The Film Daily (1939)

m p p mm Jf 13 2 ii W 44TH S T NYC ST THI tou DAILY Monday, September 11, 1939 Major Studios Going Full Steam Ahead With Production "Beau Geste" Intake 10-80% Ahead Of Average in 9 Pre-Releases (Continued from Page 1) chief, emphasized there would be no production curtailment and said the company looks to the domestic market to offset any foreign business drop. He also stated there would be no salary cuts, but there would be tightening up on unnecessary expenditures. Jack Warner declared there would be no spreading of release dates on big pictures and that between Sept. 1 and Jan. 1 the company releases will include "The Old Maid," "The Roaring Twenties," "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex," "On Your Toes," "We Are Not Alone," "Invisible Stripes," "Four Wives," "Espionage Agent" and "Dust Be My Destiny" which, with one other release for that period, represents a cost of approximately $10,000,000. "Espionage Agent" opens at the Strand Sept. 23, it was said. More Big Warner Pix Among pictures not announced at the sales convention which Warner Bros, will make will be "The Fighting 69th," "Virginia City," "The Patent Leather Kid," "The Sea Hawk," "Captain Horatio Hornblower" and "We Shall Meet Again." Warner announced that no antiforeign pictures will be produced in view of the American declaration of neutrality. Declaring that Paramount would not alter its production plans in any way, slash budgets or retrench along other lines at the present time because of the war, Y. Frank Freeman, studio production chieftain, left for the Coast Friday night after conferring at the home office for 10 days with prexy Barney Balaban, Neil Agnew and other execs. Freeman, who was accompanied to the train by Balaban, said that the studio was about six months into its 1939-40 program, half of its product being now completed. He said that Para, had not planned to distribute any of its British-made pictures here this year, and therefore no replacements would be necessary on the schedule. Record Intake for "Beau Geste" Strongly indicating that the American box-office was not adversely affected by the way, it was disclosed by Para, at the week-end that n "Forget About War Racine, Wis. — The Rialfo Theater here plugged "Golden Boy" with a newspaper advertisement captioned, "War!" and reading as follows: "Dreaded 3-letter word, abhorred by decent home loving families the world over! This message is written to detract your attention from the European crisis now existing. Forget about War! We reiterate that motion pictures are your best entertainment and we have just the picture to make you forget any critical situation now existing. A story the entire family will enjoy. Such a picture is 'Golden Boy'." Maintain Quality Production and Keep Up Public Morale, Urges Allied Exec. Atlantic City — A call to Hollywood to maintain quality production despite hostilities abroad was sounded by George Gold, retiring prexy of Allied Theaters of New Jersey at the closing session of the convention here Friday. In his final address, Gold said: "We see our first duty is to impress upon producers and directors that in these troublesome days it is necessary that quality be maintained as heretofore and that the general morale of the public is kept up. We need plenty of good entertainment to overcome effects of the war news and the public looks to the films to produce it." Crown Mary Pickford as Tobacco Fete Queen South Boston, Va. — Mary Pickford was crowned Queen of the fifth annual National Tobacco Festival by Governor Price of Virginia Friday. The ceremonies were preceded by a pageant. Miss Pickford flew in from Hollywood and received a formal welcome to Virginia on the steps of the state capitol in Richmond, with Governor Price officiating. 200 American Show Folks Said Stranded in Europe Broadway booking agencies at the week-end estimated that a minimum of 200 American stage and screen folk are still in Europe, the majority stranded. Closing of theaters, casinos and night clubs left scores virtually penniless. "Beau Geste" is running from 10 to 80 per cent above average in nine pre-release key cities while in nine other engagements the pix is outgrossing "Union Pacific." Best showing thus far has been at the Metropolitan, Boston, where the 80 per cent figure was scored. At the Paramount, Newark, "Beau Geste" is 50 per cent ahead, while the Center, Salt Lake City, reported 48 per cent, the United States in Paterson, 45 per cent, the Majestic, Houston, 25 per cent, and the Palace, Rochester, Great Lakes, Buffalo, and Alabama, Birmingham, all 10 per cent. John W. Hicks, Jr., Para.'s vicepresident in charge of foreign operations, who arrived in New York Friday from his trip to Australia and New Zealand, found his prediction that theater business there would not be adversely affected by the war substantiated in a cable received here on the same day by Dan Carroll, Australian circuit operator. Australian Biz Up Cable advised the Aussie exec, that Para.'s "Jamaica Inn" in the week which saw Australia enter the war gave the Prince Edward Theater in Sydney its best biz in three years. Carroll, who conferred with Hicks, said that this should ease the minds of American producers who were of the impression that theater grosses abroad would drop considerably due to war conditions. Nate Blumberg, Universal prexy, returning Friday to New York after three months spent at the studios, was of the opinion that the present war crisis would have little effect on the company's course, and added that once the industry could get a complete analysis, based on reliable information, much of the current retrenchment talk heard in Hollywood would dissipate. Blumberg to The Film Daily expressed unqualified satisfaction with the company's condition, present and future. "The remarkable tribute paid to Universal through the Exhibitor Sponsored Testimonial Drive" said Blumberg, "cannot be measured in dollars and cents alone. More important by far is the expression of exhibitor confidence in the company's progress, which means that from now on Universal may contemplate production expansion along lines that would have called for the greatest degree of caution in the absence of such knowledge." Blumberg said that no change in U's production plans in regard to the number of features announced is contemplated, adding that the company proposed to express its appreciation of the drive with big* pictures. "That's the language every exhibitor must understand," he put it. Full Steam Ahead at UA Murray Silverstone, UA top exec, emphasized anew at the week-end that UA and its producers were following the "full steam ahead" signal. Silverstone foresaw the next six months as one of the most important periods in the industry's history, with the screen meeting a most vital need at a time of unsettled world conditions. Expressing a representative exhibitor viewpoint, Ed Kuykendall, MPTOA prexy, on Saturday urged the industry to avoid the jitters and count 10 before it attempted to take stock of the war situation. Kuykendall deplored alarmist talk of drastic production curtailment and called for sanity all along the line. "It looks to me that some are attempting to cross the river before they come to the bridge," he commented. "In my judgment, we should have very good business for some time to come. Inevitably, films benefit from prosperity, and war trade, if experience counts, means that for the United States." UA PRODUCTION SETS NEW ACTIVITY RECORD (Continued from Page 1) ( UA and its producers have retried the highest activity point in the company's 20-year history, Murray Silverstone, top exec, said at the weekend. Activity at the studios of UA producers attained a record high during the past week. On Thursday "Rebecca" went before the Selznick cameras, and filming on Walter Wanger's "Send Another Coffin" was begun. Two days later Samuel Goldwyn, started production on "Raffles," and Charlie Chaplin announced that he had begun rehearsals of his tentatively designated "Production No. 6." Hal Roach is already well into his production of "Of Mice and Men," and Alexander Korda in England is putting the finishing touches on his Technicolor spectacle, "Thief of Bagdad." Completed and ready for exhibition are Selznick's "Intermezzo, A Love Story" starring Leslie Howard; Goldwyn's "The Real Glory," starring Gary Cooper; Wanger's "Eternally Yours," starring Loretta Young and David Niven; Roach's "The Housekeeper's Daughter," starring Joan Bennett and Adolphe Menjou; and Korda's "Over the Moon," starring Merle Oberon. With the current season only three months old, this represents a greater production output than that of any entire UA season in the past. AHA to Hear of Alleged Pix Abuses to Animals Albany — The nation-wide drive of the American Humane Association to end alleged film abuses of animals will be sparked by its annual convention here beginning today. The four-day meet will be highlighted by the report of Eric Hansen, national general manager of the American Humane associated groups. Hansen returned last month from a a six weeks' trip to Hollywood, where he contacted each major producing unit and visited on location to check alleged abuses to animals. "Kol Nidre" Will Open "Kol Nidre," new Jewish picture, produced and directed by Joseph Seiden, will have its premiere at the Clinton Theater on the lower East Side today. ' In Propaganda Pix London (By Cable) — First British propaganda film to be made at Denham by Alexander Korda will have Merle Oberon and Ralph Richardson as leads, the former as a Red Cross nurse, the latter as Royal Air Force officer. Title may be, "The Lion Has Wings."