Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1940)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

6 Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, January 23, 1940 Predicts Television in Color! Washington, Jan. 22. — Development of frequencies above 150,000 k. c. will increase the number of stations that can be located in the same area, and "will make possible a quality of television far surpassing anything yet dreamed of, and permit pictures in full color and with three-dimensional perspective." This testimony was given today by E. W. Engstrom, director of research of RCA-Victor, to the F.C.C. as the second week of hearings on the new television regulations opened. Engstrom testified that the R.M.A. standards, which are under attack from various quarters, will "remove uncertainties in the minds of manufacturers and public," and that partial commercialization will provide revenue for further research. Considerable further progress in size, brightness, definition and contrast can be made under the proposed standards, he asserted. The Commission was told that Paramount is partly financing four of 19 television station applications now pending, two of them filed by Dumont. one by Television Products, and one by Chicago Theatres. First Lady Heads Washington Elite As 'Lincoln' Opens (Continued from page 1) Raymond Massey, Ruth Gordon and Mary Howard; John Cromwell, director ; Robert E. Sherwood, author ; Max Gordon and Harry Goetz, producers. A loud-speaker system in the theatre's lobby announced the guests as they arrived. Sherwood and Massey were introduced from the stage at the conclusion of the film by Katharine Brooks, president of the club. Arriving celebrities were interviewed over WJSV. The performance was for the benefit of the Children's Hospital and the club's Fellowship Fund. A number of dinner and cocktail parties preceded the opening. The performance was followed by a reception by the Women's Club at the Hotel Raleigh, broadcast over a 47station NBC-Blue hookup. RKO executives, who set up headquarters at the Hotel Carlton, included : S. Barret McCormick, director of advertising and publicity ; A. W. Smith, Jr., Eastern and Canadian sales manager; H. M. Richey, director of exhibitor relations ; Ken Hallam, radio publicity director ; Nat Levy, eastern district salesmanager ; J. J. O'Connor, vice-president in charge of theatre operations ; Fred Meyers, head of the film booking department; Harry Mandel, publicity director : Charles Horstman, head of projection and sound division; J. M. Brennan, Washington-Trenton division manager. Out-of-town exhibitors present were Sidney Bowden and Harry Valentine, Norfolk; Mr. and Mrs. David Kamsky, Neighborhood theatre, Richmond ; I. M. Rappaport, Hippodrome, Baltimore ; Robert Sidman, Senate theatre, Harrisburg, Pa. Pre-release roadshow engagements will follow the Washington premiere at the Senate, Harrisburg, on Jan. 29 ; Sheridan, Miami Beach, Jan. 25 ; Paramount, Palm Beach, Jan. 25 ; Capitol, St. Petersburg, Jan. 30 ; Victory, Tampa, Jan. 31 ; Floriday, Jacksonville, Feb. 1, and Auditorium, Daytona Beach, Feb. 8. In each situation "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" will be shown continuously at morning and afternoon performances with matinee seats selling for 75 cents. All evening performances will be on reserved seat basis, with one showing at night and tickets priced at $1.10. Paramount Planning Fewer y40 Features (Continued from page 1) V. Richards, head of the Saenger Circuit and member of the Paramount board. Richards has been asked to sit in at the product conferences, but said that due to pressure of business at his own office his stay here would be very brief. He may leave for the South today, not remaining even for the Paramount board meeting Thursday. Freeman plans to remain in New York a week. Barney Balaban, Paramount president ; Stanton Griffis, chairman of the executive committee ; Neil Agnew, vice-president and distribution head, and Russell Holman, Eastern talent head, will participate in the production conferences with Freeman and Richards. Grosses Keep Good Pace on Broadway With two houses playing on a twoa-day basis for the first time in a long while, Broadway houses played to good grosses over the weekend. At the Hollywood, "The Blue Bird" played to capacity on the regular shows and just slightly under on the extra shows on both Saturday and Sunday, for an estimated $5,100. "Gone With the Wind," at the Astor and the Capitol, continued to play to full houses for the fifth consecutive week, grossing an estimated $80,000 at the Capitol and $22,000 at the Astor. "His Girl Friday," in its second week at the Music Hall, with a stage show, drew an estimated $33,000 for the weekend. "The Shop Around the Corner" opens there on Thursday. At the Roxy, "He Married His Wife," with a stage show, drew an estimated $14,000 for the first three days, with "Brother Rat and a Baby" starting Friday. "Remember the Night" with Bob Chester's band on the stage, drew an estimated $20,000 over the weekend at the Paramount and should finish its first week tonight with an estimated $45,000. It will be held over. Paul Whiteman's band will be the stage attraction at the Strand when "The Fighting 69th" bows there on Friday. Over the weekend, "Invisible Stripes" with Shep Fields band on the stage, now in its second week, grossed an estimated $17,500. "Judge Hardy and Son" will be held over for a second week at the Criterion. "Grapes of Wrath" will have its world premiere at the Rivoli tomorrow. Dembow Returning As Para. Executive (Continued from page 1) was placed in charge of Fanchon & Marco theatres, a post which he resigned only recently. In his renewed association with Paramount, Dembow will be associated with Leon Netter and Leonard Goldenson at the home office under Barney Balaban, Paramount president. George Bailey Dies St. Louis, Jan. 22. — George E. Bailey, 57, former owner of the Bijou, one of the first nickelodeons here, is dead. CBS Pushes Plans For Television Net Philadelphia, Jan. 22. — Construction of the first link in a proposed television network for CBS is scheduled to begin here this Summer when WCAU builds a transmitter on top of a Philadelphia building, with plans for the studio to be in operation before the end of the year. Dr. Leon Levy, owner of WCAU, a CBS affiliate, made the announcement. The station will be installed at a cost of $200,000 and will re-transmit CBS programs with additional stations planned for Baltimore and Washington. A relay transmitter will be installed near Trenton. It is expected that RCA equipment will be used for both transmitters and the studios. KYW, the NBC affiliate here, already has television studios, but has no transmitter or an application for one. At present, the Philco station, which uses films and occasional live talent shows on five programs weekly, is the only television station operating. Philco engineers report fair reception from NBC's New York station in the northwestern part of the city. Although he is rushing his television plans through for this year, Dr. Levy expressed the opinion that telecasting will not be profitable for about 10 years. Legion Approves 8 Of 9 New Pictures National Legion of Decency finds five of the nine films reviewed for the current week unobjectionable for general patronage. Three are classified as unobjectionable for adults and one objectionable in part. New films and their classification follow : Class A-l, Unobjectionable for General Patronage — "Heroes of the Saddle," "Isle of Destiny," "Life of Mother Cabrini," "Opened by Mistake," "Young As You Feel." Class A-2, Unobjectionable for Adults — "Congo Maisie," "Framed," "French Without Tears." Class B, Objectionable in Part — "That's Life, Claudine." Introduces Repair Bill Albany, Jan. 22. — Senator Pliny Williamson has introduced a bill permitting villages to repair dangerous or unsafe buildings used for public assembly when the owner refuses to do so. The cost would be assessed against the owner. Radio Brevities TBS Dismisses Clerical Staff FOLLOWING the announcement that Transcontinental Broadcasting System would not be ready to start operations on Feb. 1, it was learned yesterday that the cleK^' staff and a number of the memberV.l i the office staff have been dismissed. John T. Adams, chairman of the board, left for a month's rest in Florida. Gerald Lyons, director of publicity for the proposed new web, declared yesterday that a board meeting would be held shortly, in Adams' absence, to determine future policy. Lyons declared that plans for operations in the future had not been abandoned. CBS Promotes John Fox John Fox has been appointed assistant to the director of sales promotion at CBS, a newly-created post. His position as production manager has been left vacant temporarily but he will continue as space buyer. Fox has been with CBS for five years and previously was with the Bonwit Teller store. Personalities in the News Ernest Lee Jahncke, Jr., of NBC's stations department, was married last Saturday to the former Miss Cornelia Reding ton Dickerman at Richmond, Va. . . . Ben Grauer gets his ouln master of ceremonies post when he opens in "What Would You Have Done?" quiz show over NBC-Red on Friday. . . . Miriam Hopkins will do a special broadcast for the March of Dimes drive over WHN this afternoon. . . . Gloria Jean will be Bing Crosby's guest on the "Kraft Music Hall' Thursday. . . . Joe Lopez, WICC, Bridgeport, station supervisor, has the letters WICC for his new license plates. WDAF Dedication Feb. 4 NBC-Red will air a special dedicatory program to WDAF, Kansas City, on Feb. 4 at 12 noon, C.S.T., when the new studios are opened. The station, which started operations on Jan. 15, 1922, is one of the oldest on the air. H. Dean Fitzer, general manager, will speak from Kansas City, and Major Lenox R. Lohr, NBC president, will speak from New York. Program News Don Ameche, who has been off the air since the Chase & Sanborn program was cut to a half-hour last mouth, returns with a new program for Old Gold cigarettes on April 5 over NBC-Red. It will be heard Fridays at 10 P. M. and will be a variety and dramatic show. . . . Campbell's Soup Co., on behalf of its tomato juice, started a new program, "Campbell's Short Short Story," yesterday over 49 CBS stations. It will be heard at 11 A. M., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the spot left vacant by Lanny Ross who moved to a 2 P. M. spot. . . . Effective March 1, Procter & Gamble changes the time of the "What's My Name" show to Fridays at 9:30 P. M. and will add stations to make a total of 52 over NBC-Red. . . . "Skyblazers" adds a repeat program for the west coast on Feb. 17 over CBS.