Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1951)

4 Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, March 27, 1951 National Pre-Selling CECIL B. DeMILLE is starred in a short Technicolor film which he recently completed for Paramount to be shown in theatres throughout the country in connection with the annual drive of the United Cerebral Palsy Associations, which will start in April. The picture is entitled "The House on Any Street," and DeMille appears in the film and serves as commentator, with a cast of young Paramount players and children from the Orthopedic Hospital, where some of the scenes were shot. Leonard Goldenson, president of United Paramount Theatres, is president of the UCPA, and Bob Hope is national drive chairman. • Bill Farrell, singing star of M-G-M records, is profiled in the April Seventeen. The article, titled "Young New Voice" tells of his rise to fame from high school vocalizing. An illustrated double-page in the same issue features the 18-year old French dancing star, who tells how she came to be chosen by Gene Kelly as his leading lady in the forthcoming "An American in Paris." MGM's Technicolor musical, "Royal Wedding" is named "Picture of the Month" by the magazine. • Woman's Home Companion for April, due on nezvsstands, has a tivocolumn story on the different characterisations of "Alice in W onderland" — including the original little girl who inspired Lewis Carroll's famaus book. Under the title, "Do You Know Your Alice," four pictures and captions ask one to identify the real Alice Liddell, the historic drawing of "Alice" by John Tenniel, Walt Disney's cartoon character and a photo of Kathy Beaumont, who is the "voice" of "Alice" in the new motion picture. • Waycross, Georgia, wins the world premiere showing of "Queen for a Day" in a contest between 540 cities, conducted by producer Robert Stillman over Mutual Broadcasting. April 14 will be the lucky day, and Southern hospitality will be pushed to new heights to prove how popular this promotion idea turned out to be. The entire city is involved, and the contest to determine the "Queen" will be held in Waycross Stadium, seating 10,000, or more than half the population. The climatic event will be a grand ball in honor of the winning "Queen" with the whole town invited. The picture has been named by the General Federation of Women's Clubs as "one of the best ever seen," by Mrs. Harry Lilly, national chairman. • An all-out promotion and exploitaation campaign for "The Scarf" was kicked off with the arrival in NewYork of Mercedes McCambridge, star of the film, for a two-week round of intensive publicity efforts under the direction of Max E. Youngstein, vicepresident and director of national advertising for United Artists. James Barton will also participate in a series of personal appearances, with the star appearing on various radio and television shows, and for the entire round of newspaper, magazine and fan .interviews. Youngstein's staff, under Fransic Winikus, ad manager, and Al Tamarin, publicity manager, have devised a hard-hitting campaign based on the sensational theme of the picture. Review 39 Go for Broke (M etro-G oldwyn-M oyer) DORE SCHARY, who turned out an outstanding war production in "Battleground," repeats the performance in "Go for Broke." The picture recounts the story of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of the most decorated fighting units of World War II, which was composed of Americans of Japanese ancestry. All were volunteers from the Continental U. S. and Hawaii. The curiously catching title, "Go for Broke," derives from Hawaiian dice-shooting slang for "shoot the works!" which was their battle cry. Van Johnson is the only major marquee name in the virtually all-male cast. Gianna Canale, as a soldier-bewitched Italian lass, shares a brief interlude of passing amour with Johnson. As for performances, they are all convincing and top-notch. The picture is one of seize and scope, constituting 92 minutes of undiluted entertainment. Whether the picture will stimulate_ the box-office popularity it merits is a question that can not be answered with certainty in these days of renewed wartime anxieties. The story opens with Johnson, fresh out of OCS, assigned to the newlyactivated 442nd. The idea of being assigned to a platoon of Japanese-Americans is distasteful to him and he is not very subtle in disguising his feelings. Attempts to get a transfer are unavailing so Johnson releases his frustrations in strict disciplinary measures for the hard-pressed platoon. The unit goes overseas, and gradually, under fierce baptisms of fire, Johnson begins to feel a close bond with his men. By the time the finale rolls around Johnson is aware of the monstrousness of prejudice and its affront to the fraternity ' of man. Robert Pirosh, who directed and wrote the screenplay, has injected a vivid sense of documentary realism into the combat scenes. The regiment's relentless drives to battlefield glory, now a matter of recorded history, are recreated with power and imagination. Sub-plots and comic incidents weave in and out of the film to add to its imposing stature. Schary has done it again. Running time, 92 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, May 25. Mandel Herbstman Contests are emerging as key promotion items for the exploitation of Columbia's "Valentino," following the success of this policy in key situations. Edward Harrison, manager of the Bijou Theatre, Springfield, Mass., concentrated on radio programs and hotel and night club tie-ups. Nate Wise, publicist for RKO Theatres in Cincinnati, promoted two top daily newspaper contests. A pre-selling campaign is being worked out in Portland, Ore., in which a contest is built around nightly tango sessions, tied in with night clubs and newspapers. • An intensive three weeks schedule of radio and TV guest appearances for 20th Century-Fox's "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" is now being completed by Sam Jaffe, who is featured in the film. The actor has been scheduled on the Wayne Howell shozv (NBC), with Jane Pickens (NBC), Johnny Olsen's Luncheon1 Club (ABC), Nancy Craig (ABC), Strike It Rich (CBS), Bill Leonard (CBS), Luncheon at Sardi's, (WOR), Margaret. Arlen (CBS-TV), Buddy Rogers (WOR), Barbara Wells (WORTV), Gloria Swanson (WOR), and Poole's Paradise (WOR). A special fashion show with Jaffe as commentator will also herald the :.pi<rture over the Tex and Jinx . show (WBNT) next Tuesday. The program will feature nine goztms designed for the film by Charles Le Maire, fashion director for 20th Century-Fox. • Morris Mechanic, owner of the New Theatre, Baltimore, staged a gala opening for "Bird of Paradise" with civic and social leaders, beautiful models, a special drum and bugle corps and Debra Paget's sarong, with sound trucks, kleig lights and fanfare. The fashion show and auctioning off of the sarong for the benefit of the Cancer Fund was attended by the Governor of Maryland and the Mayor of Baltimore, with a host of other dignitaries. — Walter Brooks High Court Hears RCA on Color TV Washington, March 26. — The Supreme Court today heard about three hours of argument in the color television controversy and then quit for the day. It will hear another hour's argument tomorrow, before taking the case under advisement. Before the high court is RCA's appeal from the Chicago three-judge court ruling upholding the Federal Communications Commission's decision approving the CBS color television system. The court will not hand down a decision before April 9, its next decision session. John T. Cahill, RCA attorney, told the court the CBS color plan was already "obsolete." He said the system devised by RCA gives promise of providing color without the loss of detail which he said characterized the CBS system. And Drive-ins They Shall Be: Allied Washington, March 26.— Allied States has admitted defeat in its campaign to have drive-in theatres called "outdoor theatres." Allied general counsel Abram F. Myers stated in a bulletin that the term "outdoor" was brought forward to emphasize the kinship between drive-ins and conventional theatres. "But word drive-in was too firmly established and could not be supplanted," he declared. From now on, even Allied will call 'em "drive-ins." Justice Motion Today Hits Sutphen Claim The Justice Department is scheduled to file today a motion asking the U. S. Supreme Court to affirm the action of the three-judge statutory court' denying Sutphen Estates of the right to intervene to contest the Warner consent decree. The motion, to be filed with the New York Court, declares that Sutphen's lease on the Strand Theatre, Washington, is in no way lessened in value as a result of the consent decree, and that Sutphen has no stand ing in the proceedings. It will be several weeks before the matter ac tually reaches the Supreme Court and is acted on. Doris Day Over 'AF' Los Angeles, March 26. — A special salute to Doris Day, star of Warner Brothers' Technicolor musical, "Lullaby of Broadway," was beamed around the world tonight by the Armed Forces radio. Links Drive-ins to Industry's Future Washington, March 26. — Predicting that drive-in theatres will become more and more important in the set-up of the film industry, Abram F. Myers, general counsel of Allied States, declared that "it is inevitable that for a long time theatre construction will be largely confined to drive-ins." Myers said this would be true because of scarcities of building materials and building skills, if for no other reason. In a bulletin beating-the-drums for Allied's coming Drive-in Theatre Owners Convention, to be held in Kansas City May 15, 16 and 17, in conjunction with Allied's spring board meeting, Myers said that while owners of indoor theatres at first resented drive-ins, and while "minor differences have arisen" between the two kinds of theatres in some areas, "they have so many common interests and so few that are antagonistic that it is only common sense they should belong to the same associations. Both will be better off working together in established Allied organizations than working at cross purposes in rival organizations." Allied Bid Plan (Continued from page 1) cussion, emphasizing the "vastness" of the issues involved. He said the distributors had promised to give Allied fairly soon, answers on Allied's plan to change the competitive bidding sections of the Paramount decree. Myers said all discussions had been "in the most general terms — just canvassing the edges of the situation," and that "nothing definite was agreed on or pointed up." Meetings were held with Paramount general counsel Austin Keough and with J. Robert Rubin and William Rodgers of Loew's, according to Myers. He said further meetings with these officials and with spokesmen for other companies would be held "in the near future, but definitely not this week." Ampa to Tour Plant Today's Association of Motion Picture Advertisers' scheduled tour of the Nezv York Herald Tribune offices will be attended by the publishers of the newspaper, Helen Rogers Reid, Whitelaw Reid and Ogden Reid, according to an announcement by Harry K. McWilliams, AMPA's president.