Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

farkey Suggests Vorld Contest ^or Documentary the establishment of an international academy jromote world-wide recognition and production documentary films was proposed last week in ' ington by Captain Gene Markej', USNR, in -iress to the Office of War Information Audio i luncheon at the Washington Hotel. :ain Alarkey who is special assistant to the -try of the Navy in' charge of photographies, : at the body could be modeled on the Holly^ . Academ.y of Motion Picture Arts and (ences, and that it would contribute much tord advancing good will among the nations, kshington, he said, would be a suitable place to j^in since numerous film representatives from eign nations were present in the capital, n the post-war period, Captain Alarkey said, h an organization could function in the capitals the various countries where special showings |]d be held, enabling each nation to make its m selection of its 10 best. Thereafter, he pointed „ they could be entered in international com[ition. The title for the organization suggested by ptain Markey was "International Academy of icumentary Films," but he said that "a much jter label could be found." I iGM Honors Bookers, Managers 20th Anniversary Drive MGM honored the district managers and book• of the Fox Wisconsin circuit at a luncheon at : Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee November 10, their participation in the company's 20th an'ersary week drive. Three of the 20 bronze jques awarded throughout the country for out.nding campaigns went to Fox managers. iThe plaques were presented by Jack Flynn, jM western division manager, to Hugo Birngham. Palace manager ; Harry Boesel, Wisisin manager ; Gene Kilburg, downtown district, j i Harold J. Fitzgerald, circuit president. Among I tse present were Sam Shirley, !MGM district .nager, and Walter Brooks, MGM executive I ra New York. i In New Haven, when MGAI compiles its Conn icut album of exhibitor customers with 20 years' ' nding or more, some 36 will be included. They M:: I. J. Hoffman, George Wilkinson, Harry Laj ites, Selig Fishman, Harry Fishman, J. B. Fish m, Maurice Bailey, Peter Parokas, Joseph QuittI r, John Cannon, Michael Tomasino, Michael I scioli, Adolph G. Johnson, Leo Bonoff, John idlay, John Cannon. James DeLucia, Hyman j hwartz, Al Pickus, Mary Vuono, Mrs. Albert lith, Morris Hadelman. Joseph Shulman, MorShulman. A. L. Schuman, George Rabbott, lorge LeWitt, Steve Panora, Robert Joyce, H. j backman, Jerry Mascoli, Michael Sirica, Lee Halcarni. Charles Repass. Jack Schwartz, Lou ijiger, Fred Van Doren. mpa Planning Industry nniversary Luncheon Martin Starr, president of Associated Motion :ture Advertisers, announced at a directors' 'cheon Tuesday that the organization would j mmemorate the industry's 50th anniversary with iHuncheon some time in December. Plans are ijft' being formulated by Mr. Starr and a coml^ee which thus far includes Vincent Trotta, Ijanche Livingston, James Zabin, Jacques KopfiBn and Dave Bader. j^own in WAC Publicity Post Walter T. Brown is now director of publicity : the War Activities Committee, succeeding Ed I hreiber, it was announced this week by Francis Harmon, coordinator of the WAC. Mr. own's duties in the publicity bureau will be in j 3ition to his work as associate coordinator to ' Harmon. Mr. Schreiber will join Richard mdon. Inc., N. Y., as vice-president, December 1. Appeal Board Reverses Cincinnati Disnnissal The Arbitration Appeal Board, New York, last week, reversed the award of the Cincinnati tribunal dismissing the clearance complaint of the Richard P. Ernst Realty Company, operator of the Liberty, Madison and Broadway theatres, Covington, Ky., the American Arbitration Association reported this week. The defendants were Loew's, RKO and Twentieth Century-Fox. The appeal decision reduced the clearance of the Family and Shirley theatres, Covington, operated by Nicholas G. Shafer, over the Liberty and Madison from 23 days to 10 days, and from 23 days to 14 in the case of the Kentucky, same city, operated by Louis Wiethe, who intervened as an interested party affected by the reduction. Also reported were the withdrawal of the somerun complaint filed in the Charlotte tribunal against RKO and Warners by M. T. Poovey, operator of the Marsilla theatre, Rockingham, N. C., and notice of appeal from the Dallas tribunal's decision in the combination some-run, clearance complaint against the five companies filed by W. V. Adwell, operator of the Roxy theatre, San Angelo, Tex. RugoffHeadsN. Y, War Fund Unit With a special campaign committee headed by Edward Rugoff, theatres in New York's five boroughs, plus Nassau and Suffolk Counties, will conduct theatre collections for the National War Fund during the week of December 14-20, according to an announcement last week from Fred Schwartz, exhibitor co-chairman for the War Activities Committee in the New York area. This collection supplements the distribution of a 10-minute short, "Memo for Joe," plus an advertising campaign contributed by the members of the WAC trade press division. A full campaign on a regional basis is planned with meetings scheduled for the various WAC division representatives in New York. The first of these was called for late this week by Ralph Pielow, head of the distributors division. A trailer with a leading film star making the War Fund appeal is planned. Preparation of a special manual for the campaign is handled by Harry Mandel, WAC publicity chairman for the New York area. MGM To Tradeshow Five Pictures in Novennber AIGM will hold five trade showings in all exchange centers during the month of November. "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" was shown in all exchange areas except Philadelphia November 13. In Philadelphia, it was screened November 16. "The Thin Man Goes Home" is scheduled to be tradeshown in all territories November 21. "Blonde Fever" also will be screened November 21 in all areas except Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston, where it is scheduled November 22. "Main Street After Dark" is set for November 27 in all exchanges and "Nothing But Trouble" is scheduled for showing on the same date in all areas but Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston, where it will be screened the following day. These pictures do not constitute MGM's next block. Release dates for the five pictures will be set later, the company announced. Warner District Managers Hold Honne Office Session Warner Bros, district managers last weekend concluded a series of conferences at the home office which began the Thursday before. Ben Kalmenson, general sales manager, presided. District executives attending included: Norman Ayers, Ralph L. McCoy, Harrv A. Seed, Henry Herbel, Robert Smeltzer, Hall Walsh, Charies Rich and Ralph H. Clark. Also present were: Charles Einfield, Mort Blumenstock, Arthur Sachson, Roy Haines, Jules Lapidus, Norman H. Moray, Mike Dolid, Ed Hinchy, Stanley Hatch and other home office executives. German Interests In U. S. Industry To Be Eliminated Germany will be barred from any post-war penetration of the American motion picture industry under a proposal for the destruction of the German cartel system made by a Senate Military Affairs sub-committee this week in Washington. The announcement followed the recent disclosures that the U. S. would continue its foreign trade agencies long after the conclusion of the war in Europe, and that the importation of foreign goods would be fostered here as a means of stimulating American export trade. Nazi interests were discovered by the Alien Property Custodian after our entry into the war in motion picture film, photographic apparatus and chemicals. This was, it is pointed out, of a piece with the German policy of recovering from defeat by obtaining economic strangle-holds on foreign economies by cartel agreements. The elimination of such practices, the sub-committee warned, was necessary to prevent a resurgence of German aggression in the post-war period. The report also urged that German property in the United Nations and liberated countries be confiscated, that enemy property in this country be sold and that enemy-originated patents be retained by the Government and made available to all American industry. Further indications of the pattern of post-war U. S. foreign trade policy are found in the -urging, by Foreign Economic Administration officials, that the United States Commercial Corporation be retained. The corporation, founded in 1942, later was switched to the FEA, with the emphasis shifted from preclusive buying to the purchase and importation of a wide range of raw commodities. The Chamber of Commerce has a new approach to the problem of stimulating U. S. export trade, in addition to its usual function of searching foreign markets for outlets for American goods. It envisages the combing "^of this country for buyers of foreign products. This program is based on the principle that the more dollars foreign countries acquire, the more means will be at their disposal for the purchase of U. S. exports. Monogrann Completes 20 For 1 944-45 Season Twenty productions for the 1944-45 season have been completed by Monogram, according to a studio tabulation as of November 10. This represents more than 41 per cent of the total of 48 films called for on the year's schedule. Completed are: "They Shall Have Faith," starring Gale Storm with John Mack Brown ; "When Strangers Marry," with Dean Jagger and Kim Hunter ; "Enemy of Women," with Claudia Drake and Donald Woods; "Alaska," with Kent Taylor, Margaret Lindsay and John Carradine ; "A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine," with Elyse Knox, Richard Lane and Sally Filers; "John Dillinger," with Lawrence Tierney, Edmund Lowe and Anne Jeffreys ; "G. I. Honeymoon," starring Gale Storm. Also "Army Wives," with Elyse Knox and Marjorie Rambeau; "Little Devils," with Harry Carey and Paul Kelly ; "The Jade Mask," starring Sidney Toler ; "Crazy Knights," with Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard and Maxie Rosenbloom ; "Adventures of Kitty O'Day," with Jean Parker and Peter Cookson ; "Bowery Champs," East Side Kids film; "Song of the Range," with Jimmy Wakely; "Shadow of Suspicion," with Marjorie Weaver and Peter Cookson ; "The Cisco Kid Returns" and "The Cisco Kid Comes Through," two films starring Duncan Renaldo, and three Westerns starring Johnny Mack Brown with Ravmond Hatton— "Ghost Guns," "The Navajo Trail" and "Gun Smoke." Trauner in Columbia Post Saul Trauner has been appointed by Columbia to the newly created job of sales manager of the New York exchange. OTION picture herald, NOVEMBER 18, 1944 33