The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1944)

Record Details:

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24 Gould Reveals ( Continued from page 23) Joe Goltz, Mexican manager, stated that native production has attained an all time high of about 65 to 70 pictures annually. Before the war, according to Goltz, the majority of the population did not attend the theatre regularly but theatre attend¬ ance has picked up considerably. Goltz said that although the population prefers the Mexican product, more people are attending the theatre now, resulting in making avid fans who never before even dreamed of going to see pictures. Goltz revealed that the Mexican peasants lean toward the “frontier life” type of film. In Cuba, however, the picture is slightly different, as Cuban production averages only about two or three films per year, according to Henry Weiner, UA Cuban manager. The market for war pictures is practically nil, Weiner stated, as the Cuban’s interest in the war is not much to speak of. Weiner also said that the Span¬ ish market in Cuba is getting better. In Chile, Jorge Suarez stated, the in¬ dustry must realize that it is catering to an entirely different class of patron. Su¬ arez said that the Chilians are a highly intellectual class of people, and will ac¬ cept only the very best in films. The Ar¬ gentine and Mexican product offers some competition, as do Spanish made films. However, Suarez stated that it is a ques¬ tion of quality rather than language, and the people usually shop around before go¬ ing to see a film. Motion pictures in Chile are the major form of entertainment, but where at one time exhibitors would de¬ vote 75 to 80 per cent of their playing time to American made films, local or Spanish language product has decreased that per¬ centage to 40 to 50 per cent of the total playing time at present. Reveal Details Of Bronston Deal New York — Details of the deal between United Artists and Samuel Bronston were announced last week by the company. With contracts approved by the com¬ pany’s board of directors, the following pictures will be part of an initial group to be delivered by UA under the Bronston banner in the first half of 1945: “Decision,” from the stage play by Ed¬ ward Chodorov, to be produced and di¬ rected by Julian Duvivier; “Ten Little Indians,” current stage hit by Agatha Christie, to be produced and directed by Rene Clair, and “Borrowed Night,” from a Cosmopolitan magazine story to begin in September issue, to be produced and directed by Lewis J. Milestone, with the story to be published in book form by Doubleday Doran. WPB Violation Charged Los Angeles — Assistant U. S. Attorney William Ritzi last week filed criminal in¬ formation in Federal court charging Re¬ public and four executives with violations of the War Production Board’s regulati ns. The complaint explained the WPB granted the studio permission to erect a temporary stage at a cost of $23,000 for use in producing films for the military. The complaint added that Republic instead built a permanent $57,000 stage without permission. THE EXHIBITOR The Government Proposes ( Continued from page 23) Subject to the provisions contained herein, the arbitrator may fix such maximum clearance under any existing franchise or any license entered into pursuant to such franchise between distributor de¬ fendant and any other party bound by this decree. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to restrict, and no award made in any aribtration under this section shall restrict, the exhibitor's right to license for any theatre any run which he is able to negotiate with any distributor, nor the distri¬ butor's right to license for any theatre any run which it desires to grant. Said Section 8, if modified as prayed herein, would read as follows: Controversies arising upon the complaint of an exhibitor that the clearance applicable to his theatre is unreasonable shall be subject to arbitration under the following provisions: Clearance shall be deemed to be unreasonable whenever its effect is to restrain competition between two or more theatres unreasonably. In determining whether any clearance complained of is unreasonable, the arbitrator shall take into consideration the following factors and accord to them the importance and weight to which each is entitled regardless of the order in which they are listed: (1) The historical development of clearance in the particular area wherein the theatres involved are jocated; (2) The admission prices of the theatres involved; (3) The character and location of the theatres involved, including size, type of entertain¬ ment, appointments, transit facilities, etc.; (4) The policy of operation of the theatres involved, such as the showing of double features, gift nights, give¬ aways, premiums, cut rate tickets, lotteries, etc.; (5) The rental terms and license fees paid by the theatres involved and the revenues derived by the distributor defendant from such theatres; and (6) The extent to which the theatres involved compete with each other and other business considerations, except that the arbitrator shall disregard the fact that a theatre involved is affiliated wtih a distri¬ butor or with a circuit of theatres. The power of the arbitrator in deciding any such controversy shall be limited to make (1) a finding as to whether or not the clearance complained of is unreasonable, and, if the finding be in the affirma¬ tive; (2) an award fixing the maximum clearance between the theatres involved which may be granted in licenses therafter entered into by the distributor defendant which is a party to the arbitration. An award providing that a theatre holding clearance found to be unreasonable shall take no clearance over the complainant's theatres may be made re¬ gardless of whether or not there is substantial com¬ petition between said theatres. Any distributor defendant or any exhibitor af¬ fected by such an award may institute a further arbitration proceeding for a modification thereof on the ground that since the making of the award the conditions with respect to the theatres involved therein have so changed as to warrant modification, and, in the event that the arbitrator finds that there has been such change, he shall make a redeter¬ mination of the maximum clearance. Nothing contained in this section and no award hereafter entered in an arbitration in accordance with its provisions shall apply to licensing the ex¬ hibition of any special feature, providing such spe¬ cial feature is licensed under an exhibition contract applicable only thereto, or the right of a distributor defendant to include such contract and to make a part. thereof such special terms and conditions, in¬ cluding such special clearance provision or provisions as such distributor shall fix, establish and enforce for and in connection with the exhibition of such special feature. Plaintiff prays that Section 9 and 10 of the decree be stricken therefrom and the following section be substituted therefor: No distributor defendant shall license or moke available for exhibition in theatres any films released by it upon terms which have the effect of unreasonably restraining competition be¬ tween two or more theatres in exhibiting said films. Controversies arising on a complaint by any ex¬ hibitor thereby affected that a distributor has so licensed or made available such films for exhibition in the complainant's theatre or in a theatre com¬ peting with his theatres shall be subject to arbi¬ tration in accordance with the terms of this decree. If the arbitrator finds that this section has been violated, he shall make an award which will de¬ scribe the specific course of conduct found by him to violate this section, and require the payment of an amount by such defendant or defendants as he finds have engaged in such conduct which in his judgment will compensate the complainant for any pecuniary loss sustained as the result of such vio¬ lation or violations and discourage the recurrence of such violations. Plaintiff prays that Section 11 of said decree be stricken therefrom and the following section sub¬ stituted therefor: (A) No decree defendant shall hereafter acquire, directly or indirectly, any financial interest in any theatre; (B) Each decree defendant which is directly or indirectly engaged in the production, distribution, and exhibition of films shall within three years from the date of this modification completely divorce its exhibition business from its production and dis¬ tribution business to the end that no defendant di¬ rectly or indirectly engaged in producing or dis¬ tributing films shall then own any financial interest in theatres, and no defendant directly or indirectly engaged in operating theatres shall then own any interest in the production or distribution of films; TRADE VITAL PART OF COMPLETE ARMY PLAN Hollywood — Brigadier General Joseph W. Byron last week outlined a long-range program of service to men on the fighting fronts, in camps, and hospitals, and called on the industry to provide a vital part of the plan. At a luncheon sponsored by the Holly¬ wood Victory Committee, and attended by film heads, the chief of the Army Special Service Division said: “All over the world I have seen the effects of what you people at home have been doing for our fighting men. I saw movies on the beachead at Anzio, camp shows at Cassino, and fol¬ lowed Gary Cooper and the Hollywood troupe into New Guinea. “Now that the job is becoming harder and increasingly important, I have come to a great source of contribution to insure a long-range plan which will go on when we have a different kind of Army in a different time.” In discussing the industry’s part in fu¬ ture plans, General Byron stressed the growing need for entertainment in mili¬ tary hospitals. “We now have 60 Army and 30 Navy hospitals receiving entertain¬ ment through cooperation of USO Camp Shows and the Hollywood Victory Com¬ mittee,” he said. “We do not know how many there will be eventually, but we do know they will be there a long time.” Kaufman In Republic Post New York — Allen Wilson, vice president in charge of studio operations at Republic, announced last week the appointment of J. Lester Kaufman as chief studio pub¬ licist, effective on Aug. 24. Kaufman was formerly associated with Balaban and Katz in Chicago, Paramount in New York, and Fanchon and Marco Enterprise in St. Louis, Mo. Charles Reed Jones, director of adver¬ tising in New York, now in Hollywood for studio conferences, will assist in work¬ ing out the plan of coordination between the studio and home office with Kaufman. Steve Edwards, director of publicity in New York, will join the conference at a later date. (C) Each decree defendant directly or indirectly en¬ gaged in operating theatres shall within such time and upon such terms as the court may deem reason¬ able divest itself of such theatre interests as the court may, in the course of supplemental proceedings hereunder, find shall be divested in order to insure theatre operating competition in the communities where they are now monopolizing theatre operation; and (D) All of the theatre-operating agreements, implied or expressed, by which any two or more of the decree defendants share in the financial bene¬ fits from the operation of the theatres jointly owned or controlled by any two or more of them are hereby declared void, and each decree defendant is en¬ joined from entering into or enforcing any similar agreements. Plaintiff prays that Section 12 the ("escape clause") of the decree may be stricken therefrom. Plaintiff prays that Section 15 of the decree may be stricken therefrom, and the following section substituted therefor: All franchises and any licenses entered into pursuant thereto by any of the decree defendants are hereby declared illegal and void, and the said defendants are hereby enjoined from making or enforcing any similar agreements. Plaintiff prays that Section 17 of the decree may be stricken therefrom and the following section sub¬ stituted therefor: No distributor defendant shall li¬ cense its films to any affiliated theatre upon the terms which unreasonably restrain the ability of an unaffiliated theatre to compete with such affiliated theatre. Plaintiff prays that Sections 20 and 21 of the decree (limiting features of some of its provisions), may be stricken therefrom. August 16, 1944