The Exhibitor (1956)

Protests Are Planned On Income Tax Change MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 11 SIMPP's Arnall Urges Industry To Secure Control Of TV Stutions Washington — Planned changes in the Revenue Act increasing greatly taxes on personal production corporations did not become effective on Dec. 15 as originally scheduled. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Serv¬ ice was told that its proposal to consider all income of a personal production cor¬ poration taxable as income of the star performer, even though much of it has gone to other actors, is in conflict with Congressional intent. A Revenue Act amendment scheduled for public hearing on Jan. 24 is in¬ volved. This is designed to multiply the Federal tax on corporations which market the services of a star. It would go beyond present law to classify as taxable income amounts paid to the supporting cast. The Motion Picture Industry Committee which includes the Screen Actors Guild, Association of Motion Picture Producers, Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers, Hollywood American Federa¬ tion of Labor Film Council, Screen Direc¬ tors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America (West), Artists Managers As¬ sociation, and the Alliance of Television Film Producers, will file the principal Hollywood protest. Warners Declares Dividend New York — At a special meeting of the board of directors of Warners a divi¬ dend of 30 cents per share was declared on its common stock payable Feb. 5, 1957, New York — “RKO Radio Pictures, in the interests of efficiency, is considering the reshaping of its entire production and distribution structure to meet changing trends and conditions in the foreign and domestic markets,” it was announced last fortnight by president Daniel T. O’Shea following a series of policy meetings held in Palm Beach, Fla., and participated in by Thomas F. O’Neil, president and chair¬ man of the board of RKO Teleradio Pic¬ tures, Inc., the parent company; Michael G. O’Neil; O’Shea; Walter E. Branson, vice-president in charge of world-wide distribution; Edward L. Walton, admin¬ istrative vice-president; William Dozier, vice-president in charge of production; and Raymond Klune, executive manager cf studio operations. ‘‘Steps to modernize distribution pro¬ cedures have been under consideration for quite some time,” said O’Shea, who stated, “various plans are under study, including the possibility eventually of aligning some elements of RKO’s do¬ mestic and Canadian distribution facilities with those of some other organization.” O’Shea also discussed forthcoming pro¬ duction. Thirteen features were completed during 1956, and the early part of 1957 will see production of four high-budget films, “Stage Struck,” “On My Honor,” “Galveston,” and “The Naked And The Dead” DeLbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, stars, RKO s "Bundle Of Joy," recently assisted Edward Emanuel, Philadelphia County chairman, March of Dimes, get the 1956-57 drive underway in the Quaker City, where they also attended a luncheon given in their honor by Variety Club, Tent 13. Columbia Dividends Set New York — Columbia announced that the board of directors last fortnight de¬ clared the regular quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share on the common stock and voting trust certificates for common stock of the corporation, payable Jan. 30, 1957 to holders of record Dec. 28, 1956. At the same time, the board also de¬ clared a 2i/2 per cent stock dividend. "La Strada" Voted Best In Burstyn Competition NEW YORK — The Independent Mo¬ tion Picture Distributors Association of America announced that the Italian film, “La Strada,” has been chosen by a vote of its membership to re¬ ceive the fourth annual Joseph Bur¬ styn Award as the best foreign language film of 1956. The I.M.P.D.A.A. comprises in its membership the leading foreign film distributors. The award will be form¬ ally presented at a luncheon of the Association now being arranged. “La Strada,” a Ponti-De Laurentiis production, is being presented in this country by Trans-Lux Distributing Corporation. “The Magnificent Seven” and “Rififi” were respectively second and third in the balloting. Bank Promotes Golden New York — Herbert L. Golden, in charge of the Amusement Industries Group at Bankers Trust Company, has been named vice-president, it was an¬ nounced by S. Sloan Colt, board chairman. Golden, who began his career with the bank in 1952, was formerly motion pic¬ ture editor of Variety, with which he was associated for 14 years. New York — Governor Ellis G. Arnall, president, Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers, last fortnight urged producers, distributors, and exhibitors to acquire ownership or stock interest in television stations throughout the country. Arnall emphasized that while the view did not officially represent the board of his organization, it reflected the member¬ ship’s position. Arnall obviously was most concerned over the current domination of telecast¬ ing by the newspaper industry, which now has an interest in at least 139 sta¬ tions. He pointed out that the motion picture industry was better equipped to serve both the medium and the public interest than other business interests and added that this could be accomplished only by this industry moving “from sec¬ ond spot to first spot” in TV station own¬ ership. Television, Arnall said, properly belongs to the entertainment industry rather than the newspaper industry. Arnall said the group he represented has always been favorable to television, hav¬ ing unanimously favored toll-TV as much as five years ago. Asked whether he had any idea when the FCC would rule on pay-as-you-see, Arnall said he had ex¬ pected the decision before this. He pre¬ dicted that the FCC would approve tollTV on a trial basis. Touching upon self regulation in TV and motion pictures, Arnall said that there should be a single production code for film on both media. He considered the Production Code, as recently revised, superior to its TV counterpart. Arnall spoke in favor of the revised code, seeing it as a great improvement and a boon for indie production. 300 Book "Zarak" New York — More than 300 theatres across the country, including 18 major circuits, have responded to the six-month trade paper advertising campaign for “Zarak” and have booked the Warwick production as their Christmas-New Year’s holiday attraction. Announcement of the success of the most extensive trade cam¬ paign ever conducted by Columbia was made last week by general sales manager A. Montague. Editing Awards Presented Hollywood — American Cinema Editors’ Critics’ Awards for best film editing of the year were presented to Stuart Gilmore and Leo Catozzo for editing “War And Peace” in the theatrical motion picture category, and to Bernard Burton, Samuel E. Beetley, Desmond Marquette, Roland Cross and Lester Orlebeck for editing “Four Star Playhouse” in the television field. Lewis To Play Palace New York — Jerry Lewis will play the Palace. He and Sol Schwartz, president, RKO Theatres, have signed an agreement calling for his personal appearance at the famous theatre for a limited four weeks starting Feb. 7 through March 6. RKO Rudio Considering Reshuping Production, Distribution Structure December 26, 1956