Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1939)

NEWS AND VIEWS THE PRODUCTION CENTER (Hollywood Office Labor Like a Lamb As 1939 Bows Oui The year 1939 passed out like the proverbial lamb insofar as Hollywood’s stormy labor front was concerned, with most warring factions apparently content to accept a truce until the new year gathers momentum. Producers have asserted they will shortly begin a study of the demands for a 10 per cent wage increase requested by the Society of Motion Picture Film Editors and for a new working agreement by the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors. Preliminary conferences have already been held with representatives of both crafts. The SMPFE asserts certain clauses in its present contract are being violated and that its members are being improperly classified in several studios. The requested increase would be retroactive to Aug. 25, 1939. With Screen Publicists Guild representatives reporting that all details of their producer contract have finally been ironed Hollywood Takes Dies Calmly Liberal Hollywood circles are apparently unperturbed by the announcement that the Dies Committee will, within a lew days, make public a list of actors and writers in the film colony who are reputedly identified with the alleged Communistic movement in motion pictures. While there has, naturally, been considerable conjecture as to the identity of those who might be included in the list of 20 or more names to be broadcast, comment is being withheld, for obvious reasons, until the names are published. One school of thought, spokesman for which preferred to remain in the background, holds that the impending announcement may be a smokescreen to detract attention from the LaFollette senatorial committee which is currently in California investigating the actions and policies of the Associated Farmers, in pursuit of its probe into charges that civil liberties have been violated. Activities of the LaFollette group are being publicized by the newly formed committee to Protect Civil Liberties. ■Suite 219 at 6404 Hollywood Blvd.; Ivan Spear, Western Manager) A New Rash oi Roadshows May Break Out Following ''Wind" By IVAN SPEAR That perennial plaything of the industry’s distribution moguls — the roadshow — appears due for a revival during the early months of 1940 that may, if this glorified exhibition practice results in healthy revenue returns, be transformed into a land out, the agreement is shortly to be signed by the studios. Senior members are to receive a minimum of $100 for a 42-hour week. The Screen Cartoonists Guild, which recently affiliated with the studio painters, has begun drafting a set of bargaining demands for submission to producers. The Guild is waiving jurisdiction over cameramen in studio cartoon departments in favor of the lATSE photographers’ local 659. Also planning to draft a bargaining agreement is the newly-formed Screen Office Employes Guild, which has called a general membership meeting for January 9 to discuss the matter further, and to elect permanent officers. White-collar workers from five major studios are represented in the organization. The Screen Set Designers have also requested a producer conference to readjust wage scales and working conditions. Independent producers have been notified by the studio painters that the new minimum wage scale, calling for a 15 per cent increase, will be enforced throughout the industry, not only in the major plants. Negotiations between the producers and the Screen Actors Guild regarding reclassification for extras have again been delayed after one earlier postponement. . ’The SAG is requesting a 15 per cent increase for its “B” players and elimination of the $5.50 minimum paycheck. Kenneth Thomson, Guild secretary, checked in from a business trip to New York to handle the negotiations. 'The SAG has filed an answer to the superior court suit brought by Ed Heim, a “B” player, to gain full voting privileges for extras. The Guild denies the majority of “B” players favor the move and asserts the suit is against the best interests of the extras. It alleges the board of directors operates in a fair and impartial manner, serving both “A” and “B” brackets without discrimination. slide. Two-a-day bookings at increased prices have already been set for two features and executives have several other top-budgeted vehicles in mind for similar treatment if public reaction is favorable enough. The ice-breaker was Metro’s release of Selznick International’s “Gone With the Wind,” already playing on a two-a-day basis in New York City, Harrisburg, Reading, Cincinnati and Boston. Local roadshowing got underway at the Carthay Circle on December 28, with two screenings daily, while it was booked into the United Artists in downtown Los Angeles to open the following day on a three-show schedule daily. Next picture definitely set for roadshowing, as announced several weeks ago, is 20th Century-Fox’s “The Bluebird,” starring Shirley Temple. The Technicolor fantasy opens in New York City January 17 and, on January 26, will be given simultaneous two-a-day openings in Pittsburgh, Detroit and San Francisco. For the latter affair the child star herself will be on hand. May Roadshow "Grapes" The studio admits further that there is a strong possibility “The Grapes of Wrath” will be roadshowed throughout the country. However, local spokesmen say 20thFox President Sidney R. Kent is keeping a close watch on the grosses being piled up by “Gone With the Wind” before definite plans are made, and say an official announcement will be made shortly. The film version of John Steinbeck’s novel runs, in its present form, two hours and 20 minutes, much longer than the average for regular screenings. Opinion among local dopesters is that executives of other plants will follow Kent’s example before deciding what exhibition treatment to give some of their more elaborate offerings. Metro, for example, has “Northwest Passage;” Warner has a pair of possible roadshows in “Virginia City” and “Magic Bullets.” It is considered probable that Walt Disney’s second feature-length cartoon, “Pinocchio,” will be roadshowed, as was his first, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Paramount has, in completed form, “Dr. Cyclops” and, now being prepared for early production, Cecil B. DeMille’s saga of the Canadian Northwest mounted police. BOXOFFICE :: December 30, 1939 H 23