Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

COYNE ROBERT W. COYNE, declared that admissions tax bill signed by President should add about $51,800,000 to the industry's annual income. The COMPO special counsel, who, along with COMPO cochairman Sam Pinanski and tax committee chairman Bob O'Donnell, was instrumental in bringing the drive for passage of the King Bill to a successful conclusion, said research analyst Sindlinger estimates that of the $51.8 million, $16,400,000 will be absorbed by distribution and $35,400,000 will remain with theatres. Coyne said it appears that theatres made exempt from Federal tax by the bill number 8,991. Following their elation over the signing of the tax bill by President Eisenhower, theatremen are now settling down to a sober consideration of the problems presented. Since the bill exempts tickets of 90 cents or less from Federal taxation, exhibitors with admission scales within that range face the decisions of whether to raise or lower prices, or keep them constant. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Bureau has issued a directive permitting theatre owners to use admission tickets printed prior to the Sept. 1 deadline for a reasonable time, provided the admission is not more than 90 cents. O TRUEMAN T. REMBUSCH, exhibition's stormy petrel from Indiana, is involved in another fight with the film companies. Syndicate Theatres, of which he is secretary-treasurer, has brought an anti-trust suit against seven major distributors and five Indianapolis first-run theatres charging monopolistic practices and discrimination against Syndicate's Franklin, Ind., theatre. Named in the suit are Paramount, Columbia, Loew's, RKO, United Artists, Warner Brothers and Universal. Syndicate is asking $3,840,000 in damages, as well as an injunction against the first-run theatres and the seven distributors. The complaint charges that the five first-runs are operated as a monopoly and that top films are withheld from the Franklin theatre 40 to 90 days, or longer. Paqi 10 Film BULLETIN Auguit 20, 1 956 THEY MADE THE NEWS TAPLINGER ROBERT S. TAPLINGER, recently named vice president in charge of advertising and public relations for Warner Brothers, will divide his time rather even • ly between the home office and the studio, it has been learned. While his headquarters will be New York the present management is understood to feel that the promotional department should have a closer contact with production. Taplinger's predecessor, the late Mort Blumenstock, in the last five years of his directorship of the department, headquartered at the Burbank lot, with Gilbert Golden and Larry Golob in charge of the promotion operations at the home office. Taplinger, currently vacationing in Europe with Boston banker Serge Semenenko, who headed the new WB syndicate, will assume his post Oct. 1. Another impression current about the new Warner organization is that Benjamin Kalmenson, former general sales manager and now executive vice president, will devote a considerable amount of his time to the production scene. Taplinger's appointment was one of several made since the new group, headed by Jack L. Warner, took control. Roy Haines, newly appointed general sales manager, was elected president of Warner Brothers Distributing Corp., while Bernard R. Goodman, formerly co-ordinator of field sales activities, was made vice president in charge of domestic operations for the distributing arm. In his first policy statement since assuming the presidency of the company, Warner warned that "no blueprint, no industry-wide plan, no committee report can take the place of the basic axiom that nothing succeeds like a successful motion picture". [More NEWS on Page 22] SHOR RUBEN SHOR'S suggestion for a toplevel distributor-exhibitor meeting has met with little response so far from film company executives. National Allied's board of directors, however, at its Aug. 14-15 meeting in Louisville, Ky., considered the proposal thoroughly and determined to pursue it exhaustively. Allied president Shor issued the call for the topbrass meeting as a result of the Senate Small Business Committee's recommendation for a "mature and objective appraisal" by all branches of the industry of its problems. In a formal letter to the presidents and general sales managers of the major film companies, Shor declared that such a meeting at this time "would have an excellent effect in restoring and reviving the courage of the personnel of all industry branches". He said that he is proposing at first only a "small meeting with only those in ultimate authority in their respective companies". They could discuss means for giving effect to the SSBC recommendations, he said, with details to be worked out by designated representatives. Commenting on the SSBC report, which was generally unfavorable to exhibition's demands, Shor said that Allied was surprised by some of the positions taken and some of the statements made in the report. "However, if the film companies will in good faith carry out the recommendations ... of the Committee report, the effort can be written off as a total success." 0 ROBERT J. O'DONNELL has been appropriately named Pioneer of the Year for 1956 by the board of the Motion Picture Pioneers. Announcement was made by the organization's president Jack Cohn following a meeting of the board. O'Donnell, vice president and general manager of Interstate Circuit, Texas, is the 10th industry veteran so honored by the organization. He'll be guest of honor at the Nov. 30 annual membership dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria. The Texas theatre executive played a vital role in getting the admissions tax relief bill passed in Washington,