days" at the Manor Theatre here Sunday. Ernest Stellings, president of Stewart-Everett Theatres and president of Theatre Owners of America, said he was forced to hire a nonunion man when his projectionist walked out. He said the union pulled its men out after being notified that only one projectionist would be needed while the film is showing, as the theatre will be operated only about 30 hours a week. The theatre normally operates 70 hours a week. W. H. Fowler, business agent of the IATSE union, declared the theatre's move forced a 10-year veteran out of a job. Stellings said the union had demanded an increase in pay which would bring the cost of booth operation to more than three times the present cost.