Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1950)

FILE COPY DO NOT remove: MOTION PICTURE DAILY Accurate Concise and Impartial VOL. 6^' NO. 24 NEW YORK, U. S. A., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1950 TEN CENTS Loew's Paid $3,532,054 For Pensions Company 'Hopes' to Keep Plan Going Indefinitely While film industry labor makes preparations on a number of fronts to secure new management-backed retirement pensions for union workers, Loew's, one of the companies slated to receive the union demands, was making contributions to its own employes' retirement plan in the amount of $3,532,054 for the fiscal year. Along with this disclosure, the company reports that it paid during the year to officers and employes "percentage compensation" totalling $604,582. The payments were based on percentages of company profits. The employes' retirement plan is not "funded" and the company does (Continued on page 3) TV Is Endangering Theatre Business, Lippert Maintains Robert L. Lippert, head of Lippert Productions and a California-Oregon circuit of 64 theatres, contended in a press interview here yesterday that the motion picture industry is approaching the problem of television with mistaken ideas. The results of this, he said, could be' disastrous for the film business. Film industry leaders, Lippert charged, "poo-poo television," and yet, he added, "in Los Angeles, where there are more television sets, per (Continued on page 3) UA, E-L Not Yet in Compo Distributors outside the fold of the Motion Picture Association of America, such as United Artists and EagleLion, apparently have yet to be formally considered in the financing formula for the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. Non-MPAA distributors said they have yet to be approached on the subject and con (Continued on page 7) Balaban, Murphy, Anderson Get 'Brotherhood9 Awards Allied to Tackle Bids, Compo, Survey Washington, Feb. 2. — Full discussion of competitive bidding, ratification of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations, voluntary commercial arbitration for clearance disputes, and the possibility of a nationwide survey of the drop in theatre attendance will be on the agenda of the board of directors of Allied States at its meeting here next Thursday and Friday. The meeting will elect new officers for a two-year term. Trueman Rembusch and Benjamin Berger are leading possibilities for Allied's new president. Another agenda item will be (Continued on page 3) fndustry leadership in combating intolerance was cited yesterday at the "Brotherhood Week" luncheon of the National Conference of Christians and Jews at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here. On the occasion, the 1950 "Brotherhood Award" was presented to Barney Balaban, Paramount president ; George Murphy, film actor and vice-president of the Screen Actors Guild, and playwright Maxwell Anderson. An estimated 1,000 attended the luncheon, at which Louis Nizer, industry attorney, presided. The awards, in the form of plaques, are presented annually to individuals identified with the amusement industry who have helped build inter-racial goodwill. In presenting the award to Balaban, former Navy Secretary John L. Sulli (Continued on page 2) Coplan Coming on Film Classics Deal London, Feb. 2. — David Coplan, managing director of International Film Renters, will sail from here next Wednesday for New York where he plans to complete negotiations with Film Classics for a distribution-production deal pending for some time. International was taken over last fall by Coplan and financial interests headed by Andrew Holt, Canadian financier, and affiliated with British Film Classics, U.K. distribution outlet for the American company of the same name. The present deal under negotiation is said to contemplate production of British films under the auspices of IFR and Film Classics of America. TOA Heads Meet on Compo March 1-2 Theatre Owners of America's 13member executive committee will meet at the Hotel Astor here on March 1 and 2 to discuss ratification of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations, approval of a final draft of a suggested code of fair trade practices, plans for TOA representation at Congressional hearings on the bill to reduce excise taxes, and approval of plans and a budget for theatre television hearings before the Federal Communications Commission. The committee also will select a TOA 1950 convention site. . The date of the. meeting, which fol (Continued on page 8) INDUSTRY'S ANTI-TAX CAMPAIGN IN HIGH GEAR ON EVE OF HEARINGS Washington, Feb. 2. — The nationwide campaign to repeal the Federal admission tax is under way in all sections of the country and by the weekend will be in high gear, the tax committee of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations reported today. This was announced by chairman Abram F. Myers and aide Henderson M. Richey as the House Ways and Means Committee planned to open hearings on tax revision tomorrow. Secretary of the Treasury Snyder will be the lead-off witness. Admin'stration leaders, it was learned, are now shooting for a July 1 target date to put into effect whatever excise re duction Congress should vote for. Myers said he and Richey for the past three days have been contacting distributor and exhibitor leaders in every film center and were extremely gratified with the progress of the drive. Material has been received and distributed in all film centers, National Screen Service has taken orders for material devised by the committee, and organization meetings will have been held in every film center by the weekend, Myers stated. The Allied official said public response to the campaign put into operation in New York City last weekend {Continued on page 8) Says Industry 'Tremendously Hit'by20%Tax Senator Wiley Pleads for Cut in Excise Levy Washington, Feb. 2. — The motion picture industry has been "tremendously hard-hit" by the 20 per cent Federal admission tax, the Senate was told today by one of its members. Sen. Wiley (R., Wise), in a long appeal for a cut in the tax, stressed it hurt not primarily the producers "But rather the little fellows, the little motion picture house operators in my own state of Wisconsin and throughout the nation." Wiley pointed out the industry's cooperation in the war effort and all charity drives and civic campaigns, and declared that the industry as a (Continued on page 8) US Aid Asked on British Quota, Exports to France Washington, Feb. 2. — The Motion Picture Association of America asked the State Department to renew its efforts to get the British government to lower the 40 per cent screen quota. At the same time, it was learned, the Motion Picture Export Association and the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers have formally asked the Department to request the French government to reopen negotiations on the number of dubbed American films which can be sent to (Continued on page 7) Arnall Calls For Gov't Aid A mobilization of all segments of the film industry to protest foreign trade restrictions at meetings with President Truman and Cabinet members was proposed here yesterday by Ellis G. Arnall, president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. He told reporters that the SIMPP (Continued on page 7)