The Film Daily (1941)

Monday, August 4, 1941 ^te? Decided B.O. Pickup Seen Coming Soon (Continued fro, present prospects, Paoe 1) their bonuses next season would be the handsomest yet. It was intimated by Sears that SW^rner sales meetings might be Y __»more frequently in the future. ~~^here is no longer any seasons in our business" he declared. "We have abandoned set programs of pictures and annual budgets. Instead of annual budgets, we are now making up our budgets by individual pictures and instead of figuring |on income by groups of pictures, we must now figure by the individual release." WB Branch Managers Get Full Contract Authority Chicago — In carrying out recently adopted plan for close and speedier contact between home office and field, Warner branch managers hereafter will have full say in approval or rejection of contracts, Carl Lesferman, assistant general sales manager, told the sales force at Friday's conference of the convention. Stressing the new and greater responsibilities placed on branch heads, Leserman said they now become the most important cogs in the :saies machinery. He urged more and closer contact by branch executives and salesmen with exhibitors. Roy Haines, Eastern and Canadian sales manager, and Ben Kalfihenson, Southern and Western sales manager, held conferences with respective branch managers Friday morning. Exchange heads were told field sales force will be increased, if necessary to get best results under the decree. S. Charles Einfeld flew back to Hollywood after attending the convention here. He had been in the East over a month working chiefly |n "Sergeant York" openings in New York and Washington. Frank Liberman of Mort Blumenstock's home office staff has been assigned to the Chicago territory, under Monroe Rubinger, in line with the company's plans for increasing field representation to aid exhibitors. Accordion and Radio Entertainment Plus 76-Mile "Cool Off9' Bus Ride for 15 Cents Toledo, 0.— Exhibs. have an additional form of competition in Toledo this bummer, with the Community Traction Co. offering accordion and radio entertainment to all purchasers of "cool-off" rides on the city's buses. For 15 cents a person can obtain a pass permitting unlimited riding from 7 P.M. to 1 A m' on weekdays, and from 2 P.M. Sunday to 1:10 A.M. Monday. Number of accord.omsts have been engaged to board buses nightly to entertain users of the cool-off passes. Person may travel as far as 76 miles with a pass. Harry David to Head Norfhio Theaters PRC Has 4,000 Accounts, Convention is Told Marshall to Berkeley Grundy Center, la. — John Marshall, is resigning as manager of the Center Theater at Grundy Center, eft yesterday for Berkeley, Cal. W. Lee Beckley of Rock Rapids suc:eeds Marshall. ught Tent Shows With Acts Milwaukee, Wis.— A sprinkling of lesh is being spotted in several state louses in response to tent shows emulating around Wisconsin. Cleveland — Producers Releasing Corp. now has 4,000 accounts on its books, Arthur Greenblatt, general sales manager, told representatives at the first of a series of regional conventions here Saturday. Greenblatt said he was confident that the company would have 6,000 accounts within the next year. Greenblatt stated that production on the 1941-42 program is under way, with uninterrupted production guaranteed to meet exact release dates throughout the coming year. Franchise holders and members of the field organization at this regional meeting are: Lee L. Goldberg, Bernie Rubin, J. Lawrence, Cleveland; Nat Kaplan, Joe Goldberg, Donald Duff, Cincinnati; Sam Abrams, Jos. W. Bohn, Indianapolis; William Flemion, Bert Foster, Carl Zipper, Detroit; Charles Miller and Victor Bernstein, Chicago; Ed Hickey, Milwaukee; Milton and Lew Lefton, Godfrey Lefton and Joe Fleshin, Pittsburgh. The next regional meeting will be held at Atlanta, Aug. 9-10, with the following attending: Ike Katz, David Katz, B. S. Bryan, W. H. Rudisell and B. Elliott, Atlanta; Ed Heller and E. Miller, Charlotte. Fred Goodrow, Wm. Thomas and P. A. Sliman, New Orleans. On Aug. 16-17, the third regional sales meeting will be held in Dallas, followed a week later, Aug. 23-24, by a meeting in Kansas City. Other meetings covering the remaining PRC exchanges will follow at intervals of one week. Dates will be announced later. 16 mm. Theater Business On Upswing in the Midwest Chicago — Upswing of the 16 mm. theater business in the Illinois territory is noted by J. M. Friedman of Monarch films. Among the circuits reporting, he says, are the Dale Kennedy interests in Table Grove which have 21 stands for 16 mm. product, and the Joe Riley circuit, with 28 stands in the southern territory. In Chicago itself, Joe Vicedomi's World Playhouse is set to exhibit in the near future the 16 mm. film, "Here Is Ireland." 20th-Fox Manila Office Burns; Employe Killed (Continued from Page 1) ploye was killed in the conflagration, cause of which was undetermined, the cable stated. Office is in charge of Dan Lederman. While no estimate of the loss was available at the week-end, it was said that the figure would run high. Twentieth-Fox had just delivered a sizeable shipment of Technicolor pix to the branch. As replacements, the home office dispatched 12 features and 29 shorts at the week-end. Stack as "Boy Wonder" West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Robert Stack is expected to have the title role in "Boy Wonder," by Paul Jarrico and Richard Collins, just acquired by Universal. Salt Lake City— Harry David, vice-president and general manager of Intermountain Theaters, Inc. since 1929, has been assigned by Paramount Theaters Service Corp. to take charge of the Northio Theaters Corp. with headquarters in Cincinnati. David took over management of eight theaters in 1929, bought by Paramount Theaters from the late Mayor Louis Marcus. The chain now has 25 houses in Utah and Idaho. Tracy Barham, present head of the Ohio unit, will succeed David who is a native of San Francisco. He has been associated with Paramount and its affiliates for the last 21 years. Operators Ready to Negotiate Chicago — Operators' union notified exhibitors Friday that they are ready to negotiate for new contract. Old pact expires Aug. 30. To Remake "Nobody's Widow" West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Columbia will remake Avery Hopwood's "Nobody's Widow," Harry Segal doing the new script. r. You cbdn * . lbat ct° Uf b.d« Youis framec %AGS TO RiCHES ALAN BAXTER • MARY CARLISLE JEROME COWAN • MICHAEL MORRIS • RALF HAROLDE PAUL PORCASI • SUZANNE KAAREN • EDDIE ACUFF Director: Joseph Kane Original Screen Play by James Webb A REPUBLIC PICTURE