Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1950)

4 Motion Picture Daily Monday, February 27, 1950 'Stromboli' Ban Illegal, Says Court Seattle, Feb. 26.— Supreme Court Judge James Hodson on Friday declared that the ban on "Stromboli" was illegal and issued a temporary injunction against Police Chief Eastman restraining him from enforcing the ban. A. C. Van Soelen, corporation counsel for Seattle, said the injunction would not be contested. The injunction will thus become permanent and the film will open at the Blue Mouse Theatre this week. FILMS, VIDEO PRODUCTION STUDY OPENED BY NYC COMMERCE DEPT. Chicago Bids Scarce For 'Stromboli' Runs Chicago, Feb. 26. — RKO Radio's "Stromboli" is getting mild bidding reaction from exhibitors, with thus far only five theatres having booked the film for its first outlying-run, starting March 3. Balaban and Katz by-passed the film for its key outlying houses, but bought it for the Portgage, Howard and Senate, smaller neighborhood theatres. The Olympic, Cicero and the Ridge, also small-seaters, won bids. It is expected that the majority of Allied theatres will by-pass the film for later runs, although not necessarily from a "moral" issue. Business at the Grand has declined from its strong opening. First week's take was about $30,000, aeainst a house average of $13,500, admissions continue at $1.50 top. Stars at Dallas Premiere A contingent of Hollywood personalities will be on hand for the world premiere of Universal-International's "The Kid .from Texas," to be held Wednesday at the Majestic Theatre, Dallas, serving as a kick-off for some 400 openings of the film in Texas and Oklahoma. Audie Murphy, Ann Blyth, Scott Brady, Dorothy Hart, Peggie Castle, Leslye Banning and Ray Turner will attend. New York City's Department of Commerce, in co-operation with the Department of Industrial Engineering of Columbia University, has established an "industrial clinic for small business" whose activities will embrace a study of motion picture production here for television and general distribution. Mayor O'Dvvyer announced on Friday. The study will place emphasis on the future development of the television industry in New York as a major element of the entertainment field. Commerce Commissioner Joseph V. McKee disclosed that plans for the clinic were developed by Dr. Robert Teviot Livingston, executive, officer of Columbia's industrial engineering department ; Dr. David Bendel Herz, assistant professor at the university ; Frank Lee Donoghue, city director of commerce, and Herman Rapport, chief economist of the Commerce agency. Dr. Livingston, who will serve as chief consultant to the clinic, informed the Commerce Department that a complete picture of the city's industry, in the form of a summary report, together with specific recommendations for the attraction of new industries to the five boroughs, should be. ready for presentation to the city government early in 1951. Columbia's participation in the new program will include surveys of the various industrial segments of New York City. The curriculum, however, will include direct consultation service to individual businessmen on such problems as production, quality control, statistical methods, engineering economics, personnel management, work simplification, time — and — motion analysis, plant layout, cost engineering, organization and administration. UA Drops Offices (Continued from page 1) Allied, Flat Rentals (Continued from page 1) prepared to charge that flat rental agreements made in talks last year with distributor heads have been violated by a number of exchanges. The subject was discussed at the Washington directors meeting and the directors authorized the committee -to revisit the sales managers at the home offices. Saturday. Announcement followed two days of meetings between Sears, Lazarus and Arthur W. Kelly, executive vice-president. The. statement said in part : "For the present, at least, the duties of the producers' contact and the responsibilities of obtaining and selecting product will be assumed by management. It is planned that Sears, Kelly and Lazarus will spend considerably more time in Hollywood for these purposes. An effort will be made to have one of the company officials in California at all times. Selmer Chalif, serving as special liaison with the home office, will continue his present activities. He will maintain offices in the California Bank Building, Beverly Hills." Selmer and Vitalis Chalif, the latter a board member, also participated in the meetings. Others who resigned along with Bagnall include Cecil Coan, publicity chief, and Hugh Ratliff, comptroller. Sears and Kelly left Friday night by plane for New York, with Lazarus returning to Phoenix. Expect Long Delay (Continued from page 1) Flat Rentals Weighed At Mid-Central Meet Springfield, 111., Feb. 26. — Discussions of flat rentals against percentage deals, the elimination of the Federal 20 per cent ticket tax and the significance of "Brotherhood Week," highlighted the first of a series of regional meetings conducted here late last week by Mid-Central Allied. A. J. (Jeff) Jefferis, Mid-Central president, was chairman of the meeting, assisted by W. H. Hoffman, board chairman, and Hugh M. Graham, secretary-treasurer. National Allied president Trueman Rembusch outlined the history of Allied and discussed the latest developments in television. Barcroft Has Own Firm Columbus, O., Feb. 26. — John L. Barcroft, publicity manager for RKO Theatres here for 15 years, is opening his own publicity-advertising office Wednesday. RKO publicity will be handled by Mrs. Marian Sweeting of the Barcroft office. Barcroft, in addition to other accounts, has been named regional representative of Bing Crosby Enterprises. likely that the Federal Communications Commission's theatre television hearings will take place before late summer or early fall. Some lawyers feel it is just as well that this is so, since they believe the industry can well use the time to prepare a good case. Tomorrow is the deadline for filing appearances with the Commission for the theatre TV proceedings. Over a score of companies and organizations have already filed. One reason for the expected delay in the hearings is the Commission's already heavy program. Tomorrow it will resume testimony on color television. This is scheduled to run at least another month, and after that the Commission is supposed to move on to equally-time-consuming hearings on opening the ultra-high frequencies for television broadcasting and re-shuffling existing channel allocations in the very high frequencies. Backs NY Bill On Booths Albany, N. Y., Feb. 26. — A companion bill to the Ashcroft bill which requires that projection booths be equipped to protect the hea1'' of projectionists and authorizing tj state Board of Standard and appeals to conduct hearings to establish standards for booths, has been introduced in the State Senate by Sen. George Manning, Rochester. The bill was drafted to require sanitary facilities in one-man booths, according to Harold Hanover, secretary of the State Federation of Labor. Sheridan to Head 20th Dallas Branch Mark Sheridan, Jr., replaced by William B riant as 20th Century-Fox branch manager at New Orleans, has been promoted to branch manager at Dallas. Phil Longdon, Dallas manager, will be given, at his own request because of ill health, lesser duties as a salesman in one of the company's Southern branches. Rossen Gets SDG Award Hollywood, Feb. 26. — Screen Directors Guild voted its third quarterly award to Robert Rossen for his direction of Columbia's "All the King's Men." The award is for the period ending Jan. 31. Tax Receipts Drop (Continued from page 1) Max Lefko Dead Cleveland, Feb. 26. — Max Lefko, father of Morris Lefko, RKO district manager with headquarters in Cleveland, and George Lefko, Film Classics branch manager in Detroit, died here. Three other sons also survive, Haney of Long Beach, Cal., and Irving and Phil of the city. Acquires Buffalo House Buffalo, Feb. 26. — Morris Slotnick, who operates the Cinema in Rochester, is taking over the Buffalo Midtown, a downtown house that has been run as an "art" house for several years, but was closed recently. Sanders Promoted to Dipson District Head Buffalo, Feb. 26.— Mark L. Standers, manager of Dipson Theatres in Hornell, N. Y. since 1943, has been promoted to district manager of the circuit's theatres in New York and Northern Pennsylvania, by N. D. Dipson, circuit president. Sanders, who assumes his new duties on Wednesday, will be succeeded by E. J. Barnes, currently manager of a Dipson house in Wheeling, W. Va. Sanders will make his headquarters in Bradford, Pa. Favorite Shifts Posts Spokane. Feb. 26.— Shifts in the operation of the Favorite circuit here have placed Harry Ashton as manager of the Post, Robert Deets, manager of the Granada, Richard Reed continues as manager of the Liberty and Robert Fiebiger will manage the circuit's East Sprague drive-in, to re-open in March. 25th for Garner Circuit Atlanta, Feb. 26.— B. B. Garner, said that a 700-car capacity drive-in will be in operation in Jacksonville, Fla. June 1, his 25th theatre in Florida, operating under the firm name Talgar Theatres, Inc. quently cautioned against using the general admission tax collection figures as an indication of theatre prosperity. The figures do indicate some rough trends on total box-office grosses, however. Theatre owner groups make three objections to using the figures as a gauge of exhibitor prosperity : the figures include collections from other general admission events, such as concerts and sports, as well as motion picture theatres, and a gain in the receipts of the other industries may offset a drop in film attendance ; the figures do not reflect the increase in the number of theatres, steady or decliningcollections, plus increased costs mean an even greater drop in theatre profits. The Jan., 1950, general admission tax collections, reflecting Dec, 1949, business, amounted to $27,909,723! compared with $25,766,798 in Jan., 1949. This was the first time in four months that collections ran ahead of the corresponding month of the previous year. Total admission tax collections, including general admissions, roof garden and cabaret taxes, and taxes on various leases and overcharges, amounted to $31,209,312 in Jan., 1950, compared to $29,174,674 a year earlier. Massachusetts Legislature Asks Repeal of 20% Tax Boston, Feb. 26.— A resolution passed by the Massachusetts legislature asking repeal of the excise taxes, including the 20 per cent admission levy, has been sent to President Truman and to both branches of Congress by Massachusetts Secretary of State Edward T. Cronin. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Thomas . E. Key of Winthrop.