Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

44 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 24, I 943 Raw Stock Allotments Unchanged By WPB Hopper Predicts Quotas Will Hold for Duration at 25% Under Pre-War Raw film stock allotments to producers and others will remain as they are for the duration, in the belief of Harold Hopper, chief of the War Production Board motion picture section. Arriving in Hollywood Monday from Washington, Mr. Hopper added that restrictions now hampering photographers in obtaining sensitized film and paper may be relaxed shortly. An examination of the WPB's present allotments to 11 producer-distributors shows that they are allowed to use 268,688,194 feet of raw stock per quarter year. The total and ratio is unchanged for the next quarter. However, the amount represents 25 per cent less consumption than before the war. Metro Allowed Greatest Amount of Film Footage Fifteen and one-half per cent, or 42,147,476 feet of the total quarterly allotment goes to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Next biggest raw film user is Warner Brothers, getting 33,742,077 feet, or about 12 per cent. Twentieth Century-Fox's Movietonews is the top newsreel raw film user, holding permits in the new quarter for 12,121,701 linear feet, followed closely by News of the Day and Paramount News, each permitted to buy a little more than 11,600,000 feet. March of Time gets 2,164,195 feet. War Production Board permits for raw film usage for all 11 companies for the next quarter allow stock purchases in the following amounts: Linear feet Columbia 30,253,296 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Loew's, Inc. 42,147,476 Monogram 5,848,397 Paramount 30,722,843 Producers Releasing 5,500,000 Radio-Keith-Orpheum 27,435,119 Republic 18,380,444 Twentieth Century-Fox 31,803,298 United Artists 15,086,803 Universal 27,448,441 Warner Brothers and Vitagraph 33,742,077 The totals for newsreel companies are as follows : Movietonews 21,121,701 News-of-the-Day 11,685,076 Paramount 11,627,566 Pathe News 7,865,750 Universal Newsreel 7,085,524 March of Time 2,164,195 In WPB film limitation order No. L-178, the Government lists "Class A" distributors as follows: Columbia, Loew's, Paramount, RKO, Republic, 20th Century-Fox, Universal and Warner-Vitagraph. The three others, Monogram, PRC and United Artists, are listed as "Class B" distributors. The WPB's authorizations specify "motion picture film," allowing the permit holder to channel its stock acquisitions into whatever proportion of negative or positive its needs dictate. To eliminate a floating demand for 35mm raw film, threatening to impede the effective operation of the raw film stock program, the War Production Board last week limited the validity of authorization to purchase 35mm raw film to 180 days, affecting all but established Hollywood studios and newsreel companies. WPB officials explained that practically all permit authorizations, issued this year under Limitation Order No. L-178 have contained a time limitation on their validity, but there were outstanding earlier authorizations which had no time limit, many of which were still being used. When the authorizations were issued, it was expected they would be used within a short period. The unknown floating demand made necessary the new restrictions and the cancelling of all old authorizations, according to the WPB. The new stricture was incorporated in the film restriction order, effective immediately. No change was made in the schedule of allocations for studios and newsreels. The WPB also amended its order limiting the production of photographic film to eliminate a loophole through which studios might have been made eligible for preference ratings to obtain film and which would have interfered with the operation of the raw film rationing system. Photo Equipment Group Meets With WPB Heads Harold Hopper, chief of the motion picture section of the War Production Board and other WPB officials, met last week with members of the newly organized Photographic Equipment Advisory Committee in Washington, and discussed the materials situation as it affected the industry. As Government presiding officer, Mr. Hopper was in charge of the conference, and departed, shortly thereafter, for Hollywood, with no other comment than that the discussions were general and no attempt was made to make decisions for WPB action. Members of the committee present included : Fred M. Hall, Bell and Howell Company ; J. C. Fishel, Federal Manufacturing and Engineering Corporation ; William W. Drewry, Jr., Agfa-Ansco ; Talton R. Craig, Craig Movie Supply Company ; C. C. Cooley, Da-Lite Screen Company, Inc. ; George E. Yeomans, Eastman Kodak Company ; H. A. Schumacher, FolmerGraflex Corporation ; J. J. Kuscher, De JurAmsco Corporation ; B. Kleerup, Society for Visual Education, and Homer Hilton, Argus, Inc. Joins Kaiser Shipyard Arthur Kolstad has joined the Kaiser shipyards in Portland, Ore., as a steel expediter. He headed the Hood River Amusement Company in Portland for many years. Allen Named Exchange Head Gordon Allen has been appointed manager of Monogram's San Francisco exchange and will work under Mel Hulling, western district manager. Charge Majors Are Hoarding Finished Films Distributors are charged with "hoarding" completed pictures in violation of film rationing provisions of the War Production Board by George Farnum, Boston lawyer representing a group of New England independent theatre operators. He asked the WPB in a letter last week to order the swift release of all completed pictures or to transfer an equivalent amount of raw film to independent producers. Mr. Farnum, who claims to represent 200 independent theatres, moved against the distributors on a tack differing from his recent threats to seek Federal legislative control of film prices. The price control project has not been dropped. He continued to keep the identity of his clients a secret. "The practice of consuming a large part of the raw stock allocated to producers in the making of pictures which are not released on completion but, on the contrary, are hoarded for some indefinite future release, we feel is entirely inconsistent with the object and spirit of the rationing rules and is calculated to aggravate the abuses of monopoly," Mr. Farnum wrote the WPB. He charged it artificially limited the supply of pictures to independent theatres, gave distributors an unfair bargaining position and increased the cost of screen entertainment to the public and theatre operator. At Washington the WPB film division headed by Harold Hopper admitted receipt of the Boston complaint. There were indications however that it would decline to investigate the charge of hoarding on the grounds that it was strictly an infra-industry affair. The WPB previously, when asked to intervene in the perennial double feature dispute, made clear its belief that the Government were concerned only with the imposition of overall limits on the consumption of critical materials and could not intervene in trade disputes over interpretation of its orders. Lazarus on Coast for Publicity Talks Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., United Artists director of advertising, publicity and exploitation, left last week for the company's west coast studios to discuss pre-release publicity and advertising campaigns. Mr. Lazarus will discuss publicity and advertising plans with William Cagney on his first UA release, "Johnny Come Lately," starring James Cagney, and with Andrew Stone and Ed Finney on their initial UA production, "Hi Diddle Diddle." In addition to individual producer meetings on forthcoming product, Mr. Lazarus plans promotional conferences with David O. Selznick on "Since You Went Away," Samuel Bronston on "The Life of Jack London," now in production, and with Edward Small on "The Raft" and Gregor Rabinovitch on "The Girl from Leningrad," which has just gone before the cameras. "Wake Island" in Sweden According to a cable received by John W. Hicks, Paramount vice-president in charge of foreign activities, from Carl P. York, company's managing director for Sweden, the picture "Wake Island" opened in Stockholm to a soldout house with an "All summer run assured." Massachusetts Theatre Reopens The Idle Hour theatre of Three Rivers. Mass., has been reopened with the opening of a new war plant in the area. Settle Infringement Suit An out-of-court settlement has been reached between Loew's and Bettie MacDonald, former show girl, who claimed rights to "Ziegfeld Girl," produced some time ago as a film.