The Film Daily (1948)

^° NaT ^^L, THE Intimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Now Thirty Years Old VC-^4. NO. 51 NEW YORK. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 13. 1948 TEN CENTS B6RG6R uims minncBPOLis music floions MPAA London Branch May be a Clearing House Would Assist Distribs. Line Up Full American Programs Under New Plan London (By Cable)— MPAA's London headquarters may be used as a clearing house for U. S. distributors who seek films to complete programs under the plan to offer only ailAmerican programs after Oct. 1. There is no intention and no necessity to set up special machinery for the purpose, it is pointed out by Fayette W. Allport, MPAA representative here. Distributors anticipate the new policy can be put into operation without difficulty. Individual distribs. will make up their own programs and service customers at an inclusive price for the first and second features. In most cases, companies will be (Continued on Page 3) Variety Clubs Meet Calls Trade Toppers Topflight industry execs, will be strongly represented at the Variety Clubs Int'l mid-year conference and the Humanitarian Award dinner to be held in Washington this weekend. The majority of the executives (Continued on Page 3) Caravan Operations Shift To Indianapolis Confirmed Philadelphia — Physical transfer of AUied's Caravan operations to Indianapolis was confirmed Friday following a two-day meeting of the Caravan Committee. Move, sug( Continued on Page 3) 1 JSfiWPP, fiWPPA, E-L in AFM Pact West Coast Bur.. THE FILM DAILY Los Angeles — SIMPP, IMPPA, Eagle Lion, Enterprise and American Federation of Musicians have reached an agreement for one year, retroactive to Sept. 1, 1948. It provides for 35,000 man hours at the old rate of $13.30 per hour and former working conditions. EDUCATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS READY Education Council Commission to Release Material for Films in Democracy, Music, Art, Mathematics Fields New Haven — Research materials and educational specifications to be used in developing films in the fields of democracy, music, art and high school mathematics are expected to be released Sept. 25 at the final meeting of the Commission on Motion Pictures of the American Council on Education. Meeting, according to Dr. Mark A. May, commission chairman, will be held in New York. Materials covering 10 to 15 topics in each of the fields will be proposed, with materials to be made available to producers without charge, from the Commission's headquarters at Yale University. Educational specifications to be released to film producers contain a statement on: (1) The educational problem to be dealt with, (2) the audience for whom the film is intended, (3) the objectives to be attained, and (4) the subject matter content to be covered. Commission (Continued on Page 6) mm. Distribs. to Meet on Price Cuts Leading 16 mm. distributors will meet tomorrow to discuss the "growing menace of price cutting which is strangling the 16 mm. industry," Jacques Kopfstein, executive vicepresident of Astor Pictures, announced. Luncheon meeting at the (Continued on Page 6) Todd to Take Over B'way Winter Garden for Legit Following expiration of the lease on the Winter Garden Sept. 30 now held by Universal International, Michael Todd will take over rental of the house from Shubert interests and refurbish it for presentation of (Continued on Page 6) Para. Acquires 22,200 More Common Shares Paramount continued to purchase its common stock in open market operations during August when the company acquired 22,200 shares to bring its total holdings to 633,333. August activity represented a decline from July purchases which aggregated 31,000 shares. U. K. Video in Bid for Scandinavian Market Copenhagen (By Air Mail) — Another skirmish in the pending battle between U. S. and British television interests is indicated in the announcement that United Kingdom video equipment will be given a full (Continued on Page 6) Uruguay Restarictions Loom Dollar Reserves Drop to Dangerous Level "Food for Israel" Drive To Enlist Industry Aid Philadelphia — Steps to bring about industry participation in a co-ordinated national "Food For Israel" campaign were taken here late last week at a special luncheon attended (Continued on Page 6) Currency restrictions loom ahead in Uruguay for U. S. distributors, unless means are found on Governmental levels to increase Uruguay's balance of ti-ade, warned Bernardo ,Glucksmann, Latin-American film pioneer, who is on his first visit here in 18 years. At the moment, Glucksmann said, only licenses are required to import U. S. films into Ui-uguay. But as (Continued on Page 6) Judge Rules for Exhibitor In Infringement Suits By ASCAP-Member Cos. By NATHANIEL F. WOOD FILM DAILY Staff Correspondent Minneapolis — Judge Gunnar H. Nordbye in U. S. Dist. Court Friday fired a double barrel decision against ASCAP in the BergerJensen ASCAP suit pending court action here more than a year by siding with Federal Judge Leibell that the music society was a monopoly, but added that ASCAP's control of film music fees was an extension of (Continued on Page 6) ASCAP-Member Can't Sue Exhibitor— Myers Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — National Allied headquarters on Friday hailed the decision in the Minneapolis actions brought by a group of ASCAPmember publishers against Benjamin Berger companies as vindication of its position that exhibitors need not pay fees to the music licensing organization. Observing that he had not seen the opinion, Abram F. Myers, Allied (Continued on Page 6) Add Para. Distrib. to Prudential's Complaint Prudential Theaters, Inc., and the Playhouse, Norwalk, Conn., on Friday filed a supplementary complaint in Federal Court adding Paramount Distributing Corp. to the defendants (Continued on Page 3) Screen Guild Seeking Its Own Studio Space West Coast Bur., THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — In a move to avoid production delays caused by earlier commitments of independent studios, Screen Guild is now negotiating for its own studio space, Robert L. Lippert, president, announced. Development is in line with SG's production program calling for five pictures every two months, Lippert pointed out.