Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1955)

VOL. 77. NO. 11 MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 1955 TEN CENTS From 6 States Film Censors Meet Thursday In Richmond General Problems to Be Discussed at Sessions Film censors of six states will convene in Richmond, \ a, on Thursday for a meeting on problems relating to state censorship, it was disclosed here at the weekend by Dr. Hugh M. Flick, director of New York State film censorship. Dr. Flick, explaining that invitations for the meeting were sent out by Mrs. Lollie C. Whitehead, director of film censorship in Virginia, said that no formal agenda was proposed in the invitation. Asked what he would like to have discussed, Dr. Flick replied "the general problem of crime and violence" as related to films and how to modify the various state censorship laws to conform with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Dr. Flick said that Thursday would be devoted to a business session while Friday would be taken up with sight(Continued on page 8) NYC Tax Group Asks Theatres to Complete Sindlinger's Query Local exhibitors are urged by the ;New York Tax Committee through market analyst Albert E. Sindlinger, who had been retained to study the effect of the five per cent amusement tax on motion pictures here, to completely fill in all the necessary information on the tax questionnaires mailed out last week. All information will be treated in (Continued on page 8) Group to Consider Arbitration Today The about-to-be completed or finished draft for an arbitration formula will be presented to the industry's joint sub-committee at the Motion Picture Association of America's headquarters here today for approval and recommendations by exhibitor attorney Herman Levy, general counsel for the Theatre Owners of America, and Adolph Schimel, vice-president (Continued on page 8) E. C. Grainger To Republic The appointment of Edmund C. Grainger as sales manager of circuit operations for Republic Pictures was announced at the weekend by Richard A 1 1 s c h u 1 e r, vice -president a n d director of world-wide sales. Until recently, Grainger was affiliated with RKO Theatres in charge of film buying and booking, prior to which he was president of Shea Enterprises and for many years was ales manager for the appointment, E. C. Grainger Eastern division 20th Century-Fox. In announcing Altschuler stated that Grainger was one of the most capable motion picture executives in the industry and "I am gratified that Republic has been able to acquire his services." Disney, ABC-TV In Telecast Deal From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 16. — Walt Disney and Robert Kintner have signed contracts calling for Disney to film 100 hour-long programs for ABCTV. Filming will start next fall. The plan is to telecast an hour-long program daily, five days weekly, probably (Continued on page 8) Is Quality Enough? THEATRE-STUDIO POLICY CONFLICT DAILY's Interviews with Leaders Point up Differences Over 'Fewer -but-Better' Trend By MURRAY HOROWITZ A deep division in industry ranks on the "bigger but fewer" production policy is evidenced in the series of Motion Picture Daily interviews with executives in all branches of the industry, which were published during the past few weeks. Exhibitors See Proposed Pay Law a 'Burden' By LESTER DINOFF Any extension of the Federal Minimum Wage Law to cover all motion picture theatres would create "an undue hardship on the industry," according to a number of prominent New York exhibitors who pointed out that the proposed hourly wage increase would be more burdensome to small-town theatres than to the metropolitan houses. The present wage-hour law, which sets a minimum of 75 cents per hour and time and a half for overtime, exempts theatre employees under a blanket exemption for retail and service workers. The Labor Department is recommending that the language in (Continued on page 8) EDITORIAL. Golden Years Lie Ahead By Sherwin Kane THE motion picture industry has good reason to look to the future — not only the year just beginning but even 10 or 15 years ahead — with the greatest of optimism. There lies before it the certainty of the greatest potential audience by far, now developing, that the industry ever has had the opportunity to win for itself. That is the generation of "war babies" born in the period beginning with 1940-'41, inaugurating a bigger national birthrate that has increased by many millions annually since. Nearly 20,000,000 children comprise the "war babies" group, born from 1940-'41 to 1946, when the Census Bureau regards the war period as having ended. However, the (Continued on page 2) The interviews showed that exhibition, while welcoming quality product, is strongly opposed to the fewer pictures now being offered by major distributors. Exhibition strongly argues a need for production of lowbudgeted and medium-budgeted pictures, in addition to the big ones. Production-distribution officials, on the other hand, with some notable exceptions, contend the policy is economically and artistically right and point to the financial success of the policy. On distribution's side, one of the exceptions was Robert S. Benjamin, chairman of the board of directors of United Artists. He maintained there is a market for low-budgeted pictures as well as more expensive ones, citing (Continued on page 7) Max Gordon Joins Col. as Consultant On Stage Program Augmenting the recent announcement that Columbia Pictures will finance the production of stage plays, president Harry Cohn announced at the weekend that Max Gordon, Broadway producer, had been appointed by the company as a consultant to supervise this program. Gordon will continue to make his headquarters (Continued on page 8) MPEA to Study Import Formula An over-all formula for the division of import licenses abroad among member companies of the Motion Picture Export Association has been presented to the MPEA board of directors. The MPEA board, meeting on Friday, was said to have considered the (Continued on page 8)