Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

MOTION PICTURE DAILY iL. 88, NO. 102 D I T O R I A L , elow the Belt NEW YORK, U.S.A., TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1960 TEN CENTS Warns Broadcasters By Sherwin Kane :lHE day after John Crosby, telen vision critic turned columnist for S the N. Y. Herald-Tribune, misinJlrmed his many readers with another jl those Hollywood and the motion Ijcture industry are dead articles, l isiness reports on two of the fine I ctures he foolishly and groundlessly flaligned, proved him an incompetent | porter. H Writing in the Sunday H-T, Crosby | id he had just returned from Hollyfiood where he found everyone siting on their hands awaiting the arI val of pay television, the while the ghblic's changing appetite for enterliinment goes unnoticed in HollyHood and hence is better served else| here. I Regardless of how accurate Cros| ys' observations may be, this demIjostrates, he insisted, that Hollywood || done for. • jl In an irresponsible aside, the erstllhile tv critic, reaching for anything |jj bolster his contention, asserted that 1 Spartacus" will lose millions and I Ben-Hur" is turning soft in its sec nd year. | Just how irresponsible that reportRag is can be judged by two news litems appearing in today's news colI unns. One reports near-capacity business for "Spartacus" in the six theatres in which it has opened to date. I The other, typical of "Ben-Hur" Ebusiness news day in and day out, eports that the picture's Cleveland Engagement, scheduled to close Dec. 19 after 46 weeks, has been extended indefinitely because of public demand for reserved seats weeks beyond that date. It is not reasonable to assume that accurate business information concerning "Spartacus" and "Ben-Hur" could not have been obtained by Crosby, as it could be by any other newspaperman worthy of the name. When one considers that the maligned pictures are regarded within the industry as outstanding examples of the new era of great grossing productions, and when it is remembered that in its still limited engagements ( Continued on page 2 ) Thanksgiving-Period Theatre Takes Reported Better-than-Fair to Strong Trailers, New Films Worry TV Code Head Better-than-fair to strong business for the four-day Thanksgiving Day weekend was reported yesterday by New York's leading theatres and circuits. Radio Citv Music Hall,' for the Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday period, 1 grossed a big $125,000 with "The World of Suzie Wong." The take for Thanksgiving Day itself, set a record for that holiday, registering $32,500, the theatre disclosed. The take for Saturday was $34,000. Loew's Theatres' figures reflected strong business both in New York and (Continued on page 4) Rank to Distribute '£/ Cid' in Britain From THE DAILY Bureau LONDON, Nov. 28. A contract for the distribution here of "El Cid" by Rank Film Distributors was signed today by F. L. Thomas, managing director of the Rank company, and Samuel Bronston and Philip Yordan for Samuel Bronston Prod., and D.E.A.R. Films of Rome, the American and Italian co-producers of the film. Distribution of "El Cid" in the (Continued on page 4) MGM Host to World Press for 'Cimarron' Top representatives of the international press will converge on Oklahoma City Wednesday for the twoday "Cimarron" world premiere celebration. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will fly one plane load from New York via St. Louis, and another will arrive from Hollywood, both filled with members of the press from cities across the country and across the oceans. Representatives from London, South America, and Australia will also ( Continued on page 4 ) Eulogy by Skouras At Harrison Rites Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, will deliver the eulogy at memorial services for Alex Harrison, former general sales manager of the film company, who died last Wednesday in California. The memorial sendees will take (Continued on page 4) N. J. Allied's Beefsteak Dinner Set for Dec. 13 The 33rd annual beefsteak dinner of Allied Theatre Owners of New Jersey will be held at 7:30 P.M., on Dec' 13 at the Alpine Restaurant, Maplewood, N. J., it was announced yesterday. About 200 members and guests are expected to attend. Sam Engelman is chairman of the event, and Howard Herman, co-chairman. Review Board Head Sees Problem in Suggestiveness Post 1948 Hollywood feature films and trailers for current attractions at local theatres rang with personal product advertising as providing the most headaches for the Television Code Review Board, E. K. Hartenbower, chairman of the Review Board, told the Fall Conference of the National Association of Broadcasters this morning. The conference opened here yesterday at the Biltmore Hotel. Problems concerning personal prod(Continued on page 4) Jerry Lewis 'Unveils' New 'Ladies Man' Set By SAMUEL D. BERNS HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 28. Jerry Lewis today invited domestic and foreign press representatives to an "unveiling" of his $500,000 set for "Ladies Man" on Stage 15 at the Paramount studios. Display of the unique setting on three floors, of approximately 40 rooms, in a studio(Continued on page 2) TELEVISION TODAY— page 5 REVIEW: The Crass Is Greener Grandon — Universal-International "The Grass Is Greener" is bright, sophisticated comedy, played by an attractive cast headed by Carv Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Tean Simmons. A Stanley Donen production, it is beautifully mounted in Technicolor and Technirama, and having the English countryside and one of those museum-like manor houses which have been opened to sightseers as its setting, there are many attractions for the color cameras to capture and put on exhibit. The adult story employs adultery to make a rather telling argument in behalf of the permanencv, if not the sanctity, of marriage. And employing gifted people as its instruments, it sustains an air of civilized comedy for most of its length that will keep audiences in good humor and send them away feeling glad they had come. And that, of course, ( Continued on page 6 ) Spanish Sub-Titles for Cuban Patrons in Miami Special to THE DAILY MIAMI, Nov. 28. — An influx of thousands of Cubans to this area, fleeing Fidel Castro's revolutionary regime, is having its effect on local theatres as on numerous other businesses. The Wometco circuit recently booked "The Ten Commandments" with Spanish subtitles, and is repeating with Spanish language versions of "An Affair to Remember" and "Gift of Love," double featured. A Wometco spokesman said. "It seems to be a very successful experiment because about 95% of the theatre's audience is Cuban now."