The Film Daily (1945)

TN|I •^ DAILY Wednesday, September 19, 1945 ^deon Profits Down, But Record Dividend London (By Cable) — A record dividend of 25 per cent was rceommended by the board of Odeon Theaters for the past year's operation compared with 20 per cent last year. Profits decreased by £1,630,789 to £896,381 but the decrease was offset [ by savings in taxation amounting to ' £189,200. I An allocation of £162,154 was put i aside for general reserve against £75,000 the previous year. ^ Odeon is controlled by J. Arthur Rank and United Artists is interested financially. London Hears Lawrence Planning to Join Korda (Continued from Page I) keting of the latter's pictures in Europe. Wardour St. rumors had it that Lawrence was tying up with Korda on other interests and that Lawrence was not returning to Loew's, Inc., as was generally expected. Sir Alexander Korda in New York yesterday declined to comment on the London report of Laudy Lawrence's affiliation with him. Lawrence made a hurried trip here to attend the funeral of his mother and is reported to be due in New York from the Coast today. $4,736 Awarded Distribs. f In Bicycling Arbitration Calgary, Alta. — Awards aggregating $4,736.40 have been made to eight distributors by the Calgary Arbitration Board in bicycling case against George Riddler, operator of several Saskatchewan theaters. Riddler contracted pictures for Sceptre and played them in Leader and Cambri. Films contracted for Cambri. Abbey and Leader were also played in Sceptre and Portreeve without license or payment. Eight companies affected, EmpireUniversal, United Artists, Paramount, Columbia, M-G-M, 20th-Fox, RKO and Warners, are said to be not satisfied with the amount awarded as the board would not allow claims earlier than November, 1944 because disputes must be submitted within nine months after the date of the breach of contract. Riddler's activities are said to have covered 18 months. SEnO BIRTHDflV GREETinCSTO: Sept. 19 Ernest Truex Lee Blumberg Betty Garde Marilyn Johnson H. Alban-Mestanza PHIL M. DALY On and Off the Record • • • URGENT PLEA: Anyone who can suggest a means of getting food to Johs Albeck, manager for Japan Paramount Films, Ltd., also in charge of RKO Radio Pictures of Japan, Ltd., and Paul Verdayne, pre-war Paramount branch manager in Singapore, PLEASE get in touch with George Wellner, president of Paramount International Films, im mediate'y Alsbeck was not a prisoner of war, but lived in Tokio's outer provinces and suffered malnutrition T T T • • • TOKYO JOE: Excerpt from T/Sgl. Bill Berns letter datelined Yokohama, offers the following "Had a talk with Joe T. Hirakawa, chief announcer of Radio Tokyo, who revealed that during the war he saw a private screening at censorship bureau of "The Great Dictator" General public did not see American-made films at all during the war I asked him how he enjoyed Chaplin film and he praised it highly He said that all who witnessed the screening forgot themselves during the picture and laughed but after the film no comments were exchanged He added that's the wonderful part of the movies, you can lose yourself so easily" T ▼ T • • • PERFECT HOST: Harry Thomas, PRC's distribution chief, proved himself the perfect host yesterday at the Dinty Moore's luncheon given by the company for theatermen and industry press representatives before the screening of "The Enchanted Forest," Cinecolor production, the firm's first departure from black-and-white Arnold Stoltz, publicity director, assisted Thomas in greeting the luncheon guests T T T • • • IT'S UNDER WRAPS: Margaret and Hap Hadley have returned from a two-week slay ir. Boston and vicinity It seems that they have something new and original up their sleeve in the way of combined efforts in portraits and caricatures They have been fulfilling some previously made contracts in the New England city T T ▼ • • • DIDJA KNOW? Frank L. McNamee, who will return shortly to active operation of his and Jay Emanuel's theater circuit in Eastern Pennsylvania, after two years as a WMC regional director in the Philadelphia area, turned down an offer from Paul V. McNutt to become Deputy United States Commissioner of the Philippines T ▼ ▼ • • • TAKES TO AIR: Gregory Abbott, Paramount newsreel narrator, will be heard in a new oir program listed as "Washington Predicts," over Station WNEW starting Sept. 23, 7:35 to 7:45 pjn T ▼ T • • • VIEWPOINT: "The fact that a writer did an Army job, per se, is no reason why he should be hired for a few weeks at his last salary, and allowed to clutter up an office or perhaps become the unwilling co'.laborator of some other writer on a story for which he is not suited, just because the industry felt it owned him something This is not the basis on which returning service men wish to compete The important thing to realize is that these last four years are not years that the locusts have eaten They have been years of growth, mentally and spiritually The job that has been done by these men reflects their calibre There is scarcely one of them who is not a better writer with a broader horizon for having been through the experience" Lt. Col. Robert R. Presnell in its September Screen Writer T ▼ T • • • NOW LET'S WIN THE PEACE! ! ! Ready Equip. Mariiet In Mexico, Venezuela (Continued from Page 1) of Commerce pix chief. The large majority of present installations in Mexico's 1,400 theaters is of U. S. manufacture, while German equipment predominates now in Venezuela. There is no domestic manufacture in either country. In both countries the equipment is almost all at least four years old, with the age ranging up to 20 years or even 25. With the wartime shortage of spare parts, it is generally believed that both Mexican and Venezulean exhibs. will be good prospects for both new and reconditioned equipment. The expansion of domestic production is increasing the size of the constant audience — in Mexico is an important factor, pointing toward a demand for better exhibition equipment, and the Mexican and Argentine resurgence of pro duction will have the same result in Venezuela. Production in Venezuela failed during the war, with the six productions finished shown only in the nation's 275 theaters. In Mexico, according to Golden, prospects for sale of production equipment are good. In both countries, he declares, there is a promising market for accessories of all types. f Correction The Screen Office and Professional Employes Guild and the New York Screen Publicists Guild, both affiliated with the CIO, were erroneously reported in yesterday's Film Daily as assisting in the theater picketing campaign about to be launched here by New York labor forces aligned behind the studio strikers. It was pointed out that any participation in picketing activities would be in violation of contracts with the distributors. Naval ATS Post to House Com. H. A. House, USN, husband of the one-time M-G-M star, Anita Page, has been named chief staff officer of the Naval Air Transiport Service in the Pacific area. He has been executive officer of the USS Fanshaw Bay. fEmmE TOUCH LILAH MONSON, biller at Republic, Minneapolis. VERNICE HANSON, contract clerk at Paramount, Minneapolis. MRS. MINNIE SILVER, biller at RKO, Minneapolis. ISABELLA JOHNSON, assistant cashier at RKO, Minneapolis. RITH iRASCHE, stenographer at Republic, Minneapolis. KAY BURROUGHS, manager. Crystal, Detroit. EVELYN SPANCLER is now managing of the Rialto, Bushnell, III. MRS. ROSE KAMINSKI, stenographer, 20th-Fox, Omaha.