Boxoffice-April.17.1948

Raichle
British Withdraw Plans
For State Film Bank
LONEKDN — The British government has
abandoned its plans for a state film bank
because of the difficulty of guaranteeing delivery
of completed product, according to
Harold Wilson, president of the board of
trade. Speaking before the Ass'n of Cinematograph
Technicians, Wilson assured the
group that the British tax settlement specifically
provides that American production
in England shall not go beyond the limits
of fair competition and shall not harm
existing film interests here.
Wilson reported that about $1,000,000 from
British film earnings in the U.S. last year
will be remitted. He said British films earned
$4,000,000 in America, but most of the revenue
was invested in the U.S.
Altliough the film bank has been ruled
out, Wilson intimated that the government
may arrange to provide financial aid for
qualified independent producers. The proposal
for government-owned studios still is
under consideration, he said, but any action
on this would not be taken in the immediate
future, he said.
He advised both management and labor to
avoid "restrictive practices." He told the
group that current unemployment in the industry
is a temporary condition due to the
film tax problem and will be ironed out as
soon as the settlement agreement goes into
effect.
'Arch' Benefit Opening
For Overseas Aid of UN
NEW YORK—A benefit opening of
"Arch
of Triumph" will be held at the Globe Theatre
April 19 for the "Crusade for Children"
of American Overseas Aid-United Nations
Appeal for Children. The benefit, which will
precede public opening April 20, will be the
major event of the New York City campaign
of AOA-UNAC, of which Spyros P. Skouras
is general chairman.
Mrs. Douglas Gibbons is chairman of the
benefit committee and Mrs. Marian Averell
Dougherty, vice-president of the American
Aid to France, Inc., is vice-chairman. Mrs.
Orvil E. Dryfoos is chairman of the junior
committee. Tickets for the benefit will be
priced at $10 and $5.
Richard Collins Is Dead;
Was Veteran at Capitol
NEW YORK—A requiem high mass was
held at St. Agnew church, Monday (12), for
Richard Collins, 55, assistant manager at the
Capitol Theatre. He died after an Illness of
.several weeks. Interment was at the Long
Island National Cemetery. Farmingdale, L. I.
Collins is survived by his wife and two children,
Richard and William.
Collins had been with the Capitol for 26
years. He started in 1922 as an usher. In
1933 he was appointed assistant manager.
French Newsreel for TV
NEW YORK—The French newsreel, "Les
Actualites Prancaises," will be integrated with
American newscasts for television showings
according to A. F. Films, American distributor.
Six video stations have contracted for
the weekly one-reel film, which contains
eight to 12 subjects dealing with current
events In continental Europe and Africa.
Untrue Figures Necessary,
Buffalo Rivoli Head Says
BUFFALO—Tax statements listing
the late
Nicholas J. Basil as vice-president of the
Rivoli Operating Corp. were produced in U.S.
district court here by the corporation's president,
Stanley Kozanowski. Attorney Edward
C. Raferty requested the statements after
Kozanowski had denied that Basil was ever
an officer of the corporation.
The Rivoli Corp., which operates the Rivoli
Theatre, is suing 11 motion picture producers,
distributors and exhibitors for allegedly
conspiring to prevent it from getting
first run pictures on an equal basis with
the Roosevelt, which is operated by Shea
interests.
Kozanowski said that he employed Basil,
operator of "six or eight" neighborhood theatres
in 1934 to book pictures for him. He
said that as an independent he had difficulty
booking pictures in competition with
circuits.
SOME STATEMENTS INCORRECT
On another occasion, Kozanowski admitted
he prepared and submitted false statements
to Paramount Pictures, and Loew's, two of
the defendants in the $3,000,000 damage suit.
The statements, submitted at the request
of the distributors, purported to show the
gross receipts obtained by the Rivoli from
the showing of certain pictures. From this
statement of gross income the amount of
rental paid to the distributor or the amount
of adjustment to which the theatre was entitled
if the picture was not a success was
determined.
Frank G. Raichle, attorney for four of
the defendants, asked Kozanowski on crossexamination:
"When you submitted these false statements,
it was your purpose, wasn't it. to cheat
the distributors out of their rental to which
they were entitled?"
"I had to do it to break even and exist,"
Kozanowski responded.
"Did you submit false statements to all
HONORED—Ingrid Bergman receives
from President Harry Truman the certificate
of achievement awarded her by
the Women's National Press club in
Washington as "Outstanding Actress of
1947." Miss Bergman recently completed
tlie title role in "Joan of Arc" for RKO
release.
of the defendants from time to time or just
"
to some of them? asked.
"Those that treated me decent, I treated
decent," Kozanowski answered.
"Name one of the defendants to whom you
never submitted a false statement."
"I couldn't do that without reference to
the books." Kozanowski said.
Kozanowski also admitted that he reported
$340.45 as his gross income for the showing
of "After Office Hours" May 19 and 20, 1935.
The actual gross, as shown on his books,
was $595.45, he said.
IN WRONG COLUMN
Under direct examination, Kozanowski
testified that he wrote to the major distributors
in April 1939, advising them that
unless the Rivoli obtained some first run
pictures in the neighborhood it would go to
court to protect its rights.
At one time during the trial, Kozanowski
admitted that expenditure for the upkeep of
buildings other than the Rivoli Theatre were
listed in the miscellaneous account of the
Rivoli Operating Corp. He said that such expenditures
were listed "by mistake." He said
also that the upkeep of a cemetery lot was
listed under miscellaneous expenses but that
he did not remember whether legal fees for
title searches on other buildings also were
listed as theatre expense.
Papers and books pertaining to theatre
operation from 1930 to 1935 were burned accidentally
with other papers found in the attic
of the family home after the death of
his mother, he testified. He said pages missing
from a theatre ledger were not burned
at that time but were lost during some family
litigation in surrogate's court.
A false statement of operating expenses
was submitted to the 20th Century-Fox Film
Corp. in 1944, Kozanowski admitted "in hopes
of getting some reduction on pictures.
Kozanowski said actual rent for the theatre,
listed on the operating statement as
$300 a week, was $250. Although the operating
statement listed wages for a stagehand,
the theatre did not employ one, he admitted.
FAVORED ROOSEVELT THEATRE
During the theatrical seasons of 1933
through 1935 when the Roosevelt Theatre
was operated by the Jacob Rosing interests,
the product of six major motion picture distributors
and producers was divided between
the Roosevelt and Rivoli, according to Kozanowski.
However, during the theatrical seasons of
1930 through 1933 and the season of 1935
through 1938, when the Shea interests and
Paramount Pictures operated the Roosevelt,
Kozanowski said the same six companies sold
all of their pictures to the Roosevelt ahead
of the Rivoli.
The six companies named were Paramount,
Loew's, RKO, 20th-Fox. WB and UA.
Two companies, Columbia and Universal,
sold exclusively to the Rivoli during the
entire period covered in testimony, Kozanowski
said. All eight companies, with Buffalo
Theatres, Inc., Warner Bros. Pictures Distributing
Corp. and the Broad-Rose Corp.,
which operates the Roosevelt, are defendants
in the suit.
BOXOFFICE :: April 17, 1948 N 43