Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, November 22, ]] SAG to Strike ( Continued from page 1 ) ants, was 4,369 in favor of strike authorization, 549 against, and was announced by guild president George Chandler at a mass membership meeting in the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Immediately upon receipt of the certification on the strike authorization vote result and just prior to the membership meeting, the guild national board voted unanimously to reject the latest counteroffer of the employers and to call a strike, with full authority to guild's executive committee (composed of the officers) to set the time for the start of the walkout. Formal Presentation Due All indications at the guild meeting were tiiat the strike would start shortly after the results of the guild membership vote and board action are formally presented to negotiators for networks, ad agencies and commercial producers. Also during the meeting, the guild elected as officers, in addition to president George Chandler, Dana Andrews, first vice-president; James Garner, second vice-president; John Litel, third vice-president; Ann Doran, recording secretary, and Frank Faylen, treasurer. Residuals Reported President Chandler reported that during the 12-month period ended Oct. 31, 1960, the guild collected and distributed to members in residuals on television entertainment programs, and payments on theatrical pictures sold to television and claims against the producers for contract violations, the all-time record sum of $6,512,607. of this amount $5,316,307 was in program residuals, another new high, bringing the total amount of residuals distributed since the first television residual checks were processed by guild in December, 1953, to $17 386,425. National board members elected to represent the New York branch of the guild are Ernest Chappell, Humphrey Davis, Ron Rawson and Luis Van Rooten. Medical Aid Planned Benefits of the recently-negotiated guild health and welfare plan for motion picture actors, financed entirely by the producers, were disclosed for the first time. Martin Segel, guest speaker, told the actors that effective Jan. 1, 1961, the major portion of doctors' and hospital bills will be paid for guild members and their families. There also will be substantial life insurance and accident insurance coverage. President Chandler estimated that The Great Imposter MONEY MAKING MERCHANT IMAS SALES MANUAL FREE ON REQUEST For The Quickest And Best Holiday Promotion Trailers CONTINUED FROM PAGE I those who followed the accounts of his lively activities in the newspapers is the versatile man who assumed a great variety of names and professions here and in Canada before he was finally exposed. Lacking even a high-school education, he successfully passed himself off as a doctor of philosophy. With equal ease he became a novitiate in a Trappist monastery, a Royal Canadian Navv surgeon, an assistant prison warden and a school teacher. He was in short, a masquerader, par excellence. On the theory this was all prettv incredible, even though it really did happen Liam O'Brien wrote a screenplay (based on the book by Robert Cnchton) that stresses the humor in the situations. Things do become serious occasion ally-as when the hero seeks to reform some hardened criminals at the prison and when he operates on 19 Korean soldiers while in the Canadian navy and saves the lives of each. Mostly however, the emphasis is on the light-hearted, and Curtis and a talented supporting cast, under the direction of Robert Mulligan, have fallen right into the spirit of tongue-in-cheek. In the film Demara gets his start bv falsifying his record as a U S Marine m order to become eligible for a direct commission. This backhres when he learns his papers will automatically be verified bv the b.B.l. To prevent exposure he contrives to make it appear he has drowned himself! Next he enters the Trappist monastery but finds he cannot conform He goes on to the prison where, on the basis of forged credentials he gets a top post. He reforms the toughest cell block in the prison while romancing the warden's daughter on the side. When somebody comes along who can exnose him, he flees once more. This time it's off to the Canadian navv, where-in the picture's funniest scene and the one that got the loudest laughs at a theatre audience preview-he extracts the tooth of the ship's captain after reading how to do it m a book! His operations on the Korean soldiers follow. But soon he is exposed once again. In sketching the life of Demara as primarily one boyish prank after another writer O'Brien gave director Mulligan a formidable task in mood-shitting as he suddenly jumps from a comic scene to a serious one lor the most part the transitions are manaeed smoothly. There are slight attempts here and there to get underneath the Demara character-to explain why he does what he does. These do not come to much however, which is probably just as well as far as the average spectator is concerned. 1 Throughout Curtis maintains a gay, insouciant manner that will win audiences. Part of the fun in the picture is watching a host of talented character actors suddenly appear to do a "bit"-Gary Merrill as the father of Demara; Karl Maiden as the priest who advises him; Raymond Massey as the head of the Traooist monastery; Arthur O'Connell as the prison warden; and Edmund O'Brien as the ship's captain. The girls in the hero s life are attractively plaved bv Toan Blackman, Sue Ane Langdon, and Cmdi Wood. Robert Arthur produced Sold as a comedy, a vehicle for Curtis, and a "true" story, "The Great Jmposter should do good business everywhere Running time, 112 minutes. Release, in February, 1961. Richard Gertner PEOPLE -4 Mitchell Wolfson, president Wometco Enterprises Miami, the subject of "Our Sunday Portr in the Miami News, which paid t ute to the motion picture and bro casting executive with the follow caption: "Mitchell Wolfson, head the Wometco theatre and televi: chain. He can smile broadly in lc ing back over a long career of acc« plishment in Greater Miami and F ida. One of the first movie men realize he couldn't beat tv, he joi. it. His company netted almost a i lion dollars, doubling its profits in first year as a public stock firm. W son restored the Audubon House his native Key West. He is a font mayor and councilman of Mi: Beach and won four battle stars lieutenant colonel in World War □ Leonard H. Goldenson, presid! of American Broadcasting-Paramoi Theatres, who last week was reelec . to serve a fifth term as chairman United Cerebral Palsy Associatio! has been honored again by that ganization, which bestowed its Le;^ ership award upon him at the closs session of its 11th annual conferei in Chicago. □ Bob Stroh, manager of the Natior1 Theatre, Greensboro, N. C, has sumed new duties as city manager Bluefield, West Va., for the Will:1 Kincey circuit. His post at Greer boro will be taken over by Al Cos dale, of Roanoke, Va. in theatrical pictures alone, employ ers will contribute a minimum of $1,650,000 a year into the health and welfare plan and the accompanying pension plan. President Chandler's annual report disclosed that the guild's paid-up membership has reached an all-time high, 13,685 as of Oct. 31, 1960, of whom 9.396 are in the Hollywood area, 3,481 at New York and 808 in other cities. Send Your Order To FILMACK 1327 SO. WABASH -CHICAGO 5 All AFTRA Boards Reject Pact Terms With all three sections of the national board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, east, west and central, having voted within the past few days to reject the networks' proposals for a new contract, a strike call can be issued at any time, an AFTRA spokesman said vesterday. A final effort to effect a settlement will be made today when representatives of all factions will meet here with Federal mediator J. R. Mandelbaum in an effort to iron out the differences which may idle some 16,000 members of the AFTRA and several thousands more of the SAG. The meeting, which will start at 10:30 A.M., will be held at 341 Ninth Ave. Late Friday night, the Central board of AFTRA in Chicago rejected the networks proposals, which had been rejected earlier by the New York and Hollywood boards. □ Bert Spielvogel, who in the p; has operated a motion picture and a vertising photography studio in Was ington, D. C, has Joined On Fih Inc., of Princeton, N. J., as direct of cinematography. He will supervil all camera work, including the anim1 tion department. 'Worlds' Print Record London, Nov. 21-A total of 5C color prints of "The 3 Worlds of Gu liver" will be in circulation simu taneously during Christmas weei when the film is scheduled for worlci wide release by Columbia Pictures This is said to be a record color prii order on a single film for the con: pany. In the United States alone mon than 400 openings of the film hay been set for the same week. WOMPI Group Wins JACKSONVILLE, Nov. 21. Th local chapter of Women of the Mc tion Picture Industry has scored victory over other women's organize tions here to win a $100 first priz on November from Community Clul Awards, which are sponsored here b Radio Station WMBR. The money he been earmarked for a WOMPI charit project.