Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

M-G-M Strikes for a Full 52 Says Films Prove This Year, Says Lichtman U. S. Ideals High New York — M-G-M will try and produce 52 pictures for the current season and as many for 1939-40, A1 Lichtman, assistant to Nicholas M. Schenck, told Boxoffice on his departure for the coast, after attending the company’s Chicago convention and conferences here with Schenck. “Up to now, we have only missed one release and we hope to make that up before the season ends, August 31.” Discussing production policy, he said, “Our plans are no different than ever. We are trying to make pictures the best we know how.” Production will continue in England at two a year, Lichtman asserted. Gabriel Pascal will make “Doctor’s Dilemma” in England and not in Hollywood, according to Schenck’s assistant. The company’s production budget this season is being increased to $42,500,000. This is approximately $7,500,000 greater than anticipated at the beginning of the season and Lichtman hopes the $42,500,000 figure will hold for 1939-40, although there seems to be some doubt. This is an alltime record for any one company. If the company comes through with 52, as Lichtman expects it will, it will mark the first time M-G-M has delivered the maximum number of announced pictures. Lichtman has no plans of going to England at the present. Ben Goetz, in charge of M-G-M’s production there, arrived on the Normandie with a print of “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” which Victor Saville produced with Robert Donat and which Sam Wood directed. Wood also returned on the French liner. Goetz plans to return to England in a fortnight. Nine New Stars Officially Dubbed in Metro Lineup New York — Lew Ayres, Eddie Cantor, Ina Claire, Miliza Korjus, Hedy Lamarr, Ilona Massey, Eleanor Powell, Mickey Rooney and James Stewart get full star billing in M-G-M’s 1939-40 program. In the product lineup, as far as he gave it to the Metro conventioneers at the Palmer House, William F. Rodgers, general sales manager, designated at least one full starring, or co-starring, vehicle for all of these players with the exception of Cantor. While the formal M-G-M lineup also includes familiar standbys in the starring roster such as Margaret Sullavan, Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Lionel Barrymore and Freddie Bartholomew, the program, as made known, includes no specific assignments for them, thus far at least. What follows is a breakdown of attractions designated with those who will appear in them, as prepared by Boxoffice: Lew Ayres — “Dr. Kildare” series, number not assigned. Wallace Beery — Star in “Thunder Afloat;” co-star with Robert Taylor and Spencer Tracy in “Northwest Passage.” Ray Bolger — “Tire Wizard of Oz.” Ina Claire — Star in “After Dark.” Joan Crawford — Star in “A Lady Comes to Town,” “House of Glass;” co-star with Spencer Tracy in “Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep.” Robert Donat — Star in "Beau Brummel,” “Journey’s End.” Both to be made in London. Nelson Eddy — Co-Star with Jeanette MacDonald in “Lover Come Back to Me;” with Ilona Massey in “Balalaika.” Clark Gable — Star in “Gone With the Wind;” co-star with Myrna Loy in “The Great Canadian.” Greta Garbo — Star in “Ninotchka,” “Madame Curie.” Judy Garland — “The Wizard of Oz,” “Babes in Arms.” Jack Haley — “The Wizard of Oz.” Cedric Hardwicke — “On Borrowed Time.” Miliza Korjus — Co-star with Robert Taylor and Hedy Lamarr in “Guns and Fiddles.” Hedy Lamarr — Co-Star with Robert Taylor and Miliza Korjus in “Guns and Fiddles;” with Robert Taylor — “Lady of the Tropics.” Vivien Leigh — “Gone With the Wind.” Myrna Loy — Co-star with William Powell in “Return of the Thin Man” and “I Love You Again;” with Clark Gable in “The Great Canadian.” Jeanette MacDonald — Co-star with Nelson Eddy in “Lover Come Back to Me.” Marx Brothers — Stars in “A Day at the Circus,” “Go West.” Ilona Massey — Co-star with Nelson Eddy in “Balalaika.” Frank Morgan — “The Wizard of Oz,” “On Borrowed Time.” Eleanor Powell — Star in “Dancing Coed;” also in “Broadway Melody of 1940.” William Powell — Co-star with Myrna Loy in “Return of the Thin Man” and “I Love You Again.” Mickey Rooney — Star in “A Yank at Eton” and “Babes in Arms;” the “Judge Hardy Family” series, number not designated. Norma Shearer — Star in “The Women.” James Stewart — Star in “Wings on His Back.” Robert Taylor — Star in “Hands Across the Border;” co-star with Hedy Lamarr and Miliza Korjus in “Guns and Fiddles;” with Wallace Beery and Spencer Tracy in “Northwest Passage;” with Hedy Lamarr in “Lady of the Tropics.” Spencer Tracy — Star in “Thomas Edison” and “Sea of Grass;” co-star with Wallace Beery and Robert Taylor in “Northwest Passage;” with Joan Crawford in “Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep.” Three Regional Meets Set for Universal New York — Universal will hold three regional sales conventions, with places and dates as follows: Netherland Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, April 15-17; Palmer House, Chicago, April 18-20; St. Francis, San Francisco, April 22-24. William A. Scully, general sales manager, will preside. (Continued from page 20) and woman among the rank and file of the people. This is already reflected in the increasing number of successful entertainment films, presented in simple terms and without exaggeration.” Others stress the current swing toward the further development of the South American markets and the production of historical shorts. On the foreign situation, he makes this point; “Government-controlled news service may misrepresent our democratic ideals. Government, or controlled, broadcasting may blast out distortions of our policies, but American pictures, even when censored by foreign agencies, necessarily carry their own refutations of the alleged failures of our ideals, our policies, our efforts and our system.” He touches on the trade practice situation which is “quite outside the authority of this association” and says it indicates “the possibility of constructive adjustment highly important to the future of the industry.” Anent the government suit, he repeats the industry welcomes “any such constructive effort by the department of justice as was voiced in the department’s statement that ‘it desires to encourage and not retard the development and orderly operation of the motion picture industry.’ ” In that connection, he points out, “the vital elements of this great entertainment structure cannot be easily destroyed,” but contends that “the effect of violent, heedless changes in the form of the structure is quite a different matter.” Hays urges that some of “the current misrepresentations of Hollywood should be corrected by enlarged services of authentic information which would satisfy new needs and at the same time project the life and managers of this community of creative men and women as it really is.” He cites the 545 features produced under the code and discloses 316, or 58 per cent, were from original stories; 26 per cent from novels and biographical works, 10 per cent from current and other short stories, 5V2 per cent from stage plays, and the rest from varied sources. The report was submitted at the annual meeting of the MPPDA. It was unmarked by change. Hays was re-elected president and thus starts his 18th year in that post; Carl E. Milliken, secretary; Frederick L. Herron, treasurer, and George Borthwick, assistant treasurer. The directors, also reelected without change, are Barney Balaban, Nate J. Blumberg, Jack Cohn, Cecil B. DeMille, Earle W. Hammons, Edgar B. Hatrick, Hays, Sidney R. Kent, Sol Lesser, Hal E. Roach, George J. Schaefer, Nicholas M. Schenck, Murray Silverstone, Albert and Harry M. Warner. Present were Cohn, Hatrick, Hammons, Schenck, Balaban, Schaefer, Blumberg, Hays, Herron, L. V. Calvert, representing Pioneer Pictures; T. K. Stevenson, Erpi, and H. L. Sommerer, RCA. 22 BOXOFFICE :: April 1, 1939