Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

46 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 24, 1943 Films Must Aid Civilian Morale Davis Says MORGENTHAU PAYS TRIBUTE TO TRADE In a telegram to the assembled delegates at the national conference of the National Entertainment Industry Council at the Waldorf Astoria, New York, last week, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., paid special tribute to the entertainment industry for its cooperation in the war effort, and urged the industry on to even greater achievements in fund raising and the maintenance of home morale. the entertainment industry serving in the armed forces, mentioning the figures during the discussion of the coming unveiling of an all-industry service flag in Times Square. William Feinberg of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, promised his union's cooperation. The NEIC budget of $30,000 provides for a paid full-time executive director, publicist and a staff. At the opening of the conference on Wednesday, James Cagney, president of the Screen Actors Guild, proposed that the council's purposes be defined as "solely for the voluntary cooperation within the entertainment world, for the war effort," and prohibiting it from acting as a governing or oolicy-making body. The proposal was unanimously accepted by the delegates. George J. Schaefer, chairman of he War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry, who had been serving as temporary chairman during the organizational planning, was elected national chairman of the NEIC. Tuohy Suit Against 20th-Fox Is Set for Next Week The U. S. District Court in Chicago will be the scene of the trial of the suit filed by Irving S. Roth and Thomas J. McCormick, attorneys for Roger Tuohy, at present in Joliet Prison, against Twentieth Century-Fox. Bryan Foy, producer of the picture, "Roger Tuohy, Last of the Gangsters," and Joseph E. Ragen, warden of the prison, and will be heard by Judge William Holly on his return from vacation July 26th. The complaint charges that the picture dramatizes the plaintiff's life and character for the sole purpose of pecuniary gain to the defendants without the plaintiff's consent. Dismissal of Publicists Upheld by Republic Republic Pictures has answered the Screen Publicists Guild's protest against the dismissal of three members of the studio publicity department by insisting the company has authority under the basic agreement with the Guild to make dismissals. Acting as labor contact for the studio, Al Wilson maintai-ned that employees could be dismissed in accordance with any collective bargaining agreement that might exist. Republic has agreed to give severance pay to the employees dismissed. Plan Cleveland First Run . Loew's Ohio theatre in Cleveland, closed since 1938, has been announced as a circuit firstrun house with its opening scheduled for September. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" will be its first booking. Public Aware of Industry War Aid, Says Coe The public is becoming increasingly aware of the wartime services of the motion picture industry, Charles Francis Coe, vice-president and general counsel of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, reported Monday. He had just returned to his office in New York from a cross-country speakinp tour which took him to the Pacific Northwest San Francisco and Los Angeles. The public relations program instituted last year will continue, Mr. Coe said. He plans speeches in August and September at severa' cities in the east and middle west. These an reported to include Buffalo and other upstat New York and Pennsylvania cities. A definite date has been set for Rochester, N. Y., at the Rotary Club, on August 3rd. He also will dedicate the new Eastman Auditorium there. The industry's program of informative public relations is bearing fruit, according to Mr. Coe, in increasing interest by public leaders in the community service performed by local theatres and by the industry at large. Requests to the Industry Service Bureau for motion-picture information have increased, he said. Mr. Coe expressed gratitude to theatre men who participated in arrangements for his speeches to Rotary clubs, chambers of commerce and other civic groups. Exhibitors have shown great enthusiasm for the idea of institutional public relations. Their help in arranging appearances before civic leaders in key cities had aided the program greatly, the MPPDA counsel said. Trade practices were not discussed during his visits with western exhibitors, Mr. Coe said, repeating previous declarations that his concern at present was primarily with advancing the "good name of the motion picture industry." Reports of sharp debate between Mr. Coe and Rotus Harvey and other independent exhibitor leaders at San Francisco were exaggerated, the MPPDA vice-president said. He admitted the discussions which followed a dinner in the California city touched on trade practices but said the conversations were "friendly, informal and completely unofficial." Arthur De Bra, research director of the MPPDA, who accompanied Mr. Coe on his western tour, reported that school and civic leaders are still expressing great interest in "Land of Libertv," the screen history pageant released by the MPPDA in 1940. The film is still in distribution through the MGM exchanges. Mr. De Bra explained that Mr. Coe and William F. Rodgers, vice-president and general sales manager of MGM, were anxious that independent exhibitors who presented "Land of Liberty" should be credited with performing an important service to their local educational institutions. They described "Land of Liberty" as "epitomizing the contribution which the industry can make by joint effort." Dailey Off for Front Capt. Jack F. Daily, former Paramount district advertising representative who provided the original idea for the Pine-Thomas air film. "Aerial Gunner," and served as technical and military adviser on the film, has left the Harlingen Aerial Gunnery School for foreign duty. Musical Gets New Title In a plea to the entertainment industry, Elmer Davis, director of the Office of War Information, addressed the final session of the two-day national conference of the newly formed National Entertainment Industry Council at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, last week. He warned that there is a perceptible let-down ■ of morale on the home front, and that it was up to the industry to contribute to the solving of the problem by carrying "the realization to everybody in this country that the primary business of every single member of the population of the United States is the business of war until the war is won." Said Mr. Davis : "I think some of the troubles that we have had (on the home front) lately are due precisely and entirely to the fact that the people think the war is in the bag." He warned that recent progress on foreign fronts represent just that and not victory until "the Allied armies are in Berlin and Tokyo." And that there is a long, hard job ahead ; one to which the entertainment industry can make great contributions, he said. OWI Can Carry On Despite Cuts Posing the problem, Mr. Davis explained: "I don't know the answer — I simply put the question before you. . . . First it is the business of providing entertainment which will give people the necessary relaxation which will enabie them to work harder during working hours, and secondly, to carry messages as the entertainment industries have been carrying them very copiously from the Government to the people about the war effort and the specific things the people have to do to make the war machine work." Mr. Davis, acknowledging OWI's indebtedness to the entertainment industry, said that with the continued cooperation of the industry he felt confident that OWI would be able to carry on its work despite the small appropriation allotted to it by Congress. NEIC delegates, representing 44 entertainment organization, addressed a telegram to President Roosevelt reaffirming their "pledges of loyal service in every way to the furthest prosecution of the war," and unanimously dedicating the industry to an intensified and complete program of support of all phases of war work at home and abroad. One of the speakers on Thursday, closing day, Philip Loeb of Actors Equity outlined the intended activities of NEIC, explaining its scope would carpet three phases of action, the armed forces, the production front, and the civilian front, adding that the NEIC through its coordinating committee, would work on the drives of the Treasury Department and the National War Fund. War Effort Plan Is Outlined Means and mediums to be used in the entertainment projects on the home front were discussed at length, and suggestions offered included the possible expanding of little theatres and the facilities of universities to be used in war activities, and the expansion of shows in the manner of those produced by the Department of Agriculture on black markets. Also proposed was the possible extension of runs of Broadway plays to include six-week tours of Army camps. James Sauter, executive director of the United Theatrical War Activities Committee, revealed that there were more than 75,000 members of FWC Acquires Theatre Fox West Coast Theatres have taken over the operation of the Studio theatre in Vallejo, Cal., formerly a Lippert house, it was reported. The Technicolor musical produced by Twentieth Century-Fox starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda and known as "The Girls He Left Behind," has had its title changed to "The Gang's All Here."