Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1948)

Accurate Concise and Impartial MOTION mVXM, _ I " 1 — ^^^-^^ AMERICA, 23 44TH ST., HEW YOaK 1 8, PY f mo^IRST IN FILM i NEWS 64. NO. 79 NEW YORK, U.S.A., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1948 TEN CENTS RCA Develops New Theatre Video System Shows High-Speed Unit Developed with Eastman Washington, Oct. 21. — Siniulaneous transmission of a fullength motion picture to the screens jjpf thousands of theatres throughout die country was predicted here today David Sarnoff, president and board chairman of RCA, at a public demonstration of a newly developed system of television relay communications. The new system, called Ultrafax, |was described as being capable of 'transmitting or receiving messages at the rate of a million words a minute. Combining elements of television with fthe latest techniques in radio-relaying "and high-speed photography, Ultrafax was developed by RCA, Eastman ,. Kodak and National Broadcasting. Engineers stated here that the radiotelevision photography combination forms the basis for a system of graphic communication which can be extended from city, to city across the nation. 18% Drop in Dividends Washington, Oct. 21. — Dividends paid by motion picture companies dur| ing the first nine months of this year were 18.1 per cent below payments in the same 1947 period, U. S. Commerce Department figures reveal. Film companies' publicly-reported cash dividends — which Commerce figures to be about 60 per cent of all dividends — totaled $34,290,000 for January through September, 1948, compared with the $41,894,000 re (Continued on page 4) 22 Theatre Firms Get Tax Rebates Washington, Oct. 21. — Twentytwo theatre corporations received excess profits tax relief under Section No. 722 of the Internal Revenue Code during the year ended June 30, 1948, according to figures released today by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The credits cover the years from (Continued cm page 4) National Screen Gets Tooker Lithograph Deal whereby National Screen Service will assume physical and operational control of the Tooker Lithograph Co. plant in New York will be consummated today by Herman Robbins, NSS president, and Paul Cook, vice-president of Tooker. "Setup will permit NSS to inject a knowledge of an exhibitor's needs into physical preparation of accessories through operation of its own plant," said a National Screen statement. Tooker has been one of the leading lithographers of motion picture accessories for many years, and has heretofore filled "litho" requirements of M-G-M, United Artists and 20th Century-Fox. NSS, acquiring all Tooker equipment and its leasehold, has also purchased additional new equipment, to increase capacity. It will assume operation of the plant at once. $10 Weekly Raise to Sound Servicemen A weekly pay increase of $10.40 for motion picture sound servicemen throughout the country has been obtained from Altec and RCA, it was announced here yesterday by Richard F. Walsh, IATSE international president. In addition, the soundmen will receive increased automobile allowances ranging from 16 to 88 per cent. In principle, these allowances follow the Runzheimer Plan, recommended by the American Automobile Association, providing for a weekly sum of $7.80, to which is added three and onehalf cents per mile. The companies guarantee that on an annual basis, the allowances will equal at least seven cents per mile. The salary and auto increases are provided under the terms of new, two (Continued on page 4) Both Sides Firm in N. Y. Ascap Action In answers to briefs to be exchanged today, both sides in <he action brought by a group of New York exhibitors against Ascap will hold fast to their respective positions on the scope of a judgment to be entered in the case. Plaintiffs are expected to insist that the New York Federal Court is empowered to order divestiture of Ascap's and its members' public performance music rights, setting forth that such an extensive order is necessary to protect the plaintiffs. 'We Mean Business,' Steve Broidy Asserts Hollywood, Oct. 21.— "Our schedule of 61 pictures for the coming season should convince exhibitors we mean business," Steve Broidy, president of Allied Artists-Monogram, declared here today in announcing new sales department top personnel. He said the acquisition of three new executives is further "proof that we mean business." Top Brazil Rental 42% The Brazilian Central Price Control Committee has amended its regulations to provide that the average film rental shall not exceed 42 per cent of net box-office receipts of the year, according to a cablegram received here from Gerald M. Mayer, managing director of the international division of the Motion Picture Association of America. Meyer flew to Brazil on Oct. 1 to confer with officials of the Brazilian government on the lifting of some of the regulations which Motion Picture Export Association directors felt were unfair to the American motion picture industry. Under the new text of article 13 of order No. 58 — original terms of which were considered prohibitively restrictive— the Price Control* Commission now provides that the sum of all percentage and flat rentals paid during one year by an exhibitor to each distributor for features exhibited in theatres subject to ceilings on admission prices shall not exceed, on an average, 42 per cent of net box-office receipts of the year. Mayer left Rio de Janeiro by plane last night for New York. Colosseum Pacts to 11 For Signatures C. J. (Pat) Scollard, Paramount labor relations director and chairman of the 11 distributors' committee which negotiated union contracts with the Colosseum of . Motion Picture Salesmen of America, yesterday sent to the companies for signing copies of the pacts which already have been signed by executives of the union. It is expected that all of the companies will sign the contracts and return them to Colosseum attorney David Beznor in Milwaukee. New AA-Mono. Sales Cabinet Set by Broidy Goldhammer, Pritchard, Gillis Get New Posts Hollywood, Oct. 21. — Realignof the Monogram and Allied Artists sales departments and the appointment of three new sales executives to newly-created posts were announced here today by Steve Broidy, president. New setup calls for the expenditure of more than $100,000 for additional sales operations, it was said. Three named to function under M. R. Goldstein, sales manager, include L. E. Goldhammer, as Western sales manager, supervising Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Indianapolis^ Goldhammer also will have supervision over the Denver, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Des Moines and St. Louis exchanges handled by Sol Francis. Jim Pritchard has been named Southern district manager, heading Dallas and Oklahoma City. He will (Continued on page 4) U.K. Renters Will Produce Non-producing British distributors will enter production almost en masse under the dual circumstance of the 45 per cent British films quota law and British Board of Trade president Harold Wilson's new Government Film Bank, it is believed by Alfred E. Andrews, head of Monarch Film Corp., Ltd., who wiU return to London from New York today by plane following two weeks in the U. S. And rews indicated that Monarch in this connection will be one of the first non-producing distributors to take up (Continued on page 4) UK Exhibitor Rental Formula Due Shortly London, Oct. 21. — An acceptable formula is expected to be devised within a few days by the Kinematograph Renters Society committee and J. Arthur Rank on rental terms for exhibitors, it was indicated here today following a five-hour dinner discussion among KRS members and Rank.