Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

RKOMay Shift Structure to Meet Needs * Box Office CHAMPIONS for NOVEMBER The box office champions are selected on the basis of reports from key city first run theatres throughout the country. “RKO Radio Pictures, in the interests of efficiency, is considering the reshaping of its entire production and distribution structure to meet changing trends and conditions in the foreign and domestic markets,” it was announced this week by Daniel T. O’Shea, president. “Steps to modernize distribution procedures have been under consideration for for quite some time,” he said. “Various plans are under study, including the possibility, eventually, of aligning some elements of RKO’s domestic and Canadian distribution facilities with those of some other organization.” Mr. O’Shea said additional announcements will be forthcoming early next year. The announcement came following a series of policy meetings held in Palm Beach, Fla., last week with Thomas F. O’Neill, president and board chairman of RKO Teleradio Pictures; Walter E. Branson, vice-president in charge of world wide distribution; Michael G. O’Neil; Edward L. Walton, administrative vice-president; William Dozier, vice-president in charge of production, and Raymond Klune, executive manager of studio operations. Mr. O’Shea also said, “RKO will concentrate on four high budget pictures with important star casts during the first part of 1957.” They will include “Stage Struck,” with Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg; “On My Honor,” Paul Gregory producing; “Galveston,” Edmund Grainger producing, and “The Naked and the Dead,” also Paul Gregory. All will be filmed in color with an aggregate budget of $10,0000,000, it was reported. MGM Plans Special "Teahouse" Trailer In addition to the regular color trailer for “The Teahouse of the August Moon,” MGM is getting out a special advance color trailer designed to create special interest in the attraction well ahead of its opening date and particularly before the regular trailer is shown at the theatre booking the picture. Known as “Operation Teahouse,” the 400-foot subject is being made available also in 16mm black and white so that exhibitors can use it for promotion on TV and other places where the smallsized film will attract wide attention. “Operation Teahouse” describes the early phases of production and shows candid camera shots of the stars, scenes of the beautiful Japanese countryside, numerous colorful characters appearing in the picture, the fine cooperation of American and Japanese technicians and certain hilarious sequences from the finished screen production. Friendly Persuasion Allied Artists Producer and Director: William Wyler. Associate Producer: Robert Wyler. Writers: Jessamyn West and Robert Wyler. In De Luxe Color. Cast: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Marjorie Main, Robert Middleton, Anthony Perkins, Walter Catlett, Richard Eyer. Giant Warner Bros. Producers: George Stevens and Henry Ginsberg Director: George Stevens. Writers: Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, from the novel by Edna Ferber. In WarnerColor. Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Sal Mineo. Lust for Life Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Producer: John Houseman. Director: Vincente Minnelli. Writer: Norman Corwin, from the novel by Irving Stone. In Metrocolor. Cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown, Everett Sloane, Niall MacGinnis, Noel Purcell, Henry Daniell. Warners Home Office To Move Next Year Warner Bros. Pictures has taken a longterm lease for office space in the new 38story, air-conditioned building now under construction at 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, it was announced by Norman Tishman, president of Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc., and Benjamin Kalmenson, executive vice-president of Warner Bros. Occupancy is scheduled for the Fall of 1957. The present Warner building at 321 West 44th Street, where the company has maintained its general offices for more than 30 years, has been sold. The closing of title will take place when Warners takes possession of the new headquarters. The move is part of a combined expansion and streamlining program, ac Oklahoma! Magna-Todd-AO Producer: Arthur Hornblow, Jr. Director: Fred Zinnemann. Writers: Sonia Levien and William Ludwig. In Eastman Color. Cast: Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, Shirley Jones, Rod Steiger, Barbara Lawrence, Jay C Flippen, Roy Barcroft, James Mitchell, Bambi Linn. The Solid Gold Cadillac Columbia Producer: Fred Kohlmar. Director: Richard Quine. Writer: Abe Burrows. From a play by George S. Kaufman and Howard Teichman. Cast: Judy Holliday, Paul Douglas, Fred Clark, John Williams, Hiram Sherman, Neva Patterson. (Champion for the second month). War and Peace Paramount-Ponti-DeLaurentiis VistaVision Producer: Dino DeLaurentiis. Director: King Vidor. Writers: Briget Boland, Robert Westerby, King Vidor, Mario Camerini, Ennio De Concini and Ivo Peril li. Color by Technicolor. Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman, John Mills, Herbert Lorn, Oscar Homolka, Anita Ekberg (Champion for the second month). cording to the company, so all its administrative and executive offices in the east can be coordinated under one roof, with the exception of the shipping department. Offices will be established for independent producers whose productions the company is distributing, it was reported. Canada Circuit Shifts Four Toronto Houses TORONTO: Four additional theatres have been added to the first run circuit of Twentieth Century Theatres here, making it a nine-house day-and-date series. The four theatres added are: the Century, from B & F; the Oakwood, from Famous Players, and the Odeon and Midtown from the circuit’s second run series of theatres. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 15, 1956 21