The Film Daily (1940)

I Wednesday, January 31, 1940 T» DAILY TELE RELAY IS SEEN AS PIX COMPETITION (Continued from Page 1) could make television programs immediately available to approximately 2^)00,000 persons, or, roughly, one>-=dah of the nation's population. Programs could originate as well as be received at any city which is part of the radio relay system. FCC Group to Witness Tele Demonstrations This Week Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — -The FCC announced yesterday that members of the commission would spend Feb. 1-5 witnessing television demonstrations by various firms interested. Itinerary includes Albany, Schenectady and Poughkeepsie on Thursday; New York City and Passaic, N. J., on Friday and Saturday, and Camden, '} N. J., and Philadelphia on Monday. To Set Up Joint Committee To Regulate Tele Players Actors' Equity Association Council yesterday agreed to the setting up of a joint committee to administer the television field for a period of six months with no question of jurisdiction to be involved, thereby temporarily declaring a truce in the struggle among the 4A unions for control of the field and speeding up ultimate action on a scale of wages and working conditions. Ken Thomson represented SAG at the huddle, and George Heller and Mark Smith represented AFRA. It was expected that the boards of these unions would approve the plan speedily, with a five man committee to be set up. Equity and Chorus Equity will each have one representative, SAG and AFRA will each have one representative, and a fifth man will be selected by these representatives. "Friday" Tops "Smith" Philadelphia — Columbia's "His Girl Friday" got away at the Stanley to better biz than "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Best wishes from THE FILM DAILY to the following on their birthdays: JANUARY 31 Eddie Cantor Tallulah Bankhead Marcia Manners Joyce Murray Adele Watson Marcella Daly James Boyle 4LCNG THE with PHIL M. DALY; • • • FROM Buenos Aires comes a flash announcing results of the recent poll conducted by the film trade publication, Heraldo Del Cinematografista. to determine the best pix of 1939 released in that land Three awards were made respectively to an English language, Spanish language, and French language feature as selected by 26 Argentine critics 10 of whom are on newspapers, eight on magazines, and eight reviewing pix via radio. .... .It appears that the boys and girls held Mister Samuel Goldwyn's "Wuthering Heights" in great esteem for they voted it the top spot 'mong the English languagers "Prisoners of the Earth" was ballotted the best Spanish-tongue attraction while "End of the Day" grabbed the laurels in the French division T ▼ T • • # THAT Argentinians relish rich cinema concoctions is demonstrated by the English-language pix on the list of run— ners-up These were, — "You Can't Take It With You," "Pygmalion," "Stagecoach," "Boys Town," "The Citadel," and "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" 'Tis interesting to note that all of the English-language pix from winner through the honor roll were FILM DAILY Ten Best either in the 1938 or 1939 poll with the sole exception of "Stagecoach" which missed landing in the Ten Best of 1939 by a margin of only 13 votes At that, it headed-up the honor roll If it seems strange that some pix which were released in the U. S. in 1938 appear in the 1939 Heraldo Del Cinematografista probe it's simply because neither Nature's seasons nor releasing seasons down Argentinaway coincide with our own ▼ ▼ T • • • "ACTION" is the word for Norman (Silent Films) Kerry who has been servin' with the Anglo-American Ambulance Corps in France Since there wasn't much of anyone needing an ambulance on this side of the Maginot Line since "hostilities" started the bored Mister Kerry ups and joins the French Foreign Legion which may prove to be a short-cut back to filums for Norman. . . • That's a right pert blotter Mecca Film Labs sent through the trade t'other day It's in the form of an auto license plate the numbers thereon bein' Mecca's business phone T ▼ T • • • THE Budd (Alliance Films Corp.) Rogers family was reported yesterday to be "resting comfortably" after a week of activity unprecedented in the annals of the Clan Rogers A week ago today, the Rogerses' son, Richard, graduated from junior high Friday, last, was the youth's birthday and Saturday was the 20th Wedding anniversary of Budd and Mrs. Rogers ▼ T T • • • UNCLE Sam's P.O. Dept. is bein' bombarded with letters asking in indignant tones why Thomas A. Edison, father of filmland via the Kinetoscope is not among the American inventors portrayed on the new series of postage stamps honoring Samuel F. B. Morse, Eli Whitney, Cyrus M. McCormick, Elias Howe and Alexander Graham Bell The screwy part of it all is that the m.p. industry which Edison is very much responsible for having hatched has turned out either features or shorts dealing with all the gents whom the P. O. Dept. is about to honor So, come on. Mister Farley, give our daddy a break! (There was an Edison stamp in 1929, but it displayed no portrait of the great inventor. — only his first electric light bulb) SGHAEFER AND MYERS DEBATE NEELY BILL « « « » » * (Continued from Page 1) Bill if the larger companies had given more consideration to the independent exhibitors. Said Schaefer: "The bill prohibits us from selling our product to the best of our ability and I believe takes away our constitutional rights and ham-strings American system of free enterprise. The proposed measure attacks the fundamental basic plan of selling and buying developed under a competitive system over a period of years. In recent years, distributors have granted exhibitors a 10 per cent cancellation clause. Let proponents submit evidence that the exhibitors took advantage of the cancellation privilege and cancelled pictures of questionable moral content." Schaefer said the proposed act was not only unintelligent but unAmerican, declaring that "it hampers free enterprise and gives advantage to the buyer to the disadvantage of the producer and seller." Myers contended that investigations have disclosed that compulsory block-booking was not enforced against the 2,500 affiliated theaters, asserting that affiliated houses were privileged to buy selectively from all distributors. He stressed the alleged monopoly prevailing in the business today and predicted a decentralization of theater districts. The big downtown theaters are losing their influence, Myers said, declaring that in a few years the "sacred first-run revenue that major companies have been trying so desperately to protect will no longer be worth the effort." Myers denied there was any implication of censorship in the Neely Bill, nor any government price fixing clauses. Butterfield to Build Traverse City, Mich. — Butterfield will build a new house here instead of remodeling the Lyric. WEDDING BELLS Atlanta, Ga. — The marriage of Tom Grady, traveling auditor for Warner Brothers, and Mina Manassa, who operates the Ritz Theater at Stark, Florida, has been announced here. West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Elizabeth Cline, daughter of Director Edward F. Cline and Mrs. Cline, will be married to James Bain tomorrow at Las Vegas, Nevada. Following their marriage they will go to Chicago where they will reside. West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Maris Wrixon, screen actress, and Rudolf Fehr, film editor, were married here on Sunday.