Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1954)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY VOL. 75. NO. 37 NEW YORK, U.S.A., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1954 TEN CENTS Non-Exclusive Licensing Plan For Tushinsky Lens Unveiled Tests at Major Studios As Para. Negotiates SCTOA Accepts Bid To Arbitration Meet; Would Mull Rentals HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 24. The variable anamorphic lens system, the use of which is now being negotiated by Paramount Pictures, is being made available to the entire industry under licensing agreements, the co-inventor of the system, Joseph Tushinsky of RKO Radio Pictures, told Motion Picture Daily today. It was further disclosed that tests are being made for Columbia Pictures as well as other major studios. According to Tushinsky, the licensing arrangement being offered is designed to give every exhibitor, large or small, an opportunity to utilize the lens' anamorphic facilities whenever practicable. To this end, Tushinsky (Co/itinued on page 4) Proxy Fight Joined By Decca Board Decca Records board of directors hit back yesterday at a broadside issued by George L. Lloyd, a former director, who launched a proxy fight, charging Decca president Milton Rackmil with being a "one-third parttime president." The Decca board in its answering statement called Lloyd's letter to stockholders "half-truths . . . omitting many essential facts." The board continued that "the business of Decca continues satisfactory with a very favorable outlook." In his letter to stockholders, in preparation for Decca' s annual meeting April 13, Lloyd referred to Rack(Continued on page 7) Extend Divestiture Time for AB-PT HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 24.— Harry C. Arthur, Jr., chairman of the Southern California Theatre Owners Association, lias formally accepted the invitation of Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, to attend the proposed meeting to consider the setting up of an industry arbitration system. In accepting the invitation, Arthur expressed the opinion that many phases of film-rental procedure could properly be included in the agenda of the meeting, even though the subject (Continued on page 7) Allied Stock Buy Plan Up to Board A plan under which Allied States members may pool their stock interests in one or more distributing companies for the purpose of gaining a voice in production policies will be submitted to Allied's board of directors at a meeting in the WarwickHotel here today. The board meeting is a continuation of the sessions held in Cincinnati earlier this month. A committee, appointed by the directors at the Cincinnati sessions, met here yesterday and devised a stock(Continued on page 4) C'Scope Policy MAY CHANGE U.K. RELEASE PATTERN Ready Industry TV Pilot Film Soon The pilot film for "Invitation to Hollywood," the new title of the projected television series to promote the motion picture industry, will be ready within a week or 10 days, it was disclosed here this week by Robert Weitman, vice-president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. Weitman, who recently returned from a trip to the Coast, said the outline of the program has won the approval of studio heads there. He went on to say that the pilot film will be completed before negotiations are opened with the American Federation of Musicians regarding the series, which has been the subject of many delays since it was approved in principle by the Motion Picture Association of America and the American Broadcasting Co., a division of AB-PT. The ABC vice-president in charge of talent and programming added that with the exception of the AFM, other (Continued on page 4) End of An Era Electronics'' Survey Finds TVs Novelty Period Over WASHINGTON, Feb. 24.— The and Americans are returning to thei ing to a study released by the Radio WASHINGTON, Feb. 24.— The Justice Department has agreed to give American Broadcasting Paramount Theatres a six months' extension on two important divestiture deadlines. The department agreed to extend from March 1 to Sept. 3 the deadline for AB-PT to finish selling theatres it was required under the consent decree to sell its Interstate Circuit. Originally the company was to have (Continued on page 7) Harrison Fills 20th Western Sales Post The temporary appointment of Alex Harrison, 20th CenturyFox home office representative, to the post of Western sales manager for the company was disclosed here yesterday. A decision on a permanent appointment . will . be . made shortly with the return here from Miami of Al Lichtman, distribution director, it was added. In the meantime, Harrison will fill the post formerly held by Edwin W. Aaron, who died last Saturday. Skouras Decides to Sell Away from Rank in Stereophonic Impasse By PETER BURNUP LONDON, Feb. 24. — The entire release and film booking pattern throughout Britain may be disrupted in consequence of the stalemate between J. Arthur Rank's theatre operations here and 20th Century-Fox over mandatory stereophonic sound installation for CinemaScope exhibition. John Davis, managing director of the Rank Organization, persisted, during two nights of discussions with Spyros Skouras, 20 th CenturyFox president, in his resistance to any stereophonic sound installations beyond the 75 theatres for which the Rank Organization already is committed. Davis offered to continue to equip additional theatres with CinemaScope essentials other than the stereophonic sound but Skouras forthrightly refused to concede anything on that basis. Thereafter Skouras decided 20th(Continued on page 4) novelty period of television is over ir normal recreational habits, accord Electronics-Television Manufacturers Association. The study was the fifth annual report on the effects of television, made by Jerry N. Jordan for the RETMA sports committee. Jordan is with N. W. Ayer and Son in Philadelphia. Jordan predicted steady increases in income for motion pictures, sports, radio, newspapapers, magazines and general entertainment. "As television passed out of its novelty period in most of the nation during 1953," he said, "nearly every industry it was supposed to hurt turned upward in income." Motion pictures, he stated, "were climbing again after a temporary decline." Gloomv prophecies of the long-term (Continued on page 4) COMPO Tax Drive Moves Into High Gear WASHINGTON, Feb. 24.— The Council of Motion Picture Organizations is ready to throw its admission tax relief campaign into high gear early next week, it was learned. The COMPO Tax Committee is worried that the House Ways and Means Committee will move faster than originally suspected in acting on (Continued on page 7) Hillside Seeks New Rentals Case Trial A motion to vacate the judgment dismissing the suit brought by the Hillside Amusement Co. against major distributors for alleged film rental discrimination will be made in New York Federal Court today. If If successful, the case would be retried. The action was the first film case (Continued on page 7)