Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 27, 1961)

VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY Vol. 26, No. 50 On Our Cover DELEGATES To The Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada NOVEMBER, 1961 FRONT ROW, left to right: P. L. Clark, BC; Jerry Solway, Ontario; Frank Vaughan, Ontario; H. C. D. (Dick) Main, secretarytreasurer, Ontario; Hilliard Gunn, Alberta; Bert Wiber, Alberta; Al Turnbull, Montreal; Arch Jolley, SS SANTA, HELP GET ‘EM OFF OUR BACK! executive secretary, Ontario; and Craig Hughes, Ontario. SECOND ROW: Eric Rosebourne, BC; Gordon Spencer, NB; Archie Mason, NS; Charles Chaplin, Ontario; G. B. Markell, Ontario; Harry Prygrocki, vice-chairman, Manitoba; Bob Hurwitz, Manitoba; Bob Myers, Ontario; Len Johnson, BC; and Gerry Sutherland, BC. BACK ROW: Hye Bossin, Ontario; B. C. Salamis, Quebec; Maurice Arpin, Quebec; Gaston Theroux, Quebec; Art Bahen, Quebec; Frank Fisher, chairman, Ontario; Ted Forsyth, Ontario; Bill Summerville, Ontario; Wm. Johnston, Saskatchewan; Peter Myers, vice-chairman, Ontario; and Ted Hays, Ontario. AFFILIATES British Columbia Exhibitors Association; Alberta Theatres Association; Saskatchewan Motion Picture Exhibitors Association; Manitoba Motion Picture Exhibitors Association; Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario; Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries; Maritime Motion Picture Exhibitors Association; Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association; Association of Motion Picture Producers and LabNewfound oratories of Canada; land Theatres; Equipment Dealers Association; Trade Press. : —Photo by Len Bishop MGM's ‘Brothers Grimm’ MGM has signed Beulah Bondi to star in The Dancing Princess sequence of The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, now before the Cinerama cameras. SSS ee Christinas , 1961 TICKET TAX A KICK-WHEN-DOWN TO MOTION PICTURE HOUSES Pointing out that ‘motion picture exhibitors in England have been exempted from the illogical burden of special amusement taxes” and that “the Government of the United States has eliminated its similar tax up to an admission price of one dollar,” the National Committee of Motion Picture Exhibitors Associations of Canada recently directed a resolution to Provincial governments asking them to be helpful in the same way on the grounds that ‘‘excessive taxation is contributing to the severe difficulties of the motion picture business in Canada.” States the resolution: “Therefore be it hereby resolved that the Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada, representing all branches of the industry in this country, unanimously considers the removal of over six million dollars from this industry in this country by way of unjust, discriminatory Provincial amusement taxes should be stopped immediately to help prevent further theatre closures, further unemployment within the industry, and further cultural losses in the many municipalities theatened with the loss of their theatre or theatres.” At the National Committee’s annual meeting, held recently in Toronto, E. G. Forsyth, chairman, pointed out that there has been a 50 per cent decline in Canadian boxoffice receipts between 1953 and 1959 and the trend is still downward, “We have little time to throw off lethargy, complacency and outmoded ideas,” he said, urging renewed efforts against what he UA's 'Kid Galahad’ Liam Redmond, Irish actor who spent 10 years with the famed Abbey Players, has been signed by the Mirisch Co. for an important role in Kid Galahad, drama with music starring Elvis Presley. UA will release the film, which also stars Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman and Charles Bronson. Ou Wery Best Wishes called ‘‘a monstrously unfair levy against an industry struggling for survival.” The Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada, embracing distribution, production, equipment dealers and Provincial and regional exhibitors’ associations, supported the National Committee’s position. Canadian Heart Fund Campaign Canadian Heart Fund, from which comes materials, equipment and technicians’ salaries in the fight against heart diseases, will try to raise $1,364,000 during its annual campaign next February. Last year’s target, $1,290,000, fell short by $228,574, leaving a deficit of $53,952 and the $74,000 increase this year is to make it up. Chairman of the campaign is K. M. Sedgewick of Montreal. Unjust Amusement Tax (From The Almonte (Ont.) Gazette) There has been a great deal of complaint about the newly imposed sales tax of late but it is not the only tax in Ontario that is onerous and which could have been avoided if public affairs in this wealthy province had been handled in an economic manner. The sales tax, while utterly unpopular, is fair in its application but the amusement tax which is imposed on such places of public entertainment as a theatre is most unjust and discriminatory. This tax came into being, we understand, during the First World War. In those days there was no great protest because theatres were doing well. They did not have television to compete with and they had it pretty much their own way in that particular field of entertainment. But all that is changed now and has been changed for a good many years. This lingering impost is just another proof of the old saying that once a new tax is imposed under some particular excuse, such as this one was in wartime, it never comes off. It is a grab that a government refuses to give up even after the circumstances that made it justifiable at the time have long passed away. That is why every new tax proposed by an administration should be faucli tooth and nail by the taxpaying public. If they fasten it onto the people it is like the Old Man of the Sea on the shoulders of Sinbad the Sailor. The only way Sinbad could get him off his back was make him drunk. Getting rid of a tax isn't that easy. The Ontario Government has been particularly unreasonable about this amusement tax. The rate in Ontario allows the government to take nearly ten cents of every dollar taken in at the box office. Realizing the terrible competition (Continued on Page 5)