Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1939)

38 Court Vacates Grand National Receiver Order The involuntary petition in bankruptcy filed last week by three creditors against Grand National Pictures, Inc., and the order appointing Simon H. Rifkin as receiver of the corporation were vacated Friday by Samuel Mandelbaum, federal judge, in New York district court. Calls Petition Insufficient The dismissal, granted from the bench, was made after Judge Mandelbaum ruled that the petition was insufficient, vague and indefinite in its charges against the company. In addition the court said that proceedings and the appointment of a receiver were "unnecessary" in view of the loan of $450,000 granted to Grand National last week by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The RFC loan is expected to be consummated shortly and further finances for production are expected from Felt and Company and due to follow immediately, E. W. Hammons, president, said this week. A meeting of creditors, called in New York this week by Hap Hadley, one of the three creditors who filed the involuntary petition in bankruptcy against the company, for the purpose of forming a creditors' committee, disbanded voluntarily when Saul E. Rogers, Grand National attorney, explained that the RFC loan would insure the clearing of indebtedness. Creditors Meet A meeting of Grand National creditors was held Tuesday in the projection room of the Grand National Studio in Los Angeles by Loyd Wright, trustee of Grand National Films, Inc., and of Grand National Studios, Inc. In notifying creditors of the meeting Mr. Wright reviewed the position of the company since October 1, 1938 when pursuant to court order he sold all the assets, except cash, of Grand National Films, Inc., and Grand Nation Studios, Inc., to Grand National Pictures, Inc., a New York Corporation. He wrote : "Since the new company commenced operations various plans have been proposed for the purpose of properly financing Grand National and independent producers who might furnish pictures to it for distribution. To date none of these plans have materialized." The meeting was called for a general discussion by creditors and the trustee. Grand National, Ltd., through Maurice Wilson, has written to the British Board of Trade, offering to place both the Twickenham and Highbury studios, at the disposal of American distributors for the production of pictures to meet the quota. The letter said that Grand National was prepared to give financial assistance to a number of independent production units with which it has made an arrangement to produce a substantial number of pictures in the coming year. Grand National can do this, the letter continues, as it handles very few foreign films. Alliance Franchise Deals Budd Rogers, vice-president and general manager of Alliance Films Corporation, has signed two new franchise deals for the distribution of the 12 feature films on the Alliance program for 1939-'40. Special attractions will handle the product in the Chicago and St. Louis territories and B. W. Silver of Colonial Pictures, Ltd., whose headquarters are in Toronto, will release the 12 pictures in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces. MOTION PICTURE HERALD "That feature pictures should be seen from their beginning, does not require a college education, and only ordinary intelligence to see the importance of this. "Millions are spent on our pictures, and goodness only knows how much entertainment is lost, when these costly productions, and most of them interesting and entertaining, are not seen from their incipiency. "The producers have no idea how much they have lost in the past by not advocating and developing a movement encouraging the suggestion that the feature pictures be seen from their start. The Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment was a waste of money. It should have been spent for the reason that we are now discussing. Every feature should have a slogan of some kind, suggesting the reason why the picture should be seen from its beginning, and, once started, it should be kept up. The effort should never cease. "Some will say that our business is one of continuous showing, which is all true, but those who just want to drop in any time, they can still do so, and this constructive policy, which I am not the only one that advocates, certainly will be in my opinion, one of the finest things that our business has ever attempted. "In the summer I ordered a trailer which read : We suggest that in order to enjoy the full benefits of the entertainment offered by the features shown in this Theatre, that you make an effort to see them from the beginning. Phone 4323 for starting times. "A trailer covering the above was then shown in all four of our theatres, and the phone calls immediately jumped to such an extent, that we next had the telephone company check our calls with a meter, which indicates the number of calls that were not completed, etc., and the calls were so many, and the incompletion so great, that it was necessary for us to install a trunk line system, and within a few days our phone number became 8171, but the additional phone that would ring was 8172, in the event that 8171 was busy. The telephone company is Witt Named Standard Pictures Ad Director George Laganas, president of Standard Pictures Distributing Company of New York City announced on Tuesday the appointment of Peter Witt as director of advertising, publicity and exploitation. Mr. Witt will also be in charge of procuring product for distribution from this country and abroad. The new appointee was formerly personal European representative of Samuel Goldwyn in London. November 4, 1939 also reserving numbers 8173-74-75, as we confidently expect to need five telephones. The telephone company advise us that our phone 4323 is the busiest telephone in Roanoke. "The following order was placed later for four new sound trailers, and when these trailers are shown, we will have a greatly increased number of calls, as this is the power of suggestion. WE HAVE A NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER In order to better serve our patrons, we have added additional telephone lines. JUST DIAL 8 17 1 and you will get one of our telephone connections. You will enjoy the pictures more by seeing them when they begin. You will be cheerfully given the starting times of feature pictures shown at the Park, American, Roanoke or Rialto Theatres, by dialing our trunk line number — 8 17 1 "On the back page of our local papers, we have for over twenty years, without missing a single issue, run our theatre programs as indicated by the enclosed clipping. If you pass anyone on the street, who has a newspaper, and will ask him the question, what picture is being shown at the American Theatre, you will find that ninety-nine times out of a hundred he will turn to the back page immediately and tell you. This is where consistency has paid. The orher three theatres located here, which we do not operate, are also advertised on this same page at the bottom of the page, and you will note that the paper has also taken advantage of our position by placing their radio program alongside it, which also makes our advertising more effective. "I am convinced that if the trade papers would pave the way in a crusading manner, and encourage the film companies to take some action covering this suggestion, that our industry would be given an impetus." De Bra Says Resentment Bars Commercial Films Theatre patrons resent advertising films on the screen because they have paid for entertainment, Arthur De Bra, of the community service department of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, told a luncheon meeting of the National Association of Accredited Publicity Men, in New York, on Tuesday. Mr. De Bra cited this resentment as one of the many reasons why so few of the many commercial films produced each year reach theatre screens. "From the Beginning" Campaign Scores for Virginia Showman Profitable experience with a policy of urging the customers to see pictures from the beginning is recorded in a letter from Elmore D. Heins of National Theatre Corporation in Roanoke, Va. Mr. Heins is general manager over four houses, the American, Roanoke, Park and Rialto. The American, completed in 1928, cost a million and a half, and rates highly as an institution for its region. Mr. Heins, with twenty-five years of experience behind him, operates on policies calculated to create and maintain the motion picture habit among his patrons. That includes newspaper copy, placed exactly and always where Roanoke expects to find it, and the use of his own screens for the building of policy patterns and goodwill. In the course of a letter, responding to an inquiry from The Herald, he writes: