Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1948)

2 Motion Picture Daily Thursday, June 17, 1948 Personal Mention HOWARD DIETZ, M-G-M advertising-publicity vice-president, left New York yesterday for the Coast. • J. Parnell Thomas, chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, who has been in a hospital for several weeks, has returned to his home in Allendale, N. J., for convalescence. • Jules Stein, Music Corporation of America president, and his wife ; Charles Boyer, Raymond Massey and Mrs. Massey are among passengers sailing for Europe today on the Queen Elizabeth. • . Frank McKenna of M-G-M's Eastern story department, and Mrs. McKenna have become parents of their fifth child, John Joseph, born at the Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, N. J. • George D. Burrows, Allied ArtistsMonogram executive vice-president and treasurer, will accompany Steve Broidy, president, when the latter leaves the Coast for New York today. • Lexda Burnett, head of the Film Classics booking department in Atlanta, has left that city for Washington and New York. • Carroll Puciato, assistant to Realart sales manager Budd Rogers, is in Denver and Salt Lake City this week from here. • Norman Elson, Trans-Lux Theatres vice-president, is in Boston today and will return to New York on Monday. • Alfred Hitchcock is due here over the weekend from the Coast and will fly to England Sunday. Ingrid Bergman will accompany him. • Scott R. Dunlap, Monogram studio executive, has returned to the studio after being confined to his home by influenza. • Carmen Miranda and her husband, Dave Sebastian, are due here today from Europe on the SS America. • Alec S. Nyary, United Artists special representative, flew here yesterday from Honolulu. • Jules Lapidus, Warner Eastern sales manager, is in Boston from New York. • Jack Schwartz, Bridgeport exhibitor, has been elected vice-president of the Jewish Service Bureau of that city. • James A. FitzPatrick, short subjects producer, is in town from the Coast. • Tomas Flores, Warner acting manager in the Philippines, is here from the Coast. Loew's Minority Suit Settlement Approved Settlement of a minority stockholders' suit against Loew's and present and former officers and directors over operation of the circuit's candy counters by the People's Candy Co. has been affirmed in N. Y. Supreme Court here by Justice Louis Valente. Under the settlement, which was proposed by Loew's, the company agrees to revise contracts with People's Candy, requiring the candy firm to pay Loew's subsidiaries approximately $161,000 additional for the year ended Dec. 31, 1947. Nicholas M. Schenck, Loew's president, will grant the' company a oneyear option to acquire from him 10,000 shares of present stock of the firm at $13.33 per share. This provision was made in answer to charges that Loew's failed to deduct as a corporate expense for income tax purposes alleged profit made by Schenck on the exercise of options on the company's stock and to recover profits made by him in a stock sale. People's Candy also was named a defendant in the suit. 'Kingsblood' Will Be First Pioneer Picture First picture to be produced by Pioneer Pictures, formed recently by Ralph Cohn and Jules Bricken, will be "Kingsblood Royal," based on Sinclair Lewis' novel. Deal for the screen rights will guarantee Lewis about $75,000, including a percentage of profits, a spokesman for the company said. Release has not been set. Pioneer is negotiating with Ben Hecht to write the screenplay. Plans call for filming in the East. Two Mexican Studios Face Strike June 26 Mexico City, June 16. — Strike notice for a shutdown of two of five local studios, beginning June 26, has been filed by the National Cinematographic Industry Workers Union over its demand for a 60 per cent wage rise. Involved are RKO Radio's Churubusco and the Azteca, which was recently damaged severely in a $1,000,000 fire. <IA,' Sopeg Tilt ( Continued from page 1 ) compliance with a petition filed by "IA" Local H-63. SOPEG's contract expired last May 31. An election date is expected to be set at a forthcoming NLRB conference here among representatives of both unions and the company. SOPEG, a CIO non-complying union, lost an "overwhelming majority" of its UA unit membership to H-63, and in addition the company has refused to deal with SOPEG because of its non-compliance. New B'nai B'rith Film S. Arthur Glixon, president of New York's Cinema Lodge of B'nai B'rith, is producing "Dealing in Futures," a documentary suggested by the vocational guidance work being done by the group. 5,700 Passes Weekly To Flood Victims Portland, Ore., June 16. — All film houses in this city are jointly contributing 5,700 passes weekly to aid the morale of the Vanport flood refugees. The tickets are being handled by the recreation office of the local Red Cross, headed by director William Graeper of the Independent Theatre Owners of Oregon. Foresees Video as Theatre Competitor Chicago, June 16. — It is too early to predict the precise effect which television will have on the film industry, but it eventually will prove highly competitive, Max F. Balcom, president of the Radio Manufacturers Association, said at the organization's national meeting here at the Stevens Hotel. The sessions which began on Monday will conclude tomorrow. Video Contract (Continued frompage 1) tor of National Screen Service. Members of the comparatively new organization will also vote on by-laws, elect officers and establish an agenda for future operations. Its sponsors contemplate national expansion, to embrace television stations, advertising agencies and film distributors and producers. Tomorrow night's speakers will include Gene Martel, president of the Screen Directors Guild and Paramount's Eastern talent scout ; Norman Blackburn, NBC's director of television programming ; Ed Evans, CBS's director of films, and Kendall Foster, television director of the William Esty Advertising Agency. Sells NCAC Interest Alfred H. Morton, whose resignation as president of National Concert and Artists Corp., effective July 1, has been accepted by the board, has sold his interest in NCAC to O. O. Bottorff and Marks Levine, vicepresidents, who will continue as sole stockholders and who will alternate each year as board chairman and president. Morton has joined 20th Century-Fox to direct television activities. Kelly in Television Post NBC's N. Ray Kelly has been named assistant to the director of NBC television features service by Sidney N. Strotz, television vicepresident. The service, established last week with Russ Johnston as director, will act as liaison between NBC and Jerry Fairbanks, Inc., in the production and procurement films for NBC. of Griffith Building One Oklahoma City, June 16. — Work has begun at Henryetta on the latest addition to the Griffith Theatres' Southwestern circuit, to cost $100,000, and be ready late this fall. FCC Adopts Video Broadcast Ruling Washington, June 16. — Federal Communications Commission today finalized a ruling proposed last month graduating the number of hours during which television stations must telecast programs weekly in proportion to the length of time the station has been operating. The rule, which will go into effect on July 1, requires stations during first 18 months of operation to preincr programs not less than two hliis daily, five days a week, and a minimum of 12 hours a week, and stations after three years must telecast seven days a week for a minimum of 28 hours weekly. Park Ave. Theatre (Continued from page 1) day that he closed the house Tuesday night when, during a private screening, projectionists put a reel of film in the projector upside down. Issues involved are the number of projectionists employed, wage increases and vacation replacements for the booth men, both labor spokesmen and theatre management said. The Park Avenue, which employs seven projectionists, is seeking a "reasonable" reduction to bring the costs into line with those prevailing in "competitive" situations, according to John J. O'Connor, Universal-International vice-president. U-I operates the house on a lease from Walter Reade Theatres. Herman Gelber, president of Local No. 306, in terming the theatre's action a lockout, said that a crew stood by yesterday upon instructions from IATSE. Publicity Council (Continued from page 1) dustry council to guide public relations. The meeting, while not yet set, is expected to be held in a few days. Last previous discussion of the plan, to which all sectors of the industry have pledged their participation, took place on April 8, with Johnston presiding. The idea for an all-industry public relations council first took root while Byron Price served as MPAA vice-president in Hollywood. Cheyfitz said he expects to remain here for two weeks. Albany Golf Tourney Albany, N. Y., June 16. — Variety Club here expects to have the largest turnout for its golf tournament at Shaker Ridge Country Club on Monday, according to Nate Winig, chairman. Charles W. Powers, 58 Cleveland, June 16. — Charles W. Powers, 58, owner of the Hudson Theatre in Hudson, O., and a former Paramount salesman in this territory, died Monday after a heart attack. Burial was in New Haven, Conn. The widow survives. Mrs. Nat Furst Mrs. Nat Furst, wife of Nat Furst, Monogram branch manager, died here suddenly yesterday. MOTION PICTURE DAILY, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Sherwin Kane, Editor; Martin Quigley, Jr., Associate Editor. Published daily, except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., 1270 Sixth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, New York 20, N. Y. Telephone Circle 7-3100 Cable address "Qui^pubco New York." Martin Quigley, President ; Red Kann Vice-President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary;' James P. Cunningham, News Editor; Herbert V. Fecke, Advertising Manager; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager; David Harris, Circulation Director; Hollywood Bureau, YuccaVine Building, William R. 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