o_18v8b3cj61mep1b3ve71c5t65ia.pdf

TVcteAiaqtott
TF THE DENTON BILL ever
becomes law,
look for a flood of new triple damage cases
against the majors by independent exhibitors
or former exhibitors. The bill, by Rep.
Winfield Denton of Indiana, would rule out
all possibility of defense on antitrust violations
charged by the independents if a
final judgment holding the defendants guilty
has been entered in a suit brought by the
government covering the same offenses.
In other words, there would be no defense
against private suits brought in complete
conformity with the May 1948 judgment of
the Supreme Court. That decision would become
conclusive proof of guilt, rather than
mere prima facie evidence, as it now is.
The difference is that whereas it can be
disputed in court today, there would be absolutely
no argument under the Denton proposal.
Another important point is that a federal
statute of limitations would become controlling.
If an exhibitor wishes to bring a
triple damage suit now, he has to take into
account the limitation period in his state.
In some states he can sue for damages incurred
only over a one or two-year period,
while in other states the period goes as high
as ten years.
The Denton bill would set a six-year limitation
for all states, and in some cases the
result might be the filing of suits which
would otherwise never get to court.
As a matter of fact the Clayton bill originally
included a uniform six-year statute
of limitations, but before it became law this
provision had disappeared. And at the same
time, prior to passage of the act in 1914,
the house had voted that final judgments
in government suits be treated as
conclusive evidence, but the milder approach
won out in the senate.
* * *
WHEN "BICYCLE THIEF" was shown at
the National Press club here last week, it
was the first foreign language feature to be
shown by the club. The auditorium was
jammed and this correspondent was among
those turned away. Had to see the film
later when it opened at the Trans-Lux . . .
Despite all the reports that Warner Bros,
and the Justice department have settled,
don't look for anything definite for a couple
of weeks. There remain minor points to be
worked out^and antitrust chief Herb Bergson
won't be back in town for another ten
days.
* * •
WAYNE COY, FCC chairman has written
Senator Charles Tobey his agreement that
the commission should look into the refusal
of film companies to provide films for the
Phonevision test. He said he did not think
the recent argument on a uniform FCC
policy for dealing with antitrust violators
was the proper place for such inquiry, however.
Coy felt that the matter should be
put to company executives, not merely to,
lawyers speaking for them. He said he
thought the question should come up, for
instance, "in a hearing upon applications by
motion picture producers for radio station
facilities."
24
^efront
By ALAN HERBERT
Brylawski Points Out
Danger in Wage Bill
WASHINGTON—Danger that unions
might seek to force coverage of all theatre
employes under local and state minimum
wage regulations even though they
were excluded from the national minimum
wage law was seen here last week
by A. Julian Brylawski, head of the local
MPTO. The Warner executive was testifying
before the senate committee on
the District of Columbia.
A bill by Committee Chairman Matt
Neely of West Virginia would extend
coverage of the D.C. minimum wage regulation
to men. It now applies only to
women and youngsters under 18. Brylawski
related that the pay of some men
in theatres is as low as 55 cents per hour,
while the minimum if the Neely bill goes
through would be 86 cents. Not only would
the increase be too costly to exhibitors
at this time—but it would be certain to
encourage unions elsewhere to seek similar
benefits.
Brylawski objected also to a bill which
would raise unemployment benefits here
from a maximum of $20 to a maximum
of $30 weekly, with the maximum period
extended from 20 to 26 weeks.
Griffith Memorial Held
At Centerfield Grave
CENTERFIELD, KY. — Memorial services
for D. W. Griffith, co-founder of United
Artists Corp. and director of "The Birth of a
Nation," "Broken Blossoms" and other great
motion pictures, will be held Sunday (14) at
3 -o'clock in the Mount Tabor cemetery.
A monument that will be placed on the
grave has been provided by the Screen Actors
Guild and the memorial is a ledger panel
made of white marble. On it is engraved
the Griffith coat of arms and the date and
place of his death. A Screen Directors Guild
medallion will be placed on the monument
and a split rail fence will be put on the
20x20 plot.
Mrs. D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Lillian
Gish, Richard Barthelmess and Neil Hamilton
are scheduled to fly down from New York
for the services. Al Rogell will come from
Hollywood to represent the Screen Actors
Guild.
Warner Bros. Dividend
NEW YORK—The Warner Bros,
board of
directors at a special meeting declared a
dividend of 25 cent sa share payable July 5
to common stockholders of record June 9.
Malmuth to Miami
MIAMI—Joe Malmuth, veteran in the theatre
equipment business, has been named sales
engineer for the Miami branch of Joe Hornstein,
Inc.
Supreme Court Rejects
Memphis Censor Case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court re
fused this week to hear arguments on .thi
legality of Memphis censorship. The cour
turned down the appeal of United Artist;
and Hal Roach for a decision upsetting tht
right of the Memphis censors to ban Roach';
comedy "Curley." Roach and UA, joinec
by the Motion Picture Ass'n of America, hac
hoped to make this a test case whereb:
they might strike at state and local censor
ship, but the high court apparently foun<
that there were good grounds apart fron
the basic censorship issue on which to re
fuse the case.
Thus the test case may come on the At
lanta ban of Louis DeRochemont's "Los
Boundaries," or it may have to wait for som
other case where the censorship issue i
clearer than in the "Curley" case. Ther
were side issues involving the standing o
the appealing companies to bring the mat
ter to court at all, and the high court proba
bly decided to refuse the case on thos<
grounds.
An MPAA spokesman said that the atti
tude of the Supreme Court does not preven
the exhibition of "Curley" in Memphis. Thi
was indicated by the following extract fron
the brief filed in Supreme Court by the at
torney for Memphis in opposition to th
petition for a review:
"Petitioners . . . deliberately chose a nar
row flank attack by certiorari for review o
the alleged action of a purely local boarc
which is admittedly void and beyond th
scope of the local act and was so declare
both by the trial court and the suprem
court of the state.
". . . This is especially true when we con
sider that the supreme court of the stat
of Tennessee in its opinion stated that tha
court was not in disagreement with th
fundamental principle that there is no au
thority to use race or color as the sole leg!
basis for censorship of talking motion pic
tures."
Edward C Raftery, United Artists counse
said he agreed with the MPAA statemec
and had noMiing to add.
Charles Rich Leaves WB;
To Become an Exhibitor
NEW YORK—Charles Rich, Warner Bro
central district manager in Cleveland, hsj
resigned, effective Tuesday (9). He will entf
the theatre business for himself. He had bee
with the company for 27 years.
Rich joined Warners at Washington as
salesman and was made branch manager i
Pittsburgh in 1934; promoted to metropolita
district manager in 1936; branch manager i
Buffalo in 1938; to Cleveland as branc
manager in 1940. He became central distri<
manager in 1943.
RKO Picture Retitled
NEW YORK—"Walk Softly, Stranger" wi
be the final release title for "Weep No More
which RKO will distribute with Joseph Co
ten and Valli starred.
Keep up the fight for total ticket U
repeal!
BOXOFFICE
:
: May
13, 1»