Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1936)

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50 MOTION PICTURE HERALD December 19, 1936 JOIN PROTEST ON MOYNE REPORT {Continued from preceding page) pie of State control, direct or indirect, of the film industry. This feeling is regarded as so widespread as, in the opinion of well-informed persons, to make it highly unlikely that the cabinet will eventually accept the principle of the Film Commission, or of the indirect subsidization of the British production industry. Cite Early Idea Also certain to be brought forward prominently in Parliament is the consideration that the original act was passed on the understanding that the British production industry needed the support of a quota only during its first years of struggle and that it was intended to end this support in 1938, when studio facilities and actual production experience were expected to be adequate to insure self-support. Elementary, but entirely disregarded in the report, is the further consideration that the British cinema theatre lives chiefly on the superior quality of American films, that the public wants those films, and that public opinion has it in its power to make a 50 per cent quota not only unworkable but farcical. With these facts in mind, and with time to formulate a policy, the powerful section of the British trade which regards the report as advocating a disastrous policy is not disposed to panic. V Third of Cost from U. S. Herbert Wilcox anticipates recovering one-third of the negative cost from the United States market on the five productions he will distribute in America through G-B Pictures, he said on his return from a visit to the United States. He decided to release the five through G-B after considering the offers of several major companies, he indicated. "The United States is as wide open to British films as England itself," Mr. Wilcox said. . $1,654,210 London Films Loss London Films showed a loss of £330,842 ($1,654,210) for the year:. ended May 2, according to the financial statement just issued. The issued share capital was revealed at £428,549; £500,000 in first debenture stock; £453,562 in a loan secured by other debentures, and £549,291 in other secured loans. The amount due to creditors was listed at £288,892. Assets were valued in the aggregate at £2,229,973, including £751,845 for films completed or in progress and £561,149 for property and equipment. The debtor account listed £41,408 and cash of £5,403. Including £26,967 from the previous year, the total debit balance is £368,973. London Films is a public company but has made no issue, since the shares have been acquired privately, chiefly by Prudential Assurance Company. Sam Smith has completed a deal with Alexander Korda of London Films for a Korda subsidiary which will produce inexpensive pictures at Denham to be released through Smith's British Lion. The object of the deal is to employ unoccupied space at the Denham plant without cheapening the London trademark. V United Kingdom Societies Merging The British Kinematograph Society, originally a breakaway from the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, is expected to become a section of the Royal Photographic Society, which may also assume duties previously in the hands of the British Film Institute, semi-official body concerned with the development of the nonentertainment film, and subsidized by the Government from the levy on Sunday receipts. Balcon Joining MGM Michael Balcon is leaving Gaumont-British and on January 1 joins MGM British Studios, Ltd., as producer with Ben Goetz in general charge of the new enterprise. Four pictures already have been lined up for international release. Studio arrangements are not set. V G-B To Release Hagen Films Julius Hagen is closing down Twickenham Film Distributors, and will release his future product through G-B. His current product will go through Wardour Films, presumably until the close of the current season. Grand National Will Open Offices in Europe Grand National will open offices in London and Paris and possibly in Stockholm, according to Jack Barnstyn, foreign sales head. Although the company has a twoyear distribution deal with Associated Film Distributors, Ltd., Mr. Barnstyn feels it is necessary to establish offices where a Grand National executive can keep in direct contact with the British concern. Mr. Barnstyn will sail for Europe either January 3 or January 5. He plans to make a four-month tour. Edward L. Alperson, president, will arrive in New York this week after completing production deals with Richard A. Rowland, Zion Meyers and Victor Schertzinger in Hollywood. Newspapers Pick "Brigade" The Scripps-Howard chain of 23 newspapers selected Warner's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" as the "Picture of the Month" for November. The selection was based on a vote taken among the motion picture critics of the chain. Karl Tunberg Promoted Karl Tunberg, assistant to Gene Markey at Twentieth Century-Fox in Hollywood, has been promoted to the studio writing staff. Ralph Dietrich, cutter, is Mr. Markey's new assistant. C. C. Burr Opens Offices C. C. Burr, who will produce six "Crime and Courage" features which he will distribute through the state rights market, has opened offices at the International Studios in Hollywood. Republic-Philippine Deal Morris Goodman, vice-president in charge of foreign sales at Republic Pictures, has closed with Acme Films, Inc., of Manila, for distribution in the Philippine Islands. Louis Lazar has been appointed operating head of seven theatres in Kentucky which the Schine circuit recently acquired from the Phoenix Amusement Company. Strike Dismissals In JVPA Theatre Fought by Unions Despite announcements from Washington last week that scheduled reductions in the Works Progress Administration rolls would be greatly modified, workers in the Federal Theatre and other projects continued to protest dismissals and to demand the reinstatement of those dropped for insubordination following sit-down strikes in New York. A. meeting of WPA Theatre Project workers and sympathizers in the Manhattan Opera House, New York, on Saturday almost ended in a riot after undercurrent differences between American Federation of Labor unions and work relief organizations of recent origin were partially aired for the first time. The meeting was called by Allied Theatrical Crafts, A. F. of L. affiliate, but a majority of the audience consisted of members of WPA unions. A resolution, introduced by Heywood Broun, president of the American Newspaper Guild, and unanimously adopted, indorsed the right of labor to strike and demanded the reinstatement of WPA workers dismissed for engaging in sit-down strikes. Insistence by Morris Watson, a leader of the Federation of WPA supervisors, that he be allowed to speak led to the rioting. Mr. Broun's resolution was supported by Philip Loeb, a leader of the old Actor's Forum, insurgent group within Actors' Equity Association, Paul Dullzell, executive secretary of Equity, and Dorothy Bryant, executive secretary of Chorus Equity. Frank Gillmore, Equity president who left the meeting after a brief speech in which he did not specifically mention WPA but urged jobs for all, said that Equity still stood by its recent ruling against strikes or picketing on WPA. An official of the Allied Theatrical Crafts group described the matter of sitdown strikes as "extraneous." Besides Mr. Gillmore and Mr. Broun, other speakers at the meeting were William Collins, A. F. of L. organizer for New York City; Lee Simonson, of Local 829 of the Scenic Artists Union; William Feinberg, vice-president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians ; Ralph Whitehead, executive secretary of the American Federation of Actors, and John Howard Lawson, of the Authors League of America. Representatives of ten college dramatic societies in New York City met at the School of Business, Columbia University, last week and formed the Inter-collegiate Council of Federal Theatre Committees. It was understood that the purpose of the Council was to seek continuance and expansion of the Federal Theatre into a national theatre. William Lieberson, of the New York University Hall of Fame players, was elected chairman of the Council.