The Film Daily (1948)

T^O NOT Intimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Now Thirty Years Old VC"T\94, NO. 22 NEW YORK, MONDAY. AUGUST 2. 1948 TEN CENTS sTORtny DesflTc biubits u.k. f iim ennK bill Bonus System to Make Film Classics a Co'op Profits Will Be Shared By 'All Who Help Make Them', Bemhard Tells Convention Declaring that Film Classics will be a cooperative company with profits shared by "all who help to make them," President Joseph Bernhard, at the company's first international sales meeting held in the Hotel Astor Friday, announced a permanent bonus plan beginning Jan. 1, 1949, whereby all personnel will share in the company's profits, inde(Continued on Page 5) Writers Must Offer Originality— Schary ' Boulder, Colo. — With the industry ' facing "tough days" in the form of foreign problems, a falling domestic ' market and in• creased competi■■ tion from stepped" up sports, radio and television, ■ writers making Hollywood and ■ films their objecI tives will have to I offer something I more than just a ! talent to rewrite, Dore Schary, M-G-M vice-president in charge of production, declared Friday in addressing the the University of SCHARY Colorado Writers Conference. Hollywood, Schary said, stimulates and subsidizes more new talent than (Continued on Page 6) Button Will Publish Eric Johnston Booh E. P. Dutton Co., Inc., will publish "We're All In It," by Eric A. Johnston, president of the MPAA, MPEA and AMPP, late in the Fall. Publishing house tentatively has set the tome's release for sometime in November, it was learned yesterday. Johnston has been at work on the book, said to be concerned with the world situation, for some time, and had nearly finished his writing stint. The Film Daily presents herewith the first installment of a selection of the opinions of newspaper and radio commentators on the cinema from the more than 300 answers in the 1948 Critic's Forum, an annual symposium in which leading critics and commentators are invited to comment on topics currently of major industry interest. A summary of the critics' answers will be published at a later date. Question Number 1 In your opinion, what tvill be the effect of Coast-to-Coast television, when it comes, upon the motion picture and the motion picture theater? expect films, however, to come oflf the worst. Nor television neither, if everybody is as smart as presumed. ROBERT E. MURPHY Minneapolis Star A SSUMING that television will eventually be perfected so that reception will be equal with that of the best motion picture projection, it will, in my opinion, seriously damage the motion picture theater. Who wants to stand in line and be herded about to see a film that can be enjoyed at one's own hearthside in chosen company and with proper relaxation? Only the lonely hearts! RUSSELL RHODES New York Journal of Commerce LJOW can we tell — it depends entirely on what television has to offer in the way of entertainment. Around Boston we find that outdoor baseball is the worst competition that the films have to meet. MARJORIE L. ADAMS Boston Globe T DO not see how it can help. The trend is toward television, away from the motion picture, and the latter has become so weak that it does not seem able to resist the tide. LEO MILLER j Bridgeport, Conn., Herald ♦ 'TpHEKE ARE two big "ifs" — improvement in television programs and lowering of costs to place sets within the means of the general public. MAE TINEE Chicago Tribune ♦ . '"pHE present shadow-boxing seems to indicate films will capitalize on this medium, as well they might. To my mind, the two aren't the same, but definition of the dichotomy is something still to be worked out. I don't ''VHE American public still — and always will — want to go out for its entertainment. They want theaters, and television, or radio, will never keep them home. JIMMY STARR Los Angeles Herald & Express ♦ TF it makes possible the production of fewer pictures, the chances for improving quality are so much better. AL WEITSCHAT Detroit News ♦ 'T'ELEVISION when new may slow up business on nights of favorite shows or important special events hut eventually it will settle down as routine home entertainment. There is no substitute for the gregariousness of the theater. Television will not hurt the theater noticeably but it will and already has ruined orthodox radio. JOHN ROSENFIELD Dallas Morning News CHOW BUSINESS is indestructible. People will always want to go out to a show. WALTER MONFRIED Milwaukee Journal ♦ T SEE no immediate effect, but it's a fact that television is no "fad" that is here today and gone tomorrow — no more than radio itself was a "fad." (Conf-inued on Page 8) Opposition May Result In Modified Version of Production Finance Plan London (By Cable) — The tide of trade criticism of the Labor Government's plan to subsidize independent production here with |20,000,000 of public money continues to rise and, along with the challenge the WilsonCripps scheme has met in the City, makes it certain that stormy debate awaits the introduction of the Film Finance Corp. enabling measure at (Continued on Page 5) Andy Smilli Fills Youth Month Post Andy W. Smith, Jr., will serve as chairman of the distribution division of the TOA Youth Month Drive, it was revealed at the week-end by Charles P. Skouras, national chairman. Smith will be in charge of dis( Continued on Page 5) $31,639,479 June Ticket Tax 'Take' is Record Washington Bureau of THE FILM D.4ILY Washington — Reversing the story of the past few months, the Treasury this week-end reported that the admissions tax collections for June (Continued on Page 6) Talh Pension Plan For Studio Worhers West Coast Bur., THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Major producers and lATSE committees will explore possibilities of a wide pension program. lA studio locals are in favor of socalled "80 Plan" which means worker is eligible for a pension when his age and years in studio work total that figure. To launch the program it is understood unions would contribute one-third and production two-thirds and that unions would raise their amounts by producing a special picture or by inducing companies to cut them in on reissues of past Academy award winning pictures.