Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

SPEAKERS, among the many: Beverly Miller and William Carroll at the upper left; Benjamin Berger with Jack Kirsch upper right; Abram F. Myers, left; and at the right, Irving Dollinger, whom many believed the board, meeting January in Cincinnati, might well elect president. (All pictures by the Herald) ALLIED RESOLUTIONS The following is a resume of each of the 11 resolutions passed by the delegates at the annual convention of Allied States Association last week in Dallas: Resolution No. 1. Commended Ruben Shor, Allied president, for “his persistence in the face of much discouragement in working for a top level conference” while “respectfully” reminding the film companies that “theatres are the industry’s immediate points of contact with the public” and called upon them “to consult and work out a joint long-range program of recovery with the exhibitors through their established organizations.” Resolution No. 2. Authorized Allied States — with the cooperation of Theatre Owners of America, if possible, “or by itself if need be” — to initiate new negotiations with the film companies “looking to the establshment of an arbitration system ... in accordance with the recommendations contained in the reports of the Senate Select Committee on Small Business.” The latter did not find that film rentals were an arbitrable item. Resolution No. 3. Cited the “no review” film rental terms of MGM’s “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” and “High Society” which have been “imitated by certain other distributors with respect to top pictures,” and called upon “the film companies to abandon rigid national policies in the licensing of films and to clothe their branch managers with authority, and issue to them specific instructions to base film rentals upon the ability of exhibitors to pay.” Resoluton No. 4. Condemned the alleged practice of distributors of failing to make pictures available to some exhibitors “on their accustomed availabilities” and called for more prints where needed and a discontinuance of shipping prints from one exchange to another “for a temporary financial gain.” Resolution No. 5. Empowered the Allied board to “explore the feasibility of establishing legal clearances for theaters over television . . . bearing in mind that the four-year time lag in supplying pictures to television may not always prevail. . . .” Resolution No. 6. Urged the film companies to consult with exhibitor organizations before consolidating film exchanges, reducing sales forces or curtailing services so that the exhibitors’ minimum requirements would be taken care of. Resolution No. 7. Commended the work of the Joint Committee Against Pay TV, especially the part played by Allied’s Trueman T. Rembusch, and the part played by the late Alfred Starr, as TOA representative, and asked TOA to name a new representative so that the committee might continue to function “expeditiously and efficiently.” Resolution No. 8. Deplored those few exhibitors who for temporary financial gain have “risked the good will and lowered the standards of the business” by running so called “sex” pictures and called upon them “to mend their ways before they do irreparable harm to our business.” Resolution No. 9. Called upon MGM and Warner Brothers to set the example for the rest of the companies by making two types of trailers for each picture, one for sophisticated metropolitan audiences and one for small town theatres specializing in action pictures. Resolution No. 10. Reaffirmed the previously taken stand in favor of production by formerly affiliated circuits “under proper safeguards.” Resolution No. 11. Called upon the Federal Government and Congress to reduce the excess profits tax from 30 to 20 per cent; to tax corporations with less than 10 stockholders as partnerships; to liberalize depreciation allowance, and to allow estates of small business men to pay estate taxes over a period of 10 years. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 8. 1956 17