Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

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1/<'V -V', S II () W M I'. N ' S T R AD K I', V I !■: W Page 5 At "Chips" Premiere Nicholas M. Schenck, Howard Dietz, William F. Rodgers and Arthur S. Kany, film critic of the Dayton (O.) Herald at the invitation preview of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" at the Astor Theatre, N. Y., last Monday evening. Kany, along with Virginia Sturm of the Dayton Daily News, and Maxwell Nathan of the Dayton Journal, were brought East by M-G-M. PATTERSON RKO BOARD CHAIRMAN Floyd Odium Relinquishes Temporary Post RKO reorganization plan proponents in Federal C(nirt this week cleared the way for gaining legal approval of the naming of Assistant Secretary of Commerce Richard C. Patterson, Jr., as chairman of the RKO board, to succeed Floyd B. Odium, who had accepted the post temporarily seme weeks ago. Odium voluntarily relinquishes bis directorship in the move which has the approval of the Rockefeller and RCA interests. N. Peter Rathvon has been designated chairman of the executive committee. Patterson's acceptance of the board chairmanship, it was pointed out, will not mean a connection exclusively with RKO. DISTRIB GUILTY IN PRINT RACKET Case Is Result of Action of Copyright Bureau R. E. Gregg, a film distributor who operates the Pan American Laboratory in Chicago, pleaded guilty recently to four counts — for copying, printing, reprinting and vending, for profit, a film, "The Cat's Canary", without authority of the copyright owner. Under Section 28 of tlie Copyright Law, covering vv/illful infringements for profit, Gregg faces the possibility of one year's imprisonment or a fine up to $1,000, or both. COL'S SECOND MEETjN CHI. Cohn and Montague Talk to Delegates One major production a month will be offered by Columbia during the new season, as well as (hiring the balance of the current season, according to Abe Montague, Columbia's general sales manager, at the second of the company's regional meetings held in Chicago this week. Montague told the 70 delegates to the Chicago meeting that "showmanship in selling is vital to a business built on showmanship". Jack Cohn in his talk to the delegates said that the heated discussion as to whether pictures should lend themselves to social and political problems or concentrate on entertainment is just so much empty talk. He said he still believed that entertainment was tlie main function of the screen. Nearly $2,000,000 will be spent on short subjects, according to Max Weisfeld, short subjects sales supervisor. With the acceptance of the new Trade Practice Code, the company will be enabled to sell shorts on a competitive basis. Rube Jackter, assistant general sales manager, announced two promotions among the group at the convention. Joe Jacobs, formerly salesman in the MinneapoHs exchange, has been elevated to manager of the Omaha branch and Tom Baldwin, booker in the Kansas City exchange, has been promoted to salesman in that office. BUND HEAD SUES WB ON^ FILM Seeks $5,000,000 Damages In Action Against Co. Suit was filed last Friday in Federal Court by Fritz Kuhn on behalf of both himself and the German-American Bund of which he is president, against Warner Bros., Milton Krims, John Wexley and Leon G. Turrou, former G-man, for $5,000,000 damages and injunction to restrain further showing of the Warner feature, "Confessions of a Nazi Spy". Kuhn decla res in his complaint that the film purports to be a true story based on two trials, one in the Panama Canal Zone and the other in Federal Court here. He further contends that the picture charges various persons with espionage, and shows Nazi spies undermining the Government; shows them stealing military and naval secrets and stirring up trouble in the U. S. by using naturalized Germans who are members of the Bund. These expositions he brands as untruths. ' ' ■ ■ Important Dates May 20-22: Columbia regional nieetiiiu, r.os .Angeles. May 21-27: Silver Jubilee of Morris Joseph, Universal branch manager at New Haven, Conn. May 23-24: Kansas-Missouri Theatre Ass'n convention, Kansas City. May 23-25: N. Y. Allied "WorUl's Fair convention," Hotel Astor. June 4-6: Theatre Owners of North and South Carolina convention. Ocean Park Hotel, Myrtle Beach, S. C. June 8-10: Paramount convention. Hotel Ambassador, Los Angeles. June 12: MPTO of Va. midsummer convention, Roanoke Hotel, Roanoke. June 13-15: Allied National convention, Nicollet Hotel, Minneapolis. June 19-22: RKO Convention, Westchester Country Club, Rye. N. Y. June 19-22: National Conference on Visual Education, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago. BATTLE FAST TIME Cleveland Exhibs Opposed to New Ordinance Cleveland — Theatre owners here are unanimously opposed to a daylight saving time ordinance which has been introduced in the city council. A public hearing is scheduled for May 25 at 1 :30 p.m. If daylight saving time is put into effect locally, it is estimated that business will fall off at least 25 per cent. Bergman Honored Cleveland — Edwin Bergman, of 20th-Fox, recently promoted from road to city salesman, was honored Thursday with an outing and dinner at the Afahoning Country Club at Girard, O., by a group of friends. EXECS MEET ONCLEARANCE Solutions Sought by Sales Heads Sales managers for the major companies met at the Hotel Astor this week to discuss a setup for operating arbitration under the fair trade practice proposals. The chief problems for unravelling v/ere represented in the diversification of interests in regard to clearance. One e-xecutive, describing the situation, said there are a lot of "bugs" that must be eliminated from the tentative plan, before it will be ready to submit to exhibitor interests. Plans were made for the sales lieads to meet again this week in the hopes of winding up the details of the arbitration proposals. "Definite progress" was made toward reaching an understanding a1 the first meeting, it was said. Explaining that a satisfactory clearance agreement for one area would not be applicable in another, it was pointed out that a solution in that direction is tke coal of the assembled sales heads. Bill Miller Dies Cincinnati — Bill jMiller, former operator of the Metropolitan, now the State Theatre here, died this week of a heart attack. THE mciMoQoa^ ciry— MAKE SUkfc Voo T/E OP WITM