Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

TB Moves to ft Independent lock Quotas Ipresentatives of independent producers who asked by the War Production Board to serve special committee to aid the board in alir-g raw stock to individual independents last rsfay declined the responsibility and the WPB to organize the committee was abandoned, as learned in Washington. The WPB will lie the allocations itself, it was indicated, mouncement of the committee was made by lev Adams, chief of the Consumers' Durable is Division of the WPB. following the March neeting of board officials with the Industry isory Committee to discuss raw stock alloca; for the second quarter of 1945. igh WPB officials were reported this week to : considered briefly abandoning allocations to panies within the industry' and setting only a amount available for civilian consumption. The >o;al was understood to have been dropped after sers condemned it in terms ranging from .os" to "debacle." le Independent group originally included Roy ley, representing Walt Disney; Barney BrisSol Lesser Productions, and Thomas L. ker of Edward Small Productions, eanwhile, applications for raw stock quotas by pendent producers to the board are understood xceed the 28,323,720 feet which the WPB had aside for the independent producers pool, r. Adams was expected to announce this week ific allocations for the independents. Last <, representatives of independent producers, ining James Mulvey, Samuel Goldwyn Produc> ; Al Schwalberg, International ; Mr. Walker Mr. Disney, conferred individually with Mr. ms in Washington. They discussed their own ific raw stock needs but were given no indica as to what their allocations were to be. 1st Thursday, it was reported in Washington an additional 15,000,000 feet of raw stock, re the quotas for the second quarter, might be ed over to the industry from a stock pile :h had accumulated in New York. The stock prises Army film reportedly scheduled to have l sent overseas, but. because it had been in age longer than regulations permit, the foot recentlv had been barred from overseas shipt. bout 3,000,000 feet of the stored footage was to have been allocated for coverage of the ted Nations Conference in San Francisco, il 25. Per Cent Increase in m Output in 1944 he total production of photographic film last " was 580,448,000 square feet, an increase of per cent or 34,355,000 square feet over 1943, Department of Commerce reported last week, he fourth quarter output, it was announced, inised 10 per cent, or 13,744,000 square feet, over preceding quarter and was 18 per cent, or 23,000 square feet above the fourth quarter in 3. Commercial users received a slightly lower portion of the output in 1944, but the actual ntity distributed through commercial channels eased seven per cent, or 24,260,000 square feet, r the preceding year. The ratio of total shipits to commercial users steadily declined )ugh the year, from 72 per cent in the first rter to 59 per cent in the final three months, he Department's report covered the production sight manufacturers in 1943 and the first half ast year and 10 manufacturers for the final six iths of 1944, representing 100 per cent of the ustry. isdanovic Plans Hotel 'aul Gusdanovic, Cleveland circuit owner, has chased a site at Fort Lauderdale. Fla., ur>on ch he plans to build a 150-room hotel after the Independent Distributors Seek Formula on Raw Stock At a meeting of the National Association of Motion Picture Independents in New York last Thursday, a sub-committee was appointed to work out a formula whereby the organization could request the War Production Board for relief in connection with the raw stock situation. Nat Sanders, president of English films, was named to head the committee, which will present its findings informally to Stanley Adams, chief of the Consumers' Durable Goods Division of the WPB before the Industry Advisory Committee holds its next meeting sometime in June. Election of officers was tabled until the organization's next meeting in mid-April. The present slate includes Charles Hirliman, Florida-Hirliman Productions, president; Jack Hoffberg, Hoffberg Productions, first vice-president; Mr. Sanders, secretary, and Sam Hacker, Film Audit Service, treasurer. The group expects to present to the WPB information concerning its principal complaint, that the release schedules of small independent companies compared to the large distributors is uncertain, frequently involving loss of raw stock allocations as printing cannot be determined_ as finally as that of a large company in any given quarter. Travis in East to Discuss Stock for South America Merwin Travis, executive director of the Motion Picture Society for the Americas, arrived in New York from Hollywood last week for conferences with home office foreign managers. He also was expected to discuss raw stock allotments for South American countries in New York and in Washington. Mr. Travis conferred recently with Francis Alstock, director of the film division of the Office of Inter-American Affairs. He said that the request by the Mexican Government for an additional 5,000,000 feet of raw stock to make six operatic feature films this summer was being considered in Washington but that no decision had been made to grant the request. Hearing on Murray Motion Postponed Second Time The hearing of a motion to vacate orders issued last month by Federal Judge William H. Holly in the Chicago conspiracy case brought by Thomas A. Murray against distributors, was to take place Wednesday after postponement last week because of the illness of Miles Seeley, defense counsel. The orders included the dismissal of distributor defendants, Loew's and Twentieth Century-Fox, and the granting of a new trial to the remaining defendants. Last January a jury returned a verdict of $105,000 damages in favor of Mr. Murray, operator of the Thalia theatre there. Fraser Rejoins 20th-Fox The appointment of George Fraser to the Twentieth Century-Fox exploitation staff, under Rodney Bush, has been announced by Hal Home, director of publicity, advertising and exploitation. Mr. Fraser, who has been a member of the home office publicity staffs of Paramount, Twentieth CenturyFox and Columbia, replaces Lou Gerard, transferred last week to the New York publicity department under Jules Fields. Forms Realty Company Michael Daly, owner of the Daly Theatre Circuit of Connecticut, has filed a certificate of incorporation and organization in Hartford from the Daly Realty Company as follows : capital, $50,000 ; commencing business, $16,500; incorporators, Michael Daly, president and treasurer, Hartford; Barbara Campbell, vice-president, East Hartford ; William Rabinowitz, secretary, West Hartford. Altec Names Supervisors The appointments of F. Bruce Newborn and L. K. Brisbin as Altec Service Corporation supervisors in Seattle and Portland, respectively, under the direction of W. E. Gregory, Seattle district manager,_ has been announced by H. M. Bessey, vice-president. DeMille Demands Probe of Unions9 ' 'Encroachment 9 9 Cecil B. DeMille, motion picture and radio producer, this week called upon the new House Committee on Un-American Activities, in Washington, to investigate "the encroachment by certain unions upon the guaranteed rights and liberties of American citizens." He also asked the California Supreme Court to force the American Federation of Radio Artists to reinstate him so he could resume radio work. Continuing the battle that began when he was forced off the air after refusing to pay a $1 political assessment imposed by the union, Mr. DeMille stated his views in a letter to Representative Mundt, a Republican of South Dakota and a member of the House committee. He declared that the committee, recently established by a topheavy House vote to supplant the expired Dies Committee, had the task of exposing any activity which menaced the Constitution of the United States. Wrote Mr. DeMille: "No agency or organization, be it state, Federal, executive or unofficial, should be beyond the scope of the Committee. Right now an un-American activity which surely should be investigated and brought to the attention of the public, the Congress and the legislatures for correction by law is the encroachment by certain unions upon the guaranteeed rights and liberties of the American citizen. "When a union can literally shackle a citizen by forbidding and actually preventing him from working at his trade because he refuses to pay a political assessment to support a cause on the ballot to which he is opposed, then the people of the United States are in the grip of a tyranny as all-out as Fascism or Nazism or Communism. "This is a matter of the abuse of power and the shocking concept that union by-laws take precedence over the Constitution of the United States or the constitution of a state. "When freedom of individual choice in an election is taken away from us — the right to support what candidate and propositions we choose, with our money or our voice or our vote — when that is taken away from us because of our convictions, and we are arbitrarily denied the right to work and make a living, then the cornerstone of governmen by the people is removed and the whole structure of liberty collapses." Orson Welles announced Monday that he would speak over the Mutual Network this Saturday for the American Federation of Radio Artists in reply to Mr. DeMille, who presented his side of the case over the same network March 17. Paramount Distribution Club Elects Reagan President All officers and the board of governors of the Distribution Department Club, Inc., of Paramount Pictures were reelected March 20 for one year at the annual meeting held at the home office. The officers^ are : Charles M. Reagan, president; George A. Smith and R. M. Gillham, vice-presidents, and G. B. J. Frawley, secretary and treasurer. The officers and Frank Meyer constitute the board of governors. The club includes as members executives at the home office and district and branch managers in the United States and Canada. Form Theatre Company The Salco Arrtusement Corporation, Bridgeport, Conn., operator of the Barnum, has filed a certificate of organization, naming Louis J. Anger of Bridgeport, president, Angelo F. Sturchio, of Stratford, vice-president, and Clifford E. Lyon, of Stratford, treasurer and secretary. Selected Buys Cleveland House The Almii'a theatre, Cleveland, has been purchased by Selected Theatres Company from George Allbright. The circuit, owned by Nate and Sam Schultz, owns five other houses in Ohio. •TION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 31, 1945 53