The Film Daily (1948)

FILE COPY NOT REMO^^ ntimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought m The Daily Newspaper Oi Motion Pictures Twenty-Nine Years Old sr^aiFDAIiy OL. 93, NO. 51 NEW YORK, TUESDAY. MARCH 16, 1948 TEN CENTS DPflfl BOARD TO mOTOn MGLO U.S. PACT lUiod "Biff 5" to Urge Lewis BUI Adoption livers, Samuelson, Remusch. Smith and Uvick efore House Com. Mon. Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY 1 Washington — National Allied will l represented by five witnesses |xt Monday in hearings on the ewis bill before the House Judiciary ommittee, it was revealed here yes■rday. Heading off the group in support ' the bill, which would require propeers to conclude all copyright ar(Continued on Page 8) m . i. Owens in Own I'oast Strike Probe Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Rep. Thomas Owens, \., 111., said yesterday he has "been )ing some investigating on his own," ;id may have some interesting new /idence in connection with the Hol"wood studio strike. Owens would pt go beyond that statement, but (Continued on Page 5) Editorial 50 Millions More Patrons . . . but we're not "selling" 'em B7 CHESTER B. BAHN ' fational Allied Board fleet Shifts to Denver National Allied's Spring board of rectors meeting will be held in enver May 15-17, instead of Coloado Springs, as originally planned, was learned yesterday. Lack of (Continued on Page 5> Gov't Seeks Central Office For Pix Aid Washington Bur., THE FILM DAILY Washington — Any plan finally agreed upon to provide Federal aid to pix distributors in getting U. S. product into countries where currency exchange is blocked will call for the channelling of contacts between the Government and the producers through MPAA. Independents have already recognized this necessity, Noel Macy, State Department official, working on the plan, said yesterday — although it might be that a special organization including indies and MPAA members will be set up. Important thing to the department, Macy said, is that it deal with only one office. I F you're not interested in more box office customers and bigger financial returns all ■ the way 'round, including the stockholders, bless 'em, just skip this, for it's going to be another dissertation upon a now familiar theme in this space — the untapped American film audience, present and to come. In the first of these editorial dispatches, it was noted that the National Industrial Conference Board had reported a sharp rise in the American birthrate in 1947, with the number of births estimated at 3,900,000 for the year. That would compare with the U. S. Bureau of Census provisional figure for the year of 3,559,130. (Late last week, the Census Bureau reported the 1947 birth total at 3.908,000, which with continuance of a low death rate and a net immigration of approximately 215,000, raised the population total to 145,340,000 as of Dec. 31 last.) Now the Board, after a bit of computation, comes up with the forecast that the post-war "unprecedented" boom in births may give the U. S. 10,000,000 to 25,000,000 above the peak of 165,000,000 predicted for 1990 by the U. S. Census Bureau. The Board finds that with a gain of 12,000,000 in the years between 1940 and 1947 the nation's estimated population of 144,000,000 is two years ahead of the 1943 projections, and that any estimate made by the Census Bureau in 1946 for 1947 was close to 2,000,000 short. World War II, chiefly responsible for invalidating these several projections, speeded up a rising trend of births which commenced in the late '30s. Improved economic conditions permitted marriages postponed by the depression. Other favorable factors cited by the (Continued on Page 8) Scheduled for Thursday If Johnston Arrives in Time; Indies Meet Today 20fh-Fox 2nd Quarter Net to Show Advance Boston — Improved product, lower production costs and other factors will enable 20th-Fox in its second quarter to show a higher net than in the first, the figure for which as yet is unannounced, it was said here by Spyros P. Skouras. The 20th-Fox president recalled that during the first quarter the company wrote off high negative costs. Skouras termed the drop in pro(Continued on Page 6) Rank, Bankers Trust Prexy Talk Finance JARO financing on this side of the Atlantic was understood discussed when J. Arthur Rank and G. I. Woodham-Smith, Rank's legal adviser, lunched yesterday with S. Sloan Colt, president of the Bankers Trust Co. The British film tycoon also conferred yesterday with Kay Harrison, British Technicolor's managing director, also now on this side, on Rank Technicolor production plans, (Continued on Page 4) Major developments yesterday in the wake of last week's formal signing of the AngloAmerican film agreement were: 1. Plans were made for a meeting of the MPAA board of directors here on Thursday afternoon, the session being contingent upon the arrival in time of Eric A. Johnston, MPAAMPEA president. Johnston, with Joyce O'Hara, his executive aide, and Allen Dulles, Association legal adviser, is returning aboard the SS Queen Mary, expected to arrive Thursday morning from Southampton. If the liner is delayed, the board (Continued on Page 5) "Arch" at 50%, With No B.O.Price Hike Enterprise's "Arch of Triumph" will be sold on 50 per cent terms, it was learned yesterday following a week-end meeting between Prexy Grad Sears of UA, George J. Schaefer, Enterprise distribution chief, and UA sales execs. Preferred playing time will be specified. West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Enterprise's board of (Continued on Page 5) $40,000,000 in British Coin? Remittance Ways Explored by U. K. Trade NT's Skouras Due Monday To Map TOA Campaign Charles P. Skouras, National Theaters president, will arrive here Monday, accompanied by his staff, in order to begin preparations for TOA's role in a drive against juvenile delinquency sponsored by Attorney General Tom Clark. Decision to cooperate with Clark (Continued on Page 8) London (By Air Mail) — The possibility of $40,000,000 in annual remittances to American film companies is seen by some observers here who have studied the agreement concluded last week between MPAA president, Eric A. Johnston, and J. Harold Wilson, Board of Trade president. Figure is arrived at by pyramiding upon the basic $17,000,000 that can (Continued on Page 4) Foreign Heads Working On U. K. Shipment Plans Foreign sales chiefs continued to discuss the time and content of their initial film shipments to England yesterday in the wake of the agreement reached last week. Phil Reisman, RKO vice-pi-esident (Continued on Page 6) MPK.I Kills Embargo On V. K. Shipments Members of the MPEA board met here yesterday and voted to abrogate the resolution adopted Aug. 8 last which placed an embargo on film shipments to the U. K.