Variety (August 1956)

20 PICTURES Wednesday, August 22, 1956 Summertime Pix Plugging Gives Radio an Edge Over Television Summertime spells radio time for the film companies. Outfits, which the rest of the year carry on a heavy flirtation with tv, are currently going whole- hog for kilocycle campaigns to sell the product. “In the summer months, radio is far and away the best buy we can get,” said one ad-pub topper. “People don’t look at television now, but they listen to their car radios, they go to the beaches, etc. We Jfeel radio gives us the widest exposure, particularly over the weekends.” Hot season makes' radio so popu¬ lar among the distribs that they’re actually finding it tough sometimes to buy all the time they want. A favorite is NBC’s “Monitor,” a weekend AM feature, which allows package deals involving plugs on the national web, followed by lo¬ cal breaks identifying the the- eatres where an attraction may be playing. Probably one of the biggest radio buyers, and not only in the summer, is 20th-Fox, which has gone allout selling its “King and I” musical on the radio. 20th bought the network package on NBC, covering not only spots but also program identification “trail¬ ers” taped by stars from “King,” with credit to the picture. 20th also has skedded a heavy radio campaign for its upcoming tuner, “The Best Things in.Life Are Free,” and it used the AM waves exten¬ sively for “Bigger Than Life.” Last spring, 20th went equally all- out for “Carousel,” this time on CBS Radio. “I think radio is a great sales medium for us,” commented Charles Einfeld, 20th ad-pub v.p. At Universal, where “Away All Boats” and “Walk the Proud Land” are getting the AM buildup, pub¬ licity topper Phil Gerard called radio “a hell of a buy” and stressed the large summer audiences com¬ manded by radio. Sid Seadler, the Metro ad chief in N. Y., said he preferred radio to tv in the summer. M-G launced “Somebody Up There Likes Me” with a saturation campaign on New York’s WNEW, and the company intends to go heavy on both radio and tv in plugging its upcoming “Tea and Sympathy.” Impression generally is that tv will come into its own again in the fall. However, some ad-pub reps feel that the cost of video trail?r- izing is becoming very high, and may, in the future, require a’more selective approach. “We’ve found that some pictures just don’t sell very well on television,” was one comment. Once that formula has been evolved, the accent on radio may become heavier all year round. SW Execs to Seattle For Par-Cinerama Bow Harry Kalmine, v.p. and gen¬ eral manager of Stanley Warner Corp., and Lester B. Isaac, direc¬ tor of Cinerama exhibition, left Monday (20) for Seattle for the opening there of the Paramount Theatre as a Cinerama house to¬ day (Wed.). They were followed yesterday (Tues.) by another homeoffice con¬ tingent, including Samuel Rosen, SW exec v.p.; Bernard Kranze, v.p. of SW Cinerama Corp., and Harry Goldberg, pub-ad chief. SW Buys Capitol, Milw., From Ben Marcus Chain Chicago, Aug. 21, Stanley Warner Corp. last week bought the 2,600-seat Capitol The¬ atre, Milwaukee, from Ben Marcus of Whitefish Bay, Wis., operator of Marcus Theatres Co., for a price between $750,000 and $1,000,000. Stanley Warner had leased the theatre from the First Wisconsin Foundation of Milwaukee until last year, when Marcus bought it. The Marcus firm had been plan¬ ning a $250,000 remodelling job for the 27-year-old house; whether Stanley Warner will go ahead with refurbishing has not been dis¬ closed. SW also owns the Majestic Theatre in Milwaukee. SW Chi¬ cago office manager Alex Halperin negotiated the deal. Par Not Crazy About TVersions Of Old Scripts Film companies are losing en¬ thusiasm about having back prop¬ erties adapted for airing on televi¬ sion. Feeling Is growing that in too many cases the effort required of the pic distributor is simply not worthwhile. Paramount had become particu¬ larly active in this field, making its back-number scenarios available for televersions on Lux Video The¬ atre, Theatre Guild, Producers Showcase and other such shows. In each instance Par has received some monetary payoff, perhaps $2,000 to $3,000. But this was not enough to compensate for the work involved; Par’s main objective was a hard-hitting plug for a new re¬ lease, this also being part of the deals. Par’s attitude now, though is that, with the notable exception of Lux, the tv shows weren't in tune with the film company itself on how the new pic promotion should be rammed across. Company also has been doing a burn because the tv producers left most of the con¬ tact work to nonprofessional un¬ derlings. As Uie overall consequence, Par has become indifferent to the tv tieups and most other picture out¬ fits have adopted the same atti¬ tude. This is a switch, for in past they were plenty high on this man¬ ifestation of tv handholding. I— RADIO CITT MUSIC HUL—, Rockefeller Center UNG GRACE FRANK CROSBY . KELLY * SINATRA * “HIGH SOCIETY” hi VlttaVitlon and Color An M-G-M Picture •** IMUJIUUI STAKE MEJIMTATIM ‘RED BALLOON’ NEEDS $100,000 TO RISE Attempt is currently being made by Ilya Lopert to work out a re¬ lease pattern for “The Red Bal¬ loon,” French short which he and Richard Davis acquired in Cannes earlier this year. The 35-minute subject is in color and won a prize at the festival. Lopert, who has left N. Y. for the Venice fest, said last week that he was asking $100,000 for the short and had received offers for $75,000. He and Davis originally paid $50,000 for it. One deal offered by Walt Dis¬ ney’s Buena Vista outfit, which wanted to couple “Balloon” with another French release, “Si Tous Les Gards du Monde,” fell through because Disney wouldn’t go for the $100,000 tab. There is a possibility that Lopert and Davis may decide to handle the short themselves and make it the core of a shorts "festival” run¬ ning feature-length. Discussing foreign films in the U. S. generally, Lopert—a vet diS- trib of imports—said it was diffi¬ cult to determine the true poten¬ tial of the overseas product in the U. S. “because it’s never been explored.” He agreed with the French that existing distribution facilities for foreign lingualers are inadequate but stressed the difficulty of getting the various indie releasers together to agree on a joint plan of action. _ PfifZTETY _ Int’l Latex Rise Cues Stanley Warner Stock As ‘A Good Investment’ On the basis of the earning power of its subsidiary, Interna¬ tional Latex Corp., and the poten¬ tial value of its real estate hold¬ ings, Stanley Warner common stock is recommended as a good invest¬ ment in a special report prepared by Herzfeld & Stern, Wall Street brokerage firm. According to the survey, prepared by Marshall Weinberg, the theatre chain’s stock “offers the investor a satisfactory current return, distinct possibil¬ ities of appreciation, and relatively little risk.” While SW has never issued a breakdown on International Latex’s earnings, the report indicates that the net earnings are better than $2,000,000 or about $1 per share. In addition, it notes that Interna¬ tional Latex will spend $25,000,000 in the next year in new production facilities and that the company predicts a 300% increase in busi¬ ness by 1958. It points out, too, that International Latex’s sales have increased from less than $4,000,000 in 1946 to over $30,000,- 000 in 1955, while net worth has increased from $2,000,000 to over $15,000,000 during the same period. The Wall St. report notes that as of November, 1955, SW owned or leased 303 theatres, of which 164 were owned, 130 leased, and nine were partly owned and partly leased. It points out that these theatres are carried on the books at coSt, the primary part of which was incurred in the 1920’s. Noting that these properties are of a “non- profitable character” due to the decline in theatre attendance, the survey says a significant part of the investment could be gradually converted into more profitable channels. “This is why we feel the theatre properties are of consider¬ able significance to investors,” it states. The Weinberg study says SW is changing the status of the com¬ pany's theatrical holdings in two ways; (1) by eliminating undesir¬ able leases when the expiration time arrives and (2) by selling ad¬ ditional .theatres. Another factor in SW’s favor, according to the report, is the company’s policy of purchasing its own shares in the open market. The reducing of the outstanding common stock tends to support the market and gradually increases the per-share earnings and equity, the report indicates. WB Scoreboard —■ — i Continued from page 3 tive production studio. The 321 West 44th St. office buildings which extend back to 45th St. in New York are already subleased to tenants; all that room is un¬ necessary, according to Allen and Semenenko, who already have ear¬ marked an ultramodern GHQ for WB in the new Tishman Bldg, at 666 5th Ave. The Music Publishers Holding Corp. is regarded as a valuable asset and perhaps too much so to sell, in light of its $1,500,000 an¬ nual yield from ASCAP alone, along with other synchronization and production values for pictures and the future of television. How¬ ever, a number of would-be buyers already have started buzzing Her¬ man Starr, who is president of MPHC, a wholly-owned WB sub¬ sidiary but autonomously operated by Starr, who is also a veepee of the parent picture company. Starr, incidentally, is one of the group who hhve been given stock options on 15,000 shares of WB stock at $25.77 a share. Understood that the plan is ul¬ timately to reduce the outstanding WB shares to 1,000,000 certificates, as tenders are issued to buy in as much as possible. Metrocolor Step-Up Hollywood, Aug. 21. Metro studio lab completed 10,- 000,000th foot of film since com¬ pany set up facilities on its new Metrocolor process last June 1. First three films made and printed in Metrocolor are “Lust for Life,” “Tea and Sympathy” and “The Opposite Sex.” A total of 950 prints have been turned out on trio. WB to Grant $26-Per-Share Options In Incentive’ Ride (or 6 Top Execs - + Semenenko-WB Quiz The Serge Semenko-War- ner Bros, deal still is a source of puzzlement to some observ¬ ers who are not privileged with the straight inside. For example, official records which were disclosed this week show that Jack L. War¬ ner, president, bought 500,000 shares of the WB common stock on June 8 and on July 10 sold 600,000, leaving him with a balance of 212,399. No in¬ dication as to whom he had the direct dealings with. Warner News Up For Grabs; Unit Eyes Reels-to-TV With the Aug. 31 deadline near¬ ing, negotiations are continuing for the sale of Warner News, the War¬ ner Bros, subsidiary, to a group headed by J. Arthur Warner, in¬ vestment banker. Price is still up in the air but is said to run around $500,000. The Warners originally acquired the company from RKO in 1947 for $5,000,000. It’s not clear whether they’ll still be interested—tax- wise— in a deal after Aug. 31, the end of the fiscal year. With Warner (no relation to the Warner brothers) are Andy Gold, Robert Youngston and John Le- Vien. Latter is the news editor of Warner Pathe News which to¬ morrow (Thurs.) puts out its final reel. Entire Warner News subsid is being dissolved as of Aug. 31. Attempt is being made to close the deal before that deadline, but there’s a question whether it can be done. Differences remain the evaluation of the camera equip¬ ment. Warner and his group, while not planning any revival of the the¬ atrical newsreel, are hoping to maintain a television newsreel service. They may also continue making short subjects for possible WB release. It’s understood that NBC has been in negotiation with the War¬ ner group with a view to making a leasing arrangement for the huge, 26,000,000-feet Warner News stockshot spread which come as part of the deal. Any new company probably will retain the Pathe name. Present plans call for some 38 key em¬ ployees of the Warner News sub¬ sid to be taken over by the new management. IATSE-WARNER NEWS SEVERANCE PAY TALKS Local IATSE union reps in 'New York are huddling with Norman H. Moray, president of Warner News, on the question of severance pay for employees who may lose their •jobs as a new management takes over the subsidiary. Issue revolves around those workers who will continue in their positions in any new company. The unions maintain these men should be given the choice of stay¬ ing, or getting severance pay and then making any new deal they wish. Union leaders say they are con¬ cerned not only over this situation, but also over reports that Warners may divest itself of other subsidi¬ ary interests where union labor is employed. Said a union spokesman: “We question the right of Warner Brothers to sell its employees along with the physical assets.” Entire issue is to be taken up at the IATSE convention in Kansas City. Somerset Reelected Hollywood, Aug. 21. Pat Somerset, assistant exec sec¬ retary of the Screen Actors Guild, has been reelected' a v.p. of the California State Federation of La¬ bor at its conclave in Long Beach. Somerset was also reelected prexy of the California State The¬ atrical Federation. Making good its promise of an “incentive” plan for management, Warner Bros, last week disclosed that it was ready to grant to six of its top executives options to pur¬ chase stock at an average $26 a share. Company also revealed establish¬ ment of a credit agreement with a group of banks for $20,000,000 for a three-year period. And it indi¬ cated that plans are afoot for the sale of some of its assets, the pro¬ ceeds to go towards purchase of additional shares of its common stock. Number of shares out¬ standing as of July 15, 1956, was 2,482,247. Disclosures came in a proxy statement that accompanied the official invitation to tender stock. Warner board has appropriated $20,000,000 for the purchase of Warner common at a top price of $28.50. Deadline is Sept. 5, 1956. The three Warner brothers have indicated their intentions to tender stock—Harry M. and Albert an ag¬ gregate of 50,000 shares at $27.50 and Jack L. 50,000 shares at the same price. Subject to approval by the stock¬ holders, stock options are being of¬ fered to the following: Jack War¬ ner, 60,000 shares; Benjamin Kal- menson, exec v.p., 40,000; Samuel Schneider, v.p. and treasurer, 20.- 000; Herman Starr, v.p. and head of the music publishing subsid, 15,000; Wolfe Cohen, foreign chief, 10,000, and Steve Trilling, War¬ ner’s assistant, 5,000. With the exception of Jack War¬ ner, whose option price is $29.29 per share, all will be allowed to purchase their stock at $25.77. Op¬ tions on half the shares can be ex¬ ercised after 18 months, and in full after three years. No options are exercisable after five years, or three months after an optionee quits the company. Report also indicated the share holdings of the board, with Jack Warner shown holding 212.399; Harry Warner, 28,700; Albert War¬ ner, 21,700; Charles Allen Jr., 155,- 750; Stanleigh P. Friedman, 600; Robert W. Perkins, v.p. and gen¬ eral counsel, 500; Schneider, 250; Serge Semenenko, 160,000. Kalmenson, Herman Starr and Waddill Caterings were the direc¬ tors listed as holding no stock at all. The $20,000,000 credit agree¬ ment is being established with a group of banks consisting of the First National Bank of Boston and other banks for which the First Na¬ tional Bank is acting as agent. Se¬ menenko, who engineered the take¬ over of Warner Bros, from its for¬ mer management, is first v.p. of the bank. The credit carries an interest rate of 4% per year and a commit¬ ment fee of half of 1% per annum on the unused portion of the credit. The corporation agrees to maintain its working capital at a minimum level of $25,000,000 and not to redeem or retire its stock in an amount over $30,000,000. As for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1956, the statement said that, taking June and July busi¬ ness into account, the year’s profit “will be substantially less” than the results from operations in (lie corresponding period in 1955. This net, however, doesn’t take into ac¬ count the profit accruing from the $21,000,000 sale of the Warner library to PRM Inc. for showing on television. Of this sum, $ 16 , 000 - 000 has been paid in cash. The en¬ tire deal has been ruled taxable as a capital gain instead of ordin¬ ary income. “The proceeds of this sale have been used to pay off short term bank loans, and to improve the cor¬ poration’s current position, and all or a portion of the remaining pro¬ ceeds may be used in purchasing stock pursuant to the invitation to tender stock,” the proxy statement said. LA.’s 250G Theatre Los Angeles, Aug. 21. VinnTcof theatre circuit has be¬ gun construction of a new $250,- 000 hardtop house in the Garden Grove suburb in the eastern sec¬ tion of Los Angeles. House will seat 980. Cecil Vinnicof, chain’s veepee, said the new site, to be called the Garden Theatre, will be equipped with screens adaptable to all proc¬ esses.