Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1959)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY fOL. 86, NO. 96 NEW YORK, U.S.A., TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1959 TEN CENTS \)n Dec. 10 \fote Set on toew's Circuit Option Plan 1 • Wlection of Directors And Woting Proposal on Agenda U A restricted stock option plan and |he granting of options to six officers \i Loew's Theatres will be voted upon It the first annual meeting of stockholders since the company was seprated from Loew's, Inc. The meeting /ill take place on Dec. 10 at the tate theatre here. In a meeting notice sent out yesjerday stockholders were also advised bey will be asked to elect directors |nd take action on a proposal of two tockholders to adopt cumulative votig for all elections of directors. The restricted stock option plan for ( Continued on page 6 ) Ben-Hur' Products Seen tilting $20,000,000 "Ben-Hur" is being backed by a nerchandise campaign expected to >romote $20,000,000 in retail sales. Announcement was made yesterday it Loew's State Theatre here by Stone Associates, MGM-appointed sponsors of he exhibit of hundreds of consumer terns— including many for adults— ilaced on display in a "Ben-Hur" area )f the theatre's mezzanine. [Products ranging in price and deiign from ten-cent toy ballons to ttclusive "Ben-Hur" home furnishing (Continued on page 6) Simonelli Joins Compo Planning Committee Charles Simonelli, assistant to the president of Universal Pictures, has accepted an invitation to become a member of the Compo program planning committee, it was announced yesterday by Charles E. McCarthy, 'Compo executive secretary. Other members of the committee, ( Continued on page 4 ) \WLE VISION TODAY— page 6 'Good Taste' Is Key to Handling 'Controversial' Subjects: Lazarus Special to THE DAILY CINCINNATI, Nov. 16.-Columbia Pictures is not affraid to tackle "controversial" or "provocative" subjects, believing the public will accept them if handled with "good taste," Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., Columbia vice-president, said here today. He spoke at a meeting with leading exhibitors in this territory, the third in a series of visits by top Columbia executives to every area in the country to describe the company's product for 1960. Columbia has put no restrictions on subject matter for films it will make, Lazarus said. The company has "demonstrated on (Continued on page 2) Trust Suit Settled; Change Availability Special to THE DAILY PROVIDENCE, R. I., Nov. 16.-An anti-trust suit filed June 13, 1955, in the U.S. District Court here has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, reported to be in six figures, and a drastic change in availabilities. Elsa Amusement Company, operating the Park Theatre Woonsocket, R. I., and the Bijou Amusement Company, operating the Bijou in the same city, jointly filed the anti-trust action, (Continued on page 4) Cumberland Papers To Censor Film Ads Special to THE DAILY CUMBERLAND, Md., Nov. 16.Motion picture theatre advertising regarded by publishers of the three newspapers here as "indecent" or "unwholesome" will be refused, according (Continued on page 2) Paul Lazarus TO A Names Fabian Head Of Producer Liaison Acting quickly on the invitation of the Screen Producers Guild, the Theatre Owners of America yesterday named a new exhibitor-producer liaison committee to establish a direct (Continued on page 3) REVIEW: Beloved Infidel Wold — 20th-Fox — CinemaScope The last four years of the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, revolving around the novelist's tumultuous and tender romance with Hollywood columnist Sheilah Graham, here provide producer Jerry Wald with the material for a big, beautiful, appealing romantic drama. With Gregory Peck and Deborah Kerr in the central roles, and with a literate script by Sy Bartlett, this film adaptation of Miss Graham's best-selling autobiography of last year should become one of the box office hits of this year and next. Under the direction of Henry King, Miss Kerr is especially good as the beautiful, somewhat brazen English girl, the product of an East End orphanage, who parlayed her good looks and quick wit into, successive!)', an engagement to a British peer and then a job as a highly paid Hollywood correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance. The film is totally concerned with Miss Graham's early Hollywood days, dominated by the tragic, poignant affair with Fitzgerald. It is tragic on several counts. Fitzgerald then was at the bottom of his (Continued on page 4) Campaign Growing Minn. Censor Drive Tied to National Unit Agitation Developing for Inclusion of 'iAdult, Films Special to THE DAILY MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 16.— The censorship movement in Minnesota, spearheaded by a group of citizens in Minneapolis and St. Paul, is expected to be extended very soon to motion pictures, as well as books and magazines, it was learned here. It has also been disclosed that the Twin Cities Committee for Decent Literature, leader of the drive which is becoming statewide, is tied to a nation movement, the Citizens for Decent Literature. A representative of the latter group, Bernard E. Dono(Continued on page 2) Cleveland Police Close House Showing 'Lovers' Special to THE DAILY CLEVELAND, Nov. 16. Nico Jacobellis, manager of the Heights Art Theatre in Cleveland Heights, is scheduled to appear before Municipal Judge Bernard Ostrivsky for a pre(Continued on page 2) API to Make 14 Films In Nine Months for Fox From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 16. A contract for Associated Producers International to make 14 pictures over the next nine months for 20th CenturyFox with budgets for each increased to an average of $300,000 is ready for signing, it was learned today. The main point yet to be determined is whether or not the pictures will continue to have the API label or identified as strictly 20th-Fox features. The increase is 50 per cent over previous API budgets per film. Robert Lippert is acting as liaison for 20thFox and API. George Warren is president of API, and William Maginetti production supervisor.