Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1944)

SMPE Will Hold Next Meeting In New York October 16 ine Exhibitors amed 6th War oanCo-Chairmen e War Activities Committee Tuesday of this announced the names of nine independent >itors who have accepted appointments as comen of the industry's participation in the Sixth Loan scheduled to get under way Armistice November 11, and run through Pearl Harbor December 7. e staff of co-chairmen, under the immediate tion of the national chairman, Harry Brandt, mposed of William J. Crockett, president of 1PTO of Virginia ; Hugh Bruen, treasurer of ^CCITO; Jack Kirsch, president of the TheOwners of Iillinois ; John Rugar, member of Intermountain Theatres Association; Henry es, president of Texas Theatre Owners; Al es, member of Allied of the Northwest ; Wolcott, president of Allied ITO of Iowaaska; Fred Wehrenberg, president of MPTO t. Louis, Eastern Missouri and Southern Illiand Nathan Yamins, chairman of the execurommittee of the Independent Exhibitors, Inc. ■. Brandt said additional appointments to the juarters staff would! be announced in the near e.. >nday the office of Robert J. O'Donnell, who :d the industry's efforts in the Fifth War Loan. available late industry' totals for that drive ing reports from 4,908 of the some 9,000 parting theatres, official U. S. Treasury Depart issuing agents. e reports showed an aggregate sale of 1,633,3onds with a maturity value of $403,236,232. le total. War Bond premieres accounted for ale of 1,216,564 Bonds with a maturity value !34,599,403, children's Bond premieres for the of 156,489 with a maturity value of $16,908,and Free Movie Days were responsible for ale of 99,254 Bonds with a maturity value of 49,551. last report it was said more than 5,000 thehad submitted final reports with tabulations le balance yet to be made. Film salesmen in rritories are now caling on theatres that have tt responded. nsor Appeal Board Is Tied by Kansas City appeal board of review to handle appeals ratings given by the film reviewer of Kansas as provided for in a city ordinance, has named by L. P. Cookingham, City Manager, board, which should have five members, has unctioned in recent years since there have no appeals filed. The appointees are Dr. Id C. Hunt, John Thornberry, Miss Genevieve ett, Nathan Rieger and Mrs. Walter F. Page, or C. Walton is the present motion picreviewer. New Publication for w-Metro Home Office ms for publication of a new Loew-Metro office house organ were completed last week arles C. Moskowitz. The publication will be i as Lo! and will be issued twice monthly ig about October 1. Coverage will be ex1 to all Loew's theatres in New York and -town. It will be under the supervision of A. Doob, Loew advertising and publicity di, with Mike Simmons managing editor. He •e assisted by. Ernest Emerling and Edward en. Circuit Building Theatre K-B Circuit, Washington, D. C, will start uction on the Avon theatre this month, it •nnounced by Frank Boucher, general man■f the circuit. He also announced that James brd, formerly with Schine Theatres, has ippointed accountant for the circuit. The Society of Motion Picture Engineers will present the Progress Medal Award and the Journal Certificate for 1944 during the Society's 56th semiannual technical conference, at the Hotel Pennsylvania, New York, October 16 to 18, inclusive. The presentations will be made at a dinnerdance Tuesday night, October 17, at the hotel. The dinner-dance will mark the restoration of social activities in convention programs by the Society's board of governors. W. C. Kunzmann, convention vice-president, has announced a tentative program which calls for business sessions on each of the three days of the meeting. Evening programs also are being arranged. The 23-day clearance of the Family and Shirley theatres, over the Liberty, Madison and Broadway theatres, all of Covington, Ky., was ruled reasonable last week by arbitrator John H. Clippinger, of the American Arbitration Association's Cincinnati tribunal. The Family and Shirley theatres, operated by the Richard P. Ernst Realty Company, had asked that clearance be eliminated or reduced to one day. In Boston last week, Cyril Angell, arbitrator, ruled against the five consenting distributors, in the clearance complaint filed by the Ayer Playhouse Company, Inc., asking elimination of the practice in its involvement of the Playhouse Theatre, Ayer, Mass., the first run Plymouth and Metropolitan theatres, Leominster, and the Fitchburg and Shea theatres. Fitchburg, also in Massachusetts. Mr. Angell also ruled that the Merrimac and Strand theatres, Lowell, Mass., should have a maximum clearance of seven days over the Ayer Playhouse. He dismissed the complaint against Paramount, in its relation to the Strand and Merrimac. In Charlotte, M. P. Poovev, operator of the Marsilla, Rockingham, N. C, filed a complaint against RKO and Warners, naming the Hannah Picket theatre, of that town, and asking product immediately. "Green Dolphin Street," by Elizabeth Goudge, has been chosen as the winner of the first MetroGoldwyn-Mayer annual novel award. It is to be published August 28 by Coward-McCann, and was selected as the most outstanding from among 99 novels, all to be published before August 15, 1945. According to the terms of the award, Miss Goudge will receive a minimum of $125,000 and a possible maximum of $175,000 contingent upon the sales of the novel. MGM will acquire the motion picture and allied rights to the book. Quick Action During Blaze Avoids Panic in Theatre Quick thinking on the part of William Israel, manager of the Earle theatre, Philadelphia, averted a panic last week when six rear seats of the theatre burst into flames after they had been soaked with an inflammable liquid by a pyromaniac. He ordered the National Anthem played on the sound track, preventing any disorder among the 1,800 patrons of the theatre. By the time the number was ended, police and attendants succeeded in extinguishing the flames. A suspect was held by police. Schwartz Quits Laffmovie George Schwartz, one of the developers of the Laffmovie policy and long in theatre operation in New York, has resigned as general manager of the Laffmovie organization. He will devote his time to a venture of his own, having leased the World theatre, New York, which after remodeling will be opened as a first run house presenting films of a specialized nature. Monogram Lists Releases Until Next September Assembled Monogram salesmen, sales executives, franchise holders and guests Monday heard outlined for them by W. Ray Johnston, president, details of the second half of the coming season's program, 27 pictures. They were gathered at the Blackstone Hotel, Chicago, for a convention which began Saturday morning with screenings of completed product, continued Saturday afternoon with addresses by executives, and was rounded out by meetings thereafter on sales policies, new product, and events of the industry in relation to Monogram. Among speakers were Samuel Broidy, sales vicepresident ; Mr. Johnston ; Irving Mandel, Chicago franchise holder ; Harry Thomas, eastern sales manager ; Lloyd Lind, contract head ; J. S. Harrington, print head ; Edward Morey, exchange supervisor; Sol Francis, midwest district manager; Arthur Greenblatt, special representative ; Max Felerman, New York representative of Banner Production, and Oscar Hanson, Monogram Canadian head. The 27 pictures for the latter half of the season, and their release dates, are : "Gang War," February 3 ; western comedydrama with Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton, February 3; "John Dillinger, Mobster," February 17; "Dragon's Son" with Ducky Louis, February 24; a Cisco Kid with Duncan Renaldo, February 24. An East Side Kid picture, March 3 ; "Divorce" with Kay Francis, March 10; Western with Brown and Hatton, March 17; a Charlie Chan with Sidney Toler, March 24; a Saddle Pals western with Jimmy Wakely, Lee White and Dennis Moore, March 31. "Rythm Range," with N. T. G. and His Girls, April 7 ; "Jungle Fear" with Acquanetta, April 14 ; "The Honest Gambler," April 21 ; Western with Brown and Hatton, April 28. A Cisco Kid with Renaldo, May 12; "Sunbonnet Sue," May 26. An East Side Kids, June 9 ; Western with Brown and Hatton, June 16; "The Shadow," June 23; a Saddle Pals film, June 30. A Kitty O'Day with Jean Parker, July 7; a Charlie Chan, July 14; another with Acquanetta, July 21; Western with Brown and Hatton, July 28. A Cisco Kid, August 11; Brown-Hatton Western, August 18 ; an East Side Kids, August 25. A Saddle Pals Western, September 8; 2nd Brown-Hatton Western, September 15. Huge Transportation Display Given "The Seventh Cross" "The Seventh Cross," starring Spencer Tracy with Signe Hasso, will have one of the biggest advertising campaigns in transportation media ever given an MGM picture. Beginning August 22 car cards and posters will appear on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the Long Island Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Fifth Avenue buses, New York City Omnibus Company, the Interborough Rapid Transit, Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit, Independent Subway Systems and the American Railway Express trucks. Altogether there will be over 6,000 posters and car cards on display. Plessner Fanchon & Marco Publicity Director M. L. Plessner of St. Louis has been named advertising and publicity director of the Fanchon and Marco St. Louis Amusement Company circuit of theatres in that city, it was announced by Harry C. Arthur, Jr., general manager. Mr. Plessner, who has been engaged in various phases of the industry in St. Louis the past 10 years, succeeds Les Kaufman, who has resigned to become publicity director of Republic Studios in Hollywood. Rules Clearance Should Continue "Green Dolphin Street" Wins MGM Novel Award ON PICTURE HERALD, AUGUST 19, 1944 41