Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

I i \Paramount Sets Selling Campaign For "Bell Tolls'' Following Paramount's two-day advertising-exIploitation meeting in New York last Friday and Saturday on "For Whom the Bell Tolls," Charles M. Reagan, vice-president in charge of distribu[tion, announced in New York Monday that the jfilm would be given Washington's Birthday week I openings at popular prices in 50 important key cities. After these nationwide engagements, it iwill be released generally at regular admissions. I An extensive all-around selling and merchandising campaign was launched after the meeting, ! tinder the direction of Robert M. Gillham, advertising and publicity director. Barney Balaban, Paramount president, addressed the district advertising representatives, circuit and 'home office executives who attended the Hotel Pierre sessions. He paid tribute to the representa(tives of the circuits not associated with Paramount I who came to New York for the meeting. \Freeman Talks on Studio Y. Frank Freeman, vice-president in charge of 'studio operations, told the delegates that the Par(amount studio was "in better shape than it has ^been in a Ions: time. i "I want all of you to know that the placing of Henry Ginsberg in charge of production was at my request," he said. "He is eminently fitted for ithe task. He brings to Paramount all of the qualities of a fine executive and a full knowledge of jthe motion picture industry gained through an intimate association with it over the last 20 years. "My own association with Paramount couldn't be happier than it is at the present time. I started in the motion picture business with Paramount, and my association with this great company over a span of some 20 years signifies to me a relajtionship with the individuals within the company (which has grown to mean to rtie much more than ja niere commercial venture on my part," Mr. Freeman declared. Zukor and Rose Speakers Others who addressed the sessions included Adolph Zukor, chairman of the board; David Rose, British managing director for the company ; George A. Smith, Western division manager; Alec Moss, exploitation director, and Al Willkie, publicity manager. The special campaign on "For Whom the Bell rolls" will stress the fact that the picture is the original, uncut production, shown at popular prices. \ national radio exploitation campaign has been planned, highlighted by a dramatization of the picture to be broadcast on the Lux Radio TheaTe, February 12, on the CBS network. Gary "ooper and Ingrid Bergman will enact their film roles. Paramount will award $1,400 in War Bonds to :he six theatre managers who put on the best Belling campaign for the national release engagements, Mr. Moss announced. Every theatre that 3lays the picture and whose playdate is no later :han Friday, June 1, is eligible for the Bond prizes. Massachusetts Bills Would Curb Ticket Speculation Two bills have been introduced in the Massa:husetts State Senate seeking to put a drastic :urb on ticket speculation. One would provide ;hat no ticket should be sold for a price higher han that printed upon the ticket. Another bill would place a heavy penalty on any agency or ndividual charging more than the legal premium )ermitted for the disposal of tickets through recoglized agencies. pire Rejects 68 Features I The Eire film censor rejected 68 features durthe past year, according to the annual report. S'?hteen per cent of the 364 films which were ubmitted were banned by the Government. ^^OTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 27, 1945 New York and Florida Courts Say ASCAP Is Not Monopoly Courts in New York and Florida this week ruled that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was not a monopoly. The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, upholding a decision of Justice Morris Elder, dismissed an action by the Hotel Edison, New York, against the ASCAP president. Deems Taylor, ruling that the Society was engaged in the licensing of intangible rights protected by copyright, constituting neither trade nor commerce. The complaint charged the Society with maintaining a monopoly, and that its license fees for public music performances restrained competition. Royalty fees similarly are paid by the theatres. In Florida, Special Master James Messer, Jr., ruled that the Society "does not constitute an unlawful monopoly or combination operating in restraint of trade or in violation of the statutes of Florida and is legally qualified and entitled to operate within the state," ASCAP announced in New York. ASCAP was one of the three original defendants in a suit brought by Florida Attorney General J. Tom Watson, charging infringement of the Florida statute. Last March 20, Louis D. Frohlich of ASCAP general counsel, won a separate trial for the Society, and the ASCAP case was then tried last July in New York. Deny Cartoonists' Profit Share Bid In a decision considered industry-wide in implication and precedental with respect to the processes of distribution and exhibition as well as production, the National War Labor Board last week denied a request of the Screen Cartoonists Guild Local No. 852 for a provision in its contract with Walt Disney Productions, Inc., which would have entitled the cartoonists employed by that company to a 20 per cent share in the gross revenues from reissues of Disney pictures and from the use of Disney pictures in televisions. As, of last weekend the SCG was undecided whether to seek, within the seven-day period prescribed by law, a reconsideration of this and other points in the WLB decision issued in settlement of a long-standing dispute between the union and the studio. The SCG request was admittedly a test effort, and the fixing of the 20 per cent figure was altogether speculative, according to William Pomerance, counsel for SCG at the time of the original request, who told Motion Picture Herald the SCG wished to establish a principle rather than to obtain any specific degree of continuing participation in the yield of product. It was on principle, also, that the Disney company opposed the request, according to Gunther Lessing, Disney counsel, who told the Herald the studio had contracts with some 40 unions, all of which could be expected to petition for parallel participation if the SCG request were granted. In simple, the contention of the craftsmen was that a worker had a perpetual interest in the product of his artistry, whereas the contention of the studio was that the granting of such a claim would be invasive of the property rights of ownership. While the WLB has had the matter under advisement, guilds and unions in all categories have given exploratory consideration to the possibilities which a SCG victory would open to them, and producers have watched developments no less closely. Quickly canvassed opinion was that the SCG idea would be cropping up again, in the same or another quarter. Rathvon Sends Exhibitors Red Cross Week Pledges N. Peter Rathvon, RKO president and national chairman of the Motion Picture Industry Red Cross War Fund Week for 1945, March 15 to 21, announced Monday that pledge cards Had been sent to 17,000 exhibitors in the United State, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Alaska. The pledges, which will record the exhibitor's intention to participate, were accompanied by reply cards. General Electric Cartel Charged In Suit by U. S. Washington Bureau Maintenance of cartel arrangements to which enemy nationals were parties was charged by the Department of Justice against the General Electric Company and International General Electric Company in a civil suit filed last week in the Federal District Court at Newark, N. J. The cartel agreements, the department charges, restrained trade in the manufacture and sale of electrical equipment in violation of the Sherman Anti-trust and Wilson Tariff laws. The department's complaint covered every type of electric equipment and apparatus manufactured or handled by the two American companies with the exception of electric lamps and radio apparatus, the former being covered by a previous case and the latter involved in an investigation which has been held in abeyance during the war emergency. Foreign Companies Named Named as co-conspirators in the complaint were the great; mpnopolistic electric corporations of Germany, France, England, Belgium, Italy and Japan which, with the two American cojnpanies, were charged with having allocated the world markets among themselves, each agreeing neither to manufacture nor sell within the territory of the others. The complaint charges that the American defendants are still engaged in an unlawful conspiracy and combination in restraint of trade and commerce, despite the war, as a result of which consumers of electrical equipment in this country have been deprived of the possibly lower prices which would have prevailed were there free competition and the companies have obtained from their coconspirators and now hold patents and information and have deprived other American manufacturers of access thereto for use in domestic or foreign trade. The Department asks that the contracts be declared illegal and the two companies perpetually enjoined from participating in, maintaining, or carrying out any of the agreements or understandings, and that they be required to grant to any applicant a royalty-free license with respect to any patents used in carrying out the alleged conspiracy and contracts. Says Suit Is One of Series Pointing out that the suit was but one of a series designed to eliminate the effect of cartels on the American economy, Assistant Attorney General Wendell Berge, under whose direction it was prepared, explained that it was "directed particularly at the cartelization of the electrical equipment industry." "The present war," Mr. Berge explained, "has brought about many new developments and inventions in this field and the elimination of artificial restraints on the manufacture and sale of products so vitally affecting the life of every American is of the utmost importance. "The fact that British, French, German, Japanese, Belgian and Italian, as well as American, companies are involved indicates the scope of the alleged conspiracy and the importance of the Government's action," he added. "We shall not relax our drive to end this type of illegal activity." MGM Paid $981,418 in 1944 For Air Time Over Mutual MGM last year was the fourth largest buyer of time on the Mutual network, spending $981,418 for air time on that system alone. Its two shows, "Screen Test" and "People's Reporter" both ran five evenings a week. Mutual's 1944 billing totaled $19,533,650 with Donahue and Coe, advertising agency, handling the MGM account, placing $1,056,848 in time, also to rank fourth among agencies placing time. 45