The Film Daily (1948)

Ol\ DAILY Tuesday, March 16, 19 $40,000,000 in British Remittances Likely (Continued from Page 1) be taken from the actual earnings of U. S. pictures here, the considerable amount of monies that can be obtained from the concessions contained in the 27 clauses attached to the agreement. Function of these clauses was to outline the various methods by which the earnings in The New York Times reported that British hotels and restaurants are critical of the provision by which U. S. film money can be invested in the hotel field here, and that a statement expressing "resentment" was issued by the group in which it was asserted that the British hotel industry, with due regard to its handicaps, "bears more than favorable comparison with the hotel industry of America." excess of the $17,000,000 could be employed. An estimated $8,000,000 is expected to be garnered during the agreement's first year by British films in the U. S., against which the American producers are permitted to withdraw an equal amount from this realm. Although this is double the earnings of British pictures in America last year, the incentive given American distributors as the result of this provision is considered certain to result in better playing time and increased earnings for the British product. In addition to this, American producers can credit against their balance here whatever may be earned by films produced in Britain which are entirely financed by blocked capital. It is considered likely that approximately $14,000,000 will be realized from this source, including: the earnings of the American-financed films in the U. S. The agreement also allows as transferable those profits accruing from American investments in such British enterprises as hotels, phonograph records, etc. These profits will probably hit an average of $1,000,000 per year. Observers here point out that if $40,000,000 is taken out annually, it will be only about $10,000,000 short of the approximate expectations of American producers if there were no restrictions at all. Correction RKO Radio reports that the correct running time of "I Remember Mama" is 134 minutes, not 137 as company originally stated. a Send (Birtkdau % | Qreeting.3 C i Gus Schlesinger "Hap" Ha'dley J't i't Harrison Ford Roger Clark « Clarence Eiseman J.t March Conrad Nagel Marion Byron T ▼ T Tuesday's Tele-lines • • • A TRIPLE FLOURISH of Phil M's chapeau to George Stevens for his magnificent production of "I Remember Mama It rates with the industry's best, regardless of time limit. ... • Didja know, by the way, that "I Remember Mama" is the 19th Irene Dunne starring vehicle to play Gus Eyssell's Radio City Music Hall In its first four days, "Mama" attracted more than 85.000 admissions at the Music HalL ... • Thought-in-passing Dept.: How many industryites hold reserve commissions in*the Armed Forces? ... • I. Richard Kennedy, Olin Clar, Arthur Mayer and Terry Ramsaye will discuss plots and characters in current films at NYU's Washington Square College on March 31 Prof. Robert Gessner, chairman of the College's motion picture department, will be moderator. ... • The Walter Reade circuit starts vaudeville at the Congress Theater, Saratoga Springs, March 28, giving the circuit a complete week of vaude bookings. ... • Columbia won the race for screen rights to John McPartland's "Portrait of an American Communist" which appeared in the Jan. 5 issue of Life mag. ... • National Legion of Decency has placed Warner's "I Became a Criminal" and U-I's "Casbah" into its Class B. . . . • I. Arthur Rank poured at the "Boston tea party" which ended his Boston press conference at the week-end. T T T • • • THE VIRGINIA STATE SENATE paid a glowing tribute the other day to Sen. Benjamin T. Pitts, Virginia circuit operator and vicepresident of the Virginia Theater Owners Association, with the adoption of a resolution noting his "generous and intelligent efforts" to provide schooling for underprivileged boys and girls. ... • George Pal is negotiating for rights to E. B. White's modern fable, "Stuart Little," planning it as a Technicolor production for U. A. release. . . • Eighteen Miami Beach hotels are making 675 rooms available for the April 12-17 convention of Variety Clubs International All are within walking distance of the Roney Plaza convention headquarters. ... • Norman Elson, vice-president of Trans-Lux Theaters, believes there should be more editorial opinion in newsreels. ... • The State Department is strongly in the MPEA's corner Reason: State Department officials believe they can get better co-operation from the MPEA than from individual producers. ▼ T T • • • DIDJA KNOW that Ken Murray already is planning a "sequel" to Republic's extraordinary release. "Bill and Coo"? Lat-' ter Trucolor production. Republic's Easter pic, will be playing upwards of 300 dates A natural for the Eastertide, Republic expects to trot it out annually The exploitation effort Bea Ross of Republic has put behind the pic is very much on the terrific side. . . . •The really sensational business U-I's "The Naked City" is doing at the New York Capitol sharply points up the industry's loss in the demise of Mark Hel linger None is more conscious of that loss than SRO which had counted on six Hellinger productions for its program. T ▼ T • • • NEW ENTRANTS continue to join the scramble for the large screen television market Most recent is a reported 9 by 12 foot image model at the amazingly low price of about S350 by an undisclosed manufacturer who is said to have such a model under way the low price is said possible because of mass production plus the use of a smaller, and more efficient, cathode ray tube Another manufacturer, Lynn Television of Philadelphia also has a 9 by 12 foot video picture projector. T T ▼ • • • A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: "Prejudice, racial or religious, makes a small man smaller." — Allied ITO of Iowa and Nebraska, Inc. T T T Rank, Bankers Trust Prexy Talk Finance (Continued from Page 1) and last night dined with Matty F< ] of Universal. ^k This afternoon, he will I^Pnd J Universal board meeting. Tomtj row, with Mrs. Rank he entrains f j Palm Springs where the Ranks w ] be the guests of Robert R. Young. ] Organize New Over-all Rank Company in Canada To provide centralized guidan j for the J. Arthur Rank enterpris 1 in Canada — and indicative of tht I expansion — the J. Arthur Rank C ganization of Canada, Ltd., has be I chartered. J. Earl Lawson, K.C., is preside I of the corporation which will mai tain Toronto headquarters. He al heads the various individual comp nies in the Dominion which represe these British film interests here. I UA Foreign Appointmen Are Announced by Kelly Arthur W. Kelly, UA executi ; vice-president, has announc . appointment of Michael Green sales supervisor and auditor for Co. tinental Europe. Green will hea quarter in London. At present he in Egypt on his initial assigrimei Other promotions in line with $1 company's policy of raising fro the ranks includes naming of Hen Ronge, former Porto Rican manage to succeed Guy C. Smith as Panan manager; Smith will move to tal charge of the UA Service Bum in Paris. Other LatinAmerica changes include appointment of Ma cos Drukaroff to branch manager Barranquilla, and Armando Berm to the Cali, Colombia, offices. Guild Forum on Films Theater Guild Studio Workshop U I night will hold a special forum motion pictures, with John Garfie1 and Robert Ross as guest speaker Paul Crabtree, supervisor of the pr ject, announced.