Variety (September 1956)

Wednesday, September S 9 1956 PtS&iET? PICTURES S H’WOOD Y00-H00S ‘TRUE HUE’ Film Cos.’ Sunday Supplement Ads In Big Drop for First Six Months, But Outlay for Natl Mags Soars L^\ By FRED HIFT Film ' companies, national ad¬ vertising in the Sunday newspaper supplements dropped sharply dur¬ ing the first six^months of 1956 while their expenditures in the national magazines went up. Study based on figures made j available by the Publishers Infor¬ mation Bureau shows that, be¬ tween Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year, only three companies adver¬ tised in ihe supplements, running up a total cost of $229,930, a sub¬ stantial drop from the same period last year, when all but two of nine film outfits used the supplements, paying $558,585. Difference comes to $328,655. While they sloughed the supple¬ ments, however, the companies stepped up their national mag plugs by a sizable $358,596, to a total of $2,022,496 for the first six months. Comparable figure for last year was $1,663,873. Distribs do, of course, also advertise oh radio and tv and at the point-of- sale, i.e., the daily newspapers. However, many of these arrange¬ ments are Ort a co-op basis with the exhibitors. Leader in the mag field among the nine companies during the first 26 weeks of 1956 was Metro, which splurged to the tune of $487,502, an increase of $117,396 over 1955. Yet M-G, which last year spent $144,305 on the supplements, this year didn’t throw any business their way at all. In second spot is United Artists, with $330,958 for the mags and $114,280 for the supplements, the expenditure being divided mostly between two pix—“Alexander the Great” and “Trapeze.” UA shows the largest Increase of any of the companies—$230,373 in the mags and $70,305 in the supplements. Third is 20th-Fo?c, with $303,702 for mag ads and $83,960 for the supplements. 20th increased its total budget for mags and-supple¬ ments by $189,931 for this year, mostly plugging “Carousel” and “Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” Universal, which used to be the leader in the ad field, has dropped to fifth place, behind RKO, which spent, over $300,000 advertising “The Conqueror” in the mags. U racked up a total of $256,078 in mag spots and $31,690 in the sup¬ plements. That’s a drop of $122,- 995 from 1955. The two other com¬ panies whose level in both the mags and the supplements dropped are Columbia and Paramount. Figuring mag and supplement expenditures together for the first half of 1956, the nine companies spent $2,252,399, against $2,222,458 last year. No particular significance is read into the filmeries’ lack of interest in the supplements other than that there was a concentration on the comparatively few “big” pix going into release and that these films weren’t of the type to which tall coin for supplement plugging is usually allocated. In addition, the action films that might rate boosting in the supps now frequently get hefty plugging via air spots, with ^the companies apparently feeling 'that this is a , better investment. Mags that get the lion’s share of the companies’ advertising are still Life, Look» Collier’s and the Satevepost. Comparative new¬ comer to the field is TV Guide. Metro splurged on the sheet $7,000 via “Forever Darling” and Univer¬ sal backed its “Benny Goodman Story” in TV Guide with $3,850, more than it spent for ihstance, on a juve mag like Seventeen; Z Alterraann’s Tex. 'Post Dallas, Sept* 4. John Altermann Jr„ veteran lo- 1 cal theatre man'T'has been named managing director of Texas Cin¬ erama Corp., replacing Mat Freed, Altermann. was manager’of the Melba, exhjb house^f 0 ? Cinerama Productions, and x the Tower, be- f0r e his appointment, to the Cin¬ erama post last week. EK’s New Rawstock New color rawstock is in the adYaiuied developmental stages at Eastman Kodak and should be made available to the labs befpre the fold of the year. Stock, featuring, fewer than the current five layers, will sell for less than the present 3.75 cents per foot that the labs pay. At the customer level, the reduction will make the labs even more competitive . with Technicolor, which now charges 5.63 cents.per foot on volume orders. TOA Miffed At Majors’ Snub Of N.Y. Trade Show Theatre Owners of America is doing an off-the-record burn at the major film companies for the lat- ters’ failure to participate in the exhibitor association’s convention and trade show at the N. Y. Col¬ iseum Sept. 20-24. Billed as a Mo¬ tion Picture Industry International Trade Show,, with a large con¬ tingent of foreign exhibitors slated to attend, TOA had hoped that the event, in addition to serving as an exhibitor forum, would also be the focal point for a gigantic all-indus¬ try public relations campaign. In its earlier thinking, TOA had sought to devise a motion picture exhibit that would be open to the public. This idea, however, was dropped early in the planning stage when it failed to meet the enthusiasm of the film companies whose cooperation Would be neces¬ sary to assure the success of such a venture. Blocked on this approach, al¬ though the Coliseum site was con¬ sidered a natural for such an un¬ dertaking, the exhibitor organiza¬ tion explored other avenues of production - distribution participa¬ tion. It proposed a huge jBroad- way parade with . leading "ipotion picture personalities taking part. This, too, required the. assistance of the film companies. However^ (Continued on page 15) Schreibers, Coast Exhibs, Win $60,000 Damage Suit Los Angeles, Sept. 4. Treble damages of $60,000 were awarded to Alex, arid Max Schrei- ber, owners of the Paradise Thea¬ tre in the Westchester area, after a seven-week trial in Federal Judge Harry C* Westover’s court. The jury deliberated four days. Schreibers sought $20,000 actual damages trebled for first-run prod¬ uct conspiracy and a seven-day- break conspiracy in the area in 1950-51; Award was made on the seven-day charge. Judgment was against Fox-West Coast, 20th-Fox and Loew’s with defendants Paramount,, Warners and Universal excluded.* After long years of stagnation, color is once again becoming a talking point in pictures. While Hollywood is putting out fewer tint- ers than in the past, the ktudios are again experimenting with new uses of color and they are. coming up^with the kind of extraordinary effects that can be turned into a definite instrument for selling the product. Color quality in three recent re¬ leases—“King and I,” “Moby Dick” and “War and Peace”—has rated critical attention and has earned khdos for the labs, particularly Technicolor, and the lensers who, finally, are being giveTT a freer hand. Upcoming Is Metro’s “Lust for Life,” which relates the life of the painter Vincent Van Gogh and achieves extraordinarily vivid ef¬ fects in the faithful reproduction of Van Gogh originals. Biog was shot on Eastman color negative and processed at the Metro lab. A special lens arrangement at the cameras Was involved. In the instance of “Moby Dick,” a b&w image was printed under the tint picture,, resulting in those muted and realistic tones. When tint prints first came on the market, they rated special ex- hib and audience attention and the color films definitely grossed more at the b.o. As the ‘years passed, however, color became accepted and criticism could be heard occa¬ sionally that the Technicolor prints, ‘ particularly, offered hues that were too rich. It was argued that dramas couldn’t satisfactorily be made as long as the color values remained what they were. When Herbert T. Kalmus was asked why British filmmakers were able to achieve pastel hues that were more pleasing to many eyes, he replied that American studios stuck to their vivid tints “because that is what the audience expects and is used to.” First postwar film to -point the way to a new and more artistic use of color was the Moulin production of “Moulin Rouge” in which John Huston tried out a new system of lensing. Film's tint quality imme¬ diately drew the attention of the critics and was widely discussed. (Continued on page 15) Society’ Paces As M-G’s ’56 Doll; ‘King and 1 Strong 2d, ‘Duchin,’ ‘Boats’ Rise Print Shortage Snags Click Pix Because of - a print shortage, many successful films are being yanked before theatres have been able to milk their full potential This charge has been made by sub¬ sequent run exhibitors in the N.Y. metropolitan area. Many inde¬ pendent theatres in the territory, including the Brandt chain, have abandoned the system of fixed bookings and have adopted a policy of playing pictures as long as they bring in business. This policy, however, has not been completely successful because of the shortage of prints, forcing the distributors to terminate runs in order to meet other commit¬ ments. As a result, it’s charged, pictures have been - pulled whiph could chalk up several days or a week’s additional business. Aug. Golden Dozen 1. High Society (M-G) 2. King and 1 (20th). 3. Duchin Story (Col). 4. Away All Boats (U). 5. Moby Dick (WB). 6. Seven Wonders (Indie). 7. Pardners (Par). 8. Oklahoma (Magna). 9. Somebody Up There (M-G) 10. Cine Holiday (Iridie). 11. Proud, Profane (Par). 12. Trapeze (UA). No USSR Deals , On Pix Tied To : U.S. Motion Picture Export Assn, will not agree to any film deal with the Soviets that is condi¬ tioned on an “exchange” of pic¬ tures in any form. This statement came last week from an MPEA spokesman in the wake of a Variety interview with Vladimir Surin, the Soviet Union’s first Vice Minister of Culture, in which he defined reciprocity as the basis for any deal. MPEA position, even in advance of a trip to Moscow by MPEA prexy Eric Johnston, is that, if the Russians are willing to buy Holly¬ wood films, no strings can be at¬ tached to such a purchase. “The Soviets know perfectly well, and it was explained to them again in New York, that there is no such thing as ‘the American in¬ dustry’ agreeing to take a number of Russian films as part of any deal,” the MPEA exec said, “An individual company might agree to distribute their films. That’s up to them. But as for any firm agree¬ ment amounting to an exchange, that’s absolutely impossible and we’d never even discuss it.” Meanwhile it*s understood that one or two of the companies still f*have not given their, full consent to the setup which is to handle pic sales to the Soviet bloc. However, the distribs are expected to fall into line with the rest which, with the exception of United Artists, will negotiate any sales via the MPEA. SMPTE’s 80th Conclave 16 Gabberies on Coast Los Angeles, Sept. 4. Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers will teeoff its 80th semi-annual convention at the Ambassador Hotel' here on Oct. 8, running through Oct. 12. Total of 16 sessions will be held. Pete Vilehos, of Motion Picture Research Council, is' program chairman. Presentation of org’s annual awards will be made evening of Oct. 9, when Dr. W. HTFictferihg, of California Institute of Tech¬ nology, is slated to speak on (Continued on page 20) FILM COMPANIES’ NATL. AD EXPENDITURES ' Studio Columbia Metro. ....... 487,502 Paramount .. 121,635 Republic . 2,665 1956—1st Six Months Magazines Supplements $93,239 . 1955—1st Six Months Inc. of Dec. Variety’s monthly 'survey of how principal product fared at the box- office last month‘ is based on re¬ ports of correspondents in 23 rep¬ resentative key cities over the U. S. and Canada . As such, it reflects the strength boxoffice-wise of key product but does not pretend to show total gross or total earnings of each picture . The fact that there was some very big product out in circulation last month and that exhibitors in some sections of the country got a real break in the unseasonably cool weather enabled first-run theatres in many key cities to make a respectable showing during the dog-days ol August. It was not quite the great month at the wick¬ ets that July was, but the first six highest grossers were in the high money all the way. The past month was noteworthy in that the three blockbusters, of July were up near the top again in August; namely “King and I” (20th), “Duchin Story” (Col) and “Moby Dick” . (WB). The new champ at the b.o. last month was “High Society” (M-G) which racked up $1,350,000 in the three weeks it was out in circula¬ tion to any extent. With a star- studded cast, this remake of “Phila¬ delphia Story” set to music looks to be Metro’s top grosser of 1956. In city after city, the pic has topped. advance hopes or expectations. At the N. Y. Music Hall alone, “Soci¬ ety” seems definitely assured of grossing better than $1,000,000 since it is currently rounding out its fourth week today (Wed.) with (Continued on page 20) Now That 20th-Fox Has - ‘Anastasia’ It’s Got A Problem With the Title “Educational” project aimed at alerting the U.S. public to the leg¬ end of Anastasia, daughter of the Czar who is supposed to have sur¬ vived the slaughter of her family by the Reds, is planned by 20th- Fox in connection with its forth¬ coming film of the same title. Pic stars Ingrid Bergman. 20th feels that it may run into some problems selling a picture called just “ Anastasia.” At least, while films with a single name as the title have of course been put across in the past, 20th believes it’ll have a better angle if it can intrigue the public re the Anas- tesia mystery. Woman claiming to be the sur¬ viving daughter of the Czar, and long trying to get her hands on the fortune in money and jewels deposited by the .royal family abroad, is alive in Germany where she lives in^a shack near Stuttgart. While she tells a convincing story, she’s never’been able to prove her identity. 20th’s film is based on the “Anastasia” play which clicked on Broadway. Company plans to do consider¬ able pre-selilng of the story, with the accent on the mystery sur¬ rounding the Anastasia history. “If the public is to be intrigued by a legend, it first has to be told what the legend Js,” noted a 20jih pub¬ licity man. ‘Okla.’s {3,060,000 “Oklahoma,” in the six months ended July 31, 1956, racked up a distribution gross of $3,060,000 and a net—after prints, distribu¬ tion costs, etci—of $1,960,000, ac¬ cording to George P. Skouras, Magna Theatre Corp. prexy. Musical at that time was being roadshown in 16 houses in the U. S. and Canada. Five more U. S. houses opened with the film during August. Between Oct. 13, 1955, and July 31 the pic was seen by 2,397,653-persons.