Harry Warner declares that Warner Bros. will introduce television production at its Burbank studios as soon as the FCC approves the studio’s purchase of the Thackery television stations in Los Angeles. The government, however, puts a moratorium on the licensing of TV stations that is not lifted until 1952, and…
The great Russian film director, Sergei Eisenstein, dies of a heart attack at the age of 50. Under the terms of an agreement with the United Kingdom, American film companies will reinvest the $60 million profit, recently made in England, in various “permitted uses” such as hiring British talent,…
At a meeting in New York City, the 50 most influential studio chiefs and producers have decided to dismiss any employee who refuses to cooperate with the House Un–American Activities Committee (HUAC), or who they suspect harbor Communist sympathies. The Production Code has been amended to ban all scenarios…
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revises its rules for Academy Awards voting. Instead of allowing members of the entire film community to select nominees and winners, only members of the Academy will be allowed to vote. The Academy’s rolls immediately increase from 700 to over 1,600. …
Olivia de Havilland wins a landmark decision in her contract dispute with Warner Bros. The Supreme Court has now set the outside limit of a studio–player contract at seven years, including periods of suspension. 7,000 members of the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), made up of studio set designers,…
The Hollywood Victory Committee now has 80 entertainment units touring overseas, with 38 of these being in the British Isles. The U.S. Supreme Court rules against the Crescent theater circuit for antitrust violations. Crescent had been accused of monopolizing a five–state area in the Southeast and of colluding with…
An opinion poll carried out by the Motion Picture Herald has shown that the American public is saturated with war films and is demanding movies that distract and entertain. As the motion picture exhibition industry loses more and more of its male employees to the armed services, women begin…
William Randolph Hearst forbids any mention of the film “Citizen Kane” in his newspapers. He considers the film to be defamatory. The government makes public the salaries earned by the heads of well–known companies. Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, is the highest paid executive in the country…