Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1953)

VOL. 73. NO. 7 MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 1953 TEN CENTS Tradewise . . . By SHERWIN KANE UNDER the urgencies — for distribution as well as exhibition — of current business conditions there would seem to be some room for a number of serious tests of what is being termed "incentive" selling. Various formulas have been suggested by exhibitor organizations and individuals but, basically, the term has come to mean any sales policy which increases the exhibitor's share of earnings when the gross exceeds specified levels. Production and distribution voices repeatedly urge exhibitors to better showmanship efforts, more and better advertising and merchandising of product, for better results at the box office. Many exhibitors reply: "There is nothing in it for me. The more I take in, the more I have to pay to the distributor. What's left for me doesn't pay me for the additional work and expenditure." In times of top business there was no urgent necessity for the distributor to extend himself greatly to overcome such an impasse, advisable as that may have been. Today it is absolutely essential that any procedure which promises (Continued on page 2) Bergman Will Study Speakers Unit Idea Maurice Bergman of Universal Pictures has been appointed by the three co-chairmen of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations to serve as chairman of a committee t o study the feasibility of organizing an indust r y speakers bureau. Anno u n c e ment of the appointment was made at the weekend by Robert W . Coyne, COMPO special counsel, who said the organization's executive triumvirate, True Maurice Bergman (Continued on page 2) Would Take Allied's Trade Grievances to Congress Services Tomorrow In Washington For Joyce O'Hara, 59 Washington, Jan. 11. — A Requiem Mass will be sung here at 10 :30 A.M. Tuesday for Joyce O'Hara, 59, executive vice-president of the Motion Picture Association of America, who died suddenly in the Hotel Waldorf A s toria in New Y o r k Friday morning. The rites will be held at St. Ann's Catholic Church, with burial in Arlington National Cemetery. O'Hara had arrived in New York from Washing (Continued on page 5) Joyce O'Hara Myers' Report Asks Authorization for Step If Sales Practices Are Not Changed; Asks Incentive Selling, Drive to Re-Win Patrons Ok Fabian, Rosen for WB Theatre Posts Truman Sees $310,000,000 From Ticket Tax in 1953 New Orleans, Jan. 11. — Allied States Association general counsel Abram F. Myers urged the Allied board specifically to authorize its officers to go to Congress with the Association's complaints against distributor selling practices if these practices aren't reformed in the near future. This was a highlight of a 27-page annual report which Myers prepared for submission to Allied's mid-winter board meeting at the Jung Hotel here tomorrow and Tuesday. The report was another blistering attack on distribution policies, along with a call to the film companies to abandon their past policies and join exhibitors in a "united assault on the existing box-office depression." Such an assault, Myers said, must take a different tack from previous plans. It must be based on selling the public the idea that it's "smart to go to the movies," plus a new sales policy which gives theatre owners more incentive for local exploitation and promotion. Myers released no formal agenda for the mid-winter meeting, saying it was to be more on "organizational" problems than on board policy questions. One of the top items on the (Continued on page 5) The way was cleared by the New York Statutory Court on Friday to allow Si H. Fabian, president, and Samuel Rosen, vice-president of Fabian Enterprises, Inc., respectively, to become officers and directors of the new Warner Brothers theatre company, to be formed on Feb. 28. At the same time, Warners dis (Continued on page 5) By J. A. OTTEN Washington, Jan. 11. — The budget submitted by President Truman to Congress at the weekend estimates that the 20 per cent tax on tickets to motion picture theatres, sports events and other general-admission entertainment will bring in $310,000,000 in the 1953-54 fiscal year, compared to an estimated $320,000,000 in the current fiscal year and $330,782,072 in the 12 months ending last June 30. In contrast, the budget estimated that receipts from the Federal excise tax on radio and television sets, phonographs and records would continue to rise — from $134,536,706 in the 1951-52 fiscal year, to an estimated $162,000,000 in the current 12 months and to an estimated $173,000,000 in the year starting July 1, 1953. While the prediction of a drop in admission tax receipts might_ prove useful in the industry's campaign for tax relief, in that it indicates a marked decline in attendance, the general tone of the budget message was certainly against tax relief. The President painted a picture of large deficits for several years unless tax revenues were raised substantially. He urged Congress to keep the nation as closely as possible to a pay-as-you-go basis, and while he made no specific recom ( Continued on page 2) Snaper and Hetzel In Arbitration Talk Wilbur Snaper, president of national Allied, is expected to make a report to the board of directors in New Orleans on his meeting Friday with Ralph Hetzel, in charge of the New York office of the Motion Picture Association of America, in regard to the arbitration status. Snaper had been scheduled to meet with both Hetzel and the late Joyce O'Hara, MPAA vice-president, on the disputed points in the existing arbitration plan drafts. Because of the vital importance of the arbitration issue in view of the (Continued on page 2) CANDIDATE FOR ACADEMY ARD"— At P. Daily Starring JOSE FERRER Directed by JOHN HUSTON A ROMULUS Production, Color by TECHNICOLOR