The Exhibitor (1954)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR A-2L A Quick Look At January Product Discloses Real Picture Quality {Continued from page A-10) to press for adoption by Congress if abuses are not corrected. . . . The Electric, Kansas City, wins record award of $2,406,602 in anti-trust suit against major distributors. . . . Ellis Ainall, SIMPP president, asks FTC for permission to withdraw complaint against MPEA. 27 — Charles Skouras, National Theatres president, dies on west coast. . . . TOA’s Alfred Starr and National Allied’s Trueman Rembusch head an exhibitors’ committee fighting pay-as-you-see TV. . . . New York commissioner says that no law exists permitting censorship of ex¬ terior ads. November, 1954 3 — Distributors’ committee meets with Eric Johnston, MPAA head, in effort to spur an industry arbitration plan. . . . New York exhibitors, others, reject voluntary ad code. . . . Pat McGee, keynoting the TOA con¬ vention, calls for a merger of Allied and TOA. 10 — New York exhibitors appeal the amusement tax ruling against them. . . . TOA’s convention in Chicago features approval by the group of a plan to finance independent pro¬ duction. . . . Harry Cohn, Columbia president, announces that the com¬ pany has set aside $10,000,000 to finance independent production. 17 — Missouri-Illinois theatre owners hear forecast of 125 CinemaScope films for 1955. . . . Allied Artists declares its first common stock cash dividend New York — All of the film companies put their shoulders to the wheel and their best foot forward during 1954 in a con¬ certed attempt to bring back to the motion picture theatres the lost patron on quality alone. A casual glance at announced product for January, 1955, shows that Allied Art¬ ists has scheduled “The Big Combo,” with Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, and Jean Wallace; “Treasure Of The Ruby Hills,” with Zachary Scott and Carole Matthews; and “Bowery To Bagdad,” with the Bow¬ ery Boys; Columbia has “The Violent Men,” with Glenn Ford, Barbara Stan¬ wyck, and Edward G. Robinson, in Tech¬ nicolor and CinemaScope; “The Bamboo Prison,” with Robert Francis and Dianne Foster; and “Masterson Of Kansas,” with George Montgomery, also in Technicolor. Lippert releases for January are “They Were So Young,” with Scott Brady, Ray¬ mond Burr, and Johanna Matz, and “The Silver Star” with Marie Windsor, Barton MacLane, Edward Buchanan, and Lon Chaney; while MGM comes through with “Bad Day At Black Rock,” with Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, and Anne Francis, in and withdraws from the IMPPA due to its expansion program. 24 — A1 Lichtman, 20th-Fox distribution head, proposes an all-industry con¬ ference to iron out trade problems. color and CinemaScope; and “Green Fire,” with Stewart Granger, Grace Kelly, and Paul Douglas, in color and CinemaScope; and Paramount releases “The Bridges At Toko-Ri,” with William Holden, Fredric March, Grace Kelly, and Mickey Rooney, in Technicolor. RKO will have “Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle,” with Gordon Scott and Vera Miles, and “Underwater,” with Jane Rus¬ sell, Richard Egan and Gilbert Roland, in Technicolor and Superscope; United Art¬ ists has “Black Tuesday,” with Edward G. Robinson and Jean Parker; “The Beachcomber,” Technicolor production, with Robert Newton and Glynis Johns; and “Battle Taxi,” with Sterling Hayden; U-I has “So This Is Paris,” Technicolor, with Tony Curtis, Gloria De Haven, and Gene Nelson; “Destry,” Technicolor, with Audie Murphy and Mari Blanchard; and “West Of Zanzibar,” with Anthony Steel and Sheila Sim; and Warners has “Young At Heart,” in WarnerColor, with Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, and Ethel Barrymore. Other companies have not yet announced their schedules, but theatregoers can ex¬ pect the same high quality. . . . TOA independent production finance group comes into being, headed by Sam Pinanski. . . . COMPO board approves national audience poll. dnelliifi: GEORGE SIDNEY DIRECTOR ★ Current Release "JUPITER'S DARLING" MGM In Preparation (ON LOANOUT FROM MGM) "MUSIC BY DUCHIN" A COLUMBIA PICTURE JERRY WALD PROD. December 22, 1954