Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1954)

All The News That Is News MOTION PICTURE Concise And To The Point VOL. 76. NO. 81 NEW YORK, U.S.A., TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1954 TEN CENTS Allied Again May Meet With Distribution Compo Executive Session Seen as Possible Time By MURRAY HOROWITZ Possibility of another effort to heal the breach between Allied States Association and distribution in midNovember loomed large here yesterday as an Allied leader acknowledged that the convening of the executive committee of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations may be a good time for another round of discussions on trade practices between Allied officials and distribution executives. The COMPO meet, slated to be held here Nov. 15-16, would find many Allied leaders in New York, it was pointed out. Allied, it was added, would welcome a round table conference with distribution toppers before (Continued on page 4) Further Decline in Grosses in 1953 By Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Oct. 25.— American moviegoers spent $1,252,000,000 on motion picture theatre admissions in 1953, the Commerce Department reported today, a drop of $32,000,000 from the 1952 figure of $1,284,000,000. (The motion picture industry's own records for the current year show the decrease in bo.x office gross to have been reversed with substantial increases reported throughout 1954. — Ed.) In 1946, $1,692,000,000 was spent on {Continued on page 4) 30 Theatres Signed For Opera Telecast An approximate 30 theatres coast-to-coast have been signed for the Nov. 8 closed circuit telecast of opening night of the Metropolitan Opera with ticket prices ranging from $3.60 to $7.00, where charities are sponsoring the presentation, a representative of Theatre Network Television said here yesterday. Audiences watching the three hour closed circuit show will see Act One from the opera "La Boheme," Act Two of "Barber of Seville," and Act One, Scene One and Act Two from the opera, "Aida." CINERAMA TODAY ESTABLISHES ALL-TIME NEW YORK RECORD "This is Cinerama" will achieve New York's all-time long-run record today when the Lowell Thomas-Merian C. Cooper presentation will begin its 109th week on Broadway, passing the record heretofore held by "Red Shoes" at the Bijou Theatre of 108 weeks. The only other film currently beingshown that has completed as much as one year is "Lili," in its 84th week at the Translux Theatre. "Open City" tops its record with 91 weeks. Other films that had extended runs are "The Big Parade" (66 weeks), "Hamlet" (61 weeks), "Paisan" (51 weeks), "Bitter Rice" (47 weeks) and "Gone With the Wind" (43 weeks). High Court Delays Hearings on Two Industry Actions WASHINGTON, _ Oct. 25.— The Supreme Court won't hear argument until after the first of the year on two film industry cases which were accepted for review earlier in the month, court officials said. The cases, taken at the high court's session on Oct. 14, involve an antitrust suit by the Independent Poster Exchange against National Screen Service and the major distributors and an attempt by the Internal Revenue Service to collect Federal income taxes on punitive damages won in anti-trust suits by exhibitors. The defendant in the latter case is William Goldman Theatres. Court officials said the argument list for the court's November and December sessions was already full, and therefore these two cases would not be heard until January or February. That means there probably won't be a decision in the cases until sometime next spring. MGM Sets 2 More 'Workshop* Meets Two more "Ticket Selling Workshops" have been scheduled by M-G-M, making a total of five so far, the latest two to be held in March and May of 1955, according to vice-presidents Charles M. Reagan and Howard Dietz, who are sponsoring the gathering for ideas and expressions for improving box office business in the industry. The brace of new dates are March 1, in Columbus, O., in cooperation with the Allied of Ohio unit ; and May 10, at Billings, Mont., at the request of the Montana Theatre Owners Assn., whose directors recently passed (Continued on page S) Arbitration Trial Asked Many Small Exhibitors Decry Federal Regulation A preponderance of exhibitors in small Eastern cities interviewed by Motion Picture Daily correspondents expressed themselves as opposed to Allied States' plan for invoking Federal regulation of the industry as a cure for trade practice complaints of small ex Regulation as Last Resort: W. Pa. Allied PITTSBURGH, Oct. 25.— Allied of Western Pennsylvania expressed a hope today that governmental, intervention in the film industry will not come about, but while not voting for Federal regulation, the national convention approved a plan whereby the national board would seek such regulation if no progress was made in intra-industry relations between now and February, according to spokesman Harry Hendel. "The door of our Allied unit is always open wherein we may estab(Continued on page 4) hibitors. Most of those interviewed thus far were emphatic in stating the small theatres urgently need relief from high rentals and allegedly unfair allocations of pictures, but were equally emphatic in stating they did not believe government regulation was the answer. Many small exhibitors interviewed expressed confidence in the principle of arbitration and said that they believed most of their problems could be solved either by an industry arbitration system or simply by round table discussions with distribution representatives. Following are statements from some of those interviewed. More will be (Continued on page 4) Skouras Rites And Interment In Los Angeles Entombed in Mausoleum On Cathedral Gounds HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 25.— Upward of 4,000 persons paid final respects today to Charles P. Skouras at funeral services held in St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, which he was principally instrumental in causing to be built at a cost of $2,000,000. In addition to the production, distribution and exhibition branches of the industry in which he had played so prorninent and powerful a part as both pioneer and <;hampion, state, county and city were widely represented in the assemblag-e which overflowed the cathedral and listened over a public address system to ceremonies and to a eulogy read in Greek by Archbishop Athenagoras and spoken in English by Dean Leonidas C. Contos. Following the cerem.onies, those unable to gain admittance to the church during the services filed through the cathedral and past the casket for a (Continued on page 4) Make Feature From TV's *Gangbusters' Three episodes of TV's "Gangbusters," which were never telecast, have been assembled into a 78-minute feature for theatres by Visual Drama, an affiliate of General Teleradio, in association with Terry Turner. The picture will be released in a saturation booking arrangement in New England either in November or January. Joseph Levine has acquired the picture for the New England territory, but whether the film will be released nationally via the state rights market or through a national distributor has not been determined. A {Continued on page 5) IP A Reports 500 Meet Registrations CHICAGO, Oct. 25.— Five hundred International Popcorn Association advance convention registrations top by 50 per cent the total advance registrations of last year. The largest attendance in theatre history is expected for its IPA-TOA Theatre concession forum Nov. 12-3-4.