Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD COLVIN BROWN, Publisher mart'in quigley President and Editor-in-Chiej TEKKY KAMSAYE, Editor Vol. 157, No. 10 OP December 9, 1944 EXPANDING ECONOMY THE State Department news of this week, announcing the nomination of Mr. Archibald MacLeish and Mr. Nelson Rockefeller as assistant secretaries may prove a major move of relevancy to the destinies of the American motion picture. The screen is much in the consciousness of Mr. MacLeish, and it has been a highly important element of the plannings of the office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. That office, it may be observed, was instituted and operated very decidedly as a •special sort of separate Department of State. In the current realignments, not to say reorganization, it is only being taken inside the main office. The plain fact appears to be that in dealing with the Latin lands to the south it was desirable to enjoy considerably more elasticity than was available under the Cordell Hull regime. There Is an expectancy in some quarters that the newly constituted State Department will be developing a policy of "decided practicality" in relations that have to do with the economy of the nation and its trade — an area in which the screen Is admitted to have so large an influence. Obviously, we shall have to be having an expanding economy if we are successfully to carry a $300,000,000,000 national debt with grace and ease. It is said that ten per cent of our national business was abroad. Apparently we shall have to do much better than that In the near tomorrow. Britain is facing somewhat the same problem, probably much more acutely. There is going to be plenty of competition for customers — there is now, in fact, if you look carefully. ONE may observe that the American motion picture industry ever since World War I has been one of the most successful of our exporting Industries. It was, before this war, and probably still is, just about twice as good as the average, with about twenty per cent of its gross abroad. To the American exhibitor this foreign success is of decided importance in supporting the lavish production of Hollywood and the standards which have made the product dominant merchandise around the world. CHESS BOARD THE renewed and repeated report that Mr. J. Arthur Rank is negotiating for the Gaumont theatres in France puts emphasis on the strategic aspects of his program of entry into the world market of cinema, and also the integration of British picture designs with the programs of empire and its commerce. The French theatre of the pre-war yesterday, and of the tomorrow to come is probably much less interesting as a direct commercial undertaking than as a set of pieces on the European chess board. For a very long period the American industry found profits in France few and fugitive. The basic difficulty has been in the low status of the cinema among the French people, generally, a status created by the tawdry quality and low moral standards of their domestic production. If there is to be in France an equivalent of the motion picture institution of America and Britain it will have to be built, substantially as a new undertaking. WARNING, AGAIN Now is the time to sound again precautions for audience safety in the crowds of the holiday season just ahead. Panic kills more than fires. The American motion picture record is good — maintained only by vigilance. Too many reports are reaching this office of a relaxing of the rules, and of inadequate controls, due considerably to the problems of manpower. If the motion picture theatre is to enjoy a modernization of some archaic codes, which have for years been handicaps, it will be necessary to keep the record clear in demonstration of a practical efficiency. The Cocoanut Grove and the more recent circus debacles are still fresh in the minds of the regulative bodies. And the truth is that the motion picture with its film has not yet outlived the consequences of the Charity Bazaar fire in Paris in 1897. NOTES from ALL OVER — The large number of popcorn vendors using motion pictures as a sideline will be excited over a Department of Agriculture report that there's a new hybrid with a popping expansion of thirty-three times the original volume, which is fifteen per cent greater than the biggest on the market now. ^ The first thing that happens as Mr. Henry Ginsberg takes over at Paramount studios is that a five million dollar budget picture goes off the schedule. That might be the beginning of a trend. C| The new light metals, meaning magnesium alloys mainly, are promising changes which can reach into the mechanics of this industry, too. Dr. Willard Dow, father of the magnesium industry, being a showman, is arranging to demonstrate with some magnesium wheelbarrows, simple enough for anybody to understand, and 35 pounds lighter than current models. He is not trying to take over the wheelbarrow industry, either. ^ U. S. Treasury figures' reveal that there has been a terrific increase in the circulation of higher denomination bills. Since '39, twenty dollar notes are up 327%, 50's up 297% and 1,000's, commonly known in our art as a "grand", up 120% CI 0"r observer at Miami Beach reports dining in eight "spots" for eight successive nights, finding steak on all menus at $2 to $3 a portion — good, too. He says cigarettes, any brand, all cellophane wrapped, are to be had In any quantity at from 20 to 25 cents a package. CJ Cigar Institute of America finds cigars below a dime scarce and the supply of Class G, which. means over 20 cents, up 260.26 per cent. C| There's a press agent in this business who on some occasions passes out cigars alleged to cost $2 each, by the thousand. They should contain not only tobacco but also a grate and damper. C| The population of the continental United States is now said to be two-thirds of voting age or older. This is attributed to a lowered birth rate and increasing longevity of the elders. However, some of the magazines are running wild after the teen age group. Possibly the children are easier to sell. Meanwhile, the motion picture, rather automatically, increases the flow of adult fare. Probably a mistake — to be remedied when the box office insists. C| The Federal selective sales taxes, including admissions, jewelry, furs, liquor, tobacco and cosmetics, are now totaling about five billion a year. Uncle Sam will take anybody's money. Liquor alone for '44 will turn in over $1,600,000,000. —Terry Ramsaye