One Man's Meat...

Despite the glamour of moviemaking, Hollywocdians have always thought that the fattest profits in the movie industry were made by the theater operators. Last week they had proof. The two Paramount companies, divorced last year in line with the U.S. Supreme Court decision to separate production from exhibition, issued their first quarterly reports.

United Paramount Theaters, the exhibition company, earned $3,193,000 (98-c- a common share), a great deal more than the $1,441,000 (45-c- a share) earned by Paramount Pictures Corp. Nevertheless, moviemen did not think that the reports told the final story. Production earnings were on the rise, while exhibition profits, hard hit by television, were slipping. Some moviemakers thought that TV, which is beginning to look profitable to producers (TIME, May 1), may eventually help them as much as it hurts the theaters.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.