Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1949)

6 Motion Picture Daily Friday, August 19, 1949 RMA Sets Fall Meet, Fills Group Posts Washington, Aug. 18.— Latest developments in radio and television engineering and manufacturing are to be discussed at the annual fall meeting to be held by the Radio Manufacturers Association's engineering department and the Institute of Radio Engineers on Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at Svracuse. N. Y. Membership for 1949-50 in RMA's service committee, w h i c h seeks through educational means to improve radio and TV servicing, also has been announced, with A. T. Alexander, Motorola, Inc.. serving as chairman. F. L. Granger, Stromberg-Carlson, is vice-chairman. The industrial relations committee again will be headed by G. W. Thompson, president of Noblitt-Sparks Industries, during the coming year with Leslie E. Woods, Raytheon Manufacturing Co.. serving as vice-chairman. Reviews "My Friend Irma" New Firm Here Will Act for Renown, Ltd. Renown Pictures of America, Inc., has been formed here to act as agents and representatives of Renown Pictures Corp., Ltd.. of England. E. Albert Block, former director of Agfa Corp. here, is board chairman of the new company and Richard Gordon, head of the export-import agency bearing his name, is president. Announced as forthcoming productions of the British company are "Three Men and a Girl," co-starring Burgess Meredith and Jean PierreAumont, and "Her Favorite Husband" with Jean Kent and Robert Beattv. (Paramount-Wains') COPIOUS laughs are served up uninterruptedly in this Hal Wallis production based on the radio program of the same title, providing a generous share of entertainment for those who enjoy their comedy in the slapstick tradition. It is palatable fare for general audiences and its patronage should be swelled by the numerous followers of the popular and long-lived "My Friend Irma" program on the air, as well as by network and nightclub fans of the ean Martin-Jerry Lewis team, who make their screen debut herein. Marie Wilson, as on the radio, has the title role in the picture. Irma is a well-meaning feather-brain who complicates everybody's lives perilously but who also, by fortuitous coincidence, manages to straighten things out again handsomely in the end. Engaged for years to a sharp-talking, social security-scrounging ne'er-do-well, she lives with Diana Lynn. The latter hopes to marry her boss in order to escape commonplace living. Irma's fiancee endeavors to promote a few comforts for himself by helping the rich boss to engineer a deal. Except for Irma's efforts to be helpful to all, which inevitably wind up by being the reverse, there would be little story and fewer -laughs. Th farcical proceedings are abetted by such regulars as John Lund andDon DeFore, in addition to Miss Lynn. George Marshall directed from a screenplay by Cy Howard and Parke Levy. Howard is the creator of the CBS program on which the picture is based and also draws an associate producer credit for the picture. Further trimming of the picture might sharpen the action elements, while preserving the best of the laughs, as it appears to be somwhat overlong in its present running time. Running time, 102 minutes. General classification. Release date not set. 'The House Across the Street' Levin and Kranz Get Realart Franchise Budd Rogers, Realart sales vicepresident, back here from the Coast and the Pacific Northwest, announces he has arranged a deal with Irving Levin and Charles Kranz to acquire the Realart franchise in Los Angeles. This franchise was jointly owned by Jack Broder and Sam Decker. The territory will be operated and serviced by Levin and Kranz and their Favorite Films Exchange in Los Angeles. 'Big Wheel' Slated as Jack Dempsey's First Hollywood, Aug. 18. — "The Big Wheel," starring Mickey Rooney and Thomas Mitchell, will mark the entry of Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight boxing champion of the world, into film production. The film will be made in association with Harry M. Popkin and Samuel H. Stiefel but will be apart from other production activities of the latter two. United Artists will distribute. New Quinlan Firm David Quinlan, formerly New York manager for Russell Birdwell and Associates, has opened a publicity office here to specialize in radio and television accounts. ( Warner Brothers) . XA/YYNE MORRIS, as a crusading newspaperman, finds himself em▼ ▼ broiled in frequent mixups as he tries to solve a murder mystery in "The House Across the Street." The events in the story are obviously of a fictitious sort, but the film has pace and continued formula interest. Janis Paige, the paper's "sob-sister," provides Morris with a romantic objective. Others in the cast are Alan Hale, the publisher, and Bruce Bennett, as a suave racketeer. As managing editor of the Star-Chronicle, Morris keeps blasting away at racketeer Bennett. As a result, the publisher has Morris exiled to the paper's Bewildered Hearts Department, and it is here that Morris gets his first genuine lead in the murder of a star witness in a fraud case. From this point on Morris turns sleuth, and aided by Miss Paige, goes about assembling the vital clues that ultimately send the culprits to jail. For strategy, Morris divides the forces of gangland, and then sets one against the other. Along the way, of course, there are some close calls for Morris, as well as some more pleasing romantic interludes. The acting is generally adequate for the screenplay by Russell Hughes. Saul Elkins produced and Richard Bare directed. Running time, 69 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, Sept. 10. Mandel Herbstman The Mysterious Desperado" (RKO Radio) A NICELY-PROPORTIONED hour-long Western of standard calibre, ,, 's 1 iTP Holt starrer appears to have what it takes to please "horseopera fans. Norman Houston's screenplay gallops along at high speed most ot the time, and recounts, to the tune of blazing guns and flying fists, the story of how Tim and his saddle pal, Chito (Richard Martin), ruin the plans of a gang of landgrabbers bent on depriving Chito's cousin of the estate of his murdered father. The gang's leader, an ostensibly respectable citizen, is the murderer but he has succeeded in arousing the people of the Southern California frontier town into believing Chito's cousin did the killing. Thus Tim is compelled to rescue the accused from a lynching party, among other fetes of derring-do which demand robust action on horseback and afoot. A touch of romance is contributed by Movita, in the role of the cousin's fiancee. Others in the cast include Edward Norris, Robert Livingston, Frank Wilcox, William Tannen, Robert B. Williams, Kenneth MacDonald,' Frank Lackteen and Leander De Cordova. Herman Schlom produced, and Lesley Selander directed. Running time, 61 minutes. General audience classification. August release. Charles L. Franke Two 'Jolson' Dates Set Columbia's "Jolson Sings Again," starring Larry Parks, will open at the Hippodrome, Baltimore, and the Bijou. Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 1. Seven in Construction In Cleveland Area Cleveland. Aug. 18. — Construction has started on four new theatres in the Cleveland area, bringing to seven the number of Northern Ohio theatres in work. The Berea Theatre, in Berea ; the Madison, Cleveland, and the Lake, also in Cleveland, will open on or before Labor Day. The Mapletown is under roof, foundations are being laid for the Mercury here, and an unnamed house in Cuyahoga Falls, while the walls are up for another unnamed house in Independence. Garrel Gets 6th House Cleveland, Aug-. 18.— S. P. Garrel, head of General Theatres, owners and operators of the Detroit, Sun and Southern theatres, in Cleveland, and the Orr and Grand in Orville, has signed a 20-year lease on the Garden, Cleveland, effective Sept. 1. Associated Circuit was the former Garden lessee. W LAV-TV to Join NBC WLAV-TV, which began broadcasting yesterday at Grand Rapids, Mich., will become affiliated with National Broadcasting on Sunday. U. K. Location Work A Challenge: Engel So inadequate and antiquated is location-filming equipment in England that it is only by virtue of backbreakmg work on the part of the British production crews that location shooting can be accomplished. This report of picture-making conditions in England was made here yesterday by 20th Century-Fox producer Sam Engel upon his arrival on the 5". Queen Elisabeth. Engel supplemented his account of the poor quality of British locationfilming equipment with words of high praise for the spirit of cooperation he said he found in the film workers and technicians there. Studio facilities are first-rate, he added. The producer, who has five pictures "in work" in England, will leave here today for Hollywood, where he will remain a month. During that time he will put 20th-Fox's "Jackpot" and one other picture before the cameras, he said. Following a month on the Coast, Engel will return to England to resume work on a Scotland Yard documentary-type film now under way, and to make arrangements for filming an "international" picture whose making will entail the chartering of several DC-6 planes for the purpose of transporting equipment, a technical crew and a cast to various sites in Europe for location work. Disney Cartoon 0 C ontinued from page 1 ) all-hve-action feature he is making in England under a joint financial arrangement with RKO Radio, which distributes all of his product, will be completed in about six or seven weeks when he will return to England for final work on the picture. He plans to produce more live-action features in England and described his financing approach in these terms : "I make a picture in England with blocked sterling; I show the picture over here for dollars and use those dollars to make cartoons here." One project which Disney has in mind for production in England is the Irish subject, "Three Wishes." He said that if he does decide on that subject, it will be made as a combination of live-action and cartoon. The human action would be filmed on location _ in Ireland and at an English studio, with the cartoon animation being done at the Hollywood studio. Outlook Bright for Cartoons in Europe Strong belief that the European market for cartoon films will continue lucrative was expressed here yesterday by William Weiss, Terrytoons executive, following his arrival from England aboard the c?.5". Queen Elisabeth. In addition to surveying the cartoon market in France, Italy and England during the past six weeks, Weiss attended the 20th Century-Fox convention in Paris. Weiss was greeted at the pier by Paul Terry, Terrytoons head, who reported that the company will produce 20 cartoons this year, the same number as last vear. Votes Sunday Films Hampton, Ga„ Aug. 18. — By a large majority, Sunday shows have been approved here recently.