The Exhibitor (1954)

8 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR NLRB Rules Out Industry Jurisdiction Washington — The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board last fort¬ night decided that the board should no longer assert jurisdiction over the labor relations of an association of motion pic¬ ture theatre owners, because the pattern of bargaining has changed from an asso¬ ciation-wide one to one of individual theatre contracts. The association involved was not named, but the council’s ruling is in line with a long-standing policy. The announcement stated that an individual filed unfair labor practice charges against an association of motion picture theatre owners. In a former case involving the same com¬ panies, the board took jurisdiction on the basis that bargaining was abandoned and the theatres or theatre circuits bargained on an individual basis. The announcement said the evidence disclosed that the contracts negotiated by the theatre differed from case to case, and that “apparently grievances are now being handled on an individual theatre basis, rather than on an association-wide basis.” Investigation also revealed, it was said, that the largest operation involved a chain of 14 or 15 theatres, which annu¬ ally paid only $300,000 in film I’entals. It was decided that the operations of the parties, considered on a separate basis, would not warrant the assertion of juris¬ diction, and that since association-wide bargaining had been abandoned “the size of the operations as it pertains to indi¬ vidual chains is not such as to warrant assertion of jurisdiction.” Attorney Nixes Settlement Chicago — Edward Blackman, attorney for the 32 West Randolph Street Cor¬ poration, former operator, Oriental, ob¬ jected last fortnight to settlement pro¬ posals being discussed by other attorneys, the major distributors, and Balaban and Katz, and filed a brief in Federal District Court seeking permission to carry the case to higher courts. Blackman has a 25 per cent attorney’s fee interest in the case, filed in 1949, which sought $8,000,000 for alleged anti¬ trust law violations. The defendants have 20 days to answer Blackman’s brief. Among those attending a recent luncheon in New York City at which the Japanese color film, "Gates Of Hell," was given the 1954 Joseph Burstyn Award of the Independent Motion Pic¬ ture Distributors Association as the best foreign Him of the year, were, left to right, James A. Mulvey, representative of the Japanese produc¬ ers; Edward Harrison, distributor of the film; Hon. Jun Tsuchiya, Consul General of Japan in New York City; Bosley Crowther, New Yprk rimes film critic; and Norman Elson, owner. Guild, where the film is playing. Achievement Awards Made New York — Recipients of the 1954 Mark of Achievement Awards being made by the amusement industry division. Feder¬ ation of Jewish Philanthropies, at their luncheon to be held at the Hotel Shera¬ ton Astor on Jan. 20th, were announced last week by Oscar Hammerstein, II, awards chairman. The awards will be made to Elmer Davis, radio; Jackie Gleason, television; Grace Kelly, motion pictures; Mary Mar¬ tin, legitimate theatre; Mitchell Miller, recording industry; Arthur Schwartz, mu¬ sic world; and a special award for 1954 will be made to Patti McCormack for her performance in “The Bad Seed.” The Mark of Achievement awards luncheon is the higlilight of the amuse¬ ment industry division’s participation in the Federation’s 1954-55 drive. Adolph Schimel is this year’s campaign chairman. Hughes-Odium Deal Rumored New York — Unconfirmed reports circu¬ lated last week that a deal had been made between Howard P. Hughes and the Atlas Corporation for Atlas to purchase RKO from Hughes and also to buy Hughes’ share of RKO pictures. Merchandising Topic Of 20th-Fox Meeting Inew York — A full discussion of mer¬ chandising policy tor nine releases dur¬ ing the first quarter of 1955 and a general review of company sales policy headed the agenda of an important two-day divi¬ sion managers’ meeting called by Al Lichtman, 20th-Fox directer of distribu¬ tion, last week. Ihe conclave was to be attended by the company’s seven domestic and Canadian sales heads representing the sales organ¬ ization’s 38 exchanges in the two countries. Spyros P. Skouras, president, was scheduled to address the opening ses¬ sion, welcoming the field sales executives and outlining plans for the new year as well as reporting on his recently con¬ cluded six-week trip to Europe on the international progress of CinemaScope. Joining with Lichtman in leading the deliberations was to be W. C. Gehring, executive assistant general sales manager; Arthur Silverstone, assistant general sales manager; Alex Harrison, western sales manager; and Glenn Norris, eastern sales manager. A comprehensive program of national promotion, advertising and exploitation was to be outlined for the nine attractions, of which seven are CinemaScope and in color and two standard, one in color, slated for release January through March. Other topics under discussion were the expediting of prints to the field, stereo¬ phonic sound, and suggested ways of improving CinemaScope programming. Division managers set to attend the meeting were Martin Moskowitz, Atlantic; T. O. McCleaster, central; J. M. Connolly, northeast; M. A. Levy, midwest; H. G. Ballance, southern; and Paul S. Wilson, assistant, southern; Herman Wobber, west¬ ern; and Reville Kniffen, assistant, west¬ ern; and Peter Myers, Canadian. Attendance Rise Predicted Washington — The Commerce Depart¬ ment last week predicted further increases in motion picture attendance in 1955. The prediction came from the Department’s motion picture section, headed by Nathan D. Golden. It was part of an overall sur¬ vey of 25 leading industry groups released by Commerce Secretary Sinclair Weeks. The estimated box office gross of 1954 was put at $1,200,000,000. This was an 18 per cent increase over 1953, and brought the average weekly admissions close to 80,000,000 persons. The department sur¬ vey also pointed out the increasing im¬ portance of the foreign market, which brought in nearly $200,000,000 in 1954. Skouras Dinner Aids Israel New York — More than $200,000 was raised by the $100-a-plate dinner concert presented at the Waldorf-Astoria last week honoring Spyros P. Skouras, presi¬ dent, 20th-Fox. The celebration was given by the American Fund for Israel Insti¬ tutions, and featured Metropolitan Opera stars Rise Stevens and Robert Merrill, Pierre Monteux, and the symphony of the air, and New York City Ballet stars Diana Adams and Andre Eglevesky. Abba Eban, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States was principle speaker. Final plans for the 1955 world-wide "Daff Drive" were set recently in New York by U-l foreign dis¬ tribution executives with the goal being to better the marks of the past four record breaking years. Gathered around Americo Aboaf, foreign general manager, are Josephine Griffin, home office statistical department; Ben M. Cohen, assistant foreign manager and captain of the drive; Joseph Mazer, 16mm. sales head; Aboaf; Fortunat Baronat, foreign publicity director; Jack Dobbin, assistant to Felix Sommer, U-l foreign finance executive; Sommer; and Irving Weiss, foreign service manager. January 12, 1955