The Exhibitor (1960)

The NEW YORK Scene By Mel KonecoH ONCE AGAIN, top industryites, stars, celebrities, and prominent American Red Cross officials gathered at the Metropolitan Club to hear Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, kick off the industry’s participation in the annual drive of the organization. The gathering heard Red Cross head General Alfred Gruenther go into general con¬ ditions in the world today and also thank the industry for their help in the past and future. He also thought that the industry could be of much help in the presentation of needed information throughout the world today. Skouras pledged continued support of the Red Cross, promising to go over the motion picture industry’s quota of $48,000. Others who pledged continued support and who also praised Skouras’ leadership were Sol Schwartz, Russell Downing, Bob Mochrie, Sam Rosen, Adolph Schimel, Bill Heineman, and Ned Depinet. Among the talent present was Mary Ure, Jo Van Fleet, Ina Balin, David Hedison, John Gabriel, Carol Lawrence, and David Susskind. PROMOTION NOTE: If you’re wondering who that cool cookie with the crazy cape is, she’s Heidi Erich from Hamburg by way of London. Because she claims to be a bonafide descendant of history’s only certified vampire, Universal hired her to come over and plug their forthcoming “Brides of Dracula.” The energetic and capable publicity department at U-I insisted we drop into her hotel room for a Bloody Mary breakfast, or a transfusion, or even an interview. Now this is not as bad or as good as it sounds, depending on your viewpoint, because when we got there a crew of photographers were having a field day. Some we suspect don’t know what a roll of film looks like, but they were having a good time so what the heck. Radio men had microphones all over the place to catch every word of wisdom. When the photogs ran out of angles in the room, everybody adjourned to the roof of the Hotel Drake, where a number of press agents turned green either because of the height or because the gal tottered dangerously on the roof’s ledge. Office workers in neighboring sky¬ scrapers crowded their windows like crazy to see what was happening. She told us she was “technical adviser” on the film as she looked hungrily at the razor nick on our neck. It’s her first trip to the U.S. and she’ll spend four to eight weeks meeting with press, radio and TV people in 15 to 30 cities, or her escort is not named Amiko Vogel, master attention-getter. Disengaging ourself from her clutches, we managed to stagger back to the office only to find a note from Columbia informing us that “Kim Novak was leaving Doctor’s Hospital and her doctor had given her permission to talk to the press for a maximum of 10 minutes. Photos will be permitted.” By this time it was too late to make the Novak rendevous, and we seriously thought of cutting our wrists. Oh well, there’s always a next time, it sez here. PRODUCER SPEAKS: Samuel Engel, producer of “The Story of Ruth,” has some views on the strike of Hollywood writers which may be found elsewhere in this issue. About the film, he showed us some sneak preview reactions which were phenomenal, and what’s more, no dirty words, which he assured us was unusual. He noted that all religious leaders who have seen the film have endorsed same. He will travel on behalf of the film to 15 cities, which is a new experience for him, something he is looking forward to. His next will be “The King Must Die,” which will roll in September abroad, possibly in Greece and Rome or London, with a possible budget of $7,500,000. He may go with unknowns since the story will be the prime thing. It could take four or five months to complete. 1961 will see him making ‘“Joshua.” THE METROPOLITAN SCENE: Sandy Abrahams, advertising and publicity director at Allied Artists, hosted an open house period at the Hotel Edison wherein he called attention to the cracker-jack campaign that has been in the works on “Pay or Die,” the fast moving crime meller about the Mafia. . . . Good old A1 Stern, one-time publicity manager for RKO Radio and now a wheel with Cinemiracle Pictures Corp., is so excited about the campaign gotten together on “Windjammer” he can hardly write straight. In his words, “It is tangible proof that imagination is not dead in the film world . . . you can actually sense excitement and success”. . . . UA distributing over 10,000 copies of an illustrated eight-page brochure for “Elmer Gantry” to exhibitors, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, etc., as part of the advance campaign timed with key regional engagements in July. Para. Ups Donnenfeld NEW YORK — Russell Holman, head of Paramount Pictures’ eastern production de¬ partment, today announced the appointment of Bernard Donnenfeld as his executive as¬ sistant and the home office production man¬ ager. Donnenfeld, who assumes his new duties immediately, will assist Holman in eastern and foreign production activities and in act¬ ing as liaison between the Hollywood studio and various home office departments. He will also perform other special services for the studio. Hercules Budget Upped GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — Embassy Pic¬ tures president Joseph E. Levine stunned a gathering of conservative Scottish theatre managers here with the announcement that he will increase by 10,000 pounds ($28,000) his already record merchandising budget for “Hercules Unchained.” Warner-Pathe Ltd. will release the filmed spectacle in a mass saturation throughout the British Isles. Levine, who originally earmarked an un¬ precedented 50,000 pounds for the “Hercules Unchained” campaign, upped by 3,000 pounds the budget for outdoor poster advertising. Dracula's bride has got him and she can have him. Mel Konecoff, MOTION PICTURE EXHIBI¬ TOR'S New York City editor, is seen with Heidi Erich, British actress who acted as technical advisor on U-I's "Brides Of Dracula." Special Oscars Urged For Road Show Pix SAN FRANCISCO — The Northern Cali¬ fornia Theatre Association, an affiliate of the Theatre Owners of America, has called upon the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci¬ ences to create a special category of awards for the “road show” type of motion picture. Irving M. Levin, president, declared the resolution, although it mentioned no special picture, was largely prompted by the sweep of Oscars received by “Ben Hur,” and the fact that the picture would not be available for general theatrical exhibition for many, many months after the Academy made its awards. His association felt, he declared, that such special films should be placed in a special category, so that competition would be fairer. He also pointed out that award winning pic¬ tures not of this special calibre would be more readily available to theatres and for the public to see. The resolution “suggested” to the Academy of Arts and Sciences that “motion pictures created and released for ‘road show’ exhibi¬ tion be placed in a special category and be subject to award as such, thereby providing for greater flexibility in granting awards and eliminating what could become unfair com¬ petition between such pictures and those of less tremendous impact.” W. PA. UNIT (Continued from page 9) treatment given in Wisconsin, and had actual¬ ly outgrossed outstanding pictures previously played in the same theatres. A booklet, pre¬ pared by COMPO, describing the results of these individual operations, was distributed at the meeting. Marcus explained that the costs of the promotion, shared by exhibitors and the dis¬ tributor of the picture selected for the cam¬ paign, were relatively small for the individual theatre. Each campaign, he explained, must be tailored to fit the needs of the particular picture selected. In some areas television, radio, and newspapers were used, in others only one or two of these media. To obtain the maximum benefits of this plan, Marcus said, it should be a continuing campaign with institutional publicity to en¬ courage theatre-going interspersed with in¬ dividual picture promotion. He also stressed the importance of the theatres providing com¬ fortable seating, good projection, attractive rest rooms and courteous employees. 18 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR June I, I960