Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

lipevEPORTS from RKO Radio that \m Jane Loring, assistant to Pandro S. Berman, is to be made an associate producer, again poses the question as to why more women do not attain high production or executive niches in the industry and, further, why those few women who have done so have failed to stay at the top. As screen writers they rank with the best; and in law, medicine, education and the business world the feminine sex has consistently proven it is fully as capable as are the men. However, the roster of women producers, directors or executives of motion pictures is woefully slim, and none of the few names thereon is currently in action. Witness Fanchon, who stepped over from Fanchon-Marco to become an associate producer at Paramount; she made but two pictures before retiring. Dorothy Reid, widow of Matinee-Idol Wallace Reid, enjoyed a brief flurry as a Monogram producer, but has now dropped from sight. Dorothy Arzner, the only feminine director — and at one time ranking at the top — has not wielded a megaphone for several years. Perhaps the brains of the industry are overlooking a bet. It is entirely possible that the application of keen feminine minds to production might tap a new reservoir of entertainment, applying that fresh outlook to motion picture-making which many opine is so badly needed. Miss Loring, for example, seems, from her experience, fully as qualified as many men now carried on studio payrolls as associate producers. She has been with RKO Radio for eight years or more, working her way up to a film-editing berth before moving over to Berman’s office, and for whom she handles many of the myriad details which are so essential to the manufacture of celluloid entertainment. The Motion Picture Relief Fund might easily raise some badly-needed dollars by conducting a sweepstakes on the moot question as to who will get the direction and writing credits on Selznick’s “Gone With the Wind.” According to present indications there will be as many entries as in the Kentucky Derby. Akim Tamiroff has witnessed six major operations at a local hospital in the past two weeks. He's learning technicalities of surgery for a forthcoming role. He might have familiarized himself just as easily ’with the finer points of major surgery by haunting Hollywood's cutting rooms. Remember Joan Crawford's widely-publicized song numbers in "Ice Follies." Hollywood’s Biggest Headache of the week : Douglas Fairbanks sr., wrote a check payable to the U. S. internal revenue department in the amount of $103,730.65, thus settling a dispute over his income tax payments which originated in 1932. Fairbanks kicked in when the supreme court ruled the government had erroneously refunded some $72,000 to the former actor. Leo’s praisery reports that $5,000 worth of perfumes has been secured by M-G-M from local wholesalers for use in the perfume department in “The Women.” Just to make sure the film smells sweeter. So long as he concluded a change in the top spot of his publicity department was indicated. Sam Goldwyn could not have made a better choice for the position than Gregory Dickson, erstwhile praiser par excellence for Walt Disney. A review of Dickson's accomplishments in the motion picture publicity field — both in New York and Hollywood— must develop the conclusion that he is splendidly qualified to do a job of drum beating paralleling the standardly high calibre of Goldwyn product. Incidentally, another recent appointee in public relations circles from whom a workmanlike performance may be expected is Charles Leonard, who formerly headed the United Artists advertising department in Hollywood and who is now functioning as producer-homeoffice representative for Herbert Wilcox and the Max Gordon-Harry Goetz production units at RKO Radio. He will handle advertising and publicity in connection with pictures made by these organizations. Significantly illustrative of the cumulative boxoffice potentialities of the better family series pictures are the following figures on M-G-M’s “Hardy” features; On completion of first week’s run in six key spots “The Hardys Ride High” grossed a total of $74,088; “Love Finds Andy Hardy” in same spots grossed $63,604, and “Out West With the Hardys,” $69,574. Public and critical consensus voted the chapter which dealt with Andy’s tender passion the outstanding best of the three, in fact the best of the series to date. Yet its two successors are bidding to outgross that picture and on an ascending curve. A Diversified Decade What with cocktail soirees for visiting English producers and stars and United Artists conventioneers and no less than ten — count ’em — ten previews, Hollywood’s correspondents had to put their filling stations on the cuff for an extra tankfull of gas in order to get around and view a wide assortment of entertainment — real and alleged. Of the decade, 20th Century-Fox’s “Rose of Washington Square” was universally conceded to be the best offering. A worthy successor to the mortgage-lifting “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” it should fare equally well at the theatre turnstiles, possessing much the same general entertainment ingredients and theme. Alice Faye and Tyrone Power are cast in the top spots and can be credited with characteristically splendid performances, but it is A1 Jolson, in a triumphant screen return, who garners the lion’s share of plaudits through a sincere, wisely-modulated portrayal which demonstrates that he still is master of the grand showmanship which made him a lasting favorite. The screenplay, apparently inspired by the lives of Fanny Brice and Nicky Arnstein, is a credit to Nunnally Johnson, who based it on a story by John Larkin and Jerry Horwin. Johnson also shares staff honoi'S as associate producer with Gregory Ratoff, who directed. The picture, with its garnishment of song hits of the early ’20’s, will exert a delightfully nostalgic tug on the heart strings of that generation which has turned gray at the temples, those boys and girls whose heels hit hard on the pavements of early prohibition days; and will, at the same time, have a powerful appeal to the youngsters. * * * Among the runners-up, three in number, a pair were contributed by Paramount, “Invitation to Happiness,” winner of second honors, and “Some Like It Hot,” while the third was Hal Roach’s “Captain Fury,” produced for United Artists release. Producer-Director Wesley Ruggles paint ed a warm and moving canvas in “Invitation to Happiness,” so excellently blending a tender love story, action, humor and human interest that it is hard to conceive of any type of audience not finding something in the picture to its liking. Fred MacMurray turns in what is probably his best screen performance in a flawless characterization as an ill-educated, lowbrow boxer who aspires to the championship and who, along the way, marries the blue-blooded Irene Dunne. The screenplay, witty and sentimental by turns, is from the nimble brain of Claude Binyon, using an original by Mark Jerome as its framework. Not as subtly handled, but equally certain of its share of patronage, “Some Like It Hot” is a timely bit of showmanship designed to intrigue the nation’s swing fans. To assure such acceptance. Producer William Thomas gained the services of one of the country’s leading hot-lick artists, Gene Krupa, and his orchestra, the (Continued on page 29) BOXOFFICE. :: May 13, 1939 25