Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1944)

THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS On to Chicago HOLLYWOOD was stoutly represented at the Republican National Convention at the Chicago Stadium this week. Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper and Gracie Allen converged at the clambake equipped with typewriters, political primers and dizzy hats to aid in writing their columns. David O. Selznick and Cecil B. DeMille, producers, attended as delegates from California. Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, was present, as an observer. Clare Booth Luce, who is related to the movies by marriage, was much in evidence, on the platform, over the air and before the news cameras. ;She is always on Time. Miss Parsons, in her column Monday said the political big wigs asked her questions "about their screen favorites. They wanted to know about Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Clark Gable and all the others. I can't be rude," she explained, "so I must stop and tell them. But how am I going to get my political education if they insist on talking about movies." Miss Allen told reporters she was "positively not running for president." At midweek, Mr. Dewey, who, up to Wednesday, was not running for president, was the convention's nominee. WAR and NEWSREELS [Continued from preceding page] intent, was an invasion of the newsreel and of the motion picture. It substituted two reels of pre-canned anticipation of the Invasion, prepared by the War Department, for the normal one-reel release of newsreel preparation for the same occasion. For the first time in the history of the newsreels, and of this industry, they missed an edition. That is no trivial precedent. It is no less than saying that the newsreels and the organized industry did not on this occasion adequately tend to their business. That is not correct. Meanwhile, among the reverberations, The Herald had not been on Broadway more than an hour last Friday when its editor had a call from the operating head of a major circuit, saying in effect that the decision to discard the newsreel and use the Government's tworeeler was in fact his and that of a contemporary circuit operator. They liked the release. The fundamental policy of the newsreel was not their special problem. So in sequel the newsreels elected to issue the two-reeler from the Government in lieu of the normal release. That version of the development, then, would put the operators of two circuits with a total of about fourteen hundred theatres in the position of deciding policy for between fourteen and fifteen thousand theatres which were not at the meeting. The reluctant newsreel editors made the decision in an official sense. It is said that even the War Department was astonished. The like probably will not happen again. — Terry Ramsaye SEE television adding to radio, with screen role minor Page 13 RALLY nation's showmen for final push in Bond drive Page 15 PRC to release forty to forty-five features next season Page 16 EXPECT MGM to offer total of thirty-six in new season Page 16 SERVICE DEPARTMENT Hollywood Scene Page 37 In the Newsreels Page 33 Managers' Round Table Page 43 IN PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION Showmen's Reviews Page 1969 Advance Synopses Page 1971 13 hit songs from screen, with only one from Broadway stage Page 17 BRITISH Film Council delays pending report on monopoly Page 26 J. ARTHUR Rank to produce story of Mary Magdalene Page 28 BOX Office Champions for the month of May Page 36 Picture Grosses Page 42 Shorts on Broadway Page 41 What the Picture Did for Me Page 40 Short Subjects Chart Page 1972 The Release Chart Page 1974 Short Circuit NOT even the excitement of convention time and the customary genuflection to leading politicians sways Western Union, only public medium for wired messages, from observance of the wartime ban on messages congratulatory. Thus, Wendell Willkie, 1940 presidential candidate, world traveler and writer, and chairman of the board of Twentieth Century-Fox, on Wednesday found his wire to New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, rejected. Mr. Willkie wanted to congratulate Mr. Dewey, from New York City to Albany, upon the latter's nomination that day in Chicago by the Republicans, 1,056 to 1, for the presidential candidacy. The Associated Press carried Mr. Willkie's message which, after congratulations, said in part: "You have one of the greatest opportunities in history." The same day, Governor Dewey attempted to reply to Mr. Willkie, and late that afternoon it was not known whether Western Union was holding firm. Use of a national press service to carry a message is not precisely unknown to Hollywood's public relations agents. until after the war. The camera plant, says the report, is devoted entirely to war work, producing precision instruments and parts of other mechanisms. "The alien property custodian holds 98 per cent of the voting stock of the company," says Mr. Burpee . . . "and the company never shall be allowed to return to German ownership. . . ." Easy Color Films for War ANTICIPATING the new demands of the war-made functions of photography in the military machine and concerns of government, it is announced by General Aniline & Film Corporation that its Ansco division, concerned with photosensitive materials, is to increase its capacity some 25 per cent with an investment of another million dollars in plant. This appeared in a report made Thursday to James E. Markham, alien property custodian, and his predecessor, Leo T. Crowley, through the president, George W. Burpee. The major part of Ansco's output for 1943 went to war. Much of the product pertains to specialized photographic services about which little will be said THE great American snapshooter may now expose a -color film, develop it at home, and in 90 minutes produce a sparkling transparency. No longer will he have to wait a week, and, during wartime, perhaps months, for that transparency. This boon was conferred on him this week by Ansco, successor to Agfa, which through photographic dealers and newspaper advertisements apprised the public of the development. Of the 90 minutes of processing, only 15 require darkness. The chemicals required are comparatively few, are packaged for home use in kits, and are priced for the home user. The film is slightly less expensive than Kodachrome, which requires processing by Eastman in Rochester. So far, it is available in cut film, and in 16mm. Newspaper and photo syndicate photographers have reported on it enthusiastically. Servicing of the Hollywood industry with Ansco color film has not been decided. It is understood such servicing would require Ansco plant expansion costing $8,000,000. Previewers THE Army maps its basic strategies with the aid of film. In four film rooms, deep in the Army's Pentagon Building headquarters, Washington, D. C, high officers assemble regularly to see battle films rushed from the various fronts. They also see training and orientation films, produced by the Signal Corps and by Hollywood producers. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JULY I, 1944