Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

Page scan 000733 from Motion Picture Herald

Record Details:

Title:
Motion Picture Herald
Date:
Jul-Aug 1943
Publisher:
[New York, N.Y. : Quigley Pub. Co.]
Volume:
Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)
Leaf #:
000733
Language:
English
Subjects:
motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Periodicals
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
Library of Congress, MBRS, Moving Image Section
Sponsor:
Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Founded in 1915 by a Chicago printing company as a regional trade paper for Midwest exhibitors. In 1916, editor Martin Quigley bought out the owners, and over the next 15 years, he grew EXHIBITORS HERALD into one of the most important national, weekly trade papers in the film business. Quigley acquired MOTOGRAPHY in 1917 and MOVING PICTURE WORLD in 1927. In 1930, he acquired MOTION PICTURE NEWS and the new 'consolidated' publication became MOTION PICTURE HERALD. From the pulpit of his editorial page, Quigley preached the need to improve the motion picture industry and improve the quality of the films. He skillfully served as a mediator in disputes -- between distributors and exhibitors, between the film industry and the Catholic Church (Quigley was one of the architects of the Production Code). Quigley claimed that EXHIBITORS HERALD represented the 'independent exhibitor' and sections like 'What the Picture Did for Me?' certainly provided a forum for theater owners. But plenty of exhibitors viewed Quigley as a servant to the studios and large theater chains. In response, publications such as SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, INDEPENDENT EXHIBITORS FILM BULLETIN, HARRISON'S REPORTS, and BOX OFFICE were either formed or grew significantly in the years following Quigley's brief moment of consolidation in 1930. -- Eric Hoyt, 2014
Date Added:
May 30, 2024
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

August 28, 1943 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 41 (Continued from opposite page) were interesting to me. Played Monday, May 2. — Mrs. O. E. Brumley, Pal Theatre, Chatham, La. Small town and rural patronage. FLYING TIGERS: John Wayne, Anna Lee— A story of the American Volunteers flying for China before Pearl Harbor. A swell show. Everyone enjoyed this picture and many came back again to see it the second night. One of the best pictures we have played this year. Business average. Played Saturday, Sunday, July 10, 11. — James A. Blossom, Movie-tone Theatre, Fairfield, Mont. Rural and small town patronage. GAUCHO SERENADE: Gene Autry— Good picture; excellent business. I am ready for 8 more re-issues on new line-up, if they have them. Smith Ballew had a role in this. Wonder why Fox doesn't re-issue about four of their Smith Ballew Westerns. I'd like to play them. — Sammie Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. HEART OF THE GOLDEN WEST: Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes — As all Roy Rogers pictures, this one did a nice business for us. Why don't they have Frog in more of these? Played Friday, Saturday, May 28, 29.— Mrs. O. E. Brumley, Pal Theatre, Chatham, La. Small town and rural patronage. HIT PARADE OF 1943: John Carroll, Susan Hayward — A good show, but nothing big. Susan Hayward is cute and should land in the big time. Played Saturday-Monday, Aug. 7-9. — Melville Danner, Kozy Theatre, Granite, Okla. Small town patronage. JOAN OF OZARK: Judy Canova, Joe E. BrownPersonally thought this was just a child's picture. Evidently the patrons thought otherwise. We had a good turnout for this picture and many good comments. The customers chuckled and laughed all during the picture and still had smiles on their faces when the left the theatre, all ot which makes you feel as if you had done your good deed for the day. Played Saturday, Sunday, July 31, Aug. 1. — James A. Blossom, Movie-tone Theatre, Fairfield, Mont. Rural and small town patronage. RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON: Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes — This is a good Roy Rogers; well liked by all, both young and old. Played Friday, Saturday, July 9, 10.— Mrs. O. E. Brumley, Pal Theatre, Chatham, La. Small town and rural patronage. SHANTYTOWN: Mary Lee, John Archer— A good little picture. Mary Lee has a good voice. Would like to play some more of her pictures. — Melville Danner, Kozy Theatre, Granite, Okla. Small town patronage. SILVER SPURS: Roy Rogers— Very good Western which pleased the Western fans. Roy Rogers is growing in popularity and the Autry fans are accepting him. Played Friday, Saturday, Aug. 6, 7.— E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage. SUNSET ON THE DESERT: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes — Good Western, but a first run Rogers will not do as much business as an Autry reissue. — Sammie Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. TAHITI HONEY: Simone Simon, Dennis O'Keefe— This one is weak. Business off. Played TuesdayThursday, Aug. 3-5. — Melville Danner, Kozy Theatre, Granite, Okla. Small town patronage. RKO BALL OF FIRE: Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper — A very suitable picture, for adults only, I think. Played Thursday. July 29.— Cecil Atkinson, Star Theatre, Star City, Ark. Small town patronage. FLIGHT TO FREEDOM: Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray — Good picture and good business. Played Sunday, Monday, Aug. 1, 2.— E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage. FOREVER AND A DAY: British and American Stars — Very disappointing at box office. Comments poor; not for Sunday. Played Friday, Saturday, Aug. 6, 7.— H. M. Schenecker, Lyric Theatre, Webster, S. D. Small town patronage. FOREVER AND A DAY: British and American Stars — Some army students arrived in town to help swell attendance on this good picture. About everybody in Hollywood is in it and it follows the story of a house in England since it was built to the time it was bombed. It is not the best picture in the world, but it is very well put together. Surprisingly enough, the accent most of the time is on humor. I would say the audience was very well pleased and pleasantly surprised at the grand amount of humor in it.— W. Varick Nevins, in, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small town patronage. GUNGA DIN: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine— A real good show for small town business. Worth a lot of exploitation. My house was filled to capacity. Played Friday, July 30.— Cecil Atkinson, Star Theatre, Star City, Ark. Small town patronage. ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers — Patrons enjoyed this better than "The Moon Is Down" and "Five Graves to Cairo" it seemed. OK for Sunday. Stars well liked here. Advertise them above all; don't mention war. Overlong sequences; dialogue dull in spots. Played Sunday Tuesday, July 18-20. — H. M. Schenecker, Lyric Theatre, Webster, S. D. Small town patronage. PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, THE: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright — A masterpiece. Hadn't played it before and as a result very good business. Played Friday, Saturday, July 25, 26.— D. A. Russell, Ness Theatre, Ness City, Kan. Small town patronage. RIDING THE WIND: Tim Holt— Like most of Holt's Westerns. He is a good money drawer here. Played Saturday, July 31.— Cecil Atkinson, Star Theatre, Star City, Ark. Small town patronage. SALUDOS AMIGOS: Disney South American Feature— Ran this with "Whistling in Dixie" to a little above average. That is strange because almost every earlier Disney feature packed the house here. It is a good picture but not deserving of usual feature terms. Five times a D'isney cartoon short is about right for the price on it. It is too short for percentage terms. The crowd liked it very well.— W. Varick Nevins, III, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small college town patronage. THEY GOT ME COVERED: Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour — Ran this with' "Johnny Comes Marching Home" to average business. It had some good moments but it is far from being Hope's best picture. The title makes me think of the way the salesmen are holding us up these days, and business here is the lowest it has ever been. I am not speaking of any company in particular. — W. Varick Nevins, III, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small college town patronage. Twentieth CenturyFox BLACK SWAN, THE: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara — Excellent. — Sammie Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. CRASH DIVE: Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter— Swell picture in Technicolor. Business was good and this show should please anywhere. Played Wednesday, Thursday, Aug. 4, 5. — E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage. DESERT VICTORY: War in Africa Feature— Ran this with "Journey for Margaret" to very fine business, making an all war show (and a liar out of me again). They seemed to want to see this excellent story of the drive across Africa. I think the draw was equally divided between both pictures. — W. Varick Nevins, III, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small college town patronage. DR. RENAULT'S SECRET: Lynn Roberts, John Sheppard — Played on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 6 and 7, to average business. — Melville D'anner, Kozy Theatre, Granite, Okla. Small town patronage. FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter — Fair Sunday, poor balance of play date. Play up love angle ; avoid mention of war background. A good program picture would have been better. Played Sunday-Tuesday, July 11-13. — H. M. Schenecker, Lyric Theatre, Webster, S. D. Small town patronage. HELLO, FRISCO', HELLO: Alice Faye, John Payne — The tops. Brings all classes of patrons. Color beautiful; stars, story very good. Fox rang the bell again; their musicals built around songs and music of long ago never miss. Comments — nothing but praise. Played Sunday-Tuesday, Aug. 8-10.— H. M. Schenecker, Lyric Theatre, Webster, S. D. Small town patronage. HELLO, FRISCO, HELLO: Alice Fave. Tohn Payne — Here is a dandy color musical with good comedy. It drew fairly well for summer time here, but that was far below what I had to pay for it. Actually lost money on it. I can see where I am going to have to be hard to get along with this coming year. They have shown increases on my contracts long enough. The worm will have to turn or die.— W. Varick Nevins. III. Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small college town patronage. JITTERBUGS: Laurel and Hardy— Good slapstick comedy and good business. This is the type of picture for small towns. Played Tuesday, Aug. 3. — E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage. JITTERBUGS: Laurel and Hardy— My patrons say they are tired of these two, yet we had the biggest Sunday. Monday, Tuesday in months. Maybe anything that makes 'em laugh is the answer. This is tops for those stars. Not a big special, but very entertaining. Played Aug. 1-3. — H. M. Schenecker, Lyric Theatre, Webster, S. D. Small town patronage. MOON IS DOWN, THE: Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Travers — Stark realism; Nazi brutality. Business below average. My patrons hear and see too much war. They want relaxation and fun. Well made, however. Played Sunday-Tuesday, July 4-6. — H. M. Schenecker, Lyric Theatre, Webster, S. D. Small town patronage. STORMY WEATHER: Bill Robinson, Lena Home — Filmed to their best advantage in striking sepia, the all-Negro cast in this film gives out with some bang-up entertainment. Bill Robinson isn't quite as lively as he once was but all that is quite offset by the vivacious Lena Home, who is really quite something. The boys liked this show. Played Thursday, Friday, July 29, 30.— Army Theatre No. 2, Ft. Bragg, N. C. United Artists IN WHICH WE SERVE: Noel Coward, Bernard Miles — Splendid picture that did a little above average business. Would have gone over better if it had not been another war film. Some of the dialogue is a little hard to understand and people should see it from the beginning. — W. Varick Nevins. Ill, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small college town patronage. MOON AND SIXPENCE, THE: George Sanders, Herbert Marshall — This picture was not liked in my town. Possibly there is an audience in some towns for this, but not here. — Sammie Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. Universal DIAMOND FRONTIER: Victor McLaglen, Anne (Continued on following page) Make VICTORY this season's product An extra bond for every seat in your theatre, Mr. Exhibitor, is the showman's job while the quietly-colossal guys are doing the fighting. We'll all BACK THE ATTACK BUY WAR BONDS Every employe 10% or more SELL WAR BONDS One for each theatre seat BACK 3rd WAR LOAN September 9th to October 2nd Contributed by PRC Pictures, Inc.