Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

Place in the Sun HOWARD DIETZ, president of the Sea of Grass Land Company, Inc., has gifted trade press representatives with an acre of land in Valencia County, New Mexico, 86 miles from Gallup. "The Santa Fe railroad," wrote Mr. Dietz in the cover letter to the warranty deed, "goes by your property — swiftly by and far away — and one of your problems will be water. The taxes for 1947 are all paid up and there are no strings attached, except, of course, should you strike oil or gold or other mineral, then, brother, will you see strings !" This proviso, along with another which gives the Santa Fe the right to build tracks, water lines, roadways, ditches, flumes or aqueducts across the property, makes the acre worth several hundred dollars less than the space in which this article is printed — including the mention that Mr. Dietz is publicizing MGM's "The Sea of Grass." The editors of the Herald have started plans to erect on their acreage a home for retired press agents who used to take the press on junkets to distant places but who now buy the real estate and send it back to the press. It was a big week. The day before the real estate deal, there arrived chocolate Easter eggs from Maurice Bergman of UniversalInternational. They have a picture called "The Egg and I." Rank Schedule J. ARTHUR RANK, owner of most of Britain's film industry, has arranged his schedule for his second visit to the United States, this May. According to Jock Lawrence, his publicity chief in New York, he. his wife, the Honorable Mrs. Rank, and John Davis, general manager of his interests, will arrive in New York May 7. The next day Mr. Rank will be guest speaker at the Motion Picture Association 25th anniversary dinner in the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria. Friday noon, May 9, he will address the World Sunday School Association, at the Hotel Commodore. On May 19, he will talk to the Empire Club, Toronto, and on May 24, to the Canadian Club, Vancouver. He will then spend a vacation with his daughter, Mrs. Fred Packard, at Los Angeles, and with his grandchild, her newly arrived daughter. He will return to New York then, and to Great Britain on July 17. In the course of Mr. Rank's visit, there will be conferences with Nate Blumberg, Universal-International president ; other executives of that company, and of EagleLion ; Robert Young, railroad empire builder and backer of Pathe Industries and PRC Pictures ; and more whose names will cause the usual speculations. Vulgar Films UN-AMERICAN, vulgar and dishonorable. These adjectives were used in describing present-day features by Mrs. Eugene Meyers, wife of the owner of the Washington Post. Speaking before the California Association of Secondary School Administrators' convention, she declared : "The radio and film industries are anti-democratic because these superb techniques are being used for a progressive vulgarization of the public mind and for the debasing of the public morals at a moment when the salvation of democracy depends upon the strengthening of individual moral integrity. They are unAmerican in the contempt for the public and their lack of faith in the American people." While she believes that "film had a creative, truly American flavor, in the early days," that is now "a thing of the past." Henry's Million "HENRY V" celebrated its first year in America April 3. United Artists, distributors for the J. Arthur Rank feature, announced that the picture had grossed more than $1,000,000 and had done so without being generally released and without being booked into first run houses. Bookings have been restricted to about 60 special engagements, often playing legitimate theatres on a two-aday roadshow policy. Accuses Russia ERIC JOHNSTON, president of the Motion Picture Association, Tuesday night accused Soviet Russia of being the "chief culprit in undermining the United Nations." In a talk before the United Nations Council of Philadelphia, Mr. Johnston said that Russia's post-war tactics raised the question of whether she really wants world order or world revolution. Two years of undermining and delaying tactics by Russia, he said, so weakened the U. N. that it was powerless to aid Greece and Turkey, leaving us no other course than the one we are taking. "Let's be frank about it," Mr. Johnston continued. "Our aim is two-fold : to stop Russian aggression and to help those nations help themselves." PEOPLE Frank Farley, for 20 years European representative of Paramount's production department, has been appointed chairman and managing director of Paramount British Productions, Ltd. Sir Sidney West Harris, Commander of the Order of the Bath and Commander of the Royal Victoria Order, has been appointed president of the British Board of Film Censors to succeed the late Lord Tyrrell. The appointment was announced Sunday in London. Stanton Griffis, chairman of Paramount's executive committee, will be nominated by President Truman as Ambassador to Poland, it was announced from Washington Saturday. John A. Backman, who resigned as Charlotte manager for Warner Brothers, has been appointed branch manager for United Artists' exchange in Atlanta. Max Thorpe, Columbia's general sales manager in Great Britain, has been appointed managing director of the company there. Run Run Shaw, who, with his brother Runme Shaw operates a circuit in Singapore, is expected to arrive in San Francisco this weekend. Lester Coleman, assistant to George A. Smith, Paramount western sales manager, has been transferred to the division's headquarters in Los Angeles. Ted Baldwin, promotion and exploitation manager of the Selznick Releasing Organization, was judged the winner of the American Public Relations Association award for his activities for "Duel in the Sun." The award will be presented April 9 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Ralph J. Ianuzzi, Warner" salesman in Charlotte, Monday was promoted to branch manager of the Charlotte exchange. Andrew E. Holmes, for the past eight years president of the Angostura Wuppermann Corp., resigned his position March 24. He was a former account executive with Donahue and Coe, Inc. Art Anderson, Warner branch manager in Minneapolis, who recently was granted a leave of absence for poor health, has resumed his duties as head of the exchange. Elias M. Loew, New England circuit owner, was honored March 28 at a dinner at the Hotel Statler, Boston, given by 50 of his friends on the occasion of his 50th birthday. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City 20. Telephone CI rcle 7-3 100; Cable address "Quigpubco, New York," Martin Quigley, President; Red Kann, Vice-President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; Martin Quigley, Jr., Associate Editor; James D. Ivers, News Editor; Charles S. Aaronson, Production Editor; Ray Gollcgher, Advertising Manager; David Harris, Circulation Director; Bureaus: Hollywood, William R. Weaver, editor, Postal Union Life Building; Chicago, Hal Tate, 624 South Michigan Avenue; Washington, J. A. 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Box 1043; Montevideo, Paul Bodo, Calle Francisco Bauza 3662; Sao Paulo, Brazil, I. A. Ekerman, Rua Gucianazes 159; Santiago, Chile, Maria Romero, Revista "Ecran," Bellavista 069; Caracas, Venezuela, Mrs. Frank M. Caldwell, Apartado 1706. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. Other Quigley Publications: Better Theatres, published every fourth week as a section of Motion Picture Heraid; Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac and Fame. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 5, 1947