Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1951)

4 Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, July 11, 1951 NETTC, Allied Meet OnTheatreTVPlans For FCC Hearing Washington, July 10. — Top officials of the National Exhibitors Theatre Television Committee and Allied States Association met here today to discuss plans for exhibitor testimony before the Federal Communications Commission's theatre television hearings in the fall. All participants refused to comment on the meeting or to say whether there was any possibility of Allied coming together with NETTC for the presentation. Representing NETTC at the meeting were Mitchell Wolfson, Si Fabian, Gael Sullivan. Attorney Marcus Cohn and engineer C. M. Jansky, Jr. Allied officials at the meeting were Trueman T. Rembusch, Abram F. Myers and Wilbur Snaper. Allied has been insisting that exhibitors should seek frequencies in the VHF band .asking the FCC to force broadcasters to vacate these frequencies. The Theatre Owners of America, which dominates NETTC, has been recommending use of the ultra-high frequencies. MPAA TV Group Confers On Aspects of Bid to FCC With further meetings scheduled, the television committee of the Motion Picture Association of America conferred here yesterday with TV engineers Frank Mcintosh and Andrew Anglis, whom the Association has engaged, on the technical aspects of the presentation which will be made to the Federal Communications Commission for the allocation of TV channels for the industry. Present at yesterday's meeting were Kenneth Royall, Paul Raibourne, Edward Cheyfitz, Leopold Friedman, Earl Sponable, Frank Cahill, E. J. Smith, Ted Black and Ralph Cohn. Bout Telecast (Continued from page 1) of the LaMotta-Murphy bout on June 27. The substitutions are the Lincoln in Philadelphia for the Lincoln in Washington, and the Regent in Baltimore for the Metropolitan in the same city. The other nine are : Fabian's Palace, Albany, N. Y. ; Stanley, Philadelphia ; Loew's Century, Baltimore ; RKO Keith, Washington ; National, Richmond ; Fulton, Pittsburgh ; RKO Palace, Cleveland ; and State Lake and Tivoli, Chicago. SA YS INDUSTR Y WEEPING ' COST CONFIDENCE OF THE PUBLIC Columbus, O., July 10.— "Weeping" by film exhibitors and studio executives was given principal blame for a purported public loss of confidence in the industry by Norman Nadel, theatre editor of the Citizen. But Nadel was glad to note that most industryites have stopped weeping and are attempting to bolster confidence in the future of films. Discounts Effect of TV Nadel discounted the effects of television on film business. "It was true that people makingpayments on TV sets would not have as much money to spend on movies. It also was true, if they would have bothered to check, that once the television set was paid for, the customers began dropping into movie houses again. "If the movie men had opened their eyes, they might have noted that other businesses were suffering income reductions— department stores, for example. But were the store executives crying ? Not so the public could notice it. As a result, these other businesses maintained the public's confidence and trust, while the movie business lost it. The customers became wary of a business run by weepers — a business that apparently was dying, to listen to the men in it. "Now there are optimistic notes, but it is hard to convince the public that the film industry is a healthy one, with a long, secure future. There's been too much weeping." Deal for Republic Films for TV Seen Hollywood, July 10.— A deal for television station KNBH, NBC outlet here, to acquire 26 features and 48 serial episodes from Republic for $77,000 may be consummated tomorrow, according KNBH's Robert Guggenheim, who negotiated the purchase with Earl Collins, head of Republic's subsidiary Hollywood Television Service. Reaches Final Stages The deal, which will be the first disposal of Republic films for television if concluded, reached the finalistic stage yesterday when KNBH agreed to meet new demands by the American Federation of Musicians for payment of five per cent of whatever difference there may be between the price Republic gets from the station for films and the figure obtained from the sponsor. The pictures were all produced before 1945 and will be shown at the rate of one picture or serial weekly, according to the deal outlined, although the agreement is now oral. So far Guggenheim expects to reduce it to contract status tomorrow. Neither Collins nor other Republic executives were available for confirmation today. RKO Filming Spurt, Seven New Ones Set CBS Color TV Show In Chicago July 16 Columbia Broadcasting System, in cooperation with its subsidiaries, Columbia Records, and CBS-Columbia, will give special demonstrations of color television at the annual National Association of Music Manufacturers show in Chicago, July 16-19. The demonstrations, which will be held in the Wrigley Building auditorium of WBBM, CBS-owned station in Chicago, have been scheduled to give the thousands of television set buyers who attend the music show an opportunity to see in operation the new line of combination color and blackand-white receivers of CBS-Columbia. Sawyer in Video Bid Columbus, O., July 10. — U. S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer has bid for the purchase of radio station WCOL, local ABC outlet, from Lloyd Pixley. The FCC must approve the transaction. Sawyer owns stations WING, Dayton, Ohio, and WIZE, Springfield, Ohio. Pixley recently purchased WLOK at Lima, Ohio. CBS-TV Promotes Hylan William H. Hylan has been named assistant sales manager for the Columbia Broadcasting System's television network in charge of CBS-TV color sales, it was announced by David V. Sutton, CBS-TV sales manager. Associated with CBS since 1937, he had been a CBS-TV account executive since April 1948. Hollywood, July 10. — In a sharp upsurge in production, RKO Radio will put seven pictures before the cameras within the next three weeks. Filmakers' "Day Without End" is slated to go on the sound stages tomorrow. Produced by Collier Young and directed by Harry Horner, its cast is headed by Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Barbara Whiting and Taylor Holmes. Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna will begin three, all of which will be produced by Harriet Parsons. "High Heels," on which Gordon Griffith is associate producer, starts July 16 ; 'Clash By Night" goes July 28 and 'Size 12" tees off July 30. Producer-Director Howard Hawks takes a company of 300 to the Jackson Hole country July 23 for Winchester Pictures' "The Big Sky." Kirk Douglas heads the cast. Edmund Grainger has set July 30 as the starting date for "The Korean Story," in which Robert Mitchum will be starred. Tay Garnett will direct, with much of the filming slated for actual locations in Japan and Korea. Producer Gabriel Pascal will start camera work on George Bernard Shaw's "Androcles and the Lion," on Aug. 1. Chester Erskine will direct a cast topped by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Alan Young, Robert Newton and Maurice Evans. Continuing before the cameras at RKO until July 18 will be "A Girl in Every Port," which Irwin Allen and Irving Cummings, Jr., are producing. Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson and William Bendix head the cast ; Chester Erskine directs. Paper Pays Tribute To Kermit Stengel Nashville, July 10. — The Nashville Record has published a "salute" to Kermit C. Stengel, with Crescent Amusement Co. since 1934 and now its executive vicepresident. In the financial and investment business in Nashville from 1925 to 1934, Stengel is widely known to the film industry as the principal film buyer for Crescent. Ruling on 'Miracle' Appeal Due Today Albany, July 10. — The court of appeals will announce its decision tomorrow afternoon on the appeal argued June 1 by Joseph Burstyn, Inc., from the decision of the Board of Regents revoking the license for "The Miracle" on the grounds that it is "sacrilegious." The judges saw a screening of the Italian film in Madison Theatre before the case was heard. Since arguments were made, Charles A. Brind, Jr., Regents' counsel, filed a brief ; Ephraim S. London, Burstyn's attorney, filed a supplementary answering brief. The American Jewish Congress also filed a brief, urging the Regents be overruled because the action in reversing the State Education Department's motion picture division allegedly violated the principle of the freedom of religion guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution. Burstyn has said that if the decision were adverse to him in the state's highest tribunal, he would appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. A A Sets Release for Disc Jockey Tieup Allied Artists has set Aug. 23 as the release date for its musical special, "Disc Jockey," to tie-in with "National Disc Jockey Week," Aug. 20 to 26, it was announced here by Morey Goldstein, sales vice-president. The picture, produced by Maurice Duke, will get a simultaneous world premiere in 31 key cities during the week's celebration honoring radio and TV platter-spinners. Twenty-eight of the nation's top disc jockeys from 21 different cities are featured in the picture which stars Ginny Simms and Tom Drake. Mexico to Hold Its 1st World Film Fair Mexico City, July 10. — The Mexican government is actively participating in plans which the trade is making for Mexico's first world film fair in Acapulco, popular historic Pacific port resort, from Feb. 1 to 15. The government is represented by J. J. Castillo Lopez, chairman of the National Cinematographic Board of Censorship. He is working with Leopoldo Pastor, chairman of the trade's arrangements committee. James Alexander in New Post at U-I James Alexander, manager for Universal-International in the Dominican Republic, has been named to the post of home office representative in Panama. Morris Paiewonsky succeeds Alexander in the Dominican Republic. James Alexander joined UniversalInternational as manager of the Tunis branch in Aug., 1947. Wife of Abe Kaplan Chicago, July 10. — Funeral services were held here last Friday for Anna Kaplan, wife of Abe Kaplan, who manages the Bell Theatre. She also is survived by two sons, Meyer and Leon, who are part owners of the Avenue, Bell, and Savoy Theatres. Interment was at Westlawn Cemetery.