Variety (December 1957)

12 PICTURES PfiRiEiY Wednesday, December ^, 1957 It’s going to be a mixed-up 1958 for the picture business, with some companies faring well and Others slipping, according to an analysis made, by Standard & Poor’s, prominent corporate ap¬ praisal outfit Where there Will be improvement, it will be mostly via ipereastti television activities and ^the out&apdipg success of a very few films.” Feature , film production is at a six-year high, notes Standard, and the rate of film-making may be sustained next year. However, the' potential of the market doesn’t seem .capable of supporting big schedules on a long-range basis. • Average weekly attendance in the United States is tending to stabilize between 45,000,000 and 49,000,000, with the 1957 average figured at between the 45,000,000! in 1955 and the 46,500,000 in 1956. Total boxoffice gross . for 1957 is estimated at slightly, less thah the $1,200,000,000 of 1956. ; Since an attendance rise is not $* prospect, the risk for producers, inview of upped production costs, likely will continue as. in the re¬ cent past, with profits derived from foreign markets and domestic tele¬ vision. However/ revenues from abroad are to be adversely affected by growing tv competition. This already has happened -in England and can be expected in Japan; states S&P. Observations are made about Television Prompts Switch; * ’ Regina, Sask., Dec. , The local Nipawin Theatres Ltd. has' gone into the neighborhood shopping; centre business. Two years ago the organization boughttwo acres of choice prop¬ erty in the city and plans were made for a new theatre. Shortly after, television’s impact was felt, at Regina's boxoffices so the proj¬ ect was dropped in favor of the shopping centre which has just been opened. 'Built at a cost of $420,009, the steel, brick, and concrete block structure cavers 22,000 square feet. Included are a supermarket, ladies' ready-to-wear store, pharmacy, hardware, .restaurant and liquor store. A service station is also on the properly and there is parking space for 100 cars. A lower level will Include a barber shop, beauty parlor, laundry, fur . shop, mail order house and other businesses. Nipawin Theatres Ltd. operates^ the Nortown Theatre in Regiria’ and the Roxy Theatre* Nipawin, Sask. President , is Leonard Rein¬ horn, 27, whose father, Isaddr Rein¬ horn, operates the Roxy Theatre, Regina, T Disneys^ Holdings As a folldwup to the listing of Walt Disney Productions on ihe New York Stock Exchange, it was disclosed this .week that brothers Walt and Roy Disney, as trustees of a voting trust, own 708*330 shares of the out- fit’s eommori stock. Also, Roy Disney, president of the company, is the benefi¬ cial owner of 98,619 shares. Anew If FeJl Per-share earnings of various leading picture and theatre compa¬ nies, “estimated” in the 1957 listing except where prodded by an “A” (for actual), are provided in a breakdown put together by Standard: & Poor’s, as follows: All above-listed corporations are traded on the New York Stock Ex¬ change. Allied Artists, which is on.the American Exchange* had a profit t>f 27c per share in 1956 and adeficit of $L87 per share in 1957. STEREOPHONIC SOUND ALFRESCO, PATENTED Stereophonic sound may be on the horizon for drive-in theatres the pic business companies dividually, as follows: American Broadcasting - Para¬ mount Theatres: Retention of common stock holdings is advised. Annual ,divident rate of $1 will continue although year-end extra.; which, of course, heretofore have of 30c. jnay be curtailed. j been limited to audio distribution Columbia: Continued expansion! from only a single speaker placed of tv activities may offest rising : in each automobile. theatrical film costs to provide a 1 Ampex Corp. of Redwood, Calif,, good fiscal recovery. Continua- - has filed for patent, an assembly tion on 30e. quarterly divvy, along i of three speakers that has the ef- with the occasional stock extras,' feet of haying the sound coming expected although both the coni-; from three points of the screen, mon and preferred issues.are spec-, centre, and both sides.. Resting on 'dative —^ a car’s instrumental panel, the two ‘ toew'sr Moderate recovery Ms SMe/sp«i«rs Wunce the aound oft rated a possibility for 1957.1958 < the wrad^Wi-aUs claimed,, tw such : , , , -j . . a -Foclunn fhaf tho HiroAti final and dividends may be resumed but at less than the previous 25c. quar¬ terly rate/-Shares may be held for speculative purposes and asset value. National Theatres: Has long-, range diversification program fashion that the.-, directional sound is achieved; ‘80 Days’ Scrams Dallas Dallas, Dec. -3. After a record run of 46 \veel95 . at. the. Tower Theatre here, „ . .. , -‘Around.' the World in 80 Days’’ (Cinemiraele production and toH r ! has ended; its showings, vision operation) which suggests ‘ Moving, over was “JailhoUse : al day, holding the stock as a speeulati .! Rock.” the Elvis Presley pic from [ last; September.. He said he receiv- ' Paramount: D i vers if i e d. ac-; the Majestic, ed no money: : tivities, anticipated revenue from! Albany, Dec. 3. Financing by N.Y. State of cur¬ rent Federal aiid programs for school lunches, vocational educa¬ tion, sewage plant construction and disaster, which it should take over in line with President Eisenhower’s recommendations, would be effect¬ ed through legislation empowering the State to levy a series of taxes, including one on admissions, now imposed by the Federal govern¬ ment. So Senator Thomas C. Desmond, Newburgh Republican, declared last week, in. revealing he would introduce bills at the coming Ses¬ sion of the Legislature, in Albany, to bring about this end. The. present federally-collected taxes include those on telephone calls, jukeboxes, safety boxes and bowling alleys. Senator Desmond said. Cities and counties in New York State can now vote a five percent admissions tax, 1 . among other so- called “nuisance” levies.. 'BLACKLISTING' DELAY Wilson Vs. Loew’s Not Before Top Court Until Later Washington, Dec. 3. U. S. Supreme Court lias post¬ poned its hearing of Wilsbn Vs. Loew’s case,Which is a mass action by more than a score of former Hol-.ywooders “blacklisted” by the studios because they took the 5th Amendment before the House Un- American Activities Committee. Suit was.slated to be heard next Monday. However, an important case, between- the states of Vir¬ ginia and Maryland has {knocked Wilson Vs. Loew’s off the calen¬ dar for the time being. It may be argued next month. LoS Angeles* Nov. 3. Producers Fred Gerrior and Mar¬ tin Nosseck failed to. pay him for his work i “Secret of the White Reindeer/’ Charles Winniriger charged in a $6,000-suit filed in Superior Court. Action contended, that lie “was hired at the rate of ,§5.000 per week plus. $1,000 or each addition^ under a contract signed Week Ended Tuesday (3) N. Y. Stock Exchange * Actual ! Volume. (Quotations furnished, by Dreyfus & Co.) sale of the backlog and strong: finances all look good. Stanley Warner: Upped profits seen via Cinearama, films and ex¬ pansion of the -Playtex subsidiary. Stock is “worth holding." 2Qth-Fox: Some increase in; prof- j its anticipated: Speculation stock; lav be held. United Artists: Probable earn¬ ings of $3:25 per share INFLATION HITS KIDS; 25c ADMISH NOW 35c Kansas City, Dec. 3. Dickinson Operating Co. has upped children’s prices "from 25c to 35c in several of its key situa¬ tions in the Kansas City territory, effective last week. With a large percentage of its clientele the younger crowd and kiddies today, and with its own situations em¬ phasizing this trend because of suburban locations, the raise seems the proper policy move at this tilde, Glen Dickinson Jr. said last week. The switch affects the Overland, Dickinson, at Mission and Aztec theatres in Johnson County Kan¬ sas, suburban to Kansas City; the Trail Theatre; St. Joseph, Dickin¬ son, Topeka/ Belasco, Quincy, ill., and Waterloo, Waterloo, la. Theatre prices have remained fairly steady while inflation has plunged ahead on most other items and services* and the new chil¬ dren’s price is more in line With other prices today, Dickinson said. Other circuits in this exchange territory : are making no change in the price scale for kiddies, al¬ though most houses go to the 35c or 50c fee for a children’s special. They drop back to the quarter for regular adult programs, however. To date there has been little re¬ action to the new -scale, Dickinson said, although the situation will be studied over a period of several weeks. . . ♦ ♦♦»* J Rentals , with TV, for 20th: $89% Millions Film rentals; including television, of $89,419,401, and a net of $5,623,858 were . reported . by . 20th-Fox for the 39-veek period ended Sept.. 28, 1957. Actual 1957 fiinv rentals ran to $83,800,000 with tv revenue; should be further improved upon amounting to $5,600,000. in 1958. The . 20th net, amounting to $2.13 per share of Universal: Holdings taken . common stock, constituted a sharp rise over 1956 speculation may be retained, tele-; when the net stood at $3,182,099 or $1.20 per share, vision syndication receipts, from Tbtal film rentals in '56 stood at $77,719,336. the library sale being a factor. .1 For the 39rweek period, domestic rentals rah- Warners: Remains a “specula- ahead of foreign by only a little over$5.000,000, tive situation” although the net in! Reporting on the third quarter ended Sept- .28, 1957-1958 may be increased mod- 20th put earnings at $1,553,993 or 59c per share erately over the current level. 1 against $1,025,429 (38c per share! last <year;‘-This reflected in part an improvement in 20th’s drive-in business this year. Company reported on the credit side: $1,216,443 in dividends against $824,637 last year and $5,921,049 in other operating income compared with $8,613,887 in 1956. On the debit side: Amortization of film Costs dropped to $48,610,878 against $50,262,293, but participation in film rentals went up almost lQOTc, from $6,358,742 in 1956 to $11,137,963 during the past-three quarters! Distribution and adminis¬ trative expenses held on an eveij keel at $23,489,452. Net in 1957,^ after provision of $3,900,000 for •U.S. arid $2,451^068 for foreign income taxes, Was- a total of $6,351,068. Comparable withholdings last year were-only $2,882^302. Net of $3,415,000 for the year ended Aug: 31, 1957,. was reported this week by Warner Brothers. Profit, equalling $1.90 per share, compares with $2,098,000, or 84c per share, in 1956. Latter figure, didn’t include income from the sale of films, to television. WB statement predicted a loss from operations for the first quar¬ ter of 1957-58 due to thev decline in domestic and foreign rentals. Film rentals for 1957 ran to $75,476,000 compared with $73; 350,000 in 1956. Minneapolis, Dec. 3. That the local public has its own mind regarding thfe pictures it wants to see, making up that mind in. advance or after perusing thea¬ tre advertisements, and isn’t in¬ fluenced too much by the critics and colurnnists’ opinions arid recr ommendatioris were indicated agai here the-past week. Although competing newcomers included “Pal. Joey,” “Pursuit of the Graf Spee” arid “Bombers B- 52,” “Hear Me Good/’ on the lower end of one of the RKO Or- . pheuiri’s infrequent twin hills, was singled out' in his. Sunday Tribune column by editor-critic Bob Mur-r phy As “the movie of the week.” ( Morning 'Tribune columnist Will Jones also- devoted consider¬ able space, -to praising the Hal March starrer.. Murphy called it a “sleeper.” The top picture on the twin bill, “Zero Hour,” also was tossed bouquets. Both Murphy arid Jones are con¬ sidered "influential” . and boast., large reader followings. However, the RKO Orpheum wound: up with one of its season’s poorest boxoffice weeks with the twin- bill.