Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

assessments k.FTER a 10-year absence as head of the list representing New York City's most expensive iroperty, the Empire State Building, tallest nan-made structure in the world, resumed its irst place as a result of a $2,000,000 increase ||n its assessed valuation imposed by the City Cax Commission for the fiscal year 1945-46. The commission released its annual report ilonday. The Empire State now shares top position .t $30,000,000 with Rockefeller Center's RCA Building, unchallenged leader for the past two rears, which received the sizeable boost of $1,i00,000. By reason of the RCA building hange, Rockefeller Center increased its value ly $1,500,000 to $93,700,000. The Radio City iiusic Hall-RKO Ijuilding assessment rose J 1300,000 but was offset by a similar decrease or the Center theatre and the U. S. Rubber •uilding. I Of 48 theatres in the commission's report, i6 were increased, six decreased, and six unhanged. The Roxy is now marked up $400,I^WO to $4,350,000; the Capitol, up $195,000 to £2,275,000; Loew's State, up $105,000 to $3,{00,000; Times-Apollo, up $120,000 to $1,400,lOO; the Criterion, up $100,000 to $6,575,000 Ind the Winter Garden, up $100,000 to $2,t25,()00. *i Two concert halls obtained sizable reductions (in the theatre list, Carnegie Hall, with a cut of '100,000 to $1,760,000, and Steinway Hall, reuced $140,000 to $1,675,000. The new Madi■'on Square Garden valuation is $3,500,000, a ise of $300,000. Up in the Bronx, the Yankee Stadium was cut $200,000 to $2,225,000. The A^aldorf-Astoria Hotel was far in the lead of )i4 Manhattan hotels listed in the report, with 1 $500,000 increase up to $22,500,000. The •lentative total assessed valuation of property in lull five boroughs of the city, effective from :)'uly 1, 1945, to June 30, 1946, amounts to $15,)p34,065,239, an increase of $88,073,225 over he final 1944-45 valuations. Jnterlochen ''Unfair^' j:ONGRESSIONAL intent to the contrary . lotwithstanding, the National Music Camp at ' "nterlochen, Mich., and the National High J School Orchestra are in hot water. The reply .)f James Caesar Petrillo's American Federajiion of Musicians to the unanimous decision of :he United States Senate that the Federation ( should not interfere with radio transmission of ^non-commercial, educational and cultural musi:al programs has been to place the camp on the /unfair" list. This means that no member of jihe Federation, and most professional musi.tians are members, can teach at the camp or {participate in its activities without losing his .pnion card and therefore the right to work. I Moreover, national radio networks or indiidual radio stations that broadcast the conerts of the high school students of the famed amp are threatened with the loss of the servces of musicians on all programs. The threat :ook the form of a one-paragraph letter to the leads of the four national networks, merely informing them that the Interlochen school had ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS in ON the MARCH A discussion by Red Kann of the pictures and players selected for the final voting in Hollywood's annual listing of honours. See page 21. been placed on the "unfair" list by action of the Federation's executive board on January 19. The letters were signed by Leo Cluesmann, international secretary. The union's action caught Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg's bill to curb Petrillo's power between Houses. The Senate, by unanimous approval, had voted to clip his wings and had sent the measure to the House of Representatives. Observers believe the strategy of the union is to make it impractical from a business standpoint for a radio station to broadcast the Interlochen programs, even if Congressional and Presidential support of amateur musical broadcasts is evidenced in passage and signing of the bill. Under the union ruling, if Dr. Joseph E. Maddy, professor of music at the University of Michigan, who is head of the Camp, or other members of the faculty, should work at the school, they face immediate suspension from the union, which would prevent them from engaging in commercial employment. Many teachers at the school, which operates two months of the summer, depend on outside engagements for the major portion of their income. Doctor Maddy has waged a vigorous campaign during recent months against the union's gag on youthful musicians "in an effort to protect the constitutional rights of our youth" by urging support of the Vandenberg bill. Union by-laws provide for expulsion of members for conduct "prejudicial" to the welfare of the Federation as a whole, an action that could be initiated later if the "unfair" designation should prove ineffective or if the will of Congress should promise to prevail. Can You Top This THEATRE manager John J. Galvin of the Orpheum theatre, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., says this "is one for the book." A theatre patron walked into his office last Friday and turned in a pound of butter, equivalent in red points to a one-carat diamond. Mr. Galvin paused long enough to catch his breath and then reported the news of the week to the Wilkes-Barre Record. "We've had a lot of valuable things turned in here for their rightful owners after they had been lost, but this is one for the book," he told the Record, "and the person who brought it in should get some kind of medal for honesty. Imagine finding a whole pound of fresh, golden butter and then surrendering it for a claimant !" A World Channel AN INDUSTRY institution, the Variety Clubs, constituted the springboard for a worldwide broadcast by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg last Monday night wherein the Michigan statesman called for a definition of our war aims. His address, delivered in Detroit to the installation banquet of the Variety Club of Michigan, was broadcast by 130 stations of the Blue Network and short-waved overseas to the armed forces. He declared that the "fraternity of battle" must be retained after the war as a "fraternity of peace." Asserting that silence in respect to our attitudes "confuses our Allies," Senator Vandenberg declared that "it is our responsibility to see to it that if this unity for peace disintegrates, it is not our America which shall be held at fault when the books of history are balanced." Industry executives present included Tom J. Connors, 20th Century-Fox; Ned E. Depinet, Nat Levy and Sol Schwartz, RKO; Leonard Goldenson, Edward Hyman and Max Fellerman, Paramount; Harry Gold, UA; Rube Jackter, Columbia; John J. Maloney, MGM; Roy Haines, Warner Bros., and Samuel Broidy and Harry Thomas of Monogram. Food for Thought ANDY HARDY went to town in Nice, France, recently — and the police won't let him return. The province had been occupied by the Germans and Italians. Its present status is "liberation," but it still is hungry. French transportation is uncertain. On an evening recently, when MGM's "Andy Hardy Goes to Town" was shown at a motion picture theatre, the audience rioted. They had seen on the screen a huge plate of caviar and cold salmon. The police restored order, and banned the film. They also banned showing of the English picture, "The Private Life of Henry the Eighth." Henry was a great eater. Passes to Heroes CANADIAN war heroes may look to many pleasant hours in the houses of the Famous Players Canadian circuit. They reoeive, in addition to the Victoria Cross, and other honors from the state and private individuals, a life pass to all the circuit's theatres. In Vancouver, last week, J. J. Fitzgibbons, president of FPC, awarded a pass to Ernest "Smokey" Smith, only Canadian enlisted man to win the Victoria Cross thus far. Paramount Service PARAMOUNT, in San Francisco, has 20O female guests. They inhabit two floors of the Paramount Building. They are Waves, Spars, and Marines. The company on Monday handed over the two floors to the 12th Naval District branch of the Naval Aid Auxiliary. OTION PICTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City, 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Coble address "(Puigpubco, New fork." Martin Quigley, President; Colvin Brown, Vice-President; Red Kann, Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Secretary; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; James D. Ivers, News Editor; William S. Formby, eld Editor, Roy Gallagher, Advertising Manager; Chicago Bureau, 624 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 5; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Hollywood, 28. William R. Meaver, editor; Toronto Bureau, 242 Millwood Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, W. M. Gladish, correspondent; Montreal Bureau, 265 Vitre St., West, Montreal, Canada, Pot Donovan, Korrespondent; London Bureau, 4 Golden Square, London W I, Hope Williams Burnup, manager; Peter Burnup, editor; cable Quigpubco London; Melbourne Bureau, The Regent Theatre, 91 Collins St., Melbourne, Australia, CIW Holt, correspondent; Sydney Bureau, 17 Archbold Rd., Roseville, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, Lin Endean, correspondent; Mexico City Bureau, f>r. Ca rmona y Valle 6, Mexico City, Luis Becerro Celis, correspondent; Buenos Aires Bureau, J. E. Uriburi 126, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Notalio Bruski, correspondent; Rio de Janeiro ipureau, R. Soo Jose, 61 C. Postal 834, Rio de Janefro, Brazil, Alfredo C. Machado, ccwrespondent; Montevideo Bureau, P. O. Box 664, Montevideo, Uruguay, Paul Bodo, correspondent; oble Argus Montevideo. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents copyright 1945 by Quigley Publishing Company. Address all correspondence to the New York Office. Other fPuigley Publications: Better Theatres, Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac, and Fame. v^OTION PICTURE HERALD, FEBRUARY 10, 1945