Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1939)

(A ✓Uf 8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD JULY I, 1939 This Week More Than 500 At the start of the fountain pen and contract examining season exhibitors have been promised a total of between 500 and 512 features, including westerns, and 1,196 short subjects, including newsreels. A check of distributors shows that 79 per cent of the product promised for 1938-39 has been delivered to date with most of the balance either in production or awaiting release. Important in the producers' plans for the season are major increases in budgets, much of the additional expenditure being earmarked for "A" productions. In addition to the current season product actually delivered, the studios in Hollywood this week had 64 features, another 13 per cent, completed. Thus the studios had ready 92 per cent of the 1938-39 productions, with nine weeks of the present season still to go. A statistical survey of the product situation is on page 17. SIX TO ONE [Continued from preceding page] outdraws the stage six to one, but, averaging prices, one discovers that the stage collects, per seat per show, about six dollars to the pictures' one dollar. And on, or in, the other hand, it is to be remembered that with its multiple performances the motion picture theatre probably averages at least two full capacities a day. And that cuts the per seat advantage in price for the stage in half. Meanwhile, it all does indicate that there is yet something to be done about proving that "motion pictures are your best entertainment." What is to be done about that will have to be done picture-by-picture, the same way the customers buy them. AAA MR. LYNN FARNOL, in a reflective moment the other day, considering what he had been hearing about waning box office, summer slump and related maladies, hastened to call your editor for emphatic declaration that United Artists Corporation had decided the outlook was good enough to pour out in a four-week period beginning July 13 "The Man in the Iron Mask," "Winter Carnival," "Four Feathers" and "They Shall Have Music." Thumbing an altogether surprising file of ecstatic reviews, Mr. Farnol holds that this constitutes an event of the season. Terry Ramsaye Tax Victory The British industry this week contemplated with calm its signal victory in the protest campaign against the excessive import and excise duties which were originally proposed in Sir John Simon's new budget and dropped almost immediately after the trade had launched an unprecedented appeal to the public through screen trailers and newspaper advertisements. Satisfaction was general over the fact the tax situation now remains about as it was before the new taxes were proposed with the single exception that the import duty is increased to five pence per linear foot. The events leading up to the Government's decision to abandon the proposed increases are reported by Aubrey Flanagan on page 55. Decoding the Code The series of articles interpreting the proposed trade practice code in layman's language, which began last week in Motion Picture Herald, continues this week with a discussion of those clauses covering demand for exceptional features, preferred playing time, some run available, regular customers, short subjects and newsreels and score charges. The article, by Lotus Niser, appears on page 30. MOTION PICTURE HERALD Published every Thursday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City. Telephone Circle 7-3 1 00. Cable address "Quigpubco, New York." Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Colvin Brown, VicePresident and General Manager; Watterson R. Rothacker, Vice-President; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; Ernest A. Rovelstad, Managing Editor; James P. Cunningham, News Editor; Chicago Bureau, 624 South Michigan Avenue, C. B. O'Neill, manager; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Boone Mancall, manager, William R. Weaver, editor; Toronto Bureau, Ste. 811, 21 Dunas Sq., Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A! lister Grosart, representative. Montreal Bureau, Press Bureau, Windsor Street Station, Montreal, Canada. Colin R. Haworth, representative. 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Tokyo Bureau, 880 Sasazuka, Ichikawa-shi Chiba-Ken, Japan, Hiromu Tominaga, representative; Rio de Janeiro Bureau, Caixa Postal 3358, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, L. S. Marinho, representative; India Bureau, Post Box 147 Bunder Road, Karachi, India. G, A. Thakur, representative; Montevideo Bureau, P. O. Box 664, Montevideo, Uruguay, Paul Bodo, representative, cable Argus Montevideo; Amsterdam Bureau, 87 Waalstraat, Amsterdam Z., Holland, Philip de Schaap, representative; Prague Bureau, Uhelny trh 2, Prague I, Czechoslovakia. Harry Knopf, representative. Copenhagen Bureau, Rosengaarden 14, Copenhagen, Denmark, Kris Winther, representative. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents copyright 1939 by Quigley Publishing Company. Address all correspondence to the New York Office. Other Quigley Publications: Better Theatres, Motion Picture Daily, Teatro al Dta, International Motion Picture Almanac and Fame. More Suits Despite past, and scheduled, conferences by Department of Commerce officials with executives of virtually every branch of the motion picture industry, another arm of the Government, the United States Department of Justice, is reported as continuing a policy of "keeping right on suing." Semi-official information is that the trust busters shortly will file suit against two large independent circuits, in New York State and in Florida. Meanwhile, in New York City, the major company defendants in the Government's anti-trust action denied all of the charges. In Chicago, after hearing on July 7th, the Government's criminal contempt case against Balaban and Katz and the majors will be adjourned until September 5th. In Washington, the Senate postponed action on the Neely anti-block booking bill. Details of the suits and their status are on page 26. Paramount Television Paramount's interest in television was extended this week, when it applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a permit to build and operate an experimental transmitter in Hollywood, possibly on the studio property. The company already has approximately a half interest in the Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, manufacturers of television equipment, and operators of a transmitter in the New York area. DuMont has applied to the FCC for permission to shift its transmitter from Passaic, New Jersey, to New York City, and to operate at full time and with 5,000 watts power instead of the 50 watts now employed; and has also asked for permission to build a transmitter in Washington, D. C, and operate a mobile unit. Reminiscing Gathered in a New York banquet room Thursday night were to be a group of over 90 men who began their motion picture careers 25 years ago or more. Entrance to the dining room was through a reconstructed nickelodeon front bearing one-sheets advertising the industry's first great screen epics and the cocktail and dinner conversation centered largely around a mood of mellow reminiscence. Thus was launched Picture Pioneers, a luncheon club, all of whose members can recall a quarter of a century of experience in the film industry. The club, conceived by Jack Cohn, president of Columbia, and largely brought into existence by his efforts, had immediate acceptance. The story of the club's first conference and the future plans is on page 16 and starting on page 12 are pictorial evidences of the members' qualifications for membership.