The Exhibitor (1959)

18 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR August 19, 1959 Cinerama Plans Production Of Two Per Year, Reeves Tells Holders NEW YORK — Hazard E. Reeves, president, Cinerama, Inc., told stockholders at a special meeting held last fortnight in lieu of their annual session, that the company plans to make two films a year, of the family yet ex¬ traordinary type, along “big spectacle” lines, due to its inability to “encourage exclusive licenses to make more pictures,” and the necessity for product to keep theatres show¬ ing the process on a continuous basis. Reeves said, “We can’t start making money until we start making our own pictures,” adding that “the process presents many po¬ tentials other than the travelogue label placed on Cinerama.” He stressed that the objective was not to put Cinerama in thousands of theatres, but said that initially the company will be satis¬ fied to get its pictures in 40 to 100 houses worldwide. The production plans will be backed by a $9,000,000 loan by Prudential Life Insurance Company and an investment of $3,000,000 by Robin International, Inc. Reeves further informed the stockholders that there is “encouraging evidence” that the company may succeed in its efforts to create a one-lens Cinerama system. It was disclosed that the five Cinerama pictures made to date have grossed world¬ wide a total of more than $90,000,000 in fewer than 50 theatres. These five pictures were made at a cost of $11,000,000 to $12,000,000. The stockholders approved the creation of liens in favor of Prudential on substantially all assets now owned or hereafter acquired by Cinerama, and a proposal to transfer all of Cinerama’s rights in Cinerama camera, projection, and other equipment and patents, and equipment related to a new single-lens photographic system to two new whollyowned subsidiaries. The stockholders also okayed a proposed amendment to the corporation’s certificate of incorporation increasing the firm’s au¬ thorized capital to $60,000, consisting of 6,000000 shares of one cent par value. Restricted stock options to Wentworth D. Fling, executive vice-president; L. Byron Cherry, executive vice-president; and L. Grant Leenhouts, vice-president, were also approved. Elected to the board were Reeves, Fling, Cherry, John H. Hartley, Nicholas Reisini, Bernard Goodwin, and Marshall A. Jacobs. House Defines Obscenity; Now Penna. Senate To Try HARRISBURG — New definitions of ob¬ scenity for the penal code were approved by the House of Representatives. The ad¬ ministration-backed legislation — designed to revise the code in line with a State Supreme Court decision that the present obscenity law is too vague — was sent to the Senate by vote of 203-0. One measure applies to live and filmed shows and the other to literature. Obscen¬ ity is defined as that which “to the aver¬ age person applying contemporary com¬ munity standards, its dominant theme, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient (lewd) interest.” The two bills write out of the code pres¬ ent prohibitions which mention “immor¬ al, lewd, lascivious, sacrilegious, filthy, indecent, disgusting” as violations. ACE-MPAA Ad Unit Finds "Common Ground" NEW YORK — The advertising sub-com¬ mittee of ACE-MPAA met last week chaired by Max A. Cohen. It was reported that a common ground was found on all items introduced. A progress report will be tendered at the full MPAA-ACE meet¬ ing scheduled for Aug. 25. Present were Roger Lewis, Charles Simonelli, Paul Lazarus, Harry Goldberg, Ken Clark, Cohen, Emanuel Frisch, Si Seadler, Harry Mandel, Charles Einfeld, Ed Sullivan, Taylor Mills, and Merlin Lewis. S. Benjamin New UA V-P NEW YORK — Seward I. Benjamin has been elected a vice-president of United Artists Corporation, it was an¬ nounced last week by Arthur B. Krim, presi¬ dent of the company. Benjamin will continue in his present capacity as secretary. Benjamin has served as secretary and direc¬ tor of the corporation since March, 1951, short¬ ly after the company’s operation was taken over by the present ex¬ ecutive management team. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Benjamin is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Fordham University School of Law. He is a member of the law firm of Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim and Ballon, Esqs. BENJAMIN COMPO B-B Group To Meet Aug. 24 NEW YORK— A meeting of the COMPO business building committee appointed at the last executive committee meeting has been called for Aug. 24 by the committee’s chair¬ man, Ben Marcus of Milwaukee. Other members of the committee are Max Cohen, Ernest Stellings, Abe Montague, Solomon Strausberg, Harry Brandt, Horace Adams, Albert M. Pickus, and Charles E. McCarthy. The purpose of the meeting, Marcus ex¬ plained, is to develop a national program for area business building campaigns such as he has succesfully conducted recently in Wisconsin. The campaign calls for the harnessing of the industry’s business build¬ ing record with radio spot announcements cn specific pictures and a concerted effort by exhibitors and distributors to exploit specific pictures. The meeting, Marcus said, also will see how this program can be integrated with what¬ ever plans are made by the MPAA-ACE committee on advertising recently appointed. Representatives of the MPAA-ACE advertis¬ ing group have been invited to attend the COMPO committee meeting, Marcus said. Allied Sets Speakers CINCINNATI — Rube Shor, convention chairman of the Allied Ohio Valley indoor and outdoor theatre convention, has an¬ nounced that the Honorable Harry Pauley, Speaker of the West Virginia House of Rep¬ resentatives, has accepted an invitation to speak at the three state meeting on the sub¬ ject of the deplorable condition of West Virginia theatres due to unfair trade practices. The Ohio Valley meeting will be held Sept. 15-16, at the Sheraton Gibson Hotel in Cin¬ cinnati. Industry Ponders Effect Of A ttack On "Franker" Films In Detroit News DETROIT — Exhibitors and distributors here are wondering if “The Detroit News” is really starting something which is going to cause the industry trouble, is inadvertently promoting attendance, or has created a tempest in a teapot. Last week it ran a three-page series on the trend toward franker films, objectionable advertising, and that the Production Code was destined to be shelved. This last despite the fact that Eric Johns¬ ton replied to the first article, by amusement editor John Finlayson, that the new and broader Code was being meticulously ob¬ served. Finlayson also wrote the second arti¬ cle, while widely-syndicated Harold Heffernan of the “News,” writing out of Hollywood, put on the concluding touches. The pieces, each one of which began on the front page and ran about four column feet, were two and three column headlined: “Movies Shock Way to Hits at Box Office”; “Why Hollywood Switches to Frankness in Films”; “Smut Films Face National Attack.” Permissiveness in what was formerly ob¬ jectionable was traced. Jerry Wald is quoted as remarking the change of attitude stemed from the first Kinsey book. Grosses such as were chalked up on “Peyton Place” are al¬ leged to be the irresistible incentives to in¬ dependent producrs. Finlayson is quite frank in stating the “News” has either rejected or demanded changes in copy and art on movie adver¬ tising. The enormous coverage is bound to stir up something in both directions, but whether to the benefit or detriment of the industry is as yet difficult to evaluate. On the one hand, it leaves an impression (since it ignores the preponderant majority of films to which few could object) that the place to behold pornography is the movies, and hence fo¬ cusses the attention of sensation-seekers. On the other hand, conveying this impression to parents is scarcely conducive to increasing attendance of youth. There have been outspoken and murmured complaints anent the “News” movie cover¬ age. Recently, it introduced “The Passing Show” Sunday section with emphasis on “Television,” “Screen,” and culture in gen¬ eral. It is noted that “Television,” comes first in the masthead, and also that while the in¬ dustry was assured adequate coverage, far more space is given television than to movies. At times, too, ads for movies on TV have appeared on the movie page, using the old theatre mats. Contra, no movie ads are per¬ mitted on the TV page. The TV ads advertised attractions on WWJ-TV, NBC outlet here. “The Detroit News” owns WWJ-TV.