Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1948)

2 MOTION PICTURE DAILY Wednesday, August 18, 1948 Production Off 4; 30 Now in Work Hollywood, Aug. 17— The production index dipped to 30 from last week's 34. Six new films were started while 10 were completed. Shooting started on "Mr. Soft Touch" and "The Lone Wolf and His Lady," Columbia; "Parole" (Orbit), Eagle-Lion; "Call of the Cactus," Monogram; "Prejudice," Protestant Film Commission; "Canadian Pacific" (Nat Holt Production), 20th CenturyFox. Shooting finished on "Strike It Rich" (Wrather), Allied Artists; "The Big Cat," Eagle-Lion; "The Numbers Racket: the Story of Tucker's People," Enterprise; "A Date with Murder" (Falcon), Film Classics ; "Rose of the Yukon," Republic ; "Gun Runners," RKO Radio; "Frontier Phantom" (Western Adventure), Screen Guild; "Three Wives,'.' 20th Century-Fox ; "Mexican Hayride," Universal-International ; "South of St. Louis" (U. S. Pictures), Warner. E-L Holds Luncheon For Milton E. Cohen Philadelphia, Aug. 17. — Some 100 theatre owners and motion picture executives from this area attended a luncheon here today at the Hotel Warwick to introduce Milton E. Cohen, newly appointed Eastern division sales manager for Eagle-Lion. Jay Emanuel acted as toastmaster and William J. Heineman, Eagle-Lion distribution vice-president, addressed the gathering. Among those who extended greetings to Cohen were: Sidney Samuelson, Ted Schlanger, Mrs. Edna Carroll, chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Censors; Lewen Pizor and Harry Berman. Paul Henreid, star and producer of the company's "Hollow Triumph," which will have its world premiere tomorrow in Reading, was also on hand. Eastman Six-Month Net Increased 25% Rochester, N. Y., Aug. 17. — Eastman Kodak today reported 1948 semiannual sales of $192,480,338, a 25 per cent increase over the $153,581,750 gross for the same period last year. Net earnings during the half were $28,017,724, or $2.24 per common share, compared with $20,299,661, or $1.62 a share for the corresponding period in 1947. Current assets were $217,708,802 and total assets were about $300,000,000. Personal IRVING MAAS, Motion Picture Export Association vice-president and general manager, will return to New York today by plane from Europe. • J. B. Cronk, vice-president of Canadian Picture Pioneers and recently retired as Empire-Universal Film promotion manager, and his wife will vacation at Long Beach, Cal., after, which they will spend a year in Arizona. • William B. Zoellner, head of MG-M's short subject sales, will be in Los Angeles tomorrow from New York for conferences with George A. Hickey, Western sales manager. • Edward L. Hyman, Paramount Theatres Service Corp. vice-president and Max Fellerman, theatre executive, will leave here today for conferences in Upstate New York. • Mrs. Christopher Buckley of the General Stark Theatre in Bennington, Vt, has returned to that city from a business trip to New York and Albany. • George E. Freeman, manager of Loew's Poli, Springfield, Mass., has returned to his desk from a vacation at Hampton Beach, N. H. • Guthrie F. Crowe, president of the Kentucky Association of Theatre Owners, has been elected commander of the Kentucky American Legion. • Richard Powers, head of the MG-M studio music department, is here from the Coast. Edwin W. Aaron, M-G-M assistant general sales manager, will be in Philadelphia today from New York. • Herb Pettey, head of M-G-M's radio station activities, is on the Coast from here. • Harry Kurnitz, Warner producer, is due here today from Los Angeles and will fly to London Aug. 29. • Robert J. Weitman, managing director of the Paramount Theatre, New York, is celebrating a birthday today. • James P. Cunningham, news editor of Motion Picture Daily, is celebrating a birthday today. Enterprise Aims to Rent Studio Space Hollywood, Aug. 17. — The fact that studio space here is now available for leasing is understood to have prompted Enterprise Productions not to exercise its option for a new lease on its studio. The lease will expire on Feb. 14, 1949, when the studio will be turned back to Harry Sherman. The company is said to feel it would be better business today to rent studio space rather than operate a full plant of its own. Johnson Back to 20th Hollywood, Aug. 17. — Nunnally Johnson, who recently terminated a Universal-International contract, will rejoin 20th-Fox studio, which he left in 1943 after an eight-year tenure under a long term writer-producer contract next month. New Premium Outfit Cleveland, Aug. 17. — M. M. Jacobs is head of the newly-organized National Enterprises which has set up offices here to distribute theatre premiums and handle promotions. Mention MARK SILVER, United Artists assistant Eastern general sales manager, was in Boston yesterday from New York. • Jacques Chabrier, American representative of Pathe Cinema and president of its U. S. subsidiary, will return to New York tomorrow from France on the SS Queen Elizabeth Also aboard are David MacDonald, J. Arthur Rank director, and Julie Harris, costume designer for Rank's Gainsborough Studios. • Dorothy Barko of Century Theatres' legal staff is attending the Second International Conference of the Bar Association being held this week at The Hague. She is presenting a paper on "Modern Trends in the Law of Succession" to the conference. • Jack Daut, son of Frank Daut, credit manager of Altec's New York district, has been awarded a four-year scholarship at Notre Dame University, starting this fall. • Stanley Sinski, associated with Glacklin and LeWitt Theatres in New Britain, Conn., for the past 22 years, has been named manager of the circuits' Strand in Plainville, Conn. • Eddie Christiansen, formerly on the staff of the Warner Theatre in Torrington, Conn., has been named assistant manager of the Arch Street Theatre in New Britain. • Herbert J. Yates, Republic president ; Eddie Cantor, Edward G. Robinson and Vera Ralston are among passengers due here tomorrow from Europe on the America. James Benton, who is associated with his father, William Benton, in the Benton Circuit of Saratoga, N. Y., and his wife, have become parents of twin sons. Bill Rose, former partner in Conrose Enterprises, Hartford, has left Hartford for Long Beach, Cal., where he will make his home. S. J. Gardner, M-G-M assistant Western sales manager, has left San Francisco for a three-week trip to Portland and Seattle. • Henry Strauss, Columbia columnist contact, will leave here Friday by plane for Hollywood. RKO, Nichols End Four-picture Pact Hollywood, Aug. 17. — RKO Radio and Dudley Nichols today annulled a contract, made during the N. Peter Rathvon-Dore Schary regime, under which Nichols was to have written, produced and directed four pictures, dividing his time between RKO and his interest in Independent Artists. Nichols will now devote full time to the latter, a partnership with Rosalind Russell and Frederick Brisson which produces independently for RKO release. Newsreel Parade ABE RUTH'S passing gives a sol-j emn note to all current newsreels. \ Other events include the Russian spy . exposures, President Truman hails "YouttK Month," the 1948 soap-box\ derby, and the return of America's \ Olympic stars. Full synopses follow: \ MOVIETOSE NEWS, No. 66— Babe Ruth passes. U. S. orders Russian t""'|? : ers to testify before committee. OpeA | . ! "splash!" President Truman hails "V-iAm Month." Tyrone Power visits Madrid. Soap-box derby. Water skiing. NEWS OF THE DAY, No. 300 — Base ball's idol, Babe Ruth, is dead. Operation "splash!" Injured teacher finds safety against Reds. New clashes menace truce in Palestine. -Salute to "Youth Month" by President Truman. Soap-box derby. PARAMOUNT NEWS, No. 103— Accent on young America. Babe Ruth. Hiroshima, three years after. Incidents in Palestine's no-man's land. Operation "splash!" Greatest woman athlete comes home. UNIVERSAL NEWS, No. 170— Babe Ruth dies. Bumper wheat crop at peak. President Truman presents new youth stamp for young America. Palestine truce allows Jews to retrieve bodies from no-man's land. Olympic stars return from England. Jousting in France. Soap-box derby. WARNER PATHE NEWS, No. 1— Babe Ruth. Parachute boat. Un-American Activities Committee's hearings in Washington. Youth stamp. Women golfers. Soap-box derby. Will Rogers Drive Started in Cleveland Cleveland, Aug. 17. — The local Will Rogers Memorial Hospital drive for $75,000 got off to a flying start yesterday at a luncheon-meeting at the Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association clubrooms, attended by 200. It was announced by I. J. Schmertz, general chairman of the drive, that an all-star performance will be given Dec. 22 for the benefit of the hospital. Ernest Schwartz, CMPEA president, presided. Meyer Fine, head of the Associated Circuit, and other large circuit operators pledged cooperation. $750,000 Local Ad Campaign for 'Song' A $750,000 local assist campaign, to cover 74 key-city runs, has been set for Samuel Goldwyn's new Technicolor production, "A Song Is Born," starring Danny Kaye. The campaign, to include radio tie-ups, will be handled by the Monroe Greenthal Agency, the Goldwyn office here reports. Edward Hill Amet, 87 Los Angeles, Aug. 17. — Edward Hill Amet, 87, inventor of motion picture equipment who perfected the magnagraph in 1895, died yesterday at his home at Redondo Beach, Cal. Survivors include the widow, two daughters and two brothers. Rites for Gable's Father Hollywood, Aug. 17. — Clark Gable arrived today for the funeral of his father, William H. Gable. The latter, 78, died Aug. 4 while Gable was on a tour of Europe. B MOTION PICTURE DAILY, Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Sherwin Kane, Editor; Martin Quigley, Jr., Associate Editor. 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