The Film Daily (1947)

12 ■ntf DAILY Tuesday, May 13, 1947 Showmanship Rules as Barkers Take Over L. A. Registration Continuing Today; Business Program Sessions Start Tomorrow (Continued from Page 1) under way tomorrow for sessions extending the balance of the week. As delegates debarked yesterday from special trains and cars from all parts of this country as well as from Canada and Mexico, they were greeted in the South Patio of Union Station with a fiesta atmosphere. Colorfully garbed senoritas, a Mexican string ensemble, cowboys whooping it up combined to initiate the visitors into a gay mood. Monogram provided transportation to the various hotels in its fleet of "Fifth Avenue" buses. Open-Arm Welcome The convention delegates are being welcomed with open arms by the film Rivaling the "big top" of the greatest show on earth, Stage Two at Warners Studios is going into circus regalia for the Humanitarian Awards dinner of Variety Clubs, International on May 17 when Jack L. Warner will be ringmaster and host. industry. Thanks to the advance work of Charles P. Skouras, FWC president and chief barker of Los Angeles Tent 25, studio heads have gone all out to extend hospitality. Jack L. Warner will host the entire delegation of 1,200 barkers in addition to 200 civic, state and industry leaders on Saturday night as the convention wind-up. A "million dollar" stage show, produced by LeRoy Prinz and James V. Kern, will present Jack Carson as emcee. Heading the list of stars will be Dennis Morgan, Janis Paige and practically every other personality on the Warner roster. At this event will be announced the winner of this year's Humanitarian award. Other events scheduled by the industry toward the visiting barkers are luncheons by Gene Autrv and Gene Autry Prods.; Henry Ginsberg and Paramount; Darryl Zanuck at 20th-Fox; a dinner at Earl Carroll's Theater for the delegates and their wives by Steve Broidy and Allied Artists and a theater party for wives of delegates by Sid Grauman at Ken Murray's "Blackouts." Other entertainment items scheduled are a studio tour and sightseeing visit for the entire delegation, with luncheon at the Santa Monica Cabana Club. To Plan Benevolent Work At the business sessions starting tomorrow, plans will be discussed for furthering the various programs of benevolent work for underprivileged children which steadily have grown in scope. Great interest is being' manifest in lobby and corridor discussions concerning the awarding of the Charity Citation Plaque. This will go to the tent which in the opinion of a judges committee has done the most during the past year to further this type of activity. The range of tent charity "Variety Bids You Welcome!" FIRST BARKER REGISTERS. First delegate to arrive in Los Angeles for the 11th annual Variety Clubs International conclave was Theodore Gildred of Mexico City Tent No. 29. Here, he receives his credentials from registrar Bette Geisser, as National Chief Barker Robert J. 0 Donnell and Charles P. Skouras, Chief Barker of Host Tent 25, Los Angeles, look on. Over 1,000,000 To See "Duel" In First Week (Continued from Page 1) Capitol and 49 other houses in the greater New York area, Neil Agnew, SRO president, announced yesterday. Agnew said that his figure was based on returns for the first five days of the simultaneous run. Almost a million persons, or practically oneseventh of the city's population will see the picture in its initial session. "Duel" continues for a second week beginning tomorrow at only the Capitol, Metropolitan in Brooklyn, Loew's, Jersey City and State, Newark. Pulitzer Prize Novel to Col. for $200,000 Plus work includes heart clinics, premature birth clinics, free blood banks, fresh air camps, free milk funds, Boy Scout sponsorship, polio clinics and juvenile delinquency work. Full coverage of the convention will be made by newsreels and radio. Al Brick of Fox Movietone News, is chairman of the committee handling that end of publicity. Salutes are being given Variety during the week of the convention by every motion picture star who has an air show of his own. Tent 25's Officers of Tent 25 have been working together for more than three months under the direction of Skouras. The well knit team embraces W. H. Bud Lollier, property master; George Topper, dough guy; Sherrill Corwin, publicity director; Dr. Ben Feingold, Heart Committee chairman. Members of the convention committee are Williard Keith and Howard Stubbins, studio contacts; George Topper, finance; Oscar Oldknow, decorations; Jack Berman, tokens and gifts; W. H. "Bud" Lollier, registration, hotel and transportation. Norman Manning is coordinator under the direction of Chief Barker Skouras. (Continued from Page 1) Robert Penn Warren, recent Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. Deal consisted of a straight cash payment, which publisher and author split equally according to prearranged plan for resale rights, plus payments to be arranged later. Harry Cohn who concluded the sale yesterday with Maxwell Geffen, Omnibook publisher, said large-scale production plans were being laid for the novel dealing with Huey-Longtype political demogoguery in the Southern states. Repeal of Ohio 3% Tax Means New Levy — Wood Columbus, O. — Creation of a new tax increasing cost of theater admissions to the public would be the result of repeal of the present state three per cent admissions tax, warned P. J. Wood, secretary of the Independent Theater Owners of Ohio, in an open letter to members of the Ohio House. Wood, who estimated that film theaters in Ohio pay 75 to 80 per cent of the present state admission tax levy, urged House members to support Senate Bill No. 250 under which the state will continue to collect the tax but return the same to the political subdivision of origin. Sheehan, Wurtzel's Aide West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Howard Sheehan, brother of Winfield Sheehan and currently associated with Sol M. Wurtzel Prods., has been upped to the post of Wurtzel's executive assistant. E-L-Rank Tie-up Seen Favoring U, S. Trade (Continued from Page ! would import the products of other countries instead of expecting cash exchange. Arguing that his interest in/" i/.ion pictures is related to his intv No// in railroads, the C & O board chairman said that railroads can only survive under a system of free enterprise and that free enterprise is threatened by the deteriorating international situation which finds the world an armed camp. World armament, Young stated, is the cause of existing high prices which will eventually bring labor under stress. Motion pictures, he continued, are the finest vehicle for bringing order into international relations and are a means for stimulating reciprocal foreign trade. "We must take something from England for our products besides IOUs," Young said, adding "I'm in favor of taking Arthur's (Rank) films." Young's viewpoint was expressed at a press conference for Rank and himself. Asked about his future plans in the motion picture industry, Young said he will be busy with the New York Central railroad for the next two or three years. He denied knowledge of any plan to merge PRC and Eagle-Lion, both of which are subsidiaries of Pathe Industries. Eagle-Lion, Young stated, is spending money liberally to set up a top distributing organization, without expectations of any immediate profit. The arrangement between EagleLion in this country and the Rank Eagle-Lion companies is completely reciprocal, he said, so that in the event the British government were to freeze currency, operations could continue on both sides of the AtI lantic. Bob Savini On Coast R. M. Savini, president of Astor Pictures, has arrived on the Coast by Constellation to attend the Variety Clubs convention and to complete preparations for new Astor productions. On his return trip, he will stop in San Francisco and Seattle. SICK LIST A. T. Worthington Dead Bluff ton, O. — A. T. Worthington, 56, former owner of the Star Theater, died suddenly Saturday at his home of a heart attack. Funeral services will be held tomorrow. H. L. (LADDY) HANCOCK, 20rh-Fox salesman, is confined to his Indianapolis home by influenza, JOSEPHINE GIORDANO, PRC exchange staff, Detroit, is recovering from an operation for removal of a tumor on the left leg. NIXIE RUTLEDGE, of the Peak Theater, Dallas, has entered the Veterans Hospital at Waco, Tex., for a complete physical checkup, and rest cure. "isia suoiq.onpoa\i M *?'