The Exhibitor (1966)

Nudie Films Cause Memphis Arrests; Civit Officials, Public Join Fight Variety Spices Agenda At Show-A-Rama Meet DENVER — Marvin Goldfarb, president, Denver Rocky Mountain Motion Picture As¬ sociation, and Doug Lightner, president, Unit¬ ed Theatre Owners of the Heart of America, Kansas City, co-sponsors for “Show-A-Rama IX,” to be held at the Denver Hilton, Feb. 28-March 3, announced the selections for “Showmen Of The Year” Awards for 1965. Selected for the awards are Bob Corbit, director of advertising, Paramount Gulf Thea¬ tres, New Orleans; William Hurst, district manager, National General Theatres, Beverly Hills, Calif.; Ed Marks, director of advertis¬ ing, Stewart and Everett Theatres, Charlotte; and John Heathcote, manager of theatres in Los Altos, Calif. Bob Tankersley, head, Western Service and Supply Company, Denver, is ringmaster and chief executive officer for the exhibitors trade show to be held in conjunction with “ShowA-Rama IX.” Over 75 vendors, suppliers, and equipment people will probably be on display by the time the show opens. Tankersley said, “We know that theatre owners want to see the very latest and the very best when it comes to products, supplies, and new ideas. We’re just about 80 per cent sold out, and bet we will be sold out by opening day.” “Show-A-Rama’s” annual highlight, “An Evening With The Stars,” has been set for the Denver Hilton’s Grand Ballroom on March 2 with invitations having been extended to Charlton Heston, Joan Crawford, Sidney Portier, James Garner, and Honor Blackman, with Red Buttons as master of ceremonies. The banquet will be hosted by Pepsi Cola. Larry Wilson, Larry Wilson Corporation, Minneapolis, will close the convention with a key address, “On Target With The People,” in which he will explore the world of public relations and how to exercise creative ima¬ gination. Para. Promotes Michaud NEW YORK — Henri Michaud, Paramount Pictures’ general manager for Continental Europe, North Africa, and Near East, has been named vice-president of Paramount International Films, Inc., it is announced by James E. Perkins, president. Michaud flew in from his Paris headquarters for business conferences at the New York home office. Michaud joined Paramount in 1944 as as¬ sistant general manager for the European division. Headquartering in Paris, he also served in various executive capacities, as Cecil B. DeMille’s representative in charge of marketing and merchandising of “The Ten Commandments,” in a similar position for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” as well as other top Paramount attractions designated for special handling. BY Promotes Hardy NEW YORK — David Hardy has been pro¬ moted to salesman with the Cleveland branch of Buena Vista Distribution Co., Inc., the Walt Disney film distributing subsidiary, it was announced by Irving H. Ludwig, presi¬ dent and general sales manager. Hardy has been with Buena Vista for one year as a booker in the San Francisco office. Prior to that, he was a booker with MGM in San Francisco for three years. MEMPHIS — Evidence collected against the management of Airways Theatre, Memphis, on charges of showing obscene movies will be turned over to the Grand Jury. The house’s manager, Carl R. Carter, 29, West Memphis, Ark., arrested on a charge of show¬ ing obscene movies, has been held for Grand Jury action under $250 bond. He pleaded innocent. Vice squad officers confiscated the films, “The Stripping Wives” and “Sexus,” which they labeled as obscene. Memphis Chief of Police stated he had received several hun¬ dred letters from citizens concerning the ar¬ rest, and all but one supported the actions of the police. The Airways Theatre management has charged its constitutional rights were violated Jan. 13 when the two films were confiscated by Memphis vice squad officers, and that the theatre is now being harassed by city and county agencies. In a letter to six officials, Airways attorney Frierson M. Graves, Jr., accused the city of harassing the theatre through “unreasonable” fire inspections” by the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department. Fire and Police Commissioner Claude A. Armour, who was not one of the officials to whom Mr. Graves’ letter was addressed, ex¬ pressed resentment to the harassment charge. “It’s not so,” he said. “We make routine inspections and will continue to do so.” The letter, dated Jan. 25, was sent to Dist. Atty. Gen. Phil M. Canale, Mayor William B. Ingram, Police Chief J. C. Macdonald, and Commissioners Pete Sisson, Hunter Lane Jr. and James W. Moore. Graves wrote: “It appears from your state¬ ments in the newspapers and . . . through other news media . . . that some or all of you have entered into a course of conduct in violation of the constitution of the United States and of the State of Tennessee, wilfully, knowingly and intentionally to deprive my client of the equal protection of laws. . . . “You are seeking to deprive my client’s employes of their property and liberty and are attempting to establish censorship based upon your own opinions. You are seeking and encouraging others to evade, disregard and subvert the decisions of the courts which set standards for judging obscenity . . .” Graves contended the films are being held illegally and promised “proper steps” would be taken to reclaim them. Mayor Ingram, who released a copy of Graves’ letter, reacted in this manner: “All citizens have the right to their opinions as to what is decent and moral. And if they object to films on the grounds they are im¬ moral and obscene, they have the right to complain, voice their opinions, and to petition their government for redress of grievances. That is their constitutional right. “They also have the right to seek the en¬ forcement of laws which prohibit the exhibi¬ tion of such films, known as their right to equal protection under the law. “I am not going to be intimidated by any threat contained in this letter. The threat may very well be a violation of my civil rights to carry out the duties of my office.” There has been great controversy regarding the coming to Memphis of the nudie-girlie type operation. Presently, there are three houses using the questionable type films and another merely bordering upon this type operation. All are owned by people not liv¬ ing in Memphis. The Commercial Appeal of Jan. 30 wrote of them as follows: “What are the movies which have created such a storm of protest in Memphis? “Judging by the ones exhibited in the last week, they are poorly made features which generally fall short of the suggestive adver¬ tising used to attract viewers. “There are, hokever, some exceptions. Op¬ ponents who contend movies show too much nudity should have no trouble demonstrating their objections with them. “One feature showing last week had no plot and no dialog. It contained little more than suggestive dancing captured on film by repetitive and amateurish camera work. “The movie lasted barely an hour and seemed to one newspaper critic as if it came about because the director has some film in his camera that he did not want to waste and decided to shoot this small sequence. “In another, the effect was almost as if the director had found some out-of-work actors and actresses and lined them up in alphabet¬ ical order. The camera panned from one emotionless face to the next while a narrator made juvenile jokes. “Another feature dealt with a club that sponsors wife-swapping. In it, women danced and struck suggestive poses wearing less than most striptease dancers. “Still another told the story of a bear who escaped from a zoo. His path after escape led him to groups of bikini-clad women. The bear narrated the film with a succession of grammar school-level jokes. The women were generally as unattractive and their faces as devoid of expression as their counterparts in the other films. “Unlike serious films in which sex some¬ times plays a part during the natural pro¬ gression of a plot, these offer a suggestion of sex as a raw display of flesh and nothing more. Most share a tradition with the carnival sideshow: They promise much on the outside but deliver little inside. “In most cases they are shown as double features with the second movie frequently having nothing sexual in it. “Perhaps the most extreme part of the show is the preview of coming attractions. Based on the content of the movies seen, those previews usually go much farther in suggesting sex that the movie itself.” Among others writing to the newspapers regarding this type of exhibition has been the president of the Memphis Council of Parent Teacher Associations, representing 65,256 members. Wrote the president: “I have faith in the citizens of Memphis and cannot believe our standard of morals are of such low taste and I want to let the proper public officials know that I am willing to come to court and testify. “The PTA has long engaged in a juvenile protection program and its observance has been that lenient laws and attitudes toward obscene movies and pornography certainly influences the rising incidences of sex offenses.” February 9, 1966 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 19