Boxoffice-January.07.1950
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20th<br />
Jersey Allied Unit<br />
Will Act on Taxes<br />
NEW YORK—New Jersey Allied will take<br />
action on the current battle for elimination<br />
of admission taxes at a meeting to be held in<br />
Trenton January 30. A full report from<br />
Abram F. Myers is expected on the activities<br />
of the legislation and taxation committee of<br />
COMPO.<br />
Alleged forcing of pictures will be another<br />
topic for discussion. Members have reported<br />
that some companies not included among the<br />
defendants in the antitrust case are tying<br />
sales of one picture to another in some instances.<br />
They have been notified that this<br />
practice is illegal for all companies and have<br />
been requested to report each violation to the<br />
unit's headquarters.<br />
A television analysis showing the effect of<br />
TV on boxoffice receipts in the New Jersey<br />
area is to be presented at the January 30<br />
meeting.<br />
Members have been told that "Jolson Sings<br />
Again" is now being sold by Columbia at less<br />
than 60 per cent, but the latest bulletin says<br />
members are refusing to make deals at the<br />
reduced rate of 50 per cent.<br />
Rhode Island Exhibitors<br />
Launch Paralysis Drive<br />
PROVIDENCE—Gov. Pastori of Rhode Island<br />
paid tribute to the industry for its contribution<br />
to many causes at a luncheon of the<br />
Theatre Owners of Rhode Island January 5<br />
at the Hotel Narragansett, with Edward M.<br />
Fay, president, presiding. One hundred attended.<br />
The occasion was the opening of the<br />
state campaign in behalf of the National<br />
Foundation of Infantile Paralysis.<br />
Gael Sullivan, TOA executive director, made<br />
a plea for support of the excise tax repeal<br />
campaign. Herman M. Levy, TOA general<br />
counsel, said that if distributors insist on<br />
competitive bidding, there must be equitable<br />
rules set up to govern it and that it must not<br />
be used as a device for increased rentals.<br />
Variety Club New Year's<br />
Eve Show on Television<br />
NEW YORK—Three National Broadcasting<br />
Co. television cameras telecast the New Year's<br />
eve celebration at the Variety Club, relaying<br />
to the public the entertainment staged there<br />
just before midnight. S. J. Kaufman, playwright,<br />
staged the affair which featured Paul<br />
Winchell and his dummy and included introductions<br />
of many Broadway and motion picture<br />
celebrities. There also was a supper and<br />
dancing. A capacity crowd attended.<br />
Samuel Marcovici Dies<br />
NEW YORK—Samuel Marcovici, 76, an exhibitor<br />
50 years, died December 29 at his<br />
home in Brooklyn. He was part owner of the<br />
Williamsburg Playhouse, Brooklyn, which is<br />
managed by his son Howard, and a member<br />
of ITOA of New York. Besides the son, his<br />
widow and two daughters survive.<br />
Myers Seeks Rein on New<br />
State Ticket Tax Plans<br />
Salvation Army Campaign<br />
Is Started with Rally<br />
NEW YORK—The Salvation Army started<br />
preliminaries to its 70th anniversary 1950<br />
drive for $1,292,000, the New York quota, at<br />
a rally in the Astor hotel Wednesday (4i.<br />
Theatre members of the MMPTA have agreed<br />
to show the campaign trailer again this year<br />
and it is expected ITOA members also will<br />
do so. The campaign will start January 30<br />
and run through February 4.<br />
At the Wednesday rally Edward McCaffrey,<br />
license commissioner: Leo Breoher,<br />
amusement division chairman, who is president<br />
of the MMPTA, and D. John Phillips,<br />
vice-chairman, sat on the dais. Part of the<br />
rally program was broadcast over WJZ. A<br />
group of well known stage and screen stars<br />
and several Broadway columnists took part<br />
in the program.<br />
'Battleground' National<br />
Release Date Is Jan. 20<br />
NEW YORK—MGM has set January 20<br />
as the national release date for "Battleground,"<br />
which has concluded its eighth<br />
week at the Astor Theatre. It has also been<br />
playing special engagements in Los Angeles,<br />
Miami Beach, Cleveland, St. Louis, Phoenix<br />
and Atlanta. The company said that about<br />
a week after its national release date it will<br />
be playing in practically every key city.<br />
'Treason' Into 450 Spots<br />
NEW YORK—"Guilty of Ti-eason" (EL)<br />
has been booked into 450 key houses in the<br />
New England and Ohio territories, with close<br />
to 100 additional bookings expected shortly,<br />
according to William J. Heineman, vicepresident<br />
in charge of distribution. Herb<br />
Drake and Ed Dowden are handling the highbudget<br />
exploitation work on the picture, with<br />
more men to be assigned immediately.<br />
WASHINGTON—Opening the industrywide<br />
battle against state and local boxoffice<br />
levies which might result once the federal<br />
tax is repealed, Abram F. Myers, chairman<br />
of the COMPO committee on taxation, called<br />
upon Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York<br />
Friday (6i to disavow any plan to impose<br />
a new tax on film admissions.<br />
Stressing that the Supreme Court in 1948<br />
held motion pictures deserving of the protection<br />
of the first amendment, Myers told<br />
Dewey he felt certain Dewey would not seek<br />
to put a discriminatory tax on newspapers.<br />
By the same reasoning, he said, a tax on<br />
film admissions is discriminatory.<br />
He declared that the film industry in New<br />
York state and elsewhere is already bearing<br />
a heavy burden of taxation, "but it bitterly<br />
resents, and invokes its constitutional right<br />
to protest being singled out for discriminatory<br />
treatment."<br />
He urged Dewey to persist in fighting for<br />
repeal of the federal admissions tax because<br />
it is an evil in itself, not simply so that a<br />
state levy can be substituted.<br />
Myers' letter followed several days in which<br />
hope for early congressional action to lift<br />
the federal tax dimmed. Senate Democrats<br />
decided not to support any effort to lift the<br />
tax which was not part of an overall tax revision<br />
plan. This means months of delay.<br />
F*i-esident Truman promised to send Congress<br />
a special message on taxes shortly, and<br />
all action on the excises is probably to be held<br />
up until it is received, except for continued<br />
Republican urging that the excises be cut.<br />
Max Goltz, 80, Dies<br />
DALLAS—Max Goltz, 80, father of Joseph<br />
C. Goltz, foreign sales manager for Eagle<br />
Lion in New York, died of a heart attack at<br />
his home here Thursday ( 5 1 . The son arrived<br />
by plane for the funeral. The survivors are<br />
Mrs. Max Goltz, two other sons and two<br />
daughters.<br />
Two 'Whirlpool' Openings<br />
NEW YORK—"Whirlpool" 1 -Fox i wiU<br />
open simultaneously January 13 at the Roxy<br />
Theatre here and the Oriental in Chicago,<br />
according to Andy W. Smith jr., general sales<br />
manager.<br />
BON VOYAGE—Mr. and Mrs. Louis W. Schine, Gloversville, N. Y., held a bon<br />
voyage party on the Queen Mary following the wedding of their daughter Dorene to<br />
Ross Rigier of Gloversville. The newlyweds sailed for a six-week visit in England and<br />
on the continent. Pictured above: Mr. and Mrs. J. Myer Schine, Mr. and Mrs. Louis<br />
Schine. the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Jules Higier. The picture was taken on the deck<br />
of the ocean liner.<br />
BOXOFFICE January 7, 1950 N 31