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J. Ti^^fÂut^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 êficnt 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
HE PICTURE OF lOOl PLEASURES ! . . . lOOl ADVENTURES . . . lOOl DELIGHTS ! UNIVERSAL- INTERNATIONAL presents MAUREEN O'HARA PAUL CHRISTIAN VINCENT PRICE '""'^l^citmcoior JOHN SUTTON • JEFF COREY • Produced by ROBERT ARTHUR ;reenplay by ROBERT HARDY ANDREWS • Directed by CHARLES LAMONT J^d P^SS iôlUay ((£C/
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