Technicolor News & Views (November 1953)

i President’s M^sage By DR. HERBERT T. KALMUS PRICE REDUCTION MADE BY TECHNICOLOR To Save Industry About $1,800,000 Annually A price reduction which will give the American motion picture industry savings at the rate of approximately $1,800,000 annually was announced on August 13, 1953, by Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, President and General Manager of Technicolor Mo- tion Picture Corporation. The price reduction amounts to .35c (three and one-half tenths of a cent) per foot on all 35-millimeter dye transfer motion picture release prints made by TECHNICOLOR, and delivered from its Hollywood plant. It affects the major portion of TECHNICOLOR'S 35-millimeter release print production. This reduction makes the base price on such prints 4.98c per foot, as compared to the pre- vious price of 5.33c per foot. The price reduction is retroactive to August 1, 1953, and applies to release prints de- livered on and after that date. This price reduction was made volun- tarily by TECHNICOLOR, and comes in a period of generally rising prices. In view of current industry conditions — particu- larly the failure of the motion picture in- dustry to obtain theater admission tax relief — the present price reduction an- nounced by TECHNICOLOR should be most timely. In a letter sent by Dr. Kalmus to cus- tomers he said, in part: “We are pleased to announce a re- duction of ,35c per foot in the price of all 35mm Release Prints, including the leader footage, made by our Dye Trans- fer (Imbibition) process and furnished from our plant in Hollywood, California. The reduction will be retroactive to Au- gust 1, 1953, and will apply to all such prints delivered on and after that date. “Based on our present volume of busi- ness, this reduction is at the rate of total savings to our customers of approxi- mately $1,800,000 a year, and repre- sents a continuation of our policy of lowering prices from time to time as we find conditions make it possible." Technicolor,Inc.Earnings First Nine Months of 1953 The consolidated net profit after taxes on income of Technicolor, Inc., for the nine months ended September 30, 1953, is estimated to be $2,121,518, equiva- lent to $1.10 per share on the new stock outstanding, as compared to $1,499,507, or 80 cents per share (shares adjusted to new stock basis), for the first nine months of 1952, according to Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, President and General Manager. I am repeat- edly asked what will be the effect on TECHNICOLOR business of the various new processes of ph otography, la b o r a t o r y work and exhi- bition. The ways for the public to dr. kalmus spend its amusement dollar including radio and television have become more numerous and more competitive in recent years, and consequently as a general proposi- tion you might expect less money to be available for any one of them, such as the motion picture theatre. The motion picture industry is meet- ing these challenges by presenting bet- ter motion pictures to the public and in more attractive form. CinemaScope, Cin- erama, 3-D and Todd-American Optical are attempts in this direction. TECHNI- COLOR is in the midst of it all. We number among our customers prac- tically every important producer in Hol- lywood, and we are working with most of them on one or another of these processes. In connection with this work a very important recent development has ema- nated from the research, technical and engineering departments of TECHNICOL- OR. This development permits the pro- ducer now to have his choice of using the special TECHNICOLOR three-strip cameras, or single-strip color negative such as Eastman color negative or Ansco color negative through any black and white motion picture camera, and from the negative of whichever one of these he chooses, having his prints made by TECHNICOLOR using the standard TECH- NICOLOR dye transfer process or by TECHNICOLOR using color positive such as Eastman color positive or Ansco color positive. That is added flexibility for the producer. It is apparent that producers generally feel that color is more important than ever with the new screen techniques. I believe that the motion picture industry is on the threshold of a new era in which Color by TECHNICOLOR will have an in- creasingly important place. Critics Hail "Robe’s" Color by Technicolor Press and public praise of an un- precedented nature greeted 20th Century- Fox's first CinemaScope picture, “The Robe," in Color by TECHNICOLOR, at its New York and Hollywood openings. As we go to press, the critical com- ment includes the following: “A new era in motion picture history began last night on the Roxy Theatre magic mirror screen when 20th Century- Fox unveiled its long awaited Technicolor production of 'The Robe' in the new process known as CinemaScope."— Kate Cameron in The New York Daily News. Sherwin Kane in Motion Picture Daily reported that “Images were clear and well-lighted,without fuzziness at edges." The Color by TECHNICOLOR, he said, “was rich-hued and deep, and illusions of depth were numerous." Color by TECHNICOLOR and stereo- phonic sound “added enormously to the illusion," in the opinion of Philip K. Scheurer of The Los Angeles Times. Technicolor Credit Phrases Explained Technicolor has received a number of requests from exhibitors and others for clarification of the credits “Color by TECHNICOLOR" and “Print by TECHNI- COLOR." “Color by TECHNICOLOR" is a credit phrase used for motion pictures in color which have been controlled through all stages from the original negative or “taking" film supplied or developed by the Technicolor companies to the positive CONTINUED ON PAGE EIGHT TECHN (COLOR NEWS & VIEWS Vol. XV November, 1 953 No. 2 Published from time to time by Technicolor Motion Picture Corp. HERBERT T. KALMUS, President 6311 Romaine Street Hollywood 38, California Margaret Ettinger, Editor — TWO