Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Accurate Concise and Impartial VOL. 69. NO. 53 NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1951 TEN CENTS SalesmenOpen New Pay Pact Meetings Here Begin Today One Week of Negotiations for Raises Negotiations for new union contracts to cover the country's 1,000 film salesmen will begin here today between distributors and the Colosseum of Motion Picture Salesmen. Increases in wages and on-the-road expense allowances will be demanded by the union. That union representatives were less than willing to come to New York for the negotiations was indicated in a letter which David Beznor, Colosseum general counsel, of Milwaukee, sent to Bernard Goodman, chairman of the Industry Negotiat'ng Committee. "We feel," Beznor wrote, "that a meeting should be held more appropriately and conveniently at some (Continued on page 4) ELC Sales Meeting Starts Here Today Eight days of conferences to be attended by Eagle Lion Classics top executives and field sales personnel attending in territorial groups, will open at the home office here this morning. Product policy and showmanship promotion will be concentrated today and tomorrow on the confabs for the Eastern division, with the Midwestern division attending on (Continued on page 4) PCCITO Convention Set for July 16-19 San Francisco, March 18. — Annual convention of the Pacific Coast Conference of Independent Theatre Owners will be held July 16-19 at Delmar, Gal., Rotus Harvey, president, announced. Convention headquarters will be at the Delmar Turf and Surf Club. Harvey urged exhibitors to bring their families, including the children, promising provisions to assure a family vacation. Harvey's announcement came shortly after PCCITO ratified the new COMPO set-up. Ontario Admissions Expected to Rise Toronto, March 18. — An upward revision in admission prices in Ontario is expected after April 1 when the reduction of the provincial amusement tax from 15 to 12'/2 per cent becomes effective. Theatre scales have been static for a long time under an agreement with the Ontario government to maintain prices in passing on to theatres the ticket-tax reduction from 20 to 15 per cent, permitted some time ago, but the pact expires March 31 and an upward trend is now in prospect, it is intimated. See No Ticket Tax Hike Bid by U. S. Washington, March 18. — Key Administaration officials on Capitol Hill are predicting that the admission tax will not be mentioned when Secretary of the Treasury Snyder appears before the House Ways and Means committee on April 2 to outline the Administration's new tax plans. In fact, some Republicans and Democrats believe Secretary Snyder will not ask for any additional taxes over the $10,155,000,000 he requested in February. The Administration is on record for a pay-as-you-go tax policy, and this could mean that Snyder would have to find an additional $6,000,000,000 of new taxes to fully balance the (Continued on page 4) Jurisdictional Tilt To Supreme Court Washington, March 18. ■ — Eight major distributors, Interstate Circuit, Inc., and Texas Consolidated Theatres, Inc. have told the U. S. Supreme Court that Federal District Courts do have the power to transfer cases to other districts for the convenience of the parties involved and witnesses. In a brief filed here, they urged the high court to turn down an appeal by Tivoli Realty, Inc., and I. B. Adelman. Tivoli and Adelman operate theatres in Dallas and Houston, respectively, but brought anti-trust suits against the distributors and the two circuits in Delaware. The distributors and the circuits moved to transfer the cases to Texas, but Tivoli and Adelman (Continued on page 4) 16 Col. Films In 6 Months Columbia will open a three-day sales meeting at the Hotel Warwick, New York, today. A. Montague, general sales manager, will preside. Attending will be the company's division managers, several branch managers, home office sales executives and top sales personnel. High on the agenda will be a discussion of sales and liquidation plans for 16 productions, seven in color, to be released by the company in the coming six months. Also scheduled for discussion is a detailed examination of sales conditions in the various territories. Among the productions to be discussed are: "Born Yesterday," Judy Holliday-William Holden-Broderick Crawford starrer ; "Valentino," Technicolor Edward Small production (Continued on page 2) Bollengier Elected Treasurer of U.A. Albert E. Bollengier has been elected treasurer of United Artists, it was announced here at the weekend by Arthur B. Krim, president. Bollengier succeeds H. J. Muller, who was named comptroller and who in that post will continue with the duties he had in the past. A certified public accountant whose entire professional career has been devoted to motion picture finances, Bollengier resigned as secre (Continued on page 4) Albert E. Bollengier O'Dwyer Probe Film Free at Theatres Today's hearings in New York of the Senate Crime Investigating Committee, currently a top news event, will be shown complete in Century's Marine and Queens theatres to audiences admitted free of charge. The two theatres and Fabian's Fox in Brooklyn screened TV excerpts of the hearings during the past week. Century decided, in view of the public interest, to screen the whole proceedings today when former Mayor William O'Dwyer is scheduled to appear. Fabian's Fox will continue to (Continued on page 4) Kramer Makes Deal With Columbia Contract Calls for SO Films Over 5 Years Hollywood, March 18. — An agreement under which Stanley Kramer Co. will deliver 30 films to Columbia during the next five years was finalized at the weekend with the signing of contracts covering an expenditure of $25,000,000. Columbia president, Harry Cohn, in announcing the consummation of long pending negotiations, said, "This is the most important deal we have ever made." Kramer's company, he continued, which moves intact to Columbia, comes to us with 12 properties, worth more than $3,000,000, already purchased and in preparation. The same production methods which (Continued on page 2) Judge Pecora Joins Schwartz & Frohlich Ferdinand Pecora, former New York State Supreme Court Justice, has been named counsel to the industry law firm of Schwartz and Frohlich. The appointment is effective today. Pecora was chief assistant to the Federal District Attorney in New York for 11 years. Subsequently, he was counsel to the U. S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency and (Continued on page 4) Maryland Owners Elect Garman, Nolte Baltimore, March 18.— The Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Maryland, at its annual meeting here, elected Lauritz Garman, president ; C. Elmer Nolte, Jr., vicepresident; Jacob Levin, treasurer, and Mrs. Helen Diering, secretary. Directors include: Louis Gaertner, Leon Bach, Isador M. Rappaport, Meyer Leventhal, Oscar B. Coblentz, Jr., William C. Allen, L. E. Green, Frank A. Hornig, Jr., J. L. Whittle, J. Robert Gruver and Milton Schwaber.