The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1944)

6 THE EXHIBITOR MEL KONECOFF COVERS NEW YORK Universal home office executives ten¬ dered a dinner last week at Club “21” for Bud Abbott and Lou Costello prior to a special preview screening of Abbott and Costello’s “In Society,” and the two boys certainly were regular the way for them. The reception to the film “In Society” was excellent, and Konecoff clearly demonstrated that the rough ’n’ ready comedians are still on top even after an absence from the screens of the nation of more than a year. Present at the dinner and screening were: W. A. Scully, J. J. O’Connor, Budd Rogers, William German, Charles D. Printzman, S. Machnovitch, E. T. Gomersall, J. H. Seidelman, Maurice Bergman, Fred Meyers, F. J. A. McCarthy, Adolph Schimel, A. J. O’Keefe, J. J. Jordan, C. A. Kirby, Hank Linet A1 Horwits, M. Alin, F. Baronat, A1 Daff, J. H. Murphy, A. J. Sharick, E. F. Walsh, E. L. McEvoy, Ed Muhl, Charles Moss, Oscar Doob. Ernest Emerling, Lou Davidson, Jerry Sager, and representatives of the trade press. Foreign Department: Murray Silverstone, vice president in charge of foreign distribution at 20th Century-Fox, gathered ye trade press together last week at a luncheon, and announced his intention of visiting the company’s exchanges in South America, all 21 of them, for several prime reasons, among them being “Wilson” and “The Song of Bernadette,” as well as to determine how the industry can best get together, and establish a uniform policy for South America, one that would bene¬ fit the industry as a whole, and not just an individual company. He is going to talk to typical exhibitors in each country, “the man in the street,” exchange people, etc., and he will place his information be¬ fore all the companies on his return, with¬ out exception. Said Silverstone; “Ameri¬ can industry should stick together . . . we should follow a policy that will be con¬ structive.” As far as local production in Latin-America is concerned, he opined that the American industry should do noth¬ ing to hinder local production because of his belief that each country should main¬ tain its own right to do anything it pleases within the confines of its borders. Silverstone said that he would like to see his own company as well as the others send only their hest films down, and exploit these worthy features to the utmost, and the resulting good-will would more than repay the industry. The selling policy should answer the query “What is best for the whole American picture industry?” The distribution executive also urged that the American industry put their heads to¬ gether to plan for the post-war market in Europe. “ ‘Wilson,’ ” said Silverstone, “ is above a motion picture, and should be presented as soon as possible in all 21 Latin-American countries.” It deserves the widest possible showing because of its greatness, and, according to Silverstone, even those Allied Inviting Indes NEW YORK — Representatives of all independent and unallilliated exhibitor organizations may be invited by Allied to attend its board of directors meeting in Bretton Woods, N. H., next month, it was reported last week. Each Allied unit will send a num¬ ber of its members to the sessions, it is understood. nations which are now hostile will fall in line. These showings will be backed by tremendous advertising, publicity, and ex¬ ploitation campaigns. The film itself will have either superimposed titles or a com¬ bination of super-imposition and dub¬ bing, which may be decided in the near future. “The Song of Bernadette” will have super-imposed titles, and its pantomine performance will easily lend itself to this type of showing, although a dubbed print has been completed in Mexico. Sil¬ verstone will be gone about two months. Sales Meeting Department: UA had its foreign managers in last week from Cen¬ tral and South America for a sales meet¬ ing, and, prior to the actual session, opened and presided over by Walter Gould, a luncheon was held for producer repre¬ sentatives, members of the press, etc. In attendance were: Home office — Edward C. Raftery, Walter Gould, Thomas P. Mulrooney, Harry W. Schroeder, Harry Gold¬ smith, Samuel Cohen, Len Daly, Earl Denison, John Reilly, W. Vandensteen, Alfredo Ayulo, Walter Liebler, Thomas Healey, Paul O’Brien; producers’ repre¬ sentatives — Neil Agnew, B. P. Schulberg, Lowell Calvert, Harry Kosiner, Henry Brash, Seymour Poe, Maybelle Oldenhage, David (Skip) Weshner, Ed Peskay, Budd Rogers, Archie Mayers, Grace Rosenfeld, Bill Levy; foreign managers — Sam Seidel¬ man, Argentina; Enrique Baez, Brazil; Vic¬ tor J. Schochet, Peru; Jorge Suarez, Chile; Henry Weiner, Cuba; Joe Goltz, Mexico, and Guy C. Smith, Canal Zone. War Correspondent Dept.: Neil Sulli¬ van, cameraman for Pathe News, first cor¬ respondent to have returned from the Normandy war front, reported that he saw one film being shown about five miles be¬ hind the front, Columbia’s “My Kingdom For a Cook,” and the soldiers were brought back from the fighting areas in weapon carriers, which transport about 15 men at a time, to view the film. Every night, a different division was called for the show¬ ing. As far as war scenes in the newsreels were concerned, the boys didn’t care one whit for them, and as often as not walked out on them. It still boils down to the fact that they prefer musicals, comedies, etc. The photographer, who holds the Purple Heart for a wound received when the Naples postoffice blew up, was with the second wave of invasion craft, and revealed that the Americans surprised the Nazis on the beaches as they were going through maneuvers. He carried his film on his back, and drew on Army Pictorial Service supplies when necessary. Sullivan’s clos¬ est shave occurred when General Leslie McNail was killed in his vicinity by an accidental American bomb. He revealed that loudspeakers are planted at the front, with tremendous power volume, to keep the Nazis, fighting the Americans, aware of the course of the war, news from Berlin, etc., as well as to give them directions for surrendering. Returning to London by plane, his plane flew parallel to a buzz bomb at night, and he thought it was a fighter escort until it suddenly nosed down, and exploded on the ground. Said Sullivan, “London looks like Fifth Ave¬ nue, New York, at 4 A. M.” because of the rocket bombs. He is anxious to return as soon as he has some dental work attended to. Record Dept.: A special recording of songs in Republic’s “Atlantic City” has been sent to motion picture critics in branch cities and other leading key spots throughout the country. Highlighting some of the many songs, the transcription is an¬ nounced by the well-known Ben Grauer, and features Paul Whiteman and his or¬ chestra. This is a swell pre-opening stunt. Cocktails and Pretzels Dept.: United Artists executives, producer Samuel Bronston, and director Lewis Milestone were hosts to trade paper editors and publish¬ ers at a private cocktail party at the Waldorf-Astoria last week. Among those present were: Carl Leserman, Ed Peskay, Lou Pollock, James Dunn, Herb Berg, Phil Laufer, Bemie Kamber, Abner J. Rubien, Burnett Hershey, Nicholas Farkas, etc. The producer and ace director later left for the coast to start working on their first group of films for United Artists, “De¬ cision,” “Ten Little Indians,” and “Bor¬ rowed Night.” Fan Mail Dept.: It seems that we are riill getting reactions to guest columnist Dave Bader’s bit of work while we were on vacation a while back. A missive from Universal’s Bob Wile follows: “Dave Bader certainly did a swell job with your column the week you were away. Of course, he inadvertently omitted mention of press agents from a good com¬ pany like Universal, and he took advantage (not unfairly, mind you) of the oppor¬ tunity to plug one of his pictures about one of our former Presidents. This is to advise you that I would be glad to undertake writing your column sometime in the next couple of weeks in exchange for a plug for ‘The Merry Monahans,’ being released by Universal on Sept. 15. In case, any¬ body wants to know, this picture stars Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan, Jack Oakie, and Ann Blyth. “Sincerely, “Bob Wile.” We have decided to forego another week’s vacation rather than go through this again. Music and Money Dept.: Last week we went down to the Federal Building to in¬ terview Irving Berlin, famed composer and producer of the now famous “This Is the Army,” and, after receiving a badge, and registering, we were escorted to the large press room by a Marine sergeant. Berlin revealed that Army Emergency Relief has received more than $8,000,000 from film showings of “This Is the Army” to date as well as another $2,000,000 from the legiti¬ mate show’s appearances. He believed that $2,000,000 would eventually come in from additional film bookings, and this is ex¬ clusive of British showings. Very little was changed in the show, although an amusing WAC comedy sketch was added, and proved a highlight. The Metropolitan Scene: Archie May¬ ers, assistant to Jules Levey, has organ¬ ized “an old man’s” baseball team at the camp where his kids are vacationing, and they take regular beatings from the oppo¬ sition, which ranges anywhere from six to nine years of age. . . . Publicist A1 Margolies moved to new quarters. . . . That was a good pre-opening campaign for Re¬ public’s “Atlantic City” in town here. . . . For the first time in a long while, a motion picture critic (Archer Winsten of The New York Post) after having reviewed a film, returned voluntarily to the theatre, to see it again in order to write another and better review. The film was “Wilson.” August 16, 1944