Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

16 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 10, 1943 Warners List 31; Program to Be Flexible (Continued from preceding page) lins, Detroit, $325 ; third, Gordon F. Contes, Washington, $300; fourth, J. H. Jordon, Charlotte, $250; fifth, H. G. Minsky, Pittsburgh, $200; sixth, Lloyd E. James, San Francisco, $150 ; seventh, J. D. Jernigan, New Orleans, $125; eighth, Elmer Huhnke, Omaha, $100; ninth, R. Salyer, Cincinnati, $100; tenth, H. Keeter, Charlotte, $100. Bookers : first prize, San Francisco, $600 ; second, Memphis, $500; third, Denver, $400; fourth, Charlotte, $350; fifth, Chicago, $300; sixth, Dallas, $200 ; seventh, Philadelphia, $150 ; eighth, Kansas City, $125 ; ninth, Seattle, $100 ; tenth, Indianapolis, $100. Ad Salesmen : first prize, C. M. Norene, Omaha, $200 ; second, E. Mallicoat, Kansas City, $175; third, M. L. Davis, Memphis, $150; fourth, G. Seibert, Buffalo, $125; fifth, L. Shayne, Chicago, $100; sixth, H. E. Stirling, St. John, $100; seventh, B. Davis, Dallas, $75; eighth, L. Katz, Vancouver, $75 ; ninth, A. Blase, Philadelphia, $75; tenth, C. Stacey, Cincinnati, $50. All-Star Picture Heads Completed List Immediate and near future releases of the new season, starting Labor Day, include the following already completed pictures, listed without indicating their eventual order of release : Watch on the Rhine, from the prizewinning Broadway stage play, starring Bette Davis and Paul Lukas. Thank Your Lucky Stars, an all-star cast including Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Edward Everett Horton, S. Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel, Willie Best, Ruth Donnelly, Don Wilson, Henry Armetta, Noble Johnson, Spike Jones and His City Slickers. Old Acquaintance, from the stage play, with Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, John Loder, Gig Young. Princess O'Rourke, comedy, with Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Jane Wyman. The Desert Song, from the stage operetta, with Dennis Morgan, Irene Manning, Bruce Cabot, Lynne Overman, Gene Lockhart. Devotion, based on the life of the Bronte Sisters, with Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino, Nancy Coleman, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet. Saratoga Trunk, Edna Ferber's novel, with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. Arsenic and Old Lace, from the stage hit, with Gary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Edward Everett Horton. The Adventures of Mark Twain, starring Fredric March and Alexis Smith. Films in Production Include War Themes Now in production, and all expected to be finished by the start of the 1943-44 season, are : Northern Pursuit, drama with a Canadian northwest locale, starring Errol Flynn and Julie Bishop, with Helmut Dantine and Gene Lockhart. Destination Tokyo, the submarine counterpart of "Air Force," with Cary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale. Conflict, drama, with Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart. In Our Time, based on the radio broadcast by Robert St. John, with Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, Nancy Coleman, Nazimova, Mary Boland, Morris Carnovsky. Shine On, Harvest Moon, musical based on the life of Nora Bayes, with Ann Sheridan, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Irene Manning. Also ready for release is a group of Victory Pictures including "Adventures in Iraq," "Murder on the Waterfront," "Crime by Night," "The Last Ride" and "Find the Blackmailer." Among the next group of features to start shooting will be: Battle Cry, a Howard Hawks production consisting of eight episodes by as many different writers, each dealing with a different nation. Passage to Marseilles, follow up to "Casablanca," with substantially the same leading players. Nine Stage Plays For Future Schedules The Horn Blows at Midnight, Jack Benny vehicle. Rhapsody in Blue, based on the life of George Gershwin. Mr. Skeffington, starring Bette Davis. Uncertain Glory, drama, starring Errol Flynn. The Gay Blades, musical, formerly titled "The Gay Nineties." Here Comes the Girls, musical, with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Alexis Smith, Jane Wyman. Three Strangers, original by John Huston, starring George Brent. Stage hits among the properties for future production include "The Doughgirls," "Dark Eyes," "The Corn Is Green," "Janie," "Ethan Frome," "Brooklyn, U. S. A.," "Daddies" "The Animal Kingdom," and Ibsen's "Pillars of Society." Among the additional book properties are "Night Shift" by Maritta Wolf; "Country Lawyer," by Bellamy Partridge; "Green Eyes," new Sinclair Lewis novel ; "Mississippi Belle," by Clements Ripley, to be made into a musical with Cole Porter music and lyrics ; "The Time Between," by Gale Wilhelm ; "The Conspirators," by Fredric Prokosch ; "Nobody Lives Forever," by W. R. Burnett ; "Danger Signal," by Phyllis Bottome ; "Happiness," by Mildred Cram. Other properties held by Warners include "Singing in the Wilderness," the story of John James Audubon ; "Misunderstood," original by Lili Hatvany to be produced by Robert Buckner, with Bette Davis slated as the star ; "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," "Will Rogers," "The Widow Wouldn't Weep" ; "God Is My Co-Pilot," by Col. Robert Lee Scott; "Al Schmid, War Hero," "Life of Marilyn Miller," "Humoresque," "George, the Devil and Rosie," "Deep Valley" and "Broken Journey," play by Andrew Rosenthal. Warner Player Roster Is Extensive Warners' contract list of stars and featured players who will appear in forthcoming productions includes : Humphrey Bogart, George Brent, Nancy Coleman, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Walter Huston, Priscilla Lane Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Irene Manning, Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith, Alan Hale, Gene Lockhart, John Loder, Hattie McDaniel, Dolores Moran, Eleanor Parker, Claude Rains, Joyce Reynolds, John Ridgely, S. K. Sakall, George Tobias, Jane Wyman and more than 20 other young featured players. Additional players engaged for special pictures include : Gary Cooper, Eddie Cantor, Dinah Shore, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Edward Everett Horton, Flora Robson, Miriam Hopkins, Peter Lorre, George Murphy, Charles Buttcrworth, Una Merkel, Dolores Costello, Robert Cummings Charles Coburn, Fredric March, Donald, Crisp, C. Aubrey Smith, John Carradine and others. RKO To Meet July 12-14th In New York Following completion of plans for the 12th annual sales convention of RKO Radio Pictures to be held next week, July 12th to 14th, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, Ned E. Depinet, president, announced Wednesday that the company will hold national trade shows of five top pictures, the last of the 1942-43 product. They are: "The Sky's the Limit," "Behind the Rising Sun," "Petticoat Larceny," 'The Falcon in Danger" and "Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event." Mr. Depinet, who last year listed 45 features and 185 shorts which would be released for 1942-43, noted that one year later the promise had been kept practically 100 per cent. Of the films specifically promised only one will not be delivered, "Grand Canyon," forced out by wartime transportation, gas and tire problems. Charles W. Koerner, vice-president in charge of production, and Perry Lieber, studio publicity director, were to leave Hollywood on Friday for New York to attend the meeting. Nearly 300 delegates were expected to attend the sessions at which Mr. Depinet will preside. N. Peter Rathvon, president of Radio-KeithOrpheum Corporation, announced this week that RKO Radio would continue to distribute Walt Disney shorts and features for another season under terms of an agreement extending the current contract which was signed last Friday. The contract covers distribution of Disney's seventh group of shorts for RKO and carries an option for the eighth. Additionally, RKO will distribute "Let's Go Latin," Disney feature previously titled "Surprise Package." The feature and the 18 shorts will be in Technicolor. This marks the beginning of the seventh season of RKO distribution of the Walt Disney pictures. From 1932 to 1936, United Artists distributed his product. UA was understood to have negotiated recently to regain distribution of the Disney films. Republic to Hold Three Sessions J. R. Grainger, president of Republic Pictures, this week announced that the company would hold a series of three regional sales meetings this month in New York, Chicago and at the North Hollywood studio. The first conference is scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, July 13th and 14th, at the New York Athletic Club. July 16th and 17, at the Drake Hotel, is the date for the Chicago meeting and July 22nd and 23rd has been set for the studio meeting. Promotion plans for Republic's forthcoming product and the concentrated publicity campaign on Roy Rogers, Republic's Western star, will be discussed at all three regionals, at which Mr. Grainger will preside. Eastern district sales manager Maxwell Gillis and central district sales manager Sam Seplowin will head a contingent of exchange men from those two districts to the New York meeting. District sales managers, franchise holders and branch managers will be present at the conferences. The forthcoming productions which will be discussed are: "Someone to Remember," "In Old Oklahoma," "War of the Wildcats," "Gay Blades" and "The Fighting Seabees."