The Film Daily (1948)

IHIl DAILY Wednesday, September 1, 194J1 Seven Month Survey Shows Production Up (Continued from Page 1) trim their budgets to box office size." Taylor reports August theater attendance as 13 per cent below last August, according to a circuit operator estimate, an improvement over the 20 per cent decline noted for June, the depth of the Summer downturn. > JournaEieports this observation on theater ra^Bndance, credited to Rodney Pant3g£s: "Business has receded to normal. Now you have to go out and fight for it." Pantages also claimed that producers are "giving us pictures that are popular entertainment rather than something only a few people will appreciate." According to the Journal report. Coast bankers indicate that independent producers spending over $1,000,000 a year ago on a feature are now submitting budgets of $500,000 to $600,000, with lower budgets in vogue with the majors as well. As examples. Journal claims that M-G-M plans to make "A" product for an average of $1,600,00J, while Paramount is said to have a $1,500,000 ceiling on features, and Eagle Lion has trimmed average feature costs from $1,100,000 to $500,000 in the past 12 months. Two companies are reported experimenting with shorter films to be used as second attractions as a substitute for dual bills. U-I is planning a pair of three-reel musicals, while RKO has made one five-reeler and is planning some four-reelers. Warrenton. Mo., Exhibitor Gets Radio Station Okay Warrenton, Mo. — William Zimmerman, owner of the 350-seat Vita Theater here, has received a permit from the FCC for the operation of a 50-watt power AM radio station to be located here. The new station is to operate daytime at the 730 frequency spot. Moore to Produce. Distribute Toledo — James A. Moore Prods., Inc., has been formed to produce and distribute films, using studios at Reno Beach, near Curtice, 0. Moore is president of the firm, with Thomas Dimitrew, vice-president and treasurer, and Cecelia F. Moore, secretary. Kane Before Congress Group Minneapolis — Stanley Kane, executive secretary of NCA, will appear before the small business investigating committee when it holds hearings here Sept. 20-21. SICK LIST JOHN DEVINE, Alexander Smith Carpet ad executive, has returned to his desk after a siege with pneumonia. \J\rW/ ">^ PHIL M. DALY Mld-tveeU Memos • • • LOOK FOR DETAILS oi a new plan to finance small independent theaters in about two months Project, backed by Wall St. interests to the tune oi about $2,UUu,000, contemplates a number oi 500seaters. ... 9 Midwest Diive-Ins are encountering sales resistance to those 25 cent hot dogs. ... • Initial iilms selected ior the SemiCeniennial Museum oi Cinema Arts, established at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, was John Ford-Merian C. Cooper's Argosy production, "Ihe Fugitive" . . . — • M-G-M will give its Technicolord 'Hiiis Oi Home" special handling, with merchandising and promotion similar to that accorded "The Green Years," company's top grosser for 1946 Pic will be tested in va.ious spots throughout the country before a decision regarding classification and selling method is made. T T T • • • TOP HONORS in the first Screen Directors Guild quarterly competition went to Fred Zinneman for his direction of M-G-M's "The Sea.ch" Zinneman thus becomes one of four directors who later will compete for the first annual SDG Award in a ballot restricted to the group's membe.ship. ... • Ten per cent of profits from "The Prairie" will be turned over to a group of recognized youth organizations, Edvraid Finney, producer, announced from Hollywood "The PrairieYoung America" fund will be held in trust and distributed by the Bank of America. ▼ T T • • • UNIQUE PLAN oi Producer Tames Nasser to enliven the average theater program, get new laces before the public, and receive help in determining the comparative appeal of his screen iledglings, calls for theater showings of tests of six newcomers considered for secondary roles in "You Made Me Love You" Audiences will be asked opinions via leaction cards to be provided in house lobbies Nasser paid $100,000 for the original story by Lou B.eslow and loe Hoffman, and plans to co-star Fred MacMurray and Madeleine Carroll. . . . • North Central Allied's Executive Secretary Stanley Kane will be in an efiective spot to fight any proposed municipal tax ordinances leveled at the industry in his new post as planning and zoning committee member for the Minnesota League of Municipalities. T T T • • • THE PRIMARY FUNCTION: "In modern civilized societies the provision of entertainment has become a large-scale business. In that buiness the motion picture industry plays a principal role, since, although its severest critics frequently disregard the fact, its primary function is to provide entertainment. This is a role full of incalculable risks and precarious trial and error, because it is an extremely difficult task to anticipate successfully the varied and uncertain likes and dislikes of the movie-going public at home and abroad An even more hazardous task, perhaps, is the accurate anticipation of the tastes of literary and moral critics. The motion picture industry has the distinction of being the most severely criticized of all industries. Both within and outside the industry, critics of its product enjoy a continual holiday at its expense." Gordon S. Watkins, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. ▼ T T • • • JACK LEVEL, editor of RKO's house organ. Flash, has an interesting article in the current issue of Golfing Magazine, entitled, "The White House as a Home for Golfers" Beginning with President McKinley, Jack reveals the golfing prowess of Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coo!idge and F.D.R. ... • Thought in Passing Dep't: Why not a musical biog. based on the life and tunes oi Sigmund Romberg? Laslcer ^^i Upsurge For Foreign Films (Continued from Page 1) the Lasker-Schwartz booking an. buying office, upon returning from : recent swing through the Middl West. World Theater in Colum> , th Terminal in Cincinnati and ti^ coo in Louisville — all broke recoras dur ing the Summer by playing foreig: films, Lasker told The Film Daili Of course, there were other situa tions, Lasker admitted, where for eign films flopped. He insisted, how ever, that there were extenuatin; circumstances. At any rate, with an upsurge i production in Germany, Spain, Swe den and other countries, the exhibi tor will have a wide choice of addi tional product, besides the alread; established exports from Italy an. France. li N. J. Legislature Kills Proposed Bingo Measure (Continued from Page 1) ity last week, the bill was revive, briefly by House Democratic Leade Vogel of Middlesex, who asked tha his bill calling for a referendum oi the issue be advanced to final read .ng. The motion was lost, 32 to 13. GAFC Six Months Profit Increases to $3,651,000 (Continued from Page 1) more cameras and film than ever be fore in its history. He predicted tha profits in the second half of 194: should exceed earning of the las .lalf of 1947. Don Cole Leaves Franconi Dallas — ^Severing his connectio with the John L. Franconi entei prises, Don Cole has resigned a special rep. in Texas for Scree Guild, and Oklahoma manager fo Favorite Films of Oklahoma. At th same time he has disposed of hi stock interests in some affiliate companies in the Franconi set-up. Aird Leaves CoL in Australia Sydney (By Air Mail) — John Aire Columbia director and secretary, ha resigned because of ill health. Air. was with the company since 1929. Ee UJEDDinG BELLS Rosenthal-Lieboff Janet Rosenthal, manager of AA Monogram's print department, wa' ttr married recently to Harry LieboflF. Hartkop-GUlespie Davenport, la. — James L. Gillespid^i assistant manager of the Orpheui Theater, will be married Sept 11 t Shirley Hartkop.