Variety (June 1959)

15 Wednesday, June 17* 1959 t'S&IEfY PICTURES 1959 High Low 23% 1856 29% 20% 84% 61% 4834 35 24% 18 . 21%. 17% 59% 42% .91% 75 JFeefc Ended Tueg. (16) N, Y. Stock Exchange ♦Weekly Vol Weekly in lOt High 9% 18% 37 6% 13%. 287a ABC Vending; 53 AmBr-Par Th 179 Ampex .... 183 CBS _..219 Col Pix 127 Decca 193 Disney ..... 96 Eastman Kdk. 286 EMI ....... 364 Glen Alden. .2032 Loew's Inc .. 154 . 22 27% 69% 43% 1834 18% 47 %: 8434 : 7% 18% 28% Weekly Low 21 % 26% 66 % 41% 1734 1734 4434 82% 7 17% 27T 8 Tues. Close 217 s 267s 67% 42^4 I 734 177e 4434 84% V 'a 17'8 27% . Net Change for wk, + V4 + 1% + 1 4-1% +.%... 4- % +276 4- '% 4-1 —.% + % + 178 . + %, +7% . 4* % . +2% + ;* —- 3,4 + 1% .+3 ++% + 4 % American Stock Exchange Over-the-Couriter Securities American Corp. . Cinerama Prod. • • King Bros. .. .. Magna Theatre Metropolitan Broadcasting Scranton Corp...-. . U. A. Theatres :........... Bid ".- 2 % "• 2 %; i% ■ 2 % 14%. ■■•■4 .. 9% Ask 2 % . . 2 % 13 4 2 % : 15% •5.," • + % •+ Summit ♦ Week Ended Monday (15). t Actual Volume. 4 Ex-dividend. . •' (Courtesy, of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc)' Jersey-Six Months From N.Y. ; Continued from page 5 ; do . not. allow Newark and other Jersey cities to play films simulta¬ neously with Broadway, they per¬ mit communities 35 miles away to .day-arid-date the fiinis. With the development of the new super highway’s, it’s easy for the people in the in-between area to get into their cars and reach the outlying theatres in less than 20 minutes, Stern noted; Bather than going to New York to catch the new films, the film-going public would -rather attend the theatres in the suburban areas • since they are easier to reach and more parking facilities are available, he explained. As a result, he Con¬ tended, the theatres in the no¬ man’s zone have become the or¬ phans and cannot hope to compete with the fresh product that sur¬ rounds the territory. Feast-Famine In many instances,. Stern con¬ tinued, there’s a feast or famine. The feast usually : comes shortly after holiday periods When the film companies unload a batch of top product on Broadway. When these films are available for northern ■New Jersey, Stern said, they come in bunches and. frequently theatres are offered three top films in one week: “For the rest of the year,’: he said, “we have to depend on the castoffs.” Stern said . he couldn’t under- stand why the film, companies continue to insist on maintaining the old distribution pattern when it has been proved many times that Wh en the northern New Jersey theatres receive product that is timely they can do big business. He charged that the distributors are completely unaware of the theatre layout in New Jersey. He said he could obtain signed affi¬ davits from exhibitors in the area noting that they, haven’t seen a filiii. company salesman in at least five years, ’The film companies don’t, everi know the distance be¬ tween some of the drive-ins. and conventional theatres and; haven’t taken into consideration the new super highways,” he stated. . ~ About a year ago Jersey Allied retained counsel and readied a complaint for submission to the Federal Court. petitioning for the upset of the . present, clearance system; However, the organiza¬ tion of the American Congress of Exhibitors delayed; action on the matter. It was the hope of the Al¬ lied group; that the Congress of Exhibitors would solve the issue and, according to Stem, Jersey Allied held off making any moves because it didn’t Want to hurt the chances of . ACE. . He intimated, however, that unless a solution were forthcoming shortly the Jer¬ sey group may : be forced to file its long-delayed complaint. SSS- Continued, from page 8 ss although not openly expressed* at the composition of the distribu¬ tors’ committee which held the first meeting with the exhibitors’ group. Except for Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Assn, of America, and SkoUras. the distrlb conferees: consisted mainly of deputies as. compared with the “heads of state” that represented exhibition. The presence of Adolph Schi¬ mel, Universal’s! general counsel, was also considered a drawback by some . exhibitors although Schimel did not make any com¬ ments whatever at the session; Op¬ position to-Schimel is based oh the view of. some theatremen that he was one of the prime stumbling blocks as far as exhibitors were Concerned in the attempts to es¬ tablish an industry arbitration system. Lawyers Make It Hard The fact, too, that Schimel is a lawyer did not sit too well w’ith a few theatremen. They recalled that Skouras, in urging the estab¬ lishment of the Congress of Ex¬ hibitors, was careful to exclude all attorneys from the committees on the theory that the legal eagles, frequently upset negotiations with their concentration on the fine points of the law. Moreover, ex- hibs noted that/ if Schimel were permitted to participate in the conference, why; weren’t Theatre; Owners of America’s . general counsel Herman M. Levy and Al¬ lied’s Abram F.' Myers? Despite the numerous postpone¬ ments in reaching any .definite agreements. on steps to improve relations between both segments of the industry, the leaders of C. of E, are steadfastly . Clinging to their aims to bring about a peace¬ ful, solution. TOA, in particular, is exhausting !• every , effort and maintaining a calm, atmosphere; The firebrands of Allied are being, temporarily kept in. check; by the aident proponents of the Congress of Exhibitors. Allied leaders such as Irving Dollinger, Wilbur Snaper, Ben Marcus and Jack Kirsch have been urging their organization not to precipitate any overt actions and to go along with aims of the Congress until ..it is: definitely, proven that the film companies are unwilling, to. cooperate. Whether these men can. hold all of Allied in check for any length of time is a matter of conjecture. There are indications that many Aliiedites are ready to pursue the organization’s: “white paper” cam¬ paign and a new appeal to the Gov¬ ernment despite previous; failures in overtures to Federal authori¬ ties.':' Allied Artists On Its Own in Seattle, Now Operates 23 U.S. Exchanges Hollywood, June 16. Allied Artists now owns a total of 23 branches in the U.S., followr- ing. acquisition of the Seattle ex¬ change from its franchise-holder. Allied Artists Productions of Cali* fornia, which is a Separate cor¬ poration and not part of the Steve Broidy structure. Exchange is cur¬ rently being converted to company- owned operation by Harold Wirth- wein, western division sales man¬ ager. Only three enfranchised AA ex¬ changes remain still in operation, two, Los Angeles and Frisco, are also held by AAPC. Third is the Cleveland exchange,. operated by Allied Artists Film Distributors Inc., of which Nate Schultz is prexy. Mel Hulling dieads AAPC. AA, in addition to its exchanges, also maintains sales and booking offices in Albany. Des Moines, Mil¬ waukee, New Haven, Oklahoma City and Portland, Ore. ‘Indian’ Gets Scalped* Banks Nix Dodge Note Hollywood, June 16. California State Labor Commis¬ sion has filed a criminal action against John Carr Productions on the basis of 120 claims against the company for $58,621.34 in salaries allegedly due from Carr’s unfin¬ ished indie feature, “The Indian.” Pic . shot four days last Decem¬ ber and folded for lack of cash. Carr had a note for $140,000 co¬ signed by himself and auto scion Horace Dodge, but banks refused to honor the note without col¬ lateral. Pic, incidentally, starred Gregg Sherwood, Dodge’s -Wife, and Michael Ansara. After several hearings, the La¬ bor Commission decided to pre¬ fer criminal charges, claiming five counts of violation of Sec. 216A of the California Labor Code. Commission claims that last Dec. 10 and 11, Carr, having the ability to pay wages and de- ! eourtroom scenes are authentic. Joseph Welch ; Ccnfir d from page 1 ; mand having been made, willfully refused to make payments.. Each count is punishable by up to six months in jail or $500 fine Or both, but customary in such cases in case pf a conviction is a sentence of probation if promise of restitution is made. Tools Shor SSSS5 Continued from pagt 2. j^i building still standing on the plot of the proposed : new $66,000,000, 48-story Zeckeridorf Hotel, part; of the Rockefeller Center group of buildings, slated. now for August cornerstone ceremonies and. a 1961 unveiling.. Shor’s personnel totals 145 all told, of which 92 waiters, captains, busboys and bartenders man the three floors of the' present estab¬ lishment. Many of the staff have, been with the boniface since he first opened his doors May 30, 1940; Only a few have summer resort jobs; many, of course, expect to. return to Shor’s when the new eatery is ready in perhaps six or eight months; and many, “just don’t know our future plans.” issss Continued from page Z'sssss plate taking, advantage ; of the au¬ thority recently .granted by the Federal Communications Commisr siori. to conduct tests over the air*” the Telemeter prez said. “Instead, j we are actually going into business on wire.” While the company, plans to go slow in developing the pay- tv medium, “vve plan to expand the very first situation as rapidly as conditions permit,” he noted. Novins cited a long list, of rea¬ sons why Telemeter preferred cable to bver-the-air transmission, including the greater freedom in scheduling andprogramming, the ability to transmit three or more programs at the same time, the possibility for repeat: programming land the chance to reacn specialized, [even local: audiences. Further- ] more, he observed, pay-tv by wire [ doesn’t displace any show’s now On' {the air. Novins didn’t think Con¬ gress would stand in the way of cable transmission, even though a bill to outlaw it is now pending. Zenith Radio & TV Corp. recent¬ ly also made it dear that it planned to move ahead, and Skia- tron has long been active. The ac¬ cent with all these companies ap¬ pears to be on wire transmission. Novins said that, in the U. S. Telemeter had several attractive situations under . active considera¬ tion. Presumably, these will be | places currently served by commu- I nity antenna systems. Jurgens’Credo Continued from pace 5 sss each in a different country. With both “Ferry,” filmed for a British producer both in, England and China, and “Angel,” an American feature lerised In Hollywood, under his belt, he next will, do “Katja," a French production in Paris, start¬ ing in July. “I Aim to the Stars,” story of Werner von Braun, is slated for. filming In Germany by Columbia Pictures, with sequences also to be compjnted in Hollywood in. October, “mree Penny Opera” will be madejjpr a German-Italian combine, filJRd in both these countries. / Foreign audiences like to see an actor in a pic made in their own country, apart from any American appearances he may make, accord¬ ing to Jurgens, hence it pays for the actor to maintain this parti¬ cular market: American pix have a way of being sometimes delayed in transit abroad, so if the ^Euro¬ pean player remains! indefinitely in-'Hollywoo'd he may!become but a memory. In addition to this year’s quintet, Jurgens also lias plans next year to direct and star - inr “Royal Game” for an Austrian company, to be filmed in Vienna, and under his own production banner will tarn out “The Gk/eat St. Bernard,” lensed in Switzerland and in which actor will play a monk. By constantly appearing lri the films of other lands, Jurgens thinks, too, that an actor’s view¬ point may be enlarged, which will round and mature him, due to the attitude and approach of various different nationalities who pro¬ duce and direct, these films. All this will benefit bis general acting and appreciation of film roles. Jurgens, noted that only, the sea¬ soned Hollywood stars are known abroad, such, as John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable and others of their generation, while the young¬ er thesps, regardless of what their standing is here, are generally un¬ known. This is because, he said, film studios no longer have many stars under term contract, and When publicizing a picture con¬ centrate on this rather than the buildup of a player who will do Only a singleton, or so for them. The day of institutional buildup of a star, which once prevailed, is gone, in . Jurgens opinion. Prior to his departure for Cuba and a West Indies holiday before skying to London, Jurgens com¬ pleted the English dubbing of “Op¬ eration North Pole,”. Italian film he made four years ago with Dawn Addams, English actress. Pic was made originally in Italian, but will be released in English in this coun¬ try by Columbia. The only thing that disturbed him, he said, was that in the film th® lawyers work closer to the wit¬ nesses than is customary in court-, room procedure. However, he said, this could be forgiven because of the small aperture of the taking camera. “But the whole thing is authentic.” he said, “If it W’ere not for the fidelity with which the role of Judge Weaver was written, I would riot be lunching with you today. The only way I could he persuaded to go back into films would be if some one wrote a part, for me which was as good as this ” Governor Furcolo got into the act ichen asked by a ftlm critic if he had any desire to play a governor in a picture . The Governor said he hadn’t been asked, but if the right producers and • the right foie earns along, he would not be averse. Gov . Furcolo is author of a po¬ litico novel, “Let George Do It,” under a pseudonym. Columbia’s exploitation chief John Markle here, arranged the press reception, in cooperation with Carlyle (Preminger) office. Nabbed heavy press, radio and tv coverage with locals Welch and Miss Bemick. ‘Love’Gats Continued from page 1 —^ those made by the N. Y. censor. Kingsley outfit then would have had to promise that this N. Y. version would have been the one to be re* leased in the rest of the country. The “B” rating implies that, from the Catholic point-of-view, a picture is “objectionable In part for all.” Kingsley - International noted this week that, with its being un¬ willing to make very minor cuts for hational release, the Legion not only condemned the picture, but condemned. it in unusually strong terms, implying that the en¬ tire theme and treatment repre¬ sented “en unrelieved emphasis on sensuality of a highly gross na¬ ture.” Peter Horner, prez of Union Films, w’hich handles distribution on “Love Is My Profession,” said the picture had been passed with minor cuts by all state and city censor boards. The Legion didn’t rate the film until it had been in release, and playing in Manhattan, for several weeks. Delay is ex¬ plained via the huddles on cuts and a modified rating. Kingsley-International is releas¬ ing “Love” ih both dubbed and titled versions. ‘Pacific’ in L.A. Playoff Los Angeles* June 16. First Cinemascope showing of Magna’s “South Pacific” locally has been set for June 26 in six houses in the area, all to play musical a minimum of four weeks at pop prices or tilted slightly. Pic will run the same 157- minutes playing time as in the original Todd-AO version. Booked are the State. El Rey, Loyola, Studio City: United Artists, Pasa¬ dena; and West Coast, Long Beach.