Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

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WHEN and WHERE On the Oli onzon ALLIED IN REVERSAL Allied States Association's move to initiate industry talks for an arbitration system is a complete reversal of that organization's position and "an abandonment" of its long-established policy to have film rentals and sales policies included in any set of rules for the industry, according to an official of Allied. The exhibitor association, at its Dallas convention last week, voted to seek an arbitration system "in accordance with the recommendations contained in reports of the Senate Subcommittee on Small Business, dated August 2, 1953, and July 27, 1956." See pages 16 and 17 for more Allied news. SEPARATE TALKS John L. Dales, of the Screen Actors Guild, commented this week in Hollywood on published reports concerning talks between the talent guilds and Matthew Fox for a residual payment formula which would enable Mr. Fox to sell approximately 75 post-1948 RKO features to television. "Because SAG," he said, "with thousands of members involved in any such deal, has problems different from Screen Writers Guild and Screen Directors Guild, in the next round of negotiations will meet separately with Fox to discuss its own problems." He said the other guilds will hold joint meetings. NO TODD TICKET LINES Motion picture fans who buy tickets for "Around the World in 80 Days," which opens at the Cathay Circle theatre in Los Angeles next month, will be spared the crush and inconvenience of standing in the ticket lines. Michael Todd, producer of the film, which United Artists is releasing, is remodeling the theatre front in such a way that patrons can drive right up to the cashier's booth and order or pick up ticket reservations without leaving the car. If they come to see the performance, an attendant will whisk the automobile away to an adjacent parking lot. Believed to be an innovation for conventional "indoor" theatres, the new service is described as the "drive-in box office." RKO TAX CREDIT RKO Radio Pictures as of January 1, 1956, had a tax credit of $10,800,000, of which $3,800,000 will be used up this year and $5,000,000 next year, according to Thomas F. O'Neil, board chairman and president of RKO Teleradio Pictures, the parent company. Mr. O'Neil added that capital expenditures for RKO in 1957 will be "very small" ; that the company amortizes its films at almost 80 per cent in the first year of release and the film is written off in two to two and a half years, and that production at RKO Radio next year may "go over 1956." BALDWIN TO EGYPT The board of directors of the MPEA has announced that it will send Charles Baldwin as its representative to Egypt to confer with the managers of the member companies' offices there on operational difficulties. The matter came up at this week's meeting of the MPEA board when a number of the directors pointed up the difficulties they were experiencing in Egypt as French, Jewish and British personnel were being deported. The MPEA also took up the matter of the Japanese self-regulation situation, but put off taking any action pending the arrival here next week of MPEA vice-president Irving A. Maas from Tokyo. Mr. Maas will make a personal report to the board next week, TAKE-HOME BOXES A Canadian theatre manager, unhappy over the monumental job of sweeping up empty popcorn boxes after every Saturday matinee, found a solution to the problem. "Take the empty boxes home," he told his young patrons, "write your name on the December 17: Annual Christmas party of the Des Moines Variety Club, Jewish Community Center, Des Moines, la. December 22: Film Row Club's annual Christmas dance, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. January 8: Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, general meeting to elect new officers, Cleveland, O. January 29-30: Annual convention of the Kansas-Missouri Theatre Owners Association, Hotel Phillips, Kansas City, Mo. January 29-31: Allied States Association, national drive-in convention, Netherlands-Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio. February 1-2: Allied States Association, annual winter board meeting, Terrace Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati. February 26-27: Annual convention of the Kansas-Missouri Theatre Association, Pickwick Hotel, Kansas City, Mo. March 3-5: Theatre Owners of America, mid-winter board meeting, Blackstone, Hotel, Chicago. March 6-7: Second annual convention of the United Theatre Owners of Oklahoma, Biltmore Hotel, Oklahoma City. June 23-25: Annual convention of the Mississippi Theatre Owners Association, Edgewater Gulf Hotel, Edgewater Park, Miss. flap and bring it back the following week. " He then awards prizes to the lucky names in a drawing held on the stage. The weekly lottery, reports the theatre manager, not only resulted in the virtual elimination of post-performance cardboard, but a remarkable increase in the consumption of popcorn. CINEMA ON RAILS India's first cinema-onrails came into regular service recently with the Howrah-Delhi Janata express trains on the Eastern Railway. The cinema-onrails is a specially-built, dual-purpose, integral coach fitted with a screen and projection equipment for the exhibition of 16mm films. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 8, 1956 9