Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1960)

»I 88, NO. 28 MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1960 TEN CENTS _ ije Bans jealrcs Take Highest Attendance in 4 Years Reported for Last Week of July ^iti-Pcl V T V Motion picture theatres in the U. S. hit the till for their best figure in four years during the last week of July. A total attendance of 82,831,000 is reported by Sindlinger & Company, market analysts, in its weekly Motion Picture Activity, which says this figure is seven-tenths per cent above the comparable week of 1959, and the highest recorded since the company posted 83,998,000 for August 4, 1956. Pointing out that the week ending July 30th was the first time in 13 weeks that weekly attendance exceeded a corresponding week of 1959, the Sindlinger report attributes the upturn to increased attendance at drive-in theatres. While attendance at conventional theatres is said to have dropped 13.5 per cent during the last week of July, drive-in admissions went up 8.9 per cent. ]ise to Public I , 30 Million Signers o Petition to Congress Twelve Films Slated Pathe Outlines Distributing, Producing Plan Calls Its Booking System 'Three-Way Partnership" Eribition's campaign to legislate! outlaw pay-TV moved into high ajwith the announcement yestervjy Philip F. Harling, chairman of e pint Committee Against Pay-TV, Ration-wide drive for 30,000,000 rrjures from the public on petiaj calling upon Congress to enact Uhgainst pay-TV. rjrling said that by about Sept. 1 itjnal Screen Service will complete stmtion to every theatre in Ameribf kits containing petitions to i lit to all congressmen asking pasgiof H.J.R. 130 and H.R. 6245 of e;6th Congress, or any other legisdi which would ban pay-TV by ( Continued on page 5 ) tAChmgesAFMMade W on Post-1 48s to TV » > From THE DAILY Bureau DLLYWOOD, Aug. 9.-The Muc is Guild of America charged toaj that a "deal" has been made bevin the American Federation of hjcians and TV film distributors nJthe networks to allow the sale of o!48 films to television in exchange payments to the AFM trust funds, ill June 23, 1960, according to the (Continued on page 9) Joint Foreign, Domestic Publicity Seen on Rise Every major American film company will be forced to integrate its foreign with its domestic publicity and exploitation organization means to alive in tough, c o m p e titive markets abroad. Columbia Pictures thinks it has been the first to see the if it stay the new Jonas Rosenfield light. These nouncements were made (Continued on page 6) prohere Second Hotel for Loew s Theatres Loew's Theatres yesterday announced plans for construction of a second mammoth hotel in midtown Manhattan as part of its continuing diversification program. The newest project will be the 2,000-room, $50 millions Hotel Americana West on the east side of Seventh Avenue from 52nd to 53d Streets, the site for which was acquired from Webb & Knapp for $5 millions recently. Now under construction is the Hotel Americana East on the site of the old Loew's Lexington Theatre at Lexington Ave. and 51st St. The Americana West will be the (Continued on page 9) cca 6-Mo. Earnings EDITORIAL Bghest in its History ^ Good Precedent msolidated net earnings of Decca irds, Inc., including results of opons of its subsidiary, Universal ires, for the six months ended ■ 30, amounted to $2,946,224, the est first six months in company )ry I i the corresponding period for ), Decca reported earnings of 3,202. _ By Sherwin Kane T EVISION TODAY— page 9 «7ESTERDAY's news story that Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" will conV tinue playing its pre-release engagements at Walter Reade's DeMille 1 Theatre on Broadwav and the Baronet on the East Side after it opens in more than 90 Loew's and other neighborhood theatres, and in the Brooklyn Paramount, is a development of unusual trade significance. The simultaneous neighborhood and downtown first runs are not the only precedents involved, although they very likely are the most significant phase of the engagements. Other aspects are that the theatres ( Continued on page 2 ) By SAMUEL D. BERNS HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 9. A new motion picture producing and distributing company which for the first time will permit theatre owners to share with producers and the distributing company in ownership profits of films was announced today by America Corporation and its subsidiary, Pathe Laboratories. Two subsidiary companies have been set up by America Corp. to finance and distribute an initial program of 12 pictures of unlimited budget, it was revealed by James S. Burkett, Pathe sales manager. The distributing arm is Alpha Distributing Corporation, with headquarters in Hollywood and New York. Producers (Continued, on page 4) levine Sets Another $l,000f000 Ad Budget By SAUL OSTROVE Joseph E. Levine, describing $1,000,000 exploitation budgets as "monotonous," yesterday announced another $1,000,000 advertising and promotion campaign t o pre sell Embassy Pictures' fort h coming "Where the Hot Wind Blows," for release b y M-G-M. Levine was j o kin g, of course, in deprecating the sum. What he really meant was, Embassy finds that despite early promises to itself to keep its ad budget below $1,000,000, it learns eventually that a seven-figure sum is required to promote the kind of sell it takes to (Continued on page 7) Joseph Levine