The Film Daily (1948)

Wednesday, July 7, 1948 15 Fox Okays Separate Grievance Boards (Continued from Page 1) sion and would accept separate boards to act for each group. Smith said tliat although he would ■welcome the opportunity o^a "trial period" in the MinnevlF^is area, where initial grievt. -es will be presented to the North Central Allied board this week, he is willing to extend the system to other localities without delay in response to a specific request for immediacy. The realm of subjects which exhibitors can bring up as a grievance is "wide open," the 20th-Fox executive declared, pointing out that only the issue of film rentals or complaints of a purely private or personal nature will be considered beyond the pale of discussion. Smith stressed the responsibility of exhibitor units to choose the best men from among its members to sit on the grievance committees, "men of good standing in their area, men sound and fair in their thinking." After screening, grievances will be presented to the area branch manager who will have complete authority to settle the issue without the necessity of obtaining home office approval. It is this rapid, on-the-spot action which Smith believes to be the key to the plan's success. "The further away the home office is from these local problems, the better chance there is for a fair and equitable solution by men close to the issue involved," he said. SHORT SUBJECT REVIEUJS Vallee Plans Song Film Series for Television West Coast Bureau of THE FILM -DAILY Hollywood — A series of "Song Films" is planned by Rudy Vallee for use by television stations as radio stations use records. Films will have a background of paintings by Mary Ann Nyberg to dissolve in continuity with the story told by the song as it's played. Vallee finished ■'College Days," a half-hour television show taken from one of his best radio shows. DEATHS : SAM KAPLAN, founder of Sam Kaplan iManufacturing and Supply Co., now Century Projector Corp., at his home in Brooklyn. ' JAMES WYNN, 62, stage manager, Colojiial Theater, Hartford, Conn. "Little Tinker" M-G-M (Technicolor) 8 Mins. Tops Concerns Mr. Skunk's unfortunate plight as a social outcast in an endeavor to be a lover, with, alas, a happy ending when he meets up with one of the weaker sex of his own breed. Adults as well as kiddies will go for this one. "The Race Rider" (Sports Parade) Warners (Technicolor) 10 Mins. Very Interesting Activities and schooling of an aspiring lad desirous of becoming a jockey, doing the odd jobs at the stable, the briefing about horses, then the mount on a two-year-old for exercise, through the "bug" riding days, to the final thrill of being a winner. "Hounding the Hares" 20th-Fox 7 Mins. Diversion The hunter, his dog and a zany crew of rabbits run a wild gamut of animated resourcefulness in this Terry cartoon which finally results in the utter demoralization of the man with the gun. It is amusing stuff for the most part. "Gypsy Holiday" (Musical Parade Featurette) FF7-3 Paramount (Technicolor) 19 Mins. Lively and Colorful Mikhail Rasumny is featured as Mike in this Gypsy festival. He can't attend the first meeting of his son's sweetheart's family due to too much wine-bibbing. Distraught wife seeks kindly advice. Friend Joe aids in a ruse and cures the tippler. Colorful costumes and backgrounds in Technicolor and lively music add much. "The Bear and the Hare" M-G-M (Technicolor) 7 Mins. Very Good A hare gets under Barney's skin when the latter goes a rabbithunting. His attempts are frustrated when the whimsical rabbit refuses to be caught. "A Day at the Fair" Warners (Technicolor) 19 Mins. Enlightening Folklore costumes and dances unfold, at the colorful Iowa State Fair, together with livestock shows, agricultural displays, harness racing, prize awardings, carnival midway and oodles of other contests. Wilson Beale to Vacate State Dep't Film Berth Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — The pix assignment in the State Department's Commercial Policy Division will pass into new hands in another month, it was learned over the holiday weekend, as Wilson T. Beale will leave his post at the end of July. Beale has been selected for special training at the Army War College and will be out of the Department for at least nine months. He does not know yet who his successor will be. Beale has been on the job only a few weeks, having replaced R. Horton Henry. Henry took over from George Canty in February, but is now in Damascus on special assignment. Although the post is growing in importance with the increasing tenseness in the international pix situation, there is still no indication that the Department is prepared to recognize its importance. National Film Council To Hold Music Conference SAMUEL C. HURLEY, JR., 42, president, ilectric Eye Equipment Co., Danville, III., (illed in a plane accident. CAROLE LANDIS, 29, in Hollywood, from in overdose of sleeping tablets. LEON LEOPOLD, 65, manager of the Wallut St. Theater, in Philadelphia. National Film Council will hold a one day conference on film music at the Juilliard School of Music Saturday. Louis Applebaum is chairman. Music in theatrical and non-theatrical films will be discussed. There will be illustrative screenings. Speakers will include Willard van Dyke, Frederick W. Sternfeld of Darthmouth, Arthur Cohn of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Keith Snyder of Boston University, Gail Kubik, Sigmund Spaeth and Howard Hanson. BFPA to Honor Hersholt With Dinner Tomorrow London (By Cable) — Jean Hersholt, president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, will be guest of honor tomorrow at a dinner tendered here by the BFPA. At the function, Hersholt will formally present "Oscars" awarded by the Academy to five British technicians. Recipients of "Oscars" are John Bryan, for black and white art direction of "Great Expectations," Alfred Junge, for color art direction of "Black Narcissus," Guy Green, black and white cinematography for "Great Expectations," and Jack Cardiff, for color cinematography for the picture "Black Narcissus." To be presented with plaques are Wilfred Shingleton, for black and white set decoration of "Great Expectations," and Alfred Junge, for color set decoration on "Black Narcissus." License and Tax Bingo, Columbus Citizen Urges Columbus, O. — Ohio cities are urged by the Columbus Citizen to license bingo games and levy a substantial tax on them, following recent ruling of the State Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of an amendment to the state's gambling laws which exempts bingo games from penalty if the games are not conducted for private profit. Citizen points out that bingo operators "aren't even requii'ed to pay the three per cent amusement tax which is levied by many Ohio cities against theaters and other amusements whose legality has never been questioned." Quota Will Harm U. K. Pix, Goldwyn Predicts West Coast Bureau of THE FILM 'DAILY Hollywood — With the imposition of Britain's 45 per cent U. K. films quota, "motion picture attendance in Great Britain will drop off so badly that producers will look back fondly on the days when attendance was off by only 10 millions, which they say it has di'opped recentJy," Samuel Goldwyn predicted in a letter to the London paper. News of the World. Conceding that the quota will deprive the U. S. industry of an important revenue source, (ioldwyn said it also will "force the British industry to make more pictures, which will mean worse pictures." As an avowed "ardent and vocal" admirer of good British films, Goldwyn said, "as British attempts to imitate Hollywood in mass production, it is also permitting its standards of picture making to drop drastically. That can spell tragedy for British pictures." He predicted British producers "will fall into a rut which it will take years to get out of — something which, I regret to say, is already beginning to happen." Physical Distribution Of 'Israel Reborn' by Fox "Israel Reborn," brought out by Palestine Films, Inc., will be distributed throughout the U. S. through the physical facilities of 20th-Fox, it was announced yesterday by Andy W. Smith, Jr., general sales manager. "Israel Reborn," a one-reeler, was produced by Norman Lourie and Joseph Krumgold. UJEDDinC BELLS Steuber-Fisher West Coast Bureau of THE FILM 'DAILY Hollywood — Jac Lucas Fisher, and Susan Margaret Steuber, former Broadway actress, will be married Saturday at the Church of the Wayfarer, in Carmel. Adelman-Finegold Chicago — Sylvia Adelman, Great States office manager, was married to Irving Finegold. Bambach-McWeene'y Charles J. ("Jack") McWeeney of Monogram Int.'l was married to Claire Bambach. Droste-Johnson St. Louis — Doris Droste, assistant cashier at RKO, will be married Sept. 1 to Bob Johnson, manager of the Strand and Uptown Theaters, Fairfield, 111. Crowley-Manente Bridgeport, Conn. — Mabel Crowley, of the Globe Theater, was married recently to Joseph Manente.