Harrison's Reports (1946)

IN TWO SECTIONS— SECTION ONE Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Kates: 1270 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS Published Weekly by United States $15.00 (Formerly Sixth Avenue) Harrison's Reports, Inc., U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 M Y , ,ft x, Y Publisher Canada 16.50 WOW Iork zu» w" x« P. S. HARRISON, Editor Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Great Britain 15.75 Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Established July 1, 1919 Australia, New Zealand, India, Europe, Asia .... 17.50 Itg Editorial Poiicy: No problem Too Big for Its Editorial Circle 7-4622 35c a Copy Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XXVIII SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1946 No. 20 THE BIG-SCALE ACTIVITIES OF HARRY "POP" SHERMAN For several years, Harry Sherman, affectionately known in Hollywood as "Pop,11 wanted to give up westerns and devote himself to big-scale productions. And he stayed out of production for a long time, determined to satisfy his ambition. He was not content with the classification he had been put in as a "producer of the best westerns11 (Hopalong Cassidy series) and wanted to become known as the finest producer of multimillion-dollar productions. And it seems as if he is destined to become so known. His tie-up with David Loew's and Charlie Einfeld's Enterprise Productions has been a fortunate one. His two associates, being young men, have taken the burden of running his studio off his hands, so that Harry can now devote his entire time and all his energies towards his big productions. The first of these productions is "Ramrod," the Luke Short novel that was serialised in the Saturday Evening Post. Recently I received from a friend in Hollywood the following communication regarding Harry Sherman's plans on this production : " 'Ramrod1 is practically on the way. The script is fine. The script writer put absolutely the book in the script. So far, the cast includes Veronica Lake, Joel McCrea, Arleen Whelan, Don DeFore, Preston Foster and Donald Crisp. They haven't yet signed a supporting cast, but at least his leads are set. I imagine the starting date will be between the 15th and 20th of May. They haven't yet made the final decision on locations. Gene [Strong — former matinee idol and now a unit producer} flew to Colorado looking for locations. But in all probability it will be Utah — but that is only a guess. "Harry is in the best of health, and feels happy that the principals have at least been signed. He went up to Preston Foster's ranch for the weekend. "Preston wants me to remember him to you. "Harry deserves every bit of the success he made in Hollywood since he left the exhibitor ranks and went into production. He is one of the most kindhearted persons one can ever meet. Everybody in Hollywood thinks the world of him. All of his friends are looking forward to seeing him make top pictures. I know he will, for he has intelligence, brains, and has a heart as big as a mountain. . . . "When are you coming West again?" Harrison's Reports wishes "Pop" Sherman continued success, for no one is more deserving of it. Through the years he has produced pictures that were, not only of good quality, but also decent and clean, let alone commercially saleable. MORE ABOUT THEATRE COLLECTIONS According to a report in the May 1 5 issue of weekly Variety, the matter of holding down charity collections in theatres to one a year is proving to be so "knotty" a problem that there is "a growing movement on foot to drop all plate-passing in the coming year." The report states that the Charities Committee of the American Theatres Association is "beset by a flock of applications by charity organizations which did not heretofore slice the theatre melon," and that the problem of allocating the funds from one collection to the satisfaction of all is almost insoluble. An added problem stems from the fact that many organizations, which have not shared in national drives, are pressing for an allotment that would be within the range of what they had received from local collections. "Local charities in many places," says Variety, "took a substantial part of community chest drive funds while actively supporting campaigns in their towns. Exhibitor committee members point out that a nationally directed campaign would require an army of clerks and administrators to fix and handle apportionment of funds and that when the dust settled the probabilities are that no one would be satisfied." There is no question that one collection a year will prove as great a headache to exhibitors as will a number of collections. If an exhibitor agrees to participate in a national collection drive, he must, in order to retain the good will of local charity organizations, be given assurance that each of them will receive a share of the receipts. To accomplish this, the national drive committee will, of necessity, be compelled to employ a vast force to allocate the funds properly. But what will be the result? The exhibitor will probably find that the share given to each of the participating organizations will be far from satisfactory because, not only will there be too many fingers in the pie, but also the cost of administering the funds will be great. The best solution is, of course, to conduct no collection at all and save a headache. But if an exhibitor feels that he must take part in at least one collection drive, he should be smart enough to confine it to local charities. Thus his efforts will gain him good will, instead of drawing brickbats.