Motion Picture Daily (July–Sept 1938)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Friday, July 29, 1938 4 Studios Plan Their Part in ' AcT Campaign Hollywood, July 28. — Plans for Hollywood's end of industry's national advertising and exploitation drive this fall were crystallized today at a meeting of studio publicity men and theatre representatives when a permanent committee was selected, contact officers named and delegation of primary activities set. The permanent committee of studio and theatre representatives unanimously elected Frank Whitbeck to take charge of and produce the short subject which will be one of the principal features of the general campaign. The short will have as its cast the best known player names. Mr. Whitbeck also will supervise the creation and production of trailers and other film subjects to be required. Fred Beetson was chosen unanimously to contact and arrange cooperation by the Screen Actors Guild, Screen Writers Guild, screen playwrights and Screen Directors Guild. John LeRoy Johnston, Wanger publicity director, will be in charge of fan magazine publicity. Rubine Heads Radio Radio publicity and exploitation will be directed by Irving Rubine of Warners. Cliff Lewis, Paramount studio ad head, will supervise all general exploitation. The committee also recommended the installation of a coordinating bureau, headed by George Thomas in a capacity similar to that of Paul Gulick in New York. It was also suggested that Joe Shea be engaged to work under Mr. Thomas and be responsible for all pictorial publicity and that Robert Burkhardt also work under Mr. Thomas to prepare and handle news releases. A central office for the Hollywood end of the drive will be chosen where, under Mr. Thomas, the handling, gathering and distribution of feature stories, special stories and editorials written by well known film writers will be done. The committee, headed by Gabe Yorke, generally approved the plan of personal appearances of players throughout the country but did not detail arrangements. The members of the committee are : Herbert Moulton, Paramount ; Howard Benedict, RKO ; Frank Seltzer, Roach ; Troy Orr, 20th CenturyFox ; Dave Lipton, Uni Snow White Pinched Montreal, July 28.— "Snow White" made a personal appearance in Montreal today, but not in a local theatre. She appeared in Recorders' Court on a charge of loitering. Recorder Leonce Plante ~milcd as she appeared before him in his chambers. He asked her full name. '"Snow White Black," was the reply. Ftecorder Plante was so amused he suspended sentence. Name Field Force To Push Ad Drive A field organization to familiarize exhibitors in every section of the country with the industry plan for a national advertising campaign and business improvement contest, starting Sept. 1, was designated yesterday by George J. Schaefer, campaign director. The men named by Mr. Schaefer will be regional chairmen of exhibitors' committees which will conduct all of the field work in connection with the campaign, including the organization of regional drives to raise the remaining $175,000 required to complete the financing of the $1,000,000 campaign. The regional drives will solicit contributions from independent exhibitors on the basis of 10 cents per seat. Name Committee Heads Those named by Mr. Schaefer to head the regional working committees are M. B. Horowitz, Cleveland ; Edwin Silverman, Chicago ; R. E. Griffith, Dallas; J. M. Seider, New York ; John Danz, Seattle ; M. A. Lightman, Memphis, and H. M. Richey, Detroit. As chairmen of regional committees they will designate their 'own committeemen and organize their territories for the campaign. Dates for the start and end of the drive, as well as the release dates of pictures to be included in the $250,000 audience prize contest, were not changed as a result of the exhibitor committee's lengthy session Wednesday night. The contest and campaign will begin as originally scheduled, Sept. 1 and end Dec. 31. Releases which will figure in the contest will be those from Aug. 1 to Oct. 31, also as planned originally. Directors of the drive estimate an increase in box-office grosses nationally of 10 to 20 per cent for the period of the contest. The advertising campaign will include a total of 4,500 lines in every one of the 1,979 daily newspapers in the country. versal ; Robert Taplinger, Warners ; Gregory Dickson, Disney ; Al Vaughan, Goldwyn ; Paul Snell, Principal ; Russell Birdwell, Selznick ; John LeRoy Johnston, Wanger ; Ted Richmond, Grand National ; Joe Reddy, Lloyd; Bill Pierce, Jr., Monogram; Walter Compton, Republic; Charles Leonard, U.A. ; Ben Wallerstein, Warner Theatres ; Jack Gross, RKO Theatres ; Thornton Sargent, Fox West Coast; Fred Marshall, Columbia ; Howard Strickling and Frank Whitbeck, M-G-M, and Murphy McHenry, Edward Small. UMPTO to Aid Campaign Philadelphia, July 28. — The board of directors of U. M. P. T. O. heard a report today from President Lewen Pizor on yesterday's New York ad campaign discussions. Cooperation was pledged. Roach Switches Films Hollywood, July 18. — "Captain Midnight" will replace "Robbery Under Arms" on Hal Roach's program for United Artists. Margaret Sullavan and Brian Aherne will play the leads and John G. Blystone will direct. . No Romance Mary Boland, who appears in Paramount films with Charles Ruggles, was highly amused, before sailing on the lie de France yesterday, about reports from the coast that she and Mr. Ruggles were altar-bound. "See," she wired Mr. Ruggles, "your hot pursuit has made me flee the country." To reporters she added: "And to think that Charlie is a happily married man!" Dickinson-Skouras Discuss Overbuying A complaint on overbuying in the Kansas and western Missouri area has been registered with Spyros Skouras, head of National Theatres, by Glen W. Dickinson, president of the Dickinson circuit of 40 theatres with headquarters in Kansas City. Mr. Dickinson, who came to New York for the meeting on the industry's promotion drive Wednesday at the Astor, spent an hour with Mr. Skouras and other executives of National Theatres. After the conference he said that he discussed practices of Fox Midwest, which, he claims, are objected to by independents. The chief complaint concerns overbuying, Mr. Dickinson said, and he charges that Fox Midwest has contracted for more than 100 features a year in excess of its requirements. Mr. Dickinson and Fox Midwest are competitors in a number of towns. Mr. Dickinson said that in Manhattan, Kan., Commonwealth circuit took over the Wareham on the expiration of the Dickinson circuit's lease. Both Mr. Dickinson and Commonwealth are in the midst of a theatre acquisition race and are strong competitors. Commonwealth has increased its holdings to 38 theatres, from a mere handful a few years ago. Buell Seeking Midgets Hollywood, July 28. — Jed Buell will leave shortly for Europe to seek additional midgets for the series of six pictures he and Sol Lesser will co-produce. Their first effort together, "Terror of Tiny Town," is being dubbed in Spanish, Italian, French and German. A distribution deal is expected to be set this week. The second of the series will be against a background of a lumber camp. The third will be a sea picture. Here on Cuban Film Deal Louis R. Molina, head of the Royal News producing organization in Havana, is here aranging distribution through a major company of "Tarn Tarn," a two-reel musical depicting the "birth of the rhumba." The film was made in Havana as the first of a contemplated series of 13 two-reel musicals. A screening for the Cuban consul and his staff will be given today at 1600 Broadway. Gets "U" Accessory Post Pittsburgh, July 28. — Carl Miller has been named head of the accessory department at the Universal exchange here. He succeeds Norman Barnett, a brother of the late Al Barnett, who was the Universal manager here at the time of his death two years ago. i Purely Personal ► JOSEPH I. BREEN, Production Code administrator, is scheduled to arrive in Hollywood this morning from Philadelphia, where he visited relatives following his recent European vacation. Walter J. Hutchinson, j£/Hxign managing director for 20th CsL,.uryFox, will leave today for a South American survey, to be followed by a trip to South Africa. • Gertrude Merriam, associate editor of Managers' Round Table of Motion Picture Herald, leaves today, via United Airlines, to vacation in Hollywood. • Monte Proser, Wanger publicity representative, will leave today for the coast, having completed the "Blockade" and "Algiers" campaigns here. • Leopold Friedman, general counsel for Loew's, is due back today from the coast where depositions were taken in the Loew stockholder suits. • Lynn Farnol, advertising and publicity director for United Artists, is at the studios for conferences with U. A. producers. • Oscar W. Ehrhorn, referee in bankruptcy who handled the Orpheum case, will leave on a Caribbean cruise today. • Lou Pollock, eastern director of advertising and publicity for Universal, will leave for Chicago today • Arthur A. Lee, G. B. vice-president, will leave Monday on a tour of middle west and far west exchanges. • George L. Carrington, vice-president of Altec Service Corp., is leaving today on a week's vacation. • Y. Frank Freeman, Paramount theatre head, will leave today for Atlanta on a brief vacation. • Ned E. Depinet arrived in New York yesterday following a brief RKO studio visit. • Mr. and Mrs. James A. Fitz Patrick are due from the coast tomorrow on the Century. • Cliff Work, Universal studio head, is en route back to the coast. • M. Liebson will return to Hollywood today via TWA. Salute by Decree Rome, July 28.— The Italian Ministry of Popular Culture today ruled that the Fascist salute must replace the handshake in all future Italian films and stage plays. Vittorio Mussolini, son of II Duce, who visited the United States some time ago, is actively concerned in the Government's control of the film industry.