Variety (April 1956)

Wednesday, April 18, 1956 PS&nbff PICTURES 13 SHORTS VS. PRODUCT SHORTAGE ---- Amusement Stock Quotations Inside Stuff-Pictures Film labs in N. Y. hear that the price of Eastman Kodak positive color rawstock may be reduced in the not-too-distant future. Cur¬ rent price to the labs is 3.9c per foot. High cost of the rawstock has been primarily responsible for keeping up the price of tint prints in the Eastman process. Processing, plants argue that, with volume production of raw material, the tab should come down. At the same time, the labs report an unusual interest in black-and- white on the part of the companies. This fits in with the^Motion Picture Assn, of America survey pf pix submitted to the Code last year. It showed a drop in color content for the first time since the war. Producers can use Todd-AO with the same facility as regular 35m photography as a result of new technical improvements in the process, S. A. Sanford, General Manager of the Motion Picture Division of Todd-AO Corporation has stated in Hollywood. Camera weight has now been reduced to 60 pounds, he disclosed, giving.far greater mo¬ bility to the process. Sanford said the only extra expense involved in the use of the process now is the film itself and lab charges. A breakdown of exact costs involved now is being prepared. Saturation tv-radio and newspaper campaign for “Godzilla'’ (King of the Monsters) is underway in Boston area. Terry Turner and Joe Levine of Embassy Pictures Corp., in association with Harry Rybnick and Ed Barison, acquired the picture. Its monster is 30 stories tall on j ram Page of destruction and has some fancy lens techniques from GARDNER-CUKOR PAIR SOUGHT BY WARNERS Hollywood, April 17. ,_ , rners is dickering with Meti tor loanouts of Ava Gardner 1 star and George Cukor to dire* Band of Angels" which Frank ] tosenburg will produce in fall. Miss Gardner, whose last, “Bh< yam Junction" was directed t rtv wiu d o “Little Hut" firs 1I s Mark Robson-F. Hugh Herbei ^-Production for Metro release. Freund Tries to Buy Back Story for Own Indie Prod. Hollywood, April 17. unu^ ser Karl Freund is setti P hls ow n indie .feature prodi on outfit and dickering wi to buy back his origir haiJi It: Happened In Paradis* oased on Don Hartman’* idea, t Drn,? bu /- er * Plans ealls for inc Ruction, with Donald O’Conn nd Mitzi Gaynor as topliners. is exiting his affiliati Uh Desilu Productions, where Si® ^ nsed “I Love Lucy" fbr t shop Rve y ears * to set U P bis ‘oi Svenskatown Cool To Those (From) TV Films Minneapolis, April 17. Screen fare of television orig¬ ination, either because the script is of video genesis or the star or stars, continues to take it on the boxoffice chin locally. Currently, it’s “Our Miss Brooks" that’s doing the brody. Spotty into the RKO Pan as the upper end.of a twin bill at lower admission prices than “A" houses charge here, it and its fellow fea¬ ture, “Target Zero," will wind up to sub-par takings. Previously, such tv pickups as “The Lone Ranger,” “Ransom," Liberace and Mark Stevens, among others, have failed in recent months here to deliver satisfactor¬ ily at the boxoffice. ’Hill 24’ Smacks Montreal Montreal, April 17. “Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer," dis¬ tributed independently in Canada drew near $17,000 for 12 days at Her Majesty’s. Film nioves to Orpheum May'7 for 11 additional days. RE-THINKT1I ERA Production-distribution officials are convinced, more than ever, that the time has arrived for the elim¬ ination of the double feature pro¬ gram. The return to single billing, it’s felt, would relieve, to some ex¬ tent, the complaints about a prod¬ uct shortage and would eliminate many of the difficulties relating to programming and long pictures. .. The studios, its’ stressed, do not make long pictures just for the sake of length, but are earnestly attempting to achieve the utmost in quality and story telling in the desire to compete effectively with television. The policy of some the¬ atres, particularly in the west, to double bill two first-rate pictures is looked upon with considerable displeasure. With the film com¬ panies honestly trying to give the public product that will get them away from their tv sets, it’s be¬ lieved that many theatreowners are working against their best in¬ terests by overloading their pat¬ rons with film footage. The solution to the complaints relating to unmanageable - pro¬ grams because of over-long pic¬ tures, it’s pointed out. would be single features with a well bal¬ anced addition of shorts. Distrib¬ utors tend to discount the argu¬ ment that the public is double bill conscious and will refuse to buy single features. The success of the single bill in many sections of the south and southwest is cited as an answer to the tandem advocates. The industry, it’s felt, missed the golden oportunity to make single features (plus a shorts pro¬ gram) a national policy when 20th- Fox introduced CinemaScope. During the early days of C’Scope, the early entries in the new proc¬ ess were displayed as part of sin¬ gle feature programs. The initial" C’Scope films, it was felt, were strong enough to stand on their own. However, the release of one C’Scoper that did not stand up to boxoffice standards frightened ex¬ hibitors. They became panicky and demanded a second feature to bol¬ ster the weak C’Scoper. Rather than regarding the situ¬ ation as temporary and reverting to single features again with the- next strong C’Scoper, the theatre- men made it a general policy to continue the dual program. This practice, according to distributors, is absolutely unnecessary since there are any number of shorts available which would more than adequately serve the purpose. Brush Shorts Theatr.emen In recent years have brushed off shorts to such an ex¬ tent that studios find them un¬ economical to make. Not only do many theatres refuse to book shprts, its’ noted, but those that do refuse to pay sufficient rental charges. As a result, it’s feared that even the popular cartoon shorts which always appealed to the kiddie trade will fast disappear if the trend continues. The cost for a six-niinute car¬ toon varies from $22,000 to $28,000 and a large number of prints are required to service the theatres. With tv competing for the services of the cartoon companies and the artists for commercials, the situa¬ tion is becoming critical, said a film company executive, because the theatres “refuse to pay what the shorts are worth." Already many of the formerly popular car¬ toons are disappearing from the theatres because the cartoon firms and the distributors could not emerge with a profit in the pres¬ ent market. It’s charged that ex- hibs are offering less for short sub¬ jects than they paid 20 years ago. One distributor offiical termed the exhibitor retort that the shorts were not missed by the public as a “stupid” answer. Only a minor¬ ity of the public, he said, registers a complaint in any adverse situa¬ tion. The remainder, he declared, merely stays away from the the¬ atres because they can’t get ’the type of programming they prefer. Hfe maintains this 'applies t6 the Conscious Now of Screen Deal Values, Bookmen Advertise This’ll Be a Film’ Mayer’s New Co.’ Arthur L. Mayer, veteran of the film industry, looks headed for a review under New Acts. He and Mrs. (Lillie) Mayer will do a husband-and-wife turn before the Film Councils of the -United States meeting in St. Louis tomorrow (Thurs.), discussing Paramount’s “War and Peace.” Promotion of the film is Mayer’s current in¬ terest. The Mayers whipped up a script and rehearsed the St. Louis break-in. He’ll talk about the production and his wife; wife-like, will interrupt and disagree on some points. Stanley Warner Quarterly Profit Stanley Warner Corp. racked' up a net profit of $818,600 for the fiscal quarter ended Feb. 25, 1956 as compared with $511,400 earned in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Most recent net profit is equiva¬ lent to 37c per share on the out¬ standing common stock, an increase of 14c per share over last year’s quarterly earnings of 23c per share. The consolidated net profit for the latest 13-week period amounted to $1,593,600, after deducting de¬ preciation and amortization of $1,- 216,800 but before making provi¬ sions for income taxes. This com¬ pares with $1,136,900 earned dur¬ ing the prior year when deprecia¬ tion and amortization totaled $1,- 167,900. Provisions for taxes was $775,000 as compared with $600,000 for the comparable 1955 stanza. Theatre admissions and mer¬ chandise sales, rents from tenants, etc., totaled $23,450,600 for the current 13-week period as com¬ pared . with $22,091,400 for the same period a year ago. Net profit for the 26-week period ending Feb. 25, 1956, after all charges, was $1,629,000, equivalent to 74c per share as compared wi’h $1,621,600, equivalent to 73c per share during the 26-week 1955 period. Half-year theatre admis¬ sions, merchandise sales, and rents amounted to $47,342,700. The total for the same period a year ago was $45,372,500. elimination of newsreels, cartoons, and other short subjects. In private conversations, he asserts, many patrons have beefed they stay away from theatres because the programs are too long and because they have no desire to sit through two long features. Theatremen are -also charged without sufficiently promoting shorts. Even when a national name personality is involved, many fail to include the fact in their ad¬ vertising. For example, Universal has been making shorts featuring popular record personalities who draw large crowds in personal ap¬ pearances. These have included Nat “King” Cole, Bill Haley’s Comets, the Crew Cuts, and Elvis Presley. These shorts, it’s stressed, would have a great appeal to the teenage audiences, but these groups cannot be attracted if they do not know that a picture fea¬ turing the personality is playing at the local theatre. The film com¬ pany has even indicated that it would be willing to help in the pro¬ motion by making ‘ some of the personalities available for lobby autograph sessions. While' momentarily discouraged, the film companies feel that there will soon be a realization as to the value of a good shorts program. The optftnism is a guarded one, however, for some are of the opinion that the making of “go'od” shorts will become a lost art '‘un¬ less there’s' somebody around to pick up the tab." + The book publishers’ romance Twith the film industry—which has run from hot to cold over the years—is now in its most ardent state. Since the picture business in its desire for pre-sold .properties Is paying as much as $400,000 (with a $500,000 price in sight) for best¬ sellers, the book industry, both originals and paperbacks, are dis¬ playing a most conscientious effort to cooperate with the film compa¬ nies in tieups. Veteran industryites no Jionger regard this cooperative attitude as suspiciously, although they recall, sometimes bitterly, the “lukewarm and tepid” response from the book¬ men in years past. It’s often been charged by the filmites that ;he publishers were always willing to join forces in tieups as long as the film companies put up the nec¬ essary promotional coin. In pre¬ vious years it was more than like¬ ly that a film company would ap¬ proach the publisher to request a tieup on a picture that was based on a book. Now, it’s said, the shoe . is on the olher foot, with the tie- up’ suggestion often originating from the book company. Publishers, it’s stressed,* have discovered th value of publicizing the fact that a new book would be made into a film. As a result, some publishers have approached the film companies to share in the ad¬ vertising of a new tome on the theory that it will help build up interest in the picture in the fu¬ ture and, at the same time, aid in selling the book. The announcement in eai’ly ads that a .book will be converted into a film is in itself a new practice. It’s part 6f a whole new long- range plan, both on the part of publishers and the film companies, to build up interest in the property. The campaign usually continues from the date of publication right up to, and eve., after, the release of the motion picture. Both the film companies and the publishers have discovered that this policy can result in valuable payoffs. It keeps both the book and the film in the public eye for extended pe¬ riods. Publishers, on their part, have learned that the release of the film version does not necessarily cut down on the book sales. In fact, they have discovered in many cases that the film has stimulated new sales and, in a few instances, has resulted in pushing a book back on the bestseller list. From the film companies’ standpoint, the more volumes that are sold means more business for the picture, for it has been discovered that the reader is inclined to see the pic¬ ture “just to see how the story has been handled as a film.” In addition, the reading of the. book stimulates interest in the casting and the' pre-publicity for the pic¬ ture. Paperback publishers, whom filmites once considered the most aloof in lending cooperation, are also back in the fold. “We didn’t hear from them in a long time," said a film promotion man, “but now they call up every week.” The paperbacks are now willing to is¬ sue special jackets, insert stills from the picture, issiu their vol¬ umes to coincide with the release of a picture, and provide special posters and promotional material. Despite the current happy state of affairs in the book-film rela¬ tionship, several filmites continue to air the old complaint that some of the book people still anticipate selling books with film money. “They don’t seem to realize,” said a film executive, “that the book tieup is only one aspect in the promotion of a film. While they | can gear their entire promotion to the picture, we have to con¬ sider other methods which require large expenditures.