The Film Daily (1940)

Thursday, January 25, 1940 cf$ DAILY LAUNCHES PIX SURVEY AS HELP TO INDUSTRY 1 1 By RALPH WILK ! West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Los Angeles — While the industry continues to mark time on the freQut'it'w voiced proposal that it undertake a survey to establish publ lie likes and dislikes, Robert F. Dellinger, avid fan here, has stolen a march, inaugurating the "Motion Picture Patrons Monthly Voting Ballot" on his own. Recipients of the ballot, scattered across the country, are asked to answer 20 questions and then to mail it to Will H. Hays. Dellinger, it is understood, did not contact Hays prior to sending out his questionnaires, and is wholly unknown to the MPPDA prexy. Questions include: What theater showed the best picture of the month? What picture did you like the best of this month? What actress did you like best this month ? What actor did you like best this month? What supporting actress or actor? What juvenile actor or actress? What was the best produced picture, and who wrote it? What was the best song in a picture, and how were the costumes? Who did the best directing, and the best editing, and name one actor or actress who should be a star. Also name the studio that produced the best picture, and suggest some improvements, and, while you're about it, do you like stage plays as well as you like pictures, and how about a couple of names of people you know who should be in pictures ? Dellinger told The Film Daily that no individuals or organizations are associated with him and that he has defrayed all expenses of his survey. He feels, however, that a voting bureau for the fans should be supported by the producing companies as well as the theaters. An enthusiastic fan, during past five years Dellinger has only missed attending pictures 10 nights. First knowledge the MPPDA headquarters here had of the Dellingerinstituted poll as a voluntary industry aid was the arrival of a ballot, The Film Daily was advised. It is understood, however, that this is the second time Dellinger has sought to learn public reactions to films. Prior to the last Academy elections, he circulated 1,000 ballots, personally footing the bill. Davidson With FAUS Sidney C. Davidson joins Film Alliance of the U. S. as Advertising and Publicity Director. Coincident with the new appointment is the general expansion of personnel by Film Alliance of the U. S. Larger quarters are being arranged for in the RKO building. with PHIL M. DALT; • • • THERE was a wedding last night in the Grand Ballroom of New York's Waldorf-Astoria twixt the superb showmanship of fhe House of Wamer and the glamor of the grand and traditional Fighting 69th Regiment Only such a union could have given birth and being to such quality and inspiring festivities and it must be set down for the account of filmland generally and its theater operators in particular that this key preview of the Warners' spectacular production. "The Fighting 69th" one of some 40 held concurrently throughout the U. S will, like Lincoln's renowned address at Gettysburg (regardless of the modesty of its makers) long be remembered both for what was said there and what was done there ▼ y y • • • HISTORY -MAKING is the compound word for the feteful evening which was climaxed by the presentation of the picture to an audience qualified above all others to pass upon its merits and soul-stirring content That at its finale the members of Regiment accorded to it a thunderous ovation which literally rocked the Waldorf's steel rafters should be the tip-off to Mister Exhib as to the treat he can expect both for himself and his most discriminating and excitement-loving patrons y y y • • • MANY and many a preview has been held in the austere shadows of Pa Knickerbocker's skyscrapers but in this corner's long memory none has had the dramatic, pulsating power which surged last night The some 1,500 expectant Sixty-Ninthers and notables who packed the Grand Ballroom of America's most famous hostelry had a "you gotta show me" attitude and the Warners did and how! After the Most Rev. John F. O'Hara. recently ordained Auxiliary Bishop of the Army and Navy Diocese delivered the invocation the colorful dinner got under way as on the dais sat Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Jack L. Warner, Major Albert Warner, Will H. Hays, S. Charles Einfeld, Gradwell L. Sears. Tames Cagney. Pat O'Brien, Jeffrey Lynn. Col. John J. Mangan Brigadier General A. E. Anderson, Col. William J. ("Wild Bill") Donovan. Maj. Gen. William Haskell, Gen. Hugh Drum, Hon. Jeremiah T. Mahoney. Joseph Hazen and the gracious Leo T. McCauley, consul general of the Irish Free State T T T • • • COLONEL Mangan acted as m.c, introducing among others Colonel Donovan who eloquently referred to the film's "reverent capture of the spirit and the human understanding of Father Duffy" and stated the production "will evidence the good that may be done through the medium of the film in its proper use in the service of the whole people" Governor Lehman, who gave a rousing patriotic panegyric James Cagney, who told of the vast undertaking the film had been Pat O'Brien, who admitted that the occasion was "the thrill of my life" and asserted he could hear the spirit of Father Duffy say to him anent O'Brien's characterization of the beloved priest: "Sure it's only a little acting you're doing, and 1 won't hold it against you!" Brigadier Gen. Anderson, who delivered a scintillating speech Jeffrey Lynn, who touched heart strings with his rendition of Joyce Kilmer's poem, "Rouge Bouquet" and Jack L. Warner who delineated the Warner policy of "using talking pictures in the best of taste" ▼ ▼ ▼ • • • THE event was broadcast o'er a national NBC hook-up but the most amazing part oi the affair was the wholesale autographseeking even by the celebrities themselves which on this triumphal Warner evening led Pat O'Brien to sign a seating arrangement list and put it in his own pocket which will give you an idea of what the preview was like! DflT€ BOOK Jan. 28: Actors Fund of America benefit, Winter Garden. Jan. 29: C. C. Kellenberg testimonial dinner. William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh. Feb. 1-3: National Board of Review of Motion Pictures conference, Hotel Pennsylvania. Feb. 4: NVA annual benefit, Alvin Theater. Feb. 9-11: National Poster Service Association convention, New York. Feb. 15: Detroit Variety Club Feather Party, Book-Cadillac Hotel. Feb. 17: Coast Warner Club dinner-dance, Bilt more Bowl. Feb. 29: Academy Awards banquet, Hollywood. April 21 : AAAA Ball, Waldorf-Astoria. April 22-25: SMPE Spring convention, Chalfonre-Haddon Hall Hotel, Atlantic City. "69th" Dinner on Coast Has Warner as Speaker West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Harry M. Warner, Gov. Culbert Olson and Mayor Fletcher Bowron topped the list of speakers at the local Fighting 69th dinner last night at the Biltmore Hotel, coincidental with the screening of Warners' "The Fighting 69th." Other guests includes Hal B. Wallis, under whose supervision "The Fighting 69th" was produced; George Brent, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Dennis Morgan, Guinn (Big Boy) Williams, Frank Wilcox, Tom Dugan, Harvey Stephens, William Lundigan and De Wolf Hopper, all of whom appear in the picture; General Patrick J. Farrell, Joseph I. Breen, Major J. O. Donovan, John C. Dunn, president of the local American Legion; Thomas H. O'Neill, president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Rainbow Division and Alexander Woolcott. Chicago — A thousand persons attended last night's preview of Warner Bros, picture, "The Fighting 69th," at the Sherman Hotel meeting of the Rainbow Division. Plans All-Negro Musical West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — George Randol is putting into shooting, Feb. 3, an allNegro musical, "Dark Town Strutters Ball" with Shelton Brooks and F. E. Miller in the comedy leads. Brooks wrote the songs, and he and Miller authored the story. Negotiations are now on to have the Mills Bros, in the show, as well as "Stuff" Smith and his band. Production will be at Talisman Studio and International Roadshows will release. The plan is to make this a big time musical which will be able to play to the regular trade as well as in the houses which now cater to the Negro trade. Binkley Acquires House Amelia, O.— William Binkley has taken over Montjoy's theater at Newton, for opening Saturday.