Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 22, 1949 Suggests Industry Plan OK, If.. Endorse Public Relations Move with Reservation, Reports Allied Group A suggestion by a special committee that national Allied should participate in the all-industry public relations program "with . . . reservations" will be offered to the Allied directorate as it meets in Minneapolis on Oct. 22. The directors' meeting precedes the annual Allied convention which opens Monday and runs through Wednesday at the Hotel Nicollet. The committee's reservation is not binding upon the Board, which will make its own decision as it maps out the program for the convention's business sessions. Retain Autonomy The committee recommended that the public relations program, which was first suggested at the Chi-cago all-industry meeting, be endorsed "with certain conditions and reservations" among which will be that Allied "reserves the right ... to take whatever action it sees fit in the interest of its members . . . anything in the public relations program notwithstanding." The committee, which noted the thought that the success of the program depended upon the success of Allied's participation because of the importance Allied now held in the industry, further proposed that all acts of the Allied representative to the all-industry public relations body, be subject to review by the national Allied Board. It appointed Pres. William Ainsworth as temporary representative to the public relations organization. In expressing itself against any "large and expensive organization" for public relations, the committee recommendations stated : "We are interested only in promoting cooperation and understanding among the participating organizations in the public relations field, not in setting up a motion picture bureaucracy or in • creating jobs." To Map Sessions Saturday's Board meeting will also be taken up with the business session program of what is reported to be looming as Allied's largest and most mellow convention. While the delegates have not abandoned any idea of securing their •ends by Allied's historic tactics of legislation and litigation, the results of recent events are said to have made many of them think that conditions have vastly improved. The basis of this Children's Library Adds 12 The Children's Film Library of the Motion Picture Association of America this week added 12 features to its program of 42 features which it offers exhibitors for children's programs, such as special morning matinees. The 12 new features are: "Black Beauty," "Last of the Mohicans," "Kidnapped," "Boys' Ranch," "Kit Carson," "Adventures of Gallant Bess," "The Overlanders," "The Return of Rusty," "Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'," "Mickey," "Bill and Coo," and "Northwest Stampede." More than 3,500 theatres in the United States are now playing these Children's Library program films for special children's shows, Mariorie Dawson, chairman of the Children's Film Library Committee, declared. Three Birds, One Stone A new tax collecting system by which exhibitors can report their federal admission taxes, along writh their social security payments and their employe wnthholding tax on one form in one operation, will go into effect for the first quarter of 1950, the Treasury Department announced in Washington this week. The new system, which also provides for one payment, has been tried out in the Maryland area where it has been found successful. It will be handled on the new Form 941, which will replace and incorporate the features hitherto contained in Form W-1 and Form SS-1. is the success of the Government to date in its anti-trust suit against the major distributors, an action for which Allied General Counsel Abram F. Myers is given credit by his organization. The board will iprobably discuss the following matters : 1) Television, including "eye-witness reports" on the world series. 2) Box-office promotions, including the Baltimore and Iowa-Nebraska campaigns. 3) Drive-ins, the need for servicing through existing exhibitor associations and their effect on under-roofers. 4) Flat rentals. 5) Study of insurance in an effort to cut rates. 6) Print shortages. 7) Taxes and legislation. Afternoon Work The convention program limits business sessions to the afternoons of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The mornings will be devoted to registration and to inspecting the exhibits in the East Room Hallway of the Hotel Nicollet. At 2 P.M. during these three days the convention will hold sessions in the Grand Ballroom until 5 P.M. On Monday night at 7 o'clock there will be a night club party at the Club Carnival ; on Tuesday at 6:30 P.M., a cocktail party in the main ballroom and on Wednesday at 7:30, P.M., the convention banquet, which is informal, will take place in the main ballroom. A special program for the ladies adds a sightseeing tour and a luncheon at Lowell Inn, Stillwater, Minn., on Tuesday, with the tour starting at 11 A.M., and a tea and style show on Wednesday from 3 P.M. to 5 P.M., at Dayton's Skyroom. The ladies are also included on all other convention entertainment features. The committees follow : General Chairman : Stanley D. Kane, Convention Chairman: Henry Greene, Jr., Co-Chairman: Martin Lebedoff. National Convention Committee: Chairman: Benjamin N. Berger, Co-Chairman E. L. Peaslee, Harold Field, Ted Mann, Paul Mans, George Granstrora, W. A. Prewitt, Jr., William L. Ainsworth, Ray Branch, Colonel H. A. Cole, Morris M. Finkel, Lauritz Garman, Rube Shor, Jack Kirsch. Edward Lachman, Abram F. Myers, Trueman T. Rembusch, Sidney E. Samuelson, Martin G. Smith, O. F. Sullivan, John M. Wolfberg, Nathan Yamins, Maxwell A. Alderman, Charles Niles, 'Henry Halloway, Edward O. Cullins. Advisory Committee: Martin G. Smith, Trueman T. Rembusch, William L. Ainsworth, Abe Berenson. Yearbook and Advertising Committee: Chairman: Bill Volk, Ted Bolnick, Al Lee, P. R. Isley, Edward Lachman, Bob Berger, Publicity Committee: Sol Fisher, Al Picoult, Reservations Committee: Chairman: Harold Kaplan, Char'es Rubenstein, Fred Holzapfel. Ladies' Committee: Chairman: Mrs, Dolores Lundquisi-. Co-Chairman: Mrs, Ben Berger, Mrs. Martin Lebedoff, Mrs. Emma Stern, Mrs. Stanley D. Kane, Mrs. Lenore I. Shields. National Attendance Committee — Connecticut: Dr. J. B. Fishman, Maurice J. Bailey. GuU States: Maurice T. Artigues, J. V. O'Quinn. Illinois: Van Nomikos, Robert Lubliner. Indiana: Trueman T. Rembusch. W. A. Carroll. Iowa-Nebraska: A. C. Myrick, Charles Niles. Kansas-Missouri: Don Phillips. Frank Meyers. Maryland: Lauritz Garman, William C. Allen. MidCentral: Henry Halloway, A. B. Tefferis. Michigan: Ray Branch, Harry Hobolth. Mid-South: John C. Mohrstadt, J. A. West. New England States: Daniel J. Muroby, Pav Feeley. New Jersey: Edward Lachman, Irving DoUinger. North Central: Jack Wright, Sim Heller. Ohio: F. W. Huss, Jr., Leo T. Jones. Eastern Pennsylvania: Mrs. Dorothy A. Samuelson, Percy Friedman. Western Pennsylvania: Fred A. Beedlc, Norman B. Mervis. Rocky Mountain: J. M. Key, E. K. Menagh. Texas: C. D. Leon, Rubin Frels. West Virginia: E. R. Custer, L. E. Rogers. Wisconsin: H. P. Pearson, Harry Perlewitz. Rctus Harvey Make Bids Public, Demands PCCITO; Re-Elects Harvey A demand that distributors make public the figures submitted on pictures offered for competitive bidding highlighted the regular annual convention of the Pacific Coast Conference of Independent Theatre Owners which closed Tuesday at Sun Valley, Idaho. The convention reelected H. V. (Rotus) Harvey board chairman, with Mrs. Hannah Oppie as executive secretary and Ben Levin as treasurer. The bidding resolution was forged in a fire of discontent which has flared from exhibitor circles generally. It demands that all bids be submitted sealed and opened before all interested parties. It further demands that requests for bids and awards be sent out earlier than the PCCITO claims is now the practice. Suggests Arbitration The convention also passed a resolution suggesting arbitration by which the two parties would each select an arbiter or who would in turn select a third from a panel furnished by {Continued on Page 10) More Phonies Counterfeit $10 bills, thought to have been made in Kansas City, made their appearance in the midwest this week and may spread to other sections of the nation. The phony bills bear the serial number E-55527991A, are of a fair quality but are printed on paper which is much lighter than that used for money making by the U. S. Government. Other fake bills noted are: $10 notes on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, bearing serial number E269589969A and the check plate number F28 to the right of the engraving of Alexander Hamilton; $20 bills on the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis with the face plate C42 and the back plate number 592 with the serial number H95621073C. The paper is of poor quality.