Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1951)

Short Subjects By BARN< THE EXHIBITOR'S traditional use of the crying towel, even when boxoffices were much happier than they are now, gave North Central Allied's Benny Berger another opportunity to pull off one of his famous punch lines. The movie business slump in Minnesota, Barger told the National Allied board meeting, has reached such serious proportions that "even the liars are beginning to tell the truth!" ll^-G-Ms heart-warming "Stars In My Crown" became the first feature film to win the Freedoms Foundation film award for "outstanding achievement in bringing about a better understanding of the American Way of Life." Runners-up to the Metro picture were 20th CenturyFox's "Cheaper By The Dozen" and "Broken Arrow;" Warner's "Breakthrough" and RKO-Goldwyn's "Our Very Own," all of which shared second place in the Foundations voting. Five features and shorts shared third place: M-G-M's "The Next Voice You Hear" (erroneously listed as a Warner release) ; Paramount's "Young Doctor Sam", Metro's "Albert in Blunderland", the Girl Scouts' "Women of Tomorrow", and Mode Art's "The Fifth Freedom." Three more 20thFox films took fourth spot: "Three Came Home ', "Mid-Century Man of Tomorrow" and "The Big Lift." This is the first year in which feature length films were eligible for the awards "in recognition of the fact that many of the entertainment features that come from Hollywood do much to underscore the basic conception of our American way of life." The awards were personally presented by General Omar N. Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during Washington's Birthday ceremonies at Valley Forge. TNDISCRIMINATE LABELING of picA tures and players as Academy Award winners has led the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to tighten its regulations on use of the phrase and the familiar symbols for advertising and publicity purposes. The symbols (statuette or plaque) cannot be used without special written permission unless they advertise the specific achievement for which the Award was given, it is pointed out; advertising must include the achievement, title of picture and the Award year for which presentation was made; pictures nominated for specific Awards may be so advertised if no symbol is used, if the word "nomination" is used in the same size, style, and color of type as the words "Academy Award" and if the achievement is named; former Award winners may not be exploited to imply that another picture in which they appear has won or been nominated for an Award. "Honorary Awards" are conferred only by vote of the Academy Board of Governors and must be so defined in all advertising;. The term "Special Awards" has besrt discontinued. r\NE COUNTER-ATTACK to television's institutional campaign to keep the public at home for its entertainment is the suggestion by Arthur L. Mayer, executive vice president of COMPO, that exhibitors unite with other business men in cooperative newspaper advertising designed to persuade people to go out. The campaign can get o» to a "modest start," says Mayer, "Hotels, restaurants, bowling alleys, clothing shppfj, transportation companies, should be as desirous of getting people out of theif homes at night as exhibitors are. The local newspapers should prove allies in such a venture, not only because they would profit from this particular advertising, but because television, by capturing a large slice of national advertising, has made serious inroads on their income." COMPO has no illusions that the plan is a cure-all for the TV problem, Mayer notes, but "it does have the virtue of seeking to alert other businesses to a situation which is surely as vital to them as it is to us." A NEW VERSION of "The M-G-M Story", the 60-minute product announcement on film of Leo's forthcoming line-up, becomes available to exhibitors for theatre showings early next month. The revised edition has been changed from the earlier film which was designed for exhibitor conventions and projection room screenings. The gratis six-reeler (four reels in color) has excerpts of highlights from 25 forthcoming M-G-M pictures, presents some 58 of the company's stars and featured players, in their various roles, and features studio chief Dare Schary, on and off scene, as narrator. The revised edition was made because of a flood of requests from exhibitors following the special screening at the TOA convention in Houston and other key city screenings, to sales head William F. Rodgers and regional toppers. Handled like a regular release, the glorified trailer will be bulwarked by a special press book, two one-sheets, and a black and white trailer, all to be had for the asking by exhibitors who book the picture. A TLANTA HAD its biggest movie excitement since "GWTW" when 20thFox's "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" opened to a huge $21,000 take on opening night, proceeds to charity, and has continued to play to capacity crowds since. The boxoffice pace during the first week set a new all-time high for the Para mount Theatre there, with the house forced to close its boxoffice several times over the weekend due to the unprecedented crowds overflowing the lobby and blocking the sidewalk. The high-powered promotion for the premiere, which included star Susan Hayward and director Henry King on hand for a steady round of festivities, climaxed by Miss Hayward's appearance before a joint meeting of the state senate and congress, was, of course, the key to the superb showing. But, the momentum could not have carried the. film to its subsequent popularity if it didn't offer the type of entertainment moviegoers in general, and the hinteri landers in particular, go out of their way to see and talk about. Other engagements like the one in Knoxville s Tennessee Theatre where ICTHM topped any other 20th-Fox picture ever to play the house have corroborated the promise that the company has a fine movie and, even bet ter, a natural boxoffice attraction. CINCE A FREE screen is "imperative to ^ a healthy democracy," the motion pic ture industry should be .rid of "politic censorship." These thoughts were voiced by Universal's Maurice A. Bergman in an address before the Publicity Club of Chi, cago. The self regulation practiced by the movie industry obviates the need of any! other type of censorship, Bergman told the puoLciteers, pointing out that "cen-j sorship, if carried to extremes, leads to, the very things we oppose in the totali-; tarian countries. Certainly our newspapers and radio have a keen sense of what should be transmitted to the public. Long ago these media realized that good, and not bad taste, pays off. Nevertheless, these media without the constraint oi censorship, rightly publish and broadcast' news which reflects the true American scene, good and bad." Yet let a movie sometimes present a "sordid picture oi our society . . . there are some areas oi our democracy which arbitrarily say, 'You cannot show this type of picture here'.*', How can we be adult in our movies, Bergman says, "when immaturity is reflected in certain types of censorship?" J r\F MEN AND THINGS: New York's ^ famed Metropolitan Opera House will house the premiere, April 1, of "Tales ol Hoffman", the Powell-Pressburger Tech nicolor production being released here b> Lopert Films. Proceeds of the benefit de but go to the Red Cross . . . Morris Finkel, past president of Wester Pa. Allied was elected board chairman and national director of the unit . . . David Gould sue ceeds Henry Ronge as United Artists manager in Panama . . . Universal, dis trict manager Joseph E. Garrison died in St. Louis, Feb. 9, following a cerebral! hemorrhage . . . Eagle Lion Classics Los Angeles branch manager Sam Milner, 40 died after a three-month illness . I Jiirt-sleeved Max Youngstein addressing the Baltimore Variety Club. From left, on th dais, Leon Back, William Allen, Hal Marshall, Aaron Seidler, Bill Myers, Lauritz Garmai and Al Benson. 14 FILM BULLETIN)