Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1950)

IRST FILE COPY DO -NOT REMOvr MOTION PICTURE 4 MOTION PICTURE ASSOC. OF AMERICA, 28 WEST 44TH ST., NEW YORK 18, N. Y. (2 COPIES) 67. NO. 84 NEW YORK, U.S.A., TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1950 TEN CENTS >lumbia Has in '50-51, ys Montague ?ago Convention to r New Lineup Today icago, May 1. — A product Lp of 62 productions that fea"the greatest number" of top ever offered by Columbia in a single year will be announced here tomorrow to the delegates at the company's sales convention by general sales manager A. Montague. The convention will go into the second day of a four-day meeting at the Drake Hotel. The 62, for 1950-51, comwith 61 announced for the cur (Continued on page 6) Ardrey of Bankers Trust to Give 20th to Talk to SIMPP on Financing\June 30 for Naify Split Phonevision Ads Seek 'Guinea Pigs' Chicago, May 1. — Full-page ads soliciting "guinea pigs" for the Phonevision test scheduled to be conducted here next fall appeared in Chicago newspapers yesterday. Placed by Zenith Radio Corp., the ads were headed : 'Television sets will be loaned to 300 Chicago families for a 90-day public test of Phonevision." Purpose of the test, the ads said, 'is to find out : Whether the public would like to have such a service as 'box-office television' whereby good movies and events that are too costly to be paid for by advertising sponsors {Continued on page 4) Montague ley Cites Film jders, Johnson r Hearing Delay -SHiNGTON, May 1. — Senator ', Wisconsin Republican who relly defended the motion picture try from Senator Ed Johnson's Us, said today that the postponei of the Senate Commerce ComE hearings "is a triumph for the pican system of voluntary con (ion and agreement." |ley said he thought it a "won (Continued on page 4) r amount Acquires ,000 Stock Shares rney Balaban, president of Par it, disclosed here yesterday that iant to the bid placed by the corI on on the New York Stock Ex ■ e on April 13 to acquire 500,000 (Continued on page 4) Hollywood, May 1. — Alex H. Ardrey, vice-president of Bankers Trust Co., New York, will appear before the membership of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers at a meeting tomorrow to present his views on the possibility of establishing a new financing organization which would supply independents with funds needed in addition to normal bank financing. That a new financing plan for the independents was being developed with SIMPP president Ellis Arnall in a key role was disclosed by Motion Picture Daily on March 30. Arnall will also address the session tomorrow, which will be at the Beverly Hills Club. Independent producers other than SIMPP members also will sit in, as will Gradwell Sears, presi (Continued on page 4) MCCONNELL FIGHTS FOR 2WEEK LOOP RUNS; ACTION IS RESERVED Chicago, May 1. — Arguments presented today by Thomas McConnell, Jackson Park attorney, and Robert Bergstrom, representing 20th CenturyFox, on the issue of whether or not the Jackson Park decree provides for extending to exceptional, unusual or costly films Loop runs beyond the two-week limit imposed by the decree were taken under advisement by (Continued on page 5) Wisconsin ITO Cites 20th-Fox Sales Plan Milwaukee, May 1. — Group selling with cancellation privileges by 20th Century-Fox was commended by the Allied Independent Theatre Owners of (Continued on page 6) Admission Prices Bound Back to the Near-Record High of September, 1949 Washington, May 1. — A rise in adult admission prices in large cities during the first quarter of 1950 more than offset a drop in children's prices, and the result was that the U. S. Bureau of Labor statistics index of admission prices bounded back to the all-time high it hit at the end of Sept., 1949. The Bureau collects figures each three months in 18 large cities and then weighs them to get the results for the 34 largest cities. During the first quarter, the index of children's prices dropped from 63.7 per cent over the 1935-39 average to 60.1 per cent above the base period. The adult index, however, rose from 72.2 per cent above the base to 73.7 per cent, the second highest on record, exceeded only by the 74.3 per cent figure at the end of Sept., 1949. The combined adult-child index rose from 7.10 per cent above the base period at the end of 1949 to 71.9 per cent at the end of March, the same figure that was recorded for the third quarter of last year. Must Drop 26% Interests In Golden Gate, T. & D. U. S. Statutory Court here yesterday gave 20th Century-Fox until June 30' to come up with a plan for disposing of its 26 per cent interests in Golden State Theatres and T. and D., Jr., Enterprises, affiliated California circuits. In the form of a formal order signed by Federal Judges Hand, Goddard and Coxe, the company was given varying time extensions, from 30 to 60 days, for terminating a scattered few other properties owned in partnership. The deadline for all had been May 20. The company had presented several proposals to Golden State and T. and D. which largely were based on a division of the theatres proportionately on stock ownership. As a result of this there was an impression in some quarters that terms for the split had been agreed upon. It is understood that Mike Naify, (Continued on page 4) Court Rejects the Reade Offer to Buy RKO Interest Move by Walter Reade looking to the purchase of RKO's 50 per cent interest in their partnership operation of 12 New Jersey theatres, at book value of the stock rather than at market value, has been rejected by the New Jersey Superior Court at Trenton. Reade had made the bid in the form of a counter claim to the RKO motion (Continued on page 4) 3 MGM Meetings to Cover the Country Approximately 175 men from the field will attend three M-G-M "Say It With Pictures" meetings in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, it was announced here yesterday by (Continued on page 5) THE LAWLE S S IS BIG AND IMPORTANT! A Paramount Picture PICTURE. IT'S THE BEST i; j TOWN! • IF IT'S A PARAMOUNT PICTURE, IT'S THE BEST SHOW IN TOWN ! • IF IT'S A PARAMOUNT PICTURE. IT'S THE BEST SHOW IN TOV