Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1948)

FIRST MOTION KCTURE Accurate IN ATT Concise FILAA and NEWS mJAL JLl Impartial £ ^ 64. NO. 10 NEW YORK, U.S.A., THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1948 TEN CENTS Rank Yields To Irate CEA On Practices Appeals to National Pride In Defending New Quota London, July 14. — J. Arthur Rank today succeeded in appeasing to a considerable degree a meeting of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association's general council which had assembled in an angry, indignant mood over the new quota law, British Film Producer Association "threats" in behalf of enforcement and reports that Rank was preparing to put on "the squeeze" for higher rentals for his pictures. Asserting that "our business is one of negotiation and mutual understanding," Rank said his General Film Distributors does not intend to ask any exhibitor to pay more than 50 per cent for any film on its general release. He denied vehemently that he would advocate prose (Continned on page 6) Rank Proposes GFD Arbitration Setup London, July 14. — J. Arthur Rank proposed at the meeting of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association general council here today that an independent tribunal be set up to adjudicate all claims for adjustments where his General Film Distributors and its exhibitor customers fail to agree. It will be available, he said, as a promise that GFD does not claim to be the sole arbiter of what is fair or what is reasonable in rental terms and other such issues. He proposed that the tribunal be made up of three individuals : one a renter who is a director of a British (Continued on page 6) Walter W. Irwin, 67, An Industry Pioneer Walter W. Irwin, 67, who organized the Vitagraph Lubin Selig Essanay 1 Co. and later was vice-president of the Famous Players Lasky Corp., died 1 yesterday in New York Hospital after a brief illness. He was prominent in the formation of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry and was chairman of its executive committee for four years. The widow survives. Sir Alexander Asks The $64 Question London, July 14. — At the conclusion of J. Arthur Rank's remarks in behalf of the new 45 per cent quota at the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association general council meeting here today, Sir Alexander King, leading British exhibitor, asked the industry leader how he can expect to make 60 successful pictures annually when the Americans, as Rank maintains, cannot. "I'm dead scared of this quota," Sir Alexander declared. He told Rank that his (Rank's) "economic fallacy is sowing the seeds of your own destruction." AFM Asks Producer Parley in Chicago James C. Petrillo, president of the American Federation of Musicians, has invited the film producers labor committee in Hollywood to commence negotiations on a new basic studio agreement early next month in Chicago, an AFM spokesman reported here yesterday. Present two-year contract, covering the 340 musicians employed at eight major studios, will expire on August 31. The AFM spokesman said Petrillo has selected Chicago as the site for this year's negotiations to make it pos (Continued on page 6) Wallace Convention Next on Television Full television coverage of the three-day convention of the Henry Wallace Third Party in Philadelphia, beginning July 23, is planned by all video networks and independent stations along the Eastern Seaboard. The material will again be pooled. First Share of US Money in England Being Transferred While yesterday was the date for the first remittable share of earnings due U. S. companies from the British market under the dollar-exchange agreement which settled the British 75 per cent import tax, in practical meaning it marked the time the mechanics of the involved fiscal operation were begun. Executives here faid their London offices merely filed statements on the past month's earnings with the Anglo-U. S. control board which governs the operation of the dollar exchange. Next step is for the board to have converted, through the Bank of England, British pounds to American dollars and then transfer the money to American banks for distribution among the American companies quarterly, on the basis of their earnings in England. The total is not to exceed one month's part, or one-twelfth of the $17,000,000 per annum in remittables agreed upon, this totaling to $1,416,000. 4 Top Films, Others For RKO This Year Hollywood, July 14. — Four topbudget pictures, four or five smaller budget features and a steady flow of short subjects will be produced by RKO Radio during the next five months, N. Peter Rathvon, RKO president, announced today in contradiction of reports that the studio would shut down preparatory to inception of Howard Hughes'" regime. Rathvon's statement referred to the present lull in studio activity as a "curtailment." First of the top-budget films named is "Interference," which started shooting last week. The others will be named shortly. "Every Girl Should {Continued on page 4) NY Paramount 1st with Regular Video Policy Paramount yesterday disclosed it has adopted as a regular policy the use of full-screen television at its Paramount Theatre on Broadway. This is the first theatre in the U. S. to attach box-office importance to the new medium to the extent of announcing it as a "regular entertainment feature." "Regular" means "as often as we find the right material," it was explained by Paul Raibourn, president of the Television Productions, Paramount subsidiary. The house will telecast spot news and sporting events for its patrons and when the events are of top interest, such as a heavyweight championship fight, the theatre will consider a tilt in admission scales, Raibourn said. Schary Heads M-G-M Studio Under Mayer Is New V.-P. in Charge Of Production There Hollywood, July 14. — Dore Schary joins M-G-M as vice-president in charge of production under a long-term contract signed Tuesday, the studio formally declared today. He will supersede all other production executives at Metro, will be answerable directly to Louis B. Mayer, whose title as production vice-president, in fact, Schary now assumes. Completion of negotiations followed extended conferences between Schary and Nicholas M. Schenck, president of Loew's, who flew here from New York last week for this express purpose, together with resident studio officials. These (Continued on page 4) Dore Schary Majors to Inform US of Quiz Moves A program on time extension for the submission of data on joint theatre ownership asked for by the Government under the U. S. Supreme Court decision in the Paramount antitrust case will be worked out by the "Big Five" defendants under an understanding with Robert L. Wright, special assistant to the U. S. attorney general. The companies have agreed to let (Continued on page 6) Specify Data Sought For Monopoly Probe Washington, July 14. — Questionnaire being circulated by the House Small Business Committee among "small businessmen" in the film and other industries, preparatory to holding hearings on monopoly and antitrust law enforcement, requests the following information : Outline in the order of importance the competitive problems of your in (Continued on page 6)'