Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1950)

FIRS1 PICTURE |/0L. 68. K3jB»4 DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A., FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1950 Aecurote (incise and Impartial Distribution Steers Clear Of Arbitration Exhibition Will Have to \Take Meeting Initiative It became clear yesterday that if xhibitors are holding out hope for :he eventual establishment of an ndustrywide arbitration system hey will have to make the initial noves in that direction on their own, ithout more than moral support from istribution. What is more, distribution's thinking on arbitration as a possible national institution is decidedly pessimistic at this point. It would be wiser for exhibition to concentrate on efforts to establish arbitration machinery on the local level because a national setup with its inevitable New York orienta (Continued on page 4) $1 9-Millions For Dividends Washington, Aug. 17. — The U. S. Commerce Department reported today •that dividend payments by film companies in the first seven months of this j&ear amounted to $19,820,000, or approximately $2,864,000 lower than for the corresponding period of last year, j Nearly all of this difference is made up by the fact that Department records do not show any payments in 1950 by the Stanley Corp. or RKO — which (Continued on page 4) Army Planning More Training of Lensmen U. S. Army Signal Corps has disclosed plans to resume a World War II type of training at its Photographic Center on Long Island, designed to turn out additional combat teams of both still and motion picture cameramen to reinforce those already in service. It was also said that the Corps may turn to Hollywood and other commercial facilities for the production of training films as the demand increases. Six Public Affairs Groups Plan Tribute to 20th-Fox Walsh Again Heads IATSE Detroit, Aug. 17. — Richard F. Walsh was unanimously re-elected president at the closing session of the IATSE convention here today. William P. Raoul, general secretary-treasurer and all other officers likewise were re-elected. Of 54 resolutions offered during the five-day convention 17 were passed and the rest were referred for action to different committees. The president's report was adopted with but one objection, which was later withdrawn. St. Louis Unit Lists Convention Groups St. Louis, Aug. 17. — Committee members for the forthcoming annual convention here Nov. 13-14 of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of St. Louis, Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois have been appointed by Tom Edwards, president, as follows : Co-chairmen : Lester Kropp, Bess Schulter and Tom Bloomer ; entertainment, Louis Ansell, Charles Weeks, Edwards ; banquet, Harry Miller, P. Krueger, L. J. Williams; display, R. Armentrout, T. D. Medley, L. Jablonow ; arrangements, Ansell, Charles Goldman, Kropp, John (Continued on page 4) Six leading public affairs organizations will join next Wednesday in a tribute to a motion picture company, at a luncheon honoring 20th CenturyFox for its "courageous and important film on racial prejudice," Darryl F. Zanuck's "No Way Out," it was announced here yesterday by Dr. Harry D. Gideonse, president of Brooklyn College and president of the Willkie Memorial Building. The luncheon will be held in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The sponsoring groups are : Freedom House, Anti-Defamation League, Metropolitan Council of B'nai B'rith, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Public Education Association, Citizens Planning and Housing Council, and the Common Council for American Unity. All (Continued on page 4) Percentage Actions Against 11 Theatres Asheville, N. C, Aug. 17. — Ellis Blumenthal and B. and B. Theatres are defendants in four percentage suits filed here by Universal, 20th CenturyFox, Loew's and Paramount in U. S. District Court. The theatres involved are the Tryon in Charlotte, the Astor (formerly the Ellis), in Durham, and the Hollywood and LaFayette in Winston Salem, all in North Carolina ; the Lincoln and State in Florence, S. C. ; Star in Savannah ; Peachtree Art Theatre in Atlanta, and the Dixie and Pix in Jacksonville. Each complaint alleges damages due (Continued on page 4) Myers Winds Up His Tenure As COMPO Tax Unit Head Washington, Aug. 17. — Abram F. Myers this afternoon completed the job of collating the records of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations committee on taxation and legislation and sent his resignation as chairman to COMPO president Ned E. Depinet. Included among the papers, he said, are some 25,000 pieces of correspondence and numerous clippings and other literature. Myers also released excerpts from replies he received from several dozen members of the House and Senate to the letter he sent them last week thanking them in behalf of COMPO for their sympathetic attitude toward the industry's fight to lift the admis (Continued on page 4) See Lazarus, Jr. in Columbia Sales Post Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., until recently top sales executive at United Artists, was reported in trade circles yesterday to be set for an executive sales post with Columbia Pictures at the home office. Efforts to reach Lazarus and Columbia executives for comment were unsuccessful. Lazarus has formally notified Council of Motion Picture Organizations officials that he will not accept the post of executive assistant to Arthur Mayer, second most important salaried post in COMPO's administrative set-up, which had been offered to him. 50-75^ 'Floor' Slated for NY Theatre Help Corsi to Hold Hearings On Wage Board Blueprint Wage minimums of 50 to 75 cents an hour for motion picture theatre personnel in New York State have been recommended to State Industrial Commissioner Edward Corsi by the Amusement and Recreation Minimum Wage Board which Corsi swore in on April 18. New York will be the third state to have a minimum wage for the amusement industry, California and Massachusetts having led the way. Others are expected to follow. Corsi said yesterday that he will not promulgate a state minimum wage order until after he holds a series of public hearings next month on the board's recommendations. The (Continued on page 4) Compo Trio to Assist Mayer Max A. Cohen, Robert W. Coyne and Oscar A. Doob have been named by Council of Motion Picture Organizations president Ned E. Depinet to assist COMPO executive vice-president Arthur L. Mayer on matters related to organization, personnel and the setting up of a COMPO office. The trio has been designated as a special committee of the COMPO executive board. Cohen will serve as committee chairman. Rodgers Declines Arbitration Role William F. Rodgers, Loew's distribution vice president, yesterday described as "very flattering" the recent proposal by Ben Marcus, and of Associated Independent Theatre Owners of Wisconsin, that Rodgers be drafted to head an industry arbitration board. However, acceptance of such a role would be impossible, Rodgers said, because of the extent of his present duties as chief of distribution for his company.