Motion Picture Herald (1954)

TRADE NOT FOR CONTROL RILL Field Check in East Finds Allied Regulation Plan Not Well Received Two weeks after the close of the Allied States Association’s Silver Anniversary convention in Milwaukee there still seems to be little enthusiasm in any branch of the industry for the convention-endorsed bill calling for Federal regulation of film rental terms. The HERALD’s correspondents reported this week that there was little if any enthusiasm for the bill among exhibitors in the mediumsized cities of the east coast. Barney Balaban, president of Paramount Pictures, in an interview cautioned exhibitors with the reminder that “when you call a cop, both parties are taken into the station house.” In Pittsburgh, meanwhile, Allied of Western Pennsylvania, voting on the regulation resolution of the national convention, approved the bill only if there was no progress in bettering intra-industry relations between now and February. Ted Grace, president of the Tri-State Drive-in Association, asserted simply that “no exhibitor wants Government control, but it surely is better to have such control than for the small exhibitors to be forced against the wall.” Allied officials in New York continued to express hope privately that distribution leaders would seek to iron out differences with Allied leaders at some sort of roundtable discussions before the February deadline. A meeting of the executive committee of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations in mid-November was seen as a fine opportunity for such a meeting, although one distributor spokesman said it would be unlikely that an invitation to such a conference would come from distribution. It would then appear, he said, that distribution was bowing to pressure, although distribution is not adverse to such a talk under other circumstances. Should Settle Around Table Exhibitors contacted by The HERALD in Utica, Hartford, Fall River, Schenectady, East Hartford and several other small towns in the upper east coast territory all expressed sharp opposition to Government regulation under any circumstances. Their opinion was summed up in the statement of Charles A. Smakwitz, Stanley Warner zone manager in Albany, who commented : “I would be against it at any time because I do not think the industry should turn to the Government for a solution of its problems. The industry has the manpower, the intelligence and the experience to settle all of its problems around the table, without Government intervention.” Harry Lamont,of Lamont Theatres in Albany, suggested arbitration as an alternative, adding, however, that he thought Allied was right in holding out for arbitration which included film rentals, Mr. Balaban declared that there is no substitute for a free competitive market in the motion picture industry. Concerning the bill for Federal regulation, he said, “I can’t seriously believe that such a move will solve exhibition’s problems. There is plenty of experience to the contrary.” The Paramount chief said further that “film rental terms, since I’ve been in the business, always have been ‘onerous’ from exhibition’s point of view, and not enough from the point of view of production-distribution.” Ben Marcus, Allied president, this week released the text of a letter he had written to Harry Brandt, president of the Inde pendent Theatre Owners Association, New York, commenting on Mr. Brandt’s remarks earlier as to the reasons behind Allied’s drastic convention action. Praises Myers’ Work Mr. Marcus said that while Abram F. Myers (Allied general counsel who drafted the proposed Allied bill) “does not own a single theatre, I must say for a man who has no personal holdings in our industry, he has contributed more than any other individual during the past 25 years to the welfare of the independent exhibitor and the industry as a whole. “I want to assure you that all the Allied leaders have acted upon this measure, only after many tedious hours of careful deliberation, and were not taken in by anybody nor had been influenced by any professional policy makers as per your statement. “None of us were, or are now, overly eager for Government control, but as an exhibitor, you should know that we have tried every avenue of approach, but distribution to this day refused to give us any worthwhile relief. I think it behooves all of us independent exhibitors to get together and back whatever measure the majority of the exhibitors think is best to avoid our economic destruction.” Tennessee Theatre Owners Fighting State Tax The Tennessee Theatre Owners Association plans to combat three per cent tax on gross receipts of motion picture theatres proposed by the Tennessee Legislature Council Committee last week. Stacy Wilhite of Cookeville, Tenn., president of the association, said a series of regional meetings in November will launch their campaign. MGM Starts Workshop in Pittsburgh MGM’s initial Ticket Selling Workshop, which was to be held at the William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh, Thursday of this week, was to be led by Ervin J. Clumb, manager of the Riverside theatre, Milwaukee, and Herbert I. Brown, operator of the Victoria, Greenfield, Mass. They were to represent big city and small town theatres, respectively. Also scheduled to take a leading role were Dale F. Tysinger, manager of Shea’s theatre, Ashtabula, Ohio, and Fenton Scribner, manager of Shea’s Daniel Webster theatre, Nashua, N. H. They were to be among the 301 representatives of the Shea organization which had a business meeting at the Hotel Roosevelt, Pittsburgh, prior to the Workshop meeting. More than a dozen managers and executives of the Stanley Warner company in the Pittsburgh zone were to attend, as well as M. A. Silver, zone manager. Other independent groups, including the Manos circuit, were expected. Emery Austin, MGM’s exploitation manager, was to give a complete report on exhibitor aids furnished by the company. Mr. Austin was to be aided by E. C. Pearson, central division press representative for MGM, Cleveland, and John L. John, Pittsburgh field press representative. The Workshop would not be confined to exhibitor and distributor analyses, but it would also be extended to presentations of allied interests such as newspapers, radio and television promotion of motion pictures. Edward M. Hyde, chairman-elect for 1955 of the Advertising Committee of Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers’ Association, was to head a seminar on newspaper advertising. Max Riley, advertising manager of Station WDTV, Pittsburgh, and his associate, William Kelly, were to talk on radio and television promotion. It was also announced by Charles M. Reagan and Howard Dietz, MGM vicepresidents, that two more Ticket Selling Workshops have been scheduled, one to be held in Columbus, Ohio, March 1, in cooperation with Allied of Ohio, and the other in Billings, Mont., May 10, at the request of the Montana Theatres Owners’ Association. This brings to a total of five the number of Workshops scheduled. Two previous ones announced will be held in Indianapolis, November 16, and in Boston, December 6. Mike Simons, in charge of customer relations for MGM, will conduct them. "Introduction to 3-D" The Macmillan Company, New York publishing house, this week announced the publication of “Introduction to 3-D,” by H. Dewhurst of England. The book discusses three dimensional photography in motion pictures and has additional chapters on wide screen, CinemaScope and Cinerama. 2 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 30, 1954