Variety (Sep 1946)

18 PICTITBGS Wednesday, September 25, 1946 Ted Gamble Reviews ATA's Reasons For Vigorous Intervention in Suit Taking issue with the expressed t epinions of a number of theatre or- fiivniiations that intervention would Bubject their members to court re- strictions and regulations, Ted. Gam- ble, board chairman of the Ameri- can Theatres Assn., declared ATA's application "is the only step that can be effective' for exhibitors in this case." "The best legal authorities ■we've been able to consult have as- sured us that the exhibitors, since they have not been found guilty of anything, are within their rights in seeking intervention without; any detriment to themselves," Gamble . told Variety "The suggestion of some units to eppear as amicus- curiae is as differ- ent from bur intervention move as night is from day," Gamble said. "As a friend of the court, we would come hat in hand and ask permis- sion to make a speech. By inter- vening, we are asserting a right to be heard, a right to offer proof if necessary, and to appeal, if need be, ^ to the Supreme Court" ; Gamble's declaration of the rea- febns behind ■ the intervention plea followed closely A^A's notice of in- tervention filed in the Federal Court Monday (23) which asked for hear- ing by the Statutory Court on the question on Oct. 1. ATA, joined by Southern California Theatre Owners Assn. and 12 individual exhibitjOrs, attacked auction selling as depend- ing upon many diverse and varied factors besides, price in fixing a high bid. Since these factors would be decided, in the final sense, by the producer or distributor "within broad and practically meaningless limits," it can only mean that effec- tive supervision of decree selling by the Court would be impossible, the petition argued, Moreover, ATA asserted in asking to intervene, the majors and their affiliates have resources available lor bidding on pix which far exceed those of the indie exhibs. Any plan, for bid selling would "enable the de- fendants to use their superior bar- gaining power to strengthen their monopolistic position," the applica- tion maintained. Consequently, com- petitive bidding would be "competi, tiv? in name only" and the results would be to deprive indie exhibs of anti-trust law protection while le- gitimatizing "the domination of the market already condemned by this court." 'Ill Considered Action' Obviously taking a pot-shot at Al- lied" States Exhibitors,--&EHnble,- -in pointing up the need for interven- tion; .said, "It should be remem- bered that ill considered exhibitor action created this Government suit. Those same interests now counsel non-intervention. But exhibitors cannot ailord to make another mis- take. Gamble asserted that more than M 2,300 theatres, or 96% of those ex- >hib.!i answering the ATA poll of 16,- '■ 000 theatres, had not only expressed opposition to auction-selling but apr proved the ATA move. From other sources it's understood that Metro, EKO and Warner Bros., members of ATA, oppcsed the inter- vention move. Individual inter- veners, none of whom are affiliates, include Fanchon & Marco Service Corp., Gamble Enterprises, Bij ou Amus. Goi, Southern California Amus; Co. and Eden Theatre Co. Jive Operas Into Pix Hollywood, Sept. 24. Grand Opera Will get a streamlin- ing and a haircut for indie film production. Frederick Jackson and Ed Finney have formed an indie firm to produce swifty versions of "Faust" arid "Pagliacci" revamping original plots into topical stories a la "Carmen Jones." Pair have been associated with Andrew Stone, Golf Course Bullets Almost Hit (Twice) Mrs. Russell Holman Mrs, Russell Holman, wife of Par- amount's eastern studio rep, was the target for bullets on a Westchester, N Y., golf course two different days last week, One of the shots came so close it took hair off her head, Po- lice, searching for the culprits, be. lieve they were youthful pranksters, with nothing sinister in their mo lives, although the repeated firing at Mrs. Holman made her appear to be the particular object of their aim Wife'of the Par exec, who is cur- rently in England, was playing in the Women's Tri-County Golf As sociation tournament at the Century Country Club, Purchase, N. Y., when th) bullets whizzed out. of bordering woods. She's prez of the Women's Metropolitan Golf Association, Mrs: Holman refused to take the gunfire seriously and practically broke up the tournament the day following the initial attack by ap- pearing in a German World War I helmet which Holman had brought home many years ago as a souvenir, Police took a more serious view when the shooting was repeated two days after the first attempt. (oger Albright To Head MPA'sEduc1DepLinD.C. Washington, Sept. 24. Establishment of a Department of Educational Service within the Mo- tion Picture Ass'n was announced yesterday (23) by Eric Johnston. Unit will operate out of Washing- ton, co-ordinating all the associa- tion's visual education activities. Its director will be Roger Albright, member of the New York staff of MFA since 1935. Although he is not slated tO' move here permanently until November, he will spend much time in D. C. in the interim. Albright directed personnel train- ing for the board of education. of the Methodist Episcopal Church be- fore joining the association. The new step by MPA is in line with the views of Johnston to push educational activities. One of the projects MPA is currently engaged in is production of a series of films to serve as models for classroom use in visual education. Holman Rates 3 London Plays as BVay Hits London, Sept. 17, Russell Holman, eastern produc. tion manager of J^aramount, now in London, has been looking at current West End plays. He votes "Winslow Boy," "The GUinea Pig" and "The Fi " Gentleman" as certain hits for Broadway and also good picture, material. • Besides seeing plays, Holman also is making final arrangements for Par's 1947 film production over here, Hal Wallis is expected here in April to finalize studio arrangements, with first picture, likely to star Ray Ij!il- land, to be a film adaptation of Joseph Shearing's book, "For Her to See." The Berle-ing Point By Milton Berle Amus. Taxes ; Continued from page 5 Benjamin Firm Continued from page 3 ; Nomikos Suit by Benjamin prior. to election to the U board last week included: Presi- dent, vice-chairman of the board and general counsel for the J, Arthur R ink Organization, Inc., board mem- ber and general counsel for Pathe Industries, and board member and g- -.eral counsel for Eagle-Lion. In addition, his law partner, Arthur Krira, is president of Eagle-Lion, and Jerry Edwards is general counsel for fRC, Outside of the Rank associations, Louis Phillips, of P, N, B&K, is as- sistant general counsel for Para- mount; Louis Nizer is head of the N. Y. Film Board of Trade, which represents all the companies in en- forcement of claims and exhibitor contracts; Krim is a member of the board of National Screen Service and Seymour Pizer is general coun- sel to NSS. In addition, the firm has many other film clients, one of the most recent additions being Arthur Xyons' new outfit, Producing Artists. — Continued from page 11 ss charges Nomikos and the theatre owning companies with conspiracy to defraud the distribs by making false statements of gross admission receipts on percentage pix in order to induce the distribs to accept payment of license fees in amounts less than actually due. Addition- ally, phoney returns, suit said, paved the way to cheaper rental terms on subsequent pix. Theatres involved, according to the complaint, are the Parkway, Lincoln, Rex, Ace, City and Logan, all in Chi; the Antioch, Antioch; Yale, May wood, and Orpheum and Web, Savannah, all in Illinois^ Suit which claims defendants refused request of majors for auditing of records demands both regular and punitive damages from 1940. Actions filed to date by majors range from a low of 13 brought by some companies to a high of 18 by others. The suits came into the spot light in Boston at the national meet of Allied States Exhibitors when delegates questioned their validity after a statement by Abram Myers, Allied general counsel, that all ex. isting sales contracts, in his opinion, were illegal a.s violative of anti-trust laws. All the suits, Myers pointed out, had been brought by the majors on a fraud basis without the complaints referring in any way to the sales contracts. Since the contract is waived, Myers said, the anti-trust decision has nothing to do with the suits.' 000. New York, unabla to meet op- erating expenses on a nickel fare for its lines, must also look elsewhere, and probably towards its show biz, for a cash boost. Expected wave in demands for in- creased wages for civil service em- ployees, born of substantially ad- vanced living costs, is being hypoed by a rapid spread of unions among the civil workers. With the, recent Norwalk, Conn., teachers' walkout and presentation of formal demands by the N. Y. State pedagogues for a minimum of $1,000 annual hike lead* ing off, irresistible pressure is ex- pected in almost all localities., Admish Bite Seen M ^Natural' Show biz is likely to take it on the chin, conference pointed out, because realty assessments, backbone of in- come fuel for municipalities, are at their highest point and cannot be in- creased much further to meet the added costs. With an OPA clamped anchor on rentals; real estate's in- come is insufficient: to warrant fur- ther assessment hoists. Conference, consequently, reached conclusion added coin would come from; 1, city amusement taxes; 2, sales taxes; 3, public utilities taxes; 4, local in- come tax. Few cities currently derive a sub- stantial income from ■ amusement bites. Those include Chicago, Phila- delphia, Seattle, Spokane, San Diego and San Bernardino (Calif). Chi in 1944 drew $275,000 from its theatres, dancehalls, etc., on license charges. City also harvested $305,000 from automatic musical instruments and $50,000 from niteries. Philly, with an admission price of Ic on each 2Sc plus $10 permit fees, garnered $1,- 489,720 in '44. Seattle's take was $616,894 on ad- mission charges, and Spokane taxed all amusement spots $133,442 in 1044. State of Washington uses' admission taxes widely, with 63 of its cities levying bites on its patrons. Wide, spread employment of tax in Wash ington followed vacating of state tax in '43 to permit municipalities tO broaden, their base. Tax experts view admlssioh bite as a natural for cities, since it hits non residents as hard as residents. While all persons visiting a city would pay, tax is not substantial enough to de; ter visitors or drive them to non. taxing localities. Bite is popular be- cause it takes the weight-oft prop erty owners. Efforts of American Theatres Assn. and other film industry organizations to win a lowering of Federal 20% tax nick may prove unavailing be- cause of growing pressure from mu- nicipalities. Suggestion recently made and being widely considered is that the Federal government con tinue collecting the added wartime 10%, even should it be cancelled out by the U. S. and turn the money* over to local governments fo'r their growing needs. Any U. S; move to lift the tax, it is said, would start off demands for a substitution of bene- ficiaries. Seems everyone's deserting New York for Hollywood and pictures. I sent a wire to Louis B. Mayer, telling him I thought I should be in the movies, .so he wired me back a pass to Loew's State. Told Sclznick that while I. remained in New York thousands of dollars were going out'the window—so he closed the window. Understood Zanuck came east a few weeks ago to scout talent. He screen-tested a showgirl on a polo pony . . . the pony reports to . the studio next week,^ Yes, Hollywood is certainly crying for new talent. I got one .offer myself. Can't say what studio it's from...but 4oes anybody know the music to "Battle Hymn of the Republic"?,- The Crcat Wit Way Missed the Louis-Mauriello fight. . .had to wait for a red light to crojs 'the street. Now that Hildegarde has been signed for the Campbell show:,.the musicians on it have been ordered to wear soup and fish. Lip-quipped at Lindy's: "Flopproducer? , Don't be silly.. .you should have seen the play he made for her.'" Gym iwtftuiior: There's no need to grow old) fuhen you can keep a young figure! . , , . Plump producer; Sounds great, but suppose my wife should find outT Just invented a new fountain pen. It's filled with water and wi'ites under ink! There's No Truth to the Rumor That Earl Wilson's new book, "Pike Peak or Bust," is the biography of Jane Riussell.. .That Peter Rabbit has been signed for the Eversharp repeater show.. .That the Rockefellers will tear down the RCA bldg. to erect a night club. . .That when Elsa Maxwell goes swimming they have to open «1I the drawbridges.. .That night club dance floors: will be used for dancing, and not for last minute table space. Hsncnail Descriptions Copa Comedy: Silvers-wares., .United Nations Drink; Bevm-Up.v.Hildy Johnson: A Parker role. Inside Pictures "Forever Amber" is becoming almost as much a jinx to 20th-Fox as Amber herself was to some of the men in her past. After being forced to scrap all the footage taken with Peggy Cummins in the lead role and then replacing du;ector John M.. Stahl with Otto Preminger, word now comes from Hollywood that Cornel Wilde, who was to play the male star role, has left the cast. Wilde, it's been revealed, has beeh under a doctor's care for some time and will take an enforced vacation after completion of his current "The Homestretch." - "Amber" was slated for a fresh start next month, so it's unlikely that any footage had been shot with Wilde. So far, no announcement of a post- ponement has been made. Difficulty recalls, however, the half-kidding remarks made by Darryl F. Zanuck during his recent h.o. visit, when he declared that it would be just too bad if anything more happened to hold up production on the film, what with hypoed labor costs, production dif- ficulties, etc. ^ Current reports by Broadway columnists that 20th-Fox is flirting with Edward Stettinius, Jr., to head its board of directors are almost two years too late. Exploratory talks were held with the former Secretary of State shortly after the death of board chairman Wendell Willkie In October, 1944, on the intiatJve of prexy Spyros Skouras. Nothing came of the discussions, however, and the. by-laws were subsequently amended to eliminate the post of board chairman. That action doesn't mean, however, that Fox will permanently operate minus a director-ln-chief, since it has been indicated that the board would create the job again if a man of the proper stature came along or a need was suddenly felt. As it is, however, there have been no talks or negotiations along this line for many months. Talks were also held with Joseph P. Kennedy after Willkie's death on pos.^ sibility of his taking board chairmanship. Final shot in "The Jolson Story" (Col), showing the star's wife walking out on him, has caused speculation among newspapermen and people in the industry who have seen previews of the firm as to what happened to; Ruby Keeler after that. She is obviously Jolson's screen wife, as played by Evelyn Keyes and tagged "Julie Benson," in a biographical film. Irt real life, after the parting from Jolson, Miss Keeler married a non-pro and has been living quietly since then near Santa Barbara. She received $15,000 from Columbia for the clearances which permitted the similarities in the film to actual events in her and Jolson's life. William Morris agency handled the deal for her. She is very sympathetically portrayed as a gal who accepted many personal disappointments (despite her pro- fessional success) because of her husband's apparent preference for enter- ■ taining over the home life she desired. Interstate Theatres, Texas, commemorating its 40th anniversary la.st week with a specially printed private edition called "40 Years of Community Service" and dedicated to founder Karl Hoblitzelle. ' Book outlines the career of Hoblitzelle and the history of the circuit, with insert boxes containing short tributes from Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Jones, John Nance Garner, Governor Coke Stevens and others. Bob O'Dottnell did the intro. Hush-hush orders were issued to all department heads at RICO by N. Peter Rathvon, studio chief, "as a precaution against false rumors and reports." To prevent unauthorized leaks, all announcements must be made officially through the publicity department. Part of the dredded false reports have to do with studio shakeups. Beginning with "Hit Parade of 1947," all future Republic musicals will contain at least one tune with Spanistt lyrics for the Latin-American trade. Stunt was tested in Roy Rogers and Monte Hale westerns and created favorable comment south of the border. ni. UTO Would Campaign For End of the 20% Tax Chicago, Sept. 24. Exhibitors and others in the indus- try were told to begin moulding public opinion against the 20% Fed- eral admission tax, which is to con- tinue until six months after the war Officially ends, by Edward G. Zorn, prez. of United Theatre Owners' of As part of the celebration of the 40th anni of the Interstate Circuit, Don Hinga, news editor of the Houston Chronicle, has authored a brief history Of Karl Hoblitzelle's contribution to Texas show business. Book has been published as a limited edition. Illinois, at a convention attended by more than 7S southern Illinois exhibs in Springfield last week. Zorn said the problem should be approached on a national level and that the industry should not dupli- cate the fiasco when the tax was first imposed and the exhib organizations ran in all direction at the same time, everyone with a different opinion and no one knowing exactly what he wanted. ' Speaking of the future, Zorn pre- dicted "the worst theatre building boom conceivable" as soon as build- ing material and supplies are avail- able and auction selling is ]rnpo.«r,|' upon the industry. Among those present at the metil- ing held in the Abrahapi Lincoln hotel were John Balaban, Henry Stickelmaier of Great Lakes Thea- tres, Allen Usher, Par district man- ager; Harold Stevens, Par branch- manager; Tom Gilliam, 20th-FO3t branch ■ manager, and Bill Devaney, assist, resident manager of Metro, all of c:hi.