Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1939)

Wednesday, April 12, 1939 MOTION PICTURE DAILY \ir Industry Sets Open House Week' fo Better Relations Networks will devote considerable ime to "Open House Week," spon.ored from April 17 to 23 by the ■y^tonal Association of Broadcasters tna the Radio Maufacturers' Asso■iation to explain the American sysera of broadcasting and to develop *eod will and understanding among ir oadcasters, set manufacturers and isteners. Xeville Miller, president of the N'.A.B. and Bond Geddes, executive .ice-president of R.M.A., will preview the celebration when they ap>ear over NBC at 2 P.M. April 16 o discuss the purposes of the week, rhereafter throughout the week, SBC, CBS and Mutual will offer ;pecial programs . Among the speakers will be S. K. Ratcliffe, British ecturer, who will discuss the part ■adio has played in international iftairs ; Judge J. M. Braude, who will touch on the value of radio in Dreventing juvenile delinquency, and lie Women's National Radio Comnittee annual award luncheon and broadcast. Ohio Town Clamping Down on Bank Night Mansfield, O., April 11. — Despite i statement by city officials that there would be no immediate interference \ith Bank Night, which Warners' Madison plans to inaugurate, "until Ive see how the game is conducted," Mayor Claude M. Hunter has de-lared that arrests will follow payment of awards. Police Chief Meade •v. Bates has been instructed to watch iterations. "If we have to make a test case >f this, it will be up to the courts to kcide whether Bank Night constiutes gambling," the Mayor said. He ermed the plan as promoting a "gambling kindergarten," asserting that it (roald serve to instruct minor patrons n gambling methods. Pass Radio Slander Bill Albany, April 11. — Assembly today ■>assed the Moffat bill which extends to adio stations, announcers and sponsors he same freedom from libel and slanler suits now granted newspapers. Newspapers are protected from such I uits under the "fair comment" rule vhen reporting official proceedings. NBC Appeals Judgment I NBC has filed an appeal in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from a :1 5.000 judgment awarded by a lower fourt for allegedly disparaging relarks about the Summit Hotel. Unionown, Pa., during an Al Jolson broadcast. Women Run Four Mexican Stations Mexico City, April 11. — Four important local radio stations are owned and operated by women, one of them a widow. This is a new vocation for Mexican women. The stations are XEN, 1,000 watts; ZEBZ, 100 watts; XEBS, 200 watts, and XELZ, 100 watts. Robinson Lux Star ■ Edward G. Robinson will take the . eading role in "Bullets and Ballots" .vhich is the Lux "Radio Theatre" : eature next Monday. Supporting iim will be Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Otto Kruger. CBS Taking Over 2 NBC Programs CBS sales department, which recently took the Amos 'n' Andy commercial away from NBC, yesterday won over two more accounts from NBC in the Sealtest and Bowey, Inc. programs. It is understood also that the American Tobacco Co. current program on NBC for Pall Mall cigarettes is on its way over to CBS. Sealtest's series, a dramatic strip titled "Your Family and Mine," moves over May 1, Monday through Friday, 2:30 to 2:45 P. M., over 35 stations. Sealtest has been an NBC client for the past three years. McKee & Albright is the agency. Bowey. currently sposoring the strip "Terry and the Pirates" on NBC, will scrap the program and starting June 4 will present a new series titled "Swingnewsical" over a 35-station CBS hookup. Broadcast schedule is Sundays from 11 to 11:30 A.M. until October, when the show will be heard at 2:30 P.M. Sundays. Bowey has been a long-standing NBC Commercial. Census Bureau Aske To Check Radio Sets Washington, April 11. — Federal Communications Commission has requested the Census Bureau to count radio receiving sets to determine the potential effectiveness of emergency broadcasts during a national crisis. The F.C.C. has requested the Census Bureau to ask each family how many radios it owns when the census is taken next vear. Steuer Sees RCA Suit Trial in Fall Max D. Steuer, trial counsel for minority stockholders of RCA, said yesterday that the trial of the stockholders' suit brought against RCA, its officers and directors, A. T. & T., Westinghouse, and General Electric, probably will be held in the fall. Steuer said a large number of examinations before trial of officers of the defendants will be necessary in preparation of the suit, and that these examinations are already under way. An amended consolidated complaint will be filed in the N. Y. Supreme Court within the next few days. Toscanini Watches NBC Drama Telecast A half-hour television broadcast yesterday at NBC studios included in its audience Arturo Toscanini, George S. Kaufman, the playwright, and Edna Ferber. At the conclusion of the drama, Max Gordon, NBC's adviser on television, spoke for the cameras, expressing the hope that "we may soon have television all over the world." Today F.C.C. members will inspect television facilities at NBC and witness a broadcast, and tomorrow a demonstration will be given for delegates to the Associated Press convention. Prepare Fight Telecast London, April 11. — An arrangement has been made by Baird and Gaumont British for special shadow lighting to be installed for the theatre telecasting of the Farr-Burman fight April 13 in the Marble Arch and Tatler Theatres. Admission will be from 50 cents to $1.50. Issue Fair Radio Form Radio division of the World's Fair has issued its official broadcast form to all networks and stations desiring microphone placements at the Fair. It provides that all stations share alike in broadcasts originated by the Fair management, but stations which originate their own ideas mav have them exclusively. Tax on Televised Sporting Events Proposed in Albany Albany, April 11. — State Senator Phelps Phelps, Manhattan Democrat, offered the first tax proposal on television in the New York legislature last night. Commercial rights on televised, motion picture or radio broadcasting of boxing, sparring or wrestling bouts held under the Law of 1920 would be subject to a five per cent gross tax, payable to the state, if the Phelps bill is passed. Amending Chapter 912, the Phelps bill would add the following language : "Gross income received from the sale of broadcasting, motion picture and television rights shall be sub ject to a tax of five per centum." The Manhattan Senator, heard on Sunday nights over WMCA and the Inter-City Network, said the bill was not aimed at the industries affected and pointed out the the present law taxes both radio and motion picture rights of contests in this state. "Televised pictures of fights and wrestling bouts will undoubtedly be commercially sponsored," Senator Phelps asserted,, "and the promoters, in paying on the gross proceeds to the extent of five per cent, are not being discriminated against since they already do substantially that on their film and radio rights." ► Radio Personals 4 LESTER GRADY, who formerly edited Radio Stars is now editor of Silver Screen. . . . Larry Elliott will do the WABC news period for Bosco products. . . . Jack Oakie will be guest for Dick Powell next Tuesday night. . . . After being absent from the air for almost two years due to illness, Mrs. Jim Jordan, "Molly McGee," returns to the air next week. . . . V. F. Neilsen, manager of CFCF, Montreal, is in New York on station business. . . . Another out-of-town manager here on business for the week is Thayer Ridgeway of KHJ, Los Angeles. Discuss Copyright Application to Air Application of copyright to transcribed radio material of a literary, dramatic or musical nature, and to the same material when used in television is being considered in the current intra-industry study of revision of the Federal Copyright laws, according to a statement from the M.P.P.D.A. yesterday. The conferences on revisions in the American law which may make it possible for the United States to become a member of the Berne International Copyright Convention have been in progress all winter, with film industry representatives participating. Next meeting is set for April 18. On the film committee are E. P. Kilroe, 20th Century-Fox ; Robert W. Perkins, Warners; Gabriel Hess, M.P.P.D.A., and Edward Sargoy, Copyright Protection Bureau. Copyright subjects in addition to those involving recordings for audible communication in which the film representatives are participating include remedies tor infringement of copyright ; formalities in the creation, preservation and transfer of rights under copyright, and the reprinting of single copies of out-of-print works for purposes solely of library research. Detroit Tops RKO Drive At the halfway mark in the George Schaefer RKO sales drive, Detroit is leading. New York is in second place and Los Angeles third. The southeastern district leads, and the eastern division is ahead of the western. The week preceding June 2, last day of the drive, has been dedicated by the western and southern division offices to their respective district managers. Mexican Youngsters Ordered to See Film Mexico City, April 11. — General orders for all grade school children here to attend a theatre were issued for the first time by the Public Education Department. The pic ture is "Professor Mamlock," Russian film. The children were admitted at two cents a head to see this revolutionary film.