Exhibitors Herald (Sep 1923)

September 15, 1923 EXHIBITORS HERALD 29 Bernard J. Durning Dies in East (S fecial to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Sept. 5.— Bernard J. Durning, Fox director and husband of Shirley Mason, died here from typhoid fever. Mr. Durning came here about a month ago to direct a production starring Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean for Fox. Mr. Durning was 30 years old. For the past three years he has been associated with William Fox and was previously with Metro and other companies. The body was taken to the home of his mother, Mrs. Annie M. Patton, 180 S. 132nd street, Belle Harbor, from where the funeral was held. Three Schenectady Houses to Be Merged New Farash Theatre Company Will Operate the State, Strand, Albany (Special to Exhibitors Herald) SCHENECTADY. X. Y., Sept. 5.— With the incorporation last week of Farash Theatre Company, the first move was made, it is reported, in an arrangement that will bring three prominent theatres under one management. The houses involved are the Strand, the State and the Albany. State in Receiver's Hands It has been known that there has been a bitter fight for several months for business between the State theatre, built and opened by the Strand circuit at a cost of $500,000 but which went into the hands of a receiver following Max Spiegel's financial difficulties, and the Strand theatre, owned by William F. Rafferty of Syracuse, with William M. Shirley, as manager. The State has been operated by the receivers, represented by William W. Farley, one of the incorporators in the Farash company. It is understood that the company will also absorb the Albany theatre and that Mr. Shirley will act as general manager for the houses, doing the buying for all. Mutual Benefit Seen It is thought that the arrangement will work out to the financial betterment of the theatres in that city. Another advantage of the coalition is seen in the savings through cutting down overhead expenses. Admission Taxes Net U. S. Over $70,000,000 in Year Reduction in Total Collections Is Due Partly to the Repeal of Levy on 10 Cent Tickets— Seating Tax Total Shows. Increase for 1923 {Washington Bureau of Exhibitors Herald) WASHINGTON, D. C, September 5. — Admission tax collections for the fiscal year which ended on June 30 last were the lowest in a five year period, according to the preliminary figures just made public by the treasury department. They total $70,148,480.35. A part of the reduction in total collections is due to the repeal of the tax on admissions of 10 cents or under. Collections Drop $20,000,000 Since 1921 As compared with the fiscal year 1922, the 1923 total was a decrease of $3,236,475.26, the collections for that year amounting to $73,384,955.61, and was nearly $20,000,000 below the collections for 1921, when $89,730,832.94 was gathered from theatrical audiences throughout the country. Even during the fiscal year 1920, before the peak of post-war prosperity had been reached, collections from the admission tax were approximately $73,000,000. The treasury' department's figures also show $1,864,241.07 to have been collected during the fiscal year 1923 from the seating tax on theatres, museums, etc., as compared with $1,863,252.26 during the fiscal year 1922, and $1,703,380.26 during the fiscal year 1921. New Law Cuts Total The total tax collections of the government during the twelve months ended with last June were $2,621,745,227.57, a decrease of $575,705,855 as compared with the preceding year, when $3,197,451,083, was collected, nearly $2,000,000,000 below the collections of 1921, which totaled $4,595,357,061. The decrease, as compared with the fiscal year 1922, was due partly to the new revenue law and in part to the depressions of business in 1921, the effects of which would be visible in the tax . collections of the first two quarters of the fiscal year 1923, when the last two installments of 1921 income and profits taxes were due. Industry Pays 3 Per Cent It will be noted that, aside from income and profits taxes, corporation taxes and such other levies as the industry may share, the motion picture business, through its admission and seating taxes, pays neraly 3 per cent of all the taxes collected. The total collections from war levies imposed by the revenue acts of 1918 and 1921 during the year were $458,149,379.51, of wrhich the admission and seating taxes represent approximately 15 per cent. N. Y. Operators Are Given Boost in Wage (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Sept. 5.— -The threatened machine operators' strike is off, the differences between Local 306 and the Theatre Owners Chamber of Commerce having been adjusted. The operators have asked for an increase in pay amounting to approximately 25 per cent. The settlement was affected on the basis of an increase over the existing wage scale of 7J4 to 15 per cent, as per the following schedule : Theatres seating up to 600, 1l/2 per cent; up to 1000, ten per cent; up to 1500, twelve and one half per cent; over 1500 fifteen per cent. TEN thousand exhibitors read the March, 1923, edition — every one a prospective buyer — costing one cent each per advertising page. Distribution — permanence — prestige — economy — THE BOX OFFICE RECORD is everything desirable in an advertising medium. Fox Gives Luncheon An enjoyable press luncheon was served last Saturday in the Rose Room of the Congress hotel, Chicago, by Assistant General Manager Clyde Eckhardt and the local Fox officials. All of the daily newspapers and the trade journals were represented. There were no speeches but much enjoyable food and refreshments. The occasion was preliminary to the opening of "If Winter Comes" at the Harris theatre, September 1.