While RKO probably will substitute the Disney color cartoons for the Van Beuren "Rainbow Parade" series, other Van Beuren product most likely will be retained, M. H. Aylesworth, RKO board chairman, indicated this week. The three-year distribution contract signed with Walt Disney Productions in Hollywood last week calls for delivery of from 18 to 28 animated cartoons and one animated feature a year, Mr. Aylesworth said. As is customary with Disney, there will be no definite release schedule. Meanwhile, the Van Beuren product, including the 13 color cartoons and some 33 other short subjects, is being sold to exhibitors for 1936-37, Mr. Aylesworth said. Disney still has 15 cartoons to deliver to United Artists on its expiring contract, and it will be in January, 1937, before the "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphony" series will be available to RKO accounts, he explained. While the distribution contract with Van Beuren Corporation expires in August, there have been no discussions as to the future, but RKO's 50 per cent interest in Van Beuren in no way would be affected, Mr. Aylesworth said. He expressed gratification over acquisition of the Disney product. "Snow White," the first feature-length cartoon from Disney, is just getting started after a year of preparation. A release date is unpredictable, he said. It will be "a sensation and revolutionary as an art form," he added. Mr. Aylesworth said that RKO had not approached Disney but that negotiations started a month ago when overtures were made by Roy O. Disney, general manager of the company. While "looking to the future," Walt Disney Productions made no arrangements on television in the RKO releasing contract, Roy Disney said in Hollywood. "We are interested only in having our product shown in theatres," he said. "Any plans for television must necessarily be in the future, and we will consider the matter when and if it arises. Dispute on that subject was one of the reasons that we broke with United Artists. Meanwhile we are concerned entirely with theatre exhibition."
