The Exhibitor (1957)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR Long Pending Goldwyn Suit To Trial Key Columbia Execs Receive New Duties NEW YORK — Harry Cohn, president, Co¬ lumbia Pictures Corporation, announced last week changes in the duties and areas of re¬ sponsibility of key executives in home office management. A. Schneider, first vice-president, will as¬ sume the duties formerly performed by the late executive vice-president, Jack Cohn. A. Montague will fill the newly-created post of vice-president in charge of distribu¬ tion but will devote increasing time to overall policy and management matters. Rube Jackter, who for the past 23 years has acted as assistant general sales manager, will become general sales manager. Leo Jaffe will add the title and duties of treasurer of the corporation to his present duties as a vice-president. Louis J. Barbano, a vice-president, will add the duties of chairman of the finance commit¬ tee of Columbia International to those of his present position as financial adviser to Co¬ lumbia Pictures. Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., vice-president in charge of domestic advertising, publicity and exploitation, will assume supervision over the world-wide publicity activities of the cor¬ poration. Industry To Salute Edison WEST ORANGE, N. J. — Walter Reade, one of the nation’s largest theatre operators and distributors of motion pictures, will head a committee that will honor Thomas Alva Edison for the inventor’s many contribu¬ tions to the motion picture industry. The committee will unveil a bronze plaque honoring Edison on the site in West Orange where the inventor produced the first west¬ ern movie with a plot, “Great Train Rob¬ bery,” photographed in 1903. The Edison plaque will be erected in Essex Green Plaza, a $10,000,000 Center that will have its formal opening next Oct. 10. UA Circuit Exec Dies NEW YORK — Raymond V. Wemple, 54, financial vice-president of United Artists Theatres, Inc., died last week. In 1926 he be¬ came associated with a predecessor company of Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. Two years later he joined Fox Metropolitan Playhouses, which was reorganized in 1935 as Metro¬ politan Playhouses, Inc. He later took on the additional duties of vice-president of the United group, an associated company. He leaves a brother and two sisters. Arbitration Meet Adjourned NEW YORK — A three-day session of the joint exhibitor-distributor conference on con¬ ciliation and arbitration in the motion picture industry was adjourned last week. The discussions in this working conference covered a number of subjects in the proposed conciliation-arbitration system, but several other subjects still remain awaiting study. The conference will remain in adjournment until Sept. 16, when it will reconvene in the MPAA offices. Lack To Succeed Gregg As Westrex President NEW YORK — It was announced last fortnight by Westrex Corporation that president Eugene S. Gregg would resign as of August 31 under the company’s retirement rule. He will be succeeded by Frederick R. Lack, who also will continue as vice-president of Western Electric Com¬ pany. Frank A. Ungro has been named a Westrex executive vice-president. He was formerly treasurer, a post to be assumed soon by R. A. Colistea, a comptroller. Fox Names Kniffin Western. District Head NEW YORK — Effective with the retire¬ ment this week of western division sales manager Herman Wobber, 20th-Fox has re¬ designated its six western branch offices as the western district, with Reville Kniffin as district manager. The announcement was made last week by 20th-Fox general sales manager Alex Harrison. Harrison also announced that Wobber has agreed to remain with 20th-Fox as a con¬ sultant and special representative to presi¬ dent Spyros P. Skouras. Kniffin, who will make his headquarters in Los Angeles, has had an extensive career in the motion picture industry starting in 1929 with United Artists. Following an association with Universal Pictures, Kniffin joined 20thFox in 1948 as a salesman in the San Fran¬ cisco exchange. He subsequently became as¬ sistant Los Angeles branch manager in 1952 and then assistant to Wobber in 1954. The new western district, according to Harrison, will be included in the centralCanadian division headed by C. Glenn Norris. AB-PT Schedules 10 HOLLYWOOD — Irving H. Levin, president, AB-PT Pictures Corporation, announced last week that the company will complete 10 fea¬ ture films within its first year. Ralph Hetzel, vice-president. Motion Picture Association of America, recently presented to Universal Pictures Company a testimonial for designating "Man Of A Thousand Faces" as its Golden Jubilee Film commemorating 50 years of film making in Hollywood. The presentation was made to Milton R. Rackmil, president and Charles J. Feldman, vice-president and gen¬ eral sales manager. Fox West Coast, Other Circuits Are Charged With Monopoly, Pooling Deals Cutting Producer's Profits SAN FRANCISCO — The long pending mo¬ nopoly suit of Samuel Goldwyn against Fox West Coast Theatres and other circuit ex¬ hibitors finally got under way in the court of U. S. Judge Edward P. Murphy here. John B. Bertero, president, Fox West Coast Theatres, was the first witness for Goldwyn’s attorney, Joseph L. Alioto. Bertero refused to admit that there had been any attempt by Fox interests to “find a way out” after the government’s anti -trust victory in the Paramount case. He did say, however, that he heard the late Charles Skouras, at that time head of National The¬ atres and FWC, tell a Los Angeles meeting of Fox affiliated exhibitors, “We’ll have to break all this up.” He added that there was “a common feeling of dismay” among the as¬ sembled exhibitors. It became apparent early that the trial would be a lengthy one. Attorney Alioto stated he wanted to include in the testimony documented exhibits con¬ cerning film booking agreements which span all of the country to prove Goldwyn lost profits because of alleged monopolistic ma¬ neuvers “under the general pattern of film rentals.” On the other hand, Arthur B. Dunne, chief of the defense legal staff, insists the territory involved in the litigation be defined as those states served by film exchanges west of Denver. Judge Murphy will rule on this point soon. Admitted into evidence were documents designed to prove that the United West Coast Theatre Corporation, under which Fox West Coast and United Artists Theatres pooled operations in 60 California key spots, had a net operating profit of $23,682,881.39 between 1939 and 1948. Another highlight of the first week’s ses¬ sions was the exploring of profit pooling agreements on a 50-50 basis between Fox West Coast Theatres and independent houses. The existence of one agreement by John A. Peters and Lawrence Borg, who built and operated the El Rey, Salinas, Cal., showed that if their pooling arrangement with FWC was terminated they would not claim the right to first-run product, but would recog¬ nize Fox’s right to first-run product. This agreement was adduced under questioning of Bertero, FWC president, by Alioto, who claimed the purpose of this line of ques¬ tioning was to “clearly establish Goldwyn s charges that Fox agreements with potentially competitive theatres in reality eliminated such competition.” Alioto also established an agreement be¬ tween the El Rey operators and FWC that neither party would open new houses within a five mile radius of downtown Salinas with¬ out offering each other an extension of their 50-50 pooling of profits. Bertero, however, added that FWC had waived this restriction after the Court decree in the Paramount case, which made such in¬ terlocking deals illegal. He agreed to pro¬ duce in court similar waivers sent by Fox to others, if they would be found in his files. July 24, 1957