Harrison's Reports (1951)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Yearly Subscription Bates: United States $15.00 U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 Canada 16.50 Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Great Britain 17.50 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 35c a Copy s 1270 SIXTH AVENUE New York 20, N. Y. A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Published Weekly by Harrison’s Reports, Inc., Publisher P. S. HARRISON, Editor Established July 1, 1919 Circle 7-4622 A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXXIII SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1951 No. 40 THE “LITTLE FELLOW” REVOLTS It has long been a contention of this paper that an exhibitor organization, consisting of large circuits and small operators, even though all have an independent status, cannot properly serve the needs of the smaller exhibitors, first, because the interests of the two are in many respects diametrically opposed, particularly insofar as trade practices are concerned, and secondly, because the large circuits, by sheer weight of the number of theatres they represent and by virtue of their greater financial support, would dominate such an organization and would attempt to force their will on the minority — the smaller operators. That this contention is sound was proved at the an' nual national convention of the Theatre Owners of America, held in New York last week, when the small'town exhibitor members of the organization, dissatisfied and obviously riled at the manner in which their problems were being handled, started such a revolt on the convention floor that the TO A leader' ship, if it is to retain the smaller exhibitors as mem' bers, had better start giving serious thought toward assuming a more militant stand against the distribu' tors in regard to trade practices, particularly as they affect the small'town operators. The revolt, which took place at the closing session of the convention on Thursday, had its beginning on Wednesday at a meeting of the TOA’s exhibitor' distributor relations committee, of which W alter Reade, Jr. is the chairman. Many of the smaller ex' hibitors present felt that Reade adjourned that com' mittee meeting without giving them a full oppor' tunity to voice their grievances. As reported by Sher' win Kane, of Motion Picture Daily, Reade's ad' journment of the meeting left many of the small theatre owners with a feeling “that not only had they been offered no solution for their problems, but had been ruled out of order in raising some of them in committee.” The protests against Reade’s actions were so strong that, to satisfy the protesting exhibitors, the committee reconvened for an unscheduled session on Wednesday afternoon to give everyone a chance to speak his mind. Reade, incidentally, refused to permit the trade paper reporters to report the proceedings. But the dissension created at the meetings of Reade’s committee reached a boiling point at the open convention forum on Thursday morning after a read' ing by Reade of his committee's report, which con' demned the distributors for their attitudes on differ' ent trade practices but which offered no recommenda' tions on how to combat the inequities complained of by the exhibitors. The report, which blasted the sales policies of two unidentified companies brought forth a demand from Nat Williams, of Thomasville, Ga., that the companies be named lest suspicion be thrown on cooperative distributors, and he himself chose to name Paramount as the company that was putting undue pressure on the exhibitors in his territory. Max Connett, of Newton, Miss., who was presid' ing at the session, agreed with Williams about naming names and pointed to both Paramount and Warner Brothers as the offenders in his territory. It was at this point that Reade committed what is probably the biggest boner ever committed at any convention. He halted the meeting, although Con' nett was the moderator, and proposed that, in view of the naming of names and the uncomplimentary re' marks being made about some of the distributors, the speakers’ observations either be kept off the record by declaring the meeting to be a closed session, or that the trade paper reporters present be required to sub' mit their notes to Herman Levy, TOA’s general counsel, for censorship. The reporters, to a man, re' fused to agree to the submission of their notes, and the flustered Reade, after vainly searching for some TOA officers to decide the issue, asked that his pro' posal be put to the convention for a vote. It was defeated unanimously amid much applause. Reade’s efforts to gag the press was roundly con' demned by many of the exhibitors present. Max Con' nett, for example, stated that he would not want to say anything he could not be quoted on, and Henry Reeve, of Texas, charged that “the attempt to muzzle the trade press was a further attempt to hush up the complaints that the small exhibitors have on their minds.” He aded that “it may well be that in the trade press we have a more powerful factor than the president and the board of directors.” That the small exhibitors were thoroughly dis' appointed with the handling of their problems is evi' denced by the remarks made on the convention floor by Tom Dribble, a yong exhibitor from Albuquerque, N.M., who pointed out that his traveling and conven' tion expenses had been paid for by the exhibitors in his territory, and that after attending the different meetings for three days he felt that there was little he could tell his fellow exhibitors about what the convention had accomplished for them. He observed also that if the TOA cannot do something for the small'town theatre owners, Allied is sure to get many new members. The discontent felt over the handling of trade prac' tices is further evidenced by the following quotes from several of the delegates, as reported by the alert Motion Picture Daily staff: Morton Thalheimer, of Virginia : “We love the big exhibitors who are our fellow members, but they brush you off if you try to talk film rentals to them. It is the same for union wages and operating costs in general. Some of us won’t be back next year unless you show you are trying to do something about these (Continued on bac\ page)