Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1953)

Motion Picture Daily Monday, January 26, 1653 All Should Book 'The Hoaxters' : Starr Every theatre in the free countries of the world should show "The Hoaxters," antiCommunist documentary, in the opinion of Alfred Starr, president of the Theatre Owners of America. Starr voiced his sentiments in a letter to M-G-M after witnessing the 36-minute subject produced by Dore Schary and written by associate producer Herman Hoffman. TO A Believes UA Gets 'Bwana' (Continued from page 1) Oboler and his associates, paid out from company funds. The balance is to be paid from revenue accruing from the play-offs. All exhibition contracts made to date for "Bwana Devil" have been taken over by UA, which will handle the picture on a worldwide basis. In announcing the conclusion of the deal, UA said the picture has "racked up the biggest grosses in theatrical history" in its initial engagements in Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Pittsburgh. Arrangements have been made for Altec and RCA Sound Service to offer their services for surveys, new equipment recommendations and supervision of equipment installation to theatres which have contracted or which will contract to exhibit the new tri-dimensional film. In addition to the present 5,000-foot-reel form in which "Bwana Devil" has been released— a form requiring 23-inch magazines on motion picture projectors— prints will be made available on special 173^-inch reels, holding approximately 2,600 feet of film, adaptable to the standard 20-inch projector magazine. "Bwana Devil," which was written, produced and directed by Oboler, is an African adventure drama starring Robert Stack, Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce. Joseph Biroc directed the photography and Gordon Jenkins composed and conducted the music. Milton Gunzburg, who has the Natural Vision patent, supervised the use of the process for "Bwana Devil." (Continued from page 1) Brandt Chairman (Continued from page 1) the industry the opportunity for the most important event of our lifetime, to salute our greatest pioneer whose unblemished record will be a target and goal for everyone for many years to come. Certainly no one approaches him either in the period of years or of great service." Brandt revealed that the anniversary dinner to Zukor, which will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, will be a golden affair from all standpoints, with distinguished guests from other industries and from public life in attendance. Meanwhile, the anniversary dinner which had been planned for Zukor in Dallas on Feb. 6 has been postponed until a later date, some time after the New York celebration. Zukor will be honored at a Canadian dinner in April and in Mexico City in May. He is scheduled to visit Europe in the fall and will be honored in Chicago on his return. posed of intelligent men and we see eye-to-eye with them on many objectionable trade practices. We believe that a workable plan will be worked out, even though the plan will not be perfect at the beginning, and that Allied will come in." Starr said that the subject of arbitration would be an important item on the agenda of the TOA board meetings. He said it would be up to the board to decide whether to attempt to initiate an arbitration plan without Allied's participation, but Walter Reade, Jr., chairman of the executive committee, pointed out that two years ago the distributors declined to enter into any arbitration plan without Allied. Agreed With Allied Herman Levy, TOA general counsel, who attended the press parley, said that he agreed with Allied in its position on pre-releases, but that "it was unfortunate" that Allied had taken the position it had on rejecting the latest draft until certain alleged abuses had been corrected. He said that Abram F. Myers, Allied general counsel, had done a good job in making his report on the distributors' draft at the Chicago Allied convention ,but that the "plus points" exceeded the "minus points" and that the minus points could be solved. The TOA leaders said they agreed with Allied on many of the latter's objections, particularly on the issue of pre-releases. They said they would like to have a definition of what constitutes pre-release. They pointed out that they didn't object to a prerelease if a picture deserved such handling but that there were too many of them now. In fact, one TOA leader asserted that there hadn't been a picture in the true pre-release category since "Gone With the Wind." The public, he said, just cannot "gobble up" three pre-release, advanced admission price pictures on the market at the same time. The TOA executive questioned the legality of withdrawing a picture from the general market after a first-run engagement. Doesn't Share Pessimism Starr said he did not share the pessimism expressed in some quarters over the future of the industry. Show business, he said, was as "old as man" and the public will always look for entertainment. The film industry has been able to adapt itself to changing times and both the exhibitors and the public were "enormously interested" in the development of three-dimensional pictures, he stated. Starr's views were shared by Elmer Rhoden, head of Fox Midwest Theatres, and Frank (Rick) Ricketson, head of Fox Rocky Mountain Theatres, who were present. Ricketson said the public was eager to buy "something new" and "all we have to do is to give it to them." Rhoden pointed to increased activity of film industry stocks on Wall Street and the fact that good pictures are grossing more than they ever did as an indication of a new public confidence in motion pictures. Charles Skouras, National Theatres president, also attended the press meeting. The TOA executive committee met yesterday. The board is scheduled to go into its initial session this morning. Rhoden Sees More Top Films in '53 A recent survey by Fox Midwest Theatres disclosed that there were 47 pictures that can be classed as top quality product on this year's release schedule compared with 31 films in that category a year ago. This was revealed here at the weekend by Elmer Rhoden, head of Fox Midwest, in pointing up the improved quality of product. Albany TOA Meet On Legislation Albany, N. Y., Jan. 25. — A discussion of legislation pending at the Capitol here and the establishment of a drive-in section within the Albany Theatre Owners of America are among the subjects on the agenda for an Albany TOA meeting tomorrow. Among the bills slated for consideration, and certain to be opposed, are two for hourly minimum wages of $1 and $1.25 in the state, and another requiring workmen's compensation coverage for a single employee. Objectives of the drive-in group would include collective advertising and the setting up of a separate newspaper directory for outdoor theatres. Reiner in Post (Continued from page 1) tion pictures, television, radio and public relations over a 20-year period. He joined PSI-TV last summer after two years as sales manager for Louis G. Cowan, Inc. Reiner entered motion pictures in 1933 with Warner Brothers and subsequently was associated with M-G-M, Monogram and Paramount. From 1942 to 1946 he was film officer in Europe for the Office of War Information and, from 1946 to 1950, was general manager in Latin America and Australasia for the David O. Zelznick Organization. Reiner's first assignment for Goldwyn will be to launch foreign sales of "Hans Christian Andersen." After a series of conferences with Mulvey on the world situation as it affects distribution, Reiner will go abroad on a sales inspection trip. He will make his headquarters in New York upon his return. Uphold Silverman On Woods Purchase Chicago, Jan. 25. — The Illinois Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the legality of the purchase of the Woods Theatre Building here from the Franciscan Fathers by Edwin Silverman. Turned down was the appeal by plaintiffs Emil Stern, Minnie Stern, and James Both, and others, askingreversal of the decision of the Appellate Court, which had ruled in favor of Silverman. The plaintiffs alleged that Silverman, head of Essaness Theatres, who had a management contract to operate the Woods for the plaintiffs, had bought the building and invoked a clause terminating the lease without giving the plaintiffs an opportunity to participate in the purchase. In the THEATRE Equipment World . . . with RAY GALLO AN agreement providing for an expanded program of joint research and development in the field of industrial and broadcast television cameras and studio equipment has been signed by General Precision Laboratory, Inc., Pleasantville, N. Y., and Pye Limited, of Cambridge, England. In addition to work on cameras the companies will combine efforts on theatre television. GPL is the developer of the Simplex theatre television system of direct projection now used in many theatres in this country. • An improved version of its "Deluxe" series of in-car speakers is announced by Motiograph of Chicago in a new brochure just issued. Among the features described is the use of a full magnet five-inch diameter speaker unit, which is pointed out as being 20 per cent larger than that used in many in-car speakers. Other features include multi-tapped transformers designed to permit exact matching of speakers and amplifier circuits of any sound system desired. • Canadian patents for "Permascreen," which consists of steel plates with a surface of vitreous enamel fused on for mounting on existing or new drive ' in totvers, have been applied for by Poblocki and Sons, Milwaukee. In making the announcement Ben Poblocki, president, listed the current Canadian distributors of his company's products. They include the following branches of General Theatre Supply Co. Ltd.: 271 Edmonton St., Winnipeg, Man.; 86 Charlotte St.. St. John, N. B.; 916 Davie St., Vancouver, B. C; 861 Bay St.. Toronto. Also, D. McDonald, c/o Mrs. R. B. Masterton, 142 Duffrin St., Moncton, N. B. • S. Ernest Kulp, a member of the board of directors and of the executive committee of the Masland Duraleather Co., Philadelphia, was reelected president of the Plastic Coatings and Film Association during its annual meeting in New York recently. Reelected vice-president was G. H. Callum, of the U. S. Rubber Co., Mishawaka, Ind. Extra assurance of carbon stub alignment when coming into burning position is provided in a new development of the Hanover permanent clamp type carbon saver distributed by Norpat Sales, New York. This is a device, the principle component of which is a spring about two inches wide and half an inch high, that is attached to the pivotal screw, with the spring so contoured as to exert tension on both the retiring carbon jaws and those holding the incoming stub, allowing pivotal action without side play. The positive alignment device may be attached, according to the distributor, to carbon savers for all Suprex trims, including one-kilowatt.