Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

Thursday, December 29, 1960 Motion Picture Daily 5 PEOPLE H. B. Chandler, of Montreal, has aken up new duties as senior U. S. epresentative of the National Film 3oard. He will make his headquarers at the board's office in Canada louse, New York. Meanwhile, J. W. Bosnian, who has been senior reprelentative for the NFB in New York or the past three years, has returned 0 Montreal to become chief of the board's film sales division. □ Ross Hunter, Universal Internaional producer, has been cited by eaders of the furniture industry "for lis continuous good taste in set decoation and decor in all of his motion pictures." He will be awarded a special trophy at the Golden Chair Ward luncheon in the auditorium if the Mart, Los Angeles, on Jan. 17. □ Mrs. Dean Gray Edwards, presiient of the Federation of Motion Picture Councils, Inc., emphasizes the idea of children's pictures on her yChristmas cards this year. The card ,iists 18 films of recent release, from 'Ben-Hur" to "Toby Tyler." □ ) Ann Sunberg and Gerald M. Sun "berg, operating as the Trio Amusement Co., are the new owners of the iStrand Theatre, Philadelphia, the anly all-night-operating neighborhood liouse in that city. □ Ray Edwards, former sales representative with Howco Films, Atlanta, llhas joined the sales and booking department of Kay Films in that city. □ George Taylor, veteran independent exhibitor of Glasgow, Scotland, -is retiring from the film industry. □ Ben Lorber, insurance head for Universal Pictures, who is president of the Jewish Community Council of Perth Amboy, N. J., was awarded a plaque for his services as president from 1957-1960 at the organization's annual installation meeting this week. Sponsors 'Gulliver' Bow ATLANTA, Dec. 28. -The Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored the premiere showing of "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver" at the Rialto Theatre here as a benefit for the Boys Club. More than $5,000 was realized for a 1 new bus to be used by the boys. Bar Communist Films From Jordan Theatres Special to THE DAILY AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 25. (By Air Mad).— Jordanian theatres have been instructed by the Interior Ministry not to import motion pictures produced in Communist countries. Prospect of Dual Title Fights on ^ ^ w Theatre TV Seen tor February-March ■6„ne,im> $4,000,000 A double-feature in title fights for theatre-tv is in prospect in the event Feature Sports, Inc. completes arrangements for a February light heavyweight match between Archie Moore and Erich Schoeppner of Germany. The bout is being sought to pre cede the Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johansson heavyweight title fight in Miami Beach by about a month. Promoters point out that if the two title fights can be staged close together both could be put on theatre tv for little more than the television production cost of one. TelePrompTer Corp. handled the first two Patterson-Johansson fights, establishing a new theatre tv grossing record and record for number of participating theatres for the second bout last June. The same closed circuit and community antenna tv operator is discussing a deal for the theatre tv of the third bout next March with Feature Sports and a decision is expected to be made today or tomorrow. Not Interested, Says Kahn However, Irving Kahn of TelePrompTer said yesterday that his company is not interested in handling the theatre tv of a Moore Schoeppner fight, if one is arranged. Kahn agreed that there is a good chance that new records will be set with the theatre tv of the third Patterson-Johansson fight on March 20 from the Miami Beach Convention Hall. The fact that for die first time both the Los Angeles and New York areas will not be blacked-out to theatre tv will add about 40,000 seats to the gross potential-the 70,000 that will be available in New York, minus the 30,000 that were sold in Florida last June. Moving Expense a Factor Some of that will be offset by the cost of moving television cameras and crews from New York to Miami but it still leaves a good margin for setting new theatre tv records. Ancillary rights to the second Patterson-Johansson fight, including theatre tv, radio and motion pictures accounted for about $2,600,000 of the $3,500,000 gross. For that fight TelePrompTer had 231 theatre locations in 150 cities. 'Robinson9 Reported Big Walt Disney's "Swiss Family Robinson" opened to outstanding grosses during the Christmas holiday weekend in more than 187 cities across the country totaling $1,161,844 to date, according to Buena Vista. The figure represents a comparative gross of approximately 91 per cent of Disn e y ' s record breaking "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," which grossed over $6,000,000 in its domestic release. 'Sunday9 Gets $244,496 "Never On Sunday" set an all-time record at the Plaza Theatre, grossing $244,496 in its first ten weeks, it was announced by Ilya Lopert, president of Lopert Pictures Corp. Para. Meetings ( Continued from page 1 ) tures set for release within the next six to eight months will head the agenda of the meetings. Participating in the conclave will be Barney Balaban, president of Paramount Pictures; George Weltner, vice-president in charge of world sales; and Jack Karp, vice-president in charge of production. Films to be discussed include Marlon Brando's "One-Eyed Jacks," Ray Stark's "The World of Suzie Wong," Hal Wallis' "All in a Night's Work," Jurow-Shepherd's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Perlberg-Seaton's "The Pleasure of His Company," Shavelson-Rose's "On the Double," Jerry Lewis' "The Ladies Man," Maleno Malenotti's "The Savage Innocents," Roger Vadim's "Blood and Roses," and Bryan Foy's "Blueprint for Robbery." Emphasis will also be placed on Paramount's greatly augmented short subjects for 1961. Officials to Attend Executives of Paramount's Eastern and Southeastern divisions, headed by vice-president Hugh Owen, will attend the New York meetings, which will be held at the home office. Chicago meetings, at the Ambassador East Hotel, will be attended by representatives of the mid-Western, Southeastern and West divisions, supervised by vice-president Sidney Deneau. Both the New York and Chicago meetings will be directed by Pickman, assisted by Owen and Deneau. James Perkins, president of Paramount International, and Leonard Kaufman, vice-president and general counsel, will attend the sessions in New York. Davis to Outline Plans Martin Davis, director of advertising, publicity and exploitation, will outline merchandising plans for the upcoming releases, assisted by Joseph Friedman, exploitation manager. Also participating in the meetings will be Edward Chumley, U.S. and Canadian sales manager for Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments"; Howard Minsky, assistant to Weltner; Joseph Gould, advertising manager; Harold Rand, publicity manager, and Herb Steinberg, studio publicity manager. Attending the New York meetings will be division managers John G. Moore, Boston, and Gordon Bradley, Atlanta. Branch managers in attendance will include Myron Sattler, New York; Ulrik Smith, Philadelphia; Frank Saviola, Buffalo; William A. Meier, Cincinnati; Donald R. Hicks, Pittsburgh; Henry Gennaine, New Haven; Herb Gillis, Washington; Harold Henderson, Cleveland; Law Prior to the Christmas weekend, Metro Goldwyn Mayer's "Butterfield 8" had already rolled up over $4,000,000 at the box office in reports from its first 500 engagements, the company reported. The reports did not include the tremendous holiday grosses. Over 450 engagements were set for holiday playdates. MGM is blanketing the country with major holiday engagements, many of them holdover runs, as the attraction continues its exceptional box office pace. Huge grosses are being compiled in the film's fourth, fifth, and sixth and seventh weeks as it demonstrates its holdover strength, matching the business scored by "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof." Loew's House ( Continued from page 1 ) and Empire, latter-day victims of Manhattan's burgeoning commercial and residential demands, Loew's 72nd Street will leave no memories of live acting talent. The omate showplace, which opened its door on Feb. 20, 1932, and is young as theatres go, has always maintained a policy of presenting motion pictures alone. In fact, it is one of the city's few theatres of its size (2,673 seats) without a stage. rence Terrell, Charlotte; Fred Mathis, Jacksonville; Howard Nicholson, Memphis, and William Holliday, New Orleans. Division managers Alfred Taylor, Chicago Tom Bridge, Dallas, and H. Neal East, Los Angeles, will attend the Chicago meetings, as will Gordon Lightstone, general manager of Affiliated Pictures Corp., new Canadian distribution organization for Paramount and Columbia Pictures. Branch managers attending die Chicago meetings will include: Richard Frank, Chicago; Thomas Duane, Detroit; Frank Rule, Indianapolis; Ward Pennington, Milwaukee; Jess McBride, Minneapolis; Bernard Brager, Dallas; Charles Caligiuri, Des Moines; Harry Hamburg, Kansas City; Harry Haas, St. Paul; Arnold Shartin, Los Angeles; James Rickette, Denver; Donald Foster, Salt Lake City; Jack Stevenson, San Francisco, and Henry Haustein, Seattle. Canadians Coming Eastern and Canadian merchandising representatives Arnold Van Leer, Mike Weiss, Leonard Allen and Win Barron will attend the New York meetings, while Western representatives Alan Wieder, Henry Ehrlich and Everett Olsen will attend the Chicago sessions. Home office sales executives Edward DeBerry, Jack Perley, Arthur Dunne, Ted Krassner, Fred LeRoy, Ben Shechtman and Jerry Limata will also attend the New York sessions.