The Exhibitor (1956)

14 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR The International Scene Canada Exhibs Seek Lower Quebec Age Limit Toronto — Lowering of the age limit to 14 from 16 was the major topic of dis¬ cussion at the annual meeting of the Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries. The proposal is to be made to the Province of Quebec as a compromise to the question of having children admitted to theatres of the province. Since 1927 children under 16 have been barred from Quebec theatres, whereas in other provinces children may attend at any time if accompanied by an adult and matinees on Saturdays and holidays by themselves. On occasion, the Government has given permission to depart from the law, usually for Walt Disney films and also for “The Ten Commandments.” Robert Granby was returned as presi¬ dent of the associatioin, with all the other officers of last year renamed. The meeting decided that all material issued from the office of H. C. D. Main, coordinator in connection with the forth¬ coming Names The Oscars Contest of the Motion Picture Industry Council, will be translated into French. These will be distributed through TOAQ facilities. It is expected that a successor to Charles Bourassa, who retired as executive secre¬ tary, will be named soon. Two proposals on the provincial amuse¬ ment tax are to be placed before the Province. It will be suggested that the amusement surtax on tickets costing $1 or less be repealed, and that the amusement tax on tickets costing 75 cents and less be lowered from 10 per cent to eight per cent. Officers besides Granby reelected were J. Arthur Hirsch, honorary president; Leo Choquette, vice-president; William E. Lester, chairman of the executive com¬ mittee; William Elman, secretary; and George E. Arnott, treasurer. The directors are Joseph DeSeve, L. K. Jones, Charles Magnan, B. C. Salamis, Arthur Bahen, John Ganetakos, and George Destounis. Canadian Comment Famous Players Canadian Corporation and 20th-Fox are prevented by an interim injunction obtained by Odeon Theatres of Canada, Ltd., from showing the CinemaScope version of “Oklahoma!” Odeon’s injunction, issued in Ottawa without notice by County Judge Peter J. MacDonald acting in the capacity of a judge of the Supreme Court, restrains the companies from releasing the version to anyone other than Odeon. An argument will be held in Toronto to have the restraining order continued until trial of the action. Famous Players is presently showing the Todd-AO version at the Tivoli, Toronto, where it is now in its 33rd week. Dan Krendel heads the fund raising committee of the Variety Club of Toronto. Krendel will appoint his own committee¬ men. Chet Friedman, elected property master for his first term as a member of Antonio Garcia, Allied Artists International rep¬ resentative in Cuba, left, is seen with Bernard J. Gates on the occasion of a recent visit to AA's New York home office. the Crew, will head two key committees, both related to the major object of creat¬ ing income for Variety Village. Fried¬ man will be in charge of the souvenir program for the annual baseball game, as well as acting as publicity director. Motion pictures in Canada are given a tremendous boost by programs carried on the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora¬ tion concerning films. One of these is the Gerald Pratley program, “Music from the Films.” It features taped interviews with the composers and a discussion of the film and its music. The program is carried Sundays at six p.m. A strong plea for the cause of the neighborhood houses was made in a recent column of Clyde Gilmour, writing in The Telegram, Toronto. Gilmour mentioned the “gloomy talk of late” that suburban houses were doomed. “I can’t help feeling that it will be something to regret for more reasons than one, if such dire pre¬ dictions come true.” Gilmour argued that the nabes give patrons an opportunity of seeing films that they haven’t seen down¬ town at the larger houses. The nabes, he said, enable devoted enthusiasts who have seen a good one downtown to see it again a few weeks or months later. Gilmour then commented on some of the films being shown in the city that night. The column filled plenty of space and undoubtedly reached many persons who never thought of the matter before. CINE CHATTER: Three Quebec women theatre owners, Mrs. Mirella Perron, Dorion; Mrs. Marguerite David, Longueuil; and Mrs. Delores Moderis, Lachine, en¬ tered pleas of not guilty on charges of admitting children under 16 to a movie theatre. The case will be heard in De¬ cember. . . . Norman Simpson, formerly salesman in the Winnipeg branch of Para¬ mount Film Service, is new Saint John branch manager, succeeding Robert Mur¬ phy. Murphy tendered his resignation to take a position in Montreal. Norman is a brother of Russ Simpson, who resigned several years ago as Toronto branch man¬ ager to become general manager, Ottawa Valley Circuit, for the O’Brien family. Succeeding Simpson as salesman in the Winnipeg branch is Alf Glass, previously head booker in Winnipeg. — Harry Allen, Jr. Film Deal With Soviet Approved By Gov't. Washington — Bernard Kreisler, presi¬ dent of International Film Associates Cor¬ poration, was informed by government officials of the Department of State and the United States Information Agency that films are not included in the sus¬ pension of cultural exchange between America and the Soviet Union. “We received the all clear signal when the officials reiterated that Hollywood en¬ tertainment films are the best medium of showing the American way of life to the people of Communistic countries. We are now proceeding with our film arrange¬ ments in line with the agreements signed by the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries,” said Kreisler. Screening prints of two major Holly¬ wood productions are being flown to Moscow within two weeks for preview and determination by the Soviet film offi¬ cials whether each fulfills the story synopsis left with them by Kreisler during his negotiations there in October. These pictures are to be relayed to Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary for preview and selection by the govern¬ ment film officials of each country. Nine other feature production screening prints are to follow in accordance with the 11 picture deal negotiated with the U.S.S.R. by Kreisler. “Upon receiving a cable from the Soviet officials that each or both is selected, fol¬ lowed by an agreement of the price for each, payment in dollars is to be made in New York City simultaneous with the shipment of the negative duplicate,” stated Kreisler. Columbia Names Novak New York — Lacy W. Kastner, presi¬ dent, Columbia Pictures International Corporation, recently announced the appointment of Harry Novak as super¬ visor for Continental Europe and the Middle East. In making the announcement, Kastner said of Novak, “For a number of years he has held various important executive positions in the industry in Europe and Latin America. Prior to joining Columbia, he was the managing director for Europe of Universal-International Films.” New Company Formed New York — Dino de Laurentiis, pro¬ ducer of “War And Peace,” has announced the organization cf a new motion picture company, Fredericks Productions, Inc., which will coordinate and finalize American-Italian film production deals. De Laurentiis will be president of the new company, with Ralph Serpe acting as vice-president. RKO Appoints Managers New York — Alejandro Undurraga has been appointed RKO manager for Chile, it was announced by Walter Branson, RKO’s vice-president in charge of world¬ wide distribution. Undurraga replaces Ludovico Kohn, resigned. At the same time it was announced that Robert B. King had been appointed RKO manager for Taiwan, succeeding William Yao, resigned. For the past three years King had operated his own film distribut¬ ing company in Taiwan, handling foreign as well as Chinese pictures. December 19, 1956