Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1952)

FIRST ill FILM NEWS L MOTION PICTURE DAILY VOL. 71. NO. 64 NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1952 TEN CENTS Audit of U.A. 1951 Profit Ready Today Management Acquisition Of 50% of Stock Follows The final audit of United Artists' operations for 1951 was completed yesterday by Price, Waterhouse Co., and remained "only a typing job." Announcement of the audit was expected to be made today together with an explanation that formal transfer of 50 per cent of UA's stock to the new management by virtue of a profit-showing would follow as soon as the banks holding the certificates could effect the necessary endorsements, probably in a day. The 50 per cent stock interest, which has been held in escrow, will be apportioned among six management executives : Arthur Krim, president ; Robert Benjamin and Matthew Fox, partners ; Max E. Youngstein, William J. Heineman and Arnold Picker, vice-presidents. Undertaken for Mary Pickford and (Continued on page 5) Yates Is Reelected Republic President Herbert J. Yates, president, and other officers of Republic Pictures yesterday were reelected by the board of directors at a meeting which followed the annual stockholders' meeting at the home office. Four directors were reelected to the board by the stockholders, whose meeting was described as one of the largest in the history of the company. James R. Grainger, executive vicepresident, presided at the stockhold(Continued on page 5) Japan Will Import 104 In 6 Months Washington, April 1. — Details of the new Japanese film import quota control were revealed today by Commerce Department film chief Nathan D. Golden. He said that for the first six months of the fiscal year beginning today, foreign feature film imports have been fixed at 104 features. During the previous 12 months, the quota was 215 features. The breakdown of the 104 features (Continued on page 5) MP A Heads to Visit Arbitration Parley Eric A. Johnston, Motion Picture Association of America president, and a number of the presidents of MPAA member companies will sit in on the initial industry arbitration conference here on April 22 as observers, it was indicated yesterday. The annual MPAA membership meeting will be held in New York on the same day. It was reported yesterday that invitations setting April 22 as the conference date were written and would be mailed out today after Johnston gives them his final approval. Film Stars Sign For Video Shows Charles Boyer, Rosalind Russell, Dick Powell, Joel McCrea and Robert Cummings have completed arrangements with Official Films to make half-hour television films, William R. Goodheart, Jr., president of the TV production firm, disclosed here yesterday. Boyer, Russell, Powell and McCrea will appear in Official's "Four Star Playhouse," produced by Don Sharpe, it was stated. Cummings will appear in his own show, "The Robert Cummings Show," also produced by Sharpe. Boyer has already completed the first picture in Official's "Four Star Playhouse." Goodheart stated that Russell, Powell, and McCrea will be rotated with Boyer, one each week. Drive-in Building Boom Anticipated Minneapolis, April 1. — Drivein authorities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas report that if there is no further tightening of government controls over required materials, construction of drive-ins in these states and in Northern Iowa will commence on a huge scale this spring. Concession sales profits are given as the main reason for the anticipated upsurge in small town drive-ins, according to one supply dealer specializing in construction and equipping the outdoor theatres. The drive-in operator is said to have learned that concession sales average about 50 per cent of the ticket sales, with no 20 per cent outlay for Federal taxes. Another pointed out that the North(Continued on page 5) A.L. Mayer to Europe May 4 Arthur L. Mayer, executive vicepresident of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations, is scheduled to wind up his activities in that office by the end of this month and will leave for Rome by plane on May 4. Mayer already has delayed his scheduled European trip two or three times in order to aid in the administration of COMPO pending the designation of a new president of the organization. His resignation from the post which he has occupied for nearly two years was tendered to the COMPO board of directors meeting here Feb. 20. The COMPO nominating committee reportedly is still receiving suggestions for prospective choices for the presidency and after clearing them with COMPO member organizations may come up with a new administrative head. Until this has been done, an informal proposal that COMPO be administered by a small (Continued on page 5) Colosseum Pressing New Expense Issue Minneapolis, April 1.— The issue of expense payments to film salesmen has arisen again to bring the Colosseum of Motion Picture Salesmen of America into conflict with a number of the distributors covered by its contracts. Expense payments for "fractional" days worked are at the root of the problem, according to a Colosseum spokesman here. The question is whether salesmen should be paid for breakfast on days when they start on trips after the morning meal. It was estimated that the average "fractional" pay deduction for breakfast is about $75 per year per man. Joseph Heppner, 43, Veteran Cameraman Joseph Heppner, 43, motion picture publicity photographer and head of Metropolitan Photo Service of this city, died from a heart attack in his home at Scarsdale yesterday morning. Engaged in the photographic field since he was 14, he was a former vice-president of the New York Press Photographers Association and chairman of its entertainment committee for 15 years. He joined the photographic staff of the New York Evening Journal at 14 as an assistant in its "dark-room" and later became a cameraman. In 1927 he joined Metro(Continued on page 5) Weigh Policy On Problem of 4 Red' Charges Companies' Views May Be Set in Few Weeks Washington, April 1. — No further developments between the Motion Picture Association of America and the American Legion are likely for "some little time," an MPAA official declared today. He said that when yesterday's meeting broke up, there was nothing to indicate when there would be any future conversations. There probably will be further meetings, he added, but they are probably "quite a few weeks off." For the next few weeks, according to this official, individual companies will be considering their views and policies on the problem, and "nothing is likely on the industry wide level until that's done." This official refused to say that any meeting between the MPAA and (Continued on page 5) $1,800,000 Trust Suit Filed in N.Y. Eight distributors were named defendants in a $1,800,000 treble-damage anti-trust suit filed in U. S. District Court here yesterday by Max L.. Julius and Louis A. Charnow in behalf of Leonia Amusement Co., which was dissolved in 1938. The complaint asserts that the Leonia Theatre in the New Jersey town of the same name was discriminated against on clearances. Allied Spring Board Meeting, May 3-4 Washington, April 1 — Allied States Association's spring board meeting will be held May 3 and 4 in the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo., general counsel Abram F. Myers announced. He said top Allied officials would probably stay over for the annual convention of Allied Rocky Mountain Independent Theatres, which will take place May 6 and 7 at the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs.