Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

A British Proposal Would Cut Admission Tax One Penny UA-ites on Coast — Dave Griesdorf of Winnipeg, Frank Young of Chicago and Victor Rachon of Winnipeg at the annual United Artists sales convention in Los Angeles. At the UA Meet — Haskell M. Masters, left, Canadian division manager for United Artists, and Charles Stern, eastern district manager, en route from the UA convention in Los Angeles. London, Eng. — Relief for the British cinema operators, by taking a penny (two cents) off the admission tax, was announced by Sir John Simon, chancellor of the exchequer, in presenting his budget which increased taxes on tea, tobacco and a number of other items. Sir John said he wished to make an adjustment in connection with entertainment duty. He recalled that last year he gave an undertaking to review the working of the entertainment duty, especially its application to the living theatre. “I must say that I think the chief difficulty under which the living theatre is laboring is the rival attraction of the cinema. At the same time I realize that the duty does aggravate the disability from Delayed Arrival Alters Programs But Slightly Ottawa — While considerable confusion was encountered in the delay of arrival in the Canadian capital by Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with a shortening of the royal visit in Ottawa, the programs of local theatres were but slightly revised and the crowds of outof-town sightseers were up to expectations. The majority of Ottawa theatres had arranged extra midnight shows on Tuesday night. May 16, in advance of the arrival of the royal party, and the late performances were held as intended because of the throng of spectators. Theatre schedules were increased during the celebration, with downtown houses starting the day’s performances at 10 a. m. instead of at noon. Working shifts were arranged so that half of a theatre’s employes were given ample opportunity to witness a historical ceremonial in turn, theatre attendance being at a minimum when the big ceremonies were in progress anyway. Prior to the royal visit, the theatres in Ottawa had been given a thorough cleaning and refurbishing along with many other commercial structures. which the living theatre suffers and Parliament, I think, would wish to help it. “In the circumstances I am prepared to concede some additional relief. I propose a further reduction of duty of one penny per admission throughout the greater part of the duty scale, to take effect as from September 3. This would cost £190,000 this year and £290,000 in a full year.” Recompense Through Revision Sir John wished to provide for these two losses of revenue approximately by a modification of the duty on film, both blank and picture film. He proposed putting an excise duty on photographic films and plates manufactured in Britain. The rate of duty he proposed was 4y2d a square foot, which would be equivalent to about 2d on the most popular size of roll film commonly used by amateur photographers. X-ray films and dental films used for medical and scientific purposes would be exempted. Sir John had a further reason for proposing this duty because a considerable quantity of film came into the country under customs provisions which must be revised. As he did not wish to hamper the production of British pictures, he proposed to allow a rebate equal to the excise duty on whatever waste occurred in the studio. Concurrently with the imposition of excise duty the customs duty on blank film and plate would be increased to 9d a linear foot on blank film coming from abroad. Present duty on imported picture films was 5d a linear foot on negatives and Id a linear foot on positives. It was a common practice to avoid the higher duty by never importing any negative copy tout by importing a single positive copy at Id a foot and reproducing copies. Sir John proposed in future to charge the higher rate on the first copy of each film imported, whether positive or negative, and to allow subsequent copies or prints to come in at the lower rate. The customs duties would be increased to 6d for the first film and to 2d a subsequent film per linear foot. Films which contained only sound track or were of less than standard width would be admitted at last year’s rates. He estimated that the yield would be £800,000 in the current year and £1,000,000 in a full year. The new scale of entertainment duty will be: Halfpenny on seats not exceeding Is 3 y2d, compared with 8V2d seats. A penny on seats not exceeding Is 5d, compared with lid; Three halfpence on seats not exceeding Is 7y2d, compared with Is iy2d, and Two pence on seats not exceeding Is lOd, compared with Is 4d. On higher priced seats it will average about a penny less than the old rate. It is proposed that these changes shall take effect as from September 3 next. And From the North — R. V. Kiefer (right), of the Kiefer circuit in northwestern Alberta, Canada, was a guest of RKO Radio in the company’s reception suite for showmen visiting the Hew York World’s Fair. Here he is chatting with Eddie McEvoy, RKO’s eastern and Canadian sales manager. BOXOFFICE :: May 20, 1939 K 79