Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1960)

dnesday, July 13, 1960 Motion Picture Daily 3 Donnelly Heads Obscenity Unit Special to THE DAILY iLBANY, July 12— Assemblyman rry J. Donnelly, 38-year-old BrookRepublican just appointed chairn of the Joint Legislation Commiton Offensive and Obscene Material, !. second-term member of the Legture. He succeeds Assemblyman 5ph R. Younglove, 67-year-old nstown Republican and a 10-term a. )onnelly, a quiet spoken keen ided, man, is a graduate of St. ,n's University and St. John's Law ool. He practices in Brooklyn. He /ed as assistant attorney general in Labor Bureau of that office, prosting Labor Law violations — from jil to Dec. 31, 1956. Chosen to serve in the Assembly at | November, 1956, elections, Mr. iinelly did not introduce any bills cting motion pictures or other lia of communications, at the ret session. He is married and the ler of four children. Health Reported Poor 'ounglove, who recently defeated rivals in a Republican primary test for Fulton and Hamilton coun, had not been in the best of 1th during the spring, according to iDrts here. He presumably decided i concentrate on the campaign for I ection and on the position of chairl of the influential Assembly Taxin Commission— should he win. Tiis is expected, despite vigorous osition by the Democratic candie for the Fulton Hamilton county rict, Donald B. Bellinger, the first his party to be elected mayor of nstown in 67 years, 'ounglove sponsored film classifica|i bills at the 1959 and 1960 sesis, including two this year, and has icated plans to do so again in 1961. tpect Over 200 at inn. Golf Tournament Special to THE DAILY iTRATFORD, Conn., July 12. re than 200 exhibitors and film initrialites from the Southern New *land and New York area are exted at the Mill River Country Club e next Tuesday for the annual golf rnament of the Motion Picture The3 Owners of Connecticut, an affie of Theatre Owners of America. Vlbert M. Pickus and James M. Totq, co-chairmen of the event, said t advance registrations are running ad of any prior year. The program I include the golf tournament durthe day, and a dinner, with awardi of prizes, in the evening. George Wilkinson, MPTOC president, will ; side at the dinner meeting. \enneth Mason Dies COLUMBUS, July 12.-Kenneth T. Hson, 54, vice-president of the Krehands local, died at his home I e. He had been box-office treasurer lithe Hartman Theatre. Warn of Battle for Ad Dollar (Continued Lazarus spoke on several topics of concern to both the motion picture and newspaper industries including national and local amusement rate structures, the content of the amusement page, TV and what the newspapers are doing to and for TV, and censorship. The Columbia Pictures vice-president told the advertising executives that the motion picture and newspaper industries have a strange relationship. "On one side— the editorial— our minions court and woo and occasionally seduce your stalwarts into giving us space and reviews and photographic coverage," he said. "On the other side —the business side— you and your cohorts plead and cajole and demand advertising space from us in a very typical buyer-seller relationship." Quotes Compo Survey Lazarus pointed out that the Council of Motion Picture Organizations recently completed a survey of 160 newspapers in 91 towns and cities representing every major market area. The survey found, he said, that "more than one out of every five newspapers adopts a definitely uncooperative attitude towards motion pictures. Thirtythree per cent of the papers checked do not even review new movies for their readers." He said that this was disturbing because it hurts the motion picture business and because it is contrary to the public interest. Noting that motion picture copy, personality stories, gossip and reviews all rate at the pinnacle of readership figures, Lazarus declared that "it is good business for every newspaper in the land to develop a sound motion picture page." He defined a sound page as one which is well-balanced between motion picture advertising, editorial comment, illustrations, Hollywood columns, reviews, drawings or art, and no outside ads. 'No Longer Fly-by-Night' After tracing the history of the premium rates charged for movie advertising, Lazarus stated that the motion picture industry does not find "the amusement rate" a source of amusement. "The motion picture distributors and exhibitors," he said, "are no longer fly-by-night operations. We are sound, stable, publicly-held stock corporations who can and do pay our bills promptly. We are purchasers of major display space in quantities comparable to department stores or any national advertiser. "And yet— on an average— local amusement rates run about 25 per cent higher than local retail rates. Why, gentlemen, why this discriminatory rate structure? It is based neither on the logic or linage nor on the tradition of insolvency. No, it is an archaic, vestigial remnant of the past, as dated and as unsafe as a Kitty Hawk airplane." He further noted that the national amusement rates run from 10 per cent to 21 per cent higher than rates in other categories. He estimated that the eight major from page 1 ) movie companies will spend close to $22,000,000 in this fiscal year on cooperative newspaper advertising expenditures. "Add to this some $500,000 in national newspaper advertising and an estimated $12,000,000 of theatre advertising expenditures and the total hits a tremendous total of $35,000,000. Lazarus asked the gathered advertising executives, "How long must we live with the unrealistic fiction of local and national rates? Your space rates are attuned to the Dark Ages; let us move forward; let us make the space rates fit the Space Age." Turning to the question of censorship, he said that almost 60 per cent of the newspapers checked exercise censorship over motion picture advertising in some degree, ranging from minor surveillance to "vicious, unreasonable" censorship. Sees Censoring Unnecessary Lazarus contended that it is "the right and duty of every newspaper to check every ad submitted for publication for salaciousness, obscenity, offensiveness, or anything else contrary to the public good. But as an industry whose advertising is submitted to relfregulatory control before it ever reaches the newspaper, we take a rather dim view of newspaper censors." He recalled that the motion picture industry adopted a system of selfregulation of both production and advertising in 1930. All advertising prepared by members of the MPAA is submitted to the Advertising Code Administrator and approved, rejected or modified to fit the code, he said. "Last year, 169,000 separate pieces of advertising were checked! Every one of 103,000 still photographs was viewed and the few violations were made to conform to the Code. Some 40,000 ads and posters were individually inspected by a staff whose training and background qualies them to pass judgment." Regulation Accepted, He Says Lazarus asserted that he, his company and his industry "will fight censorship by any other medium of mass communication. We accept our responsibility to live as decent members of the world community. We are prepared to regulate ourselves so that decency and good taste are observed both on the screen and in all our contacts with the public. "But we will not accept the criteria or the pressures of others. We demand the same responsibility from the press, from radio and from TV that we demand of ourselves. We will not tolerate wilful and capricious censorship." 60 'Murder" Dates PHILADELPHIA, July 12.-"Murder, Inc.," produced and directed for 20th Century-Fox by Burt Balaban, opens here tomorrow in a 60-theatre saturation engagement. PEOPLE Mrs. J. C. Norton has been elected president of the Atlanta Better Films Council. Other officers are: Mrs. Austin Williams, first vice-president; Mrs. Harry F. McGill, second vice-president, and Mrs. J. M. Townsend, recording secretary. □ Robert L. Lippert, Ross Hunter, Jack Rose and Philip Barry, Jr., have joined the Screen Producers Guild in Hollywood, bringing to 173 the total membership of the organization. □ Tom Russ has been named editor of the entertainment pages of the Florida Times, Jacksonville. □ Elsie Garvin, for 37 years head of the Research Library at the Kodak Park Works of Eastman Kodak Co., has retired after 40 years with the organization. □ Richard Honsinger has leased from R. L. Mackes the Okeechobee Drivein Theatre, Okeechobee City, Fla. 'Psycho' Holds Strong; New Dates Big, Too Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is demonstrating strong holdover strength in its first five pre-release engage'ments and is also big in. three new situations, theatre reports disclose. Being presented in all playdates on a strictly enforced "no one admitted after the start of the picture" policy, the Paramount release chalked up $27,318 and $11,265, respectively, first four days of fourth week, DeMille and Baronet Theatres, New York; $27,994, first five days of third week, Woods, Chicago; $15,342, first five days of third week, Arcadia, Philadelphia; $18,374, first five days of third week, Paramount, Boston; and $18,397, first five days of second week, Palace, Stamford, Conn. The picture did $12,375, first five days, Brunswick Drive-in, Brunswick, N.J.; $11,855, first five days, Majestic, Perth Amboy, N.J.; $15,231, first five days, Community, Morristown, N.J. 'Long-Tall-Short9 Rolls "The Long and the Short and the Tall" is now in production at the British Elstree Studios, it was disclosed here yesterday by Continental Distributing, co-producer of the feature. A Michael Balcon production, it is the second co-production of CD., the first being "The Hands of Orloc," now in production on the French Riviera. 'Love' Goes to Venice Jerry Wald's "Let's Make Love," has been invited to the Venice Film Festival which runs this year from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7. The 20th-Fox release will be shown on the final night. I