MODERN

J.
Ti^^f^Aut^toH'
TT NOW LOOKS TO BE FAIRLY definite
that Warners will sign a consent judgment
and bow out of what used to be called
the Paramount case. Among the theatreowning
defendants, only Loew's and Fox are
expected to go to the bar in the December 6
argument. Neither of them has shown any
sign of crying "uncle."
Down here nobody is leaking the details
of the decree as it is being whipped into
shape for signing. Prom New York the word
comes down that the new decree will be patterned
after the RKO settlement, but we do
not have much more detail than that. Plus
word from New York and clear indications
here that the government would never agree
to any division of the Warner properties
which left the brothers Warner at the helm
of both the theatre and production outfits.
WASHINGTON AREA exhibitors and exchange
leaders roUed up their sleeves this
week and got together with a view to working
out a real industrywide public relations
program at the local level. Initiative was
that of Julian Brylawski, MPTO president
serving his 28th annual term.
MPTO was host at a luncheon that lasted
more than three hours, with better than 50
exhibitors and exchange managers on hand.
An underlying idea was that if the industry
is to do a job of selling the public, it must
present a united front—and that means that
there must first be harmony within.
As Brylawski put it, "what we must do is
clean out the irritating background noises
that might interfere with the concert."
So most of the talk at the first meeting was
about .sources of common friction between
exhibitors and distributors, such things as
print inspection, availability, condition, etc.
At the next session, in a few weeks, it is
hoped the discussion will get around to a program
for selling the film industry to the
public—but if it is again devoted mainly to
talking out intra -industry problems the longrun
benefit will probably be as great.
LAWYERS FOR THE MAJOR distributors
told the Supreme Coui-t this week there is no
reason for the court to review the lower court
rebuff to the Fifth & Walnut Amusement Co.,
of Louisville, Ky. The company's request for
high court hearing, they said, was "incomplete
and misleading" and offers no new
legal principles on which to base a rehearing.
The case has aroused national interest because
the appeal is based upon the attempt
by the plaintiff to use the Supreme Court's
decision in the Paramount case as proof of
conspiracy to block Fifth & Walnutls theatre
in Louisville—the National—from first run
bookings. This evidence was refused by the
district court, and again by the circuit court
of appeals.
The defendant counsel argued in a brief
filed this week that as a matter of fact there
is no final decree in the Paramoimt case,
and claimed that the Department of Justice
and Judge A. N. Hand of the circuit court
of appeals recognize this fact. Judge Hand
is also a member of the three-judge court
which must decide on a final judgment in
the Paramount case.
In addition to attacking the Fifth & Walnut
allegations about illegal combination, the
34
^eficnt
By ALAN HERBERT
Truman to Attend Debut
Of MPAA's Theatre
WASHINGTON — President Truman
will attend the formal opening of the
new $125,000 screening room at the Motion
Picture Ass'n of Ajnerica offices
Tuesday i22i. Eric Johnston, cabinet
officers, leading producers and chain
heads will be on hand. Called the
Academia, the 70-seat structure is done
in Grecian style, combining elaborate
classical decor with the very latest in
modern equipment.
distributor counsel said the National Theatre,
built in 1912. has had a "long career of unsuccessful
operation." Before coming under
its present ownership it was dropped successively
by RKO, Switow, Crescent and Great
States circuits. It is in new hands today,
with the Fifth & Walnut organizers to share
in the proceeds of this case, if there is an
award.
The lawyers pointed out that the National
was offered the Fourth Avenue Amusement
Co. some time ago at $85,000. but that the
company took the Strand at $225,000 because
it was .so obvious the Strand would be a
better business proposition. The Strand i.s
one of the first run houses about which
Fifth & Walnut was complaining.
ERIC JOHNSTON, president of the Motion
Pictm-e A.ss'n of America, said this week he
is confident the major part of the blocked
currency accounts of American film companies
will eventually come back to the companies
in the form of dollars. He told reporters
he sees no reason to write off these
accounts, even though currency devaluation
and other factors may operate to shrink
them.
Johnston mentioned, off the record, some
means whereby the Motion Picture Export
Ass'n is managing to get dollars from overseas.
In some cases, the procedure involves
large-scale merchandising operations.
The MPAA president refused to discuss the
British production situation at length, although
he said he doubts that J. Arthur Rank
will ever retire from film production, as Rank
threatened last week. Curtailment has already
taken place, but Johnston could not
say whether a further cutback of Rank's production
schedule will be needed.
Sir Harold Wilson, president of the British
Board of Trade, is due to meet here Sunday
with Johnston. Wilson will be here for a
meeting of the International Food and Agriculture
Organization.
THEATRE TELEVISION pitches were registered
this week by the Theatre Owners of
Oklahoma and the Sidney Lust circuit. Washington.
D. C. Both asked the Federal Communications
commission to set aside channels
for the theatre video, in petitions not
basically dissimilar from those filed last week
by the MPTO of West Virginia and the Walter
Reade circuit.
Eric Johnston to House:
Need Interpretations
Of Antitrust Laws
WASHINGTON—Ignorance of the law and
of what interpretations the courts will place
upon the various antitrust statutes has been
the chief cause of the numerous difficulties
of the major motion picture companies, Eric
Johnston, president of the Motion Picture
Ass'n of America, said this week. Industry
difficulties with the antitrust statutes would
dwindle to a minimum—and few would have
occurred at all—were there some means for
company executives to get reliable guidance
from government agencies on projected steps
which might lie in the domain of the antitrust
laws.
NO CARTELS INVOLVED
Johnston told the house judiciary committee
that the Motion Picture Export Ass'n, of
which he is also president, had at no time
this spring sought to conclude an agreement
with the leaders of the British industry
which would be in violation of the antitrust
laws. He took sharp issue with SIMPP President
Ellis Arnall's charge that through the
Anglo-American Film Council MPEA had
planned to work out a cartel-like arrangement
whereby its members and the British
"divide up the British and American markets
between them."
Committee members questioned Johnston
at some length on film industry matters, although
his statement dealt with general
problems of small business and big business.
Chairman Emanuel Celler sought repeatedly
to draw the MPAA head into a discussion of
the government antitrust case against the
majors, but Johnston maintained that MPAA
was not a party to the suit, had never been
involved in any antitrust suit, and that he
personally did not know enough of the business
of exhibiting motion pictures to speak
with authority.
On the other hand, he said. "I do know
enough of the men who make the decisions 15
the motion picture industry to know that
they are fine, upstanding gentlemen and that
they do not want to violate the law." He conceded
that some of the court decisions against
the majors read as if they were "the blackest
sheep in the flock," but said that impression
is absolutely unjustified. He pointed to their
record of wartime sacrifice, stating that the
film Industry is the only one to give its
product to the government free in wartime,
and the only one to spend money in peacetime
to distribute its product overseas.
NEED ADVANCE INFORMATION
"If they could get the information in advance
which would enable them to tell what
is permitted under law and what is not, you
would have no further trouble with these
men," Johnston said.
Industry in general is hamstrung by complicated
statutory restrictions, he said, with
the result that "too many corporations today
are being run by lawyers. That is certainly
true of the motion picture industry."
Johnston's suggestion that some government
agency—perhaps the Federal Trade
Commission—be empowered to tell business- |
men whether projected plans rim afoul of
the law was received kindly by several com- \
mittee members, but Rep. Francis D. Walter.
. doctrinaire
(D.1, Pa., foimd it "dangerous
thinking."
BOXOFFICE November 19, 1949