Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1946)

first MOTION PICTURE toote I in I ^ A T T Concise FILM ■ ■ I I and news JUxtjLJL JLs JL lmPartial L_ : —J Mil., r _ Uki VOL. 60. NO. 93 NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1946 TEN CENTS Say Decision Does Not Bar Percent Suits If Contracts 'Illegal,' False Returns Are, Too By TOM LOY Although the New York Federal court has found phases of exhibition contracts illegal, distributors are confident of obtaining "restitution in full" of monies alleged to be due them in more than 140 percentage | suits now pending throughout the country. Commenting on an opinion ex! pressed among others by Thomas C. ; McConnell, attorney for the Jackson ! Park Theatre in Chicago, to the effect that the ruling on the present contracts undermines the legal status of actions alleging damages resulting from falsified percentage returns, as well as on a question about the same I point raised at the recent Allied States ; convention in Boston by Max Cohen, New York circuit operator, counsel for distributors declare they began pre (Continued on page 6) UA for Enterprise In US, Loew's Abroad It is reliably understood that Enterprise will release its first six attractions through United Artists in the United States and Canada with Metro handling distribution elsewhere throughout the world. The deal would be unique and, so far as known, without precedent in recent years. "Progress Made" in Studio Union Confab Hollywood, Nov. 10. — At the close of a six-hour conference attended by CSU, IATSE and neutral union representatives Joseph Keenan was nominated permanent chairman. The committee in charge of the movement to establish arbitration machinery to prevent future work stoppages based on jurisdictional disputes adjourned to reconvene Monday morning. In a short statement, the committee said "much free and frank discussion" had taken place in the first session and "progress made." Meanwhile the current strike con(Continued on page 6) $300,000 Increase For NY Publicists; $150,000 Back Pay Wage increases, estimated by the Screen Publicists Guild to raise company payrolls by $300,000 in the following year, became effective Friday for approximately 375 publicists of film companies here under terms of a new contract with the union. The contract also provides for distribution of an estimated $150,000 in pay rises retroactive to May 4. Involved were Columbia, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Loew's, Paramount, RKO Radio, RKO Theatres, 20th Century-Fox, United Artists, Universal and Warner Brothers. Discussions on a new contract with Republic have been resumed, after being held in abeyance since expiration of the old contract on Aug. 25, it was learned. Roger Lewis, president of the SPG, revealed that talks will start soon with PRC. The pact signed some (Continued on page 6) Wallis-Para. Talk New Long Term D eal Hollywood, Nov. 10. — Hal Wallis, now in the East, is discussing a renewal of his deal with Paramount, providing for 12 additional pictures for release over a period of probably three years. Answering criticisms of the American Theatres Association's participation in the New York anti-trust suit, Robert W. Coyne, ATA executive director, states that ATA's petition to intervene in the case constituted no departure, from its originallystated policy of avoiding intra-industry matters. He explains that the matter of competitive selling as contained in the court's original opinion presented a problem "transcending the field of trade practices" and that the ATA was impelled to launch a fight against it to protect the interests of its membership. Exhibitors in all likelihood would have demanded a stand against "auction selling" if it had been an issue at the time of ATA's organizational meeting in St. Louis, last spring, Coyne commented. He said that the association has pursued the intervention course rather Johnston Contracts Pneumonia Abroad London, Nov. 10. — Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association, visiting from New York, has pneumonia, contracted following his appearance at a trade luncheon here on Thursday against the advice of doctors who had been treating him for a heavy cold. Johnston's tour of the Continent in behalf of the American film industry, which was to have started today, has been cancelled. Johnston's Plan Excites British London, Nov. 10. — The proposal made at a trade luncheon here on Thursday by Eric Johnston, Motion Picture Association president, that the world's motion picture industry leaders establish an international film council is causing excited debate throughout the London film industry, with the consensus of opinion from persons both for or against the proposal being that a prolonged examination of it should be made before any conclusive action is taken. Sir Henry French, director general of the British Film Producers Association, suggests such an organization might well supplement the film work of the United Nations. than that of amicus curiae in the antitrust suit because the former allows for appeal of a denial of its petition, if such should be the case, as well as the right to appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court on the lower court's final decree. If permitted to intervene in the Supreme Court, ATA could present arguments in addition to filing a brief, as amicus curiae only allows. ATA would "encourage" the establishment of arbitration machinery in the industry and in so doing would be operating under its own mandate to "promote the wejfare of the industry," Coyne said. He said that the possibility of the development of such an intra-industry program is considerably stronger at present than it was a few years ago in that the trade problems extant are now crystalized in the minds of theatremen. US to Talk to 18 Countries On Quota Laws Films Among Items Up For Treaty Discussions A concerted trade-agreement negotiations program between the United States and 18 trading nations for the reciprocal reduction of trade barriers on a wide variety of products, including motion pictures and film quota laws, was announced here at the weekend by the U. S. State Department's Winthrop Brown, chief of the Department's division of commercial policy. The negotiations, which, insofar as motion pictures are concerned, would be directed chiefly toward liberalizing film quotas, will look toward substantial elimination of trade discriminations among the various nations, Brown said. The nations slated to participate in the negotiations — which will be pre < Continued on page 6) Companies Consider Brandt Settlement Attorneys for Paramount, RKO Radio, Loew's and Warners will consider out-of-court settlement of the companies' claims of inaccurate percentage reports by the Brandt circuit, here, headed by Harry Brandt, in a series of meetings with Brandt's coun (Contiu,ued on page 6) Goldwyn Gets Astor In 63-Cornered' Row The question of which film will tenant the Broadway Astor Theatre, during the Christmas holidays and subsequent weeks, apparently has been decided in favor of Samuel Goldwyn (Continued on page 6) In This Issue Review of "Children of Paradise" appears on page seven of this issue, and reviews of "Stairway to Heaven," "Wanted for Murder" and Tumbleweed Trail" on page eight. Decree Transcends Trade Practice Field: Coyne