Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY VOL. 69. NO. 55 NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1951 TEN CENTS SIMPP Quits NY Quarters By April 30 Retaining Coast Office; Board Meets Next Week The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers will close its New York office on April 30 with the expiration on that date of the lease to its quarters in the International Building, Rockefeller Center. SIMPP began a policy of retrenchment about a year ago when independent production was at an ebb stage. Last summer it dispensed with the services of its general counsel, Robert J. Rubin, now an executive at Paramount. The Society is financed by percentage contributions by members on the basis of the distribution gross of their product. The Society will continue to maintain its principal offices in Beverly Hills, Cal. Ellis G. Arnall, SIMPP president, who this week is in Atlanta, will be on the Coast next week for meetings with the Society's board. The meetings are expected to determine the extent to which it will be (Continued on page 15) SAG Defines 'Red' Policy Hollywood, March 20. — The first official declaration of policy with respect to the new House Un-American Activities Committee hearings by any ranking Hollywood organization was made today by the Screen Actors Guild. 'The declaration, which condemned the "Communist Party conspiracy" and cautioned against the "smearing (Continued on page 3) Sears Drive Plans Advanced by U. A. United Artists' advertising and sales departments are well along in their efforts to launch the "Grad Sears Drive" on April 1, in honor of the company's vice-president. William Heineman, vice-president in charge of distribution, has announced that $10,000 will be distributed among winning branches in the drive, with a first prize of $2,500. Sears in a letter to branch and (Continued on page 15) Italy's 7,800 Theatres Grossed Upwards of $88,000,000, Says U. S. Washington, March 20. — Box-office receipts in Italy last year totaled between $88,000,000 and $93,000,000, including a government excise tax of about 30 per cent, the U. S. Department of Commerce reported here today. Other figures on the Italian film situation released by the Department, headed by Nathan D. Golden, were these: There were about 7,800 theatres with regular commercial showings, with a seating capacity of about 3,500,000; approximately 105 full-length feature films were produced in Italy last year, compared with 95 in 1949 and 50 in 1948; about 440 foreign features were imported, of which 333 were passed by the censors, including 286 U. S. films, 20 French, and 18 British. 2.2 Cents of Average US Dollar Spent for Films Chart New 'Cyrano' Release Setup Soon Stanley Kramer Productions in about two weeks will make two decisions with respect to distribution activities surrounding "Cyrano de Bergerac." One will be arrangements for releasing the film generally now that it has just about completed the major portion of its road-show schedule, and the other will involve release of the picture in England, France and Germany. George J. Schaefer, president of Stanley Kramer Distributing Corp. and general sales manager of Kramer Productions, reported this here yesterday, indicating that he will leave for Europe in approximately two weeks to arrange for distribution of "Cyrano" in the three countries. United Artists is releasing the film in. the U. S. but has not yet been granted overseas releasing rights. Whether "Cyrano" will go directly from road-showing into general release, or whether there will be a time lapse between the use of the two releasing methods, is a point which will have to be decided, Schaefer indicated. The fact that the Stanley Kramer Co., the Kramer partnership with Sam (Continued on page 15) Skiatron Seeks FCC Okay for N. Y. Test The Federal Communications Commission had its first view of Skiatron's "Subscriber-Vision" yesterday and the company announced that it will_a.sk for FCC permission to conduct a test in the New York area similar to the test being conducted by Phonevision in Chicago. The Commission witnessed a closed(Continued on page 15) Washington, March 20. — The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has decided that more of the average large-city family's spending dollar goes for film admissions than formerly, even though movie-going accounts for a smaller percentage of the total being spent for recreation. The Bureau has just finished a preliminary revision of the "weight" to be assigned to various items in its consumers' price index, which is supposed to show the spending pattern for commodities and services in the 34 largest cities of the U. S. This is the first revision since the index was set up in the early 1930's. In the old index, based on 1934-36 spending habits, film admissions accounted for 1 .7 cents out of the spending $1, and about three-fifths of the total spent for recreation and reading, which was put at 2.9 cents out of the dollar. The new weighting, based on 194749 spending habits, increases the amount of the dollar spent on films to 2.2 cents, but the total for the reading-recreation group has been raised to 5.8 cents out of each dollar, so that movie-going now accounts for only about 40 per cent of the spending in this group, against a former 60 per cent. A final revision is due next year, based on a wide survey now under (Continued on page 15) 'Teresa' Drive to Honor Arthur Loew In celebration of Arthur M. Loew's 30th year in the industry, M-G-M's domestic and international distribution departments will ioin in the promotion of "Teresa," which Loew produced in New York and Italy. Morton A. Spring, Loew's International first vice-president, announced that a feature of the overseas promo(Continued on page 15) Reach Near Agreement on 20th Decree Expected To Be Ready For Court Early April Washington, March 20. — Top officials of the Justice Department and 20th Century-Fox reached allbut-final agreement today on the proposed consent decree. They said, however, that it would probably be early April before it was finally approved and ready for presentation to the New York Statutory Court. Fox West Coast Theatres president Charles Skouras and aides, John Bertero and John Lavery met with assistant attorney-general H. Graham Morison in one long session and then with Justice attorney Philip Marcus in another session. Morison said that the conferees were "in the process of getting the final terms," and that "we're pretty well at the end of the row." A Fox spokesman said that while "we're not washed up completely yet, the end is definitely in sight now." The Fox officials were slated to re (Continued on page 15) To Air Allied Bidding Plan Washington, March 20. — Allied States Association general counsel Abram F. Myers said today when he takes up arbitration with distributors, he will also take up Allied's proposals for changing the competitive bidding provisions of the New York decrees and any other proposals Allied has to make. While Myers refused to confirm re (Continued on page 15) LeSieur to Address ELC Meeting Today Howard LeSieur, Eagle Lion Classics advertising-publicity director, will join with other company home office executives in addressing today the second in a series of two-day regional sales meetings in New York. The current meeting is for Midwestern division branch managers. It follows a two-day meeting here for Eastern division managers. Also scheduled to address today's (Continued on page 15)