Canadian Film Weekly (Nov 23, 1966)

PICTURES MPTAO MEETING (Continued from Page 1) seasonal aspects or character of certain operations. The scale, highlighting discussions at the annual meeting of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario held in Toronto during Showarama _ ’66, would apply roughly as follows: theatres with 500 seats or less— $10 a year; drive-ins and seasonal operations—$10; theatres with 500-1,000 seats—$20; those with more than 1,000 seats—$35. (From Montreal, Clyde Moon, BMI Canada’s assistant general manager, pointed out that BMI content in movie scores had increased from 8.9 per cent to 21.9 per cent in the last nine months. “Consequently,” he said, “we've had to implement membership demands and I’m happy to say that so far the negotiations have been sane and reasonable.”’) At the MPTAO meeting, H. T. Blumsom, secretary-treasurer of Odeon Theatres and president of the Musical Protective Society of Canada, said his company and Famous Players had accepted the BMI scale for a five-year period and recommended other MPTAO members should do the same. Blumsom answered questions from the floor, assisted by Willard Z. Estey, QC, counsel for the MPSC, and following the prolonged session it seemed certain the majority would also sign. The meeting also elected a new board of directors which on Dec. 1 will elect officers from the following members: David Axler, Lionel Lester, Steve McManus, Curly Posen, H. C. D. Main, Harry S. Mandell, Bill Summerville, Louis Consky, G. B. Markell, M. W. Zahorchak, Casey Swedlove and Robert Maynard. Phil Nemirow, also elected, died the same afternoon. Close to 500 delegates crowded the Inn on the Park’s Centennial Room for the MPTAO’s §traditional opening day luncheon, presided over by incumbent president Steve McManus and _ highlighting a presentation to retiring executive secretary Arch Jolley and presentation of the Quigley Award, emblematic of the Motion Picture Herald’s Showman of the Year for all of North America, to Len Bishop, manager of Toronto’s Hollywood Theatre, for his campaign in support of Mary Poppins. R. W. Bolstad, president of Famous, made the presentation. Special speaker for the MPTAO luncheon was Marshall Fine, pastpresident of the National Association of Theatre Owners and a leading exhibitor with circuits in Ohio and Michigan. For distributors in the audience, Fine’s speech at times was as sanguine as the roast beef, particularly when he criticized the mounting sale of feature pictures to television. Page 6 Panorama wie xwweix xv by Stan Helleur COMMENT APPEARING ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE reflects the : extent of bitterness felt by many Showarama ’66 delegates over the lack of press notice by Toronto’s three daily papers. During the convention’s four days, two small photographs represented total Ronee by the Globe and Mail, Telegram and Star, indicating that os as far as publisher and editorial boards were concerned, those involved in the Canadian motion picture business were second-class citizens engaged in a second-class industry and not worth reporting upon * * * It might be assumed by some delegates that Showarama’s publicity committee failed to communicate with the newspapers, hence the blackout. However, checking this out we found that the publicity team had fed releases and photographs to city desks and 4 entertainment departments, apprising them of the ma ‘agenda, describing the national convention in detail and inviting representation. But nothing, not one lousy news item about a business that in its parent US environment ranks in dollar volume among the top six national industries. Surely the Canadian industry is reasonably equivalent? »* ** %* Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from this blatant snub. Moye the motion picture industry has been taking things for granted regarding its image as one of the leading international corporate structures. Perhaps it’s the victim of its own built-in glamor, its aura of never-never-land. Maybe publishers and editors need some education, enlightenment and reassurance as to the industrial substance of our business which, in reality, overlies the familiar, necessary but too often misleading Hollywood hokum. It’s obvious that editorial opinion of the industry has to be upgraded. Few if any newspaper executives could talk knowledgeably about motion pictures as a business but are they really to blame? Maybe the industry has been so heavily engaged in internecine warfare between distributors and exhibitors over rental percentages and feature sales to TV that the overall industry concept has been lost. High level participation in a fight for fair and equitable newspaper attention is an absolute must and responsible executives should recognize their obligation. <A A, ah xd Ww Ww FAIR AND EQUITABLE are the operative words. When you examine the average sports section of a Toronto daily and find from four to six pages devoted to muscle-bending of one kind or another, catering to a readership that has to be nearly-exclusively male, you’re compelled to wonder how many paid attendances must there be to sports events in Toronto during an average week, to warrant this kind of attention. About 50,0002? Probably high. And meanwhile how many paid motion picture attendances would there be in Toronto during the same week? About 250,000. Annd that’s a conservative figure. So where’s the editorial logic? Why cater only to the male population with four to six pages of sport while ignoring all but completely the far greater male-female audience which, if attendance figures are accepted as being indicative, should be interested in bigger proportion of general and feature motion picture news? % 3° % We recall an occasion, some 15 years ago when we were handling a daily column and the Saturday entertainment pages for the Telegram (in the days when a page of movie scene cuts was policy). We felt even then that the industry wasn’t getting a fair shake and said as much to the late Bert Buckland, who was the managing editor. ‘“You may be right,” he told us, “but I’ve got space problems and until they complain let’s leave it the way it is.” Obviously, the industry hasn’t complained in any organized, reasonable way in the interim. Isn’t it high time? the wh alas Ki Ww se NO OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT AS YET. but it’s a: fact: that W. N. (Bill) Murray has joined Famous Players in Toronto as director of purchasing, engineering and maintenance, replacing the late Jules S. Wolfe. A Canadian Picture Pioneer, Murray comes to Toronto from Montreal and his post as general manager of United Amusement Corp. Prior to that appointment he had served United as general purchasing agent »* * ** Adds to our Look-Alike file: General Sound’s Lloyd Pearson and Jack O’Brien, president of the NAC, who attended Showarama ’66 with his wife. Also actor Robert Morley and Sam Arkoff, VP for American International Pictures who also made the convention as the guest of Jerry Solway and Astral Films. @ CANADIAN FILM-TV BI-WEEKLY ; Jolley Leaving MPTAO; Main Named Successor A. H. (Arch) Jolley, executive secretary of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario since April, 1945, has retired and will be succeeded by H. C. D. (Dick) Main at the end of the year. Jolley, who lives in Hamilton, will be available in a consultative capacity. Before joining MPTAO he had been with the George S. May Co. in a number of important posts for eight years, the latter part of it as Ontario district manager. Main, a veteran of the film business in Canada, resigned from Odeon Theatres in 1945 to become a partner in the Fingold circuit. Later he purchased the Simcoe Theatre in Sutton West, Ontario, which he still operates. He has held a number of executive capacities in industry associations. Seven Arts To Acquire Third Of Warner Bros. Shares Jack L. Warner and Eliot Hyman, president of Seven Arts, announced agreement in principal had been reached for the acquisition for investment by Seven Arts of approximately 1,600,000 shares of the common stock of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. from Warner and related interests at a price of $20. (US) per share. The shares constitute approximately one third of the outstanding Warner Bros.’ shares. Consummation of the transaction is subject to obtaining the necessary approvals and drafting instruments. satisfactory to all parties. Philip Nemirow, Toronto Loew’s Manager, Dead Philip Nemirow, city manager in Toronto for Loew’s Theatres Inc., died suddenly in his office in the Uptown Theatre Nov. 7, following a heart attack. He was 51 years of age. Nemirow came to Canada last December from Providence, Rhode Island, where he had been manager of the RKO Albee until its closing the previous August. He had been with RKO Theatres for 35 years. Nemirow, along with Wm. J. Trambukis, Northern Division manager of Loew’s, had attended the meeting and luncheon of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario that morning at the Inn on the Park and had returned with Trambukis to his | office, where the fatal seizure took place. Nemirow leaves his wife, Sybil, and two sons. The youngest son, Lawrence works in the Toronto office of United Artists. November 23, 1966