Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS Shaw on Wilde GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, playwright, octogenarian and vegetarian, turned down an offer from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer the other day. The London office had invited Mr. Shaw to broadcast to the U. S. on "The Genius of Oscar Wilde Fifty Years After." There was a matter of £1,000 to be transferred from MGM's treasury to Mr. Shaw. The playwright refused the offer and penned his reasons — on a postcard. "Mr. Gabriel Pascal has handed me Mr. Mervyn McPherson's letter to him dated the 17th instant proposing a broadcast by me on Oscar Wilde and a payment of £1,000. I have said all I have to say about Oscar Wilde and have no time to spare for repeating it. The less said about Oscar Wilde the better. He has a famous name; and 'Dorian Gray' is a good title. You have first-rate publicity ready-made in the two. Don't let your publicity experts spoil it. They will if they can. The £1,000 would be worse than wasted. It is 'to be devoted to any purpose Mr. Shaw might wish.' People innocent enough to believe that I live on air should not be trusted with the disposal of thousands of pounds or even pence." In 1895, during the famous Wilde "morals" trial in London, Mr. Shaw, who was a personal friend of the novelist and playwright, appeared in behalf of Mr. Wilde and urged clemency for him. MGM's "The Picture of Dorian Gray," based on the Wilde novel, opened at the Capitol theatre Thursday, without benefit of £1,000 worth' of Shavian comment by radio. However, reading persons get it. Almost Busy THE SEATTLE arbitration tribunal out in the state of Washington almost had a hearing on a complaint the other day. That made it the second almost. One other complaint had been filed with the board since it opened for business under the aegis of the Consent Decree February 1, 1941. That case was settled and withdrawn. The same thing happened shortly before the hearing was slated to begin on the new case filed by Frank M. Higgins in behalf of the Lake City theatre, Lake City, Wash., against Warner Bros., Twentieth Century-Fox and Loew's. Storm Over "Trio" BROADWAY to which excitement is not uncommon, currently is excited over the closing of the stage play, "Trio," at the Belasco theatre. Taking his cue from an attack on "a trend toward promiscuity" launched by Dr. Sutherland Bonnell, pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Paul Moss, New York City license commissioner, suspended the theatre's license. A storm of protest followed, pitched mainly against the power of one man to close a play without court action. Attorneys for Lee Sabinson, producer of the play, planned to ask the State Supreme Court for a restraining order. The League of New York Theatres entered the fight, as did Actors' Equity, the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations. Mar JUDGES name winners of annual Quigley Awards for 1944 Page 10 GOVERNMENT will ask court for trial date in Decree action Page 14 RANK'S American publicity organization sets up shop Page 14 TELEVISION inaugurated by Blue Network through General Electric Page 18 MGM stockholders to vote on common stock split March 29 Page 23 SERVICE DEPARTMENT Hollywood Scene Page 33 In the Newsreels Page 52 Managers' Round Table Page 41 IN PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION Showmen's Reviews Page 2337 Short Subjects Page 2338 Release Chart by Companies Page 2339 SARNOFF reports RCA net profit for 1944 of $10,263,299 Page 23 ATLAS Corporation has film stock holding: totaling $13,140,448 Page 21 THEATRE grosses in general unaffected b^ midnight curfew Page 2* BRITISH exhibitor organization fights Sunda film laws Page 2 INDUSTRY throws its full weight behind Rec Cross Fund drive Page 2( Picture Grosses Shorts at First Runs What the Picture Did for Me Short Subjects Chart Service Data The Release Chart Page 4( Page 3; Page 3C i i i Page 234 Page 234 Page 234 garet Webster, producer of Shakespearean dramas, and Elmer Rice, playwright, resigned from the board of the City Center of Drama and Music, the municipal playhouse, rather than continue with Mr. Moss as a member. Mr. Moss suspended the license on the ground that the play was "lewd, lascivious and immoral." Defending the play as neither "lewd nor lascivious," Louis Kronenberger of the New York City newspaper, PM, said that "I would equally deny that 'Trio' is 'immoral,' though concerned with lesbianism. . . ." December Drop Washington Bureau A DROP of nearly $7,000,000 in Federal admission tax collections between December and January was reported Tuesday by the Internal Revenue Bureau. Receipts for January, representing December box office business, were $24,345,560, compared with $31,182,977 in the preceding month. January collections, for December business, however, were nearly $8,000,000 above the $16,744,936 received in the same month last year, and they in turn were $5,000,000 above the $11,728,489 obtained in the initial month in 1943, Bureau records show. Reflecting the effect of the increase in rates last April, collections for the first seven months of the Government's fiscal year were reported by the Bureau as $211,364,150, compared with $108,536,640 obtained in the corresponding period a year ago under the lower rates which were formerly in effect. All but $4,343,699 of the January collections came from amusements, that figure representing the taxes paid by night clubs and cabarets, which in December paid $4,797,945 and in January, 1944, $1,638,296. Canteen Birthday AMERICAN Theatre Wing War Service) | famous Stage Door Canteen in New York wai| three years old Friday. Hollywood's oiflljji standing stars and feature players appear regtj.r larly at the canteen when visiting New Yuri In three years, there have been 9,720 acts pel| formed by 38,325 entertainers for nearly 3,0001,' 000 men of the Allied services. .The monthl average of acts is 270. In the first year of th canteen, the number of entertainers listed wa 25,000. There are at least nine name bands week and five big musicals a week at Stag^ Door. Theatre Wing reports that during 194 r food donated by restaurants, hotels and the foo| f industry amounted to $48,543. The cante& |( estimates it serves 2,000 sandwiches nightl; 720,000 a year; 1,000 crates of fruit a yeaij|rur 438,000 half pints of milk annually; 5,0Q]| pounds of candy yearly ; and about 3,336,0C cigarettes each year. Art, Drama and Beer NEW YORK's City Center, the municipal! sponsored theatre for music and drama, will g, into the beer garden business soon. NewbolJ Morris, president of the City Council and orisj inator of the idea for the City Center, arJ nounced last week that the city was planning 1j convert the 135 by 75-foot basement ballroon one of the largest in the U. S. without column into an air-conditioned beer garden. Renov; tion will have to wait until the War Productic Board lifts restrictions. Chamber music ma be introduced and an art gallery installed, thi incorporating all the art forms under one roo At present there are concerts, plays and ballei jj at the theatre. The beer garden is "a post-wa dream," Mr. Morris said. The pretzel situatio has not vet been considered. IV! MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 3, 191 L ■■' Li