Canadian Film Weekly (May 12, 1948)

May 12, 1948 Indies Keep Pace In Theatre Race (Continued from Page 1) and carrying the name of a theatre that was completely destroyed by fire and the other being a re-opening of an existing theatre by a group of local businessmen after it was closed by the owner. B&L Theatres, a Maritimes circuit, recently opened its new Hartland, NB, house. Seating 550 and costing $100,000, the new situation is the second in Hartland, the other being the 500-seat Capitol, also owned by B&L. Under construction are two theatres. J. Purnell and Sons has started work on rebuilding its fire-gutted 338-seat Palace in Coleman, Alberta, the only one there. Theatre Holding Corporation, operators of the 788-seat Capitol in Smith Falls, Ontario, has started work on its second house for the community. In the architects’ hands are two projects, S. O. Axelrod’s $40,000 structure in Ingersoll, Ontario, and the Canadian Legion Branchs’ theatre for Whitewood, Saskatchewan. In the former location Premier Operating has the 448-seat Maitland and in the latter H. S. Humphrey has the 150seat, two-day Rex. Open again after almost two years is the 600-seat Palace in Granby, Quebec. The Palace was a complete loss after a fire which took place early in 1946. Owner is Dr. J. E. Guibord and policy of the house is five days of English-language films and two of French. Operating in Granby are two R. Roberts’ houses, the new 1,300-seat Ritz which shows French-language pictures and the 600-seat Cartier which uses only English-speaking films. ; A group of local businessmen have taken over the only motion picture house in Neilburg, Saskatchewan, the 125-seat Community, and have installed new projectors and sound system. The Community is being operated two days weekly, the same policy which prevailed when it was under the direction of D. E. Ball. Five Sales Meetings Set By Paramount Five divisional sales meetings to climax the current sales season and prepare the groundwork for the 1948-49 product and policies have been set by Paramount. Each will be presided over by Charles M. Reagan, vice-president, and will last three days. Conferences will take place in New York beginning May 13th; Philadelphia, May 17th; Chicago, May 24th; Kansas City, June 3rd; and San Francisco, June 7th. Canadian FILM WEEKLY USA Supreme Court Reaffirms Decree (Continued from Page 1) predict what effect the AmerThese should be outlawed, ican action will have on the _ court said. ideas of Canadian exhibitors. InIt held also that there was dustry bickering on this side of adequate evidence of a conspirthe line faded out a few years acy to restrain trade by giving ago, when exhibitors and distrib“advantageous clearances’ to utors failed to come to an agreesome theatres. “Clearance” is ment with regard to conciliation the time before a competing and arbitration. house may show a picture. In four separate cases the The court also threw out arUnited States Supreme Court did rangements under which major the following: companies jointly own or oper Directed lower courts to go ate certain theatres or chains, further into the question wheholding that the system stifles ther Hollywood should also be competition. required to get out of the theIt fully approved the lower atre business; court’s rule against block book Backed a finding that the proing in which a theatre or chain ducers and distributors are submust take some pictures in orject to damage claims if they der to get others that it wants. refuse to license their best picThe high court pointed out testures in independent theatres for timony that the five major confirst-run showing; cerns have an interest in at Upheld in major part antitrust decrees against two big theatre chains. Principal defendants in the major movie case are the “Big Five’ — 20th Century-Fox, Paramount, RKO, Loew’s (MGM) and Warner Brothers. The government wanted an order for them to sell their interest in 3,137 theatres, contending that there is no other way to open the movie industry to free competition. The high court pointed out conditions under which such an order might be valid, and said lower courts had not yet investigated whether those conditions exist. The “Big Five” produce, distribute and exhibit movies. The case has been in court since 1938. The high court agreed that there had been price-fixing agreements, setting admissions at which pictures could be shown. a the theatres in 92 cities with a population over 100,000. Later despatches from Washington stated that the Supreme Court had sent back to the lower courts a series of cases, asking that the questions of monopoly and conspiracy be reopened. ‘Knock On Any Door’ “Knock on Any Door” will be the first of two films that Santana Productions will make for Columbia Pictures. Humphrey Bogart, president of Santana, will star in the picture. H. T. Long Passes In Toronto Home In the Canadian motion picture industry for more than 25 years prior to his retirement from it several years ago, H. T. Long passed away in Toronto last week at the age of 53. Long entered the business with Paramount, leaving it after five years to become Saint John branch manager for First National. Later he joined Tiffany and from it went to Associated Theatres as assistant general manager, then became manager. In 1942 he joined Pioneer Films and was later transferred to Hanson 16 Mm. Movies. Several years ago he left the industry for a task more in keeping with his health, for he had suffered from a heart condition for many years. 7) Be Vol. 13, No. 19 May 12, 1948 ELAR AAf.HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Address all communications—The Managing Editor, Canadian Film Weekly, 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada. Entered as Second Class Matter. Published by Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., 25 Dundas Square, T. Canada. Phone Al)elaide 4317. $2.00 per a eronto, Ontario, Hughes Buying Big RKO Radio Interest Howard Hughes, movie producer and airplane tycoon, has reached a tentative agreement with Floyd Odlum, chairman of the board of directors of RKO Radio Pictures, Incorporated, for the purchase of the latter's 928,000 shares of RKO stock. Cash amounting to between $8 and $9 millions is involved in the deal. least 70 per cent of the first-run © Page 3 Clauses Amended In Ontario Act (Continued from Page 1) tives of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario. It was agreed that the clause which gives the government the right to apply the 20 per cent tax on “any charge made in a place of amusement for meals or refreshments that are served in conjunction with any dance, performance or entertainment” would not apply to confections in motion picture theatres. Exhibitors felt that the clause as it read originally would lead to a tax on drinks and confections. Also amended was the clause which stipulated that in calculating the 20 per cent tax, “every fraction of one cent shall be counted as one cent.” This would have made it difficult to charge an over-all admission of 25 cents, one of the most popular prices, which is made up of 21 cents for the ticket and four cents for tax. At the request of the exhibitors the clause was changed to read that ‘every fraction of more than one-half cent shall be counted as one cent.” This also gives the theatre operator a financial break. The treasury department also accepted the suggestion that the clause which called for a return on the tenth day of each month was not practicable for all exhibitors and will co-operate so that their accounting methods won't be upset. Another important amendment was to the clause which required that each return shall “be verified by the affidavit of the owner” or a leading officer or representative of the company, and that a sworn financial statement showing “reoeipts and expenditures” of the business must be attached. This now reads that the return “be certified by the owner’ or the company officer or representative, and the attached ffinancial statement, certified as correct instead of by affidavit, shall show receipts. It is not necessary to show expenditures. Since the announcement of several provincial governments that they will occupy the amusement taxation field when vacated by the federal government, opposition by newspapers, labor unions and others has been growing. The Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario, like exhibitor organizations in other provinces, is continuing to protest against the tax as discriminatory and too high. "The Walking Hills' Randolph Scott and Ella Raines have been signed to star in Columbia’s “The Walking Hills,”