The Film Daily (1948)

timate in Character ternational in Scope ndependent in Thought po £!£ gopy The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Now Thirty Years Old NEW YORK. THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1948 TEN CENTS KMnlOUnT TO ATTACK VIDCO STATIOA LimiT Vb Hughes Management Substitutes— Rathvon No Hungry Army of Relates Looking for Your >bs," Employes Assured By RALPH WILK West Coast Bureau of THE FILM 'DAILY $i Holly wood — N. Peter Rathvon, ijjKO Radio prexy, sounded a "back I, work" call to the company's employes yesterday in an| unusually Jank statement in which* he assured u.em that Howard Hughes, new conlolling owner of RKO Corp., "has Ip hungry army of relatives looking ]|r your jobs, nor substitutes waitJ-g'to step into RKO management." | "Now that the excitement is over, it us settle back to work," declared (Continued on Page 6) isks Publicity Drive It Consumer Level ii ]j Des Moines, la. — Declaring bad ] iublicity has hurt box office receipts, loward E. Brookings of Oakland, president of the Allied Independent , "heater Owners of Iowa and Nebraska, called for a united publicity ;'ampaign to be conducted at the Consumer level at the annual contention here. More than 170 exhibitors, largest the history of the Iowa and Ne( Continued on Page 3) // IRON CURTAIN" TO PLAY-SKOURAS Roxy Theater Rioters Assailed by 20th-Fox Prexy as Foes of Basic American Right of Free Expression Assailing those who banded together to picket and boycott the Roxy's showing of "The Iron Curtain" Tuesday night as foes of the basic American right of free expression, Spyros P. Skouras, 20th-Fox prexy, in a statement issued yesterday declared that exhibition of the jjjpic will go on in New York and the MOO points where it is opening simultaneously. Pic started its Roxy run yesterday to biz termed "outstanding" by 20thFox, with one of the longest lines in months stretching 'round the Sixth Ave. corner. Predominance of family groups was noted in the morning and afternoon audiences. Comment cards were highly favorable. Showings yesterday were punctuated by audience applause from time to time. New York dailies which in early editions sensationalized the Tuesday (Continued on Page 7) Biz Drop Offsets French Price Hike The 30 per cent admission hike granted by the French Government to exhibitors last November, has not materially improved matters for showmen, according to Mme. Raymonde Audibert, director of Pathe Journal, who arrived here for a series (Continued on Page 6) High Foreign Rentals Bring Exhib. Squawks Foreign film distribs. are unwittingly ruining their own market by stiff rentals, many out-of-town exhibitors are complaining. Trend towards higher rentals, exhibs. say, force a return to old policy where run-of-the-mill pro(Continued on Page 6) Legal Moves to End FCC's Restriction on Ownership Being Mapped, D. C. Hears Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Paramount Pictures is mapping a legal attack upon the FCC's long-established limitation on video station ownership, which now stands at a maximum of five, unusually well informed television sources reported here last night. Decision to challenge the right of the FCC to hold down the company's interest in video station ownership and operation is believed in line with the statement made by Paul Raibourn, Para, vice-president, at a FCC hearing this week that the company management is not planning upon the eventual break-up of the (Continued on Page 7) U. S. Opinion Offers Indies Golden Chance Shift of All Television ,fo High Frequencies Hit Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Dr. C. B. Jolliffe, i^CA Labs, executive vice-prexy, told ;he Senate Interstate and Foreign bommeree Committee here yesterday :hat if all video were required to |,iiove at this time to higher radio (Continued on Page 7) B&K Houses 100 P.C. Equipped for Popcorn! Chicago — With the installation or popcorn stands in the Northtown and Northshore Theaters, all Balaban & Katz Chicago and country houses will be selling popcorn, candy and beverages. Houses are the only B&K houses not equipped with refreshment stands. British Fans "Shopping" Says Graham, U. K. Exhib. With most British moviegoers shopping for their entertainment, only the top films are getting any worthwhile patronage, reported Sam (Continued on Page 3) Six Finished, 8 Start, Making 39 Pix Shooting West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — With eight new pictures starting this week and six finished, there will be 39 pictures in (Continued on Page 7) British Film Buys Uncertain Production and $ Pool Must Be Resolved 'Thaw' of British Newsreel Distribution Near — Thomas Newsreel distribution, frozen since the war years, will soon be thawed out, predicted Howard Thomas, producer of the British Pathe News, upon his arrival yesterday aboard the Queen Elizabeth. Though the British film industry will not permit the use of its product over BBC television, exhibitors are still trying to get video for their theaters, Thomas said. London (By Cable) — Extent to which American distributors will make outright purchases of British films as a means of using unremittable blocked sterling in Great Britain is contingent upon factors that have not been resolved and yet are a necessary prerequisite to the execution of that phase of the recent agreement. The idea of utilizing blocked funds for this purpose "was a great feature of the negotiations," according to Harold Wilson, President of the (Continued on Page 3) Kansas City — Now is the time for independent exhibitors to take the initiative and keep the gains given them by the Supreme Court decision President C. F. Sullivan of Wichita, Kansas, told the opening session of the Kansas-Missouri AITO meet here yesterday. About 65 registered for the two(Continued on Page 6) Harrisburg's 8% Tax Yield Under Estimates Harrisburg, Pa. — An eight per cent amusement tax in Harrisburg, estimated to bring in about $119,000 this year, is running below esti(Continued on Page 6) Aussie Exhibs. Nix Price Advance Plan Sydney (By Air Mail) — State council of the Motion Picture Exhibitors Association unanimously decided to refuse any proposal to increase admission charges for special films. Acting on a plan of distributors to hike scales for some films, council authorized its board of management to take any steps thought advisable to prevent the policy.