The Film Daily (1942)

Tuesday, October 27, 1942 W5S? Indict Browne Aide, Tax Consultant {Continued from Page 1) j by a Grand Jury which has been ,j j sitting since May, 1941, on the in5 ' vestigation. With this jury now discfc££ged, the November Grand Jury , i continue the investigation under | ti!i Supervision of Correa. In one of the nine counts in the , indictment against Zevin the Govj , ernment alleges that Browne, now •e j serving sentence for extortion from the film industry, received from the years 1935 to 1941 currently through 0 Zevin from Richard F. Walsh, presj! ent president of the IA; William P. :. Raoul, Browne's assistant, and j ■ James J. Brennan and Floyd M. Bili lingsley, vice-presidents. On this particular point, according to the indictment, Zevin stated under oath that representatives of the union 3' ' had sent him by registered mail vouchers and sealed envelopes addressed "George E. Browne" and that none of the letters contained 1 1 any currency. "Kick-Back" Is Charged It is Correa's contention that Zevin sent checks drawn upon the $1,500,000 fund with a resultant "kick-back" of all but a small part * of the proceeds of these checks in the form of currency along with fictitious vouchers drawn up to reflect ! the payment of purported salaries | and expenses. :' In a statement explaining the pur ' pose of the indictments Correa stat » ed that the object of the inquiry, which Zevin and Hirsch allegedly attempted to frustrate by perjuring '"! themselves, "has been to find out ! just who are 'the boys in Chicago'." j The U. S. Attorney referred to the j testimony of Harry M. Warner at j the Browne-Bioff trial in which ! Warner said that Bioff had made his extortion demand because "the boys in Chicago were expecting Christmas presents." Zevin is also indicted for allegedy falsely swearing that he had not received large sums of currency representing proceeds of checks ssued from the two per cent assessment fund. Hirsch, it is claimed, failed to truthfully disclose to the U. S. attorney the disposition of monies returned to him on a $25,000 cash bail vhich he posted for Nick Circella, dias Nick Dean, when the latter Ask More Canadian Clips In Newsreels Kingston, Ont. — Members of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire in semi-annual session, passed a resolution asking the Film Board to insist on a greater number of Canadian clips in the newsreels. Western Pa. Army Camp To Have Four Theaters Pittsburgh — First U. S. Army camp in the Western Pennsylvania territory will open the early part of December in Shenango, to be known as the Personnel Replacement Depot. This camp will have four motion picture theaters. — Scrap Socks Japs — Five More Russian Pix Headed for U. S. Screens Fla. Winter Visitors Boost Drive-in Biz Miami, Fla. — Milton Harris of the Miami Drive-In Theater, reports that for the past month business has increased and is now about where it was last March when gas rationing went into effect. He says that 35 per cent of cars this month are bearing out of state license plates, thus indicating that Florida's Winter visitor trade is arriving. Five more Russian films are destined for exhibition in America in the near future. The first is exnected to be "The Defense of Stalingrad." The other films are "Ivan the Terrible." "Day of War." "Sune Bator" and "The Lad from Our Town." — Scrap Socks Japs — Charges Title Infringement Suit for an injunction, accounting and damages was filed yesterday in Federal Court against Universal Pic tures and Big "U" Film Exchange by Lloyd Mayer, author of character sketches and stories titled "Just Be tween Us Girls." Mayer states that since 1926 he has been writing the stories and sketches for magaz ines and 16 syndicated newspapers. The defendant is charged with title infringement in the distribution of the picture "Just Between Us Girls — Scrap Socks Japs — 'Texas Law/ New Hopalong Title Hollywood — Harry Sherman has set "Texas Law" as the release title for the picture formerly titled "Hoppy Serves A Writ," Hopalong Cassidy production starring William Boyd. — Scrap Socks Japs — "Die" In 24 Met. First-Runs "We Refuse to Die," Paramount's second Victory Short, based on the Nazi massacre of Lidice, has been booked in 24 met. first-runs, starting tomorrow. "We Pay You," New Quiz Contest, In Coast Debut was held as a henchman of Bioff and Browne in the extortion case. The defendant has been questioned as to how he obtained this sum as part of the Government's investigation of the identity of "the boys from Chicago." Hirsch pleaded not guilty yesterday before Federal Judge John Bright and was released on $5,000 bail. A warrant is out for the arrest of Zevin in Chicago. The Federal Grand Jury handed up a third indictment under seal. It is understood from the Government that other indictments will follow. Walsh, Raoul, Brennan and Billingsley are expected to be called as Government witnesses. West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — "We Pay You," a new quiz contest, was given its national premiere at the Ambassador theater Los Angeles. Four contestants are chosen from the audience to answer four minor questions and one major query. They are paid $10 each. If they fail to give the correct answers to the minor questions, the persons who sent in the queries are paid $15 each, if they are in the theater at the time. The sender of the major question will be paid $550 if he or she is in the theater at the time contestants fail to answer it correctly. At the same time that the contest is being conducted in theaters, it will also be broadcast by a radio station. Even W. MacLean, for several years Los Angeles branch manager for United Artists, is sales manager for "We Pay You." — Scrap Socks Japs — Sheehan Bids for Story; May Re-enter Production West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Winnie Sheehan, with an eye to production, is negotiating with Jack Douglas for the picture rights to the latter's Liberty Magazine story, "Miss Agatha, Inc." Yarn is about a congresswoman who joins the WAACS. Douglas is now writing on the Red Skelton and Tommy Riggs air shows. — Scrap Socks Japs — To Enforce Que. Bingo Ban Quebec — Leon Casgrain, Provincial Attorney-General, announced here that the law forbidding the holding of Bingo games throughout the province will henceforth be "relentlessly put into force without further notice." — Scrap Socks Japs — Tom Baily. Aide to Arch Reeve West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Tom Baily, formerly with National Screen Service, has joined Arch Reeve at Association of Motion Picture Producers to take charge of launching of the community chest publicity and the promotion campaign. — Scrap Socks Japs — Rainger Rites on Coast West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Funeral services for Ralph Rainger, songwriter, who died with 11 others in the crash of an American Airlines transport near Palm Springs on Friday, will be held here today. — Scrap Socks Japs — Metro Pic Into Oriental Chicago — "Pierre of the Plains," has been booked for a first-run next week by the Oriental theater, marking the first Metro feature this indie Loop house has had this season. Warners Entering Newsreel Field Quick Booking for Army Seattle — Bob Quick, formerly booker for M-G-M in Minneapolis, is now booking for the Army Motion Picture Service in the Northwest and Alaska. {Continued from Page 1) reel release, but will operate entirely on its own. Also its format is to be entirely different from that of current newsreels. It is further understood that Warners tried to purchase one of other newsreel services and having failed in this decided to enter the field with its own organization. H. M. Warner recently visited Washington and it is believed the Warner newsreel will devote much of its footage to all-out war effort. —Scrap Socks Japs — Funeral Services Held For Singer, Trade Vet. {Continued from Page 1) one time was sales manager for Universal short subjects, later handling the company's non-theatrical and 16 mm. departments. More recently he had been manager of the Little Carnegie Theater. His wife, Sylvia, survives. — Scrap Socks Japs — Metro to Tradeshow Two M-G-M will tradeshow "Dr. Gillespie'sl New Assistant" and "The Gentleman from Tennessee," (formerly known as "Tennessee Johnson") in all exchange centers on Nov. 13, with two exceptions. These are in New York, where the screenings will take place on Nov. 10, and in Omaha, where the pictures will be screened on Nov. 12. — Scrap Socks Japs — Build Model for Navy Parade St. Louis — A 43-foot model of the U. S. S. Missouri, built by stagehands at the Fox Theater, was used in the Navy Day parade Saturday to represent the local film industry. Model took two and a half months to complete. — Scrap Socks Japs — Record Sherman Backlog West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — With seven pictures completed and in the cans awaiting release, and three in the stages of shooting, editing and scoring, Harry Sherman has his greatest backlog. — Scrap Socks Japs — Stromberg Signs College Girl, 17 Hollywood — Hunt Stromberg has signed Joan Chaffee, 17, college freshman, to a long-term contract. Wire Coat Hangers Drive Nets 175,000 Miami, Fla. — To date, 175,000 wire coat hangers have been taken in by nabe theaters in the Wometco chain throughout the Greater Miami area. At first children were admitted free for ten hangers, then the offer was extended to adults and an allowance of one cent each was made on ticket purchases of adults. The hangers have all been disposed of to local laundries and dry cleaning establishments.