The Exhibitor (1955)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR NT-1 or rnr: BRANCHES Cincinnati Virtually all drive-ins in this area are now open, many of them with new pro¬ jection equipment and wide-screens, and all are anticipating good post-Easter business if the weather is favorable. Business in local houses was reported to have been less atfected by the Lenten .'■cason than usual, and with a number of new top films booked for upcoming weeks, the outlook is considered very favorable for continuing good boxoffice. City Manager C. A. Harrell has re¬ appointed John E. Krebbs, Harry Wil¬ liams, and Garland C. Jones as members of the Board of Examiners of Motion Bicture Operators. Their pay is $5 each a, meeting. . . . “Don’t try to be a hero,” Marvin Morris, floor manager, downtown Keith, was told by a bold robber who waved a revolver in the face of Mrs. Colleen Ross, cashier, and then fled with $129.90 she handed him. Only minutes before, Morris had taken $250 in receipts to an office safe. Murray Baker, aiea sales rep, IFE, reports booking “Aida” into the Esquire, local art house, and the Bexley, Colum¬ bus, 0., for Easter week openings, and “Bread, Love and Dreams” into the Best, Charleston, W. Va., and a number of other area houses for late April openings. Exhibitors iu were John Caiey, Wheelersburg, 0.; Joe Goldstein, M. J. Gordon, and Tom Alley, Cleveland; Ted Pekras, Jack Needham, Harry Schwartz, and Frank Yassenoflf, Columbus, O.; Delmar Walker, McConnelsville, 0.; H. P. Long, Ironton, 0.; Ray Laws, Lebanon, 0.; Chalmers Bach, Eaton, O.; R. A. Emmerick, Germantown, 0.; George Turlukis, Hamilton, 0.; H. C. Bennett, Circleville, O.; Hank David¬ son, Lynchbui’g, O. ; Harry Wheeler, Galipolis, 0.; A. D. Curfman, Wester¬ ville, 0.; Walter Wyrick, Carlisle, Ky.; R. L. Gaines, Fred Mays, and James B. Howe, Carrollton, Ky.; W. B. Cain, Paintsville, Ky. ; James Denton, Owingsville, Ky.; Don Reda, London, Ky.; Tom Sutton, Jr., Mount Sterling, Ky. ; Roland Coleman, Charleston, W. Va.; Joe Joseph, Parkersburg, W. Va.; G. B. Lively, Huntington, W. Va.; Douglas Whaley, laeger, W. Va.; J. Woodrow Thomas, Oak Hill, W. Va., and Charles Scott, Vevay, Ind. George A. Kirby, Republic branch manager, was in Clarksburg, W. Va.; Robert McNab, 20th-Fox branch man¬ ager, was in Springfield, 0.; and Mur¬ ray Bake]-, IFE repi-esentative, was in Cleveland to confer with Seymour Schussel, IFE eastei-n division manager. . . . Hugh Gooding was foiced to close his house at Augusta, Ky., temporai-ily to clean up aftei the recent Ohio River flood. . . . William Forg, manager, iiabc Valley, has |•eturned from a vaca¬ tion in Las Vegas, Nev. Cleveland Downtown local theati'os cooperated with the Cleveland Ti-ansit System to introduce the new I'apid transit whose effect on them is dubious, because it leduces the numbei of surface buses with legulai downtown stops in favor of the )iew (piick service which delivers its passengers a considerable distance fi'om the theatre area. To I’each the theatres fiom the Terminal of the i-apid ti’ansit, it is necessary to tiansfer to a shuttle bus and pay an added three cents. Whether the public will accept the added cost of transportation plus the effoi't of ti'ansferiing, i-emains to be seen. But in the public spirit, all of the theatres ran special traileis urging people to use the rapid, decorated their marquees with multi coloied baiiners and on the day of inaugurating the service, loosed several hundred balloons containing free theatie passes in the downtown area. In a panel discussion of movie cen¬ sorship in the Higbee Lounge, sponsored by the Motion Picture Council of Greater Cleveland, Joseph A. Thiel, attorney and pi'oponent of movie censoi'ship, made the statement that police power supercedes the Constitution of the United States. He contended that “just as it is the right of the state to legislate on publichealth and safety, it is also the right of the state to legislate to protect morals by pre-censorship of motion pictuies.” Irwin S. Haiman, also an attorney, violently opposed movie censorship as an abridgement of the Constitution’s first and 14th amendments which guarantee fi'cedom of communications. He also takes issue wdth his opponent in the relationship of police power versus the Constitution. “Police power definitely does not supersede the Constitution,” he claimed. “We fight for freedom of the pi-ess. We do not censor books, o) radio, or TV. What makes movies diffei-ent from these? And since when is it not the law of the land that a man is iniiocent until pi'oven guilty? Pre-judge¬ ment is not the American way of life. If a movie is objectionable there is a judicial process of stopping its exhibi¬ tion,” As for protecting the youth against certain types of pictui-es, you, as moth¬ ers, can regulate the situation eithei' by pei'sonal supervision over what youi' children shall see, or, if necessary, by i-('course to the law to stop the showing of a picture. “But don’t ask five political appointees to decide what you can see on the motion pictui-e sci-een.” C. Howard -Mien, J]-., a book publisher, was modera¬ tor. Miss Vii-ginia Beard, president. Mo¬ tion Pictiiie Council of Greater Cleve¬ land, and head, visual education depart¬ ment, Cleveland Public Libiaiy, presid¬ ed at the meeting attendetl by more than IbO membeis and guests. Wind stoims caused damage to two {Irive-ins and one conventional theatre in thi.s area. Drive-ins w'hich had theii’ scrc'en towers blown down wei e the Stai-lite, Newcomei-stowm, and the South Drive-In, Marion. The roof of George Man 's’ Ritz, Newcomei stown, also sufl'ei ed damage . Jack .A rinsti'ong, who owns and opei'cites a chain of 12 theatres in the Cleveland exchange area, an Two Judges Clash In Censor Hassle Columbus, O. — In a sharply-worded letter to Judge Clayton Rose, Franklin County Domestic Relations Court, op¬ position to the newly foimed Committee For Decent Motion I’ictures in Ohio was expressed by Judge Hoy L. Russell, Holmes County Pi'obate and Juvenile Court. Judge Russell has served eight terms as a member of the Board of Dii-ectors of the Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio. He has been owner, Russell, Millersburg, O., for 80 years and has operated the house for the gieater ])art of that time. He noted that existing laws protected citizens against indecent films and that only five states considei-ed censorship necessary. The committee said it will fight for legis¬ lation providing for “examination” by the State Department of Education of all movies shown in Ohio. The committee said it preferred to use the word “ex¬ amination” rather than “censorship.” Judge Rose explained, “We think of censorship as forbidding something bad. We want ‘examination’ for approval of what is good.” Several powerful Ohio groups have representatives on the committee. Those include the Ohio Congress of Parents and Teachers, the Catholic Church, Ohio Council of Churches, Ohio Juvenile Jud¬ ges, Ohio Child Conservation League, ai]d Fraternal Order of Police. Mrs. W. Andrew Martin, past presi¬ dent, Ohio Child Conservation, has been n;imed committee chairman. Judge Rose, spokesman for the committee after its first meeting, said, “I feel definitely that many children are affected by the show¬ ing of indecent movies and by crime pic¬ tures. Movies have a terrific impact on youth. They must be regulated.” Judge Rose said the committee will fight foi passage of “the best” of four bills on censorship now before the Ohio Legislature. The committee will fight at¬ tempts in the Legislature to repeal all existing censorship statutes, unless there is an adequate substitute. “The Supreme Court of Ohio,” said Judge Rose, “has said the present Ohio huv was too general in terms. But it did not say the law is unconstitutional, nor has the U. S. Supreme Court, so far as I can find out, said the states could not regulate, control, or censor movies.” Father John C. Staunton, of the Ohio Catholic Welfare Conference, said, “The Hollywood Code can’t do the job. It’s up to the state.” The committee cited the “alarming increase in juvenile delin¬ quency” with “some cases diiectly at¬ tributed to the ideas received from mo¬ tion pictures.” It said the number of foreign films had inci'eased, “many of which definitely need careful study and examination.” Judge Russell took issue with many of the charges and the entii'e concept of censorship in the communications field. nounces plans are proceeding to build a new 300-cai drive-in in Napoleon. . . . M. B. Hoi'witz, ])i'esident, Washington Cii cuil, di'pai led for his posl poncd va lalion in Hot Spiings, /Xik. March 30, 1953 MIDEAST