Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1959)

15, NO. 4" MOTION PICTURE DAILY NEW YORK, U.S.A., THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1959 TEN CENTS enate arings on limumWage ' to April Gives Exhibitors Time to Organize rom THE DAILY Bureau HINGTON, March 11. -Senior Subcommittee hearings on Federal minimum wage are now unlikely to begin e time next month, following itional Easter recess of Con itor officials had earlier been |g hearings to start late this and were concerned over the time to prepare a grass-roots against extending coverage res. The delay will give the ps additional time to contact and Congressmen, and the ■ecess, when lawmakers tradi; return home, may provide an ty opportunity for presenting .. Continued on page 2) Exhibitors Ask Campaign Again ur exhibitor members of the 3 committee of the business campaign yesterday reafeir desire for a start early bg of the radio portion of the campaign. In a letter to Abe executive committee coand MPAA representative ' immittee, Ernest G. Stellings, co-chairman, said that he ontinued on page 8) (re, TY Tie-in >r L. A. Test SAMUEL D. BERNS •YWOOD, March 11-Special trailers to promote 20th iFox's "The Sad Horse." being ui unusual deal in which the ns help publicize the picture for 10 per cent of the film Continued on page 7) S/ON TODAY— page 8 Industry Group Strongly Opposes Amendments to N. Y. Censor Bills Vigorous opposition to proposed amendments to censorship bills already introduced into the New York Legislature was expressed lost night in a wire sent to the appropriate Legislative committees by a committee representing all branches of die motion picture business. The telegram stated in part: "We cannot urge upon you too strongly that no action should be taken on these bills as amended unless the industry and the public are afforded another opportunity to be heard in opposition to the amendments. Legislation which has such serious rami(Continued on page 2) Conn. MPTO Scores State Censor Bill Special to THE DAILY NEW HAVEN, March 11. A statement of position in its opposition to censorship legislation pending before the Connecticut legislature, was announced today by the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Connecticut, an affiliate of Theatre Owners of America, following a special luncheon meeting here. The statement was issued jointly by George H. Wilkinson, president, and Herman M. Levy, executive secretary, and is as follows: "As in other state legislatures, that of Connecticut has before it an attempt at censorship by way of control over motion pictures and newspapers (Continued on page 7) New Hearing Tuesday On Ohio Censorship Special to THE DAILY COLUMBUS, O., March 11-Industry opponents of censorship and film classification will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Ohio Legislature at 7:30 P.M. March 17 here. Proponents, heard yesterday, urged approval of the O'Shaughnessy-Lynch classification bill which would label all films "adult" or "family" and provide penalties for "misleading" advertising. Witnesses said present state laws against "obscenity" in films are inadequate despite stiff prison terms of (Continued on page 7) Canadian Circuits Join 'Oscar' Drive Famous Players Canadian Corporation, Ltd., and the Odeon Theatre Circuit, leading circuits in Canada, have accepted the invitation of the MPAA advertising and publicity directors' committee to participate in the Academy Awards promotion, it was announced here. Kits are being made available to Canadian exhibitors this year for the first time on the same (Continued on page 7) Pope Asks Catholic Action on Films, TV Special to THE DAILY VATICAN CITY, March 11. The first pronouncement on motion pictures, television and radio by the new Pope, in the form of an apostolic letter, was given today to American Bishop Martin J. O'Connor, president of the Pontifical Commission for Films, Radio and Television. It directed Catholic bishops throughout the world (Continued on page 6) Columbia Reports Net Profit of $1,752,000 For First Half, After Non-Recurring Item Columbia Picures Corp. yesterday reported net profit, including non-recurring profit, of 81,752,000 for the 26 weeks ended Dec. 27, 1958. The result compares with a loss of $820,000 for the first six months of the preceding fiscal year. The net profit for the 1958 period includes $2,622,000, representing profit on the sale of the company's laboratory facilities at the West Coast. The half-year report by A. Schneider, president, noted that no Federal income tax has been provided for the current period due to the loss carryover of the prior year. Rack mil Says: Expect Big Grosses for 'IT Pictures 'Holders Told Prospects For 'Life,9 'Earth' Good By WARREN G. HARRIS The future looks bright for Universal Pictures with the company expecting to be "in the black" for the second quarter of the current fiscal year, company stockholders were told at their annual meeting in the home office by Milton R. Rackmil, president. In the first quarter the company showed a profit in January but not enough to overcome losses in November and December. The upward trend is continuing, however, with profits anticipated for the months of February and March. Questioned about prospects for the forthcoming "Imitation of Life" Rackmil said he hopes it will gross over $10,000,000. "This Earth Is Mine" will also be a "big one," he predicted. Universal has "no set quantity" of pictures to be turned out this year, Rackmil pointed out, adding that "we'll make as many as possible of the (Continued on page 6) Universal Officers Elected by Board The board of directors of Universal Pictures Company, Inc. at their meeting in New York yesterday following the stockholders' meeting elected the following officers: N. J Blumberg, chairman of the (Continued on page 6) Three UA Branches Lead in Sales Drive United Artists' Jacksonville, Toronto and Winnipeg branches are leading their respective groups in the first lap of the company's Fortieth Anniversary sales drive, it was announced by cocaptains James R. Velde, general sales manager, and Roger H. Lewis, national director of advertising, publicity and exploitation. Managers of die leading branches (Continued on page 3)