Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1941)

Alert, InteWgen to the^H sjtion Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Fife* In rirst In (Radio) Mi 1 and Impartial j=2>L. 49. NO. 56 i3= NEW YORK, U.S.A., FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1941 TEN CENTS DuMont Urges Television Be Kept Flexible FCC Standards Hearing Opens in Capital Washington, March 20. — Allen B. DuMont, testifying before the FCC today at the opening of hearings on commercialization and standards for television, urged that standards be left flexible so that development work may be continued unhampered. DuMont advocated commercial operation at an early date. Possible shortages of trained technicians and necessary materials needed for the defense program were cited by CBS representatives as a factor to {Continued on page 10) Skouras Weighs Decentralization Decentralization of film buying for National Theatres, of which Spyros Skouras is operating head, is being given consideration by top executives of the circuit. If the plan is decided upon, the New Yojk home office would continue to supervise buying and retain the authority to approve contracts. Most of the buying for the National Theatres divisions is done by the New York office. Under consideration is to (Continued on page 4) Loew's Settles Third Exhibitor Complaint Loew's yesterday effected its third settlement of an arbitration complaint prior to hearing by granting a run to Joseph's Drive-In Theatre, Austin, Tex. Loew's, therefore, has been eliminated from the Drive-in's arbitration complaint for "some run," which was filed with the Dallas local board. Warners and 20th CenturyFox, also named in the complaint, remain as respondents. Loew's previously had settled complaints by Paulston, Inc., Nashua, N. H., and with the Charles Theatre, La Plata, Md., both for "some run." K-A-0 Nets $780,004; B. F Keith $543,614 Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corp. and subsidiaries yesterday reported net profit of $780,004 for 1940 after all charges and provision for taxes. For 1939 the corresponding figure was $976,627. K-A-O's 1940 income amounted to $14,966,601, of which $13,293,852 was theatre admissions. Expenses amounted to $12,900,493, of which $3,989,240 was film cost. Operating expenses and theatre overhead were $4,888,818 and salaries and wages $3,551,073. Current assets are reported at $2,989,353, of which $2,923,433 is cash. Current liabilities amounted to $1,295,320. Every Picture Can Be Sold, Ampa Is Advised by Mayer By SHERWIN A. KANE No picture is so bad that it can't be sold, even though the exhibitor may be obliged to forsake dignity and the "use of white space" in his advertising in order to sell it. That was the message which Arthur Mayer, operator of the Rialto on Broadway, where the kind of pictures to which he had reference always may find a haven, delivered to members and guests of Ampa at a luncheon meeting at the Hotel Edison yesterday. "If the Rialto waited until it got good pictures to advertise, it would never advertise at all/' Mayer said. "I claim to be America's leading expert in selling bad pictures. It's so (Continued on page 4) B. F. Keith Corp. and subsidiary companies yesterday reported net profit of $543,614 for 1940, after all charges. Net profit for 1939 was $575,271. CHICAGO FIRST RUN CASE IS DISMISSED Arbitrator Rules Ken Theatre Complaint For Clearance and Run Cannot Be Arbitrated Before September 1 By IRVING YERGIN Chicago, March 20. — In the first arbitration case of its kind of record to be so decided, Charles P. Megan, arbitrator, in the case of the Ken Theatre, on Chicago's South Side, against RKO, Paramount and 20th CenturyFox, dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction, on grounds that the questions of clearance and run involved cannot be arbitrated prior to next Sept. 1. Schoendstadt Theatres was an intervenor in the Georgia Anti-5 Bill Due to Be VotedonToday Atlanta, March 20. — A motion to consider Georgia's anti-block-of-five bill on the floor of the House was carried today by a vote of 75 to 43. The bill is expected to be voted on by the House tomorrow after failure of an attempt to bring it to a vote today. Opponents of the measure, which has been passed by the Senate_ but was rejected by a House committee, claim sufficient votes to kill it. They also claim the governor opposes it. Representatives of parent-teachers associations and women's clubs appeared in the House today in opposition to the measure. The bill would invalidate the industry consent decree in this state and would require all distributors to offer their full season's product program, with a 20 per cent cancellation privilege, to the exhibitor. Business, Professional Families Are Best Film Customers in New England Washington, March 20.— Families of independent business and professional men are the exhibitors' best customers in New England, it was reported tonight by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in an analysis of family expenditures in that area. The survey showed also that there is little difference in the motion picture expenditures of families in large, middle-sized and small cities, although there is less money spent on all recreation in the small communities, due probably to the fact that there are fewer other amusements available. In general, it was found, average expenditures for motion picture attendance of families in the large cities run from $3 a year in the $500-$750 income group to $29 for the $2,500-$3,000 group; in the middle-sized cities from $3 to $30, and in the small cities from $5 to $29. In the same income groups, the expenditures of the professional and business classes were found to be slightly higher than those of the clerical and wage-earning classes. The motion to dismiss was made by Eli Fink, of the law firm of Spitz & Adcock, representing Paramount and RKO ; Aaron Stein, counsel for the Schoenstadts, and Felix Jenkins, of New York, general counsel of 20th Century-Fox. The dismissal was granted following a brief recess during which Megan examined the decree sections cited on behalf of the motion. Megan held that since the complaint involved a request for first run, it failed to come within the provisions of either (Continued on page 4) Army, Navy Heads Will Attend 'Wings' Industry executives and trade paper representatives will attend the opening of Paramount's "I Wanted Wings" at the Astor Theatre on Wednesday evening, in addition to many ranking Army and Navy officers, stage and screen stars, members of society and a Hollywood delegation. Paramount officials at the premiere will include Barney Balaban, Stanton Griffis, Adolph Zukor, John Hertz, Harvey Gibson, Neil Agnew, John Hicks, R. M. Gillham, Charles Reagan, Joseph J. Unger, George Smith, Paul Raibourn. Arthur Israel, Jr., Oscar Morgan, Duncan Harris, George Weltner, M. S. Russell, Fred Mohrhardt, Louis Phillips, W. B. Cokell, (Continued on page 4) In Today's Issue Broadway and key city grosses of current pictures will be found on Pages 8 and 9. Late news flashes from the Coast, on Page 2.