Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1955)

MOTION PICTURE VOL. 77. NO. 6 NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1955 TEN CENTS To Map Drive Anti-Toll TV Group to Meet Here Jan. 19 Expect 2-Day Conference To Plan Financing Needs The national exhibitors joint defense committee against subscription television will meet at the Sheraton Astor Hotel here on Jan. 19 and 20 to further plan its campaign against toll TV and advance the case it will present at future public hearings before the Federal Communications Commission against toll TV. Alfred Starr of Theatre Owners of America and Trueman T. Rembusch of Allied States are co-chairmen of the joint defense committee, the personnel of which assertedly represents 75 per cent of the nation's 16,000 theatres. In addition to planning future strategy and activities, the two-day meeting of the joint defense committee (Continued on page 6) Zenith Refuses to Name Exhibitors Special to THE DAILY CHICAGO, Jan. 9.— A blanket refusal to identify the exhibitors said to have applied to Zenith for franchises to operate Phonevision in their localities was made by Ted Lietzel, head of public relations for Zenith, here at the weekend. Lietzel was queried regarding the assertion of Commdr. E. F. McDonald, jr., president of Zenith Radio Corp., that when and if Phonevision is approved by the FCC, a number" of theatre owners have already applied for franchises. Lietzel, declining to divulge names, (Continued on page 6) Lardner Asks Court To Uphold Contract From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, Jan. 9. — Ring Lardner, Jr., has asked the Supreme Court to rule that 20th Century-Fox had no right to terminate his screenwriting contract under the "moral turpitude" clause because of his refusal to answer questions regarding Communist associations from the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. Lardner asked the High Court, in (Continued on page 6) File New Md. Censor Law Special to THE DAILY BALTIMORE, Jan. 9.— When the 1955 session of the Maryland State Legislature convened, Senate Bill Number One read over the desk in the Upper House dealt with the controversial subject of motion picture censorship. The bill, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee, would limit the right of the state to censor moving pictures to the grounds of being obscene, tending to debase or corrupt morals or incite to crime. It would strike from the present statute the grounds, which have been seriously challenged by recent court decisions, of being sacrilegious, indecent, inhuman or immoral. The measure, which defines each of the allowable grounds for censorship, also provides for appeal to the Maryland Court of Appeals. Limitations Statute On Anti-Trust Suits Again Is Proposed From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, Jan. 9. — Two lawmakers introduced bills to set up a uniform Federal statute of limitations on private anti-trust suits, a matter that was bitterly contested between producers and exhibitors in previous years. Rep. Keating (R., N.Y. ) sponsored a bill calling for a five-year Federal statute and Rep. Denton (D., Ind.) suggested a sixyear statute. At present, the time limit is set by state statutes, which range from one to 20 years. Exhibitors supported a statute of at least five or six years, but producers urged a much shorter time limit. The Keat(Continued on page 6) Congressmen Slightly Late With Tax Bill WASHINGTON, Jan. 9.— Reps. Wickersham (D., Okla.) and McDonough (R., Cal.) introduced bills to lift the remaining Federal admissions tax on motion picture admissions. Wickersham also introduced a bill to reduce the admissions tax to 10 per cent and to lift the tax entirely from low-priced tickets. Only trouble with this bill is that it's slightly out of date: That's exactly what Congress put into law last year. MPEA Acts Seek Lower Tax Rate on Foreign Funds Industry's Inclusion in Treasury Plan Asked Fox Will Start 10 in 6 Months Describing it as the "costliest and most ambitious production program" in the history of 20th Century-Fox, Al Lichtman, director of distribution, announced o n F r i d a y that Darryl F. Zanuck would place 10 story properties before the cameras during the next six months. Speaking at a specially called parley of domestic and Canadian sales and home office sales and advertising executives to chart merchandising plans for product to be released during the first quarter of 1955, the sales head termed the line-up as the most formidable box-office attractions in years. The 10-picture roster will empha( Continued on page 3) Al Lichtman Distributors Eye Houston For New Exchange Center With 20th Century-Fox and Columbia already planning to establish exchanges in Houston, other companies are eyeing the Texas city for possible similar moves. National Film Service is setting up a building in Houston to handle physical distribution for companies "if and when" they decide to shift some of their functions from their Dallas exchanges. NFS has advised the companies of its projected Houston operation and, according to reports, there is considerable interest. While it is not ex pected that Houston will become as important a key distribution center as Dallas or other major distribution cities, it is believed that it will be on a scale slightly higher than those Of Jacksonville and Butte. Based on present indications, Houston would be used as a sales and booking headquarters by some companies, with NFS handling physical distribution. By J. A. OTTEN WASHINGTON, Jan. 9.— Motion Picture Export Association president Eric Johnston has renewed his request to the Administration to include the film industry in its expected proposal to give some U. S. firms a lower tax rate on income earned overseas. In a letter to Dan Throop Smith, assistant to Treasury Secretary Humphrey, Johnston said the film industry had been unfairly discriminated against in last year's Treasury proposals which excluded motion picture distributors from the group of companies eligible for the tax break. "I earnestly hope." he wrote, "that a greater awareness of the exact (Continued on page 6) Republic Declares First Dividend A five per cent stock dividend was declared by the board of directors of Republic Pictures at the weekend, payable on April 1 to stockholders of record on March 7. This is the first dividend, stock or cash, ever paid by the corporation and is regarded in industry circles as the forerunner to some important developments within the organization. Some sources believe the developments concern the possible disposal of Republic's inventory of Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers productions. Allied Equipment Plan Is Stymied Special to THE DAILY CHICAGO, Jan. 9.— Allied States has made no progress with its plan to have theatre equipment manufactured under its brand name and distributed by regional Allied units since the proposal first came into being at the Allied board meeting in Milwaukee three months ago, it is; learned. The project, however, has not been abandoned, as . .widely reported currently among independent exhibitors, but will be reconsidered by the Allied (Continued on page 6)