The Film Daily (1943)

1W DAILY Tuesday, May 4, 194; RKO Stock Offering Is Over-Subscribed (Continued from Page 1) made to a number of investment interests. The strong market plus the strength of motion picture stocks in general were said to have been the reasons for the quick consummation of the sale. RCA formerly held 316,328 shares of RKO common, 44,757 shares of preferred and 555,253 option war-rants. The Rockefeller Center interests previously had disposed of 96,000 shares of RKO common to the syndicate. May Eliminate Marquee Lighting Over Entire U. S. (.Continued from Page 1) mated if final agreement on the projected dimout for the whole nation is finally reached. WPB officials and power industry leaders will discuss the matter today in Washington. The idea of a national dimout has been under discussion here for many months, and there are signs that some decision will be forthcoming soon. It is almost certain that that decision, when it does come, will mean sharp restrictions on outdoor lighting from Coast to Coast. The reason will not be so much to save power, of which there is no shortage as to save coal and fuel and ease the transportation load. Conservation of lighting equipment is another purpose of the dimout. Minn. Circuit Voluntarily Halts Exterior Lighting Minneapolis — This city and St. Paul experienced their first dimout of the coal crisis Sunday night when Minnesota Amusement Co. houses through both cities voluntarily darkened all outside lights. On account of the truce declared in the coal-strike, the marquees were lighted last night and will continue lighted as usual until further developments. C. B. Stiff, Twin Cities supervisor for the company, said that by turning off vertical and horizontal advertising signs and flashing marquee lights, Twin Cities houses cut down current used about 75 per cent, getting along on about one-fourth the juice usually consumed. Bernhard and Kalmine Address Ad Meeting Joseph Bernhard, Warner Bros, vice-president and general manager of the theater circuit, and Harry M. Kalmine, assistant general manager of the theaters, were the principal speakers at yesterday's meeting of the circuit's zone executives in the home office. Talks dealt with the handling of "Mission to Moscow," and with Summer operation plans. Harry Goldberg, advertising and publicity director, presided. "U" Presents Merger Plan Will Terminate Posen Stockholders' Suit (Continued from Page 1) holders by the elimination of large accumulated arrears on the outstanding preferred and other restrictions. Under the plan, Universal Corp. is to acquire the business and assets and will assume the liabilities of the picture company and its name will be changed to Universal Pictures Co., Inc. The plan provides among other things that: (1) The $2,000,000 par value 7 per cent second preferred stock of the pictures company owned by Universal Corp. (with approximately $2,216,000 accrued unpaid dividends thereon at October 31, 1942) will be cancelled; (2) The 231,327 shares of the pictures company common stock owned by Universal Corp., constituting 92.531 per cent of the total outstanding shares thereof, will be cancelled ; (3) Universal Corp. will issue 56,016 shares of its common stock to the holders of common stock of the pictures company not owned by Universal Corp. (4) Execution of a new bank loan agreement which, in effect, will increase term borrowings by $4,000,000; (5) Retirement by Universal Corp. of $2,000,000 ten-year 5 per cent convertible debentures, due April 1, 1946, and extension of the maturity to April 1, 1950, of the remaining $2,000,000 principal amount; (6) Redemption of the presently outstanding shares of the pictures company 8 per cent first preferred stock at a cost of approximately $1,444,000; and (7) Cancellation of $2,000,000 notes payable of the pictures company held by Universal Corp. The holder of each share of common stock of Universal Pictures Co., Inc., not owned by the corporation will be entitled to receive three shares of common stock of the new Universal Pictures Co., Inc. The holders of voting trust certificates representing shares of common stock of Universal Corp. will retain their certificates which will represent a like number of shares of common stock of Universal Pictures Co., Inc. The holders of outstanding warrants to purchase shares of common stock of Universal Corp. will retain their warrants. The consummation of the plan will require approval by at least 66 2-3 per cent of the outstanding common stock of the two companies. The plan has been approved by the directors of both companies but may he abandoned by either board at any time prior to the effective date of the merger. Actor's Wage Ceiling To Be Weekly Pay! (Continued from Page 1) of actual weekly earnings. This would mean that an actor, for instance, who worked for 12 weeks between January and September of last year at $2,500 per week would have established his ceiling at $2,500 per week, rather than at $576 weekly (the total earnings divided by 52). "We suppose that that's a question we'll hear more of, because the actors left making pictures will probably be working more often this year," he said. He was not certain any formal ruling has been asked, but did say the question has been under consideration. Issuance of a new set of regulations to govern job shifts under the President's "holdthe-line" order is being held up pending word from OES Director James F. Byrnes, he said, as to just what Byrnes wants. Control over the jobs shifts of all earning more than $5,000 per year rests with the Bureau. 111. Allied Wants Gov't To Do Anti-Vandal Short (Continued from Page 1) a short for theater exhibition showing the fallacy of destroying theater property and the penalties liable when youngsters are apprehended. One partial solution was reached by Warner circuit officials. Charles Ryan reports that signs on theater exit doors calling attention to Fedei-al penalties for non-payment of admission taxes, plus increased illumination inside the houses, has resulted in a marked decrease in theater damage. Theaters Escape in Tornado Cleveland, O. — A tornado that hit the West Side of Cleveland and towns west of Cleveland, skirted all of the movie houses in the territory. MPTOA Board Opens Annual Meet Today (Continued from Page 1) New York consent decree. Ed Kuykendall, MPTOA president, said yesterday that while an agenda had been prepared, the sessions would be flexible so that every director could bring up his own territorial problems which would be given consideration by the entire board. It is reported that the organization's own recommendations for changes in the decree have been submitted to the Department of Justice, but no details are expected from either the MPTOA or the Department of Justice for the time being. A committee headed by Kuykendall spent several days in Washington last week conferring with a number of agency heads on matters of concern to the theater owners, but details are being withheld pending consideration by the directors. Lowell Mellett, head of the motion picture division of the OWI, and Allen G. Smith, chief of the amusements division of the WPB, are slated to address the directors at the late afternoon session. Kuykendall will address an informal luncheon of the SMPE at the Hotel Pennsylvania at 12:30 today. All MPTOA sessions will be held at the Hotel Astor. Talent From All Majors For Greek Relief Show All major companies will contribute talent to the Greek War Relief Show in Madison Square Garden on May 18, according to Edward L. Alperson, chairman of the entertainment committee. The Paramount, Roxy and Music Hall Theaters will each stage one production number. Night clubs will contribute out .REVIEWS "Five Graves to Cairo" with Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Erich von Stroheim Paramount 96 Min STIRRING NORTH AFRICAN CAM; PAIGN MELLER THAT IS VERY TIMELi AND BOX-OFFICE POWERED. Doubling in brass, Charles Brack( V Billy Wilder have come up with an ex^-tfr ' war meller that will loudly ring the b. I bell for theaters, and also for Paramour distributor of the opus. Brackett and Wild fashioned the screenplay; the former th< produced it, and the latter directed. Footage, based upon a play by Lajos Bir recounts the story of a British Eighth Arn tank unit corporal who, separated from h own force, stumbles into Sidi Halfaya whi< has been evacuated to Marshal Erwin Ron mel's Afrika Corps. The corporal, Franchi I Tone, finds in the cluster of battle-scarn mud houses, a hotel run by a portly at friendly Egyptian, whose only aid is a ^our •■ French girl, serving as maid, and apparent ' with Nazi leanings, as the result of Germ; propaganda. Soon the Afrika Corps staff enters tl hotel, headed by the famous Desert F< himself, a role enacted very effectively I Erich von Stroheim. Tone sees a gold< opportunity to serve his country by assun ing the identity of a dead Nazi agent, — wl has been employed as the hostelry's waitc but who was killed during an attack upi Sidi Halfaya — , and killing Rommel. But a captured British officer propos even a greater service which Tone c; render, namely finding out the location five points (supply "graves") in Egy where in pre-war days the Nazis h. cached water, gasoline, and other milita necessities wherewith to feed their milita machine on the march to Suez. Tone d duces from a boastful preachment by Ron mel to British officers, and the Desert Fo> own maps, where the materiel is hidden Sent to Cairo by the Germans, he cor municates the information to the British,and the Eighth Army goes on the offensi which threw Rommel clear back into Tunis The French girl, Anne Baxter, sacrifices h life to the cause of freedom. The cha acterizations are convincingly done, ai much credit goes to the cast. Wilder's rJ rection is skillful. With the North Afric campaign obviously in its climax stagi this is a timely, rugged attraction. CAST: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Aki Tamiroff, Erich von Stroheim, Peter v Eyck, Fortunio Bonanova, Konstantin Shayn; Fred Nurney, Miles Mander, Leslie Denisc Ian Keith. CREDITS: Producer, Charles Bracket Director, Billy Wilder; Screenplay, Chad Brackett, Billy Wilder; Author, Lajos Bir Film Editor, Doane Harrison; Art Directo Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegte; Cameraman, Jol Seitz. DIRECTION, Skilled. PHOTOGRAPH Solid. William Fox Released Lewisburg, Pa. — William Fox w released from the Federal penite iary here yesterday and left ii mediately for New York.