Variety (March 1956)

20 VStetETY PICTURES Wednesday, March 14, 1956 Exhibs Gorge on Concession Samples Newest Food Item for Theatres: Three Fan tail Shrimps and Potatoes, in a Bag, for 50c 4 - - :- Kansas City, March 13. Missouri-Kansas exhibitors put some meat and beat into their con¬ vention (38th annual) here last Tuesday and Wednesday with re¬ newed vigor in the business ses¬ sions, especially the advertising- exploitation elinic on Tuesday. A new willingness to participate and share ideas and experience was plainly evident throughout. Trade show in connection was a beehive of activity both days, ex¬ hibs free to gorge from a layout of popcorn machines, barbeque hot dogs, a new malted milk machine and the usual array of fountain drinks. Regarded as one of the newest of concession ideas, the shrimp deal will be three jumbo fantails with french fried potatoes in a paper basket for 50c. Cost on the item is figured to be about half, and shrimp basket is expected to be a popular newcomer in drive-ins hereabouts this season. It will bring a new high to the concession price list, but is expected to be a popular snack. Opening business of the conven¬ tion was to elect new officers for the Kansas-Missouri Theatre Asso¬ ciation. They are Don Burnett, Lamed, Kans., president;' H. B. Doering, Garnett, Kans., vice pres¬ ident;-Paul Ricketts, Ness City, Kans., secretary; Lauren Turner, Independence, Mo., secretary. The board adopted a resolution endorsing action of TO A in recom¬ mending to the Dept, of Justice that circuits formerly affiliated with distributors be allowed to pro¬ duce motion pictures, and KMTA approved TOA’s action in with¬ drawing approval of arbitration as proposed by the distributors, for the reason that arbitration of film rentals is not included in the pro¬ posal. Note of sadness prevailed at the convention at the loss of two of industry’s leaders here, R. R. Biechele, who died previous Satur¬ day, and Robert Shelton, president of Commonwealth Theatres, who died early Tuesday morning. Ar¬ thur Cole, president emeritus of the Motion Picture Associatipn of Greater Kansas City, led the con¬ vention in a tribute. Some Film Ad Budgets Seem Unrealistic To Col’s Paul Lazarus Chicago, March 13. Columbia will sell its pictures . "with confidence and less cash," v.p. Paul N. Lazarus told the com¬ pany’s convention in session here. He stated that Col is not retrench¬ ing or adopting any economy pro¬ gram, but simply intends to "rely more upon showmanship in the coming year and less upon huge ad¬ vertising expenditures.” In this connection he emphasized the value of television guest spots and send¬ ing stars on bally tours. Lazarus rapped other outfits in the picture business for sending ad budgets to the point where, in one instance, the campaign “ante is $2,000,000.” This, presumably, was in reference to Hecht-Lancas- ter’s "Trapeze,” which is slated for a king-sized campaign. The exec continued: "We feel that, segments of our industry are replacing show¬ manship with dollars.- Various com¬ panies are vying for greater and greater expenditures, and advertis¬ ing spending has reached the point of economic hari kari.” Bosustow’s London Studio For Cartoons, Teleblurbs Hollywood, March 13. UPA Pictures Inc., will set up a London office and open an English cartoon studio late this month when prexy Stephen Bosustow and Ernest Scanlon, vp-treasurer, go to British capital to establish an Eng¬ lish corporation, UPA Ltd. New studio will service the Euro¬ pean market both with theatrical short subjects and teleblurbs. A managing director to supervise en¬ tire project, including sales, also will be appointed. Double-Trucking ‘Alex’ In 12 Key Situations United Artists claims to be estab¬ lishing a promotion "first” with two-page ads in nearly all daily newspapers for "Alexander the Great” in the 12 key cities where it’s opening Easter week. Budget for this double-truck phase of the campaign is said to be $190,000. Williams, Parker Step Up At Hawaii’s Top Chain Honolulu, March 13. Fred G. Williams takes over as president of Consolidated Amuse¬ ment Co., Hawaii’s major theatre chain, effective Thursday (15). He’s currently vice-president. Esmond I. Parker, who’s occu¬ pied presidency since 1934, be¬ comes chairman, succeeding Alan S. Davis, who is retiring. Davis also is relinquishing his position as president of C. Brewer & Com¬ pany, one of Hawaii’s "Big Five” companies. Both Williams and Parker joined Consolidated in 1924. Evil-Doers ^—4 Continued from page 5 of Hollywood to twist any story to punish the heavy was outdated, and that the Code section advocat- jing this inevitable consequence to (wrongdoing should be modified. It’s stressed that this does not, of course, apply to criminals, i.e., no one says the screen should glorify the bankrobber who machineguns police and makes his getaway. Shurlock, while refusing to be drawn into a discussion of Code changes now under study by a spe-' cial committee under Eric John¬ ston, did comment that he didn’t see how there could be a system of two Code- seals—one for family and one for adults. That sugges¬ tion has, in the past, been put for¬ ward most vigorously by produc¬ ers of foreign films. In this connection he pointed to a buried footnote of the Code which notes that "If there should be created a special type of the¬ atre, catering exclusively to adult audience ... It would seem to af¬ ford an outlet ... for pictures un¬ suitable for general exhibition.” When the Code was written, that kind of outlet didn’t exist. Today, there are plenty of art houses spe¬ cializing in films for the "mature” audience. It’s possible that the committee studying Code revisions may expand on that original foot¬ note and somehow fit it into Code operations. There’s no question that the ta¬ boo on narcotics theme will be struck from the Code. It’s not felt, however, that other taboos will be knocked out along with it. Asked Shurlock: "How many producers want to do s’ories dealing with homosexuality or veneral disease?” Actually, from Shurlock’s position, the taboos in their absolute form make his job a lot easier since there’s no arguing about them. Shurlock was in New York last week to address the Broadcasting & Film Commission of the National Council of the Churches of Christ. Before returning to his Coast head¬ quarters over the weekend, he huddled in Washington with the MPAA’s Kenneth Clark on an agenda for the Code committee. While staff work is going on, the group itself isn’t going to meet un¬ til Johnston returns from his Far Eastern trip in two or three weeks. Shurlock said that so far he had not been asked to submit his own recommendations on possible Code changes. It’s considered likely that, if changes are decided on, they’ll be more in the realm of the administration of the Code than ill the wording and provisions of the document itself. It’s expected that efforts will be made, for instance, to bring in the exhibitors. U’s Sales Drive Up 25% Domestic billings of Universal for the first 10 weeks of a current 17-week sales drive which started Jan. 1 are reported 25% higher than the similar 10 weeks of the company’s 1955 campaign, close to 13% over 1954 and about 9% over 1953—all record years for the com¬ pany. The present drive, as the previous ones, is known as the "Charles J. Feldman annual sales drive” in honor of the company’s v.p. and general sales manager. Increase in business is attributed to company’s policy of "making all types of theatres. . . .” U’s releases during the 10-week stanza included “The Benny Goodman Story,” "All That Heaven Allows,” “Never Say Goodbye,” “The Spoilers,” "The Square Jungle,” "There’s Always Tomorrow” and "World in My Cor¬ ner.” Catholic Protests Cancel "Camera Canajoharie, N. Y„ March 13. "I Am A Camera” (DCA) got the boycott-threat works here. Protests of Holy Name Society, Rosary Society of St. Peter and ^..ul’s Church, Catholic Daughters of America, accompanied by a threat to stay away from all show¬ ings in your theatres and influ¬ ence others to do so,” led the Kal- let Theatre Circuit of Oneida, to withdraw the film from the Strand here and to substitute another fea¬ ture. This was the first reported can¬ cellation of a date, in the Albany Catholic Diocese, for the film "condemned” by .the Legion of Decency and also lacking a Pro¬ duction Code seal. The picture has not played Albany Troy or Sche¬ nectady. Catholics wire to Kallet home office referred to refusal of Loew’s to distribute "I Am A Camera” and stated "You showed ‘The Moon Is Blue’ and ‘Forever Am¬ ber’ here at Canajoharie, two con¬ demned pictures. If this is your policy, as members of the Legion of Decency we must stay away from all showings in your theatres and influence others to do the same. Condemned pictures should not be shown in this town. Please cancel Wednesday and Thursday’s showing by substituting something that will raise the moral standard of the community not lower it.” The Evangelist, diocesan weekly, in a Page 1 story Friday (9) on the incident, said “good-will on the part of a local theatre manager and intelligent action on the part of Catholic laymen and women augur for a better moral tone for motion pictures shown at the Strand The¬ atre in Canajoharie.” It credited "alert teen-agers” with bringing "home word that the condemned picture was to be shown.” ‘Richard Hi’ Angles -• Continued from page 3 ■■ among those who sajy the film on. the air will plunk down their money to see it again on the large screen and in color. Dual preem has generated a great deal, of Laypress comment on a new pattern of film release. Mor¬ ris Helprin, the Korda rep in the U.S. who negotiated the NBC deal, said this week he didn’t think the speculation had merit. "I think the experiment is being overestimated,” he declared. "To be able to do this you have to have a truly extraordinary picture, like ‘Richard.’ A great many people must want to see It. Otherwise, two things might happen: (1) The networks wouldn’t be interested. (2) Once it’s been on the air, it would be a tough proposition to sell to the circuits.” Helprin said he was fully con¬ vinced that a great many people who’d seen the telecast would come back to see the picture again in the theatres. New Segregated House Dallas, March 13. Forest Theatre has been re¬ opened here as a deluxe picture house for Negroes only by the Interstate Theatre Circuit. Robert Holland is manager with Albert Patterson as assistant. Appeal Canton, N.Y., Trust Dismissal Legally Snarled Issues Purposely Left Open by Judge —Schines and Majors Originally Sued in 1951 -t _ NW Tent’s TV Party On Academy Awards Minneapolis, March 13. Northwest Variety club, compris¬ ing mostly exhibitors and film men, plans its first tv party. Occa¬ sion will be network telecast of Academy awards night of March 21. Members and friends are being in¬ vited to watch telecast at the club- rooms with a number of sets available. They will also receive ballots on which to vote their advance predic¬ tions in the various categories. Prizes will be awarded to those nearest correct. Each person par¬ ticipating in the prize contest will be invited to attach a dollar or more to his ballot. All money so realized will be turned over to the heart hospital fund, which the Tent sponsors. Father Lord’s Book Continued from page 5 whether the industry would accept a Code of morals, but meanwhile Lord worked on the writing of the document. "The first draft of that Code is still in my files with . . . my pen¬ ciled notations on the margins. I set myself to write a Code that beyond all else would be short and simple.” ' Halsey Stuart Angle In concise and appealing lan¬ guage, Father Lord traces the be¬ ginnings of the idea of the Code, and here—again—he introduces a new element. He writes: "Once a week Cardinal Munde¬ lein of Chicago had lunch with the officials of Halsey Stuart & Com¬ pany, one of the world’s largest and most influential financial firms. Across the luncheon table the bankers told the Cardinal how into their laps had been dumped the control of motion picture com¬ panies. They were frankly shocked with what they now owned. They wanted no part of the crime and vice movies that were all too common from Hollywood.” Concerned with the same thing (even though, as Father Lord points out, the Quigley publica¬ tions carried advertisements for ob¬ jectionable' pictures and "sup¬ posedly objective critiques”), Quigley broached the idea of in¬ dustry self-censorship to Father Dinneen, who in turn spoke about it to the Cardinal. Latter than pro¬ posed the idea to Halsey Stuart & Co. "The bankers, relieved at the possibility of cleaning up the dirti¬ est and most annoying of their fi¬ nancial babies, agreed to pressure the companies,” Father Lord writes. When the Code document was completed, Father Lord says that, via arrangements made by Quigley, he then went to the Coast to pre¬ sent it to industry leaders and to explain it. “I came with the Code in my hand, and instructions to take half an hour to present it as, only the actual author of the writ¬ ten document could do,” he writes. According to both Hays and Breen, this was actually the third of a series of powwows prior to the adoption of the Code. The result, Breen has noted, "was that the Hollywood producers unanimously approved the Quigley proposal. Father Lord was pressed into serv¬ ice by Mr. Hays to prepare a sum¬ mary of the document.” The priest, who jvrote his autobiography with death staring him in the face (he died of cancer), never mentions this. He does recount that, later, he found the industry breaking faith with his Code and "faking” its ob¬ servance^ He then wrote a booklet, charging the companies with being a menace to decency; whereupon* Quigley called him up to inform him that Hays and the industry were thinking of bringing suit against him. "Nothing ever pleased me more,” he--writes. Towards the end of his chapter, Father Lord pridefully recalls how he started the first "boycotts” among Catholic youths against "indecent” films. Albany, March 13. An appeal to the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a ruling “on law, not fact” was planned by St. Lawrence Investors Inc., operator of the American in Canton, which had its antitrust suit against Schine Chain Theatres Inc. et al (includ¬ ing the eight major distributors) dismissed by U. S. District Judge Stephen W. Brennan in Utica last week, after a 12-day trial. Attorney Leonard L. Rosenthal (Albany) said that the appeal would be based on the failure of the District Court to admit fran¬ chise agreements between the Schine interests and the distribu¬ tors. The attorney, who failed to get them admitted as evidence during the second week of testi¬ mony, cited decisions in two cases argued before the U. S. Supreme Court involving the Schines and Paramount Pictures. Frank R. Raichle, of Buffalo, attorney for the Schine defendants, had objected, but Judge Brennan did not rule on the question at the time. Dismissal of the case "on the merits” allows the plaintiff to ap¬ peal on questions other than dam¬ ages. Judge Brennan’s statement pointed out that "So everyone can be protected and any decision given here reviewed, I am going to dis¬ miss the case in its entirety for failure of proof.” He did not limit dismissal to the question of dam¬ ages. The Judge took this action be¬ cause of the method of computing "draw areas” adopted by plaintiff’s expert witness—Sidney E. Samuel- son, of Philadelphia — "ignored” the draw area outside the city of Ogdensburg, where the Schine- operated Strand is located. Under cross-examination, Sam- uelson conceded that he had based an estimate of $223,500 damages to the American—conducted by Alec Papyanakos—on the draw area of the town of Canton, but had not included all or parts of four towns outside Ogdensburg which defense attorneys insisted were part of the city’s "draw.” Samuelson's Ogdens¬ burg figures were the city's popu¬ lation. "It seems obvious to me,” com¬ mented Judge Brennan, "that this computation of the two items was without any basis. It seems to me that he (Samuelson), in effect, ad¬ mitted his figures were faulty. There is no evidence of the Og¬ densburg ‘draw area’ and no way to correct” the omission. So the Court has no way to discuss dam¬ ages with the jury ...” The suit, brought in 1951, al¬ leged a “conspiracy” by defen¬ dants to discriminate against the American in clearance, by pooling arrangements, long-term franchises and other * means, between 1922 and 1950. A number of pre-trial conferences were held before Judge Brennan, who had dismissed two motions for dismissal, before the action came to trial. 'Defense lawyers included: Ed¬ ward C. Rafterty and Willard McKay for Loew’s, Paramount, Universal, RKO and United Artists; Schwartz & Frohlich through Everett Frohlich, Myles Lane and Bernard Sorbin, for Columbia; John R. McCllough and Herbert Earnshaw, for 20th-Fox Raichle., Tucker & Moore repre¬ sented the Schines. Thomas V. Kenney, of Troy, and D. Arthur Leahy, of Albany, were associated with Rosenthal. Tatelman Talks UA Release Independent producer Harry Ta¬ telman and United Artists are talk¬ ing a deal whereby the latter would finance and distribute the .film-maker's upcoming* "Wait for Tomorrow.” Property, a novel by Robert Wilder, was acquired by Tatelman last week under an agree¬ ment which also provides for Wilu- er to do the screenplay. Tatelman, who’s' now on the Coast, heads for England next month to confer with Ingrid Berg¬ man about taking the lead femme role in "Tomorrow.”