Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1952)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY ccurate mm VOL. 72. NO. 65 NEW YORK, U.S.A., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1952 TEN CENTS Launch RKO \Frisch Is Elected MMPTA President Radio Meet \Rosen Heads Board Here Today Stolkin Due in; Expect Management Decisions With Ralph Stolkin, head of the syndicate which last week purchased the controlling stock interest in RKO Pictures from Howard Hughes scheduled to arrive here today from Chicago, preparations were made yesterday for a full-scale meeting of company heads with the new owners today and tomorrow. Presumably the meetings will be ot an executive nature inasmuch as no notice of a meeting of the board of directors had gone out up to last night. One explanation offered was that the new owners, under their purchase agreement with Hughes, will not have voting rights to the stock until early next week— two weeks after the closing of the deal. Nevertheless, an RKO Pictures spokesman indicated yesterday that a statement probably will be issued following the close of the meeting tomorrow. Meanwhile, unofficial reports con{Continued on page 4) AT&T Promises TV Cost Data by Dec. 31 Washington, Sept. 30. — Officials of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. promised to try to have ready "before the end of the year" detailed theatre television cost figures long sought by the film industry. The promise was made at a lengthy afternoon meeting today between officials of A. T. and T.'s long lines division and spokesmen for the Motion Picture Association and the National {Continued on page 4) Aylesworth Dies After Long Illness Merlin Hall Aylesworth, 66, former president and chairman of RadioKeithOrpheum Corp. and Radio Pictures, Inc., first president of National Broadcasting Co., and former pub lisher of the New York World. Tele gram, died here yesterday after a long illness, at St. Luke's Hospital. Aylesworth was president and chair man of RKO in 1937-38 after 10 years {Continued on page 2) Emanuel Frisch of Randforce Amusement Co. yesterday was elected president of the Metropolitan Motion Picture Theatres Association at the annual meeting of the organization's membership and board at the St. Moritz Hotel here. His term of office will be two years. Frisch succeeds the late Edward N. Rugoff, whose duties as president were handled since his death on Sept. 17 by Solomon M. Strausberg, first {Continued on page S) Emanuel Frisch STARR'S AIM: ONE EXHIBITOR * FORUM* 2 -Theatre Premiere Set for 'Andersen' Completion of arrangements for a two-theatre world premiere here of Samuel Goldwyn's "Hans Christian Andersen" at the Criterion and Paris theatres around Thanksgiving time was announced yesterday. The simultaneous pre-release engagements will be on a continuous performance policy at both theatres. According to spokesmen for the theatres, regular admission scales will be {Continued on page 4) 'Because,' 'Loves,' 'Widow'OpenStrong At B'way lst-runs Strong openings for "Because You're Mine," "Somebody Loves Me" and "The Merry Widow" featured this week's grosses at New York first-run theatres At Radio City Music Hall, a fine $145,000 is forecast for the first seven days of "Because You're Mine," while a solid $90,000 is indicated in the initial week of "Somebody Loves Me" at the Roxy. Both the Hall and Roxy feature stage shows. "The Merry Widow" at Loew's State is expected to hit a healthy {Continued on page 4) Says Films Ignore Vast Patronage The industry is overlooking a "gold mine" by not acting to get an estimated 25,000,000 persons in towns with populations under 200,000 to attend theatres, Alfred Starr, Theatre Owners of America president, said here yesterday. He said these persons are in the "over age 30" group. They are the kind of persons, Starr said, who seem to be unable to determine whether pictures showing in their {Continued on page 5) DECIDE NOT TO ASK N. Y. TRIAL OF 16mm. SUIT Production-distribution company defendants in the government's anti-trust suit to compel the licensing of 16mm. feature films to television and other non-theatrical users have decided not to ask for a change of venue which would transfer trial of the suit from the Los Angeles Federal District court, where it was filed, to the New York Federal court, in whose jurisdiction the defendants have their principal places of business. The matter has been under study by the defendants since the filing of the suit last July. A much earlier trial of the government action is now in prospect as a result of the decision not to request the transfer. The Federal court docket in New York is the most congested of any in the country and predictions had been made that the case might not be tried for several years if it were to be transferred here. While there are no reliable estimates of when the case might come to trial in Los Angeles, it is generally believed that it might be anywhere from a year to two years earlier than in New York. Says He Will Meet With Allied Leaders Soon to Discuss Exhibitor Unity Alfred Starr, newly-elected Theatre Owners of America president, yesterday said he will take steps to bring about the formation of a single, all-embracing exhibitor organization or "forum." Here from Nashville, where he makes his business headquarters, Starr told trade press reporters in his first interview since his election on Sept. 15 that the day when exhibitors are thus united for the purpose of solving common problems "can't come too soon." The TOA chief executive indicated that the first step he will take in the direction of achieving this goal will be to confer with such Allied leaders as Abram F. Myers, board chairman ; Wilbur Snaper, president, and Trueman T. Rembusch, ex-president. Starr said he expected to be invited to attend Allied's national convention {Continued on page 5) Film Anti-Trust Cases on the Rise Washington, Sept. 30. — Henry P. Chandler, director of the administrative office of the Federal courts, noted in his annual report that the number of private anti-trust suits increased to the greatest figure in recent years and "a considerable proportion of private cases were brought against motion picture companies." Chandler cited a study in the Yale Law Review of JuneJuly which shows the large percentage of film industry private anti-trust suits. TOA Poll on 16mm. Suit Starts Soon TOA within a week will send its member units a bulletin asking them to vote on whether the organization should seek defendant status in the government's 16mm. anti-trust suit, Alfred Starr, president, said here yesterday. The complaint dubbed TOA a "co-conspirator."