Boxoffice-December.02.1950

TBA Television Clinic
Agenda Completed
NEW YORK—Tlie agenda for the 1950
television clinic of Television Broadcasters
Ass'n, to be held December 8 at the Waldorf-
Astoria, has been set up by Eugene S.
Thomas, clinic chairman and manager of
WOR-TV television operations.
Pi-ogramming and audience research will be
spotlighted during the morning sessions. The
speakers will be M. C. Watters, vice-pre.-,ident
and general manager of WCPO-TV, Cincinnati;
Sylvester L. Weaver, vice-president
in charge of television of the National Broadcasting
Co.: Donald Thornburgh. president
and general manager of WCAU-TV. Philadelphia;
Donald Stewart, general and commercial
manager of DuMonfs WDTV in
Pittsburgh; G. Bennett Larson, vice-president
and general manager of WPIX, New York;
John M. Outler jr., general manager of
WSB-TV, Atlanta, and E. Lawrence Deckinger,
president of Radio-Television Research
Council. C. E. Hooper will demonstrate his
automatic device for checking audiences and
also report on advertising effectiveness.
Speakers at the afternoon session, which
will offer a diversity of subjects, will be Dr.
A. G. Ruthven, president of the University
cf Michigan, who will be introduced by Harry
Bannister, general manager of WWJ-TV in
Detroit; Dwight W. Martin, vice-president of
WLW-TV, Cincinnati; John A. Kennedy of
WSAZ-TV, and Irving R. Rosenhaus, president
and general manager of WATV, Newark.
There will be discussions of the proposed
excess profiles tax and the impact of color
television.
J. R. Poppele, TBA president, will be toastmaster
at the luncheon. The annual meeting
will be held before the clinic opens. Three
directors are to be elected to fill the terms
of Dr. Allen B. DuMont, Joseph McDonald
Richard A. Borel. The reorganization meeting
cf the board of directors will be held in the
afternoon.
Interim German Licenses
Assigned at SIMPP Meet
NEW YORK—Allocation of seven interim
west German film licenses was discussed at
a meeting Tuesday (28) of the Society of
Independent Motion Picture Producers, with
Fllis Arnall, president, presiding. It was decided
that producers with films ready for immediate
distribution will have first claim on
the licenses.
Last year SIMPP received ten licenses.
This year the total may reach 40. Those
arowed member companies of the Motion
Picture Ass'n of America for the current
quarter of the year total 50. Both organizations
are seeking unrestricted imports.
Robert Stillman Is Named
To SIMPP Post on UNESCO
NEW YORK—Robert Stillman, who has
produced "The Sound of Fury" and "Queen
for a Day" for United Artists release in 1951.
has been named by Ellis
Arnall, president of
the Society of Independent Motion Picture
Producers, to represent the organization on
the UNESCO film panel. Myrna Loy is chairman
of the panel.
FLY TO EUROPE—Herbert J. Yates,
Republic Pictures president, and John
Ford, whose first Argosy production for
Republic is the current "Rio Grande,"
left for Europe November 19. Yates will
attend conferences in Great Britain and
France, and Ford will check on location
sites for a picture he expects to film in
Ireland for Republic next spring. They
were accompanied by William Martin
Saal, executive assistant to Yates and
actor Ward Bond. Shown in the photo
are James R. Grainger, Republic executive
vice-president in charge of sales and
distribution, at the airport to say bon
voyage; Bond, Ford, and Yates.
Republic Seeks Employes
For New British Unit
LONDON—Republic Pictures International,
new British distribution company, began
seeking personnel during the week, with
Charles B. Newbery in charge, under the
supervision of Herbert J. Yates, Republic
president, and Richard Altschuler, export
manager, who arrived from New York.
The company is the outgrowth of the end
of a 15-year business relationship mutually
agreed to by Republic and British Lion Film
Corp. British Lion stopped selling Republic
films Monday (27 1 but will continue to service
existing contracts until the new company
is operating, which is expected to be before
the end of the year. The two companies
issued assurances there will be no interference
with the servicing, booking and selling
of Republic films.
Australian Film Men Tour
United States and Canada
NEW YORK—Roy Barmby, chief booker
for Greater Union Theatres of Australia, and
Ted Lane, publicity director for the circuit,
and tradepress representatives were guests
of Capt. Harold Auten at the Lotos club
Thursday (30). Barmby and Lane are on a
tour of the United States and Canada studying
exhibition methods. They left Australia
early in October by plane, stopped off in
San FYancisco and Los Angeles, and then
went to the Theatre Owners of America
convention in Houston. Tliey will leave Monday
(41 for Toronto. On the return trip
they will again stop off in New York and
then will go to Washington. Tliey expect to
be on the coast New Year's and leave shortly
thfreafter for Australia.
Finds U.S. Films Lead
In Latin America
NEW YORK—Hollywood films are still the
most popular in the Latin American market
although British product is also coming into
favor, according to Al Daff, head of worldwide
sales and distribution for Univer.sal-
International. Daff returned from the company's
three-day Latin American sales con- ,
,
ference in Rio de Janeiro late in November, i ^
Daff reported that business conditions are
good in Latin America with the exception
of Argentina, where American pictures are
not being imported because revenue remittances
are still prevented. Twelve of the
forthcoming U-I releases were screened for
the sales meeting and were enthusiastically
received by the Latin American sales force,
Daff reported.
Following the Rio meeting, Daff and John
Davis, managing director of the global J.
Arthur Rank Organization, whose product is
distributed in the U.S. by U-I and Eagle Lion
Classics, visited Sao Paulo. Davis has returned
to England.
Many theatre operators in Latin America
are planning new theatre construction, Daff
said.
Lawlor and Swanink Now
Represent UA Overseas
NEW YORK—John J. Lawlor and John P.
Swanink have been named special United
Artists representatives in India and western
Germany, respectively, according to Al Lowe,
general manager of the foreign department.
Lawlor will be home office liaison with Western
India Theatres, Ltd., the company's distributor
in the territory. He succeeds Carlos
Moore, resigned, who is returning for medical
treatment. Lawlor was with UA in India
from 1933-46 and was general manager there
when he resigned.
Swanink will be home office contact with
Constantin Filmverleih, UA distributor in
western Germany. He has been active in
distribution in Europe for 20 years. For the
last four years he served with the Motion
Picture Export Ass'n in Holland, Austria and
Germany.
Lowe also said that Fred Byrne, chief accountant
in the UA Sydney office since 1929,
has been secretary of the Australian organization,
succeeding Walter Thorburn, elevated
,
to managing director.
Publicity Heads Called
To MGM London Meeting
NEW YORK—Five publicity heads of European
territories will join sales managers
in attending the MGM European sales convention
in London December 11 for "King
Solomon's Mines," according to Morton A.
Spring, first vice-president of Loew's International.
Spring .said that a sales and publicity
convention for one picture is unprecedented
in the history of Loew's International.
Each publicity head will supervise, under
home office direction, the promotion campaigns
in neighboring countries as well as in
his own country. David Lewis, sales manager
for continental Europe, North Africa
and the middle east, will preside.
50-D BOXOFFICE December 2. 1950