Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1950)

6 Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, February 21, 1950 B. of T. Denies Plan To Cut Remittances London, Feb. 20.— Board of Trade officials here have expressly denied recurrent reports that consideration has been given to a possible reduction of permitted remittances under the AngloAmerican monetary agreement from $17,000,000 to $12,000,000. The agreement will be reviewed here, probably next month. Reports of a reduction of the American industry's remittances were revived following the Film Council's recommendation last week of a cut in the film quota from 40 per cent to 30 per cent, starting Oct. 1, on the basis that a more liberal quota would be offset by reduced remittances. Compo Tax Plea Today {Continued from page 1) Hamrick, Evergreen {Continued from page 1) takes over the McDonald and Rex in Eugene, and the Castle and Kiggins in Vancouver. John Hamrick Theatres, under the split, will take over the Liberty, Music Box, Playhouse and Newsreel theatres in Portland. Evergreen also operates houses in various other cities in the Northwest. The partnership dissolution is in line with agreements made by 20th Century-Fox, National's parent, and the Department of Justice under the industry anti-trust suit. the industry, the brief states, but "of all industry branches, the admission tax bears most heavily on exhibition." It points out that the theatres must add the tax to their regular prices, collect the money and account to the government, and "worse than that, they must face their patrons' resentment against the tax and observe at first-hand its deadening effect on theatre attendance." Not a 'Hollywood' Tax Myers and Sullivan said "the admission tax is not a Hollywood tax, though its baleful effects are visited upon all branches of the industry. We make this distinction because over-enthusiastic reporting has attributed to Hollywood a degree of glamor and opulence which cannot by any possibility be applied to the exhibition branch. In investment and numbers employed, Hollywood represents only a small segment of the industry. The motion picture business is mainly small business." COMPO also speaks for the "many millions of movie-goers who are staggering under the burden of this tax," they declared. They pointed out the millions of signatures on tax repeal petitions and said "this voluntary action by the theatre-goers demonstrates their earnest desire that the tax be removed." The Myers-Sullivan statement made seven major points: "1 — The admission tax is an emergency tax and should not become part of the permanent tax structure. WARNER BROS.' TRADESHOW FEB. 27 GINGER Rogers DENNIS Morgan tffltm ALBANY Warner Screening Room 79 N. Pearl St. • 12:30 P.M. ATLANTA 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 197 Walton St. N.W. • 2:30 P.M. BOSTON RK0 Screening Room 122 Arlington St. ■ 2:30 P.M. BUFFALO Paramount Screening Room 164 Franklin St. • 2:00 P.M. CHARLOTTE 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 300 S. Church St. • 2:00 P.M. CHICAGO Warner Screening Room 1307 So. Wabash Ave. • 1:30 P.M. CINCINNATI RKO Palace Th. Screening Room Palace Th. Blag. E. 6th • 1:00 P.M. CLEVELAND Warner Screening Room 2300 Payne Ave. • «:30 ML DALLAS 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 1M3 Wood SI. • 2:00 P.M. DENVER Paramount Screening Room 2100 Stout St. ■ 2:00 P.M. DES MOINES Paramount Screening Room 1125 High St. • 12:45 P.M. DETROIT Film Exchange Building 2310 Cass Ave. • 2:00 P.M. INDIANAPOLIS Universal Screening Room 517 No. Illinois St. • 1:00 P.M. JACKSONVILLE Florida Theatre Bldg. Sc. Rm. 128 E. Forsyth St. • 2:30 P.M. KANSAS CITY 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 1720 Wyandotte St. • 1:30 P.M. LOS ANGELES Warner Screening Room 2025 S. Vermont Ave. • 2:00 P.M. MEMPHIS 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 151 Vance Ave. • 2:00 P.M. MILWAUKEE Warner Theatre Screening Room 212 W. Wisconsin Ave. • 2:00 P.M. MINNEAPOLIS Warner Screening Room 1000 Currie Ave. ■ 2:00 P.M. NEW HAVEN Warner Theatre Projection Room 70 College St. • 2:00 P.M. NEW ORLEANS 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 200 S. Liberty St. • 8 00 P.M. NEW YORK Home Office 321 W. 44lh St. • 2:30 P.M. OKLAHOMA 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 10 North Lee St. • 1:30 P.M. OMAHA 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 1502 Davenport St. • 1:00 P.M. PHILADELPHIA Warner Screening Room 230 No. 13th St. ■ 2:30 P.M. PITTSBURGH 20th Century-Fox Screening Room 1715 Blvd. ol Allies • 1:30 P.M. PORTLAND Jewel Box Screening Room 1947 N.W. Kearney St. • 2:00 P.M. SALT LAKE 2Qth Century-Fox Screening Room 216 East 1st South • 2:00 P.M. SAN FRANCISCO Republic Pict. Screening Room 221 Golden Gate Ave. • 1:30 P.M. SEATTLE Jewel Box Screening Room 2318 Second Ave. • 10:30 A.M. ST. LOUIS S'renco Screening Room 3143 Olive St. • 1:00 P.M. WASHINGTON Warner Theatre Building 13th t E Stt. H.W. • 10:30 A.M. thelma ritter IS^^SSJ^SSZ JERRY WALD BRETAIGNE WINDUST "2 — Motion pictures are a part of the press and should be accorded* equal treatment with books, magazines and newspapers. "3 — Moving pictures, are an integral part of American life, a necessity, not a luxury. "4 — The admission tax as applied to motion picture theatres is primarily a tax on the lower and middle income groups — only a small part of it is paid by the well-to-do. "5 — A great majority of the theatre owners, those who are immediately affected by the tax, are small business men, not to be confused with the overpublicized 'movie magnates'. "6 — Due to declining attendance at theatres, the admission tax as applied to theatres is an uncertain revenue source for budget balancing purposes. "7 — The admission tax as applied to motion pictures threatens the existence of the country's greatest peacetime entertainment medium, which also is an indispensable part of the Government's communications system in time of war." 'Fundamentally Objectionable' The brief concluded by declaring that exhibitors do not complain against taxes levied against all industries but do object to "a special Federal excise on our legitimate communications industry, a tax that is fundamentally objectionable at all times and not to be resorted to except in direst emergencies and then only when it is imposed on all business enterprises alike, including other members of the press." Baltimore, Feb. 20. — The eight Representatives from Maryland are on record as favoring repeal of the 20 per cent admission tax. Senator Herbert O'Conor has come out in favor of repeal and Senator Millard Tydings has declined to clearly state his position in the tax situation. The Baltimore . News-Post has published two editorials favoring repeal. Detroit, Feb. 20. — The removal of the admission tax would be a "tremendous stimulant to the entire motion picture industry and would not necessarily adversely affect Uncle Sam's finances," E. R. Holtz, president and treasurer of Riviera Annex Theatre Co. here, tells stockholders of the company in his annual report. Business Declines (Continued from page 1) a 20 to 25 per cent drop, Baltimore city and county a 26 to 28 per cent decline, Memphis a 25 per cent fall. North Central Allied found a drop of over 15 per cent, Allied Theatres of Illinois a 20 per cent to 30 per cent decline and small town theatres in Southern Illinois found that attendance had dropped 20 per cent from 1949 and 27 per cent from 1948. A New Jersey association showed a drop of 15 per cent in the first five weeks of 1950 and Independent Exhibitors, Inc., of New England reported a decrease of from 15 per cent to 20 per cent. A West Virginia association reported a decline of from 35 per cent to 50 per cent, but attributed this in part to the coal strike. A group of small theatres in upstate Pennsylvania showed drops ranging from three per cent to 15 per cent. AFL's Green Sees Excises Doomed Speaking at the testimonial dinner to IATSE's president Richard F. Walsh in Brooklyn last night, William Green, AFL president, said: "Now that labor has lined up solidly in favor of repeal of the excises t? 1 am confident that Co^ j>* Js will vote to throw the^kiut within the near future. And when that action is taken I want you to know that Dick Walsh will deserve a great deal of credit for the achievement." Tribute to Walsh (Continued from page 1) business agent of "IA" local No. 4, Brooklyn, of which Walsh is president. The event was sponsored by the "IA's'' 10th district, comprised of locals throughout New York State, and was under the direction of the district executive board, which includes Murtha, H. Paul Shay, Albert Ryde, Don Rood, M. J. Mungovan, Nat Storch, John C. McDowell and Sal J. Scoppa. Also invited to honor the man who became president of the "IA" in 1941, climaxing a career that began as an apprentice electrician at the 5th Ave. Theatre in Brooklyn, were all IA officers, officials of the state Federation of Labor, Trades and Labor Council and state and city officials. Technicolor Decree (Continued from page 1) volved if the case were allowed to come to trial, and 2, because the consent decree outlines a practical procedure for avoiding future difficulties wtih the government." Dr. Kalmus added that the company's process "has been evolved through more than 30 years and the expenditure of millions of dollars for research and development and not by the purchase or absorption of other companies or other persons' inventions.'' Podner! in the Panhandle strong men weep (with laughter) when you show 'em the GRmHuPEffr An Eagle Lion Films Release