Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1942)

January 10, 1942 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 25 $37,000,000 TAX INCREASE HINTED (Continued from preceding page) $122,600,000 during the current fiscal year and $159,600,000 in the coming fiscal year. President Roosevelt laid before Congress only the broad outlines of his financial program, leaving it to Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau to submit definite tax recommendations when he appears before the House Ways and Means Committee next week. The budget made provision for the funds for the various Federal agencies, allocating $4,991,219 to the Federal Communications Commission, of which $2,300,000 is for administration of the Communications Act of 1934 and the remainder for its national defense activities. The appropriation is $77,510 less than appropriated for this year, that sum representing equipment and other expenditures. No funds are allocated for agencies which have a direct responsibility for the motion picture and radio industries, such as the Coordinator of Information, under Col. William J. Donovan; the recently created censorship under Byron Price, Lowell Mellett's coordination of Government film activities, Nelson Rockefeller's Office of Inter-American Affairs, or the Office of Production Management. The Office of Information is expected to spend $1,590,260 this year, the Rockefeller office $5,281,787 and the OPM something over $9,000,000; expenditures of Mellett and Price have not been estimated. All of these agencies will be financed from a $25,000,000 emergency fund to be given the President. The desirability of daylight saving legislation, proposed early in the session but at that time given little support, has been emphasized in recent weeks by blackouts on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and by threatened shortages of power in many areas. President Roosevelt last week renewed his suggestion to Congress that legislation be enacted, and a bill authorizing him to advance the clock by not more than two hours during the period of the was emergency and for six months thereafter. Tuesday the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee reported favorably on the bill but Senator Taft of Ohio checked an attempt to give it immediate consideration. On the House side the Interstate and Foreign Commerce committees also considered daylight time following introduction of a bill by Representative Clarence F. Lea of California. The bill was approved Wednesday by the House Ways and Means Committee. Later that day the Senate passed the Wheeler bill. Radio and Television Push On for the War Television as a medium of mass instruction in defense subjects, as long discussed, was given its first large scale test at New York on Monday night. The National Broadcasting Company, over WNBT, New York and a network link with Philadelphia and Schenectady stations broadcast an hour of defense instruction. Air raid wardens, police and fire officials gathered in selected listening posts throughout New York City, Philadelphia and the Schenectady-Albany area to see the televised defense lessons. New_ York Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine arranged for zone, sector and post air raid wardens to watch the demonstration over 122 television receivers in 50 precincts throughout the city. The receivers were located in homes, radio stores and public schools. Although a large number of receivers are in taprooms and cafes the demonstration purposely excluded sets in places where liquor is sold. These would be available in an emergency however. The program consisted of an illustrated lec EXHIBITOR OFFERS THEATRE'S SEATS The 1,500 seats being removed from the balcony of the Twentieth Century theatre in Buffalo, N. Y., have been offered to any church or patriotic organization which wants them, according to John G. Finley, manager. Mr. Finley said if the offer is not accepted the seats will be turned over to the government for scrap metal. ture by police lieutenant William F. Maley, aide to the coordinator of New York civilian defense, and the exhibition of one of the first of a series of Office of Civilian Defense motion pictures, "Fighting a Fire Bomb." Relay of the program to the Philco station, WPTZ, Philadelphia and General Electric's Schenectady station marks another attempt to organize an east coast visual broadcasting network. Programs have been relayed to Philadelphia several times but this is the first three station link for a regular program. According to Noran {OK) E. Kersta, new general manager of NBC television, the establishment of a regular eastern television network is one of the main objectives for 1942. He asserted that such a network would be of vital aid. Under the direction of William C. Eddy W9XBK showed how television could become an important means of communication and instruction. Through English documentary films it was shown how fire bombs should be extinguished while another film showed what to do in case of an air raid. It was pointed out in the preview that the multi-lingual characteristics of television's pictorial presentation make it possible to broadcast to all language groups irrespective of their ability to speak or understand English. By putting a receiver in every defense zone headquarters (Chicago would need 88) an emergency communication and instruction system could be established that could be used even if regular radio had to be silenced. This would be possible because television comprises two separate transmitting systems, one of sound and one of picture, either of which could be operated independently of the other. If the sound end were silenced, printed or written bulletins could be broadcast and the beam could not be picked up by incoming planes. The television signal has only slightly more than horizon range. "Chicago, and for that matter, all large cities," Mr. Eddy said, "has a large foreign population. This pictorial instruction is a universal language. First aid, fire fighting, nutrition, all things vital to national defense may be taught by pictures, maps and charts. "At the present time there are in this country more than enough receivers, privately owned, to equip all civilian defense centers and fire and police stations. Balaban & Katz recently filed application for conversion of W9XBK to commercial operation. The American Television Society, headed by Norman D. Waters, advertising agent, has asked motion picture companies to clear patriotic short subjects and other related films for use on television defense programs. Mr. Waters wrote Will H. Hays, president of the MPPDA, asking a meeting with producers representatives and Mr. Hayes to discuss release of historic and patriotic motion pictures to television. The exodus of government agencies from Washington to provide working space for war agencies will not carry the Federal Communica tions Commission to new headquarters, James L. Fly, chairman, said on Monday. Mr. Fly explained that the FCC's defense work is now "so much more extensive and intensive" and requires such close contact with the army and navy departments and other defense agencies that there is little likelihood that it will be shifted from the capitol. The FCC may be moved to temporary quarters in nearby Alexandria, Va., however. Priority applications by communications agencies will be handled by Leighton H. Peebles, who was named head of the communications section of OPM on Monday. Mr. Peebles, who has been with the Department of Commerce NRA and SEC since 1931, will work with and have office space in the FCC. Three advisory engineers will be appointed by the Defense Communications Board to assist him. Radio Industry Centers Efforts on Defense Work The American radio industry will drastically restrict the production of receivers and broadcasting equipment for civilian entertainment use during the coming year, in order to devote from 60 to 100 per cent of its output to war material. Heavy demands are already being made on radio manufacturers, according to several newspaper surveys. Entertainment broadcasting will not be affected in extent or calibre, it was predicted. There are approximately 55,000,000 receivers now in use in the United States. All of the principal manufacturers of radio equipment are now on three shift production of defense orders, with huge backlogs. Laboratories too are concentrating on military radio problems, most of them secret. The Radio Corporation of America, producer of 13,000,000 radio receivers in 1941, and a large proportion of motion picture sound equipment revealed that its backlog of future work is now on a proportion of 20 per cent for civilian use with 80 per cent for defense. Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, pledging full support to the government production plans, as did RCA, indicated that almost 90 per cent of its orders are of a defense nature. Philco Radio and' Television Company expects to cut its production of non-defense sets by 60 per cent. Priority curbs have led to substitution of non-essential materials in as many as 40 such materials one radio research group reported. According to the Radio Manufacturers Association the OPM is expected to issue an order soon curtailing radio set production for the first three months of 1942 to 25 per cent of the output for the same period last year. This will provide approximately 675,000 receivers a month during the period. Settle Warner Suit Settlement of the $75,000 breach of contract suit by Alvin Harnes and Howard Gray against Warners and Vitagraph was seen Tuesday, in New York, after filing of a stipulation of settlement in Federal Court here. The sum was not disclosed. The plaintiffs had claimed they were entitled to compensation after the production of "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet," allegedly having entered into contracts in 1936 and 1937 to dramatize the doctor's life. Wolf Heads Charities Morris Wolf, Warner attorney in Philadelphia^ has been reelected president of the Federation of Jewish Charities in that city.