Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1948)

RUSSIA IN NEED OF U. S. FILMS, JOHNSTON TELLS SMPE MEETING Eric Johnston, president of the MPAA, chats with members of the SMPE and other guests preceding the opening luncheon of the society’s semi-annual convention, at which he was the principal speaker. Left to right: Nathan D. Golden, chief of the motion picture division of the E.S. Department of Commerce; Johnston; Loren J. Ryder, president of SMPE, and John Russell Young, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia. MPAA Chief Says Soviet Doesn't Have Sufficient Productions of Own WASHINGTON — The Russians want our pictures because they don’t have enough of their own, Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Ass’n of America, told the Society of Motion Picture Engineers at its semi-annual convention here this week. Johnston said that although the Russians have studios in 12 cities, they turned out only 87 features last year — compared to the 400 U.S. features made in Hollywood during the same period. The MPAA president also revealed that his trip to Moscow to sell American pictures had not been entirely on his own initiative. He said he had been asked to make the attempt by our ambassador to Moscow, W. Bedell Smith. Not only Smith, but also George Marshall, secretary of state, and other top officials were “sold” on the value of films as a force for world peace and understanding, he said. SPONABLE ELECTED HEAD Even more convinced of the important role pictures can play, Johnston added, are the countries within the Soviet orbit. Here there are government film directors with cabinet status. The SMPE convention drew many top film personalities and leaders in the technical production of motion pictures. One of the pioneers in sound, Earl Sponable, director of research for 20th Century-Fox, was elected president, to take office in January. Others elected were Peter Mole, of Mole-Richardson, executive vice-president; Clyde Keith of Western Electric, editorial vice-president; William C. Kunzmann of National Carbon, convention vice-president; and Robert Corbin of Eastman, secretary. Keith and Kunzmann are holdovers. FIVE NEW BOARD MEMBERS New members elected to the board were Norwood Simmons of Eastman, K. F. Morgan of ERPI and Sidney Solow of Consolidated Film Industries, from the west coast, and Herbert Barnett of GPEC and Frederick T. Bowditch of National Carbon from the east coast. Television, three-dimensional films, theatre hygiene, “visible music,” and new developments in projection and sound were among the topics discussed by the experts in their five-day session at the Hotel Statler. Capsule digests of some of the important papers follow : PROJECTION: A new lightweight 16mm projector to provide quality operation at low cost was presented by Franz Talley of the Connecticut Telephone and Electric Co. Among the design features are elimination of precision tolerances other than in highly critical areas, individual unit design which permits assembly by relatively unskilled operators, and reduction of the over-all number of component parts. Unit construction also simplifies the problem of repair. VISIBLE MUSIC: Ralph K. Potter of Bell Telephone laboratories, reported on progress in the field of “seeing as well as hearing music.” The sound spectograph may add visual appreciation to the hearing of good music. The spectograph visibly records sound’s frequency in horizontal graphs and its intensity in vertical imagery. Potter said color blending, with oscillating horizontal and vertical lines, would be needed to complete the illusion of seeing what is being heard. Total effect would be a screen display “of something like the action of flames” or “light rippling on the surface.” It would be different than Disney’s dancing abstractions in “Fantasia.” CARBONS: Water cooling of carbon arcs makes possible a steady arc of high brilliancy with a shallower crater and a greatly lowered carbon consumption, Wolfgang Finkelnburg of Engineer Research Development Laboratories said in reporting on the influence of carbon cooling on high-cm-rent carbon arc and mechanism. All properties of arcs were changed, he said, when cooling was applied. Carbons are cooled by copper jackets containing circulating water, the carbons being enclosed near their burningends. Similar effects were noted with compressed air cooling. SOUND AMPLIFIERS; O. C. Johnston of Westrex Corp. reported on a new line of theatre amplifier systems which places especial attention on ease of maintenance while retaining high-quality features. A floormounting cabinet is used throughout, the smallest system also being available in a wall-mounting cabinet. A “dish pan” type chassis makes all wiring available from the front, the back being needed only for changing plug-in devices. 'The voltage amplification section is common to all sizes of amplifiers and may be replaced with only the use of a screw driver. THEATRE HYGIENE: A way of controlling "a sneezeful of germs” from circulating in a theatre by “grounding their flying machines” was described by L. S. Green of L. S. Green Associates. Used in the manner of flypaper, an imperceptible amount of absorptive oil applied to major horizontal surfaces will trap the contaminants which carry germs pig-a-back from mouths of sneezing, coughing or even talking patrons to spread acute respiratory diseases in closed gathering places. Spread of contaminants as well as “house dust” can be controlled by application of microscopically thin oil films. On television, reports were made by Roy Wilcox of RCA and H. J. Shlayfly of 20th Century-Fox and Richard Hodgson of Paramount on large screen video. Progress over a wide range of the motion picture field was also reflected in other papers delivered at the session. Columbia Net Profit Drops Way Below Previous Year NEW YORK — Columbia Pictures reports a drop in estimated net profits from $3,707,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1947, to $565,000 for the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1949. Earnings per share of common stock dropped from $5.19 to 40 cents. Profits before taxes dropped from $5,807,000 to $1,205,000 and the estimated provision for federal taxes from $2,100,000 to $640,000. The number of shares outstanding was 654,311, or 16,959 more than a year ago. Earl Sponable BOXOFFICE :: October 30, 1948 9