Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

lert for V-E OWMEN are brushing the dust from plans the day when the news of war's end in -ope is flashed via today's multiple communion channels. These plans, developed months in minute detail by all circuits and by many ividual exhibitors, have been resting placidly n their premature arrival. Now, however, industry is alerted again. Cew York's curfew-assaulting mayor, Fioo H. LaGuardia, would gather all stars of ^en. stage and radio sojourning in his bailik at the time into the city's huge parks for ended celebration. The objective: To drain ;e or four million people from the downtown Times Square areas where their hysteria Id do more damage to limb and property, gave no space to the possible condition of terrain after being traversed by park-bound abitants of the business and suburban areas. )ut in St. Louis exhibitors agreed at a meetlast week to abide by previous plans to close ir theatres ; to keep them closed for the day he news comes after midnight; to conclude ir programs if the break comes in the midbut to close the ticket booths and lock the rs immediately. 'hicago exhibitors planned to meet late this :k to agree on a program to cope with the ation when it arises. n London, theatres, bars, night clubs and :aurants will remain open. The police will advised to keep an alert, but fatherly, eye proceedings. If the people get too rough, ir taxicabs and busses will be taken away n them. isy on Theatres W ALTERATIONS will have to be made existing theatres in New York state to conn to the new state building code now being fted by the State Labor Department adjry committee in Albany, according to inmation from the committee. The code does apply to the City of New York, which has own established regulations. Agreement has been reached on about oned of the provisions concerning theatres atone conference on this phase. Other meets will be held, the next scheduled for ril 13. t was evident that the requirements would necessitate enlargement of. theatre exits, I that fire curtains would be required only theatres having stage presentations. > They May See IE BLOODY march of conquest across rope will be shown in all of its brutality to ve home to the people of Germany their war It, if plans of the United States and England terialize. A diet of newsreels and documeny motion pictures is in prospect for the Gerns. rhe documentaries will bring home to Gerny the devastation and suffering her armies ised in conquered areas. They will emphae that the leveling of German cities created mild suffering in Germany compared with the brutal treatment and starvation to which people under German domination were subjected. The people will be shown the growing might of the United Nations while they were waging full-scale wars in two parts of the*world, with special emphasis on the massed naval strength and number of troops involved in the Pacific conflict. Newsreels will show the surrender of German troops and the defeats they sustained in the West and the East. A variety of pictures will depict life in the United States, England and other nations, with special attention to the huge war-production achievements in the U. S. The myth of the invincibility of German arms will be exploded, the sponsors hope, forever. When Japan is beaten, hidden official pictures of the "Death March" on Bataan from Marivales to San Fernando may be found and used as evidence against Japanese war criminals. A photographer, who died later in a prison camp, snapped a number of pictures during the march and secreted them in two camps. Germany should be prohibited from making motion pictures for at least 10 years after the war, Samuel Goldwyn, back from Europe, told newsmen in New York last week. He declared that German films had been nothing but propaganda for the past decade. RADIO exploitation, through sponsorship of "Singo," a prize contest broadcast over Station WHOM in New York, is being used by Paramount and the Rivoli theatre for "The Affairs of Susan," currently making Easter week records at that house. The contest, in which listeners receive cash prizes for combining popular song titles into amusing or startling sentences, is owned by Welcome Lewis, radio singer, and Hazel Flynn. Miss Flynn knows about motion picture exploitation. Granddaughter of an Indiana newspaperman, she worked as an extra for Essanay pictures in Chicago, as cafe editor and motion picture columnist for the Chicago Evening American, film editor and title writer for newsreels and educational pictures, and was in charge of publicity for the Radio City Music Hall for several years. Theatrical CONFERENCES for the surrender of the hopeless bits of Germany's tattered armies have been held between commanders of opposing forces in a variety of circumstances and locations. It remained for the conference in Duisberg, in the Ruhr, to be the first such held in a motion picture theatre. It was the town's leading theatre, unnamed, however, in the news dispatches, and in the "downtown" section. There, a 35-year-old German captain, "bemedaled and courteous," insisted through four hours it was his duty to "the Fuehrer and the German Reich" to continue fighting. So, although all the German soldiers and civilians our emissaries saw on the way to and from the theatre were anxious to surrender, the fight continued. Defaults London Bureau FOR THE year ending September 30, 1944, British exhibitors had a total of 1,120 defaults under the quota law, compared with 982 for the previous year, the British Board of Trade will announce next week. The increase in the number of defaults is regarded by the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association as justifying its position that attempts to fulfill the quota law under present conditions are absurd. In spite of the present film shortage, likely to be worsened by the latest raw stock cut, the Board of Trade is insisting that exhibitors obey the law. Hugh Dalton, president of the Board of Trade, points out that British production now is healthier than at any time during the war. His position is strengthened by the fact that 70 British features were registered under the quota law for the year ending March 31, 1945, compared with 62 for the previous year. Fritzed FRITZ MANDL, an armaments manufacturer, late of Austria andnow of Argentina, is better known to the American public, when it had good reason to think of him, as the former husband of Hedy Lamarr, at the time she appeared in the film "Ecstasy," in the nude. At the time he was reported to have spent millions to buy up copies of the picture, it was said. Made in Czechoslovakia, the picture played small theatres in this country in variously cut versions after numerous encounters with censors. Mr. Mandl was arrested Monday night in Bueno^i Aires. This week he was being held incommunicado, suspected of dealings with the Nazis. The Argentines, now at war with Germany, rounded him up with several hundred other suspects. They also confiscated his companv, the IMPA. The Look Clicks FAN MAIL, that fuel for the flames of fame, is swamping the none-too-reluctant Miss who is known, particularly in the press releases, as "The Look," and who also is famous for her whistle. Latest tabulation at the Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood revealed that Lauren Bacall had risen from 24th to sixth place, quite a jump for a player who has been seen in only one picture. She recently completed her second role with Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep." King Kiss THE ROYAL attributes of osculation will be explored' by Mario Moreno of Mexico in a new motion picture. Already considerably occupied as Cantinflas, the comedian, vice-president of Posa Films, producer of his pictures, and as the leader of the new film labor union, he will make a new picture entitled "Su Majestad el Beso." "His Majesty the Kiss" will be, say the notices, "in theme and treatment an exposition of the art of kissing." Pennies from Heaven ITION PiCTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City, 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable address "Quigpubco, New k." 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. Formby, d Editor; Ray Gallagher, Advertising Manager; Chicago Bureau, 624 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 5; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Hollywood, 28. William R. over, editor; Toronto Bureau, 242 Millwood Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, W. M. Gladish, correspondent; Montreal Bureau, 265 Vitre St., West, Montreal, Canada, Pat Donovan, respondent; London Bureau, 4 Golden Square, London W !, Hope Williams Burnup, manager; Peter Burnup, editor; cable Quigpubco London; Melbourne Bureau, The Regent Theatre, Collins St., Melbourne, Australia, Cliff Holt, correspondent; Sydney Bureau, 17 Archbold Rd., Roseville, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, Lin Endean, correspondent; Mexico City Bureau, Carmona y Valle 6, Mexico City, Luis Becerra Celis, correspondent; Buenos Aires Bureau, J. E. Uriburi 126, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Natalio Bruski, correspondent; Rio de Janeiro sou, R. Sao Jose, 61 C. Postal 834, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Alfredo C. Machado, correspondent; Montevideo Bureau, P. O. Box 664, Montevideo, Uruguay, Paul Bodo, correspondent; ile Argus Montevideo. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents copyright 1945 by Quigley Publishing Company. Address all correspondence to the New York Office. Other gley Publications: Better Theatres, Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac, and Fame. 5TION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 7, 1945 9