Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, November 26, 1949 9 Mayor Goes to Bat Mayor Norman Myers of Overland, Mo., this week went to the bat for the giant 1,000-car, four-screen drive-in which Fanchon and Marco wishes to build in his community by declaring he would call for a referendum and let the public decide. The project is held up by action on the part of the Board of Aldermen who have twice voted down a rezoning petition. A public vote is thought likely to upset the aldermanic view. Manpower, Money Prime Questions For Industry Meet Manpower and money will be two of the prime questions certain to come up before the Conference Committee of the Motion Picture Industry when it meets at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, iD. C, Dec. 12-13 to discuss the steps to set up an all-industry public relations program, it was learned from reliable sources Tuesday. That a move to discuss both budget and operation of the all-industry plan would be pushed by exhibitors seemed a further conclusion, though exhibitor organizations are keeping silent on their plans at present. Budget a 'Must' However, a well-informed exhibitor chief told Showmen's Tr.^de Review that it was of prime importance that a budget be set up and it be determined how much would be allocated each participating member. It is also important, he pointed out, that the personnel who carry out the forming of the allindustry campaign, be decided upon. There are many areas of conflict within the industry, he pointed out, and to find men who would suit all parties is next to impossible in his opinion. Exhibitors, he said, by the weight of their numbers, might be able to carry the day insofar as selecting the personnel, but then he acknowledged tlie men selected by exhibitors might not appeal to the other two branches. The same situation applies in all directions, he added, and the solution might be found in picking the actual planners and workers for the campaign from qualified men without the industry. Just what will be the reaction to this thought if presented is not clear, for the Motion Picture Association of America has more or less inaugurated the plan and may feel a proprietary interest in it. Get ^Em Writing to Get 'Em Thinking Is Tax Strategy Snppoit Good Movies, Counsels Bishop Rev. William A. Scully chairman of the (Catholic) Episcopal Committee on Motion Pictures this week urged all Catholics "to support and patronize the good and decent films in Hollywood and abroad" in a statement which denounced the increasing number of offensive pictures during the past year. From Washington, Bishop Scully reported that almost 24 per cent of the 467 features reveiwed during the year were classified as "morally objectionable in whole or in part. In this connection 19 per cent of the domestic product and 47 per cent of the foreign imports were found to be what the Bishop termed "offensive". "Not only in number, but also in the kind and degree of moral ofTensiveness, films of the past year were at the lowest ebb." Prize Letter Contest Would Arouse Audience Opposition To Miss. Box-Office Levy Stung by the fact that the majority of their theatre tickets are soaked with a 30 per cent admission tax — 20 per cent federal, 10 per cent state — ^Mississippi exhibitors this week were preparing to carry their fight to the people through a novel letter-writing prize contest. The idea apparently behind the contest is to get audiences to think about admission taxes by getting them to write about it. The contest, which offers a $1,000 bond as first prize and a $500 as second prize for two of tiie best letters written by theatre-goers on "Should I Have to Pay IS times More 'Sales Ta.x' on My Movie Tickets than I Pay on Most Other Purchases," is planned to run in December. It's strategy is to hit the voters with the information so that a bill to reduce the tax may be gotten to the legislature during the next term, which apparently precedes elections. The plan for the contest involves every exhibitor taking to his screen by way of a trailer which calls attention to the prizes and to follow it up with handbills and other informative media. In a letter sent to all exhibitors as the result of initial emergency exhibitor meeting in Hattiesburg, followed by meetings in Meridian, Vicksburg, Natchez and Jackson, all theatres, including those devoted to Negroes, who are also eligible for the prizes, are requested to participate. In a "Plan of Action" sent out by the emerg ency c(jnitnitlee, the point is made that something must be done about box-office taxes now, even as municipalities are eyeing theatres for their cut of this revenue sources. Exhibitors are requested to seek the cooperation of their newspapers, probably selecting the newspaper editor and the mayor, along with other important people as judges. The five best letters in each are to be sent to Jackson, Miss., where the final two best will receive the prizes. The trailer announcing the contest, which is to be produced at cost and prorated among the liarticipating exhibitors, reads : The Theatres of Mississippi Will Give A $1,000 Saving Bond as First Prize A $500 Saving Bond as Second Prize To the iPersons who write the best letters on the subject : "Should I have to Pay 15 Times More Sales Tax on My Movie Tickets Than I Pay On Most Other Purchases?" This theatre must receive your letter before midnight, Dec. 31. Free information is available on this subject in the Manager's Office — .Also rules of the contest. (Note : You are paying approximately 20% Federal Tax and 10% State Tax when you buy a ticket. Mississippi Theatre Patrons Pay the Highest Ticket Tax of any State in the Nation.) Handbills, Too The handbill presents the cause of the motion picture as a cultural and entertainment unit in the community and makes points against the tax. Constitution Invoked as deRochemont Launches Atlanta Censorship Attack For the first time since movies began to talk, the U. S. Constitution was invoked this week in an attack on censorship as Producer Louis deRochemont sought an injunction against the Atlanta censors in the federal court of that southern city. DeRochemont's action, in which Film Classics is a co-plaintiff, arose out of a ban placed upon "Lost Boundaries" by Censor Christine Smith and upheld by the Carnegie Library Trustees, who are the censor board under the Atlanta law establishing censorship. In his petition, the producer of the film which deals with the problems facing a Negro family which passed for white in a New Hampshire town, declares that the censor action violates two amendments of the Constitution. They are : the post-Revolutionary First, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, and the pO'St-Civil War Fourteenth, which extends these guarantees to the states and prevents any state from depriving anyone of his property without due process of law. Mayor Sued, Too The deRochemont action is directed against Censor Christine Smith, the entire censor board —Milton G. Farris. Sherwood L. Astin, Ralph A. Juie, Mrs. William J. Davis, J. Howard Monroe, John M. Slaton, Aubrey Milam, Troy Steone — and Mayor William B. Hartsfield of Atlanta, as an ex-of¥icio member of the board. It seeks : 1) A temporary injunction halting any censor action against the picture or its playing while the case is being tried. 2) A permanent injunction declaring the censor law of Atlanta to be unconstitutional. 3) And "such other and further relief as this court may deem just and equitable." "Lost Boundaries originally was banned by Censor Smith, before it had a public showing, which is customary practice in most censor cases. deRochemont and Film Classics appealed this ruling to the censor board which upheld Miss Smith and thereby prevented the picture from getting a license to be shown in the city of Atlanta. DeRochemont immediately wanted a court test but Film Classics President Joseph Bernhard objected, believing that the ruling would be changed. His position was justified when the censor passed 20th Century-Fox's "pass" pic(Continiicd on Page 11) Just a Sneeze Twentieth Century-Fox's controversial "Pinky" opened in Atlanta last Thursday with police alert in front of the Roxy but anticipated demonstrations failed to materialize. The whole atmosphere was quiet with the United Press reporting a policeman as saying there had been "nothing louder than a sneeze" exceoing for one burst of applause in the Negro balcony when Pinky bested an opponent.