Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1948)

Accurate Concise and Impartial , ' "^64. NO. 41 MOTIOl ISO FILM NEWS NEW YORK, U.S.A., FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1948 TEN CENTS $13,570,000 Is Para. Net For Half Year Excludes Foreign Funds Not Actually Received Paramount's profit for the six months ended July 3 was $13,570,000, including $3,312,000 share of undistributed earnings of partiallyowned non-consolidated subsidiaries and approximately $650,000 of nonrecurring income, the company estimated yesterday. For the same period last year profit was estimated at $17,407,000, including $3,189,000 share' of undistributed earnings. The company noted that effective with the beginning of the fiscal year 1948 it has excluded the earnings of all subsidiaries operating outside of the U. S. and Canada, except to the extent that dividends have been received from such subsidiaries. _ The company has continued its practice of taking up film revenues from subsidiaries operating outside of the U. S. and Canada, it was explained, only to the extent that such revenues have been received in dollars or are remit (Continued on page 4) ITOA Will Appeal | Ascap Decision on Damages; Hits TO A Exhibitor plaintiffs who won their first round in the U. S. District Court anti-trust suit against the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers last month intend to appeal from the portion of the decision denying them damages from Ascap and in order to attempt to obtain "even far more sweeping relief," Milton C Weisman, attorney for exhibitor plaintiffs in the case, said yesterday. The additional relief to be sought was not disclosed. Weisman said the plaintiffs' appeals will be taken regardless of whether or not Ascap appeals from Judge Vincent L. Leibell's decision of July 19. It was disclosed yesterday that Ascap also has decided to appeal but first will endeavor to have its special (Continued on page 4) Anti-Taft Law Film Is Planned by IA First recommendation to the IATSE membership by international president Richard F. Walsh, following his reelection at last week's con vention in Cleveland is for the pro duction by "IA" of a motion picture which would lend impetus to the American Federation of Labor's campaign for repeal of the Taft-Hartley Law. A convention resolution called for an allocation of $25,000 from the campaign fund for financing the film. Such a film, an "IA" spokesman explained here yesterday, would be (Continued on page 2) W. B. Theatre Staff Changes in Capitol Washington, Aug. 26. — George A. Crouch, newly appointed Washington zone manager for Warner Brothers Theatres, has announced several changes in his staff. Advertising and publicity director Frank La Fake will in the future also have charge of the two key downtown theatres, the Warner and the Metropolitan. Louis F. Ribnitzki has been named film buyer and George Warner, head booker. James W. Root will be assistant feature booker as well as short subject booker, and Charles Grimes will assume supervision of the (Continued on page 4) Talks on Consent Decree Status Quo There have been no material developments in consequence of occasional discussons pertaining to proposals for a consent decree in the Paramount case since the subject was first broached late in June, a top executive of a major company said yesterday. While declaring that further discussions will be held from time to time, he indicated that there is at present no rapprochement between the known views of the Attorney General's office and those of the theatre-owning defendants on an acceptable decree. It was also indicated that views among the five major defendants themselves are at variance on some basic 'Cooperate or War,' Johnstojn Tells Rank Ask Judgment In W.B. 'Divorce' Suit Warns U. K. Restrictions May Become World Ills London, Aug. 26. — Eric A. Johnston, Motion Picture Association of America president, warned J. Arthur Rank at a meeting of the two here today that the British industry leader cannot have a closed market here and an open market elsewhere. Britain's restrictive measures, Johnston told Rank, inevitably will become an international infection. This already is obvious in France and elsewhere, he said. The third of Johnston's talks with Rank since the MPAA president's arrival here last Saturday took place at a luncheon today. Their discussions will be continued either before Johnston leaves for the Continent next (Continued on page 4) Washington, Aug. 26. — K-B Amusement Co. today asked Federal Court here for summary judgment in its suit to force Stanley Co. out of the jointly-owned Mac Arthur Theatre. K-B said there was no difference between' the parties over the facts, and that the matter could be disposed of speedily on legal grounds. Stanley has moved to dismiss the suit on the ground that a final judgment in the Paramount case is necessary before the action can go forward. K-B holds this is not so, and that it can win on the basis of the Supreme Court Paramount decision. RKO Stockholders Meet Set for Oct 1 Hollywood, Aug. 26. — Annual stockholders' meeting of RKO reportedly has' been set for Oct. 1 at the board meeting which started at the Beverly Hills Hotel yesterday. The meeting, which was expected to continue for the rest of the week, is understood to have limited its official action to declaring a regular quarterly dividend. Ned Depinet, executive vicepresident, will leave here by plane Saturday for New York. Film 'Red 9 Hearings to Be Resumed in Sept.: Thomas Washington, Aug. 26. — House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on Communism in Hollywood will be resumed next month, committee chairman J. Parnell Thomas said today. He said 26 film figures for whom the committee had "Communist records" 'would be subpoenaed. There have been repeated reports of resumption of the Hollywood hearings, but this is the first to come from Thomas himself, and the most definite. Even with the announcement from Thomas, however, it is very possible that any one of a number of other hearings scheduled next month may send the committee off on another tangent and shove the Hollywood hearings back again. Thomas said the Hollywood hearings would be one of a group on which the committee will work in rapid-fire order starting Sept. 7. They will deal with "a new espionage case," reported harboring of known Communists in the country, reports of Communist infiltration into Negro organizations, the case of Dr. Edward U. Condon, head of the Bureau of Standards, and Communist infiltration in educational institutions and newspapers and periodicals, as well as the Hollywood probe. 20th's Bid for Video Amendment Denied Washington, Aug. 26. — The Federal Communications Commission today gave a final "no" to a request of 20th Century-Fox to amend its application for a San Francisco television station to include plans for an auxiliary station at Oakland. The commission turned down an appeal by 20th-Fox from a similar decision of commissioner George Sterling. The company based its petition in part on the claim that the FCC had allowed Paramount to amend its San Francisco video application under similar circumstances. The FCC said Paramount had sought to amend its application well before the San Francisco television hearings ended. Hudson Claims No Detroit 'Monopoly' Detroit, Aug. 26. — Denying charges of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers that a monopoly in Detroit interferes with the right of the patron to see pictures he wants, Earl J. Hudson manager of the United Detroit Theatres, said : "Pictures of all producers have an equal chance in Detroit Theatres. We show the same (Continued on page 2)