The Exhibitor (1951)

12 EXHIBITOR Testimonial Slated For lA's Richard Walsh New York — Richard Walsh, interna¬ tional president, IATSE, will be honored for his “inspiring work on behalf of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital” at a dinner on April 10 at 21 Club, it was announced last week by Abe Montague, chairman of the affair. Major film company and circuit executives in the metropolitan area will attend. In addition to Montague, dinner com¬ mitteemen are George Dembow, Charles Feldman, Morey Goldstein, James R. Grainger, William J. Heineman, Ben Kalmenson, Bernard Kranze, Robert Mochrie, William F. Rodgers, Charles Reagan, A1 Schwalberg, and Andy W. Smith, Jr. Rob¬ ert J. O'Donnell, general manager, Inter¬ state Theatres, Dallas, will be toastmaster. National Board Sets Program New York — The National Board of Re¬ view of Motion Pictures announced last week that its annual conference sched¬ uled for the Hotel McAlpin on April 5-6 would be addressed by George R. Canty, “American Pictures Abroad”; Ber¬ nard Kreisler, “Foreign Pictures In Amer¬ ica”, and Arthur L. Mayer, “Good People And Bad Pictures.” On April 6, delegates will be guests of 20th Century-Fox at its home office, and will participate in a roundtable on community film activities, after which they will witness three films in third dimension and a preview of a new 20th-Fox film. Loew's Anniversary Celebrated New York — In celebration of Arthur M. Loews 30th year in the industry, MGM’s domestic and international sales and dis¬ tribution departments will join hands in the promotion and merchandising of “Teresa,” it was learned last week. Morton A. Spring, first vice-president, Loew’s International, announced that a main feature of the overseas celebration will be a competition among the various territories for the best national campaign that puts over “Teresa,” and introduces Pier Angeli as a new MGM star. Babb Schedules Regionals Wilmington, O. — Kroger Babb, presi¬ dent, Hallmark Productions, Inc., last fortnight scheduled a series of regional meetings throughout the country with his zone managers. First meeting was held in Hallmark’s Beverly Hills, Cal., offices. The next was set for the Ambassador Hotel, Kansas City. The following weekend Babb and his eastern managers met in New York, and on March 31-April 1, a regional meeting is set for the Gibson Hotel, Cincinnati. SMPTE Setting Meeting Plans New York — Industrial, medical, and military applications of motion pictures and television, as well as their more familiar uses for entertainment, will be explored in more than 50 technical reports on new equipment and techniques to be presented at the 69th semiannual conven¬ tion of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, to be held at the Hotel Statler from April 30-May 4, in¬ clusive, it was revealed last week. EXHIBITOR Moves Offices To 246-248 North Clarion PHILADELPHIA — Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc., moved into its new quarters, EXHIBITOR building, 246248 North Clarion Street, last weekend. The new offices on the second floor of the structure, are streamlined, with an eye toward the greatest possible efficiency. New telephone numbers are: LOcust 7-7520-21-22. U-l Reelects Blumberg, Others New York — The board of directors of Universal Pictures Company, Inc., last week reelected the following officers: N. J. Blumberg, president; A. E. Daff, vice-president; L. Goldberg, vice-president and treasurer; David A. Lipton, vicepresident; Edward Muhl, vice-president; John J. O’Connor, vice-president; Adolph Schimel, vice-president, general counsel, and secretary; Eugene F. Walsh, comp¬ troller, assistant secretary, and assistant treasurer; George Douglas, assistant treas¬ urer, and Morris Davis, Percy Guth, and Anthony Petti, assistant secretaries. Also re-elected were the five members of the executive committee comprising Blumberg, chairman; Daniel M. Sheaffer, vice-chairman; Robert S. Benjamin, Pres¬ ton Davie, and Leon Goldberg. Universal Pictures Company, Inc., and subsidiary companies reported for the 13 weeks ended on Jan. 27 a net profit of $107,130 after provision of $55,000 for fed¬ eral income taxes. This compares with a net profit of $12,924 for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Lifton's Death Mourned Hollywood — In respect to the memory of the late Louis S. Lifton, for 15 years national director of advertising and pub¬ licity for the company, Allied Artists and Monogram studio last week closed during the period of the funeral services for him. Final rites were conducted at the Church of the Recessional, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, Cal. Studio Ticket Tax Asked Washington — A federal tax on tickets to radio and television studio programs was urged last week by the League of New York Theatres, whose spokesmen de¬ clared, “We do not feel the vast audiences served by radio and television should go untaxed, to our detriment and also at a loss to the government.” Fred Meyers Joins UA In Executive Sales Post NEW YORK — William J. Heineman, vice-president, United Artists, in charge of distribution, last week an¬ nounced the appointment of Fred Meyers as New York-metropolitan district manager and circuit sales head for the company. Meyers joins United Artists after 20 years in the film business, associated primarily with RKO Theatres and Universal-International. SAG Clarifies Policy On Hearings Hollywood — The first organization to declare its policy last week in connection with the new House Un-American Activi¬ ties Committee hearings was the Screen Actors Guild, which condemned the “Communist Party conspiracy,” and cau¬ tioned against the “smearing of innocent individuals.” The SAG statement, signed by the guild board, said, in part: “It is not the prov¬ ince of our board to decide what is the best method of carrying out this aim. It is our hope that the current House Com¬ mittee hearings will help to do so, in an objective and intelligent manner. We are informed that the committee will guard against smearing any innocent individuals. We will watch with extreme interest the way in which the hearings are conducted and any and all developments stemming therefrom. The Guild as a labor union will fight against any secret blacklist created by a group of employers. On the other hand, if any actor by his own actions outside union activities has so offended American public opinion that he has made himself unsaleable at the boxoffice, the Guild cannot and would not want to force any employer to hire him. This is the individual actor’s personal responsibility, and it cannot be shifted to his union.” Meanwhile in Washington Larry Parks told the investigating committee that he had been a Communist Party member from 1941 to 1944 or 1945, but said he now re¬ garded Communism as subversive, and that he would defend the United States again a Russian attack. He asserted that neither he nor anyone he knew was in¬ structed to influence the thinking of the American people. Gale Sondergaard and Howard DaSilva, two other witnesses, declined to answer the committee’s questions regarding mem¬ bership in the Communist Party and other organizations on grounds that they would be incriminated. Parks declared he would not apologize for what he termed “a youthful mistake in judgment,” and expressed doubt that he would now be permitted to continue his film career. “As an actor,” he said, “my activity is dependent cn the public. To be called before the committee at its request carries a certain inference and innuendo that I am not loyal to this country. This is not true. But the inference and innuendo are there.” At least two members of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee expressed the hope that the industry would not take retaliatory measures against Parks, one of them saying his opinion of Parks has gone up very much, and “I hope he has the best boxoffice he ever had.” William E. Benton Passes Saratoga Springs, N. Y. — William E. Benton, 58, president, Benton Theatrical Enterprises, died at a hotel in Miami, Fla., where he had been living since he became ill almost a year ago. A veteran in the industry, he had been in the business for 30 years, in addition to being a prominent political and civic figure. His son, James E., Jr., has been associated with him since coming out of the service. March 28, 1951