Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1939)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

July 15, 1939 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 15 Steffes Forming Buying Combine After Re-election Plan Publicity Drive to Mark Motion Pictures' Golden Jubilee The motion picture industry of the United States plans, in its fashion, to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary as a "Golden Jubilee", through the first week of October. It is designed as pure publicity. The event is to be more jubilee than golden, coming both in contrast with and in sequel to the million-dollar "Motion Pictures are Your Best Entertainment" campaign of last year's poignant memory. Plans of the project were given out at a press conference with Kenneth Clark of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., this week, following a meeting of the sub-committee of the Advertising Advisory Council of the MPPDA. The plans contemplate no drives, quizzes, contests, pledges, certificates or largess of advertising to the newspaper press, like last year. The press will be invited and encouraged to give the Jubilee editorial and feature attention. The exhibitors will be urged, and equipped with mimeographed material, to carry on local campaigns and promotions. The Jubilee campaign will be opened for the nation in mid-August by an expression, to press and radio, by Will H. Hays. Operations are in the hands of the special sub-committee which includes Lester Thompson, Joel Swensen, Mr. Clark, Harry Goldberg, Ben Grimm, William Ferguson and Lou Pollock. Hollywood's publicity departments and functionaries are being invited to participate. The Golden Jubilee comes rather as a consequence of the "Quiz" drive of last year. When that campaign was being framed in behalf of the boxoffice as a commercial expedient, pretext was sought and dates reviewed in the hope that the period might contain an anniversary of something. It did not. Meanwhile, the fact that it was October 6, I 8*89, that the Edison Kinetoscope was first demonstrated in his West Orange laboratories obtruded. The Quiz drive then took on for itself its "Greatest Year" pretext and Hollywood, somewhat unofficially, promised to ring the welkin and rouse the nation, the next season on the fiftieth anniversary. The "Greatest Year" and Quiz resulting as they did, Hollywood became less than ecstatic about the project. Now New York and the home office will see about getting some pieces in the paper. — T. R. The fiftieth anniversary got its first attention from the industry, and from Hollywood, by dramatic reference to the event of October 6, 1889, by Cecil B. DeMille on the radio across national networks on the program of the banquet which closed Paramount Picture Corporation's national sales convention at the Hotel Ambassador in June. Re-elected for a three-year term at an annual salary of $15,000 per year, W. A. Steffes, president of the Northwest Allied and "Fighting Al" in national exhibitor politics since 1929, when he founded the organization, this week was busy pressing an extensive program of activity for the unit, as a consequence of his re-election at the annual convention on Tuesday and Wednesday, at the Hotel Nicollet, Minneapolis. Mr. Steffes had refused the presidency; he wanted to retire and gain more time for his own business, he said in vehement protests before the convention. However, the salary attached to the position is reported to have induced a change of mind. The convention directed the officers of the organization to form a buying and booking combine, and a committee is being appointed to proceed with its organization. The report of the committee is expected to be ready for presentation to the membership by September 1. Another convention will be held in early September. Passed was a resolution condemning the trade practice code, which had been rejected by the national convention at the same hotel the week of June 13. Another resolution passed was one condemning the furnishing of commercial films to the University of Minnesota, and a committee was appointed to call on the university's board of regents to ask them to have the practice discontinued. The convention also instructed its officers to see whether city councils could and would pass ordinances prohibiting beer taverns, dance halls and similar places, from showing 16-mm. films, unless they had theatre licenses. Mr. Steffes this week was to send a letter to all members, urging them to make only the minimum amount of film purchases until arrangements could be completed for the booking and buying combine, which is expected to be part of a national booking and buying co-operative exceeding in buying power any present-day circuit. The letter also asserts that, contrary to stories published in the trade press, there is no discord in the Allied organization. It was announced during the convention that 15 theatres in the Twin City area are closing because of poor business and inability to obtain suitable films. Thirty representatives of 95 theatres attended. To Cover Orient RKO Pathe News has dispatched Captain Patrick Smith to take pictures in Manchukuo and North China, starting in Tientsin, and Rey Scott to Rangoon, following the new military and supply road through French Indo-China to Chungking, provisional capital of the Chinese government for the purpose of filming the present situation in the Orient. Pathe's former Far Eastern cameraman, A. T. Hull, has returned to the United States for a rest. Altec has expanded service activities by five additional Essaness theatres in Chicago. R. Hilton negotiated for Altec. RCA Issues Catalog Covering Sound Field A new 56-page catalogue containing a complete listing of all RCA sound equipment for use in the entertainment, educational and industrial fields has been announced by the Commericial Sound Section of the RCA Manufacturing Company. All items in the RCA line of sound equipment are indexed and catalogued with photographs, prices, specifications, and general descriptions, including possible uses. Set "Feathers" Drive Special advertising and exploitation campaigns have been prepared for Alexander Korda's "Four Feathers" by United Artists. Plans include a $100,000 newspaper campaign budget in addition to full color pages in Life, Look and American Weekly. An exploitation staff of 40 men will be assigned to the first key city engagements of the picture by United Artists. Plan Yiddish Feature Carmel Productions has acquired the rights to Chawer Pawers' dramatization of the novel, "Fischke der Krumme," by Mendel Mechas-Phurim, and will produce it as a Yiddish film. Edgar G. Ulmer will direct. Skirball Leaves Grand National The resignation of J. H. Skirball as vicepresident in charge of production and as a director of Grand National Pictures, Inc., was announced Tuesday in a joint statement by Mr. Skirball and E. W. Hammons, Grand National president. Mr. Skirball said "for some time past it has been my desire to devote all of my time to my own independent production." Pascal Sets "Major Barbara" Gabriel Pascal, British producer who has the film rights to George Bernard Shaw's plays, plans "Major Barbara" as his next picture, to be made at the Pinewood studio, with "Doctor's Dilemma" in the spring. He sailed from New York this week to start "Major Barbara." Accompanying him were Victor Orsatti, Hollywood agent, who will assist in working out a release and Marion Baldwin of the Orsatti office. Kleckner with Jam Handy Joseph B. Kleckner, former president of Motiograph, Inc., has been named to the executive staff of the Jam Handy organization, Detroit. The company has moved to larger quarters there.