Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY First in and Impartial J^OL. 51. NO. NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 1942 TEN CENTS Mutual Sues NBC, RCA on Trust Charge •>eeks$10,2? '5,000 Damages For'U nfair Com petition' Mutual and six of its affiliates filed $10,275,000 anti-trust suit against v'CA and NBC in Chicago Federal "ourt on Saturday, charging "an unuvful combination and conspiracy" to i event Mutual from entering into free nd fair competition. The action charged that restrictive n BC contracts with stations prevented lutual from obtaining business in ities where there are fewer than four Li 11time stations. Actual damages of 3,425,000 were alleged but the de and was tripled under the Sherman rti-trust law. Mutual charged that xclusive contracts between NBC and ps affiliates prevented Mutual's comlercial programs from obtaining aditional stations. Mutual's suit is the third arising rom network competition. NBC and "BS started suits in New York to It-strain the FCC from enforcing its ew rules, and this was followed by ii anti-trust suit brought by the Govrnment in Chicago against the net crks. Mutual alleged that only a fraction f the time available is used by the (Continued on page 4) Depinet Comments On Minn. Testimony Ned E. Depinet, RKO vicepresident in charge of distribution, in discussing his testimony in the Minnesota antiblock-of-five law trial on his return to New York Friday, said : "The correspondent must have been listening to someone else's testimony as much of the printed version was at variance with what I said. "Among other things. I was misquoted about RKO not favoring the consent decree, and I was particularly disturbed over the reference to my exhibitor friends preferring fishing to work. What I actually said was that any exhibitor who didn't go fishing but took off his coat and went to work to put over pictures like 'Abe Lincoln in Illinois,' 'Quality Street,' 'The Informer' or 'Mary of Scotland' could have successful engagements with them." Compromise Due on Daylight Time Issue Washington, Jan. 11 — With House passage of a bill making Daylight Saving Time mandatory throughout the country for the duration of the war and six months thereafter, conference committees of the House and Senate will meet to reach a compromise on their measures. The Senate bill gave the President authority to change time by sections at his discretion. The House bill was passed Fridav by a vote of 67 to 20. Levy Testifies on Minn. Anti-5 Law St. Paul, Jan. 11.— Of 500 open theatres in Minnesota, only 300 to 325 arc considered "possibilities" because the others are in competition, M. A. Levy, 20th Century-Fox district manager, testified on Friday at the State's anti-block-of-five violation trial here. Levy pointed out that frequently theatres in neighboring towns are in direct competition and may not be serviced with the same product. This works a hardship on the exhibitor, he indicated, since a distributor's product may not be split between two theatres and because the State law prevents spot booking from the rejected 20 per cent of a full season deal. Paul N. Lazarus of the United Artists home office testified as a distribution specialist, although his company is not a defendant. O. P. M. BARS NEW THEATRE BUILDING U.S. Tax on Film Rentals Seen Likely W ashington, Jan. 11. — A tax on film rentals, probably embodied in an over-all national sales tax, is seen by observers as likely to be adopted by Congress in an effort to meet the President's demand for $7,000,000,000 in new tax revenue. A tax on film rentals was in effect during the first World War. Congessional circles believe that to develop a revenue far in excess of what the Treasury Department had contemplated, it will be necessary to adopt all of the numerous tax suggestions heretofore put forward. It is expected that a five per cent payroll tax also may be enacted. The President's unprecedented request for additional revenues is understood to have caught the Treasury unprepared and several weeks may elapse before recommendations on new taxation will be ready for submission to Congress, it is learned. Treasury officials had been scheduled to present their suggestion to the House Ways and Means Committee this week, but it is probable only part of the program will be ready, at best. Local 306 President Sees Union Peace in N. Y. Soon Associates Induct New Officer Slate With James J. Walker as toastmaster, the new officers of the Motion Picture Associates were inducted on Friday at a luncheon meeting at the Hotel Astor. Guest speakers paid tribute to the new president, Harry Buxbaum, and urged increased support of the organization, the prime function of which, it was emphasized, is to provide assistance for those of the industry in need. Among the speakers were William Brandt, Joseph Lee, Sam Rinzler, Max A. Cohen, Louis Nizer and Joseph Higgins, Collector (Continued on page 4) Declaring that operators' Local 306, IATSE, and Empire State Motion Picture Operators Union are "not too far apart" in their demands, Herman Gelber, newly elected Local 306 president, declared Friday that negotiations for merging the two unions would be resumed soon. At a meeting of the 306 executive board tomorrow, the local is expected to appoint a negotiating committee. Neither union has made an "honest effort" to effect a settlement heretofore, Gelber asserted. Conflict between the two unions has been a recurrent source of strife in New York City for more than 10 years. At present, Local 306 is picketing the New Delancey and Empire (Continued on page 4) Materials Restriction for War Duration Told To Exhibitors By BERTRAM F. LINZ Washington, Jan. 11. — Construction of new theatres will not be permitted during the emergency and no modernization o f equipment i n running order will be approved, A. Ju1 i a n Brylawski, in charge of film industry priorities, told representatives of Eastern exhibitors at a meeting here on Friday. OPM restrictions were laid before the exhibitors at the first of a series of meetings which are to be held with theatre owners from various sections. On the basis of the meetings, Brylawski will make recommendations to the OPM for allocation of materials for theatre use, and later a program will be worked out to insure equitable distribution, it was said. Every effort will be made to keep theatre installations in operating con(Continued on page 5) A. J. Brylawski Labor Talks Delay Rents Coast Trip Sidney R. Kent, president of 20th Century-Fox, has postponed his planned departure for the Coast owing to the studio labor conferences in which he is participating here. It is now believed that he will leave next week, accompanied by his personal assistant, Tom J. Connors, if the labor conferences permit. Negotiations between major company officials and representatives of the eight IATSE studio locals enter a second week today without agreement on any major point. The first week of negotiations ended Friday with both sides still discussing general working conditions.