The Exhibitor (Nov 1942-May 1943)

9 ■HR \ wmw mm SCHENCK REVEALS TALK WITH MELLETT Accord Seen After Confab New York — Nicholas M. Schenck, president, Loew’s, Inc., made public last week the details of a meeting held here among the presidents of various motion picture companies and Lowell Mellett on Dec. 23. “The purpose of the meeting,” said Schenck, “was to review the product pro¬ duced by the industry during the past 12 months relating to the war effort, and to discuss the assistance and cooperation made available to the industry by the Bureau of Motion Picture of the OWI. We took the occasion to express the in¬ dustry’s thanks and appreciation for the helpful and constructive assistance given to us by Mr. Mellett in dealing with the many new and novel problems with which the industry had to contend since Pearl Harbor. Both the industry’s co¬ operation and the services of the Bureau of Motion Pictures have been on a purely voluntary basis. The element of volun¬ tary cooperation which has characterized our relationships in the past will continue in the future. The year 1943 will find us a war industry, and we undoubtedly will avail ourselves of many sei vices which the Bureau of Motion Pictures is qualified to render to us.” Following the meeting, Mellett sent a letter of confirmation to Schenck, which read as following: Dear Mr. Schenck : I am happy to h^ve had the talk yesterday with Messrs. Balaban, Rathvon, Hazen, and yourself. As I told you, there never was any need for misunderstanding concerning relations between the Office of War Information and the motion picture industry, and I know there never has been any such misunderstanding so far as you gentlemen are concerned. Put on paper, the pertinent part of my state¬ ment to you is that our office is not asking the producers of pictures to submit such pictures to us at any stage of production, original story, shooting script, long cut, or finished picture. We are suggesting, however, that the purpose of the motion picture industry to co-operate as fully as possible in the war effort will be best served If pictures or proposed pictures are brought to our attention at each of these stages of produc¬ tion. Our aim is to simplify the procedures that now prevail. The nearer a picture approaches completion, the more difficult and expensive be¬ comes the making of any alterations that in our mutual judgment may seem necessary. As you are aware, the process suggested al¬ ready has become a pretty general practice. My letter of December 9 was intended merely to de¬ scribe this process for the benefit of all who might desire to participate fully in the motion picture industry’s voluntary co-operation with the government. My best wishes for the Christmas Season, Sincerely yours, ( Signed ) Lowell Mellett, Chief, Bureau of Motion Pictures. Buy United States War Bonds and Savings Stamps and Do Your Part In Helping Insure Victory. January 6, 1943 Distribs Give Film NEW YORK — Taking cognizance of the need for augmenting the nation’s copper supply, William F. Rodgers, chairman. Distributors Division, War Activities Committee, announced last week that free film product for “copper matinees” will be made avail¬ able to exhibitors by all the various distributors of the industry. Rodgers made the announcement in a wire to all WAC exchange area chairmen. Repeating the appeal from Chris Dunphy, Chief of the Amusement Section of the War Production Board, requesting exhibitor aid in alleviating the shortage of copper, Rodgers then stressed the importance of the in¬ dustry’s response to this appeal “with as little delay as possible.” CONDITIONS HALT TECHNICOLOR DIVIDEND New York — It was announced last week that earnings of the Technicolor com¬ panies for the year 1942 after deprecia¬ tion, taxes, and all other charges, as esti¬ mated at this time, amount to approxi¬ mately 40 cents per share on the out¬ standing shares of Technicolor, Inc. This compares with $1.05 per share for 1941. In reporting this figure, Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus, president and general manager, Technicolor companies, said further that while Technicolor had a larger volume of photography on its books for the last quarter of 1942 and the first quarter of 1943 than ever before in its history for the corresponding period, the monthly volume of business and profit throughout 1942 was spotty. This was due, in part, to post¬ ponement of pictures into 1943, due to extended runs of current photoplays in the theatres, and due to unusual condi¬ tions prevailing in the studios on account of the war. Further reasons adversely af¬ fecting 1942 profits were increases in wages, diminished operating efficiency due to loss of key men to the armed services, etc., diminished and abnormally uneven volume from month to month, and low¬ ered royalties. Some of these causes are being over¬ come or are of temporary character but. on the other hand, there is no way of knowing at this time how far some of the others may run, nor what the effect on Technicolor in 1943 will be due to gov¬ ernment regulations as to film supply, salaries, priorities, etc. Due to these uncertainties and the di¬ minished earnings, the directors decided not to pay a dividend at this time. THE EXHIBITOR IMPORTANT SHOWS READY IN U DRIVE Company Has Strong Releases New York — With the establishing of release dates for the next three months, Universal has now gotten under way the W. A. Scully Sales Drive, with the con¬ centration of the most important product the company has ever had within a three months period, it was announced last week. William J. Heineman, assistant general sales manager, acting as chairman of the drive, announced that the release of pic¬ tures for the 21 weeks period of the drive has been geared so that exhibitors will have the benefit of playing consecutively the company’s top pictures to their best advantage. The drive officially began on Dec. 14, and will run through May 8. During this per¬ iod, the company will release such pro¬ ductions as Walter Wanger’s “Arabian Nights”; Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow Of A Doubt”, starring Teresa Wright; the new Abbott and Costello comedy, “It Ain’t Hay”; the Deanna Durbin production, “The Amazing Mrs. Holliday”; Walter Wanger’s spectacular “We’ve Never Been Licked”; Howard Hawk’s picture of our Atlantic life-line, “Corvettes In Action”; the much publicized horror-thriller, “Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman”; the Technicolor “White Savage”, reuniting the “Arabian Nights” star trio, Maria Montez, Jon Hall, and Sabu, and the currently playing “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”, featuring Phil Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra, and “Pittsburgh”, star¬ ring Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne. The drive departs from usual inter¬ branch competition in that the offices were regrouped into three main divisions, each division containing offices of comparative equal selling strength. The top five offices in each of these groups will be the prize winners, with the branch managers, bookers, salesmen, front office employees, accessory managers, shippers, and inspec¬ tresses sharing in the prizes. The prizes range from three weeks salary for the winning groups to one week for the fifth place offices. Additional money prizes have been set aside for the winning dis¬ trict and division managers. Kann Assumes Quigley Duties New York — Maurice “Red” Kann this week assumed new duties as vice-presi¬ dent of the Quigley Publishing Company. He shortly will leave for the coast to take complete charge of Hollywood operations. Martin Quigley, president of the publish¬ ing company, made the announcement. Kann, long-time trade paper editor, among other duties will write bylined columns regularly for the papers in this group, including Motion Picture Herald and Motion Picture Daily. Allied Holds Trenton Meet Trenton, N. J. — Allied Theatre Owners of New Jersey meeting is scheduled for Jan. 12. QUIN.