Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

Gum Popping JUST AS a volcano erupted on the screen, burying two dinosaurs, reports the Associated Press, Alex Harris, manager of Pop's Palace in Bergenfield, N. J., stopped the show, brought up the houselights and came out on stage to speak his mind to an audience of 700 children: "You can pop your bubble gum or you can see the movie, but you can't do both." The kids chose the show. Ushers collected approximately 700 sticky wads of gum, the lights dimmed and the show went on. That gum popping, explained Mr. Harris, sounded like an oldtime' Fourth of July celebration. in Bavaria. One of the WuerttembergBaden subsidiaries is the Agfa company, making and selling photographic material and equipment. Its American subsidiary, Agfa Ansco, operated by General Aniline and Film Corporation, was seized during the war and given to American trustees and then owners. Saturday, on the Queen Elizabeth, E. Allen Williford, vice-president of General Aniline and in charge of its Ansco film and camera division, sailed for Europe on the Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by David B. Dyche, treasurer. The two men will observe business conditions in England and on the Continent and will return in late May, Mr. Williford's New York office announced this week. Fund Request THE grant of funds for a sweeping visual ri • , aids program planned by the U. S. Office of LiXperiment Education was urged on the appropriations sub-committee on federal security appropriations by Dr. John Studebaker, Commissioner of Education, last week when the group held hearings on the department's film request. J. Hunt, a coordinator for the office asked for $7,500 for production, purchase and distribution of educational films. In reply, Congressman Frank Keefe, chairman of the committee, said he wanted to make certain that the government was not entering commercial film production. The department had produced one educational film last year, Mr. Hunt said. PATRONS at the RKO Coliseum in New York got a treat last Tuesday when, following the regular double-feature screen program, the house presented a 55-minute stage presentation of "Whistling in the Dark,'' a mystery comedy done on Broadway in 1932. The stage show was presented on an experimental basis. Its condensed version was staged by Alan Moore. Regular admission prices prevailed for the evening. Gagwriters9 Gag PETE SMITH'S latest MGM speciality, "I Love My Wife, But . . ." opened National Laugh Week (April 1-8) when a special preview of the short was held at the first annual National Gagwriters Convention held Wednesday in New York. The short, which will be released nationally April 5, deals with wives' faults from their husbands' point of view. Smith has been nominated for the proposed Humor Hall of Fame which is to be set up by the gagwriters. "Tradeview" "I NOT only think you should buy this picture; I'll even show you scenes from it" — with these remarks salesmen selling Eagle-Lion pictures henceforth will take the exhibitor to a projection room and run off five minutes of choice packaged footage. The "Tradeview," as the company's exploiter's are calling it, will be used first on "The Adventuress,'' national release of which was March 14, and on other films. M. B. Dissolution THE GREAT German chemical combine, I. G. Farbenindustrie, smashed by Allied victory, but still corporately puzzlingly cohesive, now undergoes official dissolution. In Berlin this week, the Allied Control Council appointed the first four of several German trustees who will assume independent control of four of eight I. G. subsidiaries in Wuerttemberg-Baden. Trustees will take over nine plants in Greater Hesse and seven THOSE stories you've read or seen about spies and their tiny cameras really were true. Eastman Kodak Company last week told all. It made such cameras for the Office of Strategic Services. The cameras were shaped and disguised as matchboxes; Eastman delivered 1,000 of them. OSS agents in enemy territory were also supplied with "vestpocket darkrooms," the most notable feature of which was that processing was done in a jigger of solution. One Eastman department at Rochester built the cameras, known as project "M.B." (matchbox), and very few persons knew of them. PEOPLE Jack Segal, vice-president and treasurer of Columbia Pictures International Corporation, returned to the home office Monday after a six-month tour of Europe. Rupert Allen, formerly with UniversalInternational, and now assistant to Frank McCarthy, Continental European manager for the Motion Picture Association, sailed Monday from New York to take his position in the Paris office. Harold B. Whitfield, patent attorney for Western Electric, has been appointed general patent attorney for the company, succeeding the late Edgar W. Adams, who died March 10. Carl Peppercorn, sales manager for RKO Radio's New York exchange, has been named assistant to Charles Boasberg, who is a division sales manager of the company. Irving M. Lesser, associate general manager of the Roxy theatre in New York, has resigned effective April 8, it was announced Monday. Mr. Lesser's duties will be absorbed by A. J. Balaban, executive director of the Roxy, and other executives. Edward T. Cheyfitz, assistant to Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association, discussed labor-management relations in a speech before the Personnel Management Association at the Columbia University Club in New York Monday. William Hollander, veteran advertising director for Balaban and Katz in Chicago, was guest of honor at the Balaban and Katz "alumni" dinner in Hollywood last Thursday. The affair was held at the home of William Pine, producer. Harry Brandt, president of Brandt Theatres, has accepted the chairmanship of the entertainment group for the April campaign of the New York City Committee of the American Cancer Society. Thomas McCue, formerly associated with Universal, Columbia and Warner Brothers, has been appointed traveling auditor for Film Classics, Inc., it has been announced in New York by Samuel N. Wheeler, sales manager. William Hosie has resigned as eastern publicity representative for Walt Disney Productions, after seven years with that organization. His resignation is effective April 1, when he plans to return to Hollywood. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Quialey Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable address Quigpubeo, New York." Martin <?uigley, President; Red Kann, Vice-President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Iheo. J. Sullivan, Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary; Terry Ramsaye, Edttor; Martin Quigley Jr., Associate Editor; James D. Ivers, News Editor; Charles S. Aaronson, Production Editor; Ray Gallagher, Advertising Manager; David Harris, Circulation Director Bureaus: Hollywood, William R. Weaver, editor, Postal Union Life Building; Chicago, 624 South Michigan Avenue; Washington, Jim H. Brady, 215 Atlantic Bldg., 930 F Street N.W. London, Hope Williams Burnup, manager, Peter Burnup, editor, 4 Golden Square, W. I; Montreal, Stan Cornthwaite, 265 Vitre St., West; Toronto, W. M. Gladish. 242 Millwood' Road" Paris, Maurice Bessy, 2 Avenue Matignon; Dublin, T. J. M. Sheehy, 36 Upper Ormond Quay; Rome, Argeo Santucci, 10 Via Versilia; Lisbon, Joao De Moraes Palmeiro Avenida Conde Valbom 116; Brussels, Louis Quievreux, 121 Rue Beeckman; Amsterdam, Philip de Schaap, 82 Jekerstraat; Copenhagen, KnsWinther Bogehoi25; Stockholm, Gosta Erkell, 15 Brantingsgaten; Basel, Carlo Fedier, Brunnmattstr. 21; Prague, Joseph B. Kanturek, U. Grebovsky No. I; Sydney, Cliff Holt, Box 2608— G.P.O., Derwent House; Johannesburg R. N. Barrett 10 Blyth Road, Talboton; Mexico City, Luis Becerra Celis, Dr. Carmona y Valle 6; Havana, Charles B. Garrett, Refugio 168; Buenos Aires, Natalio Bruski J E Uriburi 126 San Juan Puerto Rico, Reuben D. Sanchez, San Sebastian Street No. 3; Montevideo, Paul Bodo, P.O. Box 664. Member Audit Bureau of Circulates. Other Puigley Publications: Better Theatres, published every fourth week as a section of Motion Picture Herald, Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac and Fame. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 29, 1947 9