Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1959)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY IB, NO. 39 NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, MARCH 2, 1959 TEN CENTS •sotes Y& Exhibition Accord on tice Talks Meeting Is Told Has Program Ready ram THE DAILY Bureau HINGTON, March l.-The n Congress of Exhibitors has program to present the Deit of Justice in discussions be held on revisions in the Decree and is hopeful of most of what it will ask. was reported to the board of and executive committee of Owners of America today by jG. Kerasotes, TOA president, xhibitor group began its midContinued on page 3) ved Staging or 'Oscar' Show THE DAILY Bureau ilNGTON, March 1. The Df the Academy Awards show 6 will have improvements in »nd "be a much better show," d of directors and executive ■e of Theatre Owners of were told here today. The t was included in a report by Henry G. Plitt, chairTOA's committee on new ity development and Academy Continued on page 3) W Strike Threat ;d by Membership cm THE DAILY Bureau A WOOD, March 1. The flip of the Screen Writers if the Writers Guild of Amert, by unanimous vote, has austrike against a number iters who have licensed or wires for television use with•nent to writers. :tion will be taken, it has cided, if satisfactory agreenot reached between the 1 the producers involved. SION TODAY-page 6 MPIC to Suspend Activities July t From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, March 1. -Taking into account changing conditions of the Hollywood film industry, the executive committee of the Motion Picture Industry Council over the weekend voted unanimously to suspend its functions and activities by July ( Continued on page 6 ) Schwalberg Elected Cinema Lodge Head Alfred W. Schwalberg, founder and first president of the Cinema Lodge B'nai B'rith, was unanimously elected president of the organization at a luncheon meeting at the Toots Shor Restaurant here Friday. He succeeds Joseph B. Rosen. Other officers elected for one year are: treasurer, Jack Weissman; secretary, Abe Dickstein; executive vicepresident, Jack Hoffberg; vice-presidents, Irving R. Brown, Maurice B. ( Continued on page 2 ) Backs 'Basic Objectives' of Harris Plan to Test Toll-TV Given FCC Approval Would Limit Trial to Three Cities; House Group Now Will Slate Hearing By J. A. OTTEN WASHINGTON, March L— The Federal Communications Commission said over the weekend that it supports the "basic objectives" of the toll-TV resolution introduced by Rep. Oren D. Harris (D., Ark.) and declared that the Harris resolution "conforms essentially" with Para. Enters TV in Deal with Alan Ladd Would Alter Wording In N. Y. Labor Law Special to THE DAILY ALBANY, N. Y., March 1. An amendment to the labor law changing the present requirement that projectionists, engineers and firemen in motion picture theaters shall have "24 consecutive hours" of rest, to that of "one calendar day" in each week, is proposed in a bill introduced by As(Continued on page 7) From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, March 1. -Paramount Pictures has entered the television production field for the first time with the signing today of a co-production deal with Alan Ladd's and Aaron Spelling's Jaguar-Caron Productions. Under the deal, Paramount will provide financing and studio facilities. Paramount and Jaguar-Caron will jointly produce a television film series ( Continued on page 7 ) 4Co-Sponsors Week' Is Slated for Warner Drive The final week of Warner Bros.' "Welcome Back, Jack," global sales drive— March 29-April 4— has been designated as "Co-Sponsors Week" in tribute to the drive's co-sponsors, Benjamin Kalmenson, executive vice(Continued on page 7) EDITORIAL Vogel's Reward ny Slier u in Kane IOEW'S stockholders at their annual meeting last week elected by more than a four million-vote majority a 15-man board of directors which had the wholehearted endorsement of management headed by Joseph R. Vogel. Previously, in order to ensure that there would be no repetition of an experience of a year ago when the dissident director, Joseph Tomlinson, reelected himself by means of cumulative voting, thus displacing a nominee endorsed by management, the stockholders at a special meeting in advance of the annual, voted to end the cumulative voting method in the election of directors. The stockholders' actions at both the special and annual meetings (Continued on page 2) its own idea of a toll-TV test. The commission found that its original proposal for a test of toll-TV differed only in one respect from what Harris proposed in his resolution. The FCC proposed to limit to (Continued on page 7) MPEA Hears Argentine Classifies Films No. 1 A new import decree to be published soon in Argentina will place motion pictures in import category I for the first time, Robert Corkery, Motion Picture Export Ass'n. vicepresident for Latin America, told an MPEA meeting here on Friday. As part of category I, film distribu(Continued on page 6) Asks Clarification of Ad Regulation Bill Special to THE DAILY ALBANY, N. Y., March 1. Assemblyman Daniel M. Kelly, Democrat-Liberal of Manhattan, said here that the Meighan-Duffy Bill seeking to regulate more closely motion picture advertising should be clarified "because the present language espouses the theory of guilt by association." Kelly said that pursuant to the measure, a theatre manager utilizing his own private display material, or his own material, "in contravention of the provisions of the proposed legislation," could "imperil the showing of a picture over a wide area in the entire state." In consequence, a permit or license could be revoked "by the act of a person far removed," Assemblyman Kelly pointed out.