Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

Fox Sets Plans for 55 Pictures in 1957 . Details announced after conference of executives; 23 from novels, five from Broadway plays; 25 due from Regal Definite plans for 55 major pictures, the biggest production program of the past 10 years, to be made and released by 20th Century-Fox in 1957 were announced following a four-day meeting of executive, production, distribution and advertising chiefs. The program, announced by Spyros P. Skouras, president, and the new studio chief, Buddy Adler, executive producer, provides for the possibility of an additional 10 pictures, which would bring to 40 the number of big-budget CinemaScope productions to be made primarily in Hollywood by the studio. Executives Attend At the conference also were William C. Michel, Joseph H. Moskowitz, Murray Silverstone and Charles Einfeld, vice-presidents; Donald A. Henderson, treasurer and secretary, Alex Harrison, general sales manager. The studio was represented by Mr. Adler, Lew Schreiber, Sid Rogell, Fred Metzler, J. B. Codd, David Brown, Arthur Kramer, Frank McCarthy, Frank Ferguson and William Gordon. Irving Asher, head of TCF-Television, outlined the 1957 plans for the TV subsidiary. A breakdown of the properties showed that 23 are novels, five are taken from Broadway stage plays and nine represent original stories. Mr. Adler said that the program would be initiated in January with his own production of “A Hatful of Rain,” Broadway play which Fred Zinnemann will direct and which will co-star Eva Marie Saint and Don Murray. Also set for January production are “The Wayward Bus,” John Steinbeck novel which Charles Brackett will produce and which will star Jayne Mansfield. Cast Set for “Desk Set 99 “The Desk Set,” another Broadway play, producer Henry Ephron, director Walter Lang, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and “The Three Faces of Eve,” story of a woman with three personalities, producer and director, Nunnally Johnson, “The Way to the Gold,” adventure story, producer David Weisbart, director Robert Webb. The schedule for subsequent months is as follows: February: “Bernardine,” producer Samuel G. Engel, director Henry Levin, starring Janet Gaynor, Pat Boone and Terry Moore; Leo McCarey’s “Love Affair,” Jerry Wald productions, and Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” producer Walter Reisch, director Henry King. March: “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” producer and director Frank Tashlin, starring Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, Clifton Webb and Thelma Ritter; David O. Selznick’s production of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms,” starring Jennifer Jones; “Kiss Them for Me,” from the novel and stage play “Shore Leave,” Jerry Wald productions; “The Bravados,” screenplay by John O’Hara, producer Herbert Bayard Swope, Jr. April: John O’Hara’s “Ten North Frederick,” written and directed by Philip Dunne; “Peyton Place,” current novel by Grace Metalious, Jerry Wald productions and “The Hunters.” May: “Fraulein,” powerful story of U. S. occupation forces in Germany, producer Walter Reisch; “Down Payment,” unpublished novel by John MacPartland, Jerry Wald productions; “Stopover Japan,” story of modern intrigue in Tokyo, by John P. Marquand; producer Walter Reisch, director Richard Breen, and “A Certain Smile,” novel by Francoise Sagan, screenplay by Pulitzer Prize winning team of Frances Goodrich and Walter Hackett, producer Henry Ephron. June: “The Sound and the Fury,” William Faulkner novel, Jerry Wald productions, and “These Thousand Hills,” novel by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. July: “The Young Lions,” Irwin Shaw’s classic story of World W^r II, producer A1 Lichtman. August: Robert L. Jacks’ production of “Parris Island,” story based on the court martial of Marine Sgt. Matthew McKeon; “The Jean Harlow Story,” Jerry Wald productions, based on the original story of Adela Rogers St. Johns. September: “The Enemy Below,” thrilling World War II naval story by Denys Arthur Rayner, producer Dick Powell. October: “The Diary of Anne Frank,” written by Pulitzer Prize winners Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, screenplay by Goodrich and Hackett; “The Small Woman,” an unpublished novel about a British woman missionary and her adventures in China. November: “Jean Christophe,” Pulitzer Prize winning biography by Romain Rolland, Jerry Wald productions; “The Townsend Harris Story,” original story of the first U.S. Consular official in Japan, producer Eugene Frenke. Also slated for production, but as yet with unassigned starting dates are: Darryl F. Zanuck’s production of “Compulsion,” novel by Meyer Levin; “Close to the Wind,” producer Dick Powell; “I Married Joseph Stalin,” semi-documentary, producer Robert L. Jacks; “Sac Saboteurs,” story of the Strategic Air Command’s security program, screenplay by Pat Frank, producer Anthony Muto; “The Hardhats,” Jerry Wald productions; “Brandy for Heroes,” producer David Weisbart, and “The Iron Butterfly” and “Bellevue Is My Home,” as yet unassigned to a producer. In addition to the aforementioned, the studio plans to distribute an additional 25 Regal Productions films to be made independently. TESMA, TED A Meet Jointly Next November The Theatre Equipment and Supply Manufacturers Association and the Theatre Equipment Dealers Association will meet concurrently Sunday, November 17, and Monday, November 18, 1957, for business and social events at the new Americana Hotel, Bal Harbour, Florida, it was announced jointly last week by Lee Jones, TESMA president, and J. Eldon Peek, TEDA’s board chairman. TEDA had stated at the conclusion of the International Trade Show at the New York Coliseum in September of this year that it would invite TESMA to join with it for meetings in the Fall of 1957 somewhere in the middle west, apart from whatever meetings and trade show that TESMA might have with any other organizations. The TESMA-TEDA meetings will immediately precede the joint conventions and Trade Show to be conducted by TESMA, Theatre Owners of America and the National Association of Concessionaires at the Americana Hotel starting Wednesday, November 20, and concluding Saturday, November 23. In announcing the forthcoming meetings, both Mr. Jones and Mr. Peek agreed that several advantages would accrue in the joint business and social events to be held immediately preceding the Trade Show and conventions in 1957. Mr. Jones said that TESMA members would find it much more convenient to have their meetings with TEDA at the indicated times and place, since otherwise it would have become necessary for his association’s members to make a separate trip to another city with the necessary time away from their businesses. 16 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 22, 1956