Variety (March 1959)

Wednesday, March 4, 1959 yAftlETY PICTlJItKS FEAR BIZ-TAX SPREE BY STATES Tax Bureau Courts Sympathy [VIA EXPLANATORY FILM] The Internal Revenue Service, never the most popular of the Government agencies, has produced its first film in an effort to acquaint the public with the behind-the-scenes details of tax col¬ lecting. The 28-minute, partly animated documentary is called “Since The Beginning Of Time.” It .cost $48,000 to produce. Written and directed by Gene Starbecker, the film was shot in color and 35m. It’ll be made available gratis to such theatres as may wish to book it, television stations, civic groups and schools, according to Charles Lammond, tv and radio officer of the Inter¬ nal Revenue Service who coordinated the project. According to Lammond, the Service is ordering between six and 10 color 35m prints, 100 16m tint copies and 300 to 400 black-and- white 16m prints. This is the first time the Service has used the film medium on “the outside.” Films have been used within the offices for training purposes. Aim is to have the documentary shown as widely as possible in the six remaining weeks before the income tax filing deadline on April 15. Arrangements are set t^ change or update the film in future years, if this becomes necessary, I.e. if procedure or personnel change. With this revision, Lammond figured the picture may be good for five years. He was frank in saying he didn’t think that many theatres, with their “captive” audiences, would go for the subject. Robert Fenwick directed the animation sequences which, in humorous fashion, trace the history of taxes and provide a frame for the live action. Latter is devoted to showing how the tax re¬ turns are processed, coupled with a warning that there's no get¬ ting away with anything. Photography is well handled._•_ Success Shorts ‘Mame’ Prints: WB Tells Judge It Services Best Customers First—Trade Watches Sol Fisher Action for Precedent SUPREME COURT Minneapolis, March 3. Circuit owner Sol Fisher lost his district court action to en¬ join Warner Bros, here from releasing “Auntie Mame” to seven of this city’s 11 sub¬ sequent - run neighborhood houses, but not his. He now speaks of suing for damages. Following the filing of briefs and their study by district court Judge Paul Jaroscak, a decision is ex¬ pected this week in circuit owner Sol Fisher’s suit to enjoin Warner Bros, here from releasing “Auntie Mame” to seven of the city’s 11 neighborhood subsequent - run houses in the earliest clearance slot, 28 days, until two of his own uptown theatres among the 11 are served. Warner Bros, has only seven prints and it divided up the city into two sections, east and west of the Mississippi river which runs through Minneapolis. The four 28- day houses not getting the picture are east of the river. It so happens that the seven west of it include those with the largest grossing po¬ tentials. If Judge Jaroscak denies the in¬ junction and “Auntie Mame” plays the seven theatres where it has been booked day and date. Fisher says he’ll bring a damage sr./ against Warner Brothers. The action is believed to be the first of its kind ever brought in the industry. It is expected to deter¬ mine how much freedom a dis¬ tributor possesses in selling his pictures and if he can disregard clearance setups in certain in¬ stances in favor of exhibitors who will provide him with the most film rental. R. W. Johnson, attorney for War¬ ner Bros, here, stated in his brief that the success of “Auntie Mame” has caused a national shortage of - prints and that Art Anderson, local • branch manager, had obtained as many of them as possible, but not enough to go around so that all 11 of the local 28-day houses can play the picture day and date. The sev¬ en ones to which the available prints have been allotted are scheduled to open with it day and date tomorrow (4) and will do so if the injunction isn’t issued. Johnson pointed out that the priority in distributing any film is based on the various theatres’ grossing potential. Explaining that boxoffice receipts determine the exchange’s film rental income, ne explained it’s to Warner Bros.' in¬ terest to “serve best customers first." “This is a business decision War¬ ner Bros, has a right to make,” de¬ clared Johnson. “Traditionally, the seven theatres that will be getting (Continued on page 16) Improved Palace Proj. Significant steps reportedly have been taken to improve the quality of the projection at the RKO Palace, N.Y. Improvements were made under the direction of Earl I. Sponable, 20th-Fox’s engineering chief, in preparation for the opening ' of 20th’s “Diary of Anne Frank.” Arthur L. Mayer and wife on Peruvian holiday. East’s Publicists Draw Mediation In 2Dth-Fox Tiff The stalemate in the negotia¬ tions between the N.Y. Screen Pub¬ licists Guild and 20th-Fox has re¬ sulted In the entry of Commission¬ er J. R. Mandelbaum of the Fed¬ eral Mediation Service. The Gov¬ ernment official has met separately with representatives of the pub-ad union and 20th. Another meeting between the union and the film company Is scheduled for tomor-l row (Thurs.L 1 The deadlock resulted from 20th’s flat turndown of the Guild’s effort to obtain w’age parity with Coast publicists for easterners do¬ ing the same work. Senior publi¬ cists in east receive a minimum of $140.50 while their Coast coun¬ terparts get S210. As part of the current talks, under a wage re- (Continued on page 10) Washington, March 3. Some pessimistic trade associa¬ tion observers here see the possi¬ bility of needy states going on a taxing binge at the expense of im¬ portant segments of the entertain¬ ment industry as well as many other businesses in interstate com¬ merce. Congressmen and lawyers are still trying to digest fully the significance of last Tuesday’s (24) Supreme Court decision which gave states the right to levy taxes on “foreign” (out-of-state) corpora¬ tions for the calculated net income derived inside their state borders. A top attorney for National Assn, of Manufacturers said * that “the outer limits” of the decision’s im¬ pact haven’t been defined. But he opined that absentee film distribu¬ tors, jukebox, radio and tv set man¬ ufacturers and possibly other phases of the entertainment indus¬ try may have to shell out more tax dollars. Some 35 states now have cor¬ poration income taxes* but only five —California, Louisiana, Georgia, IViinnesota and Oregon—are trying to levy them on firms not incor¬ porated within their borders. Su¬ preme Court, by a 4-3 vote, upheld ■ income taxes on out-of-state cor¬ porations enacted by Georgia and Minnesota. With the way apparently clear, other states may -launch bids for a slice of the new tax pie. Legis¬ latures in many states are now in session. Taking the dimmest, view pos¬ sible, if all the states enacted in¬ come taxes on absentee corpora¬ tions, some firms might find it less expensive to refrain from carry¬ ing their business across statelines. Theoretically, it’s possible for a corporation to get socked for more Theatremen Live by Obsolete Credo; 'Who’s In It?’ Is Meaningless If Pic Not Well Made, Sez Willie Wyler Sebe Miller’s 41 Years Dallas, March 3. Fellow employees of the 20lh Century-Fox southwestern district headquarters here turned out at the Variety . Club last Friday to pay tribute to W. S. (Sebe) Miller on his last day of service with the or¬ ganization. Miller, sales manager for the district office here has been with the company for 41 years, all in Dallas. The fellow workers pre¬ sented Miller with a fishing rod and reel. Also at the luncheon were Mil¬ ler’s wife and his son, W. S. Miller Jr., who is in the film biz as assist¬ ant branch manager here for Walt Disney Productions. Lider to Disney: Your‘Beauty’ Plan’s Beastly Walt Disney is charged with “deserting” his regular exhibitor customers and “disappointing mil¬ lions of his little fans in every town and village” by limiting the The picture business and its fi¬ nancial backers would do better “if they banked on serious film¬ makers rather than on star per¬ sonalities,” William Wyler con¬ tends. Just back from a year in Rome, where he directed Metro’s re-make of “Ben-Hur,” Wyler complained that it was frequently difficult for topnotch creative directors, pro¬ ducers and writers to obtain ap¬ proval and financial support for a particular project while certain performers are given carte blanche on any film they want to make. “It’s the creative elements that determine the success of a pic¬ ture,” Wyler maintains. “People will not go to theatres just to see stars. They’ll go to see the stars if the picture is a good one.” Wyler criticized exhibitors for continuing the “who’s in it?” phi- losouhy. He noted, for example, that in Europe filmmakers obtained fi¬ nancial support from distributors and exhibitors on the basis of their own creative ability and not on who will be in the picture. An ex¬ perienced picture-maker, Wyler said, will do his best to cast a pic¬ ture well. Although Wyler feels that per¬ formers as well as creative film¬ makers deserve as much coin as ; they can get, he contends that ‘ some stars are getting “far in ex¬ cess of what their worth” in com- . parison to the contributions of producers, directors and writers. The industry and financiers, Wyler added, “seem to think a star is a guarantee of security. I" that’s exhibition of his current VSleeptag the/re out of Such eauiDDed*theatres! 70 ' n , with the pubiic. The public doesn't equipped theatres. ■; g 0 t 0 fii ms an y more just to see Registering the beef is Edward stars.” than 100% of its income via the, W. Lider, president of Independent Wyler returned to the Coast state corporate levies. . (Exhibitors and Drive-In Assn, of Thursday (26) to begin supervision This arises from fact that states; New' England, an Allied States 0 f the editing and scoring job on could apply widely varying formu- j Assn, affiliate. Lider contends that “Ben-Hur.” He estimated that if las in determining how much a Disney got “where he is today” be- the picture had been made in certain outfit should pay. One state j cause he has concentrated on the : Hollywood, it would have cost at could put the weight on the per-j mass market, reaching the masses least $7,000,000 more, centage of sales, another on tan- j through a mass playoff on his new , After completing his assignment gible property and still another on j pictures and reissues at low admis- ! on “Hur,” Wyler said he would go payroll within a state as compered: s j on prices. Disney, he says in es- ; off on a long vacation. He does not sence, could always be depended ; plan to launch any new r projects upon to furnish theatres with a fea-! until late in 1960. with the firm’s national total. Moreover, an outfit in interstate commerce might be confronted with the necessity of multiplying his legal and clerical staff many- fold to cope with a different tax law in every state it does business. Congress may be asked to do something about it. NAM is not hiding its concern. But opinion varies widely as to w r hat Congress can do. Some key legislator think it’s constitutionally impossible either tUre during no-school weeks. Now', the New England theatreman com¬ plains, “we cannot touch Disney One sure thing—he has deserted, us, his regular customers, for the ! new' ones, the 70m houses, and j more important, he has deserted us i at a time when we needed him { most. There just isn’t a no-school f picture around and darned few l good films with the pre-selling of to strip the states of its power to j slee P ln g Beauty, enact such taxes (states’ righters Lider wonders if Disney has let would block this anyway), or to J the public down “by trying to erect require that a uniform formula : a monument to himself” via the be used throughout the nation, j 90c to $1.50 admission in the spe- Other Congressmen believe that: cial 70m engagements. “How'great the latter action could—and should it would have been,” says Lider, —be taken. (Continued on page 14) Uncluttering The Cinerama Federation Of Dispersed Fights —Reeves ’ Purpose Cinerama Inc., the patent hold¬ ing company, has virtually com¬ pleted negotiations with Stanley Warner Corp, whereby, it will take over Stanley chain’s full interest in Cinerama. Still to be resolved is the position of Cinerama Pro¬ ductions Corp. The latter company originally held the license right to the medium and turned it over to SW for a percentage of the profits, acting only as a collection agency. In order for Cinerama Inc., headed by Hazard Reeves, to gain full and free control of the pro¬ duction and exhibition rights to the medium, it must find a way to eliminate Cinerama Productions Corp. Cinerama Inc. can accom¬ plish this either by acquiring the shares of Cinerama Productions now held by Stanley or arranging a merger with the latter company. It appears likely thaf the Reeves outfit w'ill follow both courses in order to eliminate completely any outside interest in the medium. For a merger to be arranged be¬ tween the two Cinerama compa¬ nies, some sort of stock exchange will have to'be resolved. Cinerama Productions is an over-the-counter security now selling at about while Cinerama Inc., is traded on the American Exchange for a price of about 6. Dept, of Justice When the stock of Cinerama Inc. and Cinerama Productions w r ere almost equal in value, at about 3, SW—which held a large block of Cinerama Inc. stock—of¬ fered Cinerama Productions share¬ holders the opportunity to make a share-for-share swap. As a re¬ sult, Stanley was able to accum- mulate approximately 750,000 shares of Cinerama Productions. This enabled the theatre chain to live up to its agreement with the Dept, of Justice which required it to dispose of its interests in the patent-holding company. Since Stanley made the share- for-share swap, the value of the Cinerama Inc. stock has increased, due mainly to the $12,000,000 loan from the Prudential Insurance Co. and $3,000,000 f r o m private sources for an expansion program. It seems likely therefore that any exchange of Cinerama Inc. and Cinerama Productions shares will have to be on a different basis, perhaps involving a three for five sw r ap. In current negotiations. Cinera¬ ma Inc. is seekmg to acquire all j that pictures made in t>e process as, gambling well as the. leases re , v b-'id on ; late Colonial Im\ Green Acres and (Continued on page 16) 1 the Little Palm Club. Miami Beach Cops Raid Film Houses; Charge Fix Corrupt Youth Morals Miami Beach, March 3. Police here arrested the owner of a south Miami Beach film house Saturday (28) following the last showing of a double-feature bill, which, they charged, tended to “corrupt the morals of youth.” Booked on the charge was Variety Theatre operator Martin Kaplan. The police action followed a statement carried in the local press, by Beach Councilman Melvin Richard, who insisted a double- feature bill “Count Five & Die” and “Unashamed”—a nudist colony film—was attracting patrons of Student age, even though the ad¬ vertising for the bill was top- slugged “Adults Only.” Police say they picked up two boys, 15 and 16, at the last show¬ ings on Saturday night. They said scenes contained in the pictures in¬ cluded a bedroom shot with “flag¬ rant suggestion” and swimming pool setting in which the players indulged in “passionate embraces” as well as other “seductive poses.” This is believed to be first ar¬ rest of its kind in this city. Coun¬ cilman Richard, who represents a reform faction, included the at¬ tack on the Variety theatre bill during one of his regular blasts on gambling, loose morals and crime. He was one of the leading partici¬ pants in the Kefauver Committee investigations some years ago, that helped to break up the bookmak¬ ing syndicate on Miami Beach and brcurj.it : \ l a .o rue i as the