Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

piber One Fan LLlL motion picture patrons were as enTVtic about their chief source of entertainis 16-year-old Bill Ontville of New York, rnstiles of the nation would deliver up er Bl 0,990,000,000 annually, the public tran^npanies would receive an additional $1,D.000 for carfare and the candy manufac2r .1 would reap a dividend of some $3,870,pclO. Young Ontville saw 705 motion picturing the year from March 4, 1944, to j\ 4, 1945. Each trip, of which he made p:ie saw at least two pictures. Sometimes <v three, and on Saturdays he saw four, j careful record kept by Mr. Ontville, on J ! large sheets of brown wrapping paper, ed that he spent $121.35 for admission, for carfare, and $43.06 for candy conduring the shows. ='• record maintained by Mr. Ontville ied the pictures as fair, good, excellent .appointing. Of the total, he considered standing. He pegged 11 as "the inferiest Pj:es I saw in this year." He prefers comend action pictures, and his favorite stars v'dward G. Robinson, Roscoe Karns, Ward , . Victor Jory, Leo Carillo and Dale Van '; . He and a friend wrote a serial and tted it to Republic recently. Suggested i? ;ithors : fhe Masked Marvel Returns' is a series of !9':.inc escapades with none of that hokum, You just get 'em in those fixes, and then : ;i 'em out again with no phony stuff." 'lippines Checkup OF the first duties of Wolfe Cohen, viceent of Warner Bros. International Cor -. on, in connection with his new responsible Philippine Islands, will be to check the amount of damage to property and gJbry in that area. Now en route to Aus Mr. Cohen has added the Islands to his 3rriry. Cliff Almy, Manila manager recent• eased from Santo Tomas prison camp, ed that the Japs had practically destroyed lants and theatres there. Mr. Cohen will r the damage and advise on rebuilding >perties as well as methods of expediting tnt of films to the Islands. >rs to Decide : -L BY JURY is the victory won by the ■. in the backwash of indignation that folwhen Paul Moss, License Commissioner 'ti City of New York, closed the stage play, ■:: '," on the grounds of obscenity. Avoiding • ;nse of the play itself, which competent sfsses held came into court with soiled t . the press and many responsible organiis concentrated on the principle. It was I. they contended, for one man to constiimself the judiciary when citizen contribu i sustained machinery dedicated to that Jon. i lending his commissioner, whose action . ned people agreed could have been taken Rafter consulation with his chief, as not violative of existing law, Mayor La Guardia agreed that perhaps it would be best to curb the powers of the license commissioner. In a stormy session, reverberations of which echoed along the corridors to whet the appetites of waiting newsmen, the Mayor agreed to support a bill amending state law so as to deprive Mr. Moss and his successors of any power to deny issuance, renewal or transfer of any theatre license because of the character of any play unless there had first been a jury conviction of responsible persons on a charge that such a play was obscene, indecent, immoral or impure. Following through, a bill was introduced by Fred G. Moritt, Democrat, of Brooklyn, which permitted a producer to get injunctive relief against the closing of a show pending trial before a court of competent jurisdiction. A DE MILLE theatre will be built on the campus of the University of Southern California after the war, to house the cinema library which Cecil B. De Mille presented recently to the university. President Rufus B. Von Klein Smid, in announcing the De Mille gift last week, said it "brings to the university the best assembly of historical and research material on this field in the world. Its books, scenarios and reels present the story of the development of the motion picture industry from its inception to the present day." The De Mille theatre will be constructed in recognition of the 75 years of continuous service to the drama of America by the family bearing that name, starting with Henry C. and Beatrice De Mille, who were parents of the two prominent brothers, Cecil and William C, Dr. Von Klein Smid said. Featured in the collection of more than 60 scripts are those dating from 1913 when Cecil B. De Mille produced the "Squaw Man." Complete manuscripts, research material on weapons, social customs and furniture used in such films as "The King of Kings," "The Sign of the Cross" and up to and including "The Story of Dr. Wassell" are included in the collection. LIKE GARCIA, Corporal Fred Gentry of Saipan got his message. The messenger was Lt. Max Braselton, Jr., formerly head booker of Monogram Southern Exchanges, Inc., in Atlanta, whose mother is employed by the Atlanta exchange of Twentieth Century-Fox. The message, an ordinary Bell Bomber factory gate pass, went into action several times before it was delivered. A few months ago, Wyolene Gentry, a receptionist at the plant, jokingly asked Lieutenant Braselton, whose plane was being checked preparatory to assignment to the South Pacific, if he would deliver the pass to her husband. She wrote Corporal Gentry's name on the back of the slip. She forgot about the incident until she received a letter from her husband containing the much-traveled pass. It had been on four bombing missions over Japan before Lieutenant Braselton had landed on Saipan and contacted Corporal Gentry. Salute to France HOLLYWOOD stars and producers were scheduled to broadcast Thursday night the first of a series of radio programs to France, arranged by the overseas radio branch of the Office of War Information with the cooperation of the Hollywood Victory Committee. Darryl F. Zanuck, Mary Pickford, Edward G. Robinson, Constance Bennett and Victor Francen, well-known French actor now in Hollywood, were to join in the inaugural ceremony. Jean Painleve, government representative of the French film industry and other French film figures were scheduled to follow the Hollywood group. After the talks, radio dramatizations of two American films were scheduled over the French radio, "Heaven Can Wait" and "Hold Back the Dawn," the latter with Charles Boyer in his original role. Among other American films scheduled to be dramatized over the air to the French are "Shop Around the Corner," "It Started with Eve," "Ladies in Retirement," "Now Voyager" and "Suspicion." A halfhour variety show also has been prepared which includes Dinah Shore, Morton Gould, Charles Laughton and Chico Marx. Each film dramatization will be broadcast to France three times every other Thursday, over Radiodiffusion Francaise, the French national network. Alternating with the Hollywood programs will be radio adaptations of French films produced during the past five years. Costly Novel FOR THE right to play the part of Hank Martin, a swamp boy who became a great political power, James Cagney has paid $250,000, said to be the highest price ever paid by any motion picture concern for a novel, for Adria Locke Langley's new book, "Lion in the Streets." Announcement of the purchase of the Saturday Evening Post serial was made by William Cagney, head of the producing company. "The story deals with swamp folks and hillbillies, malefactors of great wealth and philantropists, snide politicians, out-and-out criminals and ordinary, decent people who serve warning on corrupt leaders that the masses cannot be deceived forever," declared the United Artists news release announcing the acquisition. Mrs. Langley wrote the book while working as riveter in a war plant in Santa Monica. MGM recently paid $200,000 for A. J. Cronin's "The Green Years." Victory Release AWAITING, as is many another item, the cessation of hostilities in Europe are sealed prints of a special V-E Community Sing. Residing in the vaults of Columbia exchanges throughout the country, the reel features patriotic songs, played and sung by a brass band and a mixed chorus, with appropriate narration by Basil Ruysdale, radio announcer. Release date is, of course, V-E Day. De Mille Gift Message Delivered N PICTURE HERALD published every Saturday by Qu.gley Publishing Company Rockefeller Center, New York City, 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable address "Quigpubco New Martin Quigley President; Colvin Brown, Vice-President Red Kann Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Secretary; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; James D. Ivers, News Editor William G Fo'rmby ' Rayx Ga,,a9her' AdX!?'^9, Ma,na,?erl CTh,ca9° B^r!au.' 624 So",th ^;chl'?an-,AvenLue' Chicago, 5; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Hollywood, 28. William R editor; Toronto Bureau, 242 Millwood Road, Toronto, Ontario Canada, W. M. Gladish, correspondent; Montreal Bureau, 265 Vitre St., West, Montreal, Canada Pat Donovan dent; London Bureau, 4 Golden Square, London W II Hope .Williams Burnup, manager; Peter Burnup, editor; cable Quigpubco London; Melbourne Bureau, The Regent Theatre' Ins St., Me bourne Australia Cliff Holt, correspondent; Sydney Bureau, 17 Archbold Rd Rosev.lle, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, Lin Endean, correspondent; Mexico City Bureau rmpna y Voile 6 Mexico City Luis Becerra Celis correspondent; Buenos Aires Bureau, J. E. Unburi 126, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Natalio Bruski, correspondent; Rio de Janeiro t\ R. Sao Jose ,61 C Postal 834 R,o de Janeiro, Brazil, Alfredo C Machado, correspondent; _ Montevideo Bureau, P. O. Box 664, Montevideo, Uruguay, Paul Bodo, correspondent;., Vgus Montevideo Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents copyright 1945 by Quig ey Publishing Company. Address all correspondence to the New York Office. Other Jubhcations: Better Theatres, Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac, and Fame. r PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 17, 1945