The Exhibitor (1961)

Seen at the recent Universal week-long summer sales executives conference in New York were, left to right, seated, Philip Gerard, eastern advertising and publicity director; David A. Lipton, vice-president; F. J. A. McCarthy, assistant general sales manager; Henry H. "Hi" Martin, vice president and general sales manager; Milton R. Rackmil, president; Charles Simonelli, assistant to the president; and Hatton Taylor, general manager of Empire-Universal; and, standing, left to right, Ben Katz, mid-west field advertising and publicity representative; Rob¬ ert Ungerfeld, home office exploitation; Herman Kass, in charge of national exploitation; Jerome M. Evans, eastern promotion manager; Jeff Livingston, executive coordinator of sales and advertising; R. N. Wilkinson, regional sales manager; P. F. Rosian, regional sales man¬ ager; Mark Plottel, sales manager, Empire-Universal; Barney Rose, regional sales manager; Joseph B. Rosen, regional sales manager; James J. Jordan, circuit sales manager; and Harold Gutman, advertising art director. Universal Emphasizes Quality Films Via Greatest Production Investment Allied Execs Complete Miami Convention Plan DETROIT — From the office of Milton H. London, executive director of Allied States Association, there has been released the an¬ nouncement of general convention chairman Ben Marcus that details for the five day Miami Beach fiesta beginning Dec. 4 have been arranged. “Sun and Fun in ’61” is tailored for fun lovers and packaged at an attractive $98. The price includes registration fee, room at the Eden Roc Hotel, banquet, night club party, three luncheons, two dinners, two cocktail parties, social activities, golf, swimming, and souvenirs. To insure getting the fun and sun out of the junket, afternoons are left open so that delegates may enjoy sports, recreation, the Hialeah track, deep sea fishing, golf, sight¬ seeing, shopping, or boat trips. Two evenings are set aside for Miami Beach night life, dog races, or Jai Alai. Meeting in Milwaukee to wrap it up were Abe Berenson, New Orleans; Jack Whittle, Baltimore; London, Detroit; Harold Pearson and Marcus, Milwaukee. Berenson and Whit¬ tle were also present as representing Gulf States and Maryland units, which co-sponsor the convention this year. Pearson, executive secretary of Wisconsin Allied, was named convention coordinator. Jackter Hits Road NEW YORK — Rube Jackter, vice-president and general sales manager of Columbia Pic¬ tures, on a nationwide tour during which he will meet with exhibitors and exchange per¬ sonnel to outline the company’s important line-up of product for the Fall. During the first leg of his journey he will join other Columbia executives in Hollywood where they will see a rough cut of the Mervyn Leroy-Fred Kohlmar production, “The Devil at 4 O’Clock,” starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra, one of the company’s major releases for 1961. Besides “The Devil at 4 O’Clock,” which is scheduled for an October kick-off, Jackter will concentrate on Charles H. Schneer’s “Mysterious Island” and Barbroo Productions “Everything’s Ducky.” Jackter will bring with him special promo¬ tional material, trailers and other merchan¬ dising aids to give exhibitors a complete pic¬ ture of the content of the films, and the unusual campaign-planning in back of them. SW Toppers Meet NEW YORK — Stanley Warner Theatres re¬ cently completed a week of meetings in the home office with the zone managers. Every aspect of policy and operation was reviewed and general plans outlined for the coming year. Each zone was discussed separately by the panel of home office executives which consisted of S. H. Fabian, president; Samuel Rosen, executive vice-president; Nat Lapkin, first vice-president; Harry M. Kalmine, vicepresident and general manager of the the¬ atres; S. W. McDonald, vice-president and treasurer; Nat D. Fellman, chief film buyer; and Bernard H. Rosenzweig, head of real estate. The zone managers participating were Herb Copelan, Milwaukee; Frank J. Damis, Phila¬ delphia; Harry Feinstein, Pittsburgh; Pat R. Notaro, Hollywood; Charles A. Smakwitz, Newark; and James M. Totman, New Haven. NEW YORK — Universal will maintain its steady production pace of top films featuring the biggest box office names in the industry, Milton R. Rackmil, president, told the com¬ pany’s distribution and promotion executives at the opening session of their week-long summer sales executives conference at which Henry H. “Hi” Martin, vice-president and general sales manager, presided. Scheduled to go into production during the coming weeks, Rackmil noted, are “The Ugly American,” starring Marlon Brando, and John Huston’s “Freud,” starring Montgomery Clift. “Touch of Mink,” the Granley Produc¬ tion starring Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young, and Audrey Meadows, and “The Spiral Road,” starring Rock Hudson, Burl Ives, and Gena Rowlands, all in color, are currently before the cameras, he continued, and “Cape Fear,” the Melville Production starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Polly Bergen, and “The Last Hero,” the Joel Production starring Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, and Michael Kane, have just been completed and are now being edited. With the four pictures being screened in connection with the current week-long sales sessions — “Back Street,” “Flower Drum Song,” “Lover Come Back,” and “The Outsider,” Rackmil noted that the outlook for the com¬ pany during the coming 12 months was brighter than at any other previous time. “The amount of money we have committed in the pictures we have completed, in pro¬ duction and in preparation, represents the Friedlander Joins Lopert NEW YORK — Marvin Friedlander has joined the sales staff of Lopert Pictures Corporation, it was announced by Leon Brandt, general sales manager. Friedlander will cover the New York, New Haven, and Boston exchange territories. Friedlander has been on the staff of Uni¬ versal Pictures and DCA. His most recent position was with Valiant Films, where he served in various capacities. greatest investment in negative costs in our company’s history and reflects our high con¬ fidence not only in the future of Universal but in the motion picture industry,” Rackmil declared. Distribution and promotion plans were re¬ viewed and set on the four pictures during the week-long sessions. David A. Lipton, vice-president, arrived from Hollywood and was joined at the meet¬ ings by Philip Gerard, eastern advertising and publicity director, and Jeff Livingston, executive coordinator of sales and advertis¬ ing. Charles Simonelli, assistant to the presi¬ dent, was a participant in the meetings. Universal’s highly successful policy of re¬ leasing major productions throughout the year, emphasizing quality and not quantity, will be the keynote of the 1961 -’62 selling year, Martin told the company’s distribution and promotion executives. During the 1961-’62 selling year, Universal International will continue to concentrate on national pre-selling of its major releases to be followed by local level depth selling de¬ signed to deliver the greatest possible pro¬ motional impact at the box office when the picture opens, according to David A. Lipton, vice-president. In outlining the promotional plans, he pointed out that more than ever in today’s market pre-selling in all areas and in all media, combined with local point of sale compaigns, is essential to the fulfillment of the box office potential of deserving product. "UA Weeks" Set Mark NEW YORK — Print shipments during 1961’s “United Artists Weeks” reached an excep¬ tionally high total of 23,679 and included a record for feature shipment for the period, it was announced by James R. Velde, UA vice-president in charge of domestic sales. The number of features shipped exceeded last year’s total by 1,903. An annual event, “United Artists Weeks” this year was held June 25 to July 5. 1 1 July 26, 1961 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR