Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

MOTION PICTURE TEN CENTS leatres Down Number, Up t $ Volume ve-In Growth More Than sets Decline in Gross From THE DAILY Bureau 3S ANGELES, Dec. 4.-A 10numerioal decline in standard ties in the Los Angeles area was t by a substantial increase in the age annual volume of business of .liurviving theatres, a survey undern for the Citizens National Bank lis city reveals. The survey covers decade from 1948 to 1958. ;idoor theatres in the area def ( Continued on page 2 ) lumbia 13-Week Net ported $570,000 ("jlolumbia Pictures at the weekend prted a net profit of $510,000 for j: 13-week period ended Sept. 24, as ipared with a net profit of $886,I for the similar quarter last year ,ed Sept. 26. faofit for the quarter this year inles $1,617,000 representing profit the sale of undeveloped land on West Coast. Net profit for the ,e quarter last year included (Continued on page 3) _ , r.i Warned in Selling Post-1948s a»««k t.f.l. ,Blotk.Booking f ilms Longest Day _ . . _ . . , ToTelevision Enjoined By JAMES D. IVERS Screen rights to "The Longest Day," minute by minute story of June 6, 1944-D-Day for the Allied forces — have been acquired by Darryl F. Zanuck and is now in preparation as "the most ambitious under taking since 'Gone with the Wind,' or 'Birth of a Nation'." Zanuck announced h i s purchase of the book, written by Cornelius Ryan after almost 10 years of research, at a full dress press conference Friday at the ( Continued on page 2 ) Turner Appointed UA N.Y. Branch Manager John Turner has been appointed branch manager of United Artists' New York exchange, it was announced by James R. Velde, UA president in charge of domestic sales. Turner, a former branch manager ( Continued on page 3 ) Darryl F. Zanuck But Court Denies U.S. Move to Force Distributors to Renegotiate Contracts Defendants in the Department of Justice suit charging «Wo in the sale of feature films to television were enjoined from he Factfe at the weekend in a decision handed down by New York Federal Judge Archre O. Dawson. Judge Dawson held that the defendants-six film and television companies-had violated Section I of the Serman Anti-Trust Act, as charged. At the same time, while granting an injunction, the court refused the move of the government to force the defendants to renegotiate their past contracts with tv stations a picture-by-picture basis. He (Continued on page 4) John New UA Ass't. Exploitation Head John John has been appointed assistant director of exploitation for United Artists, it was announced by Roger H. Lewis, UA vice-president in charge of advertising, publicity and exploitation. He succeeds Al Fisher, who was recently named UA's director of exploitation. Prior to his appointment, John was a UA fieldman, operating out of Cleveland. He came to UA after serving for seven years with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in New York and in the field. Before that, he spent 13 years with Stanley Warner Theatres in Pittsburgh. . He was also associated with Samuel Goldwyn, working on "Porgy and Bess." on Byrne in Independent Distribution Project J. P. (Jack) Byrne, former MetroGoldwyn-Mayer general sales manager, will resume business activities the inde w 'Popeye' Cartoon ries Is Planned From THE DAILY Bureau LONDON, Dec. 4 Halas and tchelor, the British cartoon cornay, has been commissioned by the nerican company, Rembrandt Films, produce a new series of Popeye iSix cartoons in colour have been dered. Each cartoon will be six nutes in length, and is intended r the American television and cinla markets. The first is already in production id Halas and Batchelor expects to diver it to New York before the end this year. REVIEW: The Wackiest Ship in The Army Fred Kohlmar Production— Columbia— CinemaScope ' Hollywood, Dec. 4 Tack Lemmon scores again in another delightful comedy role. This is a fittine successor to an earlier one he played in Naval uniform which S an "Oscar" for his work in "Mr. Roberts." Lemmor is name has become a boon to the box office with recent hits like The Apart menr and ''Some Like It Hot"; and this one is likewise destined to make ^t^&mar has insured a box office appetite for this nuttv Naval fruitcake with cast names like Ricky Nelson for supper bv h* millions of teenage fans, and Chips Rafferty, the popula Australian Mm star. Nelson also finds a spot to display his singing talent, and is a hkel) prospect for more and important film roles. _ _ P BLd on a true story of World War II, which was brought to hgM in a magazine article bv Herbert Carlson, the screen story, by Herbert (Continued on page 4) Byrne in pendent d i s tribution and producers' repr e s e n t ative fields in the near future, he said at the weekend. Discussions concerning the new business are in an advanced stage but have not been concluded yet. Byrne resigned his M-G-M post early in the year following an attack of hepatitis, from which he has fully recovered. A veteran distribution executive, Byrne had been with M-G-M since 1925, filling posts in many parts of the country. He was named general sales manager in 1957 and was elected a vice-president of the company in 1959. TELEVISION TODAY— page 5