Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

CROSS UNAFFECTED BY WAR CURFEW Theatres Adjust Programs to Conform to Order as Rulings Are Sought No appreciable decline in grosses was indicated over the country as a result of the wartime midnight curfew for all amusement places, which became effective Monday of this week. "Requested" by James F. Byrnes, War Mobilization and Reconversion Director, the curfew was designed to conserve fuel, manpower and similar services. Some slight effect was anticipated by the key first run houses, numbering about 200, and including those on Broadway, which customarily operate after midnight. Wheje necessary, this week theatres adjusted their schedules to conform, while War Manpower Commission officials in Washington offered some hope for a liberal interpretation of the order to permit continued operation of "night shift" theatres in war production centers. Adjust New York Schedules In New York, downtown houses readjusted schedules to conform to the curfew. Radio City Music Hall Monday started its last complete show at 9 P.M. Doors will open at 10:15 A.M. weekdays and close at 11:50 P.M. The Roxy theatre there adopted a new schedule Wednesday, opening its doors at 9 A.M. for the premiere of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." The schedule will permit four complete shows a day, with the last stage and screen show starting at 9:45 P.M. The New York Paramount has rearranged its schedule so that those arriving before 5 P.M. will be able to see the complete stage and screen show before the dinner hour. Late diners will have the opportunity of seeing the stage show and the last showing of the feature. The theatre's policy of midnight screen shows and late stage shows over the weekend will be abandoned for the duration of the curfew. In Chicago, the possibility of neighborhood houses switching from double to single features Saturdays and Sundays was discussed last weekend. However, circuit executives there failed to reach an agreement on the plan. Balaban and Katz, Warner Bros, and the Essaness Circuit are principally affected weekends, having had double bills running to 1 :30 A.M. By midweek it was understood that the curfew would be met by an earlier starting time and the elimination of short subjects. Singles as Top Product Top product in Chicago, however, will be run as single features but for the full length of the theatres' playing date, customarily a week in the leading houses. Such pictures as "Hollywood Canteen" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" are currently single billed in "A" neighborhood houses. In the Cincinnati exchange area, theatres are discontinuing Saturday midnight shows and rearranging schedules to fit the new conditions. The RKO Albee, Palace and Grand and occasionally the RKO Capitol in Cincinnati, as well as several subsequent run houses, have been running: Saturday midnight shows. Columbus, Ohio, and several other situations in the state are discontinuing their war worker shows on weekends, which started considerably after midnight. In New York, Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia and Mrs. Anna Rosenberg, regional director of the War Manpower Commission, reached an agreement, effective Monday, permitting individual entertainment establishments in the New York area a week in which to adjust themselves to the curfew. "Complete compliance" would be expected by Monday, March 5, they announced. WMC Studies War Centers The War Manpower Commission in Washington, meanwhile, was considering the problem of theatres in war production centers with a view to possible relaxation of the regulation in those places. Earlier in the war, the Commission appealed to exhibitors and operators of bowling alleys and other recreation places to remain open for the benefit of late-shift war workers. This week it was learned that while the Office of Civilian Requirements was ready to support any move for continued operation of the night shows, it had been unable to take any action because it had received no complaints from exhibitors. The OCR recreation section was responsible for the length and hours of service of theatres and other amusement places in war centers at a time when factories were encountering great difficulty in getting workers for the night shifts, and officials believe a definite lowering of morale among such workers will follow in the application of the curfew. At Mr. Byrnes' office it was said that the whole matter had been turned over to the WMC with authority to enforce the order in such fashion as to obtain the most efficient results. Considerable confusion still prevails as to just what "other" savings than in fuel, manpower and transportation the order is intended to effect. Many Have No Power Problem It has been pointed out that many of the places affected by the order are so located that they require no coal and no power generated by fuel, and that they fill their labor requirements from excess manpower not otherwise needed. Monday in Washington, California Congressmen protested in the House over the application of the curfew order to areas where no saving of coal can result. Representatives Frank R. Havener and Gordon L. McDonough both said that no conservation would be effected in Southern California because coal was not used there for heating and lighting. They indicated that the fight to have the order clarified would be taken directly to the White House. The War Production Board, meanwhile, is classifying users of coal according to their essentiality to the war effort, but officials of the agencv and of the Solid Fuels Administration last Friday expressed doubt that any action toward instituting a priority system would be taken this winter, barring a critical emergency. The studies preliminary to the drafting of a classification list, which is not yet completed, were initiated by the Board at the request of Fuel Administrator Harold Ickes, who pointed out that there would be a net deficit of 30,000,000 tons in this year's coal supply. At the Solid Fuels Administration it was indica that the list might be used next winter, wl the situation was expected to be worse tl this season. But there is nothing in the pres', situation to warrant its immediate use c | any large area. WPB officials said that they had no it where theatres would stand on the lists wl completed, but in other Washington quarters was said top priorities would go to war plat and householders and all other consume would be relegated to secondary positions. Say Theatres Conserve Fuel A denial that fuel consumed by the theatr would be saved for other purposes was ma last week by the Allied States Association Motion Picture Exhibitors. The announc ment contended that audiences contained mat persons who turned down the furnace befoi going to the theatre, thus saving more fit than the theatre consumed. Allied also pointed out that persons attent ing a theatre turned out their lights, thus el; fecting a saving of fuel at the power hous It suggested that public officials could cot serve fuel by urging people to attend place of amusement. A survey in a representative number of the; tres, to ascertain the number of persons in eac audience who save fuel by turning down th furnace and shutting off the lights before g( ing to the theatre was proposed by Aliied as means of assembling tangible evidence whic could be submitted to Government authorities In Toronto last week the Board of Polic Commissioners broadened the scope of the ne\ by-law there prohibiting Sunday shows by re quiring theatres and other amusement place to close by midnight each weekday, except oi New Year's Eve and Christmas. Some exhibi tors appeared before the board to protest th ruling on the ground they had not been con suited. Cinema Lodge Auxiliary Officers Installed Installation ceremonies for officers of the newl; formed Ladies Auxiliary of Cinema Lodge B'nai B'rith, were held Tuesday night at th Pythian Temple in New York. The officers in elude : Mrs. Ann G. Blackman, president ; Mrs Bessie Lefkowitz, first vice-president ; Mrs. Be; Pellman, second vice-president; Mrs. Bess Rosen thai, treasurer ; Mrs. Ethel Greenfield, recordinj secretary; Mrs. Betty Isaacs, financial secretary and Miss Irma Flanders, monitress. Mrs. Joseph Berenson of the Woman's Grand Lodge of B'nai B'rith presented the Auxilian charter to Mrs. Blackman. Membership roster oi the Auxiliary already includes women in all film companies and other allied organizations. At the meeting, Harry Brandt, New York independent exhibitor and national chairman of the industry's participation in the recent Sixth War Loan drive, was presented the "Honor Scroll" oi Cinema Lodge. S. H. Fabian, War Activities Committee theatre division chairman, made the presentation to Mr. Brandt. Johnston on Radio Stresses Importance of Screen W. Ray Johnston, president of Monogram Pictures Corporation, was designated by the Independent Motion Picture Producers Association to appear on behalf of the industry last week on the half-hour broadcast of the Los Angeles Times, which each week devotes the program to a selected Southern California industry. u "In planning our future," Mr. Johnston said, "we motion picture producers are being influenced by the employees who are returning to us aftef service in the wars. They are mightily concerned about the peace. "Those returning service men are aware of the basic worldwide importance of the motion picture. They have seen the way it influences foreign audiences in the conception of America." 24 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 3, 1945