Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1944)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, tion Picture Industry NEW YORK, U.S.A., MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1944 TEN CENTS Key City Meetings To Hear Film Heads On Red Cross Drive BIDDLE WOULD BAN POST-WAR CARTELS First in (Radio aNi' Accurate! and Impartial I^DL. 55. NO. 40 WAC Sets Up New Exchange Field Force Full Support of District Managers Engaged Following the recommendation of its retiring chairman, William F. Rodgers, the War Activities Committee distributors division, headed by Ned E. Depinet, has realigned that division and appointed new exchange area chairmen to function on all WAC projects for a year. First request from Depinet to the new field force was the urging of all to back the forthcoming theatres' Red Cross Week, March 23-29. The realignment which, Depinet stated, was conceived by his assistant, Leon J. Bamberger, is said to derive the maximum use of exchange personnel across the country by placing the {Continued on page 8) Kelly to Coast to Line Up Producers Arthur W. Kelly, president of J. Arthur Rank's new Eagle-Lion Films here, will leave for Hollywood today to seek tie-ups with independent producers who are expected to furnish seven or eight of about 15 films to be released in this country annually by the new company. The remainder will be selected British-made product sponsored by Rank units, Kelly told Motion Picture Daily. Actual produc(Continued on page 8) Marshalling of the industry in the field for the 1944 Red Cross Drive will get under way today at the first four of a series of key city meetings at which industry leaders will speak. Arranged through local exhibitor and distributor chairmen for the campaign, the first meetings will be held in Washington, New Haven, Detroit and Denver. Speakers will include the following : Washington : Joseph Bernhard, the industry's national chairman for the drive, Sam Dembow and A. W. Smith, Jr. ; New Haven : Ben Kalmenson, Harry M. Kalmine and Francis S. Harmon ; Detroit : Edward L. Alperson and Ben Shlyen ; Denver : Ned E. Depinet and Harry Brandt. Three meetings will be held tomor(Continued on page 8) Quigley 1944 Awards Judging Here Today Joseph R. Vogel, Loew vice president in charge of out-of-town theatres, will be the principal speaker at the annual Quigley Awards luncheon sponsored by Motion Picture Herald through its Managers' Round Table at noon today at the Hotel Astor. Martin Quigley, editor-in-chief and president of Quigley Publishing Co., will preside, following selection of theatre showmanship winners by exhibition and distribution executives. The competition, the 11th, will include a special award for the second time for outstanding "War Showmanship." Educational Films Project Is Aided By Major Companies Washington, Feb. 27.— Dr. George F. Zook, president of the American Council of Education, yesterday announced the appointment and first meeting of a Commission on Motion Pictures in Education. The commission will study the needs of schools and colleges for motion picture material and will plan for the production of new films for courses of study where new pictures are needed. Special attention will be given at the beginning to planning of series of films for educational activities connected with postwar reconstruction. The work of the commission will be supported by a susbtantial grant from the eight major film companies (Continued on page 8) Stewart Named Chief Of Second Front Film Col. Hugh Stewart of the British Army Film Unit and co-producer with Col. Frank Capra of "Tunisian Victory," soon to be released by M-G-M, has been appointed chief of the Second Front Film Units, British Information Services reports here. Col. Stewart was with the British Eighth Army in command of 20 cameramen, during the Tunisian campaign. Before the war he edited and directed. Legislation to Be Asked Would Affect Deals of Rank Here, Abroad Washington, Feb. 27. — Safeguards against the development of international cartels, including film cartels, after world peace is restored are being worked out by the Department of Justice, to be urged upon Congress in the development of a legislative policy for post-war conversion, it was learned here tonight. Major features of the program, in the drafting of which Attorney General Francis Biddie is taking a personal interest, will be a requirement for full publication of all private agreements, including those in this (Continued on page 8) Washington, Feb. 27. — Overriding President Roosevelt's veto by even a greater margin than did the House, the Senate at the weekend took the final step to make the new tax bill law, and the present rate of one cent on each 10 cents or fraction paid for admission will be increased to one cent on each five cents or major fraction thereof April 1. The five-to-one vote by which the (Continued on page 8) General Film Bldg. Is Hit by Bombs The Nazis' continuing airblitz of London has badly blasted the entire building of General Film Distributors, one of the principal J. Arthur Rank firms, which distributes Universal and other product throughout Great Britain, a cable to Joseph Seidelman, "U's" foreign manager, disclosed at the weekend. The building is located on Wardour Street, London's "film row." There was no indication of the extent of loss of films and records. There were no casualties. "Going My Way 99 [Paramount] Hollywood, February 27 CROONER Bing Crosby, "The Old Groaner" to his intimates and Number Four Man at the box-office in the current list of MoneyMaking Stars named by exhibitors in Quigley Publications' annual poll, ventured far from his field of endeavor this time and came up with a natural. He plays a young priest, and he sings him, too, in a picture about that young priest and an old priest and the means and manner of their living and working in a world where working and living are one and the same thing. This is new material for the screen, fresh as the untried is always fresh, and, in the presentation given it by producer-director Leo McCarey, crisp new merchandise for all the customers of all the theatres. Humanness, not religion, is the keynote of the picture. The straightline screenplay by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett brings Father O'Malley, a young curate, to Father Fitzgibbon, pastor of St. Dominic's in New York City, under instructions to conceal from the aging prelate (Continued on page 4) Admission Scales Under New Tax Bill Following is the scale of admission prices showing the tax exhibitors will charge under the new tax bill. (lc on each 5c) Adm. Total Price Tax Charge 10c 2c 12c 15c 3c 18c 20c 4c 24c 25c 5c 30c 30c 6c 36c 35c 7c 42c 40c 8c 48c 45c 9c 54c 50c 10c 60c It is estimated that the tax will net about $297,000,000 per year. New lc-on-5c Tax Effective April 1