Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1948)

r-~ • ■ Accurate MOTION PICTURE FIRST Concise T% ATT ^£7^ IN and I IA I 1 w FILM Impartial JL^rm.JL JL j NEWS 4. NO. 77 NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1948 TEN CENTS JA' May Pass Up Raise for 3ther Points Coast Crafts Look for Pension, Sick Benefits 1 Hollywood, Oct. 19. — IATSE {J nternational representative Roy 3rewer declared here today that the ™'IA" is possibly willing to settle jn a new contract without a cost-ofiving raise, provided producers accede :o several other 'IA' demands such as :i pension fund (of four per cent), i paid holidays, sick leave and an adjustment of daily to weekly schedules." The "IA" contract with the studios expired on Jan. 1 and the union has asked for a seven-and-a-half per cent cost-of-living bonus for several (Continued on page 2) 4IA' Lists Assets At $896,697 Peak Assets totaling $896,697 for the last fiscal year were reported here yesterday by the IATSE in a financial statement published in accordance with the Taft-Hartley Law. It was the largest amount ever recorded in the entire history of the organization, according to William P. Raoul, general secretary-treasurer. Total liabilities were listed at only $14,534. Total cash receipts for the year amounted to $817,260, including initiation and charter fees, interest, fines, dividends, etc. Expenditures during the year totaled $537,454, including expenses in connection with the Hollywood strike, salaries of officers and personnel, legal fees, convention expenses, etc. Massachusetts May Regulate Checkers Boston, Oct. 19.— The next state legislature will be asked to enact a law to license and regulate theatre checkers, it is understood. Sponsors would make it mandatory that no checker operate in the town in which he resides, this in order to preclude the disclosure of the amount of business done by a local theatre to townsfolk, especially disclosure to a theatre's competitor. "Joan of Arc 9? [ RKO-Sierra Pictures ] — Screen reaches new heights HOLLYWOOD in its time has turned out many good pictures and not a few were exceptionally fine. But you can count on the fingers of one hand those which have so nearly attained the image of truth in depicting significant human experience that they stand as landmarks in the art and history of the screen. To those few there must be added now "Joan of Arc." It is singular because of many things, most of them expertness in all phases of motion picture making. But its greatness derives from its story, from subject matter that permits it to rise to new heights. It is the story of human faith, not bound by earth. It needed to be attempted only by the inspired. . TNGRID BERGMAN'S portrayal of Joan of Arc in this Walter *■ Wanger production is a remarkable accomplishment. She makes real the historic, yet nonetheless incredible feats of the 19-year-old French peasant girl who, through divine faith, rallied the beaten armies of France, led them to victory over the invading English, gave a throne and realm to King Charles VII, who had neither before, and by her martyrdom fired the people of France with a patriotic fervor that united them and won them freedom from the invader. That is a role that less capable or less inspired talents than Miss Bergman brings to it would have made of it just another fairy tale, even though the role follows faithfully the things that Joan of Arc actually did. They are documented and as much a part of history as the feats of William the Conqueror, George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet, however documented, Joan's were feats that the practical mind can barely fathom. Miss Bergman's performance, fervent and restrained {Continued on page 4) Ex-Gov. Hoffman at ATOI Convention Indianapolis, Oct. 19. — Former Governor Harold Hoffman of New Jersey will be the principal speaker at the annual banquet of the Associated Theatre Owners of Indiana to be held at Antlers Hotel here Nov. 10-11. Among exhibitor leaders on the program will be Abram F. Myers, general counsel of national Allied ; William Ainsworth, Allied president, and Charles Niles, secretary of national Allied, and Ray Branch, president, and Charles Snyder, secretary of Michigan Allied. A feature of the convention will be a forum to discuss trade practices. Frisch Heads Unit For Palestine Aid Emanuel Frisch, treasurer of Randforce Amusements, yesterday was selected by a group of New York circuit executives at a meeting at the office of Malcolm Kingsberg, president of RKO Theatres, to head the film industry's participation in the American Red Mogen Dovid (Jewish Red Cross) campaign to raise $200,000 for medical aid to Palestine. The drive will be climaxed by a $100-per-plate dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here on Nov. 22. UMPTO Open for Conciliation Talks Philadelphia, Oct. 19. — Having adopted the Andy Smith plan for conciliating differences with distributors at yesterday's Ritz Carlton meeting of members here, the United Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Pennsylvania (TO A) has decided to seek similar arrangements with other film companies, Lewen Pizor, UMPTO president, discloses. A meeting with 20th Century-Fox general manager Smith will be held here shortly to apply the plan to this territory. Meanwhile a UMPTO conciliation committee has been named, (Continued on page 2) Rank Pushing Plans For Video Shows London, Oct. 19. — J. Arthur Rank Organization's plans for public television exhibitions are proceeding. Within a week a short experimental film specially designed for televising will be in production at Rank's Elstree Gate studio. The film will be put on the air under the supervision of A. G. D. West, Rank's Cinema Television scientist, from his Crystal Palace station and will be sent to the screen of the theatre in Bromley, Kent. US Films Sell In All Nations, Johnston Says Reveals MPEA Approved Soviet, Yugoslav Deals Washington, Oct. 19. — U.S. motion pictures are now being sold in every country in the world, Motion Picture Association of America president Eric Johnston declared today after revealing that the Motion Picture Export Association, at a hastily called meeting in New York last night, had approved terms of the agreements he negotiated to sell films to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Another MPEA meeting will be held in New York shortly to ratify a similar agreement with Czechoslovakia and to discuss other foreign details, he added. In outlining the re (Continued on page 2) Most N.Y. lst-Runs Are Doing Nicely Business at Broadway first-runs this week is, in most instances, average or better. Still excellent in its second week at Radio City Music Hall is "Julia Misbehaves," which, together with a stage presentation, is due for a solid $139,000. Also holding up nicely is "Johnny Belinda" at the Strand, where Freddy Martin's band occupies the stage ; $65,000 is estimated for the third week. "Red River" is still big in its third week at the Capitol, with $72,000 expected ; a stage show there (Continued on page 4) Mayer Optimistic of Brazil Settlement Rio De Janeiro, Oct. 14 (By Airmail). — Gerald Mayer, managing director of the international division of the Motion Picture Association of America, who flew here last week from New York to confer with government officials on lifting prohibitive film restrictions and price controls, is quoted in the local press as being "convinced that the Central Price Commission will provide a satisfactory solution so as to permit the motion picture business here to return to normalcy."