Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

FIRST MOTION PICTURE DAILY VOL. 69. NO. 43 NEW YORK, U. S. A., MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1951 TEN CENTS Box Office Take in '50 Off 6%: U.S. Ticket Tax Receipts Total $355,679,176 Washington, March 4.— If U.S. Treasury Department tax collection figures are any gauge, boxoffice business last year was not quite six per cent below 1949. Total general admission tax collections from Feb., 1950 through Jan., 1951, reflecting box-office take for the 12 months of last year, amounted to $355,679,176, compared with $377,911,424 for the 12 months of 1949, figures released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue reveal. Exhibitor groups have frequently argued that the box-office drop is actually worse than the Treasury figures indicate, since these figures lump all general admission events together and do not fake into account the in (Continued on page 4) 4UV Release Plans Up at Coast Meet Universal Pictures' top executives will start a series of meetings at the company's Coast studios on Wednesday to map releasing plans for the next several months. The meetings will continue for a week. Attending from New York will be Alfred E. Daff, director of world sales ; Charles J. Feldman, sales manager, and Maurice A. Bergman, home office executive. Daff and Feldman will arrive at the studio on Wednesday from San Francisco upon conclu (Continued on page 4) 175,315 Salary To Yates in 1950 $9,000,000 of $45,000,000 UPT Loan Used for Interstate Purchase Of the $45,000,000 which United Paramount Theatres borrowed last December, $9,000,000 was used toward the company's purchase of its partners' half-interest in Interstate and Texas Consolidated theatres, it was revealed here at the weekend. Full purchase price was $12,500,000, according to unofficial reports. Other portions of the loans, secured from Metropolitan Insurance Co. and three banks, were slated to pay off secured and unsecured indebtedness. However, it was indicated that additional theatre properties will be bought with some of the borrowed funds. Charges Dipson Decision Is Contrary to Para. Ruling UA Board, Officers, Formally Elected Formal elections of United Artists' new board of directors and officers were held late last week. Announcement of the board membership, the first the company has had since last June, was not made immediately because of legal technicalities, a company official stated. Basic corporate authority rests for the time being in the voting trustees named by the company earlier. They are : Arthur Krim, president ; Mat(Continued on page 4) Washington, March 4. — Federal Judge Knight's decision in the Dipson case is completely contrary to the U. S. Supreme Court's decisions in the Paramount New York and Jackson Park Chicago trust cases, attorneys for Dipson told the New York Circuit Court of Appeal at the weekend in appealing the Buffalo District Court's decision. Kn'ght threw out the $4,500,000 suit brought by Dipson Theatres, Inc., against six major distributors and Buffalo Theatres, holding that Paramount and Loew's, in pooling their theatre interests in Buffalo and in favoring the pooled {Continued on page 4) RCA Cuts Cost Of Theatre TV to $15,800 Full Scale Production Will Continue: Kreuzer Camden, N. J., March 4.— Radio Corporation of America will proceed with full-scale production of its present theatre television equipment and the price of its Model PT100 has been reduced to $15,800, Barton Kreuzer, general product manager of the RCA engineering products department said in a statement issued here on Friday. (The reduction is from a prev'ous cost of $25,000, it is understood, and represents nearly as much as the cut in price reportedly sought by a group of exhibitors in return for an order for 200 sets.) "This system has been proven by the reports of exhibitors on box-office results," Kreuzer said, "and by the enthusiastic and unanimous approval (Continued on page 4) Kranze Named Distribution Vice-President of ELC Herbert J. Yates, president, was the highest paid Republic executive last year, having received $175,315 in remuneration, it was reported here at the weekend supplementary to the company's recent financial statement which disclosed a net profit of $760,574 for 1950. All officers and directors of Republic last year received remuneration totalling $407,854. Second highest paid officer was James R. Grainger, (Continued on page 4) Bernard G. Kranze has been appointed vice-president of Eagle Lion Classics in charge of national distribution, it was announced here on Friday by William C. MacMillen, Jr., ELC president. Kranze succeeds William J. Heineman, who joins United Artists as vicepresident in charge of distribution today. Kranze had been general manager of ELC and, according to reports, Milton Cohen, Eastern division manager, will be appointed to that post today. New ELC releases and product (Continued on page 4) Bernard Kranze Flynn, Fisher in Managerial Posts Vincent Flynn, M-G-M salesman in the New York branch, has been named manager of the company's branch in Omaha, succeeding William Gaddoni who has been assigned to take over operations of the Kansas City branch. George L. Fisher of the Dallas office, will take over the Oklahoma City territory, replacing H. Russell Gaus, who has been promoted to manager of the Atlanta branch. Al L. Adlor, who has been handling the Kansas City branch for the past several years, was relieved of the full responsibility of the office at his doctor's request. He will continue there as assistant to Gaddoni. In Atlanta, Gaus succeeds Ansley B. Padgett, who resigned to enter exhibition in the South. Skouras Deposition Hits Bidding Competitive bidding has the unqualified disapproval of George Skouras, the theatre executive revealed in his deposition taken here last week in the Samuel Goldwyn action against National Theatres, Fox West Coast and others. Asked by Joseph Alioto, Goldwyn's attorney, about United Artists Theatre Circuit participation in bidding, Skouras took pains to make it clear that in most instances exhibitors engage in bidding only when compelled ( Continued on page 4) Industry Committee To Aid Charities Formation of the motion pictures committee of the Cardinal's Committee of the Laiety for the 32nd annual Catholic Charities fund-raising drive of the Archdiocese of New York which has as its 1951 goal the sum of $2,376,196, was announced here at the weekend by John J. O'Connor of Universal Pictures, chairman, and Bert Sanford of ABC Vending Corp., vicechairman. The committee1 includes Frank J. (Continued on page 2)