Harrison's Reports (1950)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: 1270 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS Published Weekly by United States $15.00 (Formerly Sixth Avenue) Harrison s Reports, Inc., U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 ». v t9A N V Publisher Canada 16.50 Wew Iork zu> n' J' p. S. HARRISON, Editor Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Great Britain 17.60 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July 1, 1919 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 Ug Editorial Poiicy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Circle 7-4622 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXXII SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1950 No. 28 KOREAN CONFLICT CAUSES TAX CUT DELAY A severe blow to the industry's hopes for the early elimination or reduction of the 20% Federal tax on admissions was suffered this week when the House' approved bill to cut excise taxes was laid aside by Congressional leaders at the request of President Truman, who felt that it would not be prudent, in the light of present developments in Korea, for the Senate to proceed with further consideration of the tax bill. As a result of this suggestion, it is feared that no tax-cutting legislation would be passed during this session of Congress. With the country faced with the possibility of increased military appropriations because of the Korean war and other international developments, the action taken by President Truman and supported by the Congressional leaders of both political parties is understandable. Industryites who have been active in the tax battle need not despair, however, for if and when Congress again takes up the enactment of a tax-cutting bill the result should be favorable to the industry since the overwhelming majority of Con' gressmen and Senators have pledged themselves as being in favor of either the complete elimination or a substantial reduction of the 20% tax on admissions. There is no doubt that the COMPO Committee on Taxation and Legislation, headed by Mr. Abram F. Myers, will decide on a plan of coordinated action whereby the exhibitors, pending renewal of Congressional consideration of a tax cut, will keep alive the interest of their Congressmen and Senators in the fact that the burdensome admission tax is having a serious effect on theatre attendance. There must be no letdown in the efforts of individual exhibitors to keep their Congressional representatives constantly aware of the damaging effect the admission tax is having on their business. It is the most effective approach because, generally speaking, Congressmen and Senators are interested only in the views of their constituents. Mr. Myers and the members of his committee have done an outstanding job in leading the industry's unified tax battle, and it is indeed unfortunate that international conditions have compelled Congress to aban' don indefinitely passage of the excise-cutting bill, thus delaying the victory they have so well earned. It behooves the exhibitors throughout the country to send a note of appreciation to Mr. Myers and the members of his committee for their untiring efforts in this tax battle, pledging full cooperation on whatever future action they may decide upon. THE POSSIBLE ANSWER TO THE BOX-OFFICE BLUES In an effort to boost declining box-office receipts and to combat television competition, a group of leading circuit owners have formed a new production company, Cinema Productions, Inc., for the purpose of producing a series of twelve novelty and experimental feature pictures designed to enable exhibitors to offer their patrons entertainment that is not available on television. According to trade paper reports, the circuit owners interested in the new company include Fred Schwartz, M. A. Lightman, Sam Pinanski, Si Fabian, George Skouras, Frank Walker, Mitchell Wolfson, Sam Rinzler, Harold Stoneman and Robert Dowling. The first project on the program is a third-dimension type of picture, titled "The Customer's Always Right," which will be produced by Lester Cowan, who is a vice-president of the new firm. Mr. Cowan is now casting the picture on the Coast and hopes to get into production in New York some time in August. Mr. Cowan has told the press that the Polaroid method of third-dimension will be employed in the production of this initial film. This process, he claims, was developed by the Polaroid Corporation for the Army and Navy for use in World War II, and is an improvement over the Polaroid method developed some twenty years previously. From what Mr. Cowan claims for this new process, it does appear to have distinct advantages over the old process which, in the opinion of this paper, was not practical for use in commercial motion picture exhibition. Under the old process, for example, the production of a three-dimensional picture required the use of either two different cameras to shoot the picture at the same time, each camera photographing what one eye supposedly sees, or a single camera of special construction, running at double speed, shooting alternately "right eye" and "left eye" views. Then the two positives, printed from two negatives, had to be projected on the screen by two projectors simultaneously, each projector throwing one picture, the two projected pictures meeting on the screen and, when suitably viewed through spectacles made of Polaroid glass, blending into one picture. The effect, of course, was to make the objects in the picture stand out as do still pictures when viewed through a stereoscope. Under the new process, however, as claimed by Mr. Cowan, a single specially constructed camera is (Continued on back, page)