Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1940)

22 MOTION PICTURE HERALD March 2 , 1940 INDEPENDENTS SET PRODUCING PLANS {Continued from page 20) Drive began last Friday his second tour of the country. He is accompanied by Harry Michalson, short subject sales manager. Thirtyeight exchanges in the United States and Canada will be visited. The first meeting was held at Los Angeles where N. P. Jacobs is branch manager. The Seattle exchange, headed by E. A. Lamb, at the end of the third week led in the Drive. Milwaukee, A. Schmitz, branch manger, was second, and Buffalo, with C. Boasberg, manager, was in third position. The March month of the Ned Depinet Drive has been designated "Smith" month in honor of Cresson E. Smith, western and southern sales manager, and A. W. Smith, Jr., eastern and Canadian sales manager. Dan Winckler, former executive of the Myron Selznick Agency, has been put in charge of all RKO studio commitments, succeeding J. J. Nolan, who was named vice-president in charge of the studio a short time ago. Sidney Rogell, studio manager, has been given a new two-year contract. Six pictures in the RKO 1940-41 schedule have been assigned to Lee Marcus, production executive. The six include "Anne's House of Dreams," to star Ann Shirley, and "Freckles," both to be made from novels by Gene Stratton Porter; "Men Against the Sky," "Men Without a World" and an untitled original by Peter B. Kyne. Cliff Reid will produce five of the six and Howard Benedict will be in charge of "Men Against the Sky." Irving Reis, formerly a writer for Paramount, has become a director under Lee Marcus at RKO. Three more pictures in the Dr. Christian series, starring Jean Hersholt, will be produced by Stephen Lang Productions for distribution by RKO, following the signing this week of a new contract. The original contract specified three only. The RKO legal department has advised the Saturday Evening Post that certain parts of the article on Orson Welles in the February 7th issue were erroneous. The legal department said the contract was in effect and Welles had not been bought off for $160,000. Furthermore, no Welles picture budget calling for over $1,000,000 had been submitted. V Republic's Program The heaviest production program in Republic's history will be completed during the next four and a half months, Herbert J. Yates, chairman of the board, said this week. He announced 16 features and 11 westerns would be finished and released by July 1st. Mr. Yates was in Hollywood with James R. Grainger, Republic president, for conferences with western district managers and studio executives. Two of the 16 features, "Women in War" and "Wagons Westward" will have high budgets. Another top budget release for spring, "The Dark Command," is nearing completion. Another feature finished is "Forgotten Girls" with Donald Wood and Louise Piatt. Titles of other features planned are "The Higgins Family in Grandpa Goes to Town," "In Old Missouri," "Doctors Don't Tell," "The Crooked Road," "Gangs of Chicago," "Grand Ole Opry," "Lady from New Orleans," "Scatterbrain," "Girl from God's Country," "Should Wives Work," "Oomph Girl and the Cowboy." Mr. Grainger said the company's business as of February 1st was 25 per cent over last year's figure at that time and he predicted that by the end of May a minimum of 8,500 contracts will be signed. Joseph Mankiewicz, MGM producer, has an CIRCUIT TAKES OVER FREE MILK PROJECT When a city project, Lake Charles, La., to furnish nearly 200 school children with free milk was faced with failure as money ran out, officials of the Southern Amusement Company, through George Baillio, president, announced that it would sponsor continuation of the program in the future. The circuit operates four houses in Lake Charles. nounced that he will produce "The Philadelphia Story," current New York stage hit. Filming is to start in June on the coast. Katharine Hepburn, star of the stage play, and Robert Taylor will play the leads. V McConville to Latin America Seven of Columbia's Latin American offices will be visited by J. A. McConville, foreign manager for the company, who left last week on the Santa Elena from New York. Panama, Peru and Chile will be his first stops on his way down the west coast of South America and he will cover Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and the British West Indies on the return trip. Mr. McConville will confer with branch managers and supervisors on distribution and new product and he expects to investigate South American production activities. He will return about the middle of April. Columbia reports unusual response from exhibitors and exhibitor leaders to its announcement of the Montague Fifteenth Anniversary sales drive. V Thompson Sees Fewer "B's" Production of low budget pictures will be reduced by all major producers this year, according to Harlan Thompson, Paramount producer who has just completed "Road to Singapore" with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. The producer said that indications pointed to a greater number of top bracket pictures for the 1940-41 programs of all companies. George Bancroft, once a top ranking star at Paramount, will return to that studio for a featured role in Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor production, "Northwest Mounted Police." Filming is to start Tuesday. Mark Sandrich, Paramount producer and director, has received a new two-year contract. V Product Travelers During the week more than a score of topranking production, distribution and circuit executives, and many of their lieutenants, were traveling to and from New York and Hollywood in the interests of both current and new season's programs and sales. Herman Wobber, general distribution manager of Twentieth Century-Fox, plans to leave New York next week for production conferences with Darryl F. Zanuck, at which the 1940-41 program will be set. James R. Grainger, president of Republic, left Hollywood Monday for San Francisco on a two-day business trip. Nate J. Blumberg, Universal president, has arrived in New York from Florida. Hal B. Wallis, Warner Brothers executive producer, accompanied by Mrs. Wallis, left New York Monday for the coast studio. Joseph M. Schenck, chairman of the board of Twentieth CenturyFox, returned to New York this week from Miami Beach after a visit with his brother, Nicholas M. Schenck, president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lynn Farnol, director of publicity and advertising for United Artists, arrived in New York Monday from the coast. Emanuel Silverstone, American sales representative for Alexander Korda, left New York Wednesday for Hollywood. He plans to spend about two weeks on the coast. Leonard Goldenson and Sam Dembow, Jr., of the Paramount home office theatre executive staff, left New York Sunday for Chicago and Detroit for conferences with the company's theatre associates. Robert T. Kane, in charge of British production for Twentieth Century-Fox, plans to return to England about March 15th. Harry Ham, managing director of Myron Selznick, Ltd., sailed on the Manhattan Saturday for his post in London. E. B. Hatrick, vice-president of Cosmopolitan Productions, is scheduled to leave New York this week for coast conferences. J. A. McConville, Columbia foreign manager, left New York this week for a two months' business trip to Central and South America and the West Indies. Richards Buys 'IVind'for Circuit After weeks of negotiations following refusal of E. V. Richards, of the Saenger circuit, when in New York recently to buy "Gone With the Wind" on MGM's 70 per cent terms, a deal finally was closed this week in Florida by Thomas J. Connors, MGM division manager, who had gone South for the purpose. On a fishing vacation at Stuart, Fla., Mr. Connors made several trips to Miami were he conferred with Mr. Richards. The deal is for the entire Saenger circuit of about 70 theatres — on MGM's terms of 70 per cent, it is said. Saenger will open the film in Shreveport, Mobile and six other cities March 7th or 8th, and other bookings will follow. Mr. Connors in the South also is completing negotiations with M. A. Lightman, head of the Malco circuit of Memphis. Malco will open the picture in several Southern cities March 7-8. Mr. Lightman has been among the few circuit "holdouts" against MGM's terms. Mr. Connors is dickering in Miami also with Paramount partners and had a discussion with Barney Balaban and others there about Balaban and Katz taking the picture. B. & K. had rejected the film in Chicago. It appears a deal may be made by Balaban and Katz for Chicago subsequent runs. MGM says that the guarantee of 10 per cent of the gross as profit to the exhibitor has been a determining factor in closing numerous deals. As of late this week, MGM distribution officials said that the picture had grossed more than $11,000,000 at theatres.