Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

BRITISH INDUSTRY TRAINS EX-SOLDIERS A. B. C. Circuit To Teach 250 Men To Be Managers; Other Plans In Work by PETER BURNUP London Bureau All phases of Britain's war-torn motion picture industry, producers, distributors and exhibitors, all have under urgent discussion schemes whereby the industry can play its part in the rehabilitation into civil life of the nation's fighting men. Film men claim, indeed, that they give the lead to other industries in this regard. Max Milder, in his capacity not as Warner Brothers' European chief, but as joint managing director of Associated British Cinemas, Ltd., is the latest important personage to come across with a wide, none-the-less detailed, scheme for post-hostilities training of young soldiers. To Establish School In conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Milder has hammered out a plan whereby 250 to 300 service men will be trained for careers in the industry. The A.B.C. circuit has undertaken with the Government to establish a school at which members of the forces will be trained as theatre managers, Mr. Milder pointing out that practically every presentday motion picture leader began his career in theatre management. The A.B.C. chief has been very thorough in his preliminary exploration of the field and in the plans he has made with Whitehall's collaboration. Regardless of rank, he says, officers and men of the Navy, Army or Air Force, when they become due for discharge and if they are between the ages of 21 and 31, will be eligible for preliminary examination by vocational officers of the Labour Ministry, who will direct the most suitable candidates to the A.B.C. school. Courses will start as soon as the first group of 20 trainees has been selected. After four weeks of theoretical study and lectures by the principal operating executives of the circuit, they will begin practical work at theatres which offer the most up-to-date facilities, and under specially selected managers. Curriculum Is Comprehensive The curriculum includes theatre bookkeeping and accountancy, advertising and publicity, technical supervision, the science of acoustics, visual and tonal reproduction, stage presentation, public relations, staff control and organization, all the rest of the manifold duties of the manager. Trainees later will be appointed assistant managers, moving around the circuit to gain experience in city, suburban and provincial theatres until they emerge as fully-qualified managers. Subsistence allowances will be paid during the four weeks of theoretical training, and from the time they start practical theatre work they will be paid at standard industry rates according to the positions they hold. In addition, they will be covered by the non-contributing pension fund which embraces all A.B.C. management personnel. It is anticipated that the first students will enroll about four weeks hence. Says Mr. Milder : "I realize that thousands of young men who joined up almost immediately after completing their education will be returning after the war with no vocational training or profession. It is to these men that my scheme is mainly directed." To Develop Projectionists The Milder gesture is not the only one film men this side are making. As long ago as last summer, exhibitor representatives made contact with the Labour Ministry, pledging themselves to do all in their power towards that "rehabilitation to civil life" which clearly will be one of the nation's tougher problems as soon as peace breaks out in all its rigour. Formal discussions took place between the Ministry, the trade organizations and certain more or less extra-mural bodies like equipment manufacturers. Public technical colleges also were approached with a view to the provision of places for the theoretical training of exsoldiers selected as potential projectionists. The blueprint of a comprehensive scheme is now complete ; indeed, a number of men discharged as unfit already have begun their initial training in various parts of the country. Their local school of technology puts them through their paces in the elements of electronics and so forth ; they get practical instruction meanwhile in the operating booths of specified cinemas. Industry Will Benefit It is just another witness to the high sense of civic responsibility evinced by the trade, which is not to say that same trade won't reap advantage from its virtuous efforts. Like everything else in Britain in war's sixth year there's a desperate shortage of skilled projectionists. Moreover, the shortage, in the view of thoughtful exhibitors, will inevitably persist unless something drastic is quickly undertaken. For, they say, the young fellows who would have been in training to become chief projectionists have lately been engaged in more desperate and urgent tasks. Keen young soldiers, it is also said, who have spent the last few years fighting the country's mechanized war, will make ideal recruits to the motion picture job. Paramount Transfers Wise Harold Wise, Paramount booking manager in St. Louis, has been transferred to Minneapolis in a similar capacity, Charles M. Reagan, vicepresident in charge of distribution, has announced. John Fritcher, Minneapolis booking manager, has been granted an extended leave of absence because of illness. The post of booking manager in St. Louis will be filled by the promotion of Jerry Bahner from assistant booker. Plan Open Air Theatre A 2,000-seat, open air film theatre is one of the proposed developments for the Memphis, Tenn., Fairgrounds Park, according to preliminary plans submitted by Ackley, Bradley & Day, Pittsburgh, Pa., architects and engineers. Sudeicum on Vanderbilt Board Tony Sudekum, president of the Crescent Amusement Company, Nashville, Tenn., has been elected a member of the Vanderbilt University board of trustees, Nashville. "Confidential Reports" Not So! Confidential, Allied Fears The five participating distributors were ca upon Monday by Allied States Association of 1 tion Picture Exhibitors to abandon the newly J ganized Confidential Reports, Inc., the joint cho ing service scheduled to start operation on A 1. The Allied statement, released from Washii! ton headquarters, warned against interchange of formation relating to operation and earnings of ] dependent exhibitors. The undertaking will be "eyed with suspicion ; 1 will be challenged the very moment that evide of collusion appears," the statement read. Allied listed the following factors which it s cause independent exhibitors to eye the new ganization with anxiety : "1. The new company will be headed by executive of one of the participating distributoi referring to J. J. O'Connor, vice-president of U versal, who is president of Confidential Repo Inc. "2. The business manager will be a former € ployee of Copyright Protection Bureau, which 1 been charged with unfairness toward exhibitor referring to Jack Levin, who resigned as manag director of Copyright Protection Bureau to beco general manager of the new company. "3. The officers and employees oi the comp in a very real sense will be the joint agents the five participating distributors. "4. In recent years the major distribut through joint agents have demanded access to I books and records of exhibitors in certain areas, "5. There has been a tendency among the I Jiight in recent years to drop the 'confident clause' from their license agreements." A * Charges Checking Service New Control Device Confidential Reports, Inc., the joint checki service formed by five major distributors, w characterized this week as "a brazen step towa the complete control by the producers of the dependent theatres," in a statement by Wi Vance, chairman of the Indignant Exhibitors Fc1 um of Cincinnati. "This most certainly isn't for a better checki: system," Mr. Vance declared, "for no one cod imagine or dream up a more efficient way to ke tab on the other fellows' business than now operation." He predicted that the new organization mig "go a long way toward bringing the outlawii of percentage pictures." Two from Associated Screen Return from Armed Forces First of Associated Screen News personnel return from active service in the Canadian armi forces are F/O Tony Hargreaves and Sergea Howard Hamilton, both back at work at the stud in Montreal. Approximately 25 per cent of tl Associated Screen News staff is serving in son Canadian branch service, many doing photograph work overseas. Mr. Hargreaves had been wit the Royal Canadian Air Force for more than foi years. Sergeant Hamilton served with tl R.C.A.F. three and a half years, doing navigatic instruction work at Canadian air observer school To Rebuild Two New Jersey Houses Recently Burned The Lyric theatre, Atlantic City, recently par tially destroyed by fire, will be rebuilt as soon a possible, according to William Ford, owner-man ager. The loss has been estimated at $50,000. Hi son, now in the Army, will take over operation c the house when he returns from active duty. A nearby Cape May Court House, it is expecte work will start shortly on the new theatre to re place the Hunt house destroyed by fire. However the theatre in Wildwood which was destroyed wil not be replaced until the war is over. Greene Buys House The Park theatre, Woonsocket, R. I., has beei |! sold to Fred Greene and Associates, who operat the Bijou theatre there, by Arthur I. Darma and Arnold Stoltz. 50 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 24, I94£|