Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1954)

VOL. 75. No. 28 MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U. S. A., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1954 TEN CENTS 2 Weeks Result Allied Stock Buy Pledges Hit $300,000 Would Offer Playdates To Increase Production By J. A. OTTEN WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.— In less than two weeks, exhibitors pledged over $300,000 to invest in Allied States Association's stock buying plan, according to general counsel Abram F. Myers. Allied has been pushing a plan to have exhibitors invest in a major film company and pool their holdings to control the company and get it to increase production. The exhibitors would also, under the plan, guarantee play dates to the company. Allied sent out {Continued on page 5) Abram Myers Allied Board Meet In N. Y. Feb. 25-26 WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.— Allied States Association's board of directors will finish its mid-winter board meeting at the Warwick Hotel in New York City on Feb. 25 and 26. The board wasn't able to finish all business on the agenda at the Cincinnati meeting last week-end and decided to hold a second session. Main items on the agenda will be a further discussion of Allied's plan to have exhibitors buy stock in a major production company to boost film output, {Continued on page 5) Downing Treasurer Of Freedom Crusade Russell V. Downing, president and managing director of Radio City Music Hall, has been appointed treasurer of the amusement division of the Greater New York Crusade for Freedom by Barney Balaban, president of Paramount, who is New York State chairman of the Crusade. Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Assn., {Continued on page 4) Lopert Acquires 3 Broadway Theatres; Fellerman His Aide Effective March 1, the Astor, Victoria and Bijou Theatres here will be placed under the management of Lopert Films, passing from City Investing Co., it was announced yesterday by Robert W. Dowling, president of the latter company. Max Fellerman has resigned from American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres to become the assistant to Ilya Lopert, also effective on March 1. Fellerman will be in charge of booking product for the three theatres as well as for Lopert Films' Ziegfeld Theatre in Chicago and the Playhouse and DuPont in Washington. He also will supervise the distribution of "The Captain's Paradise," "The Man Between," "Gilbert and Sullivan," "Fanfan the Tulip" and the future Lopert product to be released through United Artists. Fellerman has been with the Paramount theatres organization since 1944, prior to which he was an executive of RKO Theatres and Pathe. Johnson To Europe On 2-Fold Mission Preliminary discussions on a new U.S.-Italo film agreement and the intensification of parleys to iron out differences in the French pact are the two-fold tasks of Griffith Johnson, vice-president of the Motion Picture Export Association, who left here last night for Europe. Johnson's first stop will be Paris, where he will join MPEA representatives there and French government officials in an attempt to clear the areas of disagreement on the French pact, which was first initialed by MPEA president Eric A. Johnston in Paris last summer. Since the initialing", however, a number of differences have cropped up, chiefly France's insistence that the pact be limited to one {Continued on page 5) Allied Won't Change For TESMA Show WASHINGTON, Feb. 9. — Allied States Association will not change its 1954 convention from Milwaukee, officials said today. There had been question as to whether the convention would be switched to Chicago to insure getting the TESMATEDA equipment trade show. Allied officials declared, however, that the 1954 meeting had been promised for Milwaukee "and Allied will not change its convention for any one." Johnston Says RKO Being Given Time On 'French' Appeal RKO Pictures is "being given a reasonable length of time" to file an appeal on the $25,000 penalty levied for its exhibition of "The French Line" without a Production Code seal, Eric Johnston, Motion Picture Association president, said here yesterday. Johnston said there will be no MPAA board of directors meeting until after his return from the Brazilian film festival, slated to open Feb. 18, explaining that the delay in convening the board is occasioned not only by his impending absence but also that of other members of the board. He would not say definitely that the next meeting would take action on "The French Line." Johnston also declined to state whether {Continued on page 4) Eric Johnston Better Understanding of Code Would Gain Greater Public Support: Sen. Johnson WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.— Senator Edwin C. Johnson (D., Colo.) said he felt the American people would support the Production Code if they understood better the threat some producers now are raising against the Code. Johnson inserted in the Congressional Record the resolution adopted by the United Church Women of New York in support of the Code. The women, he said, "resent the efforts of some producers to destroy or weaken the program of self-regulation for which the Motion Picture Association is striving. I believe the American people generally would support the Motion Picture Association enthusiastically if they understood better the campaign to lower the moral tone of motion pictures." Fresh Approach SeeArbitration Meet in N.Y. Within 60 Days Johnston Tells of Bids Being Sent Out Shortly BY MURRAY HOROWITZ The proposed all-industry arbitration conference will be convened in New York within the next 60 days, according to present plans. This was disclosed as Eric A. Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said that the invitations to the conference will be sent out shortly. It was learned from other sources that the invitations will be sent out to every exhibitor organization, including Allied States Association, and that they will request an answer from each of the organizations on whether or not it will participate. Following a tabulation of the replies, those expressing a willingness to confer on setting up an arbitration system will be asked to agree on a date for a meeting within the next 60 days. The plans, as disclosed by trade quarters, thus allows the convening of the all-industry arbitration conference with or without the participation of {Continued on page 4) Minority Attorneys Study Hughes Offer The Howard Hughes' offer to buy the assets of RKO Pictures for $23,489,478 in cash was being studied here yesterday by the attorneys in the two minority stockholders actions, filed against Hughes as board chairman and controlling stockholder. Meanwhile, trading on the New York Stock Exchange continued very active, with 110,500 shares traded yesterday. The stock quotation, which zoomed on Monday to $5,125, rising $2.25 during the course of the day, {Continued on page 4) Weltner Again Tops MPEA Manager Unit George Weltner, head of Paramount International, was reelected chairman of the foreign managers committee of the Motion Picture Export Association at a meeting here yesterday, presided over by MPEA president Eric A. Johnston. Weltner, as chairman, will serve another six-month term.