Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1960)

ifssday, February 16, 1960 Motion Picture Daily Y7 Charges (Continued from page 1) |!C. resumed its hearings on the ?stion of the acuracy and adequacy Ithe SE&T 1959 statement seeking i register 172,000 shares of stock. Ife hearings are under the direction examiner Robert N. Hislop. | commission's division of corpo; finance is seeking to show that registered stock held in the name Fox was sold to the public by infect means. Was Reply to Previous Letter i letter dated August, 1957 from jdder to Colonial Trust Co., New Lk transfer agent for Skiatron stock, 5 in answer to a previous letter m the bank. Roth letters referred Fox's disposition of the stock. Vidder would not be tied down cifically to the amount of stock olved. After S.E.C. pointed to the t that the transaction took place months after the commission first rned Skiatron of the deficiency in 1956 registration statement, Wid• said he wrote to the S.E.C. amendthe company's 1956 statement a if or so after his letter to Colonial. It was not until the following bruary, said Widder, that he asked It the 1956 statement be withiwn. Even then, he added, the :hdrawal was asked on the grounds it information was not forthcoming |j m Fox on matters other than the 1 position of the stock. Not at Issue at This Time S.E.C attorneys raised the question a stock registration for Skiatron ;d with S.E.C. in 1956. This was thdrawn before it became effective, d it is not specifically at issue in e present proceedings. Julian Jawitz, omey for Skiatron president Arr_ir Levey, objected strongly to ineducing this question on the ground it it is irrelevant. S.E.C. attorney Eugene Rotberg untered vehemently that some of ? stock involved in the 1956 statetat was part of 200,000 shares warnted to Fox. Moreover, S.E.C. seeks show that the company's attorney d knowledge that Fox had sold registered stock and had thereupon ;d a false document that was withawn after S.E.C. deficiency letters are received. Hearing examiner Hislop ruled that e division could go ahead with quesming but he promised Jawitz that timony shown to be irrelevant uld later be stricken from the recd. Filed Both Statements Widder was responsible for filing »th registration statements, even ough he did not personally prepare Rotberg succeeded in eliciting from idder that shortly after the March, >56, filing he had made inquiries »out the ownership of stock issued Fox. Rotberg then pointed to the • 56 statement containing a footnote the effect that 22,500 shares were ven by Fox to brokers. This would «m to indicate, it was pointed out, at Widder, and possibly the cor Rackmil Expenses ( Continued from page 1 ) Decca Records, Universal and 12 directors asking for an accounting. The plaintiff in the action is Bertha Tanie a holder of common stock of Universal, represented by Irving Mossis, attorney of this city. The defendant names, in addition to the corporation, the following individuals; N. J. Blumberg, Alfred E. Daff, Preston Davie, A. A. Garthwaite, Leon Goldberg, R. W. Lea, John J. O'Connor, Milton R. Rackmil, Budd Rogers, Daniel M. Shaeffer, Harold I. Thorp and Samuel H. Vallance. Rackmil is charged in the complaint with being able to control Decca through holdings of himself, his family and others. It is stated that he was hired by Universal at $80,000 a year and large sums of his personal expenses, the complaint alleges, such as travel apartments and residences in New York and California were charged to Universal improperly. The complaint further charges that Rackmil arranged for a loan of $10,000 to Decca from Universal and also took sound tracks from Universal films for use in Decca record albums without proper compensation to Universal. Academy Names 5 ( Continued from page 1 ) president. They are: "Black Orpheus," Dispatfilm & Gemma Cinematografica, France; "The Bridge," Fono Film, Germany; "The Great War," Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, Italy; "Paw," Laterna Film, Denmark, and "The Village on the River," N. V. Nationale Filmproductie Maatschappij, the Netherlands. A special foreign language film award committee, headed by Luigi Luraschi, screened all entries and, by secret ballot, nominated the above films. For the eleventh consecutive year, the Hollywood RKO Pantages Theatre has been selected as the site of 32nd annual "Oscar" show on April 4, it was announced by Kahane. poration itself, knew of the sales. The government lawyers are trying to show that before the company made amendments to its filing, warrants had been exercised so that the company amendments were wrong at the time of filing. In the case of a 1955 S.E.C. filing by Skiatron, Rotberg did succeed in showing that Fox exercised warrants "about 13 days" before filing of the statement and yet the statement merely said that Fox had warrants and had signed a letter of investment-intent. In the confused tangle of warrants issued, warrants exercised, and stock issued and/ or given to brokers, hearing examiner Hislop likened himself to the lawyer in "Anatomy of a Murder" who felt that sooner or later all the ends would be tied into a coherent whole. Meanwhile, the S.E.C. has continued until Feb. 26 its ban on all trading in the common stock of Skiatron Electronics and Television, Inc. The hearing will continue tomorrow. Film Media P.R. Prize Given Medical Picture The Film Media Public Relations Award for 1959 was won by "The Treasure of 23 Years." The award was made at a party held at the Hotel Delmonico late last week. The film, produced by the National Fund for Medical Education, and filmed and coordinated by Animatic Productions, Ltd., depicts the research and medical effort involved in extending the average life span from 43 years in 1900 to 66 years today, an extension of 23 years. Hence, the title of the film. Effective use is made of flashbacks to newsreel shots showing prominent personalities of 1936, 23 years ago, as well as animated graphs, and lab footage showing the research which went into the fight against pneumonia. The music score and effects were supplied by Musifex Company and the entire film was directed and edited by Joe Filipowic of J F Film Service. The film has already been shown as a public service by local Television stations across the nation. Republic to Finance ( Continued from page 1 ) no proprietary interest in such films but would expect to receive an override on gross sales, to provide the studio space on a rental basis and do the film processing in its laboratories. Republic's net for the fiscal year ended last Oct. 31 was estimated by Carter to be between 22 cents and 25 cents per share on the 2,004,190 shares outstanding, or about $440,000, after taxes. That compares with 54 cents a share earned in the preceding year. Both results are after preferred dividends. Gross revenues were down about $10,000,000 last year from the year before, largely due to the tapering off of film distribution following the discontinuance of production in 1957. The decline in earnings was attributed to write-offs during the past year of $1,300,000 for unused story properties, guarantees to outside producers and other obligations. Carter predicted a net of about 75 cents per share this year as a result of the write-offs, reduction of management costs from $700,000 to about $400,000 annually, and expected elimination of losses in one operation. He said theatrical and TV film distribution accounts for about 20 per cent of revenue; studio rental and daily laboratory services, 20 per cent; film processing, 35 per cent, and plastics, 25 per cent. Telemeter Date (Continued from page 1) lineup will be the live presentation of the Toronto Maple Leafs' out-oftown hockey games to Etobicoke subscribers, where the Telemeter experiment is being held. The first game of four featuring the Leafs will be offered Feb. 28. It is estimated the cost of putting the four games on Telemeter will be about $10,000. LegionDebate ( Continued from page 1 ) producer Stanley Kramer over the CBS television network Sunday. Kramer said he would continue to uphold the individual's right to employment regardless of previous political affiliations. The debate was aired over CBS's "FYI" ("For Your Information") program, aired here at 11:00 A.M. with Bill Stout of the network's news staff as moderator. Kramer and Stour were video taped in Hollywood, with McKneally in Chicago. In presenting the Legion's stand in the current controversy of the hiring of screen writers either proven or alleged to be subversive, McKneally said he wished to clear up some misunderstandings as to what had been described by the press as a "war of information." He said that "people wrote in to the Legion about what they understood to be a violation of die Waldorf Declaration, a voluntary agreement which was still operating. We said we mould make certain information available to the people making these inquiries." Consulted Conscience, He Says Kramer said that as an "individual entrepreneur' he struggled a great deal with his conscience before hiring people to work on his pictures. He said he agreed with "protection against invasions by ideology," but quibbled with how it should be done. He also said the industry was a "peculiar industry" and that the Waldorf Agreement had certain "reluctant provisions." He then directly asked McKneally, "How do you feel about die Waldorf Agreement itself?" McKneally answered that the Agreement was intended as the law for the industry "until it is breached. And if so, it should be brought to the attention of the people that it is no longer an operating agreement." As far as he was concerned, said Kramer, it was "literally impossible" to set up a situation where a man's beliefs in 1947 or even in 1952 should prevent him from working today. He said, "there is no law in the books against hiring such a person." If it was against the law, he said, then legal agencies such as the FBI should "root out" such people. Kramer, who said he was "not a signatory to the Waldorf Agreement," further stated that a writer's work "can be completely divorced from his political views. I control every foot of film, and I am fully aware of where I stand." Italy Boys Town Benefits From'Ben-Hur'Premiere Special to THE DAILY DETROIT, Feb. 15. "Ben-Hur" opens at the United Artists Theatre here tomorrow night as a benefit for Boys Town of Italy, sponsored by Mrs. George Skouras. Michigan's Governor G. Mennen Williams will head the list of civic, business, and entertainment personalities who will attend the black-tie premiere.