Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD COLV1N BROWN, Publisher MARTIN QU1GLEY President and Editor-in-Chief TERRY RAMSAYE, Editor Vol. 152, No. 2 OP July 10, 1943 A DECISION DECIDED issues of policy are involved in an expression from Mr. Nelson Poynter of the Hollywood office of the Bureau of Motion Pictures of the Office of War Information in which he has said that he understands that the film industry has made an offer to cover the costs of the bureau. This, he assumes, means that the organization will be continued. Much has been said, especially within the industry, in favour of the work done by the bureau, including Mr. Lowell Mellett and Mr. Poynter. And there are many who feel that the interests of the nation and this industry alike would be well served by its continuance. However, the story from Mr. Poynter is surprising. It does not sound like a product of careful consideration. It would appear hardly wisdom for the motion picture industry, in view of all relations, to take a position that could be interpreted as vetoing the Congress. The decision made is the decision of the elected representatives of the people. They have been most positive, and one recalls no argument that the vote was an economy measure. AAA w INTERNATIONAL" STUDENTS of the states of mind in Hollywood will be interested in some observations by Mr. Walter Wanger before a Lions' Club convention there the other day. He sees the motion picture engaged in "the fight for freedom" around the world. Comparing it with the press and the radio, he holds the screen the most democratic of the media, "because it definitely belongs to the people, having no other subsidy than the nickels and dimes of the people. . . . We are the only American medium of communication which has a great audience outside the United States. "We can be proud of it because it proves to cynics that international organization is possible, for here is a vast industry that has been built not by theorists but by extraordinary American citizens who realized their responsibility and built this important medium of enlightenment and entertainment on a foundation that is commercially profitable and yet respectful of the international interests of other free peopjes. "We have realized that talent transcends national boundaries, and in consequence the greatest artists of all the world have come to Hollywood and have been accepted without ever any discussion of quotas or discrimination. Origin or color have been forgotten in the interest of talent and the people of the world we wished to serve." American industry has come this far in the success of this nation strictly on its own. AAA "OVERHEAD MR. WALT DISNEY probably was not reaching for a pun in his radio appearance for the March of Time hour when he remarked that some of the military training films he is making "would make 'Gone with the Wind' a short by comparison", and then named "Aerology", a study of the weather for aviators. Most of the capacity of the Disney plant is these days devoted to pictures for education for war, so that, as he remarks, "Every boy preparing to fight has a front row seat in the classroom, even if he is one of a class of 5,000". Which brings to mind an incident of the making of "Victory Through Air Power". Major Alexander P. de Seversky, who appears in the picture, arrived in Hollywood for his studio appearances, in the midst of a tense schedule of speaking dates and conferences. They went to work in palpitating haste. The hours stretched along and it became necessary to work the recording and camera crews and all hands into double time, then triple time and that costly overtime the unions call "golden hours". At the dawn of one hot morning the recording was completed. A few hours later Mr. Roy Disney, very much concerned with the business management, encountered Major de Seversky strolling on the studio lot. "Congratulations," said Roy. "It's in the can now — and we've got you through in time to make the plane east." Major de Seversky shook his head sadly. "No, but I am not going now." Mr. Disney, with those overtime costs speeding across his consciousness, froze in astonishment. "Why?" "I cannot go now," replied the Major, "because my laundry did not come." AAA SOUND AND FURY NEXT door is the biggest noise in the world. Right across Rockefeller canyon and on top the terrific pile of the RCA building is the great air raid warning siren which sounds alerts to Greater New York and jars the eagle's nest for fifty miles up the Hudson. At this desk, about three hundred feet away, it can be heard rather clearly, even with the blackout curtains down. This hell-roaring device was designed, probably with great glee, by those same Bell Telephone Laboratories which had so much to do with that scientific conspiracy which brought sound to the pictures some years ago. It was built by the Chrysler Corporation, and runs with a 140 horsepower motor car engine, and no gas rationing. It positively works. This Victory Siren, according to the engineers, has a "cry" equal to the combined voices of "4,000 million ordinary men". It is so loud that it takes ten million people to listen to it. AAA RURAL GLAMOURS — The aroma of campfire coffee brewed in the chill of the dawn. The scent of the hay curing in the sun-drenched meadow. That cleanest-in-the-world odor of linen dried on ihe grass. The nourishing perfume of homemade bread, hot from the oven and cooling on a deal topped kitchen table. The warm earthy smell that rises from cultivated acres as the shadows slant over the land and the evening breeze sets in. All luxuries, beyond and without price. — Terry Ramsaye