Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1940)

8 Motion Picture Daily Monday, July 15, 1940 Homes Minus Phones Listen More to Radio Families without telephones listen to the radio an average of 3.9 hours daily, while those with telephones devote an average of 3.5 hours a day to broadcasts, according to a survey of metropolitan Detroit families made by the Wayne University Broadcasting Guild and released by the CBS di vision of research. Thursday, with an average of 4.5 hours, is the peak listening day. Saturday is the lowest, with 3.2 hours, the survey shows. The inquiry determined that WJR, the CBS outlet, and WWJ, the NBC Red affiliate, receive 71.5 per cent of the listening time, with eight other stations sharing the remaining 28.5 per cent. Of the daytime script serials sur veyed, eight of the most popular were on CBS and two on NBCRed. In the evening, 14 CBS shows, nine NBC-Red, one NBC-Blue and one Mutual program led the field, according to the survey. The University made the study through the Detroit school system, checking the listening habits of 1,988 families. This is the equivalent of 900,000 coincidental checkups, officials said. Novthio Set Up New Operating District Cincinnati, July 14. — Tracy Barham, general manager of Northio Theatres, Inc., has created a new operating district for northern Ohio, where the company recently took over a number of Shea houses. In the new setup, George Planck, city manager at Marion, becomes district manager, retaining his Marion headquarters. He is succeeded as manager of the Palace by Eldon Dodds, promoted from assistant manager. Wallace James, who managed the Paramount at Fremont for Shea, has been appointed city manager there in charge of the Paramount, Strand and Opera House. Glen Reitz, manager of Shea's Ohio, at Bellevue, has been named city manager for the Ohio and State, succeeding Joe Scanlon, transferred to Zanesville, O., where Shea recently took over the houses of Zanesville Theatres, Inc. Phil Cleveland, Shea manager of the Clyde, at Clyde, retains that post for Northio. George Fettick, district booker here, will book all of the 18 houses in the circuit. Northio, a Paramount affiliate, started operation six years ago with the Palace and Marion, at Marion, as the nucleus of the present circuit. Charter Four Companies Albany, July 14. — New companies chartered here include : New England Phonovision Co., by Samuel Stirrat, Samuel Cufari and Nicholas J. Camerota, Springfield, Mass. ; King-Theatre, Inc., by Simon Rosenberg, Leonard Gottenberg and Josephine Walton, New York ; Dalev Corp., by Peter A. Lewis, Ethel Davis and Florence Abramson, New York, and Washton Ar"usement Corp., by David L. Lang and Florence Schaen, New York. Off the Antenna WITH RKO-Pathe newsreels of the Democratic convention featured on W2XBS, NBC television station, for the current week, there will be four hours and twenty minutes of films of the total of 12 hours and twenty minutes of programs during the week. Two hours of boxing and three hours of the Eastern Clay Court championships will be picked up by the mobile camera. There will also be two variety shows and two Sunoco news broadcasts from the studios. Featured films for this week include "Song of Freedom" with Paul Robeson ; and "The Curtain Falls" with Henrietta Crosman. • • • Purely Personal: O. B. Hanson, NBC vice-president and chief engineer, has departed on a two-week vacation cruise along the Atlantic Coast. . . . Jean Libman, who is with Carlton Alsop's office, will leave today for the Coast to handle a special publicity and production assignment. . . . Betty Jean Hainey, of the_ "All This, and Heaven Too" cast has joined the cast of "The Career of Alice Blair." . . . Bob Hawk has been signed until the end of the year by Eversharp for the "Take It or Leave It" show over CBS Sunday nights. . . . Theodore C. Streibert, vice-president and general manager of IVOR, and Mrs. Streibert left over the weekend for a one-month trip. . . . Herbert L. Petty, WHN director, is in Chicago for the Democratic convention. . . . Frank Roehrenbeck, WHN general manager, returns to his desk today after a two-week vacation. • • • Fearing a loss in tourist business because of the war, the Canadian Railway Association has launched a new series, "Canadian Holiday," over 42 NBC-Blue stations. The programs will be heard Thursdays from 8 to 8:30 P. M. under a 13-week contract. It has been reported that a number of "tourism" films are being made for showing in this country. • • • DuMont has developed a portable television camera which is said to be "as compact as a motion picture sound camera and just as easy to operate." Weighing only 45 pounds, it measures 8J4 by 26 by 16^ inches. Seven other units required for operation of the camera weigh only 314 pounds, the entire group weighing 359 pounds. Two operators are required for the equipment, one for the camera and the other for the power supply, amplifiers and monitors • • • Program News: The second of the new "Forecast" series over CBS on July 22 will have Alfred Hitchcock, the director, and Herbert Marshall in a projected series of mystery shows, as the Hollywood half of the program, and Danny Kaye, Joan Edwards, Rush Hughes, the Four Clubmen and ' Lyn Murray's orchestra in a projected series to be called "When You Were 21." . . . Colgate-Palmolive-Peet has renewed" Ask-It Basket" over 63 CBS station's • • • WKAT of Miami Beach, Fla., this morning will deliver to time buyers in New York a kitten with its fur dyed blue. The novel promotional stunt is on the occasion of the station's becoming a part of the NBC-Blue network News Guild Elects Martin, Sullivan Memphis, July 14. — Harry Martin, film critic of the Memphis Commercial Appeal and president of the Newspaper Film Critics of America, was reelected by acclamation as vicepresident of Region 2 of the American Newspaper Guild at its convention here Friday. Martin was the leading presidential nominee of the anti-administration group in the early caucuses. An administration candidate, Donald Sullivan, editorial writer for the Boston Globe, was elected president, defeating Kenneth Crawford of PM, New York. Crawford had succeeded the late Heywood Broun. Cincinnati's Bingo Gross Off in June Cincinnati, July 14. — Bingo decreased here in June from the record high of May, although it still was well above the previous months of this year. The June report compiled by the Police Department shows attendance of 241,923 at 232 parties, at which gross was $185,029.47. Prizes totaled $44,827.05, leaving net of $140,202.42 to sponsoring organizations. Average net cost per person was 58 cents. May figures were 263 parties, attended by 294,778 players with gross of $214,994.97; prizes, $52,026.14, and net, $162,986.83. G. N. Trustee Sues Skibo and Maguire Harry G. Fromberg, trustee in bankruptcy of Grand National Pictures, Inc., filed suit Friday in the U. S. District Court against Skibo Productions, Inc., for $12,874 damages and Jeremiah D. Maguire for $3,874 and an accounting. In a number of causes of action, Fromberg alleges that Skibo failed to repav a loan of $2,874 from Great National and that the defendants owe $10,000 for accounting, storage and legal services rendered by Grand National. The suit seeks repayment of an alleged loan of $3,874 to Maguire and also an accounting of receipts from the distribution of additional pictures assigned to Grand National and subsequently allegedly turned over to Maguire. RKO Closes Deals On 194041 Product RKO has closed several deals on L940-'41 product, Ned E. Depinet, vice-president in charge of distribution, discloses. One with John Ford of Maine & New Hampshire Theatres is for all features and shorts for 28 houses. A. W. Smith, sales manager ; Ross Cropper, Boston branch manager, and Gus Schaefer, Northeastern district manager, handled the deal for RKO. Other deals include Loew-Poli circuit ; Rialto, Salt Lake City, and the Indiana and Circle, Indianapolis. Webs Lead in Scripts Read By the F.T.C. Washington, July 14. — Nationwide networks led by a wide margin in the percentage of commercial continuity scripts set aside by the Federal Trade Commission for further examination, as compared with regional netwoy';.: and individual stations, it was reve'. " today by a survey of 1939 prograno. A total of 22.2 per cent of national network scripts were marked for further investigation as compared with 6.5 per cent on regional networks, 13.4 per cent for transcriptions, 2.3 per cent for 100 watt stations, 3.3 per cent for 1,000 watt stations, 4.4 per cent for 10,000 watt stations, and 7 per cent for 50,000 watt stations. The marking by the F.T.C. does not mean that there was anything wrong with the continuity but merely indicates that the commission felt that some investigation should be made on the commercial. On the whole, the commission observed, the average commercial continuities on nationwide network broadcasts were about seven times the script length of those rendered for individual station commercial announcements. A total of 15,390 national network scripts was examined, 9,228 from regional networks, 305,787 from individual stations, and 4,127 from transcriptions. Begin Shooting on Canadian Feature Ottawa, July 14. — Production got under way over the weekend on Ortus Films' "Forty-ninth Parallel,'' under the direction of Michael Powell. Raymond Massey will play the lead in the English company's film, for which shots were made on Paraliainent Hill here. The film, produced under agreement with the British Ministry of Information, will stress U. S. and Canadian friendship. Leslie Howard, Vincent Massey, Canadian High Commissioner to London, and brother of Raymond, and Elisabeth Bergner, are featured in the cast. After shooting here, the studio work on the film will be finished in England. Nick Asks to Quash St. Louis Indictment St. Louis, July 14. — Motion to quash the indictment against John P. Nick, former vice-president of the I.A.T.S.E., charged with violation of the anti-trust and the anti-racketeering laws, has been filed in Federal Court here by Sigmund Bass, defense attorney. A move also was made to strike out several sections of the indictment. Mo. Legislature to Convene on July 22 Jefferson City, Mo., July 14. — A special session of the Missouri legislature, which will meet regularly Jan. 1, 1941, has been called by Governor L. C. Stark for July 22. The object is to provide funds for direct relief, which funds are available. No legislation except what is essential to that purpose is looked for.