20th Century-Fox Dynamo (August 5, 1939)

NEW DYNAMO 7 RECORD DEFINITELY SURE FROM RE-ISSUE BUSINESS SIX TECHNICOLOR SHORTS DURING THE DRIVE RELEASES FOR THREE MONTHS FR. HUBBARD THRILLER FOLLOWED BY MARKET’S TOP FEATURETTES Vyvyan Donner A minimum of six Technicolor one-reel featur- ettes will feature the short subject releases for the 18-week S. R. Kent Drive period. If present plans materialize, practically half of Terry- Toon’s minimum of ten K-7 Technicolor releases will be available during that Big Push. In any event the first of the Technicolor offerings will be avail- able early in September in the form of Vyvyan Donner’s Fall Styles in her now world-famous Fashion Forecast series. In fact, that release will be the first of the Fashion Forecast series of four K-7 all-color business-building featurettes. To none other than the fam- ous Father Hubbard will go the distinction of launching the 1939-40 Movietone short subject program. This famous explorer is under contract to deliver four unusual featurettes to be labeled Father Hubbard Alaskan Adven- tures. One will be released every quarter and the coming first week of the new season will see the series introduced with “Birthplace of Icebergs.” Two Terry-Toons also will be available during the month of August. “Two-Headed Giant,” featuring the giant who scored so emphatically in last year’s first Technicolored Terry-Toon, is an all-color cartoon. “The Golden West” is a black-and- white Terry-Toon. “Conquering the Colorado” is another August release and the first in Movietone’s thrilling and new Adventures of News Cam- eramen series. This subject was filmed by a staff of cameramen who actually defied death and marks the first conquest by hu- mans of the troublesome, defiant Colorado. FOR SEPTEMBER September will be launched with the first of Vyvyan Don- ner’s Fashion Forecasts. Miss Donner returns to New York within the next few days from a business trip to Europe. In Europe she visited all of the fashion centers and placed under exclusive contract to Movietone the world’s most famous style setters in Paris, London and Rome These already have de- signed original models for next Fall and Winter and these will be introduced in Miss Donner’s first release. From Paris, Miss Donner is bringing the most beautiful and photographable models there. These will augment the now fam- Truman Talley ous world’s most beautiful mod- els that are under exclusive con- tract to Movietone and appeared in the four K-6 Fashion Fore- cast releases. Production on the first K-7 Fashion Forecast starts within the next few days, according to Movietone Producer Truman H. Talley. Ed Thorgersen’s “Big Game Fishing,” another timely sub- ject, will start off his incompar- able Sports Review series in September. Lew Lehr’s new series will also be launched next month with “Monkeys Is the Craziest People.” The two Terry-Toon releases for September will be “Sheep in the Meadow” and “Hook, Line and Sinker.” FOR OCTOBER The second K-7 Technicolor Terry-Toon, “The Orphan Duck,” will usher in the month of Oc- tober. The first of Lowell Thomas’ Magic Carpets of Movietone series will be inaugurated in Oc- tober. The title of this intro- ductory subject will be “The Evergreen Empire.” That month also will bring Revenue During Early Weeks of Kent Drive Brings to Light Many Surprising Facts—How This Business Is Developing Never in the history of any company has any field force resorted to the wholesale reissuance of past hits as a means of piling up extra revenue. With all branches going into the seventh annual S. R. Kent Drive in possession of a minimum of backlog, although they are still capable of obtaining considerable valuable revenue, most of the 37 branches are counting on re-issuance of old hits to zoom extra Drive revenue during the first six weeks of that Big Push. Every single one of the U. S. offices has substantially enriched its potential revenue for the early weeks of the Drive through a surprisingly huge volume of repeat engagements on productions that emerged as outstanding box office hits of the past five seasons. Never in the history of Drive activity has there been so great a demand for available prints on such past successes. The way things stand right now branches, cooperating among themselves, are going to exchange prints on such pictures as a means of keeping extra revenue piling up. The timeliness of such reissues has been stressed in many territories. In every U. S. territory “Jesse James” and “Kentucky” are being re-issued. Judging from repeat bookings reported by branch managers, salesmen and bookers to New Dynamo on these two Tech- nicolor specials, something of a record should be estab- lished in revenue derived from reissued films. Most of the repeat bookings on these two particular attractions are for the first six weeks of the Drive. The field forces are working on the presumption that if they can maximize extra revenue from re-issues in the first six or eight weeks of the Drive, the rest of the Big Push task to maintain weekly quota level will be comparatively easy. In any case, the managers figure the safe thing to do is to corral this available extra money while it is there to be earned and while exhibitors are receptive and anxious to repeat on past hits. “WINGS OF MORNING” CATCHING ON In last week’s issue of New Dynamo it was pointed out that several branches, notably those in the Atlantic district, because of the increased public interest in Annabella since she became Mrs. Tyrone Power, and the success Henry Fonda has been attaining, are re-issuing the Technicolor special “Wings of the Morning,” in which the two are co-starred. Since that publication, the writer has received wires and airmailed letters from managers and sales- men seeking added details, which have been supplied. Several managers wired they were immediately concentrating- on repeat dates on “Wings of the Morning.” One manager recalled that that production had not played first-run in some of his key cities and he thanked this publication for calling the possibilities of this picture to his attention, because “we are going to get a lot of real extra money by immediately placing ‘Wings of the Morning’ in every situation where it has not played and getting repeats where it was shown.” B. B. Reingold of St. Louis has mapped out a definite campaign on earning extra Drive money through re-issuance of past suc- cesses. Local Drive Leader Joe Feld already has circularized the trade, furnishing exhibitors with a list of pictures available for re-issuance, listing the casts and the latter furnishes a definite surprise, for here are some of the stars who appear in these pro- ductions: Charles Boyer Dick Powell Robert Taylor Loretta Young Joel McCrea Wallace Beery Ronald Colman Annabella Mickey Rooney Claudette Colbert Henry Fonda The above, of course, are in addition to stars that were under contract to this company at the time the proposed re-issues were originally released. St. Louis has achieved remarkable success in getting playtime on these releases and the proceeds already guaranteed by secured bookings will run deep into six figures, according to the estimate of Manager Reingold. Up in Canada where “Wings of the Morning” did the greatest business it enjoyed in any part of the world, that British-made all-color hit is also under consideration for re-issue. District Manager Jim O’Loghlin was putting the matter before the Famous Players Canadian Theatres circuit’s managers, who were holding their annual convention at Niagara Falls, Ont., this week-end. If their reaction is a favorable one, O’Loghlin plans to fall in step with the U. S. pilots and offer “Wings of the Morning” for Canadian re-issue early in the Drive period. HOW MANAGERS ARE CHECKING POSSIBILITIES Communications from branch managers indicate they are prac- tising extraordinary enterprise in going after extra revenue from re-issues. Several have written in that they have compiled lists of theatres where past hits set records and these hits are being- submitted as possible vehicles for repeat runs at those houses. The reaction of such exhibitors, these managers point out, has been generally favorable. Thirteen Midwestern circuits, this publication has been informed, have decided on cashing in on the industry’s coming celebration of the 50th anniversary of motion pictures by devoting a full week to the presentation of past successes, as a means of cashing in on the event and at the same time stressing the record of the screen itself, particularly as regards the past 10 years. These revival weeks will find our branches fully prepared to cut loose with proved hits of bygone days. This type of playtime is being generally set for the latter part of September or October, according to lists of bookings and other in- formation forwarded New Dynamo by district and branch managers. Lew Lehr Ed Thorgersen the release of the second picture in the Adventures of the News Cameramen, entitled “Filming the Fleet,” the most exciting picture of its type ever filmed. This featurette, which already has received considerable pub- licity in the nationally circulated pictorial magazines, was filmed with the cooperation of the Navy Department. They are the only pictures of their kind ever taken. In addition, October will bring another Terry-Toon, but this one had not been titled when New Dynamo went to press. The month of November will bring another Father Hubbard Paul Douglas Lowell Thomas thriller, a third Technicolor Terry-Toon with the second Vyvyan Donner Fashion Fore- cast scheduled for national re- lease just before the holidays. It will be released in ample time for booking in conjunction with Zanuck’s Technicolor super spe- cial, Maeterlinck’s “The Blue Bird” in which Shirley Temple will head an all-star cast.