Harrison's Reports (1956)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: 1270 SIXTH AVENUE Published Weekly by i i»„ i oi„t„. «ic nn Harrison's Reports, Inc., United States . . . .$16.00 New York 20, N. Y. Publisher t . S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 i-uuusner poTiaHa ifi^n . ™ * t, o P. S. HARRISON, Editor v ,lll'U1,1 io.au A Motion Picture Reviewing Service PICOULT Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors M„ ..' inlp pvntnr Great Britain 17.50 managing aanor Australia, New Zealand, Established July 1, 1919 India, Europe, Asia 17.50 ltg Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Circle 7-4622 A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXXVIII SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1956 No. 10 THE TOA BOAD MEETING The alliance established between National Allied and the Theatre Owners of America on the matter of all-inclusive arbitration was made all the more firmer this week when the TOA board of directors, meeting in New Orleans in combination with the organization's executive committee, passed a resolution fully endorsing the agreement with Allied calling for an arbitration system that will include film rentals and sales policies. At the same time the board endorsed also the joint efforts of TOA and Allied to seek Government approval of production and distribution of motion pictures by the divorced circuits, with pre-emptive rights for their own theatres. Another important action taken at the 3 -day meeting was the adoption of a resolution formally putting the organization on record for elimination of competitive bidding. The resolution had this to say: "Especially because of the product shortage and because of other aggravated conditions in the present market, we of TOA view with alarm the continued and unwarranted and unjustified use of competitive bidding. "We are more than ever convinced that it is being used by distributors for the most part for the sole purpose of obtaining higher film rentals. We are prepared to render all services available to us and within legal means to meet with our members and with others to the end of attempting to eliminate competitive bidding in as many situations as possible. Members of the TOA board and executive committee will bring this message home to our members." Other actions taken at the meeting included endorses ments of the one-day audience collection drive during the week of July 16 for the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital; COMPO's new campaign for relief from the Federal admission tax; and the American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres1 program for a more orderly distribution of quality product. The board also expressed its gratification with the results of last year's Audience Awards poll and recommended strongly that the event be made an annual one. TOA's position on competitive bidding and its reaffirmation of its alliance with National Allied was quickly hailed by Abram F. Myers, Allied's board chairman and general counsel. Stating that "TOA's stand against competitive bidding which has been foisted upon the exhibitors although condemned by the Supreme Court in the Paramount case" is "especially welcome," Myers praised the move as being "in line with the action taken by Allied's 1950 annual convention in Pittsburgh." As to TOA's reaffirmation of the common front established with Allied, Myers had this to say: "All with the exhibitors' interests at heart will be gladdened by the forthright stand taken by TOA in New Orleans. Exhibitors everywhere will be encouraged by the display of unity in reaffirming approval of the Allied-TOA joint program for arbitrating film rentals and for the entry of the theatre circuits into production. "When those who have maintained their sway over exhibition by a policy of divide and conquer find that they can no longer play TOA off against Allied and vice versa, I believe that the light of reason will dawn on them and that a policy of moderation will ensue. Myron Blank and Ruben Shor are paving the way for fruitful cooperation based on mutual respect, confidence and dignity." Harrison's Reports fully agrees with Mr. Myers that the TOA display of unity in reaffirming its alliance with National Allied should give encouragement to all exhibitors, particularly because it comes almost on the eve of the hearings that will be held in Washington March 21 and 22 before the Senate Small Business Committee. In the past, the distributors did their utmost to obstruct reforms by showing an apparent division in the ranks of exhibition on the issues in question. But the solid front established by Allied and TOA, which are the only two national exhibitor organizations, will not leave the distributors with any exhibitor group of sufficient importance to pull their chestnuts out of the fire by going on record against the reforms demanded by Allied and TOA. AND NOW WARNER BROTHERS Another deluge of feature motion pictures was made available to television last weekend with the conclusion of an agreement between Warner Bros. Pictures and P.R.M., Inc., for the purchase of all pictures made by the film company from its inception up to the 1948 season. The selling price was announced at $21,000,000, and the contract terms cover complete rights, including copyright, literary rights, remake rights, theatrical rights, 16 mm. rights, live television rights, film television rights and all foreign rights to approximately 750 talking feature motion pictures, as well as short subjects, cartoons and silent features. According to statistics compiled by Motion Picture Daily, 1,806 Hollywood features have been made avialable to television since the middle of last December from only six sources. These include 26 from Allied Artists; 104 from Columbia; 76 from Republic, 740 from RKO; 10 from David Selznick; and 850 from Warner Bros. To this staggering total may be added an undisclosed number of features that have been made available from independent producers. At least two other major companies are reported to be dickering for the sale of their backlogs and, according to weekly Variety, it is estimated that in excess of 3,000 old features new to television will be made available to that medium within the next six months. Just what effect this flood of old features to television will have on theatrical exhibition cannot be foretold, but there seems to be no reason to expect that it will not hurt theatre business. The film companies, of course, are making a "fast buck" on the sale of their libraries, but they, too, arc bound to be hurt, for the quick profits they are making now may be offset to a considerable extent by reduced earnings of their future product, which will have to compete against many of their fine old pictures that will be seen on TV free of charge.