Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1956)

WARNERS FILM LIRRARY SOLD . . . P. R. M., Canadian group, buys 750 features plus short subjects up to 1949 for total price of $21,000,000 The increasing "availability'’ of major company product for television was dramatically illustrated late last week with the announcement that Warner Brothers was disposing of its entire library of motion pictures. produced from the time of its inception through the 1948 season, for a price of $21,000,000. All Rights Sold The purchaser is P.R.M., Inc., a Delaware corporation listed on both the American and Toronto Stock Exchanges. The contract, negotiated by Benjamin Kalmenson for Warner Brothers and Eliot Hyman for P.R.M., covers complete rights including copyright, literary rights, remake rights, theatrical rights, 16mm. rights, live television rights, film television rights and all foreign rights. Not only in purchase price size, but in the scope of the rights surrendered, it is the largest such contract yet negotiated by television interests. Included in the purchase are approximately 750 sound features, as well as an unspecified number of short subjects, cartoons and silent features. Second Large Sale The sale was announced jointly by Jack Warner, vice-president of Warner Brothers, and Louis Chesler, chairman of the board of P.R.M. Long under negotiation, the sale marks the second purchase by TV interests of a film company library, the first such deal being the sale last December of the RKO Radio film library, comprising an estimated 740 films, to a group headed by Matthew Fox, president of C & C Television Corporation. The RKO sale, which involved approximately $12,200,000, was hedged by a number of limitations on various rights and options to be exercised on the part of either the buyer or the seller. Mr. Hyman, the principal in the negotiations, is president of Associated Artists Productions, distributor of both television and theatrical films. He also has a substantial interest in Moulin Productions and investments in various other independent theatrical ventures. Canadian Corporation Mr. Chesler, who is known as a mining engineer without any other former associations with the TV or motion picture indus tries, is a member of a Canadian group which recently purchased stock control in P.R.M. This is understood to be a “shell” corporation, the only assets of which are said to be from $6,000,000 to $7,000,000 in cash. Associated with Mr. Chesler in P.R.M., its president, is George Gardiner, Canadian financier. It is understood, according to Mr. Hyman, that arrangements presently are being discussed which may lead to the absorption of Associated Artists’ sales organization by P.R.M., with sales under control of Mr. Hyman who would become managing director of P.R.M. Maxwell Goldhar, vice-president and treasurer of P.R.M., is head of Sapphire Petroleum. Separate Sales Divisions Mr. Hyman also reported that P.R.M. intends to create separate sales divisions for each category of rights covered by the contract with Warner Brothers. It is understood that discussions for the selection of top manpower for these divisions are now taking place. The P.R.M. announcement made it clear that the company “when possible will acquire additional film libraries and its activities will include all facets of the motion picture and television industry.” 1,706 OLD FEATURE FILMS NOW AVAILABLE TO TV A staggering number of top Hollywood feature films has been made available to television in just the last two and a half months, starting with the sale of the RKO Radio library to Matthew Fox and his C & C Super Corporation last December. The largest single deal was that announced last week whereby Warner Brothers sold P.R.M., Inc., its library, including "approximately" 750 talking feature films, plus an unspecified number of shorts, cartoons and silent features. The following is a box score on the companies and the announced number of feature films they have turned television's way in the last two and a half months: Allied Artists 26 Columbia Pictures 104 Republic 76 RKC Radio 740 Seiznick 10 Warners 750 TCTAL 1,706 Paramount Sales Plan “y©o Ljittle** MINNEAPOLIS : — Benjamin N. Berger, president of North Central Allied, said Tuesday that while he “agrees in principle” with Paramount’s new security contract service plan, it does not go far enough in offering help to hard-pressed small town exhibitors. The Paramount Security Plan was discussed at the Allied board meeting in Cleveland last month. It provides that theatres which do not pay more than an average of $100 top flat rental will be sold a year contract by Paramount giving them all Paramount product on a flat rental basis with a 20 per cent cancellation privilege. Three pictures are excluded from the plan — “The Ten Commandments,” “War and Peace,” and “The Proud and Profane.” Allied leaders generally agreed the plan was a good one but warned their members that since the company would not make adjustments on the deal, they should be careful in signing up. Mr. Berger objected to the exclusion clause in the contracts which will withhold the three pictures. “It is just those pictures that the small town theatre needs,” he said. “If all the major distributors adopt similar plans, excluding two or three of their top product, that means 24 pictures a year that the smalltown exhibitor can’t have except at exorbitant rentals.” Mr. Berger also said that he felt that the $100 rental figure used as the break-off point for the plan was too low. “That still eliminates a large number of exhibitors who badly need help,” he said. “However, it is a step in the right direction.” l\Ir. Berger in the past has advocated flat rental deals for all theatres grossing under $1,000 per week. Implementation of the plan was completed Monday in the Minneapolis area after two weeks of conferences between B. D. Stoner, Paramount midwest district manager, and Jess McBride, Minneapolis branch manager. Accounts completed early in the survey have already been checked by salesmen who reported a generally favorable reaction. Billboard Campaign Set On "Mamie Stover" Eight thousand billboards in more than 150 principal cities of the United States and Canada will feature 28-sheets on 20th Century-Fox’s “The Revolt of Mamie Stover” in CinemaScope, starring Jane Russell, Richard Egan and Joan Leslie, in an outdoor advertising campaign, it is announced by Charles Einfeld, vice-president. Budgeted at several hundred thousand dollars, the ad barrage kicks off during the first week of April and will continue through the local playdates of the mid-April release. 14 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 10, 1956