The Film Daily (1946)

M. P. Production Dist. 28 W, 44th St. 21st floor New York jtimate in Character jternational in Scope Idependent in Thought ■^' The > Daily N ewspaper Of Mo tion Pictures Twenty ■Eight Years Old <n^90, NO. 42 NEW YORE, WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 28, 1946 TEN CENTS iOV'T TICKET TAX REVENUE AT 2ND HIGHEST itudy Attorneys' Proposed Final Decree Draft Urther Changes Indicated fore It is Submitted r Department of Justice ^executives of the distributor-dedants in the New York equity i« are studying the lawyers' draft a proposed final decree, but indiions are that further changes will anade before the text is submitted the Department of Justice, t is understood that the attorneys >'e countered the proposals of the fpartment of Justice in the latter's (Continued on Page 10) {4 Polio Cases in L Louis; B. 0. Drop '3t. Louis — Five new polio cases 're reported in the Greater St. 'uis area on Aug. 25, bringing the al to 264, including 17 fatalities. 4.ttendance at all children matinees the St, Louis metropolitan area 5 fallen off sharply since the num• of polio cases began to jump up. jte sharpest declines have taken I (Continued on Page 8) J j Boston Film Salesmen gn AFL Member Cards I3oston — About 30 film salesmen nified their intention of joining . projected union of salesmen by ■ning certification cards asking the , (Continued on Page 10) jFilm Stochs Off I In Falling Marhet ' All film stocks on the big board ^yesterday, with the exception of jAVarner Bros, new stock which was unchanged, were off from Vs to TVi points — the latter drop being that of Eastman Kodak. Most of the downward jtimps were fractional, with American Seating off 1, Columbia 1% Paramount VA, 20th-Fox 2%, ' RKO on the curb was off 1, Monogram Va, Trans-Lux %. While film stocks suffered generally with the market, their drops were on a smaller scale than most industrials. Metro Will Inaugurate Its Tradeshowing Of Shorts Tomorrow in New Yorh, Los Angeles M-G-M tomorrow will inaugurate its policy of tradeshowing short subjects. First to be screened for the trade will be Pete Smith's "Football Thrills of 1945" and will be shown only in New York and Los Angeles. Short subject trade screenings in other exchange centers will be started shortly. Egberts Heads Loew Overseas Tliealers Arthur (Whitey) Egberts, veteran Loew's house manager and exploiteer, has been named chief of theater operations for Loew's International Corp., working under William Melniker, theater department head. The a pp 0 in tm ent, effective at once, was announced yesterday by Morton A. Spring, first vice-president, Egberts takes the post vacated by Ben Cohn, now with Universal. At the time of his promotion and transfer to the international field, Melniker's new aide was manager of Loew's Ohio Theater in Columbus. Previously, he had served for four years as publicity director for Loew's in Jersey City, (Continued on Page 8) ARTHUR fCBERTS Britain's Pic Exports At 41,992,118 Feet London (By Cable) — Britain's increase in the exporting of pictures was revealed yesterday vdth the release of official export figures for the first six months of 1946. A total of 41,992,118 feet was exported during the 26-week period. This compared with 12,611,784 feet exported in the first six months of 1938, the last pre-war year. Documentary Film Group Now En Route to Europe The first American documentary film expedition to visit post-war Europe has just sailed from New York City to make a series of motion pictures on the peoples and life of present-day Czechslovakia, Italy, France, and, if at all possible, Jugoslavia. Sent by the International Film Foundation of 1600 Broadway, New York City, the expedition is headed by Victor Vicas of New York City, formerly of OWT, the French (Continued on Page 7) New Construction Crackdown CPA's 20% Cut Order Hits Theatre Building Industry Leaders Form Jolson Testimonial Com. Leaders of all branches of the amusement world have formed an honorary industry sponsoring committee to pay tribute to Al Jolson on Oct. 1, when the singing star will be honored vdth a testimonial dinner (Continued on Page 8) Washington Bureau, of THE FILM DAILY Washington — A new 20 per cent crackdown on commercial building announced yesterday by the CPA is expected to dry up even the tiny trickle of approvals for theater projects which has been running during the past few weeks. Taking over the administration of PR-33, the materials priorities order, from CPA (G)ntinued on Page 9) Collections on June Business $40,248,042; Exceeded Only by Oct. '45 Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Pushing Uncle Sam's admission tax register to its second highest mark in history, the Bureau of Internal Revenue yesterday reported a July collection — on June business— of $40,248,042.68. Only in October of last year, when the total was $42,389,372, was last month's figure exceeded. July, 1945, collection was $33,332,579. Fiscal year admissions tax collec(Continued on Page 7) Asl( Rentai Easing In Polio-Hit Areas Minneapolis — A move to request distributors to adjust film rentals in all territorial situations which have been hit by the polio epidemic has been started by Twin Cities members of North-Central Allied. At a meet(Continued on Page 7) WB Declares Dividend; Pre-Pays on 2% Notes At a meeting of the board of directors of Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., held yesterday, a quarterly divident of 37% cents per share was declared on the common stock, pay(Continued on Page 10) "London Town'' Fine British Musical London (By Cable) — Wesley Ruggles' "London Town" shapes up as the finest British musical ever produced and is a definite challenge to Hollywood. Picture is produced in grand Technicol:r, has tuneful hits, many lovelies and abounds with good comedy. It introduces Sid Fields, a new comic, who is likely to rival Danny Kaye whom he closely resembles. He is a riot. Production's chances for a big American gross are excellent. —ERNEST FREDMAN