Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

Wednesday, March 28, 1951 Motion Picture Daily 17 No More Televised Hearings: Kefauver Washington, March 27. — Today's hearings of the Senate Crime Investigating Committee will be the last televised, according to Sen. Estes Kefauver, chairman. The rest of the hearings this week will be held behind closed doors, he said. Kefauver has been opposed to continuing the committee beyond its termination on March 30, but Sen. Charles Tobey, also a member, has advocated an extension of its life. Levy on TV (Continued from page 1) tor production to be militant in their position that television is not a successor to, nor a substitute for, motion pictures in theatres, but rather is another form of amusement for the American public," Levy admonished. Levy told the meeting he regretted that he was unable to report a lessening in the use of competitive bidding. "As I have said on many occasions, it is economically unsound and should be employed by distribution, if at all, in those rare instances where no other method of licensing pictures will avoid litigation. In all too many instances competitive bidding is being invoked for the purpose of obtaining increased film rental." Comments on 'Pattern' He added that the "pattern of distribution seems to be that a letter from an exhibitor asking for the privilege of negotiating for a desired run is the signal for throwing the area concerned into competitive bidding." He said that position was not "justifiable." The distributors "should rather be guided by the sound principle of law enunciated again by the court in the Windsor-Walbrook case that distributors are within their rights to select their customers if they are guided by 'ordinary business motives,' " said Levy. The TOA attorney, reminding the meeting of TOA's efforts looking toward the establishment of a system of arbitration, said he was pleased to learn that Allied voted recently to explore the subject. Switch from 'Good' to 'Greater' Showmanship Cited by Bamberger Oklahoma City, March 27. — The convention here of the Theatre Owners of Oklahoma was reminded today in an address by Leon J. Bamberger, RKO Pictures sales promotion manager, that exhibitors who last year worked harder to sell their shows and theatres were able to surmount competition from other forms of entertainment. "A large number of theatre owners," he said, "concluded that the competition they were facing from numerous other amusements made it imperative to turn on the heat and switch from good showmanship to greater showmanship." WB's Harte Promoted Albany, N. Y., March 27.— Karl Harte has been promoted from head booker to salesman for Warner Brothers in the Albany exchange district. He replaces Herb Gaines, transferred to Buafflo. Scores Book (Continued from page 1) pected to have the feature on from 40 to 50 screens today and with other key city exchanges ordering from 20 to 30 prints each. With the laboratory here working around the clock, Peter Levathes, 20th-Fox short subject sales manager, declined to predict how many prints would eventually be made. He saw 500 as a minimum, with a higher figure possible if public interest in the hearings, nowtransferred to Washington, continues. Levathes said rental terms on the feature are being negotiated for each booking. Kefauver Witnesses Challenge Newsreel, TV, Radio Coverage Washington, March 27. — A challenge to the right of newsreel cameras to take photographs at Congressional hearings was included in the protests against radio and television apparatus made by Monday night's witnesses before the Senate Crime Investigating Committee. Last night Cleveland gamblers Lou Rothkopf and Morris Kleinman refused to testify before the committee so long as the television, radio and newsreel equipment was present. They said the equipment violated their individual privacy and invaded their constitutional rights. Most daily papers played up the refusal to be televised, omitting the fact that radio and newsreel rights were also at issue. Meanwhile, Senator Wiley, a member of the crime committee, introduced a resolution to have the Senate Rules Committee make a thorough study of the problems "which have arisen or which might arise in connection with past or proposed televising, or motion picture or other photographing" of proceedings before Congressional committees. 'Laughs, Drama' (Continued from page 1) the Senate sub-group, opens the Movietone News film with a brief and effective description of the hearings' purpose. One of them is to "bringto the public information" concerning the operations of organized crime and its links with politics — and in this the theatres which show the feature will be playing an important part. At the end of the film Kefauver urges the theatre audiences to take steps against organized crime in their own cities. From the total footage shot, said to have exceeded 100,000 feet, Louis Tetunic has skillfully compressed the highlights into 52 minutes. Dan Doherty's script, narrated by Joe King, provides the commentary needed to draw the questions and answers into a cohesive whole. Star billing goes to the witnesses — Frank Costello, Ambassador William O'Dwyer, Miss Hill and others — but top performances are given by the investigators. Kefauver is calm ; Sen. Charles Tobey philosophizes on the meanings of patriotism and citizenship (and clashes bitterly with O'Dwyer on his own campaign contributions) and chief counsel Rudolph Halley pursues his implacable questioning. Against them is shown the — evasive answers of the alleged underworld chiefs, the explosive replies of O'Dwyer and former Commissioner James J. Moran and the whole parade of witnesses, some reluctant, some Theatre Building Appeals Heavy Washington, March 27.— National Production Authority is getting a seasonally high volume of appeals to build new theatres, NPA officials said. Drive-in appeals continue especially heavy, it was said. Out of 100 appeals now pending to build all types of amusement structures, 18 are for new drive-ins and 15 are for new indoor theatres or to remodel such theatres. Officials said there has been no change in the standards for approving appeals. Color Video Case Under Advisement Washington, March 27. — The Supreme Court today took under advisement the so-called color television case. The Court finished hearing four hours of argument on RCA's appeal from a Chicago three-judge court decision which upheld the Federal Communications Commission order approving CBS color. The Court will have to hand down its decision before it quits in June, but may actually hand it down much sooner — possibly by midApril. Nominating Group For ATS Named David Hale Halpern, president of the American Television Society, has announced the nominating committee for officers and directors for the 195152 year. They are : Halsey V. Barrett, Dumont Television Network, chairman ; Will Baltin, Screen Gems ; Norman Livingstone, W OR-TV ; George Shupert, Paramount Film Productions ; M. Charles Rohrabaugh, Rohrabaugh Reports ; Warren Caro, Theatre Guild ; Don McClure, McCann-Erickson. Elections will be held in May. Ohio Drive-in Group Combats Tax Bill Columbus, O., March 27. — The taxation committee of the Ohio Drivein Theatres Association appeared before the House Taxation Committee at a hearing today as part of its "aggressive" campaign against enactment of the proposed township trustees' admissions tax levy and the proposal to reinstate the state three per cent admission tax. Members of the association's taxation committee are : Mrs. Ethel Miles, Columbus ; Jack Armstrong, Bowling Green ; and Horace Shock, Lima. willing. The whole Edmund Reek production is charged with excitement and tension made vivid by the immediacy of the newsreel format. The last hearing scene is in Washington, with Jacob (Greasy Thumb) Guzik steadfastly refusing to answer a single query. He is a little, graying man, his eyes shielded by dark glasses. The committee orders him remanded to the custody of the Senate sergeant-at-arms and the final scene, with Guzik looking up at the man who is to put him away, has the classic Hollywood touch of just retribution. V. O'B. Coming Events March 28 — United Jewish Appeal executive committee of the amusement division meeting, Hotel Astor, New York. March 28 — Cinema Stamp Collectors meeting, Hotel Astor, New York. March 28-29— Warner Brothers district managers meeting, home office. March 29 — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 23rd annual presentation of awards, RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood. April 4-6 — Theatre Owners of America board of directors meeting, Hotel Mayflower, Washington. April 5-6 — National Board of Review of Motion Pictures annual conference, Hotel McAlpin, New York. April 10 — Industry dinner honoring Richard Walsh, IATSE president, 21 Club, New York. April 10-11 — Allied-Independent Theatre Owners of Iowa-Nebraska annual convention, Savery Hotel, Des Moines. April 11 — Cinema Stamp Collectors meeting, Hotel Astor, New York. April 17-18— Motion Picture Operators of the South annual meeting, Henry Grady Hotel, Atlanta. April 19 — Joint Defense Appeal of Greater New York, amusement division, industn'-wide luncheon, Hotel Astor, New York. Kodak Anticipates Sales Rise in 1951 Eastman Kodak expects rising sales, production, and employment in 1951 ; but because of higher taxes and costs, net earnings will probably be considerably lower in relation to sales. Perley S. Wilcox, board chairman, and Thomas J. Hargrave, president, give this outlook in the Kodak annual report now being released to stockholders. Kodak's net sales for 1950, as reported earlier, were $461,389,980. Consolidated net earnings were $61,858,957. In the United States the company employed 46,400 persons at the yearend compared to 42,300 in 1949 and 49,000 in 1948, it was reported. EK production departments accounted for most of the increase. The number of people in the Rochester establishments rose about 10 percent — from 28,700 at the end of 1949 to 31,700 as 1950 closed. General Precision Profit Increases Net profit of General Precision Equipment Corp. for 1950 amounted to $871,899, after Federal income taxes of $720,000, compared with $456,485 after Federal taxes of $250,000 for 1949. This is equivalent to $1.45 per share in 1950, compared with 76 cents per share in 1949. Including a special credit item of $269,199 for adjustment to capital assets, the total profit for 1950 amounted to $1,141,098, or $1.90 per share. Sales for the year were $27,072,360 compared with $26,711,926 for the year 1949.