Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1955)

MOTION PICTURE VOL. 77. NO. 12 NEW YORK, U.S.A., TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1955 TEN CENTS Treas. Officials Oppose Lower Foreign Film Income Taxes Report Films Excluded From 1955 Proposals From THE DAILY Bureau WASHINGTON, Jan. 17. — The Treasury Department is at present inclined to reject the film industry requests that U. S. film companies get the benefit of the proposed lower tax rate on income earned overseas. A high-ranking Treasury official said that the department's present plan is to submit to Congress a proposal "that will be different only in very minor respects" from last year's plan for easing the tax treatment of foreign earnings. Film companies were excluded from that plan. President Eisenhower has asked Congress to act to tax certain foreign income at a rate 14 percentage points (Continued on page 4) Budget Based On Prosperity By J. A. OTTEN WASHINGTON, Jan. 17.— President Eisenhower's budget for the 1956 fiscal year, sent to Congress today, is based on a belief that personal income in the U. S. will continue to expand substantially in the next 18 months. An expanding level of personal income would undoubtedly be a major factor in keeping theatre box-office business healthy. Treasury Department officials said budget assumed that personal income would average about $298,500,000,000 throughout 1955, a 4 per cent increase over 1954, (Continued on page 6) Convert Archives Films to Acetate WASHINGTON, Jan. 17.— A program for converting historically valuable motion picture film holdings of the government's National Archives from an unstable nitrate base to a permanent safety acetate base was completed recently, President Eisenhower's budget message revealed. Report by Rembusch Toll TV to Be Highlight Topic at Drive-in Meet ST. LOUIS, Jan. 17. — The subject of subscription television is expected to highlight the discussions at the National Allied Drive-in Theatre Association convention which will be held at the Chase Hotel here Feb 8-10, according Huston's Next to Be in Todd-AO For Allied Artists John Huston plans to make his next film "The Man Who Would Be King" in the Todd-AO process for release by Allied Artists, it was learned here yesterday from Moulin Productions. Disclosure of the three-way deal among Huston, Mike Todd and Allied Artists came with the announcement that Huston has finished shooting on "Moby Dick" to be released by Warner Brothers. Allied Artists officials declined comment at this time on the deal, which for the first time allots distribution of a Todd-AO projected film to a distributor outside the Todd organization. Huston is due to arrive here from Europe on Friday. During his brief stay in New York, it was said he nlans to sign contracts for his next film, which he will shoot on location in Afghanistan. Branton, Martin in Brotherhood Posts G. Ralph Branton, vice-president of Allied Artists, has accepted the post of Hollywood chairman of the Brotherhood Drive for 1955, and Edwin D. Martin, president of Martin Theatres, has been named regional chairman for North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, it was announced by (Continued on page 7) to Jeff Jefferis, general convention chairman. The report on toll TV will be made by Trueman T. Rembusch, former president of Allied States Association. Mean while drive-in operators throughout the country have been requested to mail in a list of problems that they would like to have discussed at the convention. These replies, Jefferis said, will be the guiding factor in the arrangement of the program. In addition to the usual clinics, special stress will be laid on the operation of concessions. The national Allied board will convene here on Feb. 7. Firms that have contracted for (Continued on page 7) T. T. Rembusch Deadline Feb. 6, 1957 For Loew's Stock Federal Judge Henry W. Goddard yesterday granted a petition by Loew's which asked for a two-year postponement of the deadline for distribution of stock in the new theatre company. The deadline was extended to Feb. 6, 1957. The Loew's consent decree provided that stock of the new theatre company (Continued on page 6) Reports on Progress of Arbitration Further progress on arbitration was reported here yesterday following the meeting of the joint sub-committee on arbitration. It also was announced that the arbitration draft is expected to be completed by the middle of February when the subcommittee is expected to convene again. Previous reports that the draft already had been finalized were said to be somewhat premature, although it looks as if both sides have cleared all "roadblocks," making the writing of the draft a "technical" problem, according to a subcommittee spokesman. At yesterday's meeting, Herman Levy, eeneral counsel for Theatre Owners of America, and Adolph Schimel, counsel for the distribution negotiating committee, briefed the subcommittee on the status of the draft, work on which was described as proceeding excellently. $1.28 Per Share Loew's Year's Net Profit Up To $6,577,311 First Quarter Report Also Shows Sharp Rise For the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, the consolidated net profit of Loew's, Inc., and all subsidiaries, including theatre subsidiaries, increased to $6,577,311 from $4,380,603 in the preceding year, according to the company's annual report issued yesterday. The 1954 net profit was equivalent to $1.28 per share on the common stock, compared with 85 cents per share in the preceding year. Profit before taxes for the 1954 fiscal year amounted to $12,643,840, compared with $6,435,504, in the previous year. Operating revenues were $183,142,486, compared with $177,558,874 in the prior year. The interim financial statement sent (Continued on page 6) Para. Gulf Wins Tax Suit NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 17. — The Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Miss., found for the plaintiff in a suit involving discriminatory theatre admission taxes. In 1952 the Mississippi Legislature passed a three per cent sales tax for all theatres operated within the state, (Continued on page 6) 3-D Is Back; Univ. Releasing 'Revenge' The first 3-D picture to be released in almost a year, Universal's "Revenge of the Creature," will have its world premiere in Detroit in late March as part of a territorial saturation. Charles Feldman, vicepresident and general sales manager, said that the picture "embodies all of the major improvements that have taken place in the past year, both in 3-D production and viewing." Although the Detroit premiere will be in 3-D, other exhibitors will be free to use conventional prints for the picture.