Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1944)

Mr. 100% Rodger s THE sales manager's dream of one hundred per cent representation came true Wednesday when William F. Rodgers, vice-president and general sales manager of Metro-GolSwynMayer, was notified in Cleveand, where he stopped enroute from the studio at Culver City, that through the cooperation of theatre owners, Leo-the-Lion would appear on the screen of every regularly operated motion picture theatre in the United States of which the sales department has a record. The final figures disclose that 16,459 theatres at some time during the TwentyYear Anniversary Week, June 22-28, booked at least one subject from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. "It means," Mr. Rodgers said, "that many an exhibitor had to rearrange his schedule to include an MGM subject in his program during the week of June 22-28. That is typical of the American showman of the motion picture business, and this recognition comes from the heart of the business man who has ever given unstintingly to the many activities of his community." Like Peas in Pods 'MIDST cocktails and trappings of the executive dining room at Warner where the food standard has resisted some of the strictures of war, Ary Lima, general manager for that company in Brazil, found time to say and ears to hear him say : "Brazilians and Americans have the same ideals, the same likes and dislikes — and that applies to motion pictures, to food and clothing— and above all else, to our common enemies. ... I am pleased to find out that great care is being used by the studios to represent Latin-American types on the screen as they really are in Brazil and the other countries of Central and South America. "I am eager to tell the Brazilians about the work of the CIAA, the Motion Picture Society for the Americas, the thorough research and foreign departments, and the great staff of technical advisers. This, to me, is a practical demonstration of good neighborliness and courtesy." Four -Year Wind • MGM'S and David O. Selznick's "Gone With the Wind" closed at the Ritz theatre, Leicester Square, London, June 9 after a record run of four years and two months. London town won't be the same without it, according to C. A. Lejeune, writing in the New York Times last Sunday. Miss Lejeune said the film had become "a piece of social history. It has been the one constant factor in the changing fortunes of World Conflict No. 2." During the blitz, when many theatres had to close temporarily, the customers kept flocking to the Ritz to see Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler in Technicolor. The film played during the fall of Norway, the Low Countries and France; the Greek and Libyan campaigns; Pearl Harbor, Casablanca and Teheran : the North African invasion ; the Italian campaign and up to three days after the invasion of France. MGM statisticians who have been kept busy since 1939 tabulating the film's record runs, estimate the picture has been seen by a total of 85,000,000 people throughout the world; 65,000,000 in the U. S. and Canada and 20,000,000 in foreign countries. When it closed at the Ritz in London it had chalked up a world's record of 232 consecutive weeks at a two-a-day policy. Nearly five years ago the picture opened day-and-date at the Empire, Palace and Ritz and after five weeks at the latter house it continued at both the Palace and Empire for additional weeks and then reopened at the Ritz. The Selznick film will go on the road in England in a second nationwide release. No Injunction FEDERAL Judge Samuel Mandelbaum in New York Tuesday denied May Davies Martenet, author, her request for an injunction restraining United Artists Corporation from distributing "Voice in the Wind," produced by Robert Ripley and Rudolph Monter. Miss Martenet claimed the title of the film was unlawfully appropriated by the producers, whom she is not suing, and seeks an accounting of profits derived by United Artists from distribution of the film because "Voice in the Wind" was the title of a novelette she wrote and which was published in McCall's Magazine in August, 1942. She had asked for an injunction pending determination of her suit for damages, stating she sold publication rights to the magazine but reserved film rights for herself. The distributors said they had spent large sums of money in advertising the film and had contracted and negotiated for more than 4,000 showings of the picture. The court ruled that "Anyone may use (a title) unless some fraud is intended," and that "No such claim (of fraud) has been made here." Tennessee Feuds THE MAYOR of Milan, Tenn., J. M. Croswell, is allowing the two local motion picture houses to continue their Sunday schedules in spite of the fact that a recent election resulted in a vote of 150 against Sabbath movies and 51 in favor. The Mayor said the results did not reflect "the will of the people," because the polls closed at 4 P.M. instead of 7 P.M., denying the toilers the right to cast a vote. In Jacksonville, Tenn., where theatres may operate on Sunday only if a "free will offering" is taken, two exhibitors, J. Virgil Posey and H. H. Blakeney were fined $50 each in City Court, officials claiming that a 25-cent contribution was compulsory. In Knoxville, Tenn., a new move has been started to bring film entertainment to the citizenry on Sundays. At Meridian, also same state, A. L. Royal, owner of the Royal and the Ritz, objected to the local clergy interfering with his Sabbath schedules, claiming "We are only receiving a contribution just the same as the preacher solicits a contribution in the church." Trouble in OCR TEMPORARY delay in the development of adequate theatre facilities for war production areas, a project which the Office of Civilian Requirements undertook several months ago, was seen in Washington Tuesday as the result of the recent resignation of John Eberson, theatre consultant to the War Production Board, and the reported resignation of George McMurphy, chief of the OCR amusement and recreation section. Only 68 new theatre and remodeling jobs have been approved by the OCR out of the potential 200 houses which the Government agency proposed eventually to provide. It is understood the amusement division's difficulties were climaxed last month when the pressure of non-theatrical amusement interests, including race track and bowling operators, for new facilities aroused a reluctance in WPB bureaus to authorize the use of highly critical war materials for amusement projects. The situation became so serious, it was said, that higher officials of OCR and WPB were understood to have taken a hand. Since that time, however, applications for new theatres have been held in abeyance with the explanation that the manpower situation, particularly on the west coast where Fox West Coast Theatres planned to build several theatres, made it impossible to divert labor from necessary war plant and war housing constructions. The Fox West Coast applications are still awaiting approval. Help Wanted CHICAGO night clubs, with or without national conventions, have called upon Hollywood talent to come to their rescue and save them from the depression into which they have been thrust by the 30 per cent tax, which went to 20 per cent this Saturday. The Chez Paree, local night club, has been spending an average of $8,000 to $10,000 a week for talent and has the William Morris Agency combing Hollywood for film stars. So far, the agency has come up with Lena Home who is booked for August at a reported $3,500 a week. There is an attempt being made to bring Gracie Fields back in autumn. Ted Lewis is opening in July at the Rio Cabana in Chicago, and if, at $7,000 per week he fails to bring the crowds back, the club plans to give up the ghost. Several other name Hollywood entertainers are being approached, but none, as yet, has risen to the bait. Relief in Canada REPEAL of the 10 per cent war tax on films and accessories imported into Canada is provided in the new Canadian budget, now tabled in the House of Commons, Ottawa. The budget also modifies film company and other corporation taxes, and would permit business losses in one year to be spread over three years for computation of corporation taxes. The Federal amusement tax remains at 20 per cent. Also remaining is the 100 per cent excess profits tax. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Ouigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City, 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable address "Quigpubco, New York." Martin Ouigley. President; Colvin Brown, Vice-President; Red Kann, Vice-President; T. J. Sullivan, Secretary; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; James D. Ivers, News Editor; Ray Gallagher, Advertising Manager; Chicago Bureau, 624 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 5; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Hollywood, 28. William R. Weaver, editor; Toronto Bureau,' 242 Millwood Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, W. M. Gladish, correspondent; Montreal Bureau, 265 Vitre St., West, Montreal, Canada, Pat Donovan, correspondent; London Bureau) 4 Golden Square, London W I, Hope Williams Burnup, manager; Peter Burnup, editor; cable Ouigpubco London; Melbourne Bureau, The Regent Theatre, 191 Collins St., Melbourne, Australia, Cliff Holt, correspondent; Sydney Bureau, 17 Archbold Rd., Roseville, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, Lin Endean, correspondent; Mexico City Bureau, Dr. Carmona y Valle 6, Mexico City] l.uis Becerra Celis, correspondent; Buenos Aires Bureau, J. E. Uriburi 126, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Natalio Bruski, correspondent; Rio de Janeiro Bureau, R. Sao Jose, 61, C. Postal 834, Rio de Janeiro,_ Brazil, Alfredo C. Machado, correspondent; Montevideo Bureau, P. O. Box 664, Montevideo, Uruguay, Paul Bodo, correspondent; cable Argus Montevideo. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents copyright 1944 by Ouigley Publishing Company. Address all correspondence to the New York Office, Other 0"igley Publications: Better Theatres, Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac, and Fame. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JULY I. 1944