Film Curb (May 20, 1939)

May 20, 1939 7 General Sales Manager Jules Levy of RKO Radio Pictures announces the appointment of R. V. Nolan as branch manager of the St. Louis exchange, replacing Bernie McCarthy who re- signed because of ill health. Nolan was pro- moted from the post of salesman at the Chicago office. Niccolai Yoshkin, hitherto virtually unknown screen player who scored so strikingly with his portrayal of the German propaganda minister in “Confessions Of A Nazi Spy”, has been placed under contract by Warner Bros., producers of the picture, announces a wire from the West Coast. Darryl F. Zanuck has assigned Nunnally John- son to write the screen play of “Grapes of Wrath” which Twentieth Century-Fox will pro- duce. Johnson also will act as associate pro- ducer on the picture. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has acquired motion picture rights to the story, "Willow Walk,” by Sinclair Lewis. “School For Husbands”, with Rex Harrison, Diana Churchill and June Clyde, one of the J. H. Hoffberg Co. current releases, has been booked for the Translux Theatre in Boston. Linda Terry and Virginia Brissac, this week were signed for Columbia’s “Parents On Trial”, a new drama based upon the popular radio fea- ture of the same tilte. Howard Hill, w'orld’s champion archer, has been signed by Warner Bros, for an important role in “Elizabeth and Essex,” in which the studio will co-star Errol Flynn and Bette Davis, advises a wire from the West Coast. As a result of the phenomenal success of their current concert tours, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy will tour the country together as a concert team in 1941, and possibly next year. Dalton Trurnbo has been assigned to write the screen play for "Old Man Hod," to be produced at the RKO Radio studios by Robert Sisk. Janine Darcey, leading Parisian star, has been signed to play the second feminine lead in Para- mount’s British production of “French Without Tears” co-starring Ellen Drew and Ray Milland, it has been announced. Under the title of "Man Made Island”, Easterners will soon be able to see San Francisco World's Fair in all its beauty, as it is the setting for the latest of Columbia’s one-reel “Tours” series, and was completed last wek. “Tarzan Finds a Son!” has been selected as final title for the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture in which Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan carry on the series of jungle adventures. Stuart Erwin will have one of the leading- supporting roles in “Hollywood Cavalcade” which Twentieth Century-Fox will produce in Technicolor. Alice Faye and Don Ameche will co-star in the picture which will go before the cameras soon. “Babes in Arms" has gone before the cameras at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in starring roles. Columbia’s latest Cary Grant-Jean Arthur co- starring picture, “Only Angels Have Wings”, produced and directed by Howard Hawks, now playing a pre-release engagement at the Music Hall, is scheduled for nationwide release on May 25th. Lew Ayres and Terry Kilburn have signed new long-term contracts at the Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer studios. Robert Young will have the role of the young commander in MGM’s "Thunder Afloat,” which will star Wallace Beery, and will be directed by George Seitz. the silent screen era to retain his popularity in talking pictures and whose success as Yancey Cravat in “Cimarron” is part of screen history, has been signed by RKO Radio to star in three pictures. Louis Bromfield, whose novel “The Rains Came” is now being made into a motion picture by Twentieth Century-Fox, has been signed by that company to make a screen play of the life of Brigham Young based on an original story by Eleanor Harris and J. J. Wooley. Florence Rice has been given the romantic lead in "A Day at the Circus,” which will soon go into production at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios as a vehicle for the Marx Brothers. Mervyn Leroy is the producer. Penny Singleton, Columbia’s ‘Blondie’, this week started rehearsals for the third of Colum- bia’s series of Blondie stories, based on Chic Young’s popular daily cartoon strip. It is en- titled “Blondie Takes A Vacation.” James Stewart becomes the twenty-sixth star on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer roster. His first film under this status will be “The Shop Around the Corner,” in which he will be teamed with Margaret Sullavan. James Hilton, author of “Lost Horizon” and other best-selling novels of recent years, has been signed a term contract to write for Warner Bros., announces a wire from the film company’s studio on the West Coast. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer plans to send Robert Montgomery to London, to star in "1 he Earl of Chicago,” by Brock Williams, and “A Busman’s Holiday,” both pictures to be made at the Denham Studios. Dick Fiske, Ed Peil Sr. and A1 Bridge are the latest additions to the cast for “The Man From Sundown”, Charles Starrett’s starring western drama for Columbia. Richard Dix, one of the few popular stars of With the signing of Eddie Hart, George Turner, and Joe Sully, Columbia this week completed the large cast for “Mandrake, the Magician,” the new 12 chapter serial which Norman Deming and Sam Nelson are direct- ing. Home office executives, foreign representatives, division managers, branch managers and salesmen from the sixteen exchanges present at the first of a series of three sales meetings held by Columbia Pictures Corporation at Atlantic City, May 8th to 11th. On the dais, reading from left to right are: George Josephs Mgr. Sales Accounting; Maurice Grad, Dir. Sales Promotion; Leo Jaffe, Ass’t to A. Schneider; Irving Moross, Columbia Attorney; Max Weisfeldt, Short Subject' Sales Supervisor; Rube Jackter, Ass't Sales Mgr.; A. Montague, General Sales Manager; Jack Cohn, Vice-President; Joseph A. McConville, Foreign Manager; Louis Astor, Circuit Sales; Louis Weinberg, Circuit Sales; Maurice A. Bergman, Director of Advertising, Publicity and Exploitation.