Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

IN NEWSREELS Petrillo Strike | Exceptions Made To New York Rule On Operator Age Three "variations" from a regulation of the New York State Police that projectionists in rural communities must be 21 years old, were made last week by the State Labor Department's Board of Standards and Appeals. The regulation was adopted last summer 'as a safety precaution after a fire in a small town theatre where, investigation revealed, two boys said to be under 16 were operating the booth. The first appeal from the State Police rule was made by a girl operator and the woman owner of the Northwood theatre, North Creek. The Board agreed that the young woman, who will be 18 soon, had some training and that she was a capable projectionist. The two other "variations" were granted to two boys who had appealed to the Board. Testimony showed that they were competent to operate the machine skillfully. The situation in the rural sections of New York, the only ones in which the State Police acts as inspectors of theatres and other places of public assembly, is said to have been poor for some time. Many of the houses are old, while some of them are converted halls. A few are located upstairs. Operation is often non-continuous, with projectionists' working as a side line. The operators are non-union and local regulation is scant, it is reported. To make its regulation constitutionally sure, the State Police plan to have a bill introduced at the coming session of the legislature. The understanding is that the measure will apply only to towns and villages which have no building department to check on construction, alterations and equipment in places of public assembly. The matter has been discussed informally at meetings in New York of the committee engaged in revising and modernizing the standard state building code. The State Police, the operators' union and the circuits have representatives on the committee, which is working with the State Labor Department. Small town independents may oppose the measure, according to opinion in motion picture circles. Court Upholds Empire Merger With lATSE Local 306 An effort to upset the merger of the Empire State Motion Picture Operators' Union with lATSE Local 306. was frustrated last week when the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court rejected a petition to reverse a Kings County Supreme Court decision dismissing a suit by three members of the independent union. In upholding the dismissal, the court ruled that the plaintiffs, employees of the Century Circuit, which uses most of the Empire operators, had acted in bad faith and that their case lacked merit inasmuch as cause for complaint against the merger had ceased to exist. Supreme Court Justice Charles S. Colden, m finding against the plaintiffs last February, ruled that they "had failed to establish by a fair preponderance of creditable proof either that unlawful means were used or that an unlawful end was sought by the defendants." The defendants' argument was that the amalgamation was aimed at permitting members of Empire to realize their desire to win membership in Local 306 and end dual unionism in the interest of labor harmony. lATSE Local in Chicago I o oee k New 10% Wage Boost Sam Lamansky, business manager for B-45, lASTE, Chicago, said last weekend that as soon as the local War Labor Board approved retroactive 10 per cent wage increases for its members, favored by the distributors and filed with the WLB, the union would seek an additional 10 per cent wage increase. Actioii on the new demand will be taken at its January 19 meeting, provided the WLB will have acted favorably on the pending increase by that date. MOVIETONE NEWS— Vol. 27, No. 37— Washington news. . . . Red Army capture of Lublin, Poland, in fierce battle. . . . Two Nazi spies, landed by subs, seized by F.B.I. . . . Utah train crash takes tragic toll of lives. . . . Highlights of Bowl games. MOVIETONE NEWS— Vol. 21, No. 38— President's message to Congress. . . . News report of France. . . . General DeGauUe in Moscow. . . . Pierre Laval treasures auctioned. . . . Nazi factory in Paris subway. . . . Action flashes of the war. . . . 7th Army front. . . . R.A.F. rocket typhoon plane. . . . Information board of United Nations adopts charter ... A look into the future world of efficiency. NEWS OF THE DAYVol. 15, No. 235;-Soviet liberation of Lublin, center of German atrocities. . . . F.B.I, captures Nazi spies landed here by U-boat. . . . 79th Congress convenes with win-the-war keynote. . . . British queen hails women fire-fighters. . . . Highlight football thrills from bowl games. . . . Race tracks close to help the war effort. NEWS OF THE DAY— Vol. 15, No. Z36-West fronttarget Germany. . . . Luzon blasted. . . . President calls for National Service Law. . . . World of tomorrow. . . . Soldiers' voices on records cheer home folks in Britain. PARAMOUNT NEWS— No. 3*-New Congress faces wartime problems. . . . Nazi spy drama — F.B.I, foils German plot. . . . Football windup: the Bowl games. PARAMOUNT NEWS— No. 38^Sidewalks of New York. . . . Decorations help sick G.I.s. . . . United NationsLet there be truth. . . . President's message. . . . First pictures of Norden bomb sight. RKO PATHE NEWS— Vol. 16, No. 4fl^Captured films of Germany at war. . . . 79th Congress in first session. . . . France joins United Nations. RKO PATHE NEWS— Vol. 16, No. 41— Roosevelt asks for National Service Act. . . . General DeGaulle arrives in Moscow. . . . Fire torpedo on water test run. . . . Push butoons run a magic office. UNIVERSAL NEWS— Vol. 18, 361— Congress convenes. . . . Nab Nazi spies. . . . Poles and Reds frte Lublin. Orange Bowl: Tulsa 26, Georgia Tech 12. . . . Sugar Bowl: Duke 29, Alabama 26. UNIVEJtSAL NEWS— Vol. 18, 362— Total war mobilization asked by President. . . . Nazi border town hit by Yanks. . . . DeGaulle in Moscow. . . . France sells Laval assets. . . . Nazi war plants in Paris tube. . . . Three-decker pullmans. . . . Ski jumpers hit the skis. Office and Professional Guild Votes to Merge with Local I The executive board of the Screen Office and Professional Employees Guild, Local 109, United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO, voted to merge with the Professional Workers' Local 1 at a meeting held Monday night in New York. The board's decision followed a referendum indicating that 97 per cent of the Guild members in good standing and eligible to participate in the balloting were in favor. More effective collective bargaining, more efficient haridling of grievances, organization of the unorganized, influence on Government salary policy and other improvements for the workers were claimed in the report accompanying the ballots. SO PEG, chartered as Local 109 of the UOPWA in October, 1941, represents approximately 3,000 white collar employees at the Loew's, Columbia, Paramount, RKO Pictures, Republic, 20th Century-Fox, National Screen Service and United Artists home offices ; at the Loew's, 20th-Fox, UA, Columbia and National Screen New York exchanges ; at Movietonews, De Luxe Laboratory and at Paramount Music and Famous Music. Local 1, with a membership of 15,000, is itself an amalgamation of former UOPWA New York locals 16 (Direct Mail and General Clerical), 96 (Financial), and 18 (Book, Magazine, Advertising). Two 20th-Fox Films for February Release Twentieth Century-Fox will release "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," and "Hangover Square" during February, it was announced this week by W. J. Kupper, general sales manager. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," with Dorothy McGuire and Joan Blondell, is an adaptation of Betty Smith's novel, produced by Louis D. Lighton and directed by Elia Kazan. "Hangover Square," based on Patrick Hamilton's novel, was produced by Robert Bassler and directed by John Brahm. It stars Laird Crcgar, Linda Darnell and George Sanders. Goes to National s War Labor Board The strike of 14 members of James C. Petrillo' American Federation of Musicians, which begai April 12, 1944, at Station KSTP, Minneapolis, wal referred Monday to the National War Labof Board by the sixth regional board. I Last Thursday the regional board called upoi' the union to "comply forthwith" with its Decern c ber 20 directive which denied all demands of th« AFL union. The demands included the hiring of eight additional musicians, three record turners and a librarian, and a $52.50 wage scale for a 22-hou^ week. The musicians returned to work in Minneapolis May 5, but walked out again when a WLB pane recommended a dismissal of their demands. Thej are still working for the same employer in St. Pau! studios, the board reported. After the regional board unsuccessfully ordered; Mr. Petrillo January 4 to end the work stoppage Sewall Avery, chairman of the board of Montgomery Ward and Company, the mail-order firn now under Government seizure, declared that th< Government should not make a distinction betweert his company and the Petrillo union. j, William H. Davis War Labor Board chairman insisted in a statement that the two cases were nof comparable in that the Ward case was important to the war effort and threatened to cause an "epidemic" of strikes, while the musicians' strike had' little effect on the war and was local. The musicians union's "private tax" on phono-^' graph records would be outlawed under a bill introduced in the Illinois House Monday by Representative Charles H. Weber of Chicago. Underj the proposed legislation, manufacturers of anyl; product would be prohibited from paying a levj to any union, under penalty of $5,000 fine and one year's imprisonment. It is estimated that Mr. Petrillo's union would collect some $4,000,000 annually as a result of his recent victory over the recording companies which agreed to pay the union a stipulated amount for each record made. |j Soundmen Demand Probe ' II Of Browne-Bioff Release 'i In a resolution adopted in Hollywood Monday,lj Sound Technicians Local 695, lATSE, demanded^ that the Senate Judiciary Committee "investigate? the recent action of Judge John C. Knox in per-ij initting George Browne and Willie Bioff to walkf the streets at liberty." Tuesday, Representative Smith of Wisconsin in. Congress demanded the impeachment of U. S. At-nl torney General Francis Biddle, charging Mr. Biddlejjl had "made a deal" with the two convicts. The V Attorney General denied the charge, saying that " they had turned informers and aided the Justice; Department. 'i^ The resolution asks the committee to determine h whether Judge Knox required Browne and Bioff '. to refrain from activities affecting the lATSE; whether precautions were taken to prevent such i activity. { It also asks whether Judge Knox "required as ' a condition of their freedom that they reveal what they did with millions of dollars collected by way ' of a two per cent tax assessed against earnings ^ of members" while Browne and Bioff were in I power in the International and for which, it was i charged, there never had been an accounting. f Screen Decorators Delay Walkout in Hollywood Although voting in Hollywood last Saturday night to authorize the calling of a strike of the Screen Set Decorators, potentially tying up all studios, Herbert Sorrell, president of the union, said Monday no walkout was scheduled immediately. He disclosed that a telephone call had been received from William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, saying that William Davis, War Labor Board chairman, was sending an arbitrator to settle the jurisdictional dispute between tlie decorators and tiie lATSE. 48 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 13, 1945