Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1950)

FILE COPY OO NOT REMOVE" VOL. 67. NO. 35 MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1950 TEN CENTS Miners' Strike May Shutter Many Theatres Report New York State Weighing Closing Order With the nation's meagre coal supplies above ground dwindling dangerously each day that John L. Lewis' striking miners stay out of the pits, apprehension has spread throughout exhibition in the Northern states that theatres in many sections will be closed by governmental orders to help in the conservation of the fuel. New York State Solid Fuels Administrator' Bertram D. Tallamy may be the first of such officials in various state governments to issue an order closing coal-burning theatres, taverns, bowling alleys and other entertainment establishments, it was indicated yesterday in Albany. Tallamy, who has said that the dimout, which for two nights has cloaked Times Square and elsewhere in the state in darkness, will be continued until the state's stockpiles of coal are (Continued on page 2) 16 from MGM In 5 Months M-G-M will release 16 pictures in the five months beginning April 1, according to an announcement yesterday by William F. Rodgers, sales vicepresident. This compares with 15, of which two were reprints, for the same period last year. The releasing schedule now is complete until the end of August and provides for a total of 26 pictures from the first of the year, one of which is a reprint, "Blossoms in the Dust." In the first eight months of 1949, there were 22 new pictures and two reprints. One difference in the schedule this (Continued on page 2) Spitz, Goetz Accept 25-50% Salary Cuts Leo Spitz and William Goetz, Universal International's production chiefs, have agreed to take 25 per cent and 50 per cent reductions, respectively, in their salaries for 1950, it was learned here yesterday. Several years ago a number of U-I home office (Continued on page 2) Technicolor Board To Meet Thursday On Consent Decree The Technicolor board is scheduled to meet in New York on Thursday to vote on ratification of the terms of the consent decree agreed upon by the company and the government in settlement of the Technicolor antitrust suit. If the board approves the decree, it will be submitted to the District Court in Los Angeles either Thursday or Friday. Commenting at the weekend in Los Angeles on the decree agreement, Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, president and general manager of Technicolor, said : "Nothing in this decree adjudges Technicolor guilty in any manner, nor has Technicolor at any time believed that it has been doing anything contrary to the law. There is nothing in the proposed consent decree to the contrary. Technicolor has agreed to this decree primarily for the following reasons : "1. To save the enormous amount of time and expense that would be in (Continued on page 6) 'StrombolV Average Is 'Mild' in New York In general, "Stromboli" business was mild during the past week, on an average, at the approximately 100 New York Metropolitan area neighborhood theatres where the picture opened first-run last Wednesday for one-week bookings. This is the con (Continued on page 2) COMPO TAX PLEA TO HOUSE COM. TODAY Tribute to Walsh of 'IA ' Headed by Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America ; William Green, AFL president; hundreds of labor leaders; government officials and industry executives and workers last night honored Richard F. Walsh, president of IATSE (AFL) with a 50th birthday testimonial dinner-dance at the Hotel St. George, Brooklyn. Industry leaders invited to attend included Joseph R. Vogel, S. H. Fabian, Gus S. Eyssell, Russell D. Downing, Harry D. Buckley, Max A. Cohen, William A. White, Emanuel Frisch, Leslie E. Thompson, Fred J. Schwartz, Robert M. Weitman, Frank Phelps, and others. Toastmaster was Thomas Murtha, (Continued on page 6) Richard F. Walsh Compo Reports Business Declines in Tax Brief Movietone Catches Rail Wreck Scenes On-the-spot coverage within 15 minutes of the accident is claimed to have given 20th CenturyFox's Movietone News a major newsreel scoop in connection with the Long Island Railroad wreck which killed 29 persons last Friday. Movietone's highlights of the crash show scenes of police and firemen digging persons out of the cars, as well as complete coverage of the rescue efforts. In addition, the newsreel, which will be seen in theatres starting tomorrow, will present interviews with survivors of the crash. Washington, Feb. 20.— Here are some of the box-office drops to be reported to the House Ways and Means Committee tomorrow by Council of Motion Picture Organization representatives Abram F. Myers and Gael Sullivan in their tax brief. All the figures were obtained from theatre owners' associations, which checked them carefully, Myers and Sullivan will say. The figures generally are for the first four to six weeks of 1950 against like 1949 periods. A Kansas-Missouri theatre association reports that receipts during the past six weeks are 25 per cent below the same period last year. Allied Theatres of Michigan states that for the same period business was off 10 per cent to 12 per cent. A Philadelphia association reports a drop of from four per cent to 12 per cent, Denver a drop of 12^ per cent, New Orleans (Continued on page 6) All-Industry Brief Hits 'Discrimination' ; Says Films A Small Business By J. A. OTTEN Washington, Feb. 20. — Stressing the predominantly "small business" flavor of the motion picture industry and the deadening effect of the Federal admission tax on theatre business, representatives of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations tomorrow will ask the House Ways and Means Committee to repeal the 20 per cent admission tax. COMPO will be represented before the House group by Abram F. Myers, chairman of the organization's tax committee and general counsel of Allied States Association, and Gael Sullivan, executive director of the Theatre Owners of America. They made public today a 22-page brief which they will file with the Committee tomorrow. They plan to present this for the record, confining their turn on the stand to brief remarks. COMPO represents all branches of (Continued on page 6) Abrams Sues 8 In Cleveland Cleveland, Feb. 20. — Eight distributors have been named defendants in an anti-trust action filed in U. S. District Court here by Horace Abrams, exhibitor, and others. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants have entered into a conspiracy among themselves and with a Cleveland exhibitor to restrain trade and commerce in the distribution and exhibition of motion pictures, and maintain a monopoly in this city to deprive the plaintiffs of films for their theatres. The complaint asks for injunctive relief, attorneys' fees and costs. Hamrick, Evergreen Divide More Houses Portland, Ore., Feb. 20. — Evergreen Theatres, National Theatres affiliate, will assume full control of the Paramount, Orpheum and Oriental, downtown Portland houses, under terms of the Hamrick-Evergreen partnership dissolution. Evergreen also (Continued on page 6)