Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1950)

4 MOTION PICTURE DAILY Friday, August 18, 1950 Reviews "My Blue Heaven" {20th Century-Fox) BETTY GRABLE, Dan Dailey, songs, dancing, Technicolor, a few dashes of comedy, and a touch of pathos here and there! These are the ingredients that have spelled successful box-office pictures in the past for 20th Century-Fox, and there is every reason to expect the pattern will prevail for some time to come. It is evidenced now as "My Blue Heaven." Produced by Sol C. Siegel with consummate precision and taste, directed by Henry Koster with maximum appreciation of the true stature of the musical film, and written by Lamar Trotti and Claude Binyon in those same veins, "My Blue Heaven" certainly looks like another box-office bell-ringer. Betty and Dan turn up as a popular husband-and-wife radio team whose secret wish has been for a baby. The story, with frequent times-out for splendidly staged musical sequences, stretches across a number of happy and unhappy interludes as their wish shows promise of realization from time to time. At the outset of the film, Betty, dazedly happy, announces the good word about the stork to her husband during one of their broadcasts. Later, however, an auto accident intervenes to destroy their plans for ever having a baby. Then they decide to adopt one, but find that as show people they are not regarded by foundling authorities as particularly desirable parents. Sympathetic friends persuade them to try a baby black market operator, but the result is that the baby they adopt and learn to love is kidnapped by its real parents. Sadness over this is transferred into overwhelming joy when the film ends, for fate would have it that they wind up with two adopted children and are about to be blessed with a visit from the stork. Musical numbers include the title song, popular over the years, and "The Friendly Islands," "Don't Rock the Boat, Dear," "It's Deductable," "Live Hard, Work Hard, Love Hard," "I Love a New Yorker" and "Halloween," some given elaborate stagings tied in with the couple's television activities. Competent support is rendered by the rest of the good cast, including David Wayne, Jane Wyatt, Mitzi Gaynor, Una Merkel, Louise Beavers and Laura Pierpont. The screenplay was based on a story by S. K. Lauren. Running time, 96 minutes. General audience classification. For September release. Charles L. Franke "The Petty Girl" {Columbia) ' THAT alluring young thing of commercial art known as the Petty girl comes in for some cinema glorification in this Columbia production. Framed in Technicolor, the film sweeps along in a medley of slapstick and nonsense, with several interludes of song and dance. It is relaxing, light entertainment designed for the carefree film-goer. The picture presents Robert Cummings as the creator of the Petty girl. Unsuccessful in his attempts to sell his art commercially, he is persuaded by Audrey Long to turn highbrow. One day Cummings catches a glimpse of Joan Caulfield, professor at a stuffy college, and he knows immediately that she is his perfect model, as well as the girl of his heart. Escorting her about the city they accidentally become involved in a nightclub scandal which looks bad from Miss Caulfield's home-town view. When Miss Caulfield returns to her chores at college, Cummings follows her and in the process of courting her he outrages the stuffy school's sense of propriety. Just as Miss Caulfield is about to marry Cummings, Nat Perrin's screenplay has Miss Long reenter the scene. This causes Miss Caulfield to use a strategem involving several Petty girls before she wins Cummings from possible competition. Perrin also produced and Henry Levin directed. Running time, 87 minutes. General audience classification. For September release. Mandel Herbstman MPIC Meeting Acts On Defense, Compo Hollywood, Aug. 17. — The Motion Picture Industry Council at its regular meeting last night gave preliminary approval to plans worked out by a subcommittee under Steve Broidy for maintaining close liaison with the government in undertakings pertinent to a military /^% rgency. Also endorsed the ac tion taken by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations, as reported by MPIC representative Al Rogel. NY Wage {Continued from page 1) promulgation will come 30 days after such hearings end, and will become effective 60 days thereafter, or about Nov. 30. Heretofore there has been no state minimum wage covering such intrastate commerce workers as cashiers, ticket-takers, doormen, ushers, cleaners, porters and matrons in New York motion picture houses. At public and private hearings held by the board since April, organized film industry labor pressed for a $1 state minimum and theatre management representatives urged that no minimum be set. The Federal inter-state commerce minimum has been 75 cents per hour. If the board's recommendations are accepted by Corsi as they now stand, it will mean that a minimum of 15 per cent and a maximum of perhaps 30 per cent of the 78,000 amusement industry employees in the state will be in line for pay increases of varying amounts. Statisticians have not yet broken down the figures to arrive at the ratio for motion picture theatre personnel in these estimates, which were made jointly here yesterday by Corsi and board chairman Francis X. Giaccone at a press interview. Among the three employer representatives on the nine-member board is Samuel Rosen, vice-president and treasurer of Fabian Theatres, and labor representatives Michael J. Mungovan, IATSE state official, and Alfred Harding of Actors Equity. The board's recommendations as they apply to the motion picture industry were as follows : Cashiers, cleaners, porters and matrons in theatres — 75 cents an hour in cities of over 50,000 population, and all communities in Nassau and Westchester counties ; 70 cents in cities of 10,000 to 50,000 population, except communities in Nassau and Westchester counties ; 65 cents an hour in cities of less than 10,000 population, except communities in the two aforementioned counties. Ticket-takers and doormen — 70 cents an hour in cities of over 50,000 population, and all communities in Nassau and Westchester counties ; 65 cents an hour in cities of 10,000 to 50,000 population, except Nassau and Westchester communities ; 60 cents an hour in cities of less than 10,000 population except communities in those two counties. Ushers, messengers in motion picture theatres and other unclassified service staff workers, — 55 cents an hour in New York City, and Nassau and Westchester counties; 50 cents an hour in the remainder of the state. Convention Groups {Continued from page 1) Meinardi ; tickets, Tommy James, Lester Bona, Loren Cluster, William Griffin, Isadore Wienshienk ; publicity, Frank Plumlee, Bob Marchbank, Russ Bovim, H. Washburn, D. Barrett, Dave Jones ; reservations, Frank Speros, Sen. Edward V. Long, Miss Schulter and Myra Stroud. Myers Winds Up {Conthvued from page 1) sion tax burden. Without exception, the letters were friendly, with several Congressmen assuring COMPO that when the proper time comes their sup Dividends {Continued from page 1) paid out $905,000 and $1,755,000, respectively, by this time last year. The figures just released for June and July of this year are $4,873,000 and $3,704,000, respectively, compared with 1949 totals of $6,843,000 and $2,548,000. The seven-month total of $19,820,000 for 1950 compares with $22,684,000 last year. Paramount Pictures made a large payment in June of last year, but while the new picture company paid in June of this year, the larger payment was in July — by United Paramount Theatres. Nonetheless, the total for the two months was lower this year by some $814,000, with the Paramount total $338,000 lower and RKO not matching with anything its payment of $585,000 paid last year. Republic raised its 1949 dividend total of $100,000 for the first seven months to $500,000 this year. port can definitely be counted upon for the renewed battle. Tribute to 20th-Fox {Continued from page 1) are housed in the Willkie Memorial Building. A joint award on behalf of the organizations will be made by Robert P. Patterson, president of Freedom House and former Secretary of War. Spyros P. Skouras, president of Twentieth Century-Fox, will accept. Among the speakers at the luncheon will be Oscar Ewing, Federal Security Administrator ; Nathaniel L. Goldstein, Attorney General of New York State, and Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP. "No Way Out," starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell and Stephen McNally, is now being shown at the Rivoli Theatre here. 20th Century-Fox Is Honored For 'Farewell to Yesterday' A special merit award has been presented to 20th Century-Fox by Parents' Magazine for its production of "Farewell to Yesterday," it was revealed here yesterday by E. Philip Arbitration {Continued from page 1) tion would hold little promise of success, in the opinion of distributors here. These views, as expressed by a key distribution spokesman, held the answer to the Theatre Owners of America's long-standing question as to whether distribution or exhibition should sound the call for an all-industry conference looking to the establishment of a new arbitration setup. Exhibition will have to take that initiative. TOA has been awaiting an official pronouncement by the Motion Picture Association of America's distributors committee as to distribution's position with respect to which branch should call such a conference. However, it is apparent now that the MPAA committee, which is headed by 20th Century-Fox sales vice-president Andy W. Smith, Jr., will continue non-committal. An arbitration conference would play an important role in TOA's plans for the adoption by the industry of a trade practice code. Discussion of this is expected to figure prominently at TOA's fall convention in Houston. Distribution's reluctance to take the initiative in calling an all-industry arbitration conference has its roots in the apprehension that that branch of the business has had of court disapproval since the industry anti-trust suit reached its climax. Distribution is "playing it safe." Meanwhile, word from the Coast is that no cases have yet been brought before the arbitration panel established by 20th-Fox and the Pacific Coast Conference of Independent Theatre Owners. The reason is held to be that deals are being undertaken with more caution "now that the cop is patrolling the beat." Percentage Actions {Continued from page 1) to under-reported receipts on percentage pictures. The Raleigh law firm of Joyner and Howison represent each plaintiff, with Sargoy and Stein, New York, of counsel. Willcox, executive of the publication. The citation, which was accepted by 20th-Fox president Spyros P. Skouras, termed the feature film "the greatest documentary film of our time." Accepting the award, Skouras said: "In view of the unjustifiable attack of the Communists in Korea, our purpose in presenting Earewell to Yesterday' is to arouse the American public and alert them to prepare fully for defense, and to help perpetuate the unity of the U. S. and the United Nations."