Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

Reading and Downloading:

Record Details:

Title:: Motion Picture Herald
Date:: Mar-Apr 1945
Publisher:: [New York, N.Y. : Quigley Pub. Co.]
Volume:: Motion Picture Herald (Mar–Apr 1945)
Leaf #:: 000572
Language:: English
Subjects:: motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Periodicals
Collection:: Hollywood Studio System
Format:: Periodicals
Contributor:: Library of Congress, MBRS, Moving Image Section
Sponsor:: Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division
Coordinator:: Media History Digital Library
Description:: Founded in 1915 by a Chicago printing company as a regional trade paper for Midwest exhibitors. In 1916, editor Martin Quigley bought out the owners, and over the next 15 years, he grew EXHIBITORS HERALD into one of the most important national, weekly trade papers in the film business. Quigley acquired MOTOGRAPHY in 1917 and MOVING PICTURE WORLD in 1927. In 1930, he acquired MOTION PICTURE NEWS and the new 'consolidated' publication became MOTION PICTURE HERALD. From the pulpit of his editorial page, Quigley preached the need to improve the motion picture industry and improve the quality of the films. He skillfully served as a mediator in disputes -- between distributors and exhibitors, between the film industry and the Catholic Church (Quigley was one of the architects of the Production Code). Quigley claimed that EXHIBITORS HERALD represented the 'independent exhibitor' and sections like 'What the Picture Did for Me?' certainly provided a forum for theater owners. But plenty of exhibitors viewed Quigley as a servant to the studios and large theater chains. In response, publications such as SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, INDEPENDENT EXHIBITORS FILM BULLETIN, HARRISON'S REPORTS, and BOX OFFICE were either formed or grew significantly in the years following Quigley's brief moment of consolidation in 1930. -- Eric Hoyt, 2014
Date Added:: November 17, 2022

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.

View OCR Text

We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

{Continued from preceding page) play here in a long while. Would have done great business with it if it wasn't for the big snow storm that struck the second day. The big snow we had in December cut our grosses for that month right in half. Played Sunday, Monday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville. W. Va. UP IN ARMS: Danny Kaye, Dana Andrews — A very good musical comedy and I am sure that Danny Kaye made a hit with my patrons because of the many compliments received. Some say that he is better than Cantor and Brown. Plenty of leg art, plenty of laughs, and plenty of songs. Played Sunday, Monday, Jan. 7, 8. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. Republic CALIFORNIA JOE: Don "Red" Barry, Helen Talbot— Good Western, but poor business. The deep snow kept everyone at home. Played Friday, Saturday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN: Bob Burns, Una Merkel — A fair Western that did average business. Autry is on the decline and I would advise Republic to reissue some of his bigger Westerns. Several of the Autry fans have asked why they don't reissue the bigger ones like "Melody Ranch" or "Sierra Sue." Played Friday, Saturday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. END OF THE ROAD: Edward Norris, John Abbott— A very slow murder picture. Played Friday, Saturday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. MY BUDDY: Donald Barry, Ruth Terry— Played with "Mystery Man," and nothing to brag about. Played Tuesday, Wednesday, March 20, 21. — M. W. Hughes, Colonial Theatre, Astoria, 111. Small town patronage. SONG OF NEVADA: Roy Rogers, Dale Evans— All Rogers' pictures are big hits and good for any box office. High type Western that pleases everyone. Played Friday, Saturday.— J. C. Balkcom, Jr., Gray Theatre, Gray, Ga. YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS : Roy Rogers, Dale Evans — Rogers gets better every time. This is the best he has made yet. Played Friday, Saturday, March 30, 31. — James L. Johnson, Pavo Theatre, Pavo, Ga. Rural and small town patronage. THE GIRL WHO DARED: Lorna Gray, Peter Cookson — A very good feature. Comedy and murder usually mix well, especially when Willie Best provides the laughs. Flayed Friday, Saturday, Jan. 5, 6. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. Twentieth Century-Fox BIG NOISE, THE: Laurel and Hardy— This gave us a nice gross for Friday and Saturday for all classes. It was O.K. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Canada. DANCING MASTERS: Laurel & Hardy, Mary Harlan — Laurel & Hardy are always good for a lot of laughs and patrons certainly want funny slapstick pictures nowadays. Played Sunday, Monday, March 25, 26. — A. H. Kaufman, Fountain Theatre, Terre Haute, Ind. IN THE MEANTIME, DARLING: Jeanne Crain, Frank Latimore — "Meet Miss Bobby Socks." Played this double bill middle of week. Did mediocre business. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Canada. IRISH EYES ARE SMILING: Monty Woolley, Dick Haymes — Here is a picture that is a picture. Being Irish, of course, I'd play it, but the box office grosses were behind me. Did weekend business Monday and Teusday. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Canada. IRISH EYES ARE SMILING: Monty Woolley, June Haver — This was not an outstanding production according to the high powered critics but it certainly went over swell for us and everyone went away happy. Good acting, cheerful theme, and music. Played Sunday, Monday, March 25, 26. — A. C. Edwards, Winema Theatre, Scotia, Cal. Small lumber town patronage. LAURA: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews — Laura is a swell picture, but I did not do enough business to pay my overhead. — Will J. Henry, Milan Theatre, Milan, Ind. PURPLE HEART, THE: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte — Every exhibitor who is interested in pictures going further than the mercenary angle will back me in saying this is one of the films that should be reviewed by the delegates to the peace conference at the finish of the Jap part of the war. Business above average for midweek. Played Wednesday, Thursday, March 21, 22.— Johnnie Hynes, Community Theatre, Conde, So. Dak. Rural and small town patronage. SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS: Carman Miranda, Michael O'Shea — Good musical show in Technicolor which did average business. Played Sunday, Monday, March 18, 19. — E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage. SWEET AND LOWDOWN: Lynn Bari, Benny Goodman— With "The Kansan" played this double bill weekend. Did very well. Had better weekends, though. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Canada. TAMPICO: Edward G. Robinson, Lynn Bari— Surprise ending fooled patrons and they stated that they wanted more like this. Played Wednesday, Thursday, March 28, 29. — James L. Johnson, Pavo Theatre, Pavo, Ga. Rural and small town patronage. WINGED VICTORY: Lon McAllister, Edmund O'Brien — This is a very fine production, but rather too long for a house with a small seating capacity. My Friday and Saturday horse operas keep my house open. I do more business and I get to keep some of the money. — Will J. Henry, Milan Theatre, Milan, Ind. United Artists DEAD END: Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney— This one did good for one day and was liked by all. There are the names of Bogart, Dead End Kids, Joel McCrea and a few others to sell your public. Played Thursday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. HAIRY APE.: William Bendix, Susan Hayward— Business off; not a Sunday program; if run should run midweek. The title kills the picture and will keep patrons away. I found this out. Played Sunday -Tuesday, March 4-6. — W. J. Fleischer, New Franklin Theatre, Franklin, Minn. JACK LONDON: Michael O'Shea, Susan Hayward— Did O. K. Not as big a picture as we thought it could have been. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Canada. SINCE YO'U WENT AWAY: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones — Book it quick. It will do extra business and please everyone. The only fault is it could have been a little shorter. A little too long for what it tells. However, it was one of the best pictures last year. Played Sunday -Tuesday, April 1-3. — M. W. Hughes, Colonial Theatre, Astoria, 111. STAR IS BORN, A:. Fredric March, Janet Gaynor— A very good show in Technicolor. Print was in bad shape and no advertisement. Outside of that, it snowed, causing us to have a very low attendance. Played Tuesday, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 3. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. Universal ALLERGIC TO LOVE: Noah Beery, Jr., Martha O'Driscoll — Universal is making several pictures with this team, Noah Beery, Jr., and Martha O'Driscoll, and from what I've seen in their last two pictures that isn't enough. This team is a riot, one of the best love teams in the films. Business was average. Played Friday, Saturday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY: Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly — Worst Sunday night business in a long while. The Monday business brought it up to average. Please, Miss Durbin, keep out of dramas and stick to musical comedies. Can't understand why Universal didn't make a big musical with these two stars and double their grosses as well as the exhibitors'. Played Sunday, Monday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. CLIMAX, THE: Boris Karloff, Susanna Foster— This was a good picture but not for small town houses. Pictures and operettas no good here. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Canada. THE CLIMAX: Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey— No more appropriate title was ever selected for a picture. A patron just before departing somewhere about half through the picture remarked: "Why don't you put in a bowling alley." Played Friday, Saturday, March 23, 24. — A. C. Edwards, Winema Theatre, Scotia, Cal. Small lumber town patronage. FOLLOW THE BOYS: George Raft, Vera Zorina— This was really a surprise. It drew well, and was very well liked. In fact, many people came back the next night, which is very unusual. I feel safe in saying it is one of the best shows we've had and we intend to have a return engagement. Played Sunday, Monday, March 11, 12.— Marcella Smith, Vinton Theatre, McArthur, O. Small town patronage. GHOST CATCHERS: O'lsen & Johnson— Here is a comedy that deserved "A" time. It's so nutty that you forget everything for a whole hour and relax to the sweet and hot music. That is unless you're in the aisles laughing. We had a little snow, which cut down our attendance, but it should do well in other situations. Played Tuesday, Wednesday. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. HER LUCKY NIGHT: The Andrews Sisters, Martha O'Driscoll — Entertaining, small budget musical show. Business was good. Played Tuesday, March 20. — E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage. Warner Bros. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane — A very crazy show that did fair business. Would have done better, I am sure, if it wasn't for the snow and rain. If your patrons love comedy on the silly side this will more than satisfy them. Played Sunday, Monday, Dec. 31, Jan. 1. — Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane — Personally, I thought this picture was O.K., but for a small town the natives could not see it at all. They walked out in droves. No small town should think of playing this feature. — Will J. Henry, .Milan Theatre, Milan, Ind. BROTHER RAT: Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman— An outstanding comedy that failed to do business, which unusual for the Warner Bros, reissues. It has a larj cast. It's about the boys in uniform and has plenty comedy. It has everything a picture needs to be a 1 and should do well elsewhere. Played Tuesday, Wedne day.— Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. 1 BROTHER RAT: Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris— Goi picture that everyone liked. Played Tuesday-Thursda March 13-15.— May H. Turner, Royal Theatre, Iowa Par Tex. Small town and rural patronage. CONSPIRATORS, THE: Hedy Lamarr, Paul HenreidTerrible business. Warners makes but a few pictures year due to a shortage of film, yet it wastes it on pi tures like this. I believe that I am right in saying th these pictures are the ones that have brought out the b complaints against pictures with a war background. Ho about more musicals and comedies, even Westerns Flayed Wednesday, Thursday, Jan. 21, 22.— Ralph Rasp State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. EMPTY HOLSTERS: Dick Foran, Patricia Walthall These "Foran" Westerns are almost like epics; they m; be old but they rate high above the Westerns of toda Foran sings a lovely song, which should add more fai to his growing list. Played Friday, Saturday.— Rah; Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. IN OUR TIME: Paul Henried, Ida Lupino— Paid tc price for this slow moving drama and had one of the lov est attendances of the season. Paul Henried is a hea throb, but his parts are not good. Every picture he h; made to date has failed and so has every drama Wa ners made this year. Played Sunday, Monday. — Rail Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va. JANIE: Joyce Reynolds, Robert Hutton— I wish the would make more of these. I wasn't surprised, thoug I haven't seen a Warner picture yet that wasn't a hi Played Wednesday, Thursday, March 28, 29.— James I Johnson, Pavo Theatre, Pavo, Ga. Rural and small tow patronage. MAKE YOUR OWN BED: Jack Carson, Jane Wyma — Jack Carson is tops here and I stood them up for tw days on Wednesday and Thursday along with a sma Cash Nite prize. The natives laughed long and loud.Will J. Henry, Milan Theatre, Milan, Ind. MAKE YOUR OWN BED: Jack Carson, Irene Mai ning — Good comedy. Small towns could use more come dies and less war and horror pictures. Played Frida; Saturday, March 16, 17. — M. J. Swanson, Roxy Theatr Aslo, Minn. Small town patronage. Short Features Columbia DOCTOR, FEEL MY PULSE: All Star Comedies Good. If you need comedy, you can bank on this one.Johnnie Hynes, Community Theatre, Conde, S. D. SADIE HAWKIN'S DAY: Li'l Abner— Cartoon of avei age quality with good drawing power due to popula comic strip. Play it up. — Johnnie Hynes, Communit Theatre, Conde, S. D. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer GROOVIE MOVIE: Pete Smith Specialties— The younj sters like this O. K., but the adults made no comment — James L. Johnson, Pavo Theatre, Pavo, Ga. RKO HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL: Disney Cartoon— Goo Disney cartoon, as they. usually all are. Lots of laugh: —A. H. Kaufman, Fountain Theatre, Terre Haute, Ind. CLOCK WATCHERS: Walt Disney Cartoon— Goo Disney cartoon in color.— E. M. Freiburger, Paramour Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Vitaphone BIKES AND SKIS: Sports Parade— Good sport reel.E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. BIRDS AND BEASTS WERE THERE: Sports Pai ade— This is in fine Technicolor and will satisfy. — Edwar H. Belz, Community Theatre, Athens, Wis. CALIFORNIA, HERE WE ARE: Sports Parade—, nice Technicolor short with enough material to make : go for 20 minutes instead of 10.— Edward H. Belz, Com munity Theatre, Athens, Wis. HERR MEETS HARE: "Bugs Bunny" Specials— Bug Bunny again. This one is fair. — Edward H. Belz, Com munity Theatre, Athens, Wis. JAMMIN' THE, BLUES: Melody Master Bands— Thi is a weak one. Pass it up. — Edward H. Belz, Communit Theatre, Athens, Wis. NAUTICAL BUT NICE: Featurettes— Here is a ver nice two-reel short that will fit in almost any spot. 1 is entertaining all the way. — Edward H. Belz, Communit Theatre, Athens, Wis. RHYTHM OF THE RHUMBA: Melody Master Band —Entertaining musical reel.— E. M. Freiburger, Para mount Theatre, Dewey, Okla 38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 14, 194