Archives: Timeline Express Announcements
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1959
The Motion Picture Association of America has repealed its 1957 ruling that forbids persons sympathetic to Communism, or those who refused to give evidence to the House Un–American Activities Committee (HUAC), from being nominated for an Academy Award. Succumbing to a life of alcohol and drugs, the actor Errol…
1958
Paramount has sold the television rights for its pre–1948 film catalogue (750 movies) to the Music Corporation of America (MCA). The price is said to have been $50 million. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against 23 victims of the blacklist who instituted proceedings against the studios that had…
1956
Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures’ television subsidiary, has begun to release its pre–1948 feature films to TV. Harry and Albert Warner are selling their holdings in Warner Bros. to a group of investors headed by the First National Bank of Boston. Jack Warner, however, is holding on to his stock,…
1955
Most studios have switched from using Technicolor’s three–strip color process to using Eastman Kodak’s “Eastman Color” negative film stock. Kodak’s single–strip color negative film can be used in any camera, and processed and printed by conventional means. Attempting to match and surpass Cinerama, Mike Todd and American Optical introduce…
1954
Paramount introduces its own “big–screen” process that they claim is better than CinemaScope because it is more flexible and produces much better image resolution. Called “VistaVision”, this process does not shoot the film through an anamorphic lens, but rather produces a wide–area negative by exposing standard 35mm film horizontally, thus…
1953
The Academy Award ceremony is broadcast on television for the first time. The show draws the largest single audience in television’s five–year commercial history. After holding a public demonstration of its new widescreen process called “CinemaScope”, 20th Century–Fox announces that all of its future films will be shot using…
1952
Howard Hughes announces the temporary closure of RKO Studios to facilitate the dismissal of close to 100 employees suspected of having Communist sympathies. The actor, John Wayne, calls the movie “High Noon”, “The most un–American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life.” Wayne, Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando and…
1951
Acetate/Safety film, made from cellulose triacetate, has replaced the highly inflammable nitrate film as the standard for 35mm film production, distribution and film preservation. Roy Rogers receives a temporary injunction preventing the sale of his Republic features to television. He claims that the advertisements shown during the commercial breaks…