Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1941)

8 Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, October 8, 194 Off the Antenna DR. VLADIMIR K. ZWORYKIN, associate director of RCA laboratories, tonight will receive the Rumford Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at its annual meeting in Boston. Zworykin, who invented the inconoscope and kinescope, which make electronic television possible, will receive the award in recognition of his development of the electronic microscope, an outgrowth of television experiments. The Rumford Award, established in 1796 by Count Rumford, is presented biennially for important American discoveries or useful improvements in the fields of light or heat. • • • Purely Personal: Dennis McEvoy has replaced Erskine Caldwell as Moscow correspondent for CBS. . . . William L. Shirer's "Berlin Diary" will run serially in 62 newspapers, United Feature Syndicate announced yesterday. Estelle Barnes has been appointed program manager of WS9C, Chicago, the WGN FM station. . . . A. A. Schechter, NBC news head, yesterday addressed the Pittsburgh Advertising Club on war coverage. . . . Robert Smith, IVOR Salesman, yesterday joined the "Million Dollar Club," symbolic of salesmen zvho have sold that amount of time for the station. . . . William Slater Barkentin lias been named WOR continuity editor, succeeding Robert Blake, zvho was drafted. . . . Bea Wain has been signed for "Monday Merry-GoRoundf' over NBC-Blue. . . . Axel Gruenbcrg and Roy Lockwood have joined the NBC production staff. . . . New staff members at WCAE, Pittsburgh, include Robert Bitner, engineer and William Leyden and Joseph Midvihill, announcers. • • • The Yankee-Colonial Networks yesterday claimed a beat in the coverage of the discovery of Pamela Hollingsworth, five-year-old who was lost for eight days. . . . Mutual yesterday moved its Chicago offices to larger quarters in the "Chicago Tribune" building. . . . Mexican film stars will be featured on the second Pan-American program of the season, originating from XEQ, Mexico City, Oct. 16, and carried by CBS in this country. • • • Program News: WNYC will start a new series 6-6:30 tonight called "Tomorrow's Edition." It will present college students from the five boroughs who show promise of becoming professional entertainers. . . . WKRC. Cincinnati, will carry the play-by-play descriptions of the games of the Cincinnati Reds next season. . . . "Pepper Young's Family" will broadcast its 1,500th script Friday over NBC-Red. Study Mutual Verdict on Muzak Baseball Pickup NBC 14-Year Profit Put at $30,041,173 NBC earned a total profit of $30,041,173 in the period from its organization in 1926 until Dec. 31, 1940, it was revealed yesterday by Manton Davis, RCA vice-president and general manager, at a hearing before Referee Abraham J. Halprin on the fairness of a $1,000,000 settlement offer by General Electric and Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. in an accounting action brought by RCA stockholders. Reveals Dividends NBC, now a wholly-owned RCA subsidiary, turned over to RCA $22,550,000 in dividends during that period and contributed an additional $2,050,000 toward research activities in the radio field, Davis testified. Originally, RCA had onlv 50 per cent of the stock with G. E. retaining 30 per cent, and Westinghouse 20 per cent, but RCA obtained 100 per cent ownership in 1930. RCA in its yearly balance sheets does not reveal the separate earnings of subsidiary companies such as NBC. At present, Davis said, NBC is capitalized at $6,500,000. Orders Consolidation Halprin was appointed by the N. Y. Supreme Court, where the accounting action is pending, to conduct hearings and report on the fairness of the settlement offer. Meanwhile, N. Y. Supreme Court Justice Peter Schmuck yesterday denied an application by six RCA stockholders to set uside the hearings and refused them permission to intervene in the suit. In a separate decision, Justice Schmuck ordered six suits pending in courts other than the N. Y. Supreme Court to be consolidated with the Supreme Court action and directed that all RCA stockholders be stayed from prosecuting their suits until Halprin renders his report. Bottorff Named Head Of NBC Concert Unit O. O. Bottorff yesterday was named president of the Civic Concert Service, Inc., a wholly owned NBC subsidiary which conducts concerts in several hundred cities of the country and books concert artists. D. L. Cornetet was named vice-president and Marks Levine was appointed managing director. Network officials refused to state whether these appointments indicated NBC's decision to remain in the concert field or in the field of artist management. CBS has disposed of both and NBC officials had previously indicated a similar intention. The FCC in its monopoly report criticized the continuance of concert and management business by the networks. 'Parallel' Opens Today London, Oct. 7. — The English film, "49th Parallel," will have its premiere tomorrow with a luncheon planned at Claridge's to be attended by Vincent Massey and 250 guests representing Canadian and Empire fields for diplomacy, radio, the press and the film industry. Television lawyers yesterday were studying a court decision rendered Saturday by N. Y. Supreme Court Justice Ernest E. L. Hammer in which Mutual and the Gillette Safety Razor Co. were granted an injunction restraining Muzak Corp. from sending without permission Mutual's play-byplay description of the World Series over Muzak leased lines to restaurants, hotels, bars and similar places. Justice Hammer granted a temporary injunction Saturday and it was made permanent yesterday when Muzak consented to the decree after obtaining the needed permission. Prior to Saturday, Muzak relayed the descriptions exactly as broadcast, including the commercial announcements and giving Mutual credit for the broadcast, but the network contended that the failure to obtain permission was ' unfair competition. Cites Competition In granting the injunction, Justice Hammer pointed out that both Mutual and Muzak were in competition for audiences and that their rates depended on the number of listeners obtained through their respective media. Television lawyers saw in the decision a similarity to a theatre picking up a telecast without permission. Although the rights of the restaurant, rather than Muzak, would be a closer analogy to the rights of a theatre in telecasts, lawyers pointed out, the decision apparently forbids any commercial use of broadcasts without the consent of the broadcaster and the sponsor. A number of theatres have con sidered installation of large screen television receivers for programs taken off the air. Arthur Mayer, managing director of the Rialto, has installed a Scophony receiver in his house. Although the set is not yet in operation, Mayer has repeatedly stated that he has been advised that he had the right to take programs off the air without permission. Both NBC and CBS television stations here make frequent announcements forbidding use of the programs except for homes. Emanuel Dannett represented Mutual in the suit. Ritchey Closes Two Deals for Monogram Norton V. Ritchey, vice-president of Monogram Pictures in charge of foreign distribution, at present on a tour of Latin America, reports from Caracas that he has entered into an agreement with Carcel & Muro whereby this concern becomes Monogram distributor in that territory. Richey also reports that on his way to Caracas he stopped in Curacao, where he appointed, Moron and Cia. to act as Monogram distributors in that Dutch possession. He plans to return to New York in December. Murray Back in Canada Ottawa. Oct. 7.— Major W. E. Gladstone Murray, general manager of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., has returned here after a seven-week trip to England and the United States. Miller, Shubert At Camp Show Parley Washington, Oct. 7.— The War Department today announced that in addition to the motion picture representatives who will attend conferences with Army and Navy officials this week on plans for camp entertainment, the broadcasting industry will be represented by Neville Miller, president of the National sociation of Broadcasters, a.\%'W Lee Shubert, producer, will represent the legitimate stage. CBC Year Surplus Reaches $183,584 Ottawa, Oct. 7. — The annual report of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1941, showed the corporation's operating surplus to be $183,584. Income was $4,092,794, and expenditures were $3,909,209. Under the heading of "income" are such items as $3,140,259 in license fees, a gross of $895,066 in commercial broadcasts and $44,647 in subsidiary hookups. Expenditures included $1,721,755. for programs, $725,969 for station network; $746,154, engineering; $179,120. administration; $97,805, commercial ; $60,669, press and information. On the network CBC broadcast 36,419 individual programs, which took up 12,129 hours of broadcasting time. Three new transmitters were built. Strike in Pittsburgh Hotels Hits Grosses Pittsburgh, Oct. 7.— In its sixth day, the strike of employes of the city's eight major hotels has begun to materially affect theatre and night club business. Because of the strike of 1,661 hotel employes and 800 more AFL sympathizers who refuse to cross picket lines to jobs unaffected by the strike, the city is estimated to lose $40,000 daily this week, much of it destined for theatres and other amusement places, through cancellation of the Pennsylvania Medical Society convention that would have attracted more than 2500 delegates. Many other conferences and smaller meetings likewise have been cancelled or postponed. Thousands of salesmen and tourists who otherwise would have lingered in the city and spent money in entertainment sites, have re-routed their itineraries, it is estimated. CEA Meets Today On Opening Hours London, Oct. 7. — The general council of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association will meet tomorrow to study the theatre operating hours situation, and to authorize the executive board to present its views at a meeting with the Ministry of Transport scheduled for later in the day. It is understood action will be taken shortly by a majority of the producers and the labor interests, presenting a report opposing the plan of the Ministry of Labor for wholesale calls on technical employes for military service.