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'PuUc ^C€it4<br />
Johnston 'No' to Arnall<br />
Is a Definite One<br />
Joyce O'Hara, MPAA executive, says proposed<br />
debate will not be held; heckling and<br />
feuding okay for electioneering, but not for<br />
boxoffice, he answers new SIMPP president.<br />
dirty linen over the airwaves or on the front pages of newspapers.<br />
Nor are we assured betterment of conditions by putting<br />
our private necks into legislative nooses.<br />
There already<br />
are enough laws on the statute books to take care of every ill<br />
of which the industry has ever had cause for complaint—laws<br />
that apply to others as well. But, if there is caused to be enacted<br />
special legislation that will put this industry under the<br />
rule of some governmental commission, it will bring a sad<br />
awakening.<br />
The current government case may not settle all of the<br />
intra-industry disputes. It may even be the spawning ground<br />
for new ones. But it will settle some of the problems. Those<br />
remaining, it is to be hoped, can be settled vdthin the industry's<br />
own house and by and among its own people. The growing<br />
acceptance of the conciliation program which has been<br />
advanced in the industry would seem to be proof that this is<br />
the most desirable way to resolve trade differences. Failing<br />
in this manner and through these efforts, there still vnW be<br />
recourse through the courts. But, looking back over the more<br />
than ten years that the industry has been in the courts, it<br />
would seem the better part of wisdom to stay out of them<br />
as much as possible.<br />
A meeting of production, distribution and exhibition factors<br />
is expected to take place in Hollywood within the next few<br />
weeks. This conference affords opportunity for round-table<br />
discussions which could lead to the setting up of a constructive,<br />
cooperative program looking to advancement of the industry<br />
on all fronts.<br />
In the three-point plan which Eric Johnston announced<br />
soon after he assumed the presidency of the Motion Picture<br />
Producers Ass'n, he projected the idea of a Motion Picture Institute<br />
which would be a sort of unifying body incorporating<br />
all of the industry's various segments. Recent developments<br />
and present conditions as well as the foreseeable future emphasize<br />
the need for such a setup.<br />
To properly organize it and to put the machinery into successful<br />
operation, the various components would have to submerge<br />
self,-interest and take the broader view of industry-wide<br />
welfare. If that hurdle can be maneuvered, the industry will<br />
be on solid ground in a live-together, work-together era that<br />
will be marked with continuing progress.<br />
\j€-u^<br />
UA May Start Financing<br />
Independent Producers<br />
Plan under discussion among directors and<br />
Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin as result<br />
of guarantees against losses sought by<br />
some banks.<br />
-K<br />
Projectionist Files Action<br />
Against Theatre, Union<br />
Louis G. Havens of Detroit seeks to get his<br />
job back at the Pine Arts Theatre and to<br />
force lATSE Local 199 to admit him to membership.<br />
Sullivan, Lachman Named<br />
Brotherhood Co-Chairmen<br />
Ned E. Depinet picks TOA and New Jersey<br />
Allied executives to head national exhibitors'<br />
committee for annual weekly observance<br />
in February.<br />
Pessimists Overplay Hands,<br />
Says Wall Street Writer<br />
C. F. Morgan, in Wall Streei magazine,<br />
says heavy writeoffs of inventories in 1948<br />
probably will improve stock prices and the<br />
outlook for 1949.<br />
+<br />
Mayor of Binghamton Vetoes<br />
5 Per Cent Amusement Tax<br />
The measure, recently passed by the city<br />
council, represents the first move by a state<br />
municipality to take advantage of ticket tax<br />
provision at last session of Albany legislature.<br />
*<br />
AMPP and Screen Extras<br />
Agree on New Contract<br />
Five-year pact announced jointly by the<br />
Screen Extras Guild and the Ass'n of Motion<br />
Picture Producers provides for keeping present<br />
basic daily rates of $15.56 and $22.23.<br />
Sons of Liberty Withdra'ws<br />
Boycott of British Films<br />
Action taken after letter from N. J.<br />
Blumberg,<br />
U-I president, clarifying fact that funds<br />
earned by British films in the U.S. are retained<br />
by American film industry here.<br />
"Best Years of Our Lives'<br />
Voted Top British Hit<br />
Samuel Goldwyn's production picked as<br />
best of U.S. films by English exhibitors in<br />
1948; "Courtneys of Curzon Street" voted<br />
best British film.
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