Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1959)

Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, December 30, 195t PEOPLE Claude Browning, formerly with the Warner Brothers branch in Jacksonville, has joined the booking staff of Floyd Theatres there, to work with Jim Kirby. □ W. H. Hibbert and Mrs. Hibbert, of Sheridan, Ore., have leased their theatres to Arlen Peahl, of Phoenix, Ariz., who has resumed operation of the Hi-Way Theatre, closed for a year. In the summer he will reopen the Sky-Way Drive-in, west of Sheridan. He also is expected to resume operation of the Gay-Way, in the adjoining town of Willamina. □ Elmore White and Mike Gould have been named assistants to Jonie Taps, Columbia Pictures studio executive who heads the company's various music activities. Both will aid in the operation of the company's Gower Music Corp., White in New York and Gould in Hollywood. □ Louise Carter of the booking department of Allied Artists, Atlanta, has resigned. □ Ben Zimmerman, who last operated the Carmen, Philadelphia, is reopening the Riviera in the Manyunk section of the city for weekend stage shows. The house in recent seasons was used by little theatre groups. Postpone Hearing ( Continued from page 1 ) istration statement filed by Skiatron Electronics and Television Corp., New York City. The postponement was granted after an oral request to the SEC's staff by Skiatron counsel. SEC has suspended all trading in Skiatron stock through Jan. 6. It seems likely that the suspension order will be continued after that date, at least until the hearing is completed. COMET 4! ' (pure jet ! ) «m MONARCH (de Luxe and First Class only) frequency: NIGHTLY (leaves New York at 9 p. m.) destination: LONDON! reservations through your Travel Agent or BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION Flights from New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Montreal. Offices also in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Vancouvel, Winnipeg, Toronto. Says Tisches Plan Motels REVIEW: ( Continued the Roxy Theatre at 7th Avenue and 50th Street, Manhattan, with just such a thought in mind. It was the brothers' idea to build a 40-story motel on the Roxy Theatre site, "and they did some fairly advanced thinking about it. Guests might register on closed-circuit television, for example; their cars might be elevated to the floors they were staying on, so that they could unload their luggage easily; orange juice and coffee might be piped to their rooms. "The Tisches were working on some more detailed plans for providing food on a self-service basis when the whole project collapsed— principally because the building's 'air rights' had been pre-empted by the new Time & Life Building." "The future of downtown motels may have been very much on their minds a year ago," Shelton says, "when they suddenly began to buy heavily into Loew's, Inc. Their real objective was to gain control of Loew's Theatres . . . which owned a vast amount of property on expensive real estate in downtown city areas." Shelton says Loew's reported the book value of the real estate "at about $60 million," whereas the real market value of the corporation's net assets might be $80 million. "On this, the corporation earned only $2 million in the year ending Aug. 31, 1959. It was obvious that many of those theatres could be put to better use." The Tisch stock holdings are placed from page 1) by Shelton at "more than 450,000 shares (17 per cent), acquired at an average price of $14. The stated book value works out to $22 a share, he says, and "the Tisches are convinced that, with proper management, the corporation should certainly earn 10 per cent of that, i.e., about $2.20 a share— which presumably would bring the market price well over $14. "Larry went onto the board of Loew's Theatres, with no real opposition, early last fall, and . . . devoted himself more or less full time to boosting Loew's earnings. This will take time, obviously, since it will involve the renovation of some theatres, the razing of others and the erection of new buildings — possibly Tisch-managed hotels and motels on the theatres' old sites. Predicts Some 'Slowing Up' "It is certainly hard to believe that the Tisches will be able to multiply their money quite so rapidly in Loew's as they did in some of their earlier hotel deals. But then, it is only natural that they should be slowing up a little. After all, they will be forty in a few more years." Larry Tisch is 36; Preston Robert, 33. Shelton says they went into the hotel business in 1946 by acquiring Laurel-in-the-Pines in Lakewood, N.J., with their $125,000 stake. He estimates their net worth today at $65,000,000 on which he estimates they earn about 10 per cent per year. Four to Soviet ( Continued from page 1 ) State as required under the governmental program. Pictures chosen to date by the Soviets include "The Brave One," made by the King Brothers for RKO; and "Knock on Wood," and "Little Boy Lost," both from Paramount. A fourth picture from Warner Bros, will be selected by the Russians in the near future. Under the terms of the deal the Russians will pay an additional sum to cover print costs and other materials, Frankel said. He pointed out that this is the first such arrangement with the Russians calling for the release of American pictures in Mongolia. The Soviets acquired 35mm and 16mm theatrical rights to the four pictures, but no television rights. M. J. P. has acquired options to purchase a number of top-grade Soviet pictures which Frankel saw in Russia and which he believes would be of great interest to American audiences, he said. M. J. P. has presented two Soviet films to the Department of State for their approval, in accordance with the exchange agreement. M. J. P. also has finalized the sale of several groups of other American films to Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Roumania. It is the bargaining agent for Paramount, RKO and Warner Brothers in all film sales involving the Soviet Union and the satellites. 'Solomon,' 'Beach' ( Continued from page 1 ) achieved new all-time house records for any four-day period are: the Loew's State in Atlanta with $22,409; the Loew's Stillman in Cleveland with $22,484; the United Artists in Detroit with $29,917; the Fox in Philadelphia with $40,422 and the Penn in Pittsburgh with $30,673. In its New York engagement at the New Loew's Capitol Theatre, the film rolled up a huge $66,889 for its first three days. For its first two days it became the third picture in the theatre's 40-year history to top the $50,000 mark with a weekend gross of $51,241 despite the theatre's reduced seating capacity. "On the Beach" has rolled up a huge gross of $314,189 in its first six domestic engagements to date, Heineman said. Since its pre-Christmas premieres, the film registered $82,581 at the Astor Theatre, New York; $87,950 at Chicago's State-Lake Theatre; $53,290 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles; $33,741 at the Keith Theatre, Washington, and $35,305 at the Odeon Theatre, Toronto. In four days at the United Artists Theatre in San Francisco, "On the Beach" grossed $21,331, setting a new record for the house. Heineman declared that the grosses are 'sensational" since in most cases they include more than a week of playing time during the traditionally slack, pre-Christmas holiday season. Gunfighters of Abilene Vogue — United Artists HARTFORD, Dec. 25' Buster Crabbe, best-known to thi younger viewers of America's home!1 lt: screen in most recent years, and re} membered to the adults for his swimf ming feats a generation ago, tops cas'' of this compactly-made Vogue Picj tures Inc. presentation released unde'i the UA banner. Robert E. Kent pro]' duced and Edward L. Cahn directedT' from a screenplay by Orville Hampton' all three capable figures long accusi tomed to working within a modes^ framework for maximum entertainment effects. Professional gunman Crabbe ha, sworn to kill the murderer of hij brother, only to find that the murderer is the father of his brother's bride-toli » be. Plotting and counter-plotting foil f low to the inevitable fadeout wher«|iiii the once proud, arrogant gun-slingeii learns that a man cannot stoop t(| shooting and still live with his con! science. There is sufficient hard ridin', shooh in' and fightin' to satisfy the western^ action audiences for which "Gunfightj ers of Abilene" is primarily aimed Barton MacLane and Judith Ames hold down featured roles. Running time, 67 minutes. General classification. Release, in January. i A.M.W:N IF Fox Short Planned ! ( Continued from page 1 ) cators, clergy, parent groups, boy and,girl scouts, Sunday schools, leader^ of the arts and sciences, nationa^ magazines and critics. , The Fox publicists will also b^| equipped with promotional kits conf raining vital statistics, synopsis, bio| graphical material, and production notes on the film. The special subject^ will also be shown as a preview in-i troduction trailer in theatres across) the country. Discovered after a world-wide tal-[ ent search, Miss Eden was picked by> executive production head, Buddy) ( Adler, and producer Sam Engel toi play the leading role in the Biblical' epic, although she had never before! appeared in a major film. 1 ) Azzarano Heads Group j PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 29. Jo-? seph Azzarano, of Universal-Interna-' tional, was elected president for the! new year of F-7, IATSE, representing' the front office workers at the local1 film exchanges. Other officers include1 Jack Smith, M-G-M, vice-president;' Mary Monaghan, U.A., secretary;' Gloria Gerace, U.A., treasurer; and' Max Bronow, M-G-M, business agent. Form Carolina Company WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Dec. 29. —Shore Enterprises, Inc., this city, has been granted a state charter to operate drive-in motion picture theatres. Authorized capital stock is $100,000. The incorporators: R. S. Shore, Annie Shore and B. H. Shore, all of Winston-Salem.