Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

56 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 6 AUDIO-VISUAL WHO'S WHO No. 47: Orton H. Hicks Orton Havergal Hicks, whose career can well be said to parallel the history of the development of 16mm, was born in Minneapolis, Minn., November 6, 1900, of Canadian parents. He received his prep school training at the Shattuck Military Academy, Faribanlt, IMinn. He was graduated from Dartmouth in 1921, with an A.B., and received his M.C.S. from The Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance at Dartmouth the following year. He entered the film field immediately on leaving school. By a curious coincidence, the day he reported to Eastman Kodak was the very day the original Model “A” Cine-Kodak and Kodascope were first unveiled. After four months’ training in Rochester, he was transferred to Eastman’s Boston store. Later, when the New York store was opened, the former Boston manager induced young Hicks to go with him. Hicks sold Eastman goods also on the road for two years, and then spent two years with Eastman Kodak as purchasing agent for the New York store. In April, 1926, L. W. Gillette, whom Hicks had first met as the Advertising Manager for Eastman Kodak in Rochester, started a photographic retail organization. Hicks joined the new enterprise as vice-president in charge of store operations. The store specialized in 16mm outfits. Hicks began to do some serious thinking about 16mm di.stribution which, he felt, had hitherto been overlooked. In 1927, he borrowed capital to start an organization which became a land Lt. Col. Orton H. Hicks, film distribution executive, now in charge of 16mm operations of Loew's International Corporation in thirty foreign territories, with headquarters in New York City. mark in the history of 16mm distribution, namely. Home Film Libraries. The purpose of Home Film Libraries was to broaden the base of 16mm film use from that of the home to the wider non-theatrical field. At first, the business was run on spare time, with Gillette’s consent. Rut as the volume of operations increased, Hicks was forced to leave the camera-store field. Devoting his full time and energies to the exploitation of the then new non-theatrical market, he streamlined his organization, (piite characteristically, first, by removing the market limitation implied by the word “Home,” and second, by eliminating the stuffiness implicit in the word “Library.” The company was renamed “Films Incorporated.” As president, Hicks negotiated the first release of major motion picture entertainment features and shorts in 16mm to ships, camp s, railroads, schools, churches, theaterless towns, prisons, hospitals, and other outlets. In 1938 he resigned from Films Incorporated, joined Walter 0. Gutlohn, Inc., as Chairman of the Board, and developed this company by obtaining major product from RKO. The company also distributed 16mm prints for Universal, Monogram, and various independent producers. Also in 1938, he founded the Seven Seas Film Corporation, the first firm to specialize in distributing 16mm entertainment films to steamship companies. In 1941 he went to the War Production Board in Washington, as a dollar-a-year man. His job was Chief of the Field Program Branch, Contract Distributing Division. In 1942, he was commissioned a Major in the Signal Corps, and made director of the Distribution Division, Army Pictorial Service. In this post he is credited with having created the largest system of film circuits ever known. He promoted activities by Theatre Commanders to obtain air priorities for film, thereby cutting down the time required to get entertainment, orientation, and training films to distant points overseas. Perhaps his most spectacular single accomplishment during the war was the distribution of Two Down and One to Go, which was seen by 85 percent of the troops in this country within five days after the release date, and within 21 days overseas, in spite of difficulties caused by