Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1960)

,.dnesday, March 2, 1960 Motion Picture Daily $5 ule tttl in i to iR( stall Ui lockton to Coordinate Y. Brotherhood Drive |iidney Stockton has been apnted home office representative to I'rdinate the New York drive for 1960 Brotherhood Campaign for ■■tro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was anunced by Salah M. Hassanein, vice•sident of Skouras Theatres and 'tited Artists Circuit, Inc., who is iiirman of the metropolitan New -k area Brotherhood campaign. ]k concerted fund-raising and mem;ship drive on behalf of the NationConference of Christians and Jews being conducted by all major com'iiies. Other special representatives ;!lude Frank Carroll, 20th Centuryfcfc; Nat Furst, Allied Artists; Berd Goodman, Warners; John ghes, United Artists; Arthur Israel, -amount; Hank Kaufman, Colum, and Frank McCarthy and John onnor, Universal. Unification Bills ( Continued from page 1 ) ly emphasized that he "opposed sorship generally." Another informed legislator comnted, "we have the budget bills on : calendar today, and until we get ! budget out of the way, action on : classification measure should not expected. Wait and see." ."The education committee will hold meeting tomorrow morning, and e additional before the March 8 adline, a spokesman stated. All Bills Failed Last Year All film classification legislation ?d in committee last year. The Ways and Means Committee, —a. ss nr „ al action, has not yet voted on the varese bill, reducing the license 2s collected by the motion picture vision. However, a somewhat simiproposal was favorably reported 1959. Wind9 Gross Is Big ■ mil nil 1 Twentieth Century-Fox's "The ind Cannot Bead" opened at the ipitol Theatre in Williamsport, Pa., >t Sunday, a "blue-law" day, and :fcoKpk in $948, the biggest opening ty for any Fox film ever to play e area. rank Lachmann Dead Frank Lachman, for the past 25 ■ars a projectionist with Movienews, died Monday at his home in rr.lip, L. I. A veteran of more than years in the industry, he is survived i my a brother and two nephews. As k U. S. Aid in Removing Curbs on Films (Continued from page 1) of 40 industry conferences scheduled by the Commerce Department to discuss ways in which the government can give maximum assistance to business in increasing sales of U.S. products abroad. Secretary of Commerce Frederick H. Mueller presided. In his statement Johnston cited the numerous restrictions which hamper the free circulation of American films in world markets. To overcome some of the restrictions, Johnston suggested, "It is of high importance for U.S. representatives to explore the possibilities of obtaining a more effective application of and adherence to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT ) . In particular, we urge that this exploration should seek methods for preventing abusive administrative practices. These can be, and often are, just as harmful to trade as restrictive laws and regulations themselves." Noting that American film compa nies agreed in the immediate post-war years to restrictive measures designed to aid nations whose economies had been disrupted by war to recover, Johnston said many such emergency restrictions are no longer justified by economic circumstances and should be abolished. He said the industry recommends that "in the forthcoming multi-lateral and bi-lateral negotiations, our government should make every effort to clean out these harmful vestiges of the past and to obtain every possible assurance against new and unreasonable barriers to film trade in the future." Among the foreign market restrictions affecting distribution of American films abroad, Johnston mentioned "import quotas, release quotas, screen quotas, remittance limitations, arbitrary restrictions of blocked funds, discriminatory or confiscatory import duties, discriminatory or excessive special taxes and levies, special restrictions on the printing or dubbing of Named to ACE, Compo Units ( Continued land and Western Pennsylvania Allied were re-named to committees, although both regional units have withdrawn from national Allied. In explanation, an Allied bulletin released today said those areas, Western Pennsylvania and New England, "are important and should be represented in Compo and ACE regardless of their affiliation. Compo and ACE were designed as meeting places for the representatives of exhibitors in all sections of the country. In reappointing these men who were first chosen by Horace Adams (former Allied president) and were once confirmed by the Allied board, Mr. Myrick is giving effect to the spirit and purpose of those organizations," the bulletin explains. Hendel, Lider and Finkel Those named from organizations which have resigned from Allied are Harry B. Hendel of Western Pennsylvania, who was reappointed an Allied member of the Compo executive committee and of ACE's industry-government relations committee; Edward W. Lider, of New England Allied, reappointed an Allied member of the ACE executive committee; and Morris M. Finkel, of Western Pennsylvania, renamed to the ACE industry research committee. Beappointed to the Compo executive committee with Hendel were Marshall Fine of Ohio Allied, Milton H. Lon . * from page 1 ) don, Michigan, and Boy Kalver, Indiana. Previously named to the committee by Myrick were Ben Marcus, Wisconsin, who was also re-named Allied's member of the Compo triumvirate; Irving Dollinger, New Jersey, also renamed alternate to Marcus as a triumvir; C. Elmer Nolte, Jr., Maryland, also serving as co-chairman of Compo's national minimum wage committee, and Abe Berenson, Louisiana. Myrick, who is a member of the ACE executive committee by virtue of being president of Allied, and who earlier had named Dollinger and Marc J. Wolf as his alternates, re-named the following incumbents to ACE committees in addition to Finkel, Lider and Hendel: to the producer-distributorexhibitor relations committee, Adams, Marcus and Dollinger; to industrygovernment relations, Jack Kirsch, Edward E. Johnson; committee on ways and means to increase production, Julius M. Gordon (for Bube Shor, deceased), Nolte, Wolf; committee on post-48 films, Marcus and Kirsch; committee on industry research, Ted Manos, London, Fine, Ted Mann; committee on toll-TV, Wilbur Snaper. 'Larceny' Here Mar, 16 Paramount's "A Touch of Larceny" will have its New York debut on March 16 at the Normandie Theatre. films, arbitrary limitations on franchise terms, limitations on film rentals, limitations on the establishment of subsidiary enterprises, discriminatory or excessive admission taxes, unreasonable ceilings on admission prices, administrative practices and measures to penalize distributors, administrative restrictions on the operation of subsidiaries, unfair applications of income taxation and various types of special taxation." "All this abroad," Johnston commented, "while we maintain an open market, a non-discriminatory market, for all films in the U.S. Feels 'Clearly at Odds' Johnston said he realized some of the restrictive measures he had mentioned "do not fall directly into categories covered by GATT or other international trading agreements. But we feel they are clearly at odds with the spirit and intent of GATT, which is to encourage world trade by assuring the absence of unjustified restrictions and unwarranted discriminatory treatment of any of the signatory nations." After the meeting, Johnston who, with Kenneth Clark, MPEA vice-president, were the only industry people present, stated that he believes that the efforts of the Commerce Department in reducing barriers to imports of U.S. films are welcome, and that they promise to be "most helpful, invaluable to us." He noted that free trade in films could work a rise of 30 per cent to 50 per cent in U.S. receipts from foreign exhibition — between $100 and $150 million. Says Gov't Welcomes Suggestions Government officials present also seemed encouraged by an auspicious start to the series of meetings. H. Herbert Hughes, assistant administrator of the Commerce Department's business and defense services administration, commented that the government is delighted to have problems pinpointed by industry. In this way, the Commece Department can advise State Department negotiators of the things that concern business most. Hughes noted that the motion picture industry's presentation to the meeting had helped to put some things in proper perspective. In the movie industry, for example, it was noted that tariff concessions, as well as screen quotas, are negotiable in international meetings, but that there are many other deterrents to international trade in films and that in some cases these constitute more effective barriers to film imports than tariffs alone. Sales Offices and Warehouses es^^ A COMPLETE LINE OF PROFESSIONAL CINE FILMS 321 West 54th Street New York 19, N. Y. va 6370 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles 38, Calif. TA 6601 N. Lincoln Ave. Lincolnwood (Chicago) fA 1355 Conant Street Dallas 7, Texas Quality photographic materials . . backed by more than half a century of experience. GEVAERT THE GEVAERT COMPANY OF AMERICA, INC.