Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1958)

EXHIBITOR CDNVENTIDN Allied Ponders Nat'l Buying Co-op, Hits D of J, Asks Skouras Arrange Round-Table Conference Allied States Association spent a large portion of its annual convention in Chicago (Oct. 13-n) aiming its heaviest artiller) at the go\ ernment and the major film companies, with the sahos deli\ered in traditionally militant, hard-hitting Allied style. One of the highlights of the confab was a sit-up-and-take-notice speech delivered by 20th Century-Fox president Spyros P. Skouras. The dynamic, white-thatched executive placed much of the blame for the difficulties in which exhibitors find themselves directly at their own door. He blasted the "white paper" and called divorcement the root of the film shorta;:;e. (The fi/ll text of the Skouras address appears in this issue.) Before Skouras spoke. Allied spokesmen, minced few words in their condemnation of distributor's sales policies and what were termed "grotesque" interpretations and extensions of the consent decrees by the Attorney General's office. General counsel and board chairman Abram F. Myers shattered what he said had become a false impression within the industry. Antitrust decrees in the Paramount case had become inextricably entwined in many minds with the consent decrees, claimed Myers. "They were consent decrees only as to the theatres to be disposed of and how . . ." he said. As for all other trade injunctions affecting pictures, waiting time and discriminations against independent theatres — factors constantly MYERS bandied about by the delegates — Myers said they were the law of the land, "just as much as the Supreme Court decision in the school segregation case." The only difficulty, he argued, was in "the attitude of the Department of Justice toward each case." The Department SKOURAS was quick to reply to Myers' charges. (See separate story). The Attorney General was pictured as the \illian, and Allied promised an all-out attempt to back the "white paper" campaign and force his office to bring exhibitor complaints on trade practices before the statutory courts. And what of the major film companies? What would Allied do with them.-' Aiming at the most \ulnerable spot of all, Trueman Rembusch, the Indiana firebrand, drew a sharp bead on the distributors' pocketbooks. He suggested a boycott of one company deemed unfair in sales policies. "Let's pick a company and gi\e them no bookings for a month," Rembusch said. President Horace Adams, Myers and Milton London, president of Michigan Allied, disputed the wisdom and legality of such a movie. Finally, a committee was authorized to study the feasibility of a boycott plan. Keynoter Jack Kirsch, head of Illinois Allied, howe\er, had another idea. Dismissing the boycott proposal, he suggested a national bu> ing and booking agency, intimating there was strong support prevalent for such a group. With a national co-op, Kirsch said, there would be no difference between the theatres in the buying organization and those in the large former affiliated circuits. He proposed that the country be divided into three or four sections and steps be taken to establish combines in each of them within an overall national framework. Kirsch made positive stands in other areas, too. In his keynote speech, he pointed to "more hopeful signs . . . discernible today than at any time in recent years." The Illinois leader blasted the notion of diminishing the number of pictures and theatres in favor of longer en gagements. "Second only to the possible sale of post1948 films to television, the greatest menace to our business," he said, "is the attitude encountered in high plates that there should be fewer picturs shown in fewer theatres." The proposed business-building campaign was discussed in a forum which heard details of Detroit's local b-b project. The board of directors had pre\iously pledged Allied's best efforts in stimulating and securing support for the national business-building campaign. The forum also heard Sid Blumenstock speak on the \alue of the Academy Awards telecast as a p.r. factor. Alex Harrison, 20th Century-Fox general sales manager, speaking at an equipment forum of the con\ention, urged the exhibitors to keep pace with technical advances. "If we do not continually whet the appetite of the public," he warned, "we shall fall into a rut. We think we ha\e a good standard in CinemaScope," he said, "but we do not want to discourage the de\elopment of other new processes." Richard C. McKay, advertising director of American-International Pictures, was similarly demanding in his approach. If they wished even to hold their own, he predicted, the exhibitors would have to "advertise, publicize, exploit." Of all the messages, it was obvious that Skouras' left the deepest impression. His ad KIRSCH dress was received with rapt attention and respect, and when he finished the delegates petitioned him at once to call a round-table conference of all heads of the film companies and representatives of the various organizations of the industry. Psge 16 Film BULLETIN October 27, 1958