The Exhibitor (1960)

Strike Idles 5,000 Studio Workers No Change In Status Of Western Penna. Allied PITTSBURGH, PA.— It was learned here last fortnight that the recent reappoint¬ ment of Harry Hendel and Morris Finkel by National Allied to posts in ACE and COMPO will in no way change the status of the Western Pennsylvania Allied Motion Picture Theatre Operators which resigned from National Allied a few months ago. Finkel even raised the question as to how he could be appointed by National Allied when his Western Pennsylvania unit is no longer affiliated with National Allied. MPAA Names Mrs. Rosenberg HOLLYWOOD — The Motion Picture As¬ sociation of America announced it had en¬ gaged Anna M. Rosenberg Associates as public relations consultants to the association for a year. Mrs. Rosenberg, a labor relations expert and consultant on labor problems, was head of the National Labor Relations Board in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. !! David Picker Named To Assist UA's Krim NEW YORK — David V. Picker has been appointed executive assistant to Arthur B. Krim, president of United Artists Corpora¬ tion, it was announced last week by Krim. Picker has been with UA since 1956, takes over his new assignment effective immedi¬ ately. During his four years with the company. Picker has served successively as sales-promotion liaison, executive assistant to Max E. Youngstein, and as executive vice-presi¬ dent of United Artists Records. He will con¬ tinue his duties with the record company, which is headed by Youngstein. Picker, born in New York City in 1931, was educated at Andover and Dartmouth College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1953. Following graduation he served for two years with the U.S. Army as an instructor at the Information School. Picker is the son of Eugene Picker, presi¬ dent of Loew’s Theatres, and the grandson of the late David V. Picker, pioneer exhibifctor and vice-president of Loew’s, Inc. Government Launches Long Pending Suit Charging "Block" Sales To TV Fox Is Hardest Hit; lATSE Demands Double Total Of Other Guilds; Federal Mediator Named HOLLYWOOD— An estimated 5,000 per¬ sons were idled at MGM, Columbia, Allied Artists, Paramount, 20th-Fox, Warners, and Walt Disney studios as the Screen Actors Guild called the first strike in its history against the producers of theatrical motion pictures, forcing a partial shutdown of their operations. The hardest hit was 20th -Fox, where four pictures, “Let’s Make Love,” “Lost World,” “High Time,” and “One Foot In Hell” were being made. MGM had to shut down two films, “Go Naked In The World” and “But¬ terfield 8,” while Paramount had to stop “The Pleasure Of His Company”; and Colum¬ bia halted “Wackiest Ship In The Army.” 20th-Fox brought “Murder, Inc.” in just under the strike deadline. The 14,000 members of the Guild, of which Ronald Reagan is president, joined the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since Jan. 16. The Guild rejected a request by the As¬ sociation of Motion Picture Producers that films now being shot be completed before the strike. The Guild board of directors also voted to ask the Federal Mediation Service to help settle the dispute, and attorney Jules Medoff was assigned as mediator. The main issue is the Guild demand that actors be paid part of the earnings of pic¬ tures made since 1948 and sold to television. The producers claim this would be paying twice for the same job. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees made clear its position in the television residuals situation. The lATSE’s demands call for payment equalling double the total producer pays all other guilds and unions in event films are sold to television syndicators for sponsorship. Not affected by the strike is the filming of television shows. Universal-International and some inde¬ pendants have signed new contracts with the Guild. Among the independent producers signing were Otto Preminger, Philip Yordan, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis’ Curtleigh Pro¬ ductions, and Mickey Rooney’s Fryman En¬ terprises. These are in addition to George Sidney International Pictures-Posa Films Intemacional. Most of these deals are for one picture only, and include the lATSE terms. A meeting was held in the SAG offices between officials of the Guild and the lATSE to see if they could work out “an overall formula that would satisfy the demands of all interested unions and guilds in connec¬ tion with the sale to television of theatrical features made after Aug. 1, 1948.” This session was attended by John L. Dales, SAG executive secretary; lATSE president Richard F. Walsh; and SAG president Ronald Reagan. The lATSE is prevented by its contract with the AMPP from negotiating for resi¬ duals unless and until they sell some post1948 pictures to TV. The lATSE later announced through its head Richard F. Walsh at a meeting at the Music Box Theatre of 500 executive mem¬ bers representing 23 studio locals and crafts that if other guilds and crafts forego claims NEW YORK — The long pending Govern¬ ment case against the policy employed by motion picture interests in disposing of old pictures to television outlets finally went on trial in Federal Court before Judge Archie O. Dawson here. The defendants in the suit brought by the Government stand accused of selling the films to TV in blocks in violation of the antitrust statutes. The Government does not charge conspiracy, but does charge in the suit filed three years ago that the defend¬ ants have resorted to the same block -book¬ ing practices as those which were enjoined in the Paramount case. It wants the court to order a halt to the alleged practice. Some blocks of films sold to TV were said to in¬ clude as many as 700 items. The claim is made that ABC, CBS, NBC, and many independent stations had to buy a whole block of films to residuals on any post-1948 films sold to TV, the lATSE will do the same. Walsh explained lA’s stand in asking for twice the total of what other guilds and crafts demand for post-1948 films sold to TV by stating it was a matter of protecting its members’ interest rather than a pressure move to have SAG settle its strike. He promised that he would not negotiate with the companies imtil SAG had finished its negotiations. The Directors Guild of America has not yet stated its residual wishes and is not known as an organization given to instant ac¬ ceptance of a formula worked out by some¬ body else. For the first time since the strike began, both sides got together at the bargaining table at week-end. Charles S. Boren, execu¬ tive vice-president, represents Association of Motion Picture Producers, and John Dales, executive secretary, represents the SAG. to acquire a few good ones they really wanted. The companies involved include MGM, As¬ sociated Artists Productions, C & C Films, Screen Gems, and United Artists. The FCC also figures in the case, and hundreds of mil¬ lions in TV deals are at stake in the litigation. The Government would require the de¬ fendants to negotiate many of the deals with the TV interests all over again, a procedure which, it is feared by some in the industry, could be ruinous to the film companies. Leonard R. Posner, Government attorney in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, heads the prosecution, assisted by three U. S. attorneys, George A. Avery, Eugene Metzger and Lewis A. Rivlin. A battery of legal counsel is arguing the case for the defendants. It is headed by Louis Nizer, appearing for MGM, AAP, and UA; Mvles Lane, for Screen Gems; Mervin C. Poliak, for C & C; and Justin Golenbock, for NTA. The trial had hardly started when Judge Dawson repeatedly interrupted government questioning of its witnesses, demanding that the U.S. attorneys first outline a reasonable “skeleton” of a case, then proceed to the heart of the matter. He ordered the govern¬ ment to “stop wasting time with insignificant bits of information” and proceed with the examination of substantive witnesses. Nizer, chief counsel for the defense, had said earlier that he would not dispute the authenticity of signatures on government documentary evidences. John S. Hayes, president, Washington Post Broadcast Company, which controls WTOPTV, Washington, D.C., and WJXT-TV, Jack¬ sonville, Fla., testified that in 1956 he had been offered the entire package of 740 films from the RKO library by C & C Super Corporation but that when he showed inter{Continued on page 16) March 16, I960 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 9