The Exhibitor (1966)

Small Town Judges Thwart Industry Battle Against Dallas Film Board DALLAS — An attorney for two movie con¬ cerns that failed in their latest bid to overturn Dallas’ film classification ordinance has said he expected to advise his clients to take the “Viva Maria” case to the United States Supreme Court. The Texas Supreme Court refused to reex¬ amine its decision that the city had a right to require that the picture be advertised as “not suitable for young persons” if shown in Dallas. The court denied supplementary motion by In¬ terstate Circuit Inc., and United Artists Corp. for rehearing of its July 27 decision. Grover Harrt, Jr., attorney for the two movie concerns, said he had not seen the opin¬ ion. He said he expected that he and attorney Edwin Tobolowsky would advise their clients to ask the U. S. Supreme Court to review the case. The state court ruled that there was no re¬ versible error in decision by a district court and court of civil appeals in Dallas. Interstate and United Artists attacked the validity of the law after the Dallas Movie Classification Board ruled the movie must be advertised as “not suitable for young persons” under 16 years of age. The city won an injunction last summer pre¬ venting “Viva Maria” from being shown with¬ out the “not suitable” tag. Dallas city attorneys also filed suit to force Trans-Texas Theatres, Inc., to advertise MGM’s “The Liquidator” as unsuitable for young persons. The suit claimed that the city’s Motion Picture Classification Board ruled that the movie is not suitable for young persons. Then, the suit continued, Trans-Texas filed a notice of non-acceptance and indicated the picture would be exhibited as suitable for young viewers. The suit claims the picture violates the city’s year old ordinance because it “portrayed nud¬ ity and sexual promiscuity in such a manner as to be, in the judgment of the board, likely to incite delinquency or sexual promiscuity on the part of the young persons, or to appeal to the prurient interests.” Exhibitor and distributor defendants held out little hope of victory in the classification case of “The Liquidator” when lawyers for Trans-Texas Theatres and MGM entered the court room to find visiting Judge A. R. Stout presiding. Stout was the substitute judge back in Febru¬ ary who ruled “Viva Maria” “not suitable for young people ’ after the city filed an injunction against Interstate Theatres to prohibit its ex¬ hibition unless the “not suitable” lable was ap¬ plied at the boxoffice and in all ads. There was reason for vexation since this marked the fourth trial since last February that three Dallas district judges have had small town judges to sit in for them. In February, the “Viva Maria” case was scheduled to be heard in District Judge Julian Hyer’s court, but visiting Judge Stout from Waxahachie was brought in to hear the case. Judge Hyer is the father of movie star Martha Hyer. In mid-March, Dallas District Judge Dallas Blankenship was scheduled to hear the city’s appeal of a suit against Rowley United Thea¬ tres to stop exhibition of the picture “Blood and Black Lace” on the grounds it was “not suitable for young people,’ but came time for the trial and visiting Judge Looney Lindsey from Gilmer, Tex. heard the case. During the same week, “The Silencers” case Jack L. Warner, whose studio will co-produce with the Soviet Union the filming of "Tschaikovsky," recently welcomed visiting Russian film officials in the Warner Bros, trophy room. Seen, left to right, are composer Dimitri Tiomkin, who will act as executive producer of the Warner Bros. -Russian biopic; Warner; Alexis Kapler, president of the Russian Screen Writers Guild and secretary general of film unions there; and B. Metalnikov, secretarygeneral of the Russian Screen Writers Guild. President Honors Benjamin NEW YORK — Robert S. Benjamin, chair¬ man of the board of United Artists and presi¬ dent of the United Nations Association of the United States of America, received a special citation from President Lyndon B. Johnson at United Nations Day ceremonies marking the 21st anniversary of the UN. The presentation was made by Arthur J. Goldberg, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, at Rockefeller Center Plaza before an audience of national, state, and city dignitaries includ¬ ing Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Senator Jacob K. Javits, Mayor John V. Lindsay, and G. S. Eyssell, New York State UN Day chair¬ man who also is president of Rockefeller Center. was docketed in Judge Blankenship’s court, but substitute Judge Penn Jackson from Cleburne, Tex., occupied the bench. Latest switch of judges was “The Liquida¬ tor” case which was set for Dallas District Judge Owen Giles’ court and the ensuing sec¬ ond appearance of Judge Stout. A jury ren¬ dered a verdict in favor of the city that the film was to be advertised by Trans-Texas Theatres as “not suitable for young people.” Judge Stout, who openly admits he does not attend the movies, stunned exhibitors last Feb¬ ruary when he asked, “Who was Tom Jones?” after hearing testimony that the classification board was prompted to screen and ultimately rule on “Viva Maria” by a line in the synopsis describing the film, “it will make ‘Tom Jones’ look like a Sunday School picnic.” Judge Stout over-ruled movie attorney’s ex¬ ceptions to city’s charges against “The Liquida¬ tor” before the exceptions had been read; sus¬ tained City Attorney’s motion prohibiting dis¬ cussion of films shown on tv and in cities and towns surrounding the Dallas city limits; and disallowed the use of the word “portray” in the charges prepared for the jury, leaving the jury free to use conjecture in determining whether the film showed nudity and sexual promiscuity. National General Names Two District Managers LOS ANGELES — Sid Page, Great Falls, Mont., and Joe Ruddick, Kansas City, have been promoted to district manager jobs ac¬ cording the announcement by William H. Thedford and Dan A. Polier, co-directors of theatre operations for National General Cor¬ poration. NGC created two entirely new administra¬ tive districts and the two new managerial positions to allow closer field supervision of NGC’s widespread theatres and to better administer the rapidly increasing number of units growing out of NGC president Eugene Klein’s accelerated expansion program. This is the second major administration expansion for the company. Last year, a completely new division was created on the East Coast. Both new districts are in the mountainmidwest area, headed by division manager Jack McGee. Page has been assigned to new moun¬ tain district number three, heading houses in Nebraska, southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. District manager John Meinardi, recently transferred from Salt Lake City, will supervise Inter-Mountain’s Denver metropoli¬ tan area and include Boulder, Fort Collins, Cheyenne, and Laramie. In the midwest area, Ruddick will take charge of new district three, the NGC sub¬ sidiary houses in the greater Kansas City area including Kansas City, Kans. The realignment adds the Missouri towns of Springfield and Joplin plus Pittsburg, Kans., to district one, headed by district manager Dick Conley. District two headed by district manager Fred Souttar keeps its present administrative area with the exception of the three towns men¬ tioned. Both Page and Ruddick are veteran man¬ agers with the company. Page has managed theatres in Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, and Montana. Ruddick began his NGC career as an usher at the Plaza Theatre, Kansas City, the same house he now manages. He has operated theatres in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. Tax Returns Not Needed NEW YORK — As a result of several com¬ plaints from motion picture theatre operators, Charles E. McCarthy, executive vice-president of COMPO, has requested Sheldon Cohen, commissioner of Internal Revenue Service, to issue a directive ordering Internal Revenue officers to desist in issuing excise tax returns to theatre operators. McCarthy’s letter to the Internal Revenue Commissioner follows: “This organization has received several complaints from motion picture theatre owners that they are still being asked to fill in Internal Revenue Form #720 — Monthly Excise Tax Return. “This return, I understand, enumerates sev¬ eral excise taxes, including the excise tax that used to be collected until last Dec. 31 on motion picture theatre admissions. Since this was the only excise tax that theatres have been required to pay, it follows that they are now being subjected to a great deal of unnecessary paper work by this request to have this form filled in and returned. In addi¬ tion, this practice obviously is a waste of the taxpayers’ money. “I urge you to issue a directive ordering your regional Internal Revenue offices to desist in sending these forms to motion picture theatre owners.” 10 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR November 2, 1966