Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Accurate Concise and Impartial VOL. 69. NO. 34 NEW YORK, U. S. A., MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1951 TEN CENTS U.A. Control Changes Hands This Morning McNutt, McNamee Out; Krim, Benjamin, Fox In Management control of United Artists will pass this morning to the Arthur Krim-Robert BenjaminMatthew Fox group. Paul V. McNutt and Frank L. McNamee on Friday resigned as board chairman and president, respectively. McNutt and Loyd Wright, attorney for Charles Chaplin, announced simultaneously with the resignations on Friday that the contract for the transfer of management control of the company to the Krim-Benjamin-Fox group was delivered out of escrow. {Continued on page 8) Heineman Pact Up; Stays Till March 2 William J. Heineman, Eagle Lion Classics vice-president in charge of distribution, will remain with the company at least until March 2, although his contract expired last Saturday without being renewed. Discussions concerning a new contract have extended over the past several months without an agreement having been reached. It has been reported that Heineman is in line for the post of vice-president in charge of distribution for United Artists under the Arthur Krim regime which takes over at U.A. today. However, there have as yet been no negotiations, let alone an agreement. Heineman's decision to remain another two weeks, without contract at ELC is believed to have been made to {Continued on page 8) 8,000-Share Option Claimed by Kravetz Max Kravetz, United Artists secretary, who has indicated he intends to hold on to his option for the purchase of company stock notwithstanding the now official take-over of management control by the Arthur Krim-Robert Benjamin-Matthew Fox group, claimed in an interview on Friday that his {Continued on page 8) 'Miracle ' Held Sacrilegious; Regents Revoke License 'Miracle' Violates Religious Freedom Albany, N. Y., Feb. 18.— Discussing the "priceless heritage of religious freedom in this country" in its opinion finding the Italian-made film, "The Miracle," sacrilegious, the New York State Board of Regents said: "The law recognizes that men and women of all faiths respect the religious beliefs held by others. The mockery or profaning of these beliefs that are sacred to any portion of our citizenship is abhorrent to the laws of this great State. This picture takes the concepts (of the Bible) so sacred to millions of our people and associates it with drunkenness, seduction, mockery and lewdness." Albany, N. Y., Feb. 18.— The New York State Board of Regents held unanimously on Friday that Roberto Rossellini's "The Miracle" is "sacrilegious" and cancelled the picture's license previously issued by the Motion Picture Division of the State Department of Education. The license was issued to "The Ways of Love," a film trilogy put together by Joseph Burstyn, New York distributor, of which "The Miracle" is a unit. Thus cancellation of the license applies to the other two films comprising 'Ways of Love" while "The Miracle" remains a part of it. Provision was made for an application to license "Ways of Love" without "The Miracle." Burstyn's attorneys moved immedi{Continued on page 8) Loew's May Switch Southern Division Atlanta, Feb. 18— Mike J. Cullen, new manager of the Southern division of Loew's Theatres has arrived in Atlanta to take up his new duties, accompanied by Oscar A. Dobb, general executive of the Loew's organization, from New York. Cullen, who has been transferred {Continued on page 3) Changeof -Venue Test to High Court ^ Washington, Feb. 18.— The U. S. Supreme Court has been asked to rule on the power of Federal District Courts to transfer private anti-trust suits in the film industry from the district where they were brought to another district more convenient to the defendants. Involved are two suits for treble damages and injunctive relief brought by Tivoli Realty, Inc., and I. B. Adel {Continued on page 8) Allied Will Enter Talks On Arbitration U.S. Will Not Appeal The Griffith Decision Myers to Report Back To Board Meet in May Washington, Feb. 18. — In a surprise move, the board of directors of Allied States Association has authorized general counsel Abram F. Myers to enter into discussions with distributors on a possible industry arbitration system. Though Myers stressed that the talks were "purely exploratory" and in no way bound Allied to go through with such a system, one top Allied official admitted that "this is the first time in all its history that Al {Continued on page 3) Washington, Feb. 18. — The government will not appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court Judge Edgar S. Vaught's decision in the Griffith antitrust case, it was learned here. Solicitor General Philip B. Perlman, acting on recommendations of his own staff and of the anti-trust division, has signed papers signifying that the Justice Department has decided aga'nst an appeal and that as far as the Government is concerned, the Griffith case is closed. Technically, Judge Vaught's decree will not be absolutely final until Feb. 25, the deadline for any appeal. But the Department's decision makes it certain that the 12-year old suit has finally come to an end. Justice Department officials made it clear that they still feel the Vaught decision and decree were major defeats for them but that they decided against an appeal because they were convinced they would get nowhere with it. "Make no mistake," one government {Continued on page 8) Rembusch Chosen Again to Head Allied Washington, Feb. 18. — Trueman T. Rembusch was reelected for a second one-year term as president of Allied States Association as Allied's t w o-d a y midwinter board meeting closed here Friday. The board also elected the Association's eight representatives on the proposed n e w executive committee of the Council of Motion Picture Organiza {Continued on page 3) Trueman Rembusch Brilant Heads New RKO Promotions Plans to increase activity in the commercial tie-up field as part of an over-all drive to step up national publicity coverage for RKO Pictures, were disclosed here on Friday by Don Prince, Eastern publicity director, who has assigned Arthur M. Brilant to {Continued on page 3)