Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

2 Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, December 27, I960 PERSONAL MENTION TJ AY SCHMERTZ, 20th CenturyFox branch manager in Cleveland, is in Florida on vacation. • Charles Patti, M-G-M sound expert, is in the Northern Ohio area checking theatre sound equipment prior to several openings of "BenHur" in that territory. • Lester Wurtele, Columbia Pictures branch manager in Philadelphia, is recuperating at his home there from a heart attack. Gary Cooper has returned to Hollywood from London where he completed filming of "The Naked Edge" for United Artists release. • Greg Morrison, 20th Century-Fox publicist, is in Portland, Ore., for meetings with branch manager Charles F. Powers and regional advertising-publicity manager Warren Slee on promotional activities for the 1961 product. • Dick Brooks, Embassy Pictures' press liaison, is in Mexico from here for a two-week business-vacation trip. • Wilbur M. Brizendine, general manager of Schwaber Theatres, Baltimore, sailed last week with Mrs. Brizendine aboard the S.S. Atlantic for a Mediterranean cruise. • Ronald I. Richardson and his bride have left Albany, N. Y., on a honeymoon trip around the world. She is the daughter of Harold Gabrilove, former chief barker of the Albany Variety Club and president of RTA Distributors, Inc. MGM Inters into Co-Production Deaf with ASCAP's Election ABC Vending Div. 25$ ABC Vending Corporation has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents on the common stock, payable on Feb. 25, 1961, to stockholders of record Feb. 10. NEW YORK THEATRES Cipro Co. of Paris for Films in French, English Results Certified Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has entered into a co-production agreement with the Cipra Company of Paris to produce a group of major pictures in both French and English. Under the agreement with Cipra, headed by producer Jacques Bar, MGM will also hold the world-wide distribution rights to the films. The first project under the co-production deal will be Noel Coward's "Private Lives" to star Brigitte Bardot. Production is planned to begin in Paris early next year. Currently, Jacques Bar is producing "Bridge to the Sun," starring Carroll Baker and James Shigeta, for MGM release. This film is separate from the new agreement as is another Bar-produced film, "Murder at 45 R.P.M.," a French melodrama, for which MGM holds world distribution rights. Jaf f e Chairman ( Continued from page 1 ) man of Loew's; Herbert L. Golden, United Artists vice-president; Burton Robbins, president of National Screen Service; Robert S. Benjamin, chairman of the board of United Artists; and Si Fabian, president of the Stanley Warner Corp. Others attending the meeting included Leon Goldberg; Irving H. Greenfield; Saul Horowitz, Jr.; Arthur Israel, Jr.; Howard Minsky; Adolph Schimel; and Samuel Schneider. Arwin, Columbia ( Continued from page 1 ) charge of West Coast operations, for a $26 million production deal, it was reported. Involved in the major transaction are a group of eight top-budgeted films, four of which will be Doris Day starring vehicles under the Arwin banner. David Miller Engaged Services of David Miller, director who reined Doris Day's current release, "Midnight Lace," are also tied into the deal, wherein he will direct for producer Melcher the four remaining commitments as well as one or more of Miss Day's pictures. The pact, which is non-exclusive, will have as its initial project Doris Day starring in "Roar Like a Dove," which will be put into a screen play by Norman Krasna from the London stage hti. Richard Quine will direct. Negotiations are also reported underway regarding a possible merger of music company subsidiaries of Arwin Productions and Columbia's Colpix. John Connolly, Dies; USIA Film Div. Head John Stoddard Connolly, chief of the domestic motion picture division of the United States Information Agency, died here Thursday at the age of 73. Connolly, who lived in Larchmont, N.Y., served as Washington representative of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association from 1919 to 1927. He then became European director of the American Newsreel Company. He was appointed chief of the newsreel division of the Office of InterAmerican Affairs in 1941. Connolly transferred to the State Department in 1945 and became its newsreel liaison representative of the International Motion Pictures Service. Connolly joined the U. S. I. A. in 1952, becoming head of the domestic motion picture division the next year. Trumans Will See New Columbia Film Today Former President Harry S. Truman and Mrs. Truman will visit the home office of Columbia Pictures this morning to attend a special screening of William Goetz's "Cry For Happy." The Trumans will be the guests of George Campbell, former Naval officer, who authored the novel upon which the Columbia release is based. They will view the picture at 10 A.M. in the company of Campbell and Columbia executives. I — RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL — i 'Exodus' Does $49,000 Rockefeller Center • Ci 6-4600 DEBORAH ROBERT PETER KERR • MITCHUM • USTINOV IN FRED ZINNEMANN'S PRODUCTION OF "THE SUNDOWNERS" A WARNER BROS. PICTURE inTECHNICOLOR and THE MUSIC HALL'S GREAT CHRISTMAS STAGE SHOW Otto Preminger's "Exodus" grossed a big $49,000 in its first week at the Warner Theatre here, playing to capacity audiences in all of its 14 performances, according to United Artists. Fox Appoints Aguilera Eugenio Aguilera has been appointed 20th Century-Fox manager of Ecuador, it was announced by Murray Silverstone, president of 20th Century Fox Inter America, Inc. Aguilera, a Panamanian who has worked in film exhibition and distribution throughout Latin America for the past 20 years, replaces Carlos Becerra, who recently was killed in an Ecuadorian air crash. Aguilera will also handle M-G-M product in Ecuador. Dorothy Fields, chairman of the committee on elections of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, has certified to ASCAP president Stanley Adams the following results of the elections of writer members and publisher members for the Society's board of directors commending Jan. 2, 1961, to March 31, 1963. The writer members in the popular-production field are: Stanley Adams, Howard Dietz, L. Wolfe Gilbert, Otto A. Harbaoh, Jimmy McHugh, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Schwartz, Ned Washington and Jack Yellen. The writer members in the standard field are: Paul Creston, Morton Gould and Deems Taylor. All incumbent writer members have been returned to the board. The publisher directors elected in the popular-production group are: Louis Bernstein of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.; J. J. Bregman of Bregman, Vocco & Conn, Inc.; Irving Caesar of Irving Caesar; Max Dreyfus of Chappell & Co., Inc.; Bernard Goodwin of Livingston and Evans, Inc.; Jack Mills of Mills Music, Inc.; Edwin H. Morris of Edwin H. Morris & Co., Inc.; Maurice Scopp of Robbins Music Corp., and Herman Starr of Harms, Inc. Connor, Tauhert and Vogel For the standard ■ publisher directorship: Frank H. Connor of Carl Fischer, Inc.; Rudolph Tauhert of G. Schirmer, Inc.; and Adolph Vogel of ElkanVogel Co., Inc. Publishers Bernard Goodwin of Livingston and Evans, Inc., and Edwin "Buddy" Morris of Edwin H. Morris & Co., Inc., were previously elected by petition. The committee on elections consisted of: Dorothy Fields, chairman; Bennie Benjamin; Gerald Marks; Peter Mennin; Johnny Mercer, and Aaron Sohroeder, writers; and Ben Bloom, Harold Flammer and F. C. O'Keefe, publishers. An amendment to the Articles of Association proposed by Otto A. Harbach, Pinky Herman and Arthur Schwartz failed to carry, despite the overwhelming support of the members who voted, because it did not receive the necessary two-thirds of the total potential vote. SAVE MONEY ON PREVUES Use Filmack's Deluxe $2 each TEASERETTES NO CONTRACTS NO RETURNS Use as Prevues, Advance or Cross Plugs! FILMACK^X section of Motion Picture Herald; Television Today, published daily as part of Motion Picture Dailv Motion Picture Almond" T»w;"o7™ ""a"i~ 5d-"""**""£ ;J " s matter Sept. 21, 1938, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., unde'r the'act of March 3, TsVT Su&Ka"^^ for^. SiS^co".^ if]