Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1947)

10 Motion Picture Daily Monday, February 3, 1947 No Forum Tie-Up Now: Allied Board Washington, Feb. 2 — The Allied States board of directors, on the recommendation of counsel Abram F. Myers, agreed at its meeting here Friday that it would be unwise for Allied to obligate itself to an industry-wide forum until the U. S. Supreme Court has finally acted in the industry anti-trust suit. Myers, in his report to the board, stated that there is "nothing to discuss until the Supreme Court judgment is rendered." MGM Sales Meet (Continued from page 1) ager, stated that he has not met with the division chiefs together in three months and in that time a number of subjects have come up for attention. Release plans for "The Yearling," which opens at the State Lake Theatre, here, this month, are expected to be announced following the session. Division managers to attend are John J. Maloney, Central division, from Pittsburgh; John P. Byrne, Eastern, New York, and Rudolph Berger, Southern, New Orleans. Edward M. Saunders and Edwin W. Aaron, assistant general sales managers, also will attend from New York. Space Increased (Continued from page 1) a trip to Hollywood, where he sought to make immediate arrangements to supplement or supplant the company's two warehouses, which have a combined storage capacity of about 50,000,000 feet of stock. He found, however, that some delay will be necessary because of currently inflated real estate values and Government restrictions on new construction. Some time ago, German pointed out, property was acquired at McCadden Place and Santa Monica Boulevard, which is somewhat removed from the congested vicinity of the present warehouses, but it now develops that further removal from the crowded area will be necessary. Raw stock demands for distribution as well as production are due to increase within the next few years, German said, pointing out that there will be more theatres to service than at present. Already the demand has begun, with the average picture now requiring 350 or 400 prints in contrast to approximately 275 during the war, lie added. Allied Board Votes Appeal (Continued from page 1) and cooperate with other independent exhibitor organizations. The board approved the flat-rental proposal sent to New York by the Conference of Independent Exhibitor Associations and urged that the CIEA efforts continue with Allied cooperation. Myers was authorized by the board to convey to the Attorney General the board's appreciation for his steadfastness in pressing for complete divorcement. Also the skill and tenacity with which Robert L. Wright handled the industry case in the lower court was praised by the board. In Myers' letter to Attorney General Tom Clark, he will earnestly request that the Government promptly appeal to the Supreme Court with a view toward obtaining complete divorcement. Allied on Friday refused to appoint a representative to the 12-man Industry-Government Film Committee. The action was taken at the recommendation of Myers, who contended that the present Allied reviewing committee operating under Lee Newbury of New Jersey Allied is sufficient to handle exhibitor-Government relations. The matter of production was discussed by the board, and it was agreed that Irving Dollinger, chairman of the production committee, will continue to negotiate with independent producers for 12 films, the exhibition to be guaranteed by Allied members. Dollinger was given authority to accept bids for the films for 30 days. The final plan will be adopted by the board at its summer meeting. Appearing before the board was Stanley Neal, a promoter interested in handling the production *of films for Allied. There was some discussion about the matter of distribution. If the films are made by an independent. Allied will be required to provide distribution facilities. It was suggested tint Allied might set up two or more of its members in a production company, but Meyers, acting as general counsel, advised against such a move. Later Myers commented that for exhibitors to directly enter either production or distribution would be "unlawful" and in violation of the anti-trust laws. Myers was quick to point out that Allied is not "entering production," but merely guaranteeing the exhibition of a group of 12 films. The major exhibitor problem todav is a growing trend toward state and municipal regulations harmful to the industry, Myers said. The board discussed exhibitor public relations "on a grass roots" level and decided to establish a clearing house at Wash ington _ headquarters to distribute information on methods of combating local legislation and regulation. Myers spoke particularly of the growing number of state and city governments which are establishing local admissions taxes, censorship bills^ special age rules for theatre admission and other types of rules and regulations. "It is an exhibitor job We must all work together on a local level in order to combat this dangerous trend," Myers asserted. Commenting to the board on the continuation of national excise rates including the 20 per cent admissions tax rate, Myers said that nobodv could halt the present legislation, an^ that he believe* no organization wi1' try. The bill has already passed thf House. Pete Woods of Ohio Allied reported on the increasing shortage of product. He said that in 1941 there \yerp 353 films made, and in 1946 only 221 were produced. Said Woods : "It is more profitable for the producers anH distributors to keep the number of films at an absolute minimum. In 1941 each picture made a profit averaging $100,000 : and in 1946, the majors received $580,000 on the averagner picture." Woods is working with Dollinger in the production deal for Allied. Shorts Rental Rise Coast Pastor Heads Consultative Group Los Angeles, Feb. 2. — Los Angeles Church Federation secretary Dr. E. C. Farnham has appointed Dr. Louis Evans, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Hollywood, as chairman of the Protestant Committee to cooperate with New York's Protestant Film Committee in setting up a consultative office in Hollywood for counselling producers on scripts and stories from the Protestant viewpoint. As presently planned, the office here would make its service available to producers on a volunteer basis only. New York University offers a training course leading to a certificate in Motion Picture Theater Management PUBLICITY, ADVERTISING AND EXPLOITATION under the direction of Michael Zala These evening classes, limited in size, open on Thursday, February 6. Early registration is advisable. For Further Details, Address Division of N£W YORK UNIVERSITY General Education 100 Washington Square East Room 21 lg. Main Building New York 3, N. Y. SPring 7-2000, Extension 291 Film Accuracy (Continued from page 1) ment for a government news service and film export regulations, Price declared that "these alien outcroppings spring from a fear by public officials that producers and publishers are incapable of conducting their affairs without damage to the public interest." The same distrust, Price said, lies behind motion picture censorship in seven American states. "Let it be understood," he added, "that in speaking of censorship I do not refer to the normal requirements of decency which apply to all American citizens and institutions. The laws against political subversion, libel, slander, blasphemy and pornography are universal and no one can quarrel with them. These laws can be invoked against any newspaper, any broadcast or any motion nicture which outrages the moral standards of civilized society. It is a quite different and un-American approach, however, when states and communities go the additional length of setting up censor boards, requiring prior approval and issuing licenses. That_ is censorship, exactly as it is practiced in the countries which most abhor civil liberties and free enter ( Continued from page 1) of steadily rising labor and production costs, several distributors report large-standing exhibitor resistance, ranging from "unqualified refusal" to an inclination toward compromise, mingled with "not infrequent" exhibitor willingness to coj erate in preserving the si subject as an institution. As expected, the distributors are finding strongest resistance • where dual-features are shown, while in those theatres which adhere to single feature policies and, which, perforce, rely on shorts to fill programs, resistance is less pronounced generally. A theatre's size, money-making capacity, and other like considerations influence the extent to which exhibitors cooperate. A spokesman for one of the larger independent metropolitan New York circuits predicts unreservedly that the distributors "are not going to get as much as a 25 per cent increase," regardless of their efforts. A spokesman for another, equally large, circuit here admits he has been paying "a little more" from time to time, with the size of the increase depending on its individual theatre outlets' capacities for absorbing the amounts. Meanwhile, newsreel theatres, whose dependence on shorts is even greater than that of single-feature houses, find themselves in a unique position in the drive for higher rentals. Because their programs are made up entirely of newsreels and short subjects, the newsreel theatres "have always been required to pay higher rentals for shorts than have feature theatres," according to the head of one such circuit here. He views the newsreel theatres as being in a "tight spot" in this connection, and reports the newsreel theatres generally are putting up resistance to the higher rentals drive. Typical of the distributors' feeling in connection with the drive's progress is that voiced by Paul N. Lazarus, Sr., United Artists sales executive, who describes distribution's accomplishments toward getting higher short subject rentals as "a far cry from what they should be." There is some improvement from the distributor viewpoint, he reports, adding that "we are trying to improve our position all the time." prise. Turning to the international sphere, Price said : "Some of the nations which support freedom of communication in principle speak from the other side of the mouth about new barriers against the American motion picture. It is the American motion picture which can be the greatest instrument of all toward international understanding. It is the American picture which has taught the world the miracle of the screen and won the gratitude and idolatry of countless millions abroad. To raise new barriers against it is a backward step toward the dark recesses of isolation. Barriers beget barriers. No one ever won the esteem and cooperation of his neighbors through a locked-door policy." To Address Advertisers Los Angeles, Feb. 2.— Byron Price, Hollywood vice-president of the Motion Picture Association, will address the Los Angeles AdvertisingClub at its weekly meeting Feb. 11.