The Film Daily (1940)

vl I3 I3 lit) IJ ID I b T Z I S T F L 21! W A4-TH ST Intimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought __ pile copy The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Twenty-Two Years Old =T— %-DAILY' rOL. 78. NO. 120 NEW YORK, THURSDAY. DECEMBER 19, 1940 TEN CENTS SEES QUALITY, NOTJOST, TO FIXJTRMS Wolf son Calls Miami Exhib. Conclave on Decree Wometco Circuit President Sponsors Meet on Dec. 31; All Theater Men Invited An unofficial national convention of exhibitors will be held in Miami on Dec. 31 for the purpose of discussing all phases of the consent decree in the Government's equity suit. The meeting is being called by Mitchell Wolfson of Wometco Theaters. While the sessions are expected to be attended largely by exhibitors of the Southeast, theater owners everywhere are invited. Affair is said to have no exhibitor organization sponsorship, exhibitors of any or no affiliation being welcome. MPTOA Convention May Go to Frisco A date for the annual MPTOA convention will be set shortly after Jan. 1, Ed Kuykendall, president, said yesterday in New York. Directors will be polled as to the time and place. Kuykendall said that while no city had been selected officially, all indications pointed to the West Coast, possibly San Francisco, as the scene of the sessions. May Lease Theaters For Decree's Shows Ascap Consent Decree Not Related to Radio If and when a consent decree is entered into between Ascap and the Government it would not be a settlement of the controversy between Ascap and the Radio networks, according to a statement made last night by Gene Buck, president of Ascap. A series of conferences between (Continued on Page 10) Empire, Syracuse, Going To Schines Under Lease RKO-Schine pool in Syracuse, N. Y., will be further increased on Jan. 1 when the Empire, on the Main Stem, passes to Schine under (Continued on Page 4) Briggs Quits Pathe For IVeu? Distrib. Co. Having resigned from Pathe, 0. Henry Briggs shortly will become associated with a new distributing company. Briggs said yesterday that he expected to make a formal announcement within a week. Briggs became president of Pathe Film Corp. in 1936, having previously been with the du Pont company since 1918. Extent to which trade shows will be patronized by exhibitors when •-he consent decree becomes effective is expected to determine whether screening rooms or a co-operative theater will be used. It is understood that several of the so-called "Big Five" will tradeshow their pictures, at the outset (Continued on Page 7) Want Nation's Theaters To Play All Defense Pix Plans for the nation's theaters to co-operate in the national defense program were formulated yesterday at a meeting of the theater committee headed by Joseph Bernhard. A move to enlist all theaters in the campaign was launched, the idea being to get exhibitors to play all (Continued on Page 4) New Basis for Rentals Under Decree, Says Schaefer; RKO Planning 40 for 1941-42; Five to Eight Films Ready in July; Deals With Outside Producers Talked Film rentals under the consent decree will be based on quality rather than on the production cost of the pictures in the opinion of George J. Schaefer, president of RKO. At a trade press conference yesterday, Schaefer predicted several other changes in the present system of distribution. At present, S c h a ef e r said, allocations often are determined by the cost and pros pective i m p o rtance of a picture, whereas under the new CEORCE J. SCHAEFER setup, when features are sold in small groups and on their (Continued on Page 10) D of J Takes Hayes Off "Little 3" Suit James Hayes, special assistant to the Attorney General, active during negotiations for the consent decree and originally slated to try the Government suit against the "Little Three," has been transferred from the motion picture unit of the antitrust department to the food investigation, it was learned yesterday. J. Stephen Doyle, special assistant to the Attorney General, will take Hayes' place in charge of the preparation of the "Little Three" action. Officials stated that Hayes may be re-transferred to the movie unit in the event that trial begins. Nomikos, Skouras to N. O. for Greek Relief Meet Chicago — Van Nomikos, Ahepa national president, and Spvros Skouras, head of the Greek War Relief drive, will confer in New Orleans tomorrow with William Ehlis on campaign activities in the Gulf States. Nomikos said here yesterday that (Continued on Page 4) No Borrowing for 20 th -Fox To Finance Decree Production Via Earnings Cuban Distribs. Joining To Produce 6 in Spanish Havana (By Air Mail) — Zenith, Afa and Tropical Films, local distributing companies, are joining in a production venture. Six Spanish language features are planned for 1941. Twentieth Century-Fox has two ways to get the money required to finance production under the consent decree — one. to obtain it from earnings on available releases, the other, to borrow it from the bank, Prexy Sidney R. Kent declares in a message to the company's sales personnel. Twentieth-Fox's choice is the for (Continued on Page 3) 2,000 More Theaters Gel Red Cross Film More than 7,500 theaters played the special Red Cross film produced by Warner Bros, during the Red Cross membership drive period, the MPPDA board was informed yesterday at the quarterly directors' meeting. Agenda of the meeting was (Continued on Page 4) Raw Stock Shortage Faces B. A. Studios Buenos Aires (By Air Mail) — Shortage of raw stock, especially negative, is confronting Argentine producers with two exceptions, Lumiton and Argentine Sono Film. Latter two reportedly have Agfa reserves. Next shipments from the U. S. are said to be a month distant. Both EFA and Pampa Film may be forced to halt shooting unless stock is made available to them by other studios.