Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1945)

rr VOL. 58. NO. 55 MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A.. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1945 TEN CENTS ^Senate Probe " Of Continued Building Ban ~m Hearings Start Today On Peacetime 'Freeze' Millions for New Runs In Mid-South Sector Washington, Sept. 17. — Top 1 Government, officials liave been i summoned to appear before the 1 ^enate Small Business Committee • : imorrow to explain why wartime : ntrols have not been taken off -Tpr construction to permit an early ] Start on the building of homes and Commercial structures, including t | theatres. illjr A three-day hearing is planned with the first witnesses i H to include Reconversion Direc■l tor John M. Snyder, Stabilization Director William H. Davis. WPB chairman J. A. Krug and Price Administrator Chester 4 Bowles. v-ijc The investigation stems out of a •jljlood of criticism which has been ■jgr) {Continued on page 6) k ■i Tax Slash Will Not Cut Chicago Prices i , Chicago, Sept. 17. — No reduction in a imission scales is seen here for the .next several months. Despite the re:onversion period which is causing :onsiderable temporary unemployment r. the Chicago area, business is holding up well and exhibitors do not oresee any drop in receipts. Should the amusement tax be reduced in the near future, exhibitors iere feel that admission scales will jnot change, and the tax reduction will jie added to the admission price itself. Max Cohen Named To Victory Loan Max A. Cohen, president of Cinema Circuit here, has been named assistant to S. H. Fabian, chairman of the industry Victory Loan Committee. In announcing the appointment, Fahian said: "I am happy to have the aid of Max Cohen, who has been active in every wartime job assigned to motion picture theatres by the Government." Memphis, Sept. 17. — A building boom running into millions of dollars is about to be launched in the MidSouth following the Washington announcement that restrictions on all building except housing soon will end. Just as rapidly as materials and labor can be obtained, many new houses will spring up in various sections of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. Todd Ferguson, M-G-M sales official here, has returned from an extended tour of Arkansas and reports that signs announcing new theatres will be built are evident in many towns. Many operators have already purchased property lots. Malco Theatres, Inc., has architects' plans ready and many sites already selected for a $1,500,000 program of expansion and new construction as announced recently by M. A. Lightman, Sr., president. A new Memphis theatre will be built by Malco on Main Street. Lightman (.Continued on page 6) F. Love joy Funeral Services Tomorrow Rochester, N. Y., Sept. 17. — Funeral services for Frank W. Lovejoy, 74; chairman of the board of directors of Eastman Kodak, who died yesterday in Strong Memorial Hospital here, will be held on Wednesday in the First Universalist Church of Rochester. He entered the hospital a week ago. Born in Concord, N. H., Lovejoy joined Eastman in 1897. Two years later he became assistant manager and a year after that, manager. In 1906, Lovejoy was made general manager of manufacturing, a post he held until 1919. when he became vice-president; (Continued on page 6) SAG Wage Increase Contract Is Signed Hollywood, Sept. 17. — The Screen Actors Guild today signed a revised contract with the producers, providing improvements in working conditions and increases in minimum rates of pay retroactive to April 1, 1945. Increases are : for day players, minimum rate raised from $25 and $35 a day; free lance players, from $100 to $115; stock contract players, from $50 to $60 a week; singers from $15, $20 and $25 a day, to $35 for recording and $25 for rehearsing, with a weekly minimum of $115. Detroit Has 300,000 Idle; Business Off Detroit, Sept. 17. — Strikes and layoffs, coming on top of war contract cancellation:, have made an estimated 300,000 persons idle here. In consequence, business at theatres in Detroit and vicinity which has been on a general downward curve since 'V-J Day,' now is fluctuating more in some localities than in others. A number of houses still report they have experienced no serious decline in attendance. St. Louis Lockout May Lead to Strike St. Louis, Sept. 17.^ An alleged lock-out of stage hands at St. Louis Amusement Co.'s suburban Powhatan Theatre over the weekend threatened today to precipitate a situation similar to the walkout last December which closed most of theatres in this city and county. St. Louis Local No. 6, IATSE, met today to consider a course of action. The union currently is negotiating a new contract with local exhibitors. E. V. Moran, business agent of the local, said that the Powhatan's stage hand, who works on a half-week schedule,' was locked out when he re (Continucd on page 6) Ask Contracts for 5 New 4IA' Locals Hollywood, Sept. 17. — Negotiation of contracts for the five IATSE studio locals established since the start of the studio strike, to accommodate craftsmen supplied to do the work of carpenters, painters, machinists, art craftsmen and mechanics observing picket lines, is to be included in the meetings to be held with the studios on re-negotiation of the other 12 IATSE contracts between now and expiration of those pacts on Dec. 31, according to Roy M. Brewer, IATSE international representative here. Contracts with the five unions replaced by the new IATSE locals were cancelled by the producers following their failure to order their members through the picket lines. The new (Continued on page 6) Goldman Files Trust Suit on More Houses Would Extend Victory to Keith's and Karlton Philadelphia, Sept. 17. — An anti-trust suit in behalf of his Keith's and Karlton, second-run theatres in the center city zone, was filed today in U. S. District Court here by William Goldman, head of William Goldman Theatres, Inc., charging that a "conspiracy and violation of Federal monopoly and antitrust laws" resulted in his failure to get first-run product for either house. The suit was filed against the Warner circuit and the major distributors: United Artists, Universal, M-G-M, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century-Fox, Columbia and Warner Bros. Goldman, in his suit, alleges that during Warner operation of the two (Continued on page 6) No Secret Griffith Agreement: Kupper Oklahoma City, Sept. 17. — Taking the stand for the defense as the fifth week of the Griffith anti-trust trial opened in Federal District Court here today, W. J. Kupper, 20th CenturyFox general sales manager, stated that the 1933-34 contract between his company and the exhibitor defendants did not contain any agreements not appearing in the document. When asked by Judge Edgar S. Vaught if the contract had kept him from selling his product to other exhibitors in this exchange area, Kupper replied that, (Continued on page 6) State Department Forms OIC Unit Washington, Sept. 17. — Formal announcement of the establishment of the Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs was issued here today by the State Department. The OIC, under newly appointed Assistant Secretary William Benton, will take over the activities of the Interim Information Service after Dec. 31. The latter comprises the informational activities of the defunct Office of War Information and Office of Inter-American Affairs. Frederick Kuhn, Jr., recently appointed director of the IIS, will also serve as acting director of the OIC.