The Exhibitor (1959)

No Para. Recovery Of Ohio Censor Fees COLUMBUS, O. — Paramount Film Distrib¬ uting Co., New York, lost its lawsuit to col¬ lect $55,846 paid the state of Ohio in 1952-54 in movie censorship fees. Common Pleas Court Judge Robert E. Leach held the firm had not shown cause of action against state officials from whom recovery was sought. Sued were State Treas¬ urer Joseph T. Ferguson, former Treasurer Roger Tracy, E. E. Holt, state superintendent of public instruction, and M. Merle Eyman, who preceded Dr. Holt. Paramount sought recovery from them per¬ sonally and in their official capacity. Judge Leach said he could “see neither justice or equity in a principle which would so ignore the basic facts of life as to predicate personal liability upon a public officer who merely and routinely fulfills his statutory ob ligation under a statute later held to be unconstitutional . ’ ’ p Whenever Seconds Count r Don’t take chances-Order Ji SPECIAL 1 f TRAILERS i i Jad/tl $jdojcL OLd. QapsmdablsL A L FILMACK w 1327 So. Wabash Ave. 1 Chicago (5), Illinois. PROGRESSIVE ELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION CO., INC. 240 N. 13th STREET • PHILADELPHIA 7, PA. • Theatre Installations and Maintenance CANADIAN Hi By Harry Allen ; Jr. EXHIBITORS’ HOPES for an open Sunday leaped with the introduc¬ tion of a bill by the Ontario Government permitting non-profit organi¬ zations in the province to charge admission fees. Exhibitors throughout the country are working to persuade the various provincial governments to allow them to open Sundays. The bill will become law at the end of April. The bill has the full approval of the Lord’s Day Alliance of Canada because of the cultural intent. One of the reasons for the introduction of the bill is that Sunday afternoon sports — between the hours of 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. — is allowed, although motion picture entertainment is not al¬ lowed. Only in the Province of Quebec are theatres allowed to remain open Sundays. An¬ other wedge in the campaign by exhibitors for an open Sunday afternoon will be Telemeter in mid-February, where the boxoffice will be in the front parlors of some 3,000 homes. THE SMALL INDEPENDENT in Canada will further suffer through the application of an 11 per cent sales tax to signs, showcards, and displays of a non-durable nature, which pre¬ viously were exempt. Circuits which require this type of material usually order in quantity and therefore the silk screen process is the most economical way for them. This has always been subject to tax. But the exhibitor with one or two houses — has usually had his material hand-painted by artists or sign companies, and this will cost him more by 11 per cent when the tax is added. An executive of the sign association is actively opposing the imposition of the tax which resulted from a ruling on the matter. It was the efforts of the sign associ¬ ation which caused a delay in the effectiveness of the imposition. Independent theatres spend anywhere from $40 a month for smaller houses to $300 to $400 a month for the bigger ones on signs and displays. THERE WILL BE a total of 15 70mm. theatres in Canada when present projects are added to those recently completed and the ones operating earlier. First to use the 70mm. was Famous Players and Confederation Theatres, Montreal, followed by Twentieth Century Thea¬ tres and soon Odeon Theatres. When completed, the projects will bring the total invested for equipment and installation to something like $450,000, and to this must be added the costs of structural changes. Installation and equipment run between $25,000 and $35,000. It is unlike¬ ly that installations will go beyond 15, since there is a question of product. A1 Turnbull of General Sound and Theatre Equipment said the 70mm. can easily be reduced to 35mm. At present, Canada’s only special widescreen operation is that of Cinerama, which is still run¬ ning at the Imperial, Montreal. . . . Theatre fires in 1959 stayed at the low point, according to a survey by the Canadian Film Weekly. This past year will be a better-than-average one and far below the two worst post-war years — 1956 and 1958 — in number of fires and damage. In 1959, three theatres were completely destroyed, compared to 10 in 1956 and eight in 1958, and one suffered an estimated $100,000 in damage from a blaze believed to be of incendiary origin. . . . Push-back seats, a sloping concrete floor, new carpeting, and complete redecoration were included in the $50,000 worth of renovations to Odeon-Morton’s 1,150-seat Odeon in Winnipeg. The theatre was closed for a period of four weeks while the work was being carried out. . . . Howard Koch, vet screenwriter with many features to his credit, is working on the screenplay of “The Well” for production in Canada by Taylor-Roffman in¬ terests. MORE PROFITS PER CAPITA FOR YOU! ■ • ■ ■ ‘ BERLO VENDING COMPANY Div. of A.B.C. Vending Corp., 333 S. Broad St.. Philo. 7, Pa. • Offices in All Principal Cities Address Inquiries to 333 S. Broad St., Phila. 7, Pa. Col., MGM In African Deal NEW YORK — Distribution of Columbia pic¬ tures through the MGM organization in South Africa in a deal involving two years’ product has just been announced by the two com¬ panies. Kicking off the new arrangement will be “Pal Joey,” released in Johannesburg on Feb. 24. Such top product as “Anatomy of a Murder,” “Middle of the Night” and “The Key,” among others, will follow in short order. These and the other pictures covered by the deal will play the Metro Theatres in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. The territory involved in the contract in¬ cludes all of Africa south of the Equator, comprising the Union of South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Southern and Northern Rhodesia, and Portuguese East Africa. Day, Hudson Top Poll NEW YORK — Universal’s “Pillow Talk” and its two stars, Doris Day and Rock Hud¬ son, were voted the most popular picture and stars of 1959 and will receive the 39th annual Photoplay Gold Medal Awards. Millie Perkins and Troy Donahue were named as the outstanding newcomers of the year. 20 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR February 17, I960