The Film Daily (1938)

Intimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Now Twenty Years Old rO; J74, NO. 104 NEW YORK, MONDAY. NOVEMBER 14, 1938 TEN CENTS frltlsh Lion^ Will Release_46 Rep. fix Yearly in U. K. KEPORTJSTRIBS. TO GRANT 20% CANCELLATION Warners* Third Sears Drive ' to Start Christmas Day Gov t Theory . . . figure it out = By CHESTER B. BAHN = ^IGURE this one out . . . if you can. It is generally conceded by the press lat the film industry's drive, directed by lotion Pictures' Greatest Year, Inc., under le banner of Motion Pictures Are Your est Entertainment, set the pace for the resent come-back by American business. It is further conceded, and not by the ress alone, that the film industry's $600,00 expenditure, supported by generous ompetitive company budgets, for newspaer advertising to "sell" the public was a ue to business generally, and that there is definite cause-and-effect relationship beween the greater advertising budgets of J. S. business and present gains in sales olume. VlOW in the face of that give a few ^ minutes' consideration to what Thurnan W. Arnold, Assistant Attorney General if the U. S., and spark-plug of the Govimment's continuing legal assaults upon he film industry, has to say about adverising expenditures. Affirms Arnold in the Department of lust ice dissertation on advertising in the :ord-Chrysler consent decree which parially ended anti-trust litigation in the luto industry: "Monopoly is fostered when advertising s used to put competitors at a disadvantage, for the sole reason that they do not lave resources sufficient to expend equally large sums in advertising particular products or the services of particular companies. . . . "By a variety of modern refinements jpon the methods of the circus barker, advertising is used to build up public preference for the products of one producer or manufacturer solely because he has the most advertising money and can make the most noise. "When advertising stresses the peculiar qualities of common goods under a particular trade name competitors must either go out of business or spend like large sums of money in building up their own trade names for the same common commodity. The result is either a wasteful system of (Continued on Page 2) Closes April 16; Leserman, Co-ordinator; $25,000 in Awards Warners' third "Sears Drive," nation-wide sales campaign, will start Christmas Day and run for 16 weeks, closing April 16, it was announced at the week-end. Plans were set at a home office huddle attended by Grad Sears, who presided; Maj. Albert Warner, Hai B. Wallis, S. Charles Einfeld, Carl Leserman, Roy Haines, Ben Kalmenson, Mort Blumenstock and Norman H. Moray. Decision to again give Sears' {Continued on Page 4) ZUKOR TO CONTINUE AS PARA. BOARD HEAD Adolph Zukor remains as chairman of Paramount's board of directors, Barney Balaban, president, stated Friday upon his arrival here (Continued on Page 8) Latin America Represents 6 to 12% of World Market Latin America now returns a gross to American companies of from 6 to 12 per cent of the world film (Continued on Page 4) THE WEEK IN REVIEW Allied Denies Agreement ■ By GEORGE H. MORRIS DOMESTIC TRADE REFORMS: (Washington) Abram F. Myers, Allied's general counsel, at mid-week denied previous report his organization and the distribs. had reached an "oral agreement in principle" on trade reforms, said that's up to directorate. New York MPTOA will continue talks with distribs. on disputed points, Ed Kuykendall states. * * * LITIGATION: (Chicago) U. S. filed 30-page petition in criminal contempt proceedings, accusing majors, except Columbia and B & K, (Continued on Page 8) MONOGRAM AND PATHE RENEW ENGLISH PACT Renewal of Monogram's contract with Pathe Pictures, Ltd., for the distribution of its product in the United Kingdom and plans to increase the production lineup for the 1939-40 program were announced (Continued on Page 8) Sam Smith Signs 5-Year Republic Deal Covering Distribution and Production Films Angle of Television Worries British Exhibitors London (By Cable) — Close observers of television's development, since science's launching more than a decade ago, express belief here that British Broadcasting Corp., which is government-controlled, has the power to make or break Eng (Continued on Page 6) Five-year distribution-production deal was signed by Republic and British Lion on Friday, Sam Smith, managing director of the English company, told The Film Daily Saturday when he sailed on the Normandie after a four-week stay here. British Lion will distribute a minimum of 46 Republic pictures per year in the United Kingdom and will produce between eight and 10 (Continued on Page 7) Majors to Eliminate Score Charges as Well, the Trade Hears By AL STEEN FILM DAILY Staff Writer A 20 per cent cancellation privilege and the elimination of score charges are understood in the trade to be two of the adjustments granted by the distributors as a result of the trade practice parleys. It is believed that the cancellation concession will apply to all theaters which pay an average of $100 or less per feature. The manner in which the score charges will be absorbed has not been revealed. Although unconfirmed, it is re (Continued on Page 4) PROJECTED GN BRITISH DEAL SPANS ONE YEAR Grand National's projected British distribution deal, said to be with Associated British Cinema, is on a one-year basis and not five years as had been reported, E. W. Harmons, president, said Friday. No (Continued on Page 8) Van Beuren Dies Following Heart Attack; Was Pioneer Amedee J. Van Beuren, pioneer producer and head of the Van Beuren Corp., died Saturday of a (Continued on Page 8) Standard Expands West Coast Bur., THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Officials of Standard Pictures Productions, Inc., have formed Standard Pictures Distributing Co. and will open exchanges in 31 key cities to handle Standard pictures and other product. In addition to its "Headley" Family series and a series of radio mystery tales, Standard will also make two or more additional features. Officers are B. W. Richards, president; Harvey C. Leavitt, vice-president; Ceorge Laganas, treasurer, and Ceorge E. Trainer, sec'y.