The Exhibitor (1965)

Five Features Go Into Production To Launch Expanded MGM '65 Slate CULVER CITY, CALIF.— Metro-GoldwynMayer launched its 1965 production schedule with the start of “Seven Women,” first of five major feature motion pictures to go be¬ fore the cameras within a few weeks, it was announced by studio head Robert M. Weitman. Additionally, five feature pictures are in advance stages of preparation for filming through the spring and summer months. MGM-TV also has completed eight pilots for the 1965-66 season. “Seven Women,” starring Patricia Neal, Sue Lyon, Margaret Leighton, Dame Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Anna Lee, and Eddie Albert, is a Ford-Smith Pro¬ duction, produced by Bernard Smith and di¬ rected by John Ford, screen play by Janet Green and John McCormick. It will be followed by “Mister Buddwing,” starring James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suz¬ anne Pleshette, and Angela Lansbury, a Mann -Laurence -Wasserman Production, pro¬ duced by Douglas Laurence and Delbert Mann, directed by Mann, screen play by Dale Wasserman. “Made In Paris,” starring Ann-Margret and Louis Jourdan, Joe Pasternak Produc¬ tion, directed by Boris Sagal, screen play by Stanley Roberts. An untitled picture to star Elvis Presley, a Sam Katzman Production to be directed by Gene Nelson, screen play by Gerald Drayson Adams. “A Patch of Blue,” starring Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman, a Pandro S. Berman production, to be directed by Guy Green, screen play by Green. The five pictures in preparation are “The Singing Nun,” starring Debbie Reynolds, a G & B Production in association with Debbie Reynolds Harmon Productions, to be co¬ produced by Hayes Goetz and John Beck, screen play by John Furia, Jr. “Merrily We Roll Along,” starring George Peppard, PerlbergSeaton Production, to be directed by George Seaton, screen play by Henry Denker. “The Glass Bottom Boat,” starring Doris Day, a Martin Melcher-Everett Freeman Pro¬ duction, screen play by Freeman. “Venetian Affair,” Pandro S. Berman Pro¬ duction, to be directed by Guy Hamilton, screen play by Julius Epstein. “Ice Station Zebra,” Filmways Production, produced by Martin Ransohoff, screen play by Paddy Chayefsky. Completed MGM-TV pilots are “The Ghostbreaker,” “The Mayor,” “See Here, Pri¬ vate Hargrove,” “Kissin’ Cousins,” “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” “A Man Called Shen¬ andoah,” and “Dream Wife.” Klee Heads NGC Division LOS ANGELES — John Klee, San Fran¬ cisco, area supervisor of National General Corporation’s Fox West Coast Theatres in northern California, has been named Pacific Coast division manager. Bob Smith, Los An¬ geles first-run district manager, is being upped to Klee’s post in the Bay City, while William Hertz, manager, Fox Village Westwood, west Los Angeles, succeeds Smith. Book Old Pix, Not New, ITOO's Prickett Advises ATHENS, O. — Ohio exhibitors were ad¬ vised in a bulletin from Ken Prickett, ex¬ ecutive secretary, Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio, to book reissues like Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” rather than new MGM product. Prickett’s comments to Ohio ex¬ hibitors came in a bulletin after he noted that the reissue played to many more patrons at the Memorial Auditorium on the Ohio University campus here than a new MGM feature, “Murder Ahoy,” did at Schine’s Athena. “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” drew 826 admissions in the 2,700-capacity campus auditorium. “Murder Ahoy” attracted fewer than 200 patrons in a three-nights’ run at the 892 -seat Athena. Said Prickett: “It is the writer’s opinion that an exhibitor would do well to contact Ed Salzburg in the Cincinnati territory and Selected Pictures in the Cleveland area, distributors of ‘Seven Brides,’ and book this picture rather than firstrun MGM product. I am sure that the terms would be much more livable.” MGM Shifts Fieldmen NEW YORK — A realignment of field press representatives in three areas will be effected by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer according to Dan S. Terrell, executive director of advertising, publicity, and promotion. Judson Moses, for the past 12 years field press representative for MGM’s southern divi¬ sion, will move from his Atlanta headquarters to Dallas, from where he will cover the south¬ western division. John C. Calhoun, with MGM since 1961 and most recently handling field press chores for the Minneapolis-Des Moines area, has been assigned to Atlanta to fill the post vacated by Moses. Michael Gerety, who has just joined MGM, has been elevated to the Minneapolis-Des Moines post, where he will work under the supervision of Phil Brockstein, midwest divi¬ sion field press representative, headquartered’ in Chicago. Movies While You Wait NEW YORK — Air travelers with time on their hands between flights may fill those minutes by watching movies free of charge at air terminals throughout the nation in the near future. A small 16-mm theater called TravelCINEMA has been set up on the mezzanine floor of the Tucson International Airport, as a test, to show travel, sports, and entertain¬ ment films provided by Association Films, national distributor. The programs are con¬ tinuous from early morning until midnight. The air terminal operation has no connec¬ tions with any of the various in-plane systems for viewing feature films while enroute. Tomlinson Named To Head Jacksonville Charity Club JACKSONVILLE — John Tomlinson, head of the Tomlinson Co., local independent booking agency, has been elected president of the Motion Picture Charity Club for the coming year. Named to serve with him are Harvey Garland, Florida State Theatres film buyer, first vice-president; Ed McLaughlin, Columbia manager, second vice-president; B. D. Benton, head of the Jacksonville Film Express, trea¬ surer; and Charles King, AIP manager, sec¬ retary. Also elected to year’s term were the fol¬ lowing directors: Fred Mathis, Paramount manager; W. A. “Bill” McClure, Universal manager; Horace Denning, district super¬ visor, Dixie Drive-In Theatres; Carl Floyd, Haines City, head of Floyd Theatres; Thomas Sawyer, head of the FST advertising and pub¬ licity department, who is the outgoing presi¬ dent; Walter Powell, vice-president of Kent Theatres; James Kirby, Floyd Theatres film buyer; Carroll Ogburn, Warner Bros, man¬ ager; and Henry Harrell, 20th-Fox manager. The Motion Picture Charity Club, com¬ posed of male industry representatives from all parts of Florida, specializes in providing free services to better the welfare of mentally and physically handicapped children. Through the initiative cf the MPCC, Jacksonville now has the only handicapped children’s park in the southeast, and for many years the MPCC has provided summer camping facilities for blind children. UA Drive Winners NEW YORK — The fourth quarter winners of United Artists’ Arnold M. Picker sales drive have been announced by UA vice-presi¬ dent James R. Velde. Velde disclosed that there were two win¬ ners in the division category: George Heiber, Canadian supervisor, and Carl Olson, western division manager. Winners in group I are Ralph Clark, San Francisco, first prize; Bill Hames, Atlanta, second prize; and Ed Bigley, Washington, D. C., third prize. In group II, the winners are Sam Kunitzky, Toronto, first prize; Jack Partin, Seattle, sec¬ ond prize; and John Dobson, Denver, third prize. Group III winners are Harry Woolfe, Van¬ couver, first prize; Bob Radis, Calgary, second prize; and Joe Brown, Winnipeg, third prize. Bruno To UA Roadshow Post NEW YORK — James Bruno, formerly Loew’s division manager in New York, has joined the United Artists roadshow depart¬ ment as theatre operations contact, it was announced by United Artists vice-president Eugene Picker. The first United Artists roadshow release on which Bruno is involved is the George Stevens production of “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” which had its world premiere at New York’s Warner Cinerama on Feb. 15. NGC Shifts Goldsworthy LAS VEGAS, NEV. — Richard Goldsworthy has been appointed as manager of National General Corporation’s new 900-seat Fox, scheduled to open March 4 in the Charleston Plaza Shopping Center, Las Vegas. Goldsworthy is being transferred from Thousand Oaks, Calif., where for the past two years he managed the new Fox there. 10 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR February 17, 1965