Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

PUSH CONCILIATION CODE FOR CANADA Near Completion; Provides Six Regional Boards to Handle Trade Disputes by W. M. GLADISH in Toronto An industry conciliation code for Canada, almost a year in the making, appeared nearer consummation this week with distribution and exhibition executives expected to give final approval to several phases of the plan. The code would provide six regional boards to be established in the Dominion to deal with several groups of trade disputes, not including film rentals and priority runs. A fee of $10 would accompany each complaint filed. E. H. Wells of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association announced in Toronto last weekend that after the second meeting of general managers the proposed conciliation plan had been approved by a number of distributing companies. He added that sev.eral signatures to the agreement were yet to be obtained pending further consideration. Approved with Changes S. B. Taube, executive secretary of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario, declared that his board had approved the draft with some minor changes, which apparently will be referred to other trade branches for consideration. Organized independent exhibitors of Ontario and Quebec already have accepted the code. Exhibitor organizations in the Western provinces, however, have not yet acted. Canada's Wartime Prices and Trade Board officially approved the proposed trade agreement last February, when distributors and exhibitors came forward with the idea for selfregulation. At that time, they established a policy providing regional concilation boards in six key distributing cities across Canada, with a central appeal board in Toronto to deal with disputes and grievances. The plan called for united action in the selfregulation of distribution and exhibition, with discouragement of any control of business operations by Federal or provincial government, presumably other than censorship, public safeety, licensing and taxation measures which generally are recognized as legislative functions. "Balanced Representation" The appeals board and the regional units are to have a "balanced representation." Where there are two theatre associations in a territory, each will have a representative on the regional committee. Independent exhibitors for some time prior to the February conference in Toronto, had warned that they would put all their problems before the Government with a request that it officiate as referee. Their contention was that Government control of admission prices, film contracts, theatre construction and personnel provided the opportunity for forcing reforms. However, other trade executives pointed out that such a petition might touch of¥ a move for increased regulation which would hamper free trade. "We did not get 100 per cent in our concilia tion proposals but we are going ahead with discussions and expect to see the new code in effect in Canada by the first of the year," declared a Toronto spokesman for the National Council of Independent Exhibitors of Canada, commenting last week on the negotiations between the independents, major circuits and distributors on recommendations for the so-called new deal. Independents "Asked Too Much" "The independents asked how much in their suggestions for a conciliation plan and all their proposals could not possibly be entertained. Their proposed code was too comprehensive," said an official of a Canadian theatre circuit. "I told the independents right at the start they could not hope to have conciliation on film rentals. You cannot conciliate prices under a general code. Conditions across Canada vary so much that a standardized practice of conciliation would not prove effective for the country as a whole," declared a trade figure long identified with distribution. Such comments from three branches of the industry show why national conciliation is not being adopted immediately in the Dominion. It also provides an insight into the "Toronto Conference" last month which did not reach a clinching stage although various features were given tentative support in behind-the-doors debate. Lack of an official statement from any source following that meeting gave the impression that negotiations had failed. An informative statement from that conference would have revealed that the representatives were to report back to their respective groups on a modified form of conciliation and that there was unanimity on several points of the independents' suggested program. That is what has happened — although officials engaging in the procedure are almost as secretive or as noncommital as Churchill and Roosevelt after a war conference. Favored Regional Boards It has been learned that the distributors and theatre circles turned down a national system of conciliation in favor of disconnected regional boards for each of the six trade zones and also rejected the proposal for a central appeal board at Toronto to pass upon the decisions of regional boards on request of either party to a trade disagreement. It is understood film rentals and film groupings (Specials, Class "A," etc.) will not come under the scope of conciliation. A draft of the modified conciliation code was approved by the Ontario Council of Independent Exhibitors, which is a provincial branch of the national council, and by the Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries. With this restart, the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association and the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario board of directors subsequently held meetings to pass upon the modified code. Incidentally, the MPTA of Ontario has 300 theatre members in Ontario out of a total of slightly m^ore than 400 operating theatres. Circuit companies, circuit partners and individual theatre proprietors are members of the MPTA of Ontario but a circuit or other owner has only one vote regardless of the number of theatres represented by a member and the association's executives are well distributed among the classes of membership. I i Psychiatry Filml Shown by MOT \ To acquaint the trade press with the specializec film production of the British Ministry of Informa" tion for non-theatrical use, the British Informatioi Services in New York held a screening last weell of "Psychiatry in Action," the 62-minute filnj made by the MOI film division with the coopera tion of the Ministry of Health. The picture runs seven reels and is a detailec account of the administration of a hospital set ud by the Emergency Medical Service in Englanci for the treatment of war neuroses among civilian; and the armed services. "Psychiatry in Action" has been sponsored b} the American Psychiatric Association,, which ha; several prints for showing at branches throughou' the U. S. The picture also has received wid< circulation by the Special Services Branch of tht U. S. Army, which shows it to medical stafifs interested in psychiatry and rehabilitation method; utilized at convalescent hospitals and training anc rehabilitation centers. Distribution has been limited to the non-theatri-j cal field both in the U. S. and England, when thousands of hospital and medical workers, social welfare groups and Government agencies interestec in the subject of rehabilitation have studied the picture. Part of the film is devoted to the problem ol disposal and after-care of patients when they ar«[ ready to leave special hospitals. Integration oi all British Government social welfare agencies working to aid the individual and his family is stressed. Treasury Reduces Taxes Of Two Radio Companies The excess profits taxes of two broadcasting, companies were reduced during the fiscal yeaij ended June 30, 1943, under the relief provisions of Section 722 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Treasury Department has announced in WashingJ ton. The disclosure showed that the Radio Service Corporation, Pocatello, Idaho, asked an increase of $4,326 in its excess profits credit for 1942 and was granted $1,783, reducing its excess profits tax to $1,605 but increasing its income tax by $481. The Iowa Broadcasting Company, Des Moines; asked increased credits of $62,146 for 1940, $77,^ 584 for 1941, and $71,408 for 1942, and was granted $17,317, $47,549 and $47,605 for those years respectively, resulting in an over-all decrease in excess profits taxes of $72,621, partially offset by an increase of $27,351 in income tax. Canada Lifts Restrictions | On Printers of Posters Although paper stocks in Canada are still limited, the lifting of restrictions on printing of posters and advertising accessories by the Wartime Prices and Trade Board was announced last weekend by John Atkins, Administrator of Publishing, Printing and Allied Industries. This will result in di-: rect benefit to film exchanges and theatre mana-| gers. House organs or periodicals continue under Government permit controls, but the modification! of the wartime order will allow an increase in paper quotas. Kamen Joins Walter Lantz George Kamen has been appointed by Walter Lantz, cartoon producer, eastern representative in connection with commercial cartoons and advertising films which the producer plans. Mr. Kamen, who was European representative for Walt Disney for many years, is at present managing the "Quiz Kids." , Host to Foreign Leaders MGM was host in New York to 70 leaders of Russian, Polish, Yugoslav, Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian organizations in the U. S. at a special screening of "An American Romance" last Monday. ' 26 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 18, 1944