The Film Daily (1945)

In Today ^s Issue: The Equipment News Section I n t i isi^ tie in C h a r q^q tar International in Scope ^^fispiendent in Thought (To Page 7-9) The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Twenty Seven Years Old ))VOL. 88, NO. 1 NEW YORK, MONDAY, JULY 2. 1945 EN CENTS CHICACO MEETIMC ASKED TO SETTLE STRIKE Utah Bond Queen Contest Nets $12 Million in E's Editorial Republic . . . sees ''one world' By CHESTER B. BAHN pEPUBilC, in razing the Chinese Wall that '^ long has separated domestic and foreign distribution activities generally in the film industry, easily could prove a bell-wether. The division of distribution into foreign and domestic for administrative and other purposes originally was predicated upon the fact that this was a pretty big world. The air age, already with us, and due to be decidedly more so in the immediate postwar future, has materially changed all that. When you can have breakfast in New York and dinner in London, it's apparent that time and distance relativity has altered markedly. And who can say what the perfection of jet and rocket propulsion will further accomplish in that respect? The day may come, and the wait for it may not be too long, when not only London, but Calcutta, Johannesburg, Sydney, Chungking and perhaps Moscow, will be as much American exchange centers as New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. This is, as the late Wendell L. Willkie so clearly saw, "One World." The vision of Herbert J. Yates and Jimmy Grainger is no less clear, as the Republic move to merge and co-ordinate distribution activities shows. In the realm of sheer speculation, there are, of course, one or two whimsical questions. There is, one recalls, a company called Republic Aircraft. Could the future bring still another Republic consolidation? A Republic exec, had his doubts. But, said he: "Maybe we'll invest in a fleet of Republic planes." Quien sabe? W Mr. Bctts' Conclusion ITH both J. Arthur Rank and Herbert Wilcox now in our midst one again hears, inevitably, much talk about the possible causes for the poor reception of some British pictures in these United States. If you prefer to qualify that reception with the adjective "financial," it's okay. As has been said countless times, here and elsewhere, a good British picture — one intelligible to the average American — can garner dollars here. Wilcox, for instance, would seem to have hit upon the right formula with his "A Yank Lived in Grosve nor Square." Americans who have seen it (Continued on Page 2) President Truman Congratulates Two Winning Queens in Utah County Salt Lake City — Passing through here Wednesday, President Harry S. Truman personally congratulated the two Utah County War Bond Queens in Salt Lake City. Winners among 350 queens who qualified in having at least $5,000 cash value in "E" Bonds voted for them in the statewide War Bond Queen contest sponsored by the motion picture theaters (Continued on Page 10) Warner Release Dates et Through February Warners will release 12 features between September and February, in addition to the three to he released during this month and August, Ben Kalmenson, general sales manager, revealed Friday at the closing session of the four-day district managers' home office meeting. Release schedule following July release of "Conflict" and "The Corn (Continued on Page 6) Set Opening Engagement Plans for Pyle's "G.I." Plans both for opening engagements of Ernie Pyle's "G. I. Joe" and the blanket of promotion which will parallel the engagements were disclosed on Friday at a trade press (Continued on Page 6) BRANDT ADDS T-L HOLDINGS 58,913 Shares Now Held in Trans-Lux; Trading Light Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Gradual expansion of his holdings of Trans-Lux dollar par common was shown in a recapitulation of Harry Brandt's purchases of this stock during the year from April, 1944, to April, 1945. In that time, according to the figures released by SEC this week-end, Brandt increased his holdings of the stock from 32,000 shares to 58,915 shares. The buying was fairly steady throughout the year, with the two most active months February and March of this year. In February, Brandt picked up 12,715 shares in 11 separate transactions while three in March swelled his purchases by 6,900 shares. In addition, Brandt (Continued on Page 5) RKO Sets Up British xploitation Staff Establishment of an exploitation organization in England on the lines of the RKO exploitation setup in the U. S., was revealed Friday by Robert S. Wolff, RKO managing director for the United Kingdom, at a trade press interview. Wolff, who arrived in this country Thursday for home (Continued on Page 10) ^^Z/egr/e/cP^ As Road Show World Premiere Set for Boston on Aug. 13 United Century Theaters Formed by Taylor and FPC Toronto — What should have been formal announcement for tenth managers convention of 20th Century Theaters in Toronto, which postponed because of traffic congestion, (Continued on Page 6) "Ziegfeld Follies" may be M-G-M's first road-show attraction since "Gone With the Wind" and its world premiere has been set for Aug. 13 at the Colonial Theater in Boston, it was learned Friday. Second engagement has been set for Aug. 26 at the Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh. These two engagements are ex( Continued on Page 5) Hutcheson Asks Unions To Meet on July 6 in Effort to End Dispute IVest Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Representatives of all unions concerned in the strike controversy have been invited by William Hutcheson, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, to meet in Chicago on July 6 to try to settle the dispute. Move follows requests by several heads of AFL internationals whose studio locals are involved. Dan Tobin, president of the Team(Continued on Page 6) Pledged by 6 Studios Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Assurances of compliance are being received at WPB now from six studios which have overdrawn their quotas of raw stock in past quarters, it was learned here Friday. Full details on the over(Continued on Page 5) Metro's First Regional Sales Parley on July 12 First of a series of M-G-M territorial sales conferences, to be held quarterly in various areas, will be held at the Blackstone Hotel, Chicago, for three days starting July (Continued on Page 6) SOPEG In Netc Pact With 5 Home Offices The managements of Loew's, Paramount, Twentieth Century-Fox, RKO, and Columbia, and the Screen Office and Professional Employes Guild, Local No. 1, UOPWA, announced Friday that they had reached an agreement on the basis of a new contract covering approximately 2,000 home office employes of the companies. The new contract will cover the period until July, 1946.