Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1959)

, April 16, 1959 Motion Picture Daily 7 IT... ..HAPPENED.. ■■■TOiBi ..JAY... EVIEWS Joy! Hey Girl! p Mlv speaking, this Harry ^production is as bouncy and 4ifig as anyone who is a fan popular stars, Louis Prima eh Smith, could ask for, by Sam Butera and the Wit1 swinging combo if there ..J one, Louis and Keely per'\ less than nine musical num<ring from a tender Lullaby to iv title tune, "Hey Boy! Hey Raphael Hayes-James West 3|ty has Prima, portraying looking for a new girl singer jroup. Asked to appear at a bazaar organized by priest jre<*ory with the help of .ho" is' called Dorothy Spenughout, Prima soon finds the I a pleasant voice and per": er to trv out for the job with is an instant success, and beknow it, she and Louis are ^The only hitch is that she has brother, Kim Charney, who ike the idea of Louis taking ■ away from him. Hard feelfinally smoothed out, howid at the fadeout, Keely gets is Mrs. Louis Prima, which real life, ed bv David Lowell Rich, imbia picture has its musical ~ spaced so that the story is cept to a minimum. This was : nking. The best performance • funny bit turned in by Bar r;ller, who plays a no-talent :;iditioning for Prima. : time, 81 minutes. General lion. Release, in May. Warren G. Harris Plan 'MGM Corp. ' as Name I of Lost Women : -Warners IN ichards, Venetia Stevens and ith are the stars of this small 1 adventure drama. The most j_^le aspect of the film is its screenplay of "Island of .. jOTien" is naively plotted and JL (perhaps purposely) for the .^lunating. In the film's favor r j exotic locale, three lovely dash of science fiction and a ^"unning time. ichards is seen as an Ameri\i ' io commentator, and John his pilot-photographer friend ■> forced down on a lovely, J d Pacific isle while en route '. ,alia. The island's sole inhabie Alan Napier, a former ihvsicist, and his three mag_ teenage daughters, Miss Stev: )iane Jergens and June Blair. r', who had brought his brood .land 15 years before to escape ors of the modern world, is ( .ndably irked by the intrusion, le two strangers refuse to give word that thev will not tell ( Continued Loew's Theatres and Radio Station WMGM, consolidated net income amounted to $5,749,000. This compares with a consolidated net income of 8509,000 in the corresponding period one year earlier. Vogel reviewed the company's affairs yesterday for a representative group' from the financial community at Loew's Inc. headquarters. In his remarks, he reported that the company was studying possible diversification moves. Differentiates Income Vogel also supplied a breakdown of the earnings as between the two companies into which Loew's Inc. was divided on March 12. Of the consolidated net income of $5,749,000 earned in the 28 weeks ended March 12, 1959, $951,000 was attributable to what is now Loew's Theatres, and $4,798,000 to the new Loew's Inc. As the stockholders of Loew's Inc. received one half share of stock in each of the two new companies for each share of old stock each company now has 2,668,388 shares of common stock outstanding. On this basis, earnings per share were $1.80 for Loew's Inc. and 36 cents per share for Loew's Theatres for the first half of the current fiscal year. Vogel pointed out that since Loew's Theatres and Radio Station WMGM were separated from Loew's Inc. on March 12, his further comments would be confined to operations of Loew's, Inc. Cites Loss Changed to Profit "Last year," he said, "during the first half, a 28-week period, the divisions which now make up MGM incurred a loss of $483,000 before interest and taxes. For the same period, this year, the same divisions show a profit before interest and taxes of $10,792,000. The big difference is due to a sharply improved performance in film production distribution which showed a loss of over $5,000,000 in the 28-week period last year compared to a profit of almost $5,000,000 of his retreat when they get back to civilization, the scientist destroys their plane. Further complications arise when Miss Stevenson and Miss Jergens fall in love with Richards and Smith and help them build a raft for escape. In his efforts to prevent this, Napier accidentally sets his laboratory on fire which, in turn, triggers an atomic blast which wipes out everything on the island except the people. The ending finds them all hopefully looking for rescue and happiness ever after. Albert J. Cohen produced the Jaguar production and Frank W. Tuttle directed the screenplay by Ray Buffum, based on a story by Prescott Chaplin. Running time, 71 minutes. General classification. Release, in May. Vincent Canby from page 1 ) during the same period this year." Vogel reported that the forthcoming release of the film "Ben-Hur" has created enormous excitement in the motion picture industry. He said: "Our sales department is being literally besieged by theatre owners throughout the world, many of them offering huge guarantees for the right to exhibit this picture in their theatres. They offer to modify and improve both the interior and exterior of their theatres— for the right to show 'Ben-Hur.' Many believe that this one picture will do more to revive the film industry than anything that has been presented since the end of World War II." Name Steinhardt ( Continued from page 1 ) to Tokyo on Saturday to participate in M-G-M's "Ben-Hur" conference in that city April 21 to 25. From Tokyo he will proceed to Saigon to assume his duties. Steinhardt has a background of 27 years in the film industry. His last post was with 20th Century-Fox as manager of Thailand and South Vietnam, and prior to that he held managerial posts in various pares of ihe world, including the Near Fast, Belgium and Puerto Rico. 350 Set to Attend (Continued from page 1) will be honored as retiring president of the organization. Harry Brandt will officiate at the installation. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Cinema Lodge. In tribute to Schwalberg, founder and first president of Cinema, all of the past presidents have agreed to act as honorary chairmen for one year for each of the agencies that comprise the fabric of B'nai B'rith activities. A large group representing every phase of the motion picture and television industry will grace two daises at the luncheon. Dais Roster a Who's Who' Dais guests will include: Rabbi Bernard Birstein, Harry Brandt, Julius Collins, Ned E. Depinet, Russell V. Downing, Simon H. Fabian, Emanuel Frisch, William J. German, Alex Harrison, Leo Jaffe, Harry M. Kalmine, Jack H. Levin, Joe Levine, Elmer H. Ludwig, Sidney M. Markley, Edward Morey, John J. O'Connor, Eugene Picker, Harvey Piatt, Samuel Rinzler, Joseph B. Rosen, Alfred W. Schwalberg, Leslie R. Schwartz, Sol A. Schwartz, Spyros S. Skouras, Jr., Solomon M. Strausberg and Oliver Unger. At the past presidents' table will be: Mr. and Mrs. S. Arthur Glixon, Irving H. Greenfield, Arthur Israel, Jr., Martin Levine, Burton E. Robbins, Saul E. Rogers, Robert K. Shapiro, Adolph Schimel, Robert M. Weitman, Joseph B. Rosen and Mrs. Alfred W. Schwalberg. Jay Wren Viking Thea. Corp. Philadelphia "A projection room full of 'entertain-me' exhibitors howled while viewing the colorful romantic comedy drama, 'IT HAPPENED TO JANE.' Delightful Day's deluscious; Lemmon and Kovacs are at their hilarious best. Here's wholesome entertainment for the entire family." IT .HAPPENED. ..JANE" FROM COLUMBIA . .