Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 1, 1949 4 WHAT'S NEWS In the Film Industry This Week Exhibition The July box-office didn't wilt with the heat this year if the federal admission tax report covering that month means anything Tax collections for the month of August, which reflect July business, were $34,326,269 compared to $28,661,712 for June and $32,121,295 for July last year. The optimism which usually accompanies good business also seemed to be reflected in other aspects of exhibition. A report from the nation indicates that clearance and run difficulties are leveling ofE into an orderly reform movement with emphasis being laid by exhibitors more on cutting down clearance than on seeking the other exhibitor's run. And in the same optimistic mood, exhibitors were waiting to see what the results would be of the first theatre television showings of the world series. Indications are that more exhibitors than the two at present— Si Fabian and Sam Pinanski— would be using large-screen video for this purpose, provided they could get the equipment. The Times and the Roslyn m Baltimore had to give up the idea because they couldn't get equipment and the same may affect the plans of the Imperial m Toronto. Meanwhile Fabian fixed a $1.20 admission, tax included, for each game, along with a double feature, and Pinanski fixed admissions, tax included, at $1.25 and $1.80 for each game plus a double feature—which means about six hours of show in both houses, but people who sit m bleachers of ball parks should have posteriors fit to withstand such a siege of recreation. In upstate Pennsylvania the polio scare was so bad this week that one house's business dropped to $9, but elsewhere polio seemed to be less of a threat than it has been. In Minneapolis President Harry B. French, with humor intentional or unintentional, said the Paramount-affiliated Minnesota Amusement Company would apply the "theatre-by-theatre" formula in selling the houses, it must dispose of under the consent decree. He's ready to sell the Lyric at Madison, S. D., now. In Phoenix the Naces, father and son, are leaving the Paramount-Nace Theatres on Oct. 1 as a consent decree split-up there will give nine houses and two drive-ins to Paramount and leave the Harry L. Nace Theatres with about 20 houses, plus a financial interest in the two drive-ins Paramount takes over. Distribution Print increases ranging from 15 to 35 per cent on four forthcoming features — •'Oh, You Beautiful Doll," "Fighting Men of the Plains," "Everybody Does It," and '^The Prince of Foxes" — were announced by 20th Century-Fox this week. Meanwhile Columbia was pointing out that "Jolson Sings Again" would not be included in the pictures offered in "Columbia's Playdate and Billing Drive in Honor of Division Managers," and Vog Films was having censor trouble over its foreign import, "White Legs," which the New York censors banned in its entirety after the Customs officials passed it with a brief cut. In New Orleans the booking of "Lost Boundaries" at the Saenger was apparent ly being upheld until the house could judge how audiences in Dallas took the picture, and from Hollywood came word Filmakers, Inc., had signed a distribution deal with RKO for three, with the first to be "Nice Girl." Litigation Federal Judge John Knight of Buffalo this week ruled against the Dipson theatre group in its anti-trust suit against seven majors and the Buffalo and Bison theatres for damages which with court costs and lawyers' fees would have reached close to $6,000,000 had they been granted. Judge Knight found that Dipson had not proved conspiracy, nor had it established damages. The seven majors — Warner Bros., 20thFox, RKO, Loew's (MGM), Universal, United Artists, Paramount — apparently were happy folks. The Motion Picture Association thought so much of the victory, which is still subject to appeal, that its "information department" advised the trade press of a conference at which Lawyer Ed Raftery explained the nature of the case. In Charlotte, H. B. Meiselman announced he would appeal Federal Judge Wilson A. Warlick's refusal to grant him a preliminary injunction against Warner Bros., RKO, Paramount, United Artists, Universal, 20th Century-Fox, Columbia and the Wilby-Kincey circuit. Judge Warlick found "that none of the defendants has agreed, contracted, combined or conspired with any of the other defendants." In Chicago the South Bend Auto-Drive-In suit for better clearance got under way and in Hollywood Universal was the winner in the suit brought against it by Marston Pictures over the distibution of "Casbah." General The U. S. Commerce Department this week became a good public relations counsel for the motion picture industry when it showed that motion pictures were still your best buy. Department figures show that while the cost of groceries went up 46:6, of clothes, 28.4 and of rents, 11.4, the cost of movies went up only 10.5 — a fact which exhibitors might hammer home. Meanwhile the Federal Communications* Commission began its hearings on color television and the proposed assignment of 42 channels in the ultra-high band. Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, the Society of Motion Picture Engineers and the Theatre Owners of America are pressing for theatre video channels. In Philadelphia the International-Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes won a 10-cent-an-hour increase in back pay with future rises up to 17 V2 cents for cashiers, doormen, ushers, etc. In New York Screen Office and Professional Employes Guild will take a strike vote next week on the home office contract question. From Hollywood Cinecolor announced that after Nov. 1 all its release prints would be on non-inflammable stock, which would run the cost to the user up .0023 a foot. Dead: Frank Rogers, 74, president of Florida State Theatres, of a heart attack. He had been ill for three years. Cut Rate? Columbus, Ohio, theatres are included in the citywide fire inspection program aimed at reduction in fire insurance rates, it was revealed this week. Completion of the inspection procedure early next year and enactment of a new building code will end a year-long drive by city officials. Chief Building Inspector John Stith said the new code, allowing inspection of all types of buildings, will be ready for city council action by Oct. 31. U. S. Court Rules Against Dipson Federal Judge John Knight of Buffalo Tuesday dismissed the anti-trust suit filed by the Dipson theatre interests against seven major distributors, the Buffalo and Bison Theatre Companies and Buffalo Theatres General Manager Vincent McFaul in a decision which may become highly important in such actions. Judge Knight ruled that the plaintiffs — Dipson's Century Theatres, Inc., and Dipson Theatres, ^ Inc. — had failed to show that the defendants had violated the anti-trust act and that they had failed to prove a monetary loss which entitled them to damages. Dipson had sued for $1,626,531, which when trebled and added to court and counsel costs, would have neared $6,000,000. The suit involved a claimed loss to Dipson on the grounds that he could not get product because of alleged conspiracy among the exhibitor and distributor defendants, the latter of whom were Paramount, 20th Century-Fox. RIvO, Warner Bros., Loew's (MGM), Universal and United Artists. Suit against Columbia, originally named, was dismissed earlier by Judge Knight who remarked that Columbia had sold Dipson in one -area and that evidence showed Dipson had not bought Columbia pictures in another. Theatres involved were Dipson's Century and Gaiety in Buffalo, the Riviera in North Tonawanda and two houses in Lackawanna. Dipson attorneys late this week could not say whether an appeal would be taken. *A''Bomb Country Shown In Current Telenews? Telenews hopped into the arena this week with a reel that contains scenes of what might be the Russian center of atomic production in Soviet Armenia as well as scenes showing the furious search for minerals and mining which the Russians are conducting in their mountain ranges. The scenes, made from material which the reel editors said had been gathered quietly for some time, gains timeliness with the recent news stories about Russia and the atom bomb. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS Advance Data 38 Audience Classifications 10 Box-Office Slants 10 Feature Booking Guide 30 Feature Guide Title index 30 Hollywood 28 Newsreel Synopses 35 Pictures Started Last Week 35 Regional Newsreel 22 Selling the Picture 16 Shorts Booking Guide 37 Theatre Management 12