PONDERS TAFT-HARTLEY WAL

proved
5
'
Keystone Assembly
Session Roundup
I
Continued from preceding page)
denies picketing to nonemployes of a struck
plant: requires labor unions to file financial
reports; makes merit rating system permanent
in unemployment compensation payments,
and reduces mmimum tax on employers
from 1 per cent to one-half of 1 per cent.
Per capita, personal property and mercantile
taxes provided for the Pittsburgh board
of education: new state taxes on soft drinks
and higher taxes on beer, cigarettes and corporations
authorized for this purpose; 1 cent
emergency gasoline tax re-enacted; Pittsburgh
real estate taxes frozen at present
rates.
New department of parks and recreation
established for Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh parking
authority created to construct and operate
parking garages.
Small employers allowed to combine to
establish trust funds for the purpose of insuring
employes.
Women permitted to work as long as 48
hours a week in industry: women to receive
equal pay for equal work in industry, with
exception that employer may consider such
factors as skills and seniority.
First approval given for 500 million dollar
bonus bond i.ssue; recognized veteran organizations
exempted from quota law restricting
new liquor licenses.
Appropriation of 135 million dollars for
next two years for public assistance.
AMUSEMENT MEASURES DEFEATED
Numerous acts were deloaled in the 1947 sessinn
of the legiflialur**, which considered more than 2,200
bills Amonq those defeated were acts to:
Tax gross receipts from amusement places.
Tax admissions (lour dillerent measures).
Prohibit sales ol tickets in excess of sealing capacity
(two measures).
Authorize charges lor borough services and facilities
Empower school districts to levy assessments
Impose a slate lax upon the privileoo of attending
or engaging in amusements, including every
form of nnlorlainment. diversion, sport, recreation
and pastime.
Empower all cities, boroughs, towns and townships
to impose direct amusement taxes.
Regulate outdoor advertising
Require public toilets and urinals to be selfflushing
or flushed by foot instead of by hand
Regulate manufacture and distribution ol candy
and other confections.
Regulate parking near all places of amusement.
Prohibit increase or decrease of fees of admission
to places of amusement because ol evening,
Sunday or holiday hours (two acts)
Standardlie eastern standard time (two acts).
Provide for the safely of persons employed or
assembled In motion picture theatres.
Make a parent or parents liable lor the willful
and malicious acts of minors.
Tax vending machines by slate license
Exempt lolevlnlon exhibitions from provisions of
the liquor control act requiring special permits
(two measures)
Levy a borough tox.
Levy a borough amusement lax lor general revenue
purposes
Provide referondumt lor Sunday baseball and
football games
Place a slate tax on coin-operated amusement
machines and devices
Create a division ol radio and audio-visual education
and establish a slate frequency modulation
radio network
Prohibit the selling and reselling of tickets or
other devices for admission to daces of amusement
onH licensing ticket agents (Note A similar measure
was passrd )
Prohibit discriminatory omplovment practices and
policies based upon rncr^ color, creed, national
origin or oncenlory {nix m^ar.iirfis)
Legislation approving taxing powers on the
local level was the "next to clo.slng" act of
the Keystone lawmakers, who went far beyond
the adtournment deadline. Pinal action
was an •'after-thought" measure increasing
their salaries by $2,400 a blennlum, equivalent
86
to a wage increase of $100 a month. Present
pay is $3,000 for the session.
Three hundred acts have been signed into
law by Gov. James H. Duff, who holds that
the broadened tax plan will avert further
burdens on real estate. Eight of the ten
"Pittsburgh Package" measures became law.
Teachers were granted salary increases.
Churches were given permission to exhibit
religious films on Sundays regardless of the
Sunday motion picture act of 1935, which requires
community approval for commercial
exhibitions.
Amusement brokers were licensed for sale
and resale of admission tickets.
Tri-States lATSE Meets,
Retires W. A. McCoy
UNIONTOWN, PA.—Tlie 24th annual
meeting of the Tristate Ass'n, lATSE &
MPMO, will be hosted by the Charleroi-
Monessen local 628, delegates to the 23rd
meeting here June 15 determined. Lawrence
J. Katz presided, and principal speaker was
John B. Fitzgerald. Cleveland, international
representative. Thirty-five local unions of
western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and
West Virginia participated. W. A. McClay.
of Uniontown, Tristate Ass'n secretary-treasurer
for 15 years, was retired, and F. P. Mc-
Coy, secretary of the New Kensington-Tarentum
Local 444, received a popular vote as
successor.
Wildcat Strike of Drivers
Cuts Off Film Deliveries
PITTSBURGH — Over-the-highway
film
service w-as interrupted Monday when drivers
for the Exhibitors Service Co. walked out
in a wildcat strike. No strike had been
promised June 21 by Cockey O'Toole, steward
of local 211, AFL Teamsters union. The
Griffith service, Johnstown, was stopped.
Theatre owners were coming into the film
market to pick up their shows. The strikers
demand a 25-cent-per-hour increa.se. City
area film service is continuing by members
of local 249, which is operating under a new
contract.
No Change in Operations
After Lou Cohen Death
DETROIT—There will be no changes in
the operating policy in the Cohen circuit
following the death of Lou Cohen June 15,
it
was stated by a spokesman for the family.
Cohen's two-thirds interest in the houses
will be equally divided between his wife
Sylvia and his two sons, Elliott and Barry.
The two sons each owned a sixth interest in
the circuit, received from the estate of their
uncle Ben. who died in 1944.
King Cole to Leave Canton
CANTON. OHIO—Old King Cole Displays,
Inc., makers of papier-mache display productions,
will transfer its operations from
Canton to nearby Louisville, Ohio, where a
one-ston.- building is under construction. The
firm will move about August 15.
Bert Walker Is Dead
DETROIT— Ben Walker. 74. once theatrical
editor of the old Detroit Journal, died
at his home here June 19. Walker started
in the newspaper business at 16 as a cub
reporter. He is survived by two sons and four
daughters.
Chores on 'Retd Wagon'
Unit manager chores for "Your Red
Wagon" have been handed Jimmy Anderson
by RKO.
Business Is Brighter
In Detroit Houses
DETROIT—Downtown business looked a W' |,
steadier last week. Reliance upon holdoTen(
was strong, with nearly all houses contlnuina
their screenfare, even when business was jum
so-so, evidently on the theory that one piM
ture will draw nearly as well as another lr[
warm weather.
(Average is 100)
Adams—The Yeatling (MGM) .|| t
B way Capitol—Calcutta
(Para);
Big Town (Para). 2nd wk .Hlf-
Cinema—Fantasia (RKO). reissue. 3rd wk .la|C
Downtown—The Best Years of Our Lives (RKO). ^h
iith wk _iar
Fox—Smash-Up (U-I); Alias Mt. TwiUghl (Col) 9}
Michigan—Cheyenne (WB); [
That's My Gal (Rep) .1111
Palms-State—The Trouble With Women (Para).
^"
Shoot to Kill (SG) „. 9|
United Artists—Great Expectations (U-I);
Sarge Goes to College (Mono)
-^^'f.
Cleveland Business Soars
As Grade-A Films Bow
CLEVELAND—Pictures with definite bOX reissue -l«t
Sianley—The Two Mrs. Carrolls (WB). 2nd wk...- |,
Warner—Honeymoon (RKO). 2nd wk .
days -S
To Open Marne Theatre
MARNE. MICH— Mr. and Mrs. Alben
Hefferan expect to open by September 1 a
the quonset-type theatre they ar? buildini.J
here. The house will seat about 500. Hef
'
feran formerly managed theatres in nearb;;
CoopersviUe.
BOXOFFICE :: June 28, II9*Jt
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