Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1940)

Alert, a(jn >ame to the^l cjtion Picture Industry DO NOT REMOVE MOTION PICTURE DAILY VOL. 48. NO. 40 NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1940 TEN CENTS 3elznick,MGM Protect 'Wind' For Exhibitors i Prohibit CBS Broadcast Of Film Script Seeking to avoid possible harmful ffects on box-office grosses when Gone With the Wind" is generally released early next year, David O. Selznick and M-G-M over the weekfend refused to grant permission for the radio dramatization of the script over CBS. The film has already grossed more than $22,000,000. The story had been set for broadcasting over 65 stations of the network to begin Oct. 1 and to be heard weekly between 9:30 and 10 P.M. Tuesdays. Vicks Chemical Corp., makers of cough drops and cough (medicines, was signed as the sponsor. Although there had been many rumors of the sale of "Gone With the Wind" to radio, Selznick had stated .on a number of occasions that the .story was not available for broadcasts. Early last week it was learned that the program was actually in re[hearsal with Edward Wolf, an ar (Continued on page 4) Denver Ready for 'Carson' Premiere Denver, Aug. 25. — With the arrival here today of a Hollywood group and another from New York by plane, 'this city is ready for the elaborate opening tomorrow evening of the Ed'ward Small-United Artists picture, ' "Kit Carson." Headed by Jon Hall and Lynn ' Bari, who have the leading roles, the 1 Coast group includes : Carole Landis, 1 Victor Mature, Anita Louise, Simone Simon, Bruce Cabot, Fay Wray, Muriel Angelus, Olympe Bradna, Jack {Continued on page 4) Silver stone to Coast On 'Dictator' Policy Maurice Silverstone, United Artists chief executive; Harry Gold and L. J. Schlaifer, vice-presidents and sales managers, and Arthur W. Kelly, foreign manager, plan to leave for the Coast at the end of the week to set the sales policy for "The Great Dictator" in conferences with Charles Chaplin. Lynn Farnol, advertising and publicity director, and Monroe Greenthal, exploitation manager, will leave for the Coast for further conferences with Chaplin about midweek. 2 London Theatres Damaged by Bombs London, Aug. 25. — Two London film theatres were damaged by bombs striking in the London area in the early hours of Friday morning. It is learned that in one case the bomb landed on the roof, plunged through to the basement and exploded in the boiler room. Both theatres were entirely empty at the time of the attack. Drafting of Arbitration Starts Today Work on the arbitration sections of the Federal consent decree is scheduled to begin today. The arbitration committee for the consenting companies, including John Caskey, counsel for 20th CenturyFox ; Austin C. Keough, Paramount general counsel, and Joseph H. Hazen, Warners attorney, will meet at American Arbitration Association headquarters this afternoon with Robert Sher, special assistant U. S. Attorney General, representing the Government ; Sylvan Gotschal, attorney and member of the A. A. A. board of directors, and J. Noble Braden, A.A.A. executive secretary. Paul Felix Warburg, chairman of the A.A.A. special committee on film industry arbitration, is now on vacation but will join the conferences later, as will Herman Irion, A.A.A. vice-president. Efforts were made to begin the arbitration discussions on Friday but the absence from the city of a number of principals prevented this. The con (Continued on page 4) NAZIS ORDER PARA. OUT OF GERMANY British Drive To Americas London, Aug. 25. — The British Government will make a concentrated effort to stimulate the sale of newsreels and short subjects in Latin America and features and shorts, but not newsreels, in the United States. Official confirmation has been obtained of the report recently published in Motion Picture Daily that the British Ministry of Information is organizing a drive to promote the export of British product. It is known that the 100 per cent British newsreel, organized recently as a joint effort of all British newsreels, is already distributed weekly in Latin America. Also, the Paramount British reel, which is sent regularly to Latin America, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world, carries a certain (Continued on page 4) Evacuated British Children in Canada Montreal, Aug. 25. — A number of children of film company employes in England have arrived here as evacuees and will be cared for by American benefactors for the duration of the war. Included are 25 brought out by Warners through a fund established by employes in America, and 39 from Welwyn Garden City, a British film center. The children's parents paid for their passage. The entire group of 300 children arriving included a number who will be cared for by Eastman Kodak employes and the Chase National Bank. it Brigham Young [20th Century-Fox] TT OLLYWOOD, Aug. 25. — The seven theatres given over to the *■ premiere of this film in Salt Lake City on Friday were not too many, for this is a picture for that many and more kinds of audiences, all the kinds there are. No story of mass migration since "The Covered Wagon" has matched this one for cumulative dramatic power. No story since "Intolerance" has struck out so forcefully against bigotry and none has made so strong a case for religious freedom. Both of which important facts are quite beside the main point that "Brigham Young" is a big and fine and all-appealing piece of entertainment in the best traditions of the screen. Produced at a cost variously estimated up to $2,000,000, the picture (Continued on page 4) All American Companies Must Leave Occupied Areas Before Oct. 1 By SAM SHAIN Paramount, the only American company which has still been distributing in Germany, has been ordered out by Sept. 12. Product of all other American companies has been banned for several weeks. Paramount and all other American firms, according to word from abroad, must withdraw before Oct. 1 from all Nazi occupied zones. Because American companies have been out of communication with France since the attack by Germany on England began, the new Nazi ban has the effect of excluding American films from most of Europe. The British market, of course, remains open, but Holland, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and France are now cut off. Italy has been closed for nearly two years. Germany looks upon its own films as an arm of conquest and one of its chief fifth column aids. The ban on American product is analyzed by company officials as an effort to speed up the Nazification of the occupied territories because Nazi efforts in this regard have not proved too successful thus far. The Nazis don't wish to have any kind of screen competition to their propaganda films. In America, meantime, Nazi films are not restricted despite their propa (Continued on page 4) Sen. Tobey Demands Radio Investigation Washington, Aug. 25. — Sen. Charles W. Tobey introduced a resolution in the Senate Friday calling for a searching investigation of the FCC and the radio industry. The resolution was introduced following the completion of hearings by the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee on the fitness of Thad H. Brown to serve another term on the FCC. The hearings traced the CBS-Paramount stock deal of 1928-32 and the RCA consent decree in 1932. A decision on Brown is expected this week. The investigation called for by Senator Tobey would cover the procedure and methods fol (Contimicd on page 8)