Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1954)

2 Motion Picture Daily Thursday, March 25, 1954 Personal Mention BEN GOETZ, head of M-G-M production activities in England, will return to New York from the Coast on Saturday. Nick Cirillo, formerly of the RKO Radio exchange in New Haven, has been named chief shipper for Republic Pictures in that city, replacing Al Smith, who has resigned. • Anthony Friedman, Allied Artists film editor, has been removed from Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Hollywood, to the Motion Picture Country Home for Convalescence. • Loren L. Ryder, head of engineering and recording at the Paramount studios, has returned to Hollywood from New York. • Edward L. Hyman, vice-president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, and Bernard Levy, his assistant, are in Detroit from New York. • Morris Keppner, partner in the Burnside Theatre Corp., East Hartford, has returned to Hartford from New York. • Robert M. Savini, president of Astor Pictures, is in Islamorada, Fla., from New York. • Harry Balk, of the Allied Artists Los Angeles exchange, has left there for Phoenix and other Arizona cities. • P. F. Shave and Mrs. Shave are the new owners of the Rose Theatre, Hainesville, Ga. Bernard Woolner, president of Woolner Theatres, New Orleans, has left there for Hollywood. • Henry Hathaway, director, has left New York for Europe. SBC 'Official' Report Will Be Filed Today WASHINGTON, March 24.— The Senate Small Business Committee will file its "official" annual report tomorrow, and some of the remarks affecting the film industry will be different from an earlier version, according to Sen. Andrew F. Schoeppel (R., Kans.) . Schoeppel would not say how the new version would differ, but other sources indicated that the earlier criticism of the distributors and the Justice Department might be toned down. For example, it was reported that the new version eliminates a sentence in the earlier report which indicated that the pre-release practice violated "the spirit if not the letter" of the Paramount consent judgments. Schoeppel, who headed the subcommittee which conducted last year's investigation of film industry trade practices, maintained that the earlier version released last week was merely a staff report, and had not . been officially approved by the committee. MRS. DA WSON RECOMMENDS FREE ENTRY OF CHILDREN'S FILMS Hollywood pictures especially suitable for children should be permitted free entry into countries which now impose import limitations. This was one of a number of recommendations detailed in a report submitted by Marjorie G. Dawson, director of the National Children's Film Library Committee, to the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization. The report was solicited by UNESCO in conjunction with its inquiry into the possibility of creating a world film center designed to encourage the showing in all countries of the best in entertainment and educational films from all film-producing nations. Mrs. Dawson, who is also associate director of community relations of Motion Picture Association of America, presented the highlights of her reply to the UNESCO questionnaire in a talk, "Movies and Children," which she delivered yesterday before delegates of the Federation of Motion Picture Councils during the final sessions of a three-day annual conference this week at the Gotham Hotel here. Mrs. Dawson said that U. S. cooperation in the international distribution of select entertainment films for children would be spurred if nations abroad granted special licenses to such films outside of the established quota restrictions. "Because of the sharp numerical limitations imposed by some countries on the import of U. S. films," she said, "American companies understandably confine their shipments largely to pictures of broad and general appeal. Many Hollywood films of expectional value to children are therefore prevented by quota barriers from going broad." In response to a UNESCO question on censorship of films for children, Mrs. Dawson remarked that the relatively few state and local censor boards which operate in this country "have proved, to a dismaying extent, the futility of political dictation." "The rulings of the various censorship boards have agreed only in their disagreement," she added. "Films censored in Ohio pass freely in New York. Rarely do censor boards make the same deletions in the same film." "Parental guidance in the choice cf films for children," she observed, "is the democratic answer to censorship. The voluntary and constructive work of the Film Estimate Board of National Organizations in classifying films is a valuable aid to millions of American families in selecting films for the younger movie fans." Crosby Video Tape Ready For Use Video tape recording — putting television pictures on magnetic tape for delayed broadcast — is a commercial reality, it was revealed yesterday by John T. Mullin, chief engineer of the Electronics Division of Bing Crosby Enterprises, at the national convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx here. Speaking at a forum, Mullin asserted that Crosby Enterprises is now ready to produce instruments for video tape recording for limited military use. Range Extended Mullin did not disclose how the military could use the new device, but prior to the accomplishment of' video recording, available tape recording equipment could not record beyond 100 kilocycles (0.1 megacycles). The Crosby VTR extends the range of frequencies well into the megacycle region, up into millions of cycles, he said. In its ultimately developed state, Mullin said, VTR can replace any photographic picture method. Tape copies can be simultaneously reproduced from a master in any quantity desired, he added. Fla. April Meeting JACKSONVILLE, March 24.— The Motion Picture Exhibitors of Florida will hold its second in a series of spring regional meetings sometime in April in Miami. Judge Upholds Decca Board in Lloyd Case The petition of George L. Lloyd, ousted Decca Records director, against the management of the company has been denied by Judge Morris Eder of the New York Supreme Court and the case has been turned over by the judge to a referee to determine whether Lloyd made his charges in good faith. Judge Eder will render a decision on this second aspect of the case following the referee's report. Lloyd had maintained that his discharge from the board of directors was illegal and had charged Decca's president, Milton R. Rackmil, with being "a one-third, part-time president." The board has strongly defended Rackmil, and accused Lloyd of trying to take over the company. DuMont Requests Boston TV Station WASHINGTON, March 24.— Allen B. DuMont Laboratories has applied for a television station in Boston. It already has stations in New York, Washington and Pittsburgh. 'Safari' Opens In April "Champagne Safari," a colorfilm record of the Rita Hayworth-Prince Aly Khan honeymoon, will have its world premiere next month at the Fox West Coast Cinema Theatre, San Francisco, it was announced here this week by Herbert Bregstein, president of Defense Film Corp., which owns the world rights. Federation Elects Mrs. Williams as First President Mrs. Max M. Williams of Royal Oak, Mich., was elected first president of the new Federation of Motion Picture Councils, which was formed during a three-day meeting at the Hotel Gotham here this week. The election, held at the closing session yesterday, resulted in the naming of these additional officers : Mrs. Arretus Burt of St. Louis, first vicepresident ; Mrs. Edward Hass of Springfield, Mass., second vice-president; Mrs. W. Lashley Nelson, Jr., of Philadelphia, recording secretary ; and Mrs. Phillip A. Ley of Youngstown, Ohio, treasurer. The object of uniting, according to the Federation's constitution, is to "strengthen the work of members by furthering their interests and by supplying enlightenment on general motion picture problems through mutual interchange of ideas and experience." Speakers on the final day of the conference were Paul Terry, originator and producer of "Terrytoons" ; Marjorie G. Dawson, associate director of the Motion Picture Association of America's community relations department, who spoke on "Children and Movies" ; and Herbert Barnett, president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Fngineers, and vice president of Cinerama Corp., whose topic was "The Impact of New Techniques on the Pattern of Tomorrow's Entertainment." Chromatic Expands, Realigns Executives Chromatic Television Laboratories, Inc., Paramount Pictures affiliate developing and licensing the Lawrence color TV tube, has completed plans for expansion of production and, in line with this expansion, has realigned the duties of several executives. Chromatic, owned 50 per cent by Paramount, maintains laboratories in New York and Oakland, Cal., as well as a manufacturing plant in Emeryville, Cal. Production of color TV tubes, originally set at 25,000 for 1954, will be increased drastically, according to present plans. Morgan A. Gunst, who has been with Chromatic since the formation of the company, has been named product manager, while Earl Sargent, formerly of the Oakland laboratory, has been placed in charge of manufacturing at the Emeryville plant. Louis Silverman will join Sargent at Emeryville as chief manufacturing engineer. Edward J. Davenport, for the past eight years with National Union Radio Corp., has joined Chromatic as chief commercial engineer. Benograph Dissolved Associated Screen News, Ltd., of Canada will dissolve its Benograph division on March 31, the company has announced. The company is shutting down this division, which conducted equipment merchandising functions and operated film libraries, in order to concentrate on film-making and laboratory services. MOTION PICTURE DALLY, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Sherwin Kane, Editor; Terry Ramsaye, Consulting Editor. Published daily, except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., 1270 Sixth Avenue. Rockefeller Center, New York 20, N. Y. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address: "Quigpubco, New York." Martin Quigley, President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Raymond Levy, Vice-President; Leo J. Brady, Secretary; Al Steen, News Editor; Herbert V. Fecke, Advertising Manager; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager; Hollywood Bureau, Yucca-Vine Building, William R. Weaver, Editor, Hollywood 7-2145. Chicago Bureau, 120 South LaSalle Street, Urben Farley, Advertising Representative. FI 6-3074; Bruce Trinz, Editorial Representative, 11 North Clark Street, FR 2-2843. Washington, J. A. Otten, National Press Club, Washington, D. C. London Bureau, 4 Golden So.., London WI; Hope Burnup, Manager; Peter Burnup, Editor; cable address, "Quigpubco, London." 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