Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1940)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD June 15, 1940 REPUBLIC HOLDS FOURTH REGIONAL (Continued from preceding page) were present at the sessions which ended Friday. At the first of the two regionals, held in Chicago, it was announced that five of the most important pictures will be released between June 15th and September 15th. The films are "Arizona," "Howards of Virginia," "He Stayed for Breakfast," "It Happened in Paris" and "Before I Die." Rube Jackter, assistant sales manager, announced the awards for the Central, Midwest and Western divisions during the recent Montague Fifteenth Anniversary Campaign. Prize winners were : Central Division : C. D. Hill, St. Louis ; Midwest Division : Phil Dunas, Chicago ; and Western Division: W. C. Ball, Los Angeles. Omaha, J. H. Jacobs, manager ; E. Dunas, F. Horn, J. Zide, R. Adler. Los Angeles, W. C. Ball, manager; H. Wineberg, S. Fisher, H. M. Lentz, N. Newman, J. De Costa, L. Beckner. Des Moines, M. H. Evidon, manager; M. Goodman, A. B. Leak, O. Miller. Chicago, P. Dunas, manager; F. J. Flaherty, T. Greenwood, L S. Joseph, C. Phillips, M. Delano, H. Couston. Minneapolis, H. J. Chapman, manager; A. L. Aved, D. H. Conley, L Marks, M. E. Mazur, M. W. Sgutt, W. Evidon, B. Landy. St. Louis, C. D. Hill, manager ; J. Bradford, C. S. Ferris, L. A. LaPlante, R. Mortenson, H. J. Buschmann. St. Louis, Russell Mortenson, Herbert Buschmann ; Omaha, Robert Adler, Des Moines, Orville Miller. James Dailey, San Francisco ; 4th Place : William Kassel, Chicago; Leroy Purdy, St. Louis ; Jack Earley, Detroit ; Earl Gingrey, Indianapolis. Promotions Announced Mr. Jackter also announced several promotions : Sam Cramer, from Accessories manager to salesman at the Denver exchange; Orville Miller, from book and office maanger to salesman at Des Moines. The following men were added to the Columbia personnel : William Kahl, Chicago ; Mr. Shacklef ord, Kansas City ; Fred Horn, Jack Tigue, Omaha and Norman Newman, Los Angeles. Mr. Cohn told the delegates that "now is the time to prove our faith in ourselves and in our American institutions if we are to survive the horror and hell that ravages Europe today." The home office contingent, headed by Jack Cohn, vice-president of Columbia Pictures Corporation, and A. Montague, general sales manager, arrived Monday for the Atlantic City convention. Among the home office executives attending the meeting in addition to Mr. Cohn and Mr. Montague, were R. Jackter, A. Schneider, N. B. Spingold, J. McConville, L. Astor, L. Weinberg, M. Weisfeldt, M. A. Bergman, L. JafTe, H. C. Kaufman, M. Grad, M. Wormser, G. Josephs, W. Brennan, B. Zeeman, V. Borrelli, J. Freiberg, S. Raisler, T. McCue, I. Sherman, L. Malamed, A. Seligman, F. McGrann, A. Sherman, J. Segal, C. Roberts, A. Picker, and foreign representatives Joseph Friedman, Managing Director of England, A. M. Noye of Brazil and H. Prosdocimi of Panama. Also attending were: NEW YORK: district manager Nat Cohn; managers S. Tra and I. Wormser; salesmen, J. Sokoloff, S. Schussel, J. Wenisch, M. Fraum, E. Helouis, S. Feinbloom. NEW HAVEN: branch mgr. T. F. O'Toole, salesmen, B. J. Lourie, S. Swirsky. BOSTON: branch mgr. I. H. Rogovin; salesmen, E. Cohen, S. Simons, C. Myshrall, H. Olshan, J. Wolf, A. Barry. ALBANY: branch mgr. J. Miller; salesmen, E. Hochstim, J. Armm, M. Cohn, S. Goldberg. BUFFALO: branch mgr. P. Fox; salesmen, G. H. Ferguson, J. BuUwinkel, N. Marcus, C. Harter. UNUSUAL RIGHTS SET ON ''STORM" Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in purchasing the serial rights to Phyllis Bottome's "The Mortal Storm" also has obtained the right to supply the serialization free to a number of metropolitan newspapers in the United States and Canada, which had settled terms for purchasing the story. According to the company it marks the first time that a story set for purchase by newspapers has been turned over to them without charge. Another unique feature of the deal, it is said, is that newspapers will be permitted to set direct from the text of the novel. MGM's film version, starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, will be nationally released this week. PHILADELPHIA: branch mgr. H. E. Weiner; salesmen, J. Schaeffer, D. Korson, J. Engel, M. Goldstein, L. H. Wurtele. WASHINGTON: Mid-East division mgr. S. A. Galanty; salesmen, O. D. Weems, J. B. Walsh, C. A. Wingfield, B. Caplon, J. Kuschner. PITTSBURGH: branch mgr. A. H. Levy; salesmen, S. Sugerman, J. Gins, S. Goldberg, G. Tice. J. Kohler. CINCINNATI: branch mgr. A. S. Moritz; salesmen, C. R. Palmer, H. W. Rullman, L. E. Davis, P. Niland, J. A. Curran. CLEVELAND: branch mgr. L. Zucker; salesmen, M. Click, J. Share, O. Bloom, G. S. Vojae. ATLANTA: Southern Division Mgr. S. Moscow; branch mgr. W. W. Anderson; salesmen, B. A. Wallace, U. T. Koch, E. B. Foster, J. S. Laird. MEMPHIS: branch mgr. J. J. Rogers; salesmen, H. Kohn, T. B. Haynes, H. A. Chrisman. NEW ORLEANS: branch mgr. H. Duvall; salesmen, J. Winberry, J. J. Fabacher, R. A. Kelly. DALLAS: branch mgr. J. B. Underwood; salesmen, H. Graver, W. L. Penn, J. L, McKinney, A. M. Whitcher, L. Wilkes. OKLAHOMA CITY: branch mgr. C. A. Gibbs; salesmen, J. A. Smith, S. Gibbs, J. P. Hudgens. CHARLOTTE: branch mgrr. R. J. Ingram; salesmen, G. Roscoc, R. D. Williamson, C. Patterson. Fourth Republic Regional Held in New York After meetings in San Francisco, Memphis and Chicago, Republic completed this week its 1940 circuit of conventions with a two-day meet, on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York at the Park Central Hotel. Those attending the eastern regional sales meeting were M. E. Morey, of Boston; Sam Seletsky, of New Haven; Herman Gluckman and Morris Epstein, of New York ; Max Gillis, of Philadelphia; Sam and Jake Flax, of Washington; James H. Alexander, Geo. Collins and Sam Fineburg, of Pittsburgh ; Geo. H. Kirby, of Cincinnati ; Sam Gorrell, of Cleveland ; Nat Lefton, Ohio franchise holder ; Sam Seplowin, of Detroit ; Jack Bellman of Buffalo, and Arthur Newman, of Albany. From the home office : James R. Grainger, president; Walter Vincent, chairman of the Board; Morris Goodman, vice-president in charge of foreign sales ; G. C. Schaefer, vicepresident and general manager ; John J. O'Connel, treasurer; Si Borus, Contract department head, and David B. Whalen, director or advertising and publicity. On Tuesday night. Republic entertained the delegates and home office representatives with a cocktail party and beefsteak dinner at the New York Athletic Club. The Chicago meeting was concluded Friday, June 7th. Managers, salesmen and bookers from Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Omaha, St. Louis and Kansas City branches were present, as well as company executives. A cocktail party held Thursday night was attended by the delegates and circuit and theatre executives in the Chicago territory. Among those present were John Balaban, Jules Ruben, Great States Theatres and Edward Silverman, Essaness Theatre Circuit. Other 1940-1941 Product News R. M. Gillham, director of publicity and advertising of Paramount, has announced the appointment of the following special force of eight resident advertising consultants : Don Chambers, Boston ; William Broker, Philadelphia ; J. Maxwell Joice — Cleveland ; Clinton Bolton, Atlanta ; Bill Landsburg, Kansas City; Carl Kreuger, Chicago ; Jack Daily, Dallas and Ralph Ravenscroft, Los Angeles. The new force will begin activities about July 1st. Alec Moss, home office advertising manager, will coordinate the activities. "It will be the duty of these men," Mr. Gillham said, "to consult with and assist in every way the local exhibitors in their respective territories in order to secure the maximum box office results from each of the designated topbracket Paramount pictures as they are released." An arrangement has been made with George Pal, Hungarian producer, to make a series of six short subjects using puppets which will be set for each motion. The series, to be called Merry Models, will be made in color. Robert Benchley plans to make six short subjects for Paramount release at the Eastern Service Studio. He will be assisted by Leslie Roush, director and Justin Herman, adaptor. Cecil B. DeMille has announced that color will be used on all three pictures which he will produce in the next two years for Paramount release. Robert Sherwood (not the playwright) has concluded a one-picture deal with Columbia for the release of "Legacy" to be made by Robert Sherwood Productions, Inc. The film, based on a novel by Charles Bonner, will star Warner Baxter. Gordon S. Griffith will be production manager. W. Ray Johnston, president of Monogram, said in Hollywood that the company has set definite starting dates for 19 features between June and September. Scott R. Dunlap, in charge of production, has announced that Keye Luke, youthful Chinese actor, has been signed to play the male lead in a series of detective stories written by Hugh Wiley. George W. Weeks has announced that production of the first of a series of eight westerns for Monogram will begin on June 17th. The SIstribution of Producers Releasing Corporation films will be handled in the United Kingdom by Pathe Pictures, Ltd. The agreement was signed by William J. Gell, managing director of Pathe and negotiated by Leon Fromkess, foreign manager of Producers Releasing Corp. The complete schedule of 20 pictures for 1940-41 is covered. Harry Rathner, president of the Releasing Corp., has been conferring on the West Coast with Sigmund Neufeld, production chief. Lyric Pictures. Inc., plans a series of 12-two reel operatic shorts. The first scheduled is "The Barber of Seville," to be followed by "Tannhauser." The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra will be used. Production of a feature length "Martha" is to begin in August. Columbia will release the shorts and the feature. Al Christie plans to produce from two to four films this season in New York.