The Film Daily (1944)

r^ ^esday, September 5, 1944 &*Xv!!v! rint Delays Stall lelro Ninth Block (Continued from Page 1) ft he will stop off at Chicago for tee days for meetings with E. K. jed) O'Shea, Eastern sales manner; John E. Flynn, Western sales d; and John J. Maloney, Central 'es chief with headquarters in Ittsburgh. Edwin W. Aaron, circuit sales jad, also is due from the East over :E week-end, after making about pht stopovers enroute and conferig with M-G-M branch managers d divisional operators of National leaters. Aaron will spend a week I two conferring with Eddie Zabel, ; ief film buyer for the FWC circuit, the company's new formula, lich will begin with its ninth ock. M-G-M is holding up the sale of , ninth block until "Kismet," "Mrs. nkington" and "Naughty Marietr are tradescreened. Although it d been planned to start selling on fpt. 1, delay in shipment of prints i exchanges have held up the tradeowings. "Naughty Marietta," coarring Jeanette MacDonald and Bison Eddy, is expected to be set thin the next week. "Kismet" is ' ing held up because Technicolor boratories cannot supply prints as aickly as they are needed. "Mrs. ukington" is finished and now in e lab. for printing. While Rodgers is here, he is exacted to look at "Thirty Seconds ver Tokyo," and "Ziegfeld Follies," l»th of which are expected to be Id as specials in 1945. It is stated ^proximately $4,000,000 has been •ent on "Ziegfeld Follies." ' Also while in town, Rodgers is anning to confer with Fred C. aimby, general manager of shorts, i the new lineup. It is understood e company is adding at least 10 ibjects to the new program, which ill be definitely announced on odgers' return to the East. Herbert organ, Eastern shorts representave, has just left on a tour of exlanges on behalf of shorts. He had j?en here two weeks conferring with iiimby and Jerome Bressler, head :' the company's shorts production. etty Tops Frank by 7,000 Boston — Betty Hutton's p. a. at the KO Boston shattered the house ;cord held by Frank Sinatra by pproximately 7,000 paid admissions, . was reported Friday. SEND BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO... September 5 Doris Kenyon Cleve Adams Sam Sax Amos Hiatt Jerry Safron Jack Beutel Maria Palmer • • • CUFF NOTES: Didja know that in some spots exhibs. are tossing for first chance at "Wilson"? F'r instance, in Lancaster, Pa., Al Boyd won the toss from Warners! ... • Speaking of "Wilson," 991.453 saw it in the Roxy's first month, . . • If you want to know more about television, read LIFE'S corking article this issue. . . • It's official — Jules Fields succeeds Jcck Goldstein at 20th-Fox, as forecast in your favorite daily industry newspaper on Friday Jack, thanks to his "Wilson" campaign, bows out Oct. 1 with his star high in the publicity sky. . . • Gene Krupa's entire organization has signed up to make further deposits at the Red Cross Blood Bank. . . • Joe LeBlanc, owner-manager of the Shediac, N. B., Capitol is converting a properly near his house into a combination playground and sports field for the town's kids Helluva good idea, that, and worth adopting in many a small town. . . • Very helpful to exhibs., that SYWA "promotion kit" prepared by Wilma Freeman of UA and now being distributed. . . • Former associate employes of Joseph J. Lee in 20th-Fox's New York branch are proud of his recent drive showing which won a three week's salary bonus for Detroit exchange employes, including himself This is the first time in many years that Detroit figured among the top three winners in a drive. . . • E. K. (Ted) O'Shea, since his return from a visit to Buffalo, has received 29 lettesr from friends in the industry congratulating him on his son, James H., heroic mission which recently appeared in this column The letters came from all parts of the country. ..... T T T • • • PIN POLL: Embassy Neii'sreel Theaters' presidential pin poll will be conducted on a national basis this election Fifteen out-of-town theaters, including the Telenews Theaters, have joined tlie stunt which was inaugurated during the 1940 Presidential campaign Poll has names of both candidates in theater lobbies with rows of campaign buttons under each Voters select the button of their choice as houses keep strict hourly tallies of buttons taken. T T T • • • THIS AND THAT: James Cagney may decide to place his Martha Vineyards home on the market He's finding it too far from Hollywood for comfort. . . • Michael Todd has signed Jeanette MacDonald for a stage return via his new production of a Victor Herbert operetta, come January next. . . • Metro has found another vehicle for Lassie in "Hold High the Torch" But this time Lassie will have Elizabeth Taylor as owner. . . • Pine-Thomas have signed Sam White, erstwhile Columbia producer, to produce-direct the pic version of the air show, "People Are Funny" Jack Haley will star. . . • "Big Sleep," Ray Chandler's murder mystery, will be a Warner pic, but satirized. . . • Metro has purchased Sam Hoffenstein's "Hippodrome," saga of two men and their New York amusement enterprises. . . • Producer-director Edward H. Griffith reported interested in "The Spread Eagle," by Capt. Clarence White, former N. Y. newspaperman It's based on the experiences of a discharged, disabled G. I. Joe in quest of a job. ▼ T ▼ • • • WHAT'S MONEY compared to Vivien Leigh? Loew's has just completed five test return-engagements of "Waterloo Bridge" One of the promotion gags useed was a trailer offering money back if the patron told the manager that he or she didn't like the picture In the five cities not one single patron asked for money back! Incidentally, the revival engagement did above average business in each situation and held over a second week in Houston and Memphis, probably only revival hold-over, excepting GWTW and "Snow White," in movie history! Loew's will play "Waterloo Bridge" on its "A" time throughout the circuit T ▼ T • • • AVENGE PEARL HARBOR DATE BOOK Artists board meeting, New Today: United York. Sept. 8-9 Allied board meeting, Mt. Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, N. H. Sapr. 7-9: Biological Photographic Ajioclitlon ■■nual mietlng, Binghamton, N. Y. Sept. 7: Anti-Defamation Day rally and luncheon, New Amsterdam Theater Roof, New York. Sept. 8-10: National Screen Service sales meeting, Waldorf-Astoria. Sept. 13: United Artists board meeting, New York. Sept. 15: State theater operators meet with labor department officials on building code. New York. Sept. 15-17: National Screen Service sales meeting, Blackstone Hotel, Chicago. Sept. 22-24: National Screen Service sales meeting, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. Oct. 16-18: Society of Motion Picture Engineers' semi-annual conference, Hotel Pennsylvania. Oct. 17: Annual convention, West Virginia Managers Association, Daniel Boone Hotel, Charleston. Lo, New Loew's-M-G-M Publication, Out Sept. 15 First issue of Lo, the new Loew'sM-G-M publication for employes, will be out Sept. 15. M. L. Simons, who edits the company's Distributor, is managing editor of the new publication. There are 30 reporters assigned to various departments for the bi-monthly. They include Harriet Parker, Bill Ornstein, Phil Gerard, Sybil Smolen, Florence Litt, Etienne LaFond, Gladys Zucker, Lillian Jeffrey, Gertrude Leron, Pat Stewart, Minerva Shoppen, Jean Adler, Shirley Bleendes, Alice Govoni, Mollie Singer, Alice M. Kadish, Harold Goldraben, Helen Lester, Muriel Leifer, David Meranus, Howard Cagle (who is also photographer for the sheet), Leon Tokatyan, Emily Vitale, Norma Hirshon, Rae Henigsberg, Edith Thalheim, Sherry Stone, Walter Dennis, M. D. O'Brien, and Lillian Gillman. Mrs. E. J. Brandt Dies Chicago — Word has just been received here of the death of Mrs. E. J. Brandt at Watertown, Wis. She was the widow of the founder of the Brandt Automatic Theater Money Changer equipment. Her daughter, Mrs. E. W. Quick, wife of the company's president, survives. The company is now starting to deliver changer equipment to theaters as war work lessens. STORK REPORTS Lt. Bob Schulberg, former member of Mort Blumenstock's publicity department at Warners, is the father of a boy, born last week to Mrs. Schulberg at Long Beach (N. Y.) Hospital. Lt. Schulberg, now in New York, returns to Camp Mackall, N. C, the end of this week.