The Film Daily (1943)

Wednesday, May 12, 1942* Vol. 83, No. 91 Wed., May 12, 1943 10 Cents JOHN W. ALICOATE DONALD M. MERSEREAU CHESTER B. BAHN Publishei General Manager Editor Published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays at 1501 Broadway, New York, N. Y., by Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. J. W. Alicoate, President and Publisher; Donald M. Mersereau, Secretary Treasurer. Entered as second class matter, Sept. 8, 1938, at the post-office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Terms (Postage free) United States outside of Greater New York $10.00 one year; 6 months, $5.00; 3 months, $3.00. Foreign, $15.00. Subscriber should remit with order. Address all communications to THE FILM DAILY, 1501 Broadway New York. N. Y. Phone BRyant 9-7117, 9-7118, 9-7119, 9-7120, 9-7121. Cable address: Filmday, New York. Representatives: HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Ralph Wilk, 6425 Hollywood Blvd., Phone Granite 6607. WASHINGTON— Andrew H. Older, 520 Third St. N.W., Phone District 1253. LONDON— Ernest W. Fredman, The Film Renter, 127-133 Wardour St., W. I. PARIS— P. A. Harle, Le Film, 29 Rue Marsoulan (12). HAVANA — Mary Louise Blanco, Virtudes 214. HONOLULU — Eileen O'Brien. BUENOS AIRES— Dr. Walter P. Schuck, Casillo de Correo 1929. MEXICO CITY— Marco-Aurelio Galindo, Apartado 8817, Mexico, D. F. FINANCIAL (Tuesday, May 11) NEW YORK STOCK MARKET Net High Low Close Chg. 17 163^ 1634 17 16l/4 16'/4 — 3/4 36% 36i/2 3634 3i/4 3 3i/8 + i/8 183/g 17y8 18 — l/8 66 166 166 21 1/2 21 1/2 — 573/8 573/8 — 26i/4 263/4 — 81/8 83/8 — 86 1/2 87i/4 — 205/8 21 Am. Seat Col. Picts. vtc. (2i/2%) Columbia Picts. pfd. Con. Fm. Ind Con. Fm. Ind. pfd. East. Kodak 1 do pfd Cen. 'Prec. Eq Loew's, Inc. Paramount RKO RKO $6 pfd 20fh Century-Fox 20th Century-Fox pfd Univ. Pict. pfd 1 Warner Bros do pfd NEW YORK Para. B'way 3s55 . . Para. Picts. deb. 4s56 1 Warner Bros.' dbs. 6s48 NEW YORK CURB MARKET Monogram Ficts. ... 3Vs 3 3Vs Radio-Keith cvs. ... 1 1/2 13/8 1 1/2 + Vs Sonotone Corp 4 4 4 Technicolor 12% 12Vi 127/8 — Vs Trans-Lux 3 2% 2% — l/8 Universal Corp. vtc. I8I/4 18 1/4 I8I/4 Universal Picts 221/s 58 271/g 8i/2 89 211/4 30% 69 13% 80 BOND 301/4 30% + 1/4 69 169 — 2 13% 133/4 80 80 MARKET 0434 1043A 104% Norman Moray on Tour Norman H. Moray, Warners short subject sales manager, left yesterday for a tour of exchanges including Albany, Buffalo, Boston and Detriot. He will be gone about a week. LOWEST rwlCf A. ©AT iBjW / M T c MUVIII lf»ICi V y CUcu 6.oSi..2-3.4 irotAGi • t a. ftortcrtON «oom hm (xchangi oisikiiuiiom 5i«via Tells Ohio ITO Metro Will Adjust Rentals (Continued from Page 1) Owners of Ohio yesterday at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel. Without ado Rodgers fired his first shot at Allied's biggest complaint, the high cost of film. "The high cost of film has been a subject of debate during all of the 33 years I have been in this business," Rodgers said, 'but I find that during all these years few exhibitors have gone out of business because of high film rentals. The majority have prospered, including M-G-M, which we could not have done if high rentals had retarded the industry." Expressing alarm at frequent evidences of distrust which widen the breach between exhibitors and distributors, Rodgers asked for industry unity without Government control in either branch because, "Government control of one branch means Government control of all branches." Rodgers pledged his help to exhibitors in war casualty locations stating he is prepared to go all out to keep them going and repeating a former invitation to bring their problems to him personally for adjustment and solution together with all the facts. As for other Allied complaints against alleged high film costs Rodgers said : "I have no quarrel with Allied. We are prepared to be tolerant in our dealings, but we are not going to be suckers. If you are entitled to buy our pictures cheaper present the facts to me and an adjustment will be made. You have tried to compel us to reduce film costs. In this you have been unsuccessful, so why not try the reverse and see what co-operation can accomplish?" Sliding Scale a Right Step The sliding scale, Rodgers said, while not a perfect solution is a step in the right direction. He admitted some errors in the policy which he is ready and willing to correct.. In a question and answer period following his talk, Rodgers admitted that the unit price system of a sliding scale should allow the exhibitor to allocate the playing time of designated units, that he is willing to play every picture on percentage provided his pictures play outstanding holidays as well as slump weeks, that he is ready to experiment on mid-week percentage dates on big pictures where exhibitors object to Sunday dates, and that it may be a mistake to adhere to preferred playing time. Si Fabian, who preceded Rodgers, spoke enthusiastically in behalf of Government-WAC films and of "Prelude to War," soon to be distributed ; for a better co-operation in submitting reports of theater drives so that the industry can claim its just reward. Speaking of the Government shorts and also of "Prelude to War," both Fabian and Rodgers stressed the fact that on these pictures all clearance except priority has been eliminated. Speed of distribution is retarded only by print availability. "While 'Prelude to War' may not be so hot for exhibitors, we have no course but to play it and do a good job. It is a Government order," Fabian said. Rodgers predicted that if there was not sufficient exhibitor cooperation in the showing of Government films, the industry is faced with the possibility of the Government requisitioning designated screen hours each week. "For our own good," he said, "it behooves us to show Washington we need no regulation." Reporting on current state legislation, Secretary P. J. Wood stated a bill relaxing working hours for women and minors from 45 to 50 hours a week had passed the Senate, was approved by the House labor committee and is now before the House. The Senate has a bill making it a felony carrying a penitentiary sentence to show obscene pictures._ Another Senate bill would relax the examination of firemen in charge of stationary boilers of less than 15-pound pressure. \ bill before the House is aimed at lotteries, with churches seeking exemption. And another bill aimed to eliminate blind-checking by making it prohibitive to obtain receipts at motion picture theaters is before the House. "Hello, Frisco, Hello" Tops at Army Posts Twentieth-Fox supplied two out of the five top box office pix in War Dept. theaters in April, K. B. Murray, director of the Army Motion Picture Service, reported yesterday. Twentieth Fox's "Hello, Frisco, Hello" led the b.o. parade, and its "My Friend Flicka" was third. RKO's "Flight for Freedom" placed second, Republic's "Hit Parade of 1943," fourth, and Warners' "Edge of Darkness" was fifth. Einfeld and Aides Set "Action"— Maritime Tieup Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Under a tieup that was practically set yesterday between the National Maritime Commission and Charles Einfeld, Warners director of advertilsing and publicity, and a delegation from the Warner home office in New York, the film company's merchant marine pic, "Action in the North Atlantic," will receive nation-wide co-operation from the Commission. Objective is to utilize the picture in getting enlistments for the merchant marine. To this end, the first several hundred openings of the picture in coastal and inland ports will be intensively exploited with the all-out help of the Commission. In addition to Einfeld, those who conferred with Mark O'Dea, director of the National Maritime Commission's division of public relations, and his assistants, included Mort Blumenstock, Mitchell Rawson, Will Yolen and Irving Yergin. Details will be worked out at further conferences today and possibly tomorrow. Army Raises Print Ante For "Prelude to War" The War Dept. is making available an extra 100 or a total of 250 prints of "Prelude to War," the WAC was advised yesterday, permitting distribution plans to he expedited. A special batch of 31 prints is being rushed by the Army's laboratories, one to each exchange, for screenings for exhibitors, the press, radio stations, the clergy, etc. In presenting "Prelude to War" on the New York Strand bill, for a week starting tomorrow Warners will be devoting five hours daily to the showing of the War Department "orientation" film. This amounts to 35 hours for the week, equivalent to about 10 full performances of the regular bill, cutting down the potential business turnover by that much. Speakers at last night's banquet were Governor Bricker. Rodgers, Robert J. O'Donnell and Abram F. Myers. Screening of Paramount's "Fives Graves to Cairo" followed the banquet winding up the day's festivities with a buffet lunch at the Variety Club. A business session for exhibitors only will be held today. All distributors are rep resented here, also NTS and NSS. Charle Deardourff, M-G-M exploiteer. presented Miss M-G-M at a Bond booth. Every Bond pur chaser is entitled to participate in a draw ing for a $50 prize Bond, presented by M-G-M COmiltG and GOIRG BEN PIAZZA, RKO studio casting director is here for conferences with Arthur Willi company's Eastern talent scout. MARTHA O'DRISCOLL arrived in town yester day from Henderson, Ky., where she wound up USO tour on Sunday. HARRY LINK, general professional manage for Leo Feist, Inc., is on the Coast fc <on ferences at M-G-M. JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON departs flr4 th, M-C-M studios on June 1. NATHAN E. GOLDSTEIN, president of West ern Massachusetts Theaters, Inc., has returne to Springfield from a business trip to New York ZAC FREEDMAN, publicity director for th. Ted Collins organization, returns from Holly wood this week after stopovers in San Francisco Des Moines and Chicago. CHARLES FRANCIS COE has returned fron Florida. NICHOLAS NAPOLI, Artkino prexy, ha: left for the Coast to confer with Paramount studio execs, on the Soviet pic, "Victory in Stalingrad'' which Para, will distribute here. CORP. LEO BRODY, AAF, formerly in Para.'i h.o. publicity department, is on furlough from Tucson, Ariz. Will Honor Eckhardt With Two Testimonials Chicago — Clyde Eckhardt, 20thFox exchange head who has been transferred to the Los Angeles branch, will be honored with two testimonials. Employes club will tender a dinner and reception on the Morris Hotel on Friday and the Variety Club will give him a dinner at the Blackstone Hotel May 21. Variety Club meets Saturday to appoint a director to take Eckhardt' s place on the board. $2,500,000 Budget for Goldwyn's "North Star" West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Samuel Goldwyn has hiked the budget for Lillian Hellman's original, "The North Star," to $2,500,000 and increased the shooting schedule to 120 days, twice as long as any previous Goldwyn film. Miss Hellman will remain at the studio for final shooting. Harry Goldberg to Milwaukee Harry Goldberg, director of advertising and publicity for Warner Theaters, left last night for Milwaukee to set up the opening of "Mission to Moscow" at the Warner Theater there on May 21. He will also stop in Chicago before returning to New York the latter part of the week. 1560 Broadway