20th Century-Fox Dynamo (September 2, 1939)

10 NEW DYNAMO Always — At Your Service! Published In 1 he United States Every Week In The Interest Oj Sales Promotion By The Distribution Department Oj 20TH CENTURY—FOX FILM CORPORATION SIDNEY R. KENT, President HERMAN WOBBER, General Manager of Distribution Roger Ferri Editor * " SALlSOmiS TN the Studio Supplement of New Dynamo you will find this week particularly impor- tant news, regarding the prod- uct. A half dozen branch man- agers who read in the news- papers of the suspension of pro- duction activities in England be- cause of the war threat, wrote this department seeking infor- mation on the status of the British-made pictures antici- pated from there as part of the K-7 lineup. It was announced at the convention and division man- agers’ meeting that four British- made specials could be expected for K-7 release. The dilemma in which the international situation placed the British film men con- fused the situation. But, again the far-sighted production pol- icy of Darryl Zanuck was ready for just such an emergency. In- stead of 24 pictures originally allotted Sol Wurtzel for 1939-40 production, that executive pro- ducer, who is well along on his K-7 schedule, has been given 31 stories from which to select a total of 24 pictures. That 28 plus Zanuck’s 24 brings the K-7 releases up to the total of 52, which takes care of the present situation. And added to the Wurtzel K-7 lineup are such spe- cials as “The Man Who Wouldn't Talk,” “Law' West of I’ecos,” “Earthbound” and “The City.” • Z ANUCK Week will be the most important event this company will have celebrated in years. That is indicated by the enthusiastic letters coming to this department from district and branch managers, salesmen, bookers, adsales managers and many others. Up to Wednesday New Dynamo had received a to- tal of 534 letters from as many employees in 37 branches, all anxious to tell how pleased they are with the opportunity of pay- ing tribute to the industry’s No. 1 producer and what their offices planned delivering during that important stanza. That’s the spirit. Let’s make it the week of weeks. And you can do it. Good luck to all of you! • T HE Overseas organization this week-end launches its seventh annual S. R. Kent Drive. War talks, threats, political up- heavals, additional restrictions, etc., etc. But are the foreign branches discouraged? Not on your life. Come what may in Europe, you may rest assured they will get the very last dol- lar, even if they have to run be- tween firing squads to land it. We on this side are particularly fortunate. Here we have peace. Here we have understanding. Here we have prosperity com- pared with the economic situa- tion in every foreign country. Here we’re sitting on top of the world. Compared with the job some of those Overseas men and women have at hand, our Drive activity is a cinch! JPHE Home Office “broke” down in applause Thursday. Rea- son ? “The Rains Came” was screened for executives and de- partmental heads. Here is the GREATEST motion picture of any day. We said that when we saw most of it at the studio last June. At that time the floods and other spectacular sequences were not completed. But what we saw left no doubt that here was one of the GREATEST PIC- TURES OF ANY DAY—even without those thrilling factors. But with them it becomes THE GREATEST MOTION PIC- TURE. It starts where “Stanley and Livingstone” leaves off. And you’ll agree with that opinion of the Home Office when you see “The Rains Came.” And that will be a matter of a few days, for the negative reached New York Thursday morning. • A NYTHING that affects busi- ness abroad affects the do- mestic organization’s responsi- bilities on this side. That Mr. Wobber clearly points out in his informative message this week. Production budgets are based on universal revenue expectancy. And anything that decreases that expectancy affects us. And particularly is that so when the cry here in the U. S. and Canada is for more big pictures. That demand this company will meet 100 per cent plus. There is no re-adjustment downward in our K-7 production budget. It stays as it was fixed in January. And. with a curtailment of revenue from abroad, due to the prevail- ing situation, necessarily means we in America must do an even bigger job than that originally entrusted us. There is no other way out! And this is one field force that never shirked a re- sponsibility. • T HE closer co-operation be- tween adsales managers and other members of the dollar de- livery constitutes one of the most constructive features of the first fortnight of this Drive. Out of this spirit is bound to come not only a record adsales delivery, but assuredly better local advertising of the import- ant K-7 product. Congratula- tions—and thanks, says Nation- al Adsales Director Ed Hollan- der. C LOSE, indeed, is the battle being waged by the Southern branches for district leadership on K-7 sales. Memphis is first, just seven points ahead of Dal- las. But Atlanta trailed the Texans by only two-tenths of a point. Charlotte and New Or- leans, however, have still some distance to go before they can worry that trio. Toronto Hitls! Below are Harry Bailey and his Toronto personnel which is out with a bid for the Drive championship in the International group—and bright and early, too. The Maple Leaf contin- gent is piling up a reserve that will come in very handy and, meantime, is building a Zanuck Week that should be as not- able a triumph as any exchange in Ontario has ever effected. W HAT a whale of a time to re- issue “Dante’s Inferno,” which co-starred Spencer Tracy and Claire Trevor. But, the neg- ative was destroyed in the Fort Lee, N. .1., fire last year. We viewed a print at the Home Of- fice early this week and with others we were surprised by the timeliness of the story. It would be a cleanup today. • B RENDA JOYCE is garnering an extraordinary volume of publicity in the nationally circu- lated magazines and newspapers. We measured space devoted to her that came to our attention and here is what we found: 44 pages in magazines, with 27 pages made up of pictorial lay- outs, and some 173 newspaper columns. Considering the fact that Brenda will not publicly be seen for the first time until “The Rains Came” is released, this ad- vance buildup is certainly sensa- tional. • IIJASHINGTON is stepping ** high, w ide and handsome on Drive activity and means to be among the high prize winners. Sam Wheeler’s office is doing an especially fine job and building reve- nue to an ex- tremely high level for Za- n u c k We e k, Sept. 1 7-2 3. The three At- lantic branches, in tact, feel this is their big op- portunity insofar as Drives are concerned. • rPYRONE POWER and Anna- bella had no easy time get- ting back to this side of the At- lantic from their vacation in Europe. They arrived in New York late Thursday. But, en route they came down as the Clipper could not proceed with her schedule owing to bad weather. They stopped off in Spain, along with other west- bound Americans anxious to get away from the threatened war scene. • R OY DEL RUTH who recently finished “Here I Am a Stranger” had gone on a vaca- tion. He carried with him a number of scripts and from them he will select the next picture he will direct for this company. The assignment will be an- nounced by Zanuck within the next couple of weeks. • T\ON REED, one of the Field ” Adsales Representatives, was in New York this week. He pre- dicted that the adsales depart- ment would set an all-time rec- Don Reed ord during this Drive. Surely, with greater co-operation from salesmen and bookers and with a larger number of exploitation productions, plus a greatly re- juvenated staff, this record is possible and will come in very handy. So, good luck, boys. • “tMLMING THE FLEET,” the latest Movietone Adventure of News Cameramen, is as excit- ing a reel as we have ever seen. The commentary by Paul Doug- las is very interesting and here is a subject that brings added distinction to the greatest short subject producing organization in the industry. Congratulations! fpHURSDAY at the Home Office -A- there was a special screen- ing of “The Rains Came” for the top offi- cials. The lat- ter have sel- dom been as e n t h u s iastic about any pic- ture as they were over this one. Meantime, out on the Coast arrange- ments we re being speeded up for a press p r evi ew d e- signed to get the production national advance publicity. E. P. O’Neil OIX executives have been des- ignated field leaders in the Overseas Kent Drive which was to get officially under way on Sunday (Sept. 3). They are: British Isles, Francis L. Harley; Continental Europe, Benjamin Miggins; Australia and New Zealand, Clarence V. Hake; Far East, Delbert Goodman; Latin America, Edward F. Lomba, and South Africa, Otto W. Bolle. • TjlROM the studio comes word that in the past several weeks Director Walter Lang has taker some 300 tests of youngsters for the role of Tytyl in Shirley Temple’s “The Blue Bird.” But no one has yet been selected to play the role of the moppet. In- cidentally, Jessie Ralph and Leona Roberts have been given roles in that production. • TJRANCHES whose Drive two- weeks’ delivery leaders also are setting the pace on Drive advance are: Albany (Sliter), Charlotte (Holston), Chicago (Loeb), Cincinnati (Burkart), Denver (Rennie), Des Moines (O’Neill), Los Angeles (Robi- son), Memphis (Baskin), New' Orleans (Shallcross), Oklahoma City (James), Philadelphia (Tol- mas), and Pittsburgh (Inter- rante). , The Latest i SHOP i I T A L K , } S W E observe that titles are to be given the individual re- lease in the Vyvyan Donner Fashion Forecast series. For in- stance, the first one is entitled. “For Going Places” and ex- hibits practical styles for women and girls of all ages and types, that Miss Donner brought over from Europe which she explored last month. 9 TTIGHEST ratio of short sub- jects sales to K-7 feature product contracts continues to find Edgar Moss’ Atlantics first, with Ward Scott’s Midwest sec- ond, Balk nee’s South third and Levy’s Prairie fourth. Pittsburgh is now first for total number of K-7 short subjects contracts to its K-7 feature product volume —and remember the latter is the best showing made by any branch, for the Pii'ates are still fastest when it comes to closing their possibilities. • H ERE’S one for the books: A certain salesman writes in that we “help him out.” It seems Vyvyan Donner New Dynamo Studio Supple- m e n t and started to sell the exhibitor, going p a ge after page. The deal was closed. Then the ex- hibitor spoke up: “When will you start send- ing me a copy of this jour- nal?” The salesman said the Studio Supplement was for dis- tribution exclusively within the ranks of the organization. Whereupon the exhibitor re- marked: “Suppose I subscribe?” Now the salesman wants the an- swer to that one. • A TLANTIC, Midwest and Northeast are giving the other districts something to think about in the sale of Movietone News. Wedged in among that trio, however, is Ballance’s South, which trails Moss’ pace-setting Atlantic by only 16 points. Difference be- tween the K-7 sales pacing West’s percentage on the feature product and on News, in which it is second, is 14.9. Between the East’s two volumes it is only 8.3, and Central 12.3. • S TANLEY AND LIVING- STONE” has been entered by European Manager Ben Mig- gins in the prize competition for the world’s best motion picture at the Cannes (France) Film Festival this week. If the con- test was held (there was a chance of its cancellation be- cause of the situation abroad) chances of “Stanley and Living- stone” winning top honors were reported to be exceptionally good by film men in France. • /GENERAL Manager of Distri- bution Herman Wobber is expected back at his office in New York early next week. He was to attend the Drive meeting at Denver on Friday and then return to San Francisco, from which city he planned flying on Labor Day to New York. In the meantime, Mr. Wobber not only outlined the Drive meetings pro- gram, but he also attended the sessions at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Salt Lake City and Denver and negotiated the sale of product to a number of important Coast circuits.