The New York State Exhibitor (1933)

YOUR THEATRE AuglO'33 Page 17 G The minimum wage scale which must be a part of any code is also covered in this agreement. Employees, according to this proposed plan, would be paid not less than 30 cents an hour, with a limit of 36 hours. This would not apply to office and supervisor staffs, firemen, watchmen, ushers and cleaners. Regulation of wages and hours is one of the first problems to be considered. (The NRA Plan would necessitate revision.) 24. BLOCK BOOKING — In contracts for the ex¬ hibition of groups of ten or more pictures the ex¬ hibitor shall have the privilege of rejecting at least 15% of the number of pictures contracted for without payment therefor. 25. SUBSTITUTIONS— The Exhibitor shall not be required to accept for any picture described in the schedule as a picture of a star, or of a director, or based upon a specified story, book or play, any other picture with a material substitution of a star or director, story, book or play. Nothing herein con¬ tained shall limit the right of the Distributor to change the title of any picture, or as respects any picture based upon any story, book or play, prevent the making of any alterations, changes in or adapta¬ tions thereof. It shall also be mandatory upon the Distributor to give a reasonable notification to the Exhibitor of all instances where an entirely different feature picture is being substituted. 26. SCORE CHARGES— There shall be no score charges. This provision shall not apply to existing contracts. 27. PLAYING ARRANGEMENTS — Distributors shall not require any specific day or days of the week for exhibitions. 28. NON-THEATRICAL COMPETITION — Non¬ theatrical accounts are unfair competition and shall not be sold by the distributors. 29. EXCLUSIVE RUNS— This is a difficult ques¬ tion. Many hundreds of small towns have always shown pictures exclusive run in their town for the simple reason that there were no subsequent run theatre or places for exhibition. It is very difficult to define in any code this matter in such a way as to fairly correct an abuse that might develop sometime in the future as the result of this policy, and at the same time not interfere with the operation of theatres where technically an exclusive run may be well justified because of local conditions. 30. PICTURES VIOLATING PRODUCTION CODE — No exhibitor shall exhibit any motion pic¬ ture which is declared to be contrary to and viola¬ tive of the standards and requirements of production of the Production Code of the Motion Pictures Pro¬ ducers and Distributors of America, Inc., and the Resolutions for Uniform interpretation of said Code. 31. ADVERTISING CODE— No exhibitor, shall, in advertising motion pictures, violate any of the fol¬ lowing standards of fair competition in advertising and exploitation or means of exploitation : (a) Nudity with meretricious purpose, shall not be used. (b) Profanity shall be avoided. (c) No false or misleading statements shall be used directly, or implied by type arrangements or by distorted quotations. (d) No text or illustration shall ridicule or tend to ridicule, any religion or religious faith ; no illus¬ tration of a character in clerical garb shall be shown in any but a respectful manner. (e) The history, institutions, and nationalities of all countries shall be represented with fairness. (f) Pictorial and copy treatment of officers of the law shall not be of such a nature as to undermine their authority. (g) Good taste shall be the standard and the rule for all advertising and exploitation of motion pictures. (h) A board of industry arbitration shall deter¬ mine whether a violation has been committed or not. 32. ADVERTISING CONFLICTING WITH PRIOR RUN — No exhibitor licensed to exhibit a motion picture subsequent to its exhibition by another ex¬ hibitor having the right to a prior run thereof shall advertise prior to or during the preceding run of such motion picture by any means of advertising, except as may be provided for in local zoning and clearance schedules. In the absence of such local zoning and clearance schedule, the provisions in the optional standard license agreement shall prevail. 33. ADMISSION PRICES, REBATES, ETC. — No exhibitor shall lower the admission prices publicly announced or advertised for his theatre by the giving of rebates in the form of premiums, lotteries, re¬ duced scrip books, coupons, gifts, or things of value, or by two-for-one admissions, or by other methods or devices of similar effect, except as approved by the local maximum clearance and zoning schedules. This shall not be deemed to proh.bit exhibitors from reducing or increasing their admission scales as they see fit except as may be prohibited by exhibition contracts, or local zoning and clearance schedules. It is aimed at reductions through means which are unfair to competing exhibitors and which deceive the public. 34. PROHIBITING THE SALE OF DOUBLE FEATURES — Distributors shall refuse to permit the exhibition of their pictures on double feature pro¬ grams in towns or communities where a majority of the exhibitors are opposed to the practice. 35. PROHIBITING THE EXHIBITION OF DOUBLE FEATURES — No exhibitor shall exhibit two or more feature motion pictures for one admis¬ sion. A feature motion picture shall be deemed a motion picture originally made and released in more than 3,000 feet in length. 36. BOX OFFICE STATEMENTS — Exhibitors shall promptly make and deliver a correct itemized statement of each day’s receipts from the exhibition of any motion picture and from so-called midnight shows, if any, upon the conclusion of such exhibi¬ tions, when the license fee therefor is based in whole or in part upon a percentage of the exhibitor’s admission receipts. 37. UNAUTHORIZED EXHIBITIONS— The un¬ authorized exhibition of a motion picture and the doing by any exhibitor of acts which are illegal or in violation of the Copyright Law or exhibition license, gives such exh bitor an unfair competitive advantage over the exhibitor who is honest, obeys the law and lives up to his contractual obligations ; misappropr'ates a port on of playing time market of the industry ; disrupts other exhibitors’ bookings and scheduled exhibitions and imposes a burden of ex¬ pense and waste wh'ch must be borne by producers, distributors and exhibitors. Therefore, no exhibitor shall engage in any of the following harmful and prohibited practices. (a) Midnight Shows — The exhibition of a motion ru’eture previous to dawn of the first day of ex¬ hibition without securing express, written permission tnerefor under the license agreement. (b) Unauthorized Showings — The exhibition of a motion picture at any time or place other than on the date or dates and at the place expressly booked and confirmed in writing pursuant to the exhibition license ; or by means of a print acquired from any source other than the lawfully authorized distributor ; or if lawfully acquired, from such distributor for any purpose other than for exhibitions so booked and confirmed, whether or not a general exhibition license exists which contemplates a future booking of such exhibitions or specifies a different number of or other day of exhibition. (c) Switching — The use of a print at a substi¬ tuted theatre operated by the same exhibitor without a written license for such exhibition from the distributor. (d) Bicycling — The use of a print furnished by the distributor licensing exhibition at only an ex¬ pressly specified theatre for exhibitions at an un¬ licensed theatre or theatres operated by the same exhibitor. Also the use of such print for exhibitions at two or more theatres when licensed in the alternative at only one or the other of such theatres regardless of whether the number of days licensed is or is not exceeded. (e) Duping, Sub-Renting, Loaning for Illegal Purposes — The use of a print for any purpose what¬ soever other than exhibitions duly licensed and booked and for which the print was furnished by the distributor, including such prohibited uses as for example, duping or printing copies, reduction to 16 mm. or other size ; selling, leasing, pledging, or otherwise asserting any dominion thereover ; using or making the print available for television, broad¬ casting or non-theatrical exhibitions in homes, schools, stores, prisons, fraternal, social, charitable or educational meetings or elsewhere. (f) Abetting Unauthorized Exhibitions — The delivering or making available for delivery either for cash or other consideration or in exchange for similar privileges, a print furnished by the distributor for licensed exhibition or acquired illegally for the purpose of aiding, abetting or accomplishing un¬ licensed exhibitions at a place or places other than the licensed theatre. (g) Late Return — The failure to return or to forward, except for reasons beyond the exhibitor’s reasonable control, to the distributor’s exchange or another exhibitor a print of any motion picture immediately after its last licensed and scheduled exhibition so as to render it difficult or impossible for the print to arrive on time at the theatre of the next exhibitor who has scheduled its exhibition. (h) Holding Over — The withholding of the prompt return of a print for additional exhibitions at any theatre in excess of the time licensed and booked in writing, without first securing an add tional written consent for the extra exhibitions from the distributor of the print upon payment of the rental therefor. (i) Liability on Circuit Shipments — When an exhibitor is designated in lieu of a common carrier, by the distributor, to forward a picture or pictures to another exhibitor, the exhibitor forwarding the picture shall be the agent of the distributor and not otherwise. Provision lor use of the optional standard license agreement is made in this proposed code. Arbitration is advocated. Exhibitors would have a hand in clearance schedules in their territories. No shorts would be tied in with features. There would be no score charges. Local bodies would have regu¬ lation over premiums, scrip books, two-for-ones, etc. The majority of exhibitors would supervise double features. In short, the code seeks to take care of all ills of the industry.