Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

Debt Recovered FOR THE FIRST time in the 31 years he has been identified with the industry, George Naudasher, operating the Cambria theatre, Philadelphia, encountered a patron with a troubled conscience. Recently he received a letter which read : "This letter is to return some money I feel I may owe you. I think when I used to attend the movies I would go in for a child's price when I was supposed to pay an adult's admission. I hope this covers the amount I cheated the movies out of. Sincerely yours." Mr. Naudasher returned the money, commended the sender, and suggested that the money be turned over to a charily7. Church to Theatre THE EUCLID AVENUE Baptist Church in Cleveland, built by the Rockefellers who worshipped there, may be leased for use as a theatre. The Cleveland Baptist Association is considering several offers from the industry, including one from the J. Arthur Rank interests. If the Association approves the leasing, the 2,380-seat auditorium will be used for motion pictures every day while the congregation will hold its services in the chapel on Sunday morning. "Business Theatre" THE VOGUE THEATRE, San Francisco, is to be turned into a "business theatre," operating week days from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. for the showing of 16mm or 35mm industrial, advertising, promotional, educational and religious films. According to Irving M. Levin, district manager of San Francisco Theatres, operating the Vogue, the "business theatre" will continue its policy of single features week day evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday. Clothes Horse Mexico City Bureau DOLORES DEL RIO has let it be known that it is clothes that are keeping her from accepting new contracts from Mexican producers. She explains that when she played in American pictures she enjoyed the fame of being Hollywood's best dressed woman. In Mexico, she protests, she has had to wear the clothes the producers provide for her and has even consented to going stockingless to advance Mexican films. She asks now that she be allowed to choose her own wardrobe, because her films would "be ever so much better" if she wears what she likes. UJA CJ A ragged, hungry, homeless orphan child, alone in a cold, hostile country. CJ A mother with fear in her heart, terrible memories of horrors behind and dread uncertainty ahead, frantic with anxiety for those who are left of a shattered family. A husband and father, broken and in tatters, deep in the desperation of the need and suffering of those whom he would save, ,protect and nurture — and hardly a glimmering of hope before him in the terrible aftermath of war. Any of these vignettes make an understandable figure to any of us. The individual, child, mother or father, or all of them, we can visualize. Meeting any of them in living contact, we would instantly reach to extend a helping hand. The demand of charity, the call of human sympathy, would be immediate, compelling. But the picture becomes a blur of statistics when it comes multiplied, like dots on a map, in the figures of the multitude represented by the 300,000 Jews in the Displaced Persons camps of Europe and the hundreds of thousands of others who are dependent upon American mercy for survival. To see and understand we must think of that unhappy child, the frantic mother, the desperate father, as individuals — people, even as you and I; people with a right to live, to some small share of care end comfort. We must sweep away the columns of figures, the impersonal statistics, to realize that the call upon our human obligations is the aching need of that child, that mother, that father. The story of the United Jewish Appeal tells us that the need is multiplied several hundred tlwusand times. That is why so many of us must give generously of our resources so that the many who are to be rescued from a hell of hate and want and desperation shall not await in vain their rescue. MARTIN QUIGLEY PEOPLE Joseph I. Breen, director of the Production Code Administration, was guest speaker Monday evening at a dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cahill Club at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. Mark Hellinger, writer and film producer, received the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his production of "The Killers," released by Universal-International, at a dinner given by that organization at the Hotel Henry Hudson in New York Monday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Quigley, Jr., are the parents of a son born at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York last Friday. The son has been named Martin Mark QUIGLEY. Pete Smith, producer of the MGM short subjects, was awarded a silver trophy by members of the Blind Activities and Recreation, Inc., organization in appreciation of the Specialty "Playing By Ear" in which many of the blind group appeared. Albert Deane, Paramount International's manager of censorship and editing, returned to New York last Thursday after a trip to Australia. Hardie Meakin, divisional manager for RKO Theatres with headquarters in Trenton, N. J., spoke on "Theatres and Film Exploitation" before the Advertising Club of Trenton, Monday. M. G. Poller, assistant to Robert Mochrie, RKO Radio vice-president and general sales manager, was guest of honor at a bachelor luncheon at the Hotel Victoria in New York last Wednesday. Neil Astrin has been promoted to manager of the playdate department of Producers Releasing Corporation's New York office, it was announced last week by Ralph H. Clark, general sales manager. Sidney Deneau, assistant to Louis Schine of the Schine theatre circuit in Albany, N. Y., resigned Monday to join the Selznick Releasing Organization's New York staff. Angus MacCunn, headoffice official of Famous Players Canadian in Toronto, has been elected president of the Musical Protective Society of Canada. Sol A. Schwartz, vice-president and general manager of RKO Theatres, and Mrs. Schwartz left New York Thursday for Mexico City to visit the RKO Churubusco Studio. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz will be in Mexico about three weeks. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cabie .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. Often, 2525 Ontario Rd., N.W. 9 London, Hope Williams Burnup, manager, Peter Burnup, editor, 4 Golden Square, W. I.; 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 Palmei'o, Avenida Conde Valbom 116; Brussels, Louis Quievreux, i 2 1 Rue Beeckman'; Amsterdam, Philip de Schaap; 82 Jekerstraot; Copenhagen, Kris Winther, Bogehoi 25; Stockholm, Gosta Erkell, 15 Brantingsgaten; Budapest, Alexander Fodo'r, XIV Nurnberg ucca 47; Zurich, Carlo Fedier, c/o Cine Suisse, Kappelergasse 13; Prague, Joseph B. Kanturek, Cechovo nam I; Sydney, Cliff Holt, Box 2608 — G.P.O. Derwent House Johannesburg, R. N. Barrett, 10, Blyth Road, Talboton; Mexico City, Luis Becerra Cells, Dr. Carmona y Valle 6; Havana, Charles B. Garrett, Refugio 168; Buenos Aires Natalio Bruski, J. E. Uriburi 126; San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ernesto Sanchez Ortiz, P.O. Box 1043; Montevideo, Paul Bodo, Calle Francisco Bauza 3662; Sao Paulo, Brazil, I. A. Ekerman Ruo 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 Herald; Motion Picture Daily, International Motion Picture Almanac and Fame. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 26, 1947 9