The Exhibitor (1954)

NT-2 EXHIBITOR Harris, J. Robert Hoff, Dr. Herbert T. Kalrnus, Fred C. Matthews, Samuel Pinanski, H. G. Place, J. Myer Schine, Harold Sharp, Charles P. Skouras, George Skouras, Joseph F. Taylor, Rutledge B. Tompkins, Joseph Vogel, Harry M. Warner, James L. Wolcott, and Marc J. Wolf. The Heart Award Dinner, honoring William J. German, will be held in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on May 6, and it is ex¬ pected to be a gala affair. A theatre-front stand by George Jessel and valuable giveaways high¬ lighted the premiere of United Artists’ “Yesterday and Today” at the Embassy. Jessel launched the “Yesterday and Today” premiere activity by doing a turn as barker and doorman. Giveaways distributed by Jessel included pens and 50 watch bands. Gemex, which is back¬ ing “Yesterday and Today” nationally with a heavy slate of dealer tieins, spotlighted the getaway with counter cards and window streamers spotted in jewelry stores throughout the metro¬ politan area. A corps of bally girls additionally drumbeat the “Yesterday and Today” getaway .by touring the Times Square district to hand out balloons. E. 0. Wilschke, Altec Service Cor¬ poration operating manager, returned from the company’s offices in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he held a series of conferences concerning operational acti¬ vities of Altec’s various divisions. A broad new educational program designed for students preparing for careers in mass communications will be launched by New York University dur¬ ing the 1954 fall semester, it was an¬ nounced by Executive Vice-Chancellor David D. Henry. The new pi'ogram, which calls for the formation of a “Communication Arts Group,” is the joint endeavor of three of NYU’s undergradu¬ ate schools and colleges. It includes the participation of existing departments teaching journalism, motion pictures, theatre, television and radio. Jacques Minkus, noted department store stamp merchandiser and publisher of a varied new line of albums and catalogues, addressed the members of the Cinema Stamp Collectoi-s in the Hotel Astor. At that meeting of the CSC, approval was voted of the proposed United States commemorative postage These sparkling “twin” front displays recently dominated Times Square area in New York City for United Artists’ “Act Of Love,” Astor, and United Artists’ “Top Banana,” Victoria. stamp in honor of George Eastman. CSC has petitioned the Postmaster General to authorize the Eastman stamp in cele¬ bration of the centenary of his birth on July 12. The club also gave the nod of approval to the suggested airmail stamp with the inscription, “Liberty and justice for all,” as requested by Congressman H. B. Ebeiharter, Pittsburgh. Dis¬ approval was registered of the stamps requested to honor the Community Chests of the Nation, the 35th anniver¬ sary of the American Legion, and the Centenary of the Iowa State Fair. Sey¬ mour Glassner was elected to the execu¬ tive committee. New Jersey Newark The five “Star Showmen” for Febru¬ ary in the Stanley Warner New Jersey “Prize Salute to Star Showmen” were Adolphe Finkelstein, Embassy, Orange; Jack Conhaim, Stanley; George Birkner, Fabian, Paterson; Frank Costa, Warner, Ridgewood; and Robert Phillips, Holly¬ wood, East Orange. Fay Radler, Eleanor Cole, and Betty Holland, Stanley Warner Jersey office, celebrated birthdays. . . . Mrs. Robert Deitch, wife of the Stanley Warner exploitation and publicity head, was hospitalized. . . . Frank J. Damis, zone manager, Stanley Warner, was vacationing. Lewis Tortariello said that his experi¬ ment of letting the public in his Treat for nothing in the hope of winning back patrons proved so successful that he in¬ tends repeating it once a month or once every other month. He reported that his concession business on the Monday night he inaugurated the plan exceeded the combined boxoffice gross for two succes¬ sive Mondays. Union City In the face of triple-barreled litigation of nearly three years’ duration over the issuance of a license to the Colony as a burlesque theatre, Harry W. Doniger, head, DBM Amusement Corporation, which operates the theatre, formally filed his application for the permit at City Hall. The city commission must pass on the application before issuance. New York State Albany Fred Meier booked “The Medium” as the first picture in an art series at Colony, Schenectady. He advertised it as “Requested by Schenectady Museum.” J. Myer and Louis W. Schine spent a day at the Ten Eyck Hotel. The thesis that the 20 per cent amuse¬ ment tax is not only “unfair” to the film industry, but that it also is “an unwar¬ ranted abridgement of motion picture free press rights” was editorially advanced by The Knickerbocker News. After outlining the economic phase of the question, the editorial pointed out, “There is another side to the story. The U. S. Supreme Court has handed down recent decisions with regard to censor¬ ship that place motion pictures in the category of a free press, along with TV, which is a tax-free medium of exhibition. Does it not logically follow, then, that this movie admission tax is an unwarranted abridgement of motion picture free press rights, just as much as censorship?” Before Congress finally acts on this tax,” concluded the edi¬ torial, “it must consider most seriously that not only is a money-losing billion dollar-industry laboring under an oppressive financial handicap, but its rights, according to the Supreme Court, are being invaded. The tax should be removed.” The Knickerbocker News, a Gannett daily, has long been friendly to the industry. Industry men are grieved at the “rough treatment” given motion pictures, as compared with the flattering praise extended to radio and television, in the 1954 report of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Pub¬ lication of Comics. The final sentence of the three-page commentary on radio and video spoke of the committee wishing to “commend these industries and to urge them to continue to adhere to the stand¬ ards they have set for themselves and to seek constantly to improve those stand¬ ards so that legislative control, now believed so necessary for comics, pocket books and objectionable picture maga¬ zines, may continue to be unnecessary in the radio and television field.” The repoiT proceeded to take up “Motion Pictures,” with the initial comment, “While this committee has not been charged specific¬ ally with any investigation of motion pictures, it has, in view of the nature of the work it has undertaken, con¬ tinually evidenced an interest in the realm of motion picture censorship.” The document continued, “It has noted with very considerable concern, the recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in Commercial Pictures Corpora¬ tion vs. Regents of the State of New York (“La Ronde”). The reason for this concern stems from the apparent attitude of the court to impose additional restrictions on censorship at a time when the committee feels that new and more rigid censorship is necessary, not only in motion pictures but in connection with comics, ‘pocket books’, and ‘picture books.’ ” An industry spokesman pointed out that the committee report ignored the 30-year-old Motion Picture Production Code and cited favorably, the Television Code, adopted in 1952. Philip J. O’Brien, legal consultant to the Motion Picture Association of America, and Philip J. O’Brien, Jr., its attorney, at the Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing on the Fitzpatrick legislation defining “immoral” and “incite to crime” in the state film licensing law, took their case to Governor Thomas E. Dewey. The O’Briens were listed among the governor’s callers the same day the committee favorably reported the shortform bill to the House floor for action. Bob Baranoff, Valley Drive-In, Little Falls, signed with Upstate Theatres, Inc., Albany, to represent him on buy¬ ing and booking. The theatre’s reopening date depends upon the weather. Baranoff, who, for some time, was affiliated with Schine Circuit, also conducts a drivein at Morrisville, Pa. He put it into operation last season. . . . The drive-in Murch 2b, 195b