Harrison's Reports (1951)

144 HARRISON’S REPORTS September 8, 1951 yet been drawn up, but it is understood that the Senate Finance Committee, when it meets jointly with the House committee to complete deliberations on the bill, will recommend that the tax be kept on all motion picture entertainments staged by coopera' tive groups; that charitable organizations, to be eligible from the tax on entertainments sponsored by them, must receive public support; and that religious organizations, as well as educational institutions that have an organized faculty, be granted limited exemptions on the admissions tax. The Senate committee approved, however, the House action in exempting non-profit symphony orchestras and opera companies from the tax. Until the precise language of the new provision is made public, the extent of the exemptions cannot be fully determined, but it is apparent that the Senate Finance Committee has narrowed down the exemptions greatly, thus plugging holes in the bill that would have had the effect of setting up unfair competition to the established motion picture theatres. It is an important victory for the exhibitors, and the main credit goes to Abram F. Myers who, as the authorized spokesman for COMPO, presented powerful arguments against the discriminatory tax provision at a hearing last month before the Committee. SPEAKERS’ PROGRAM SET UP FOR “MOVIETIME” DRIVE A program to reach theatre audiences through local clubs and civic organizations by use of selected speakers in each exchange territory has been formulated by Leon J. Bamberger, RKO sales promotion manager, who is head of the speaker s bureau com. mittee for ‘‘Movietime U.S.A.” A letter and a kit containing eleven speeches plus additional notes pertaining particularly to “Movietime U.S.A.” have been forwarded to all exchange area chairmen of the campaign. All speech-making, the letter points out, must be arranged locally, since it would be too expensive and time-consuming to set up a nationwide speakers bureau. Bamberger suggests that one person in each local committee be appointed chairman of a speaker’s bureau. It will be his duty to contact exchanges, exhibitor associations, supply dealers and others capable and willing to deliver speeches before women’s clubs, Kiwanis, Rotary, educational and other organizations. Once the speakers have been obtained, the chairman is asked to write every exhibitor and circuit house manager, advising him of the availability of the speakers, and urging him to arrange for speaking engagements in his town or city. Exhibitors also are urged to personally address their own audiences, as they live with these people and meet them face-to-face at the theatres. Another point made is that the exhibitor is in the best position to include reference to exceptionally fine shows coming to his theatre. Exhibitors, of course, would also act as speakers before local organizations with the material provided them. Travel expenses will have to be borne by the exhibitor requesting the speaker, according to the letter, which stresses that there are no funds avaialble from the national “Movietime U.S.A.” budget for this purpose. “The Well” with Richard Rober, Barry Kelly and Henry Morgan (United Artists, Sept. 24; time, 85 min.) A gripping dramatic production, skilfully directed and competently acted. Evidently based on the tragic death of little Kathy Fiscus, the child who fell into an old California well several years ago, the exceptionally well-written story is a tense and highly dramatic account of the turmoil and race hatred that besets a small American city following the disappearance of a little Negro girl who, unbeknownst to everyone, had fallen into an abandoned water well. The first half of the picture is extremely impressive because of its forceful, at times brutal, depiction of the racial strife that engulfs the townspeople when a white man comes under suspicion of having kidnapped the child. The false accusation against Henry Morgan wins the spectator’s sympathy, for they know that he is innocent of the child’s disappearance. The second half of the picture, which deals with the discovery of the entrapped child and with the Negroes and whites forgetting their differences in a desperate but victorious effort to save the little girl, is so emotionally powerful that it brings a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye. The frantic cooperative efforts of the townspeople to rescue the child, coupled with the dangers and problems that face the rescuers, will keep the spectator on the edge of his seat. It is an outstanding production and, despite the lack of marquee names, should give a good account of itself at the box-office because of favorable word-ofmouth advertising: — While on her way to school, Gwendolyn Laster, a five-year-old colored child, falls into an abandoned well hidden by tall grass and weeds. Her disappearance is reported by her worried parents to Richard Rober, the sheriff, who treats the matter as a routine incident until the child’s schoolmates report that she had been seen in the company of a strange white man. Rober tries to keep this news from the townspeople. Henry Morgan, nephew of Barry Kelly, a civic power and wealthy contractor, is identified as the strange man. He admits having bought some flowers for the child but denies that he had kidnapped her. The news that a white man, kin of one of the town’s richest men, had been arrested, creates a furore among the colored residents, and as the hours go by without the child being found, gossip, rumors and distortions quickly accentuate an atmosphere of fear and distrust, with the colored people believing that Morgan, being a nephew of an influential figure, would get away with the “crime.” Isolated acts of violence break out between gangs of negroes and whites, and before long the situation gets out of control, compelling Rober to appeal to the Governor for the militia. A full-scale battle between the races is averted when news comes that the child had been discovered at the bottom of the abandoned well. Stunned by the electrifying news, the embattled negroes and whites rush to join in the rescue. Frantic digging begins at once, and Morgan, although embittered, plays a leading role in helping to save the child. It ends with both the negroes and whites returning to their homes crestfallen, ashamed of the tragedy they had nearly caused without reason. It is a Harry M. Popkin production, produced by Clarence Green and Leo Popkin, and directed by Leo Popkin and Russell Rouse, from a story and screenplay by Messrs. Rouse and Greene. Good for everybody.