The Exhibitor (1966)

Italian Director, Czech Features in New York Festival Limelight Industryites Involved In Stock Transactions WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission reported the following stock transactions: NATIONAL GENERAL CORP.— Eugene V. Klein bought 3,608 shares of common in April and 7,700 shares in May. He holds 15,818 shares in a partnership and 3,120 shares in a foundation. Irving H. Levin bought 100 shares and held 59,437, but sold 100 in partner¬ ships which brought those accounts down to 49,314. Samuel Schulman bought 6,100 shares and now owns 84,328. Seymour F. Simon brought his holdings to 2,104 with the pur¬ chase of 600 shares. OFFICIAL FILMS— Louis C. Lerner in three June deals bought a total of 2,300 shares of common, increasing his holdings to 555,800 shares PARAMOUNT PICTURES— Ernest H. Martin and Herbert J. Siegel disposed of all of their shares of common, and all but 100 shares were bought by Gulf and Western Industries. For Martin, it was 15,100 shares, 15,000 held in FMI, Inc. For Siegel, it was 100 shares in his own name; 78,800 in Baldwin-Montrose; 47,100 in FMI; and 2,100 in Argo properties. George Weltner during the period sold 3,000 shares to bring his holdings down to 2,895. SCREEN GEMS — Donald S. Stralem sold 800 shares of common which he had in trust for his daughter, and retained 2,838 in the account, plus 8,503 in trust for his wife and 1,498 in his own name. His wife owns 2,105. TELE-PROMP-TER— Charles C. Keiffer sold 200 shares of common, holding on to 744. WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS— Jo¬ seph W. Fowler exercised options to buy 420 shares of common and now owns 1,970. COLUMBIA PICTURES— Sol A. Schwartz sold 1,000 shares of common and then bought 180, owning 6,985 at the end of the reporting period. Longo To Sack Ad Post BOSTON — Sack Theatres general manager Alan Friedberg has announced the transfer of industry veteran Joe Longo from his posi¬ tion as manager of the new Sack Cheri The¬ atre to the advertising department located in the Boston circuit’s main offices. Longo replaces Herb Wilkins, who resigned to accept a position with Salem Lithographers. In his new position, Longo will report di¬ rectly to Friedberg, who, in addition to his duties as general manager of Sack Theatres will continue as director of advertising and publicity. Bert Rodman, formerly manager of the Sack Capri, recently acquired by the Chris¬ tian Science Church as part of a redevelop¬ ment project, will assume the managerial reins at the Sack Cheri. SW In Zone Shift NEW YORK — Stanley Warner’s theatre op¬ erations in the Albany, Troy, and Utica, N. Y., area will be placed under the supervision of James M. Totman, zone manager for Stanley Warner’s New England zone. Theatres being transferred from the New Jersey zone are Strand, Delaware, and Madi¬ son, Albany; Troy, Troy; and Stanley, Utica. Nat D. Fellman, Stanley Warner vice-presi¬ dent, also stated that Harry Kaplowitz, New England zone film buyer, would handle the buying and booking for the upstate New York theatres. Sheryl Scogan, Dallas, is whisked up and away by Craig Wyckoff, Festival Theatre aide, in a publicity stunt for Cinema V's "Morgan," in which the main character dreams he is King Kong. Wykoff had seen the film at a preview and was inspired to go ape. Glazier, Brooks Join To Make Farce Comedy NEW YORK — Producer Sidney Glazier, who won the Academy , Award for “The Eleanor Roosevelt Story,” has joined forces with noted creative comedy writer Mel Brooks. Their first production together will be an original farce comedy for films entitled “Springtime For Hitler.” Glazier will produce, and Brooks will write and direct. The comedy, budgeted for close to $1,000,000, will be produced in New York City next April. The shooting schedule is now planned for eight weeks and will utilize extensive loca¬ tion work. Brooks and Glazier have com¬ menced casting the three principal roles and the secondary parts. The film will be produced jointly by Glazier’s U-M Productions and Brooks’s Crossbow Productions. A national and world-wide distributor will be announced shortly. “Springtime For Hitler” will mark the fea¬ ture film debut for Brooks both as writer and director. Hitherto, Brooks was the creator and narrator for the Academy Award-winning film, “The Critic.” The writer-director is also re¬ sponsible, as co-creator, for the successful tele¬ vision spy spoof, “Get Smart.” Brooks has achieved national popularity as well for his creation with Carl Reiner of “The 2000-YearOld Man” which he portrays in recordings, commercials, and personal appearances. “Springtime For Hitler” is the second film to be announced in recent weeks for produc¬ tion by Glazier. The first was Lewis John Carlino’s stage success. “Cages,” which will star Shelley Winters and Martin Balsam, and which will begin filming late next spring. Lightning Destroys Theatre PORT ARTHUR, TEX.— Port Arthur’s largest movie house, the Village, was said to have been destroyed when struck by light¬ ning as the city was hit by an early morning thunderstorm. The Jefferson Amusement Co., owners of the Village, estimate the loss at $500,000. NEW YORK — Noted Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini has accepted an invitation from Lincoln Center’s fourth New York Film Festival to attend the American premieres of two of his films at the non-competitive Festival held Sept. 12 through 22. It will be the first official visit to the United States for Pasolini, who came into prominence following the international release of his fourth feature film, “The Gospel According to St. Matthew.” The Festival takes place at Philharmonic Hall and, in the course of 22 features from here and abroad, will present Pasolini’s first film, “Accattone” (made in 1961) and his most recent, “The Hawks and the Sparrows” (completed in 1965). Both Pasolini films will be distributed na¬ tionally, shortly after their New York Film Festival premieres, by Brandon Films, Inc. Taking account of the spirited renaissance in Czechoslovakian filmmaking, Lincoln Cen¬ ter’s Festival also will introduce four new Czech films, one of them a five-part anthology. Two of the directors will attend the Festival — Milos Forman, whose “The Loves of a Blonde” has been chosen as the opening night event, and Ivan Passer, whose first feature, a gentle Chekhovian comedy entitled “Intimate Lighting,” created excitement at the re¬ cently completed Montreal Film Festival. In addition to “The Loves of a Blonde” and “Intimate Lighting,” the Czechoslovakian features selected by the New York Film Festi¬ val program committee include the anthology, “Pearls on the Ground,” for which five di¬ rectors— Evald Schorm, Jaromil Jires, Jan Nemec, Jiri Menzel, and Vera Chytilova — each have contributed an episode drawn from stories by the best-selling Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The fourth feature is the previously announced matinee showing of “Do You Keep a Lion at Home?” a children’s fantasy by Pavel Hobl. Subsidy Sought By Unions HOLLYWOOD — A domestic subsidy pro¬ gram for motion pictures to combat the “run¬ away” trend to overseas film making was de¬ manded by leaders of the AFL-CIO. Nearly 1,500 AFL-CIO delegates unanimously ap¬ proved a resolution directed to producers and theatre owners. The resolution warned that runaway film production has spiraled to an estimated 60 percent of total current output. “A similar threat is starting to develop in the field of television production,” the resolution added. The growth of U.S. film money investment in foreign lands has resulted , it was said, in the loss of “thousands” of jobs. Aztec Becomes Century EDINBURG, TEX.— The name of the Aztec has been changed to the Century follow¬ ing a name seeking contest conducted by Jim Longoria, manager of the Century. The win¬ ner, Aron Pena, was presented with 10 passes to the Century by Longoria. In addition to managing the Century, Longoria also manages the Citrus and Juarez here. 1 1 August 24, 1966 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR