Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1948)

THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS Lifting the Veil PARAMOUNT will unveil its theatre television system to the public at a surprise showing at the Paramount theatre in New York "in the very near future," a Paramount official said this week. There will be no previous announcements since Paramount is mainly interested in getting a spontaneous reaction. The subject to be televised probably will be a sports event. No regular large-screen presentations are planned. It has also been learned that, with Paramount willing to sell its stock in DuMont "for an appropriate amount," negotiations towards this end are going on and may be completed by the time the Federal Communications Commission gets around to determining whether Paramount has a controlling interest in DuMont. Pay Checks Washington Bureau LOUIS B. MAYER, in charge of production for MGM, made the third highest salary in the U. S. in 1945, according to figures released here Thursday by the Treasury Department. Mr. Mayer was listed as receiving $159,000 in salary from Loew's and $343,571 in commissions, for a total of $502,571. Ginger Rogers was the top woman wage earner for the year. She reported $175,000 from Loew's, with $117,159 from Vanguard Films for a total of $292,159. Motion picture figures dominated the salary list, which covers compensation for personal services in excess of $75,000 during the fiscal years ending in 1945 or 1946 and during the 1945 calendar year* Deanna Durbin reported $262,875 ; Lana Turner, $226,000; Bette Davis, $221,000, and Walter Wanger, $282,000. The report showed that Loew's paid 80 persons $75,000 or more during the year, far more than any other company; Warner Brothers paid 35 persons $75,000 or more and Universal put 19 names on the list. Polish Council Washington Bureau THE POLISH GOVERNMENT has established a Film Council to supervise the choice of foreign features to be released in the country, to issue general program directives, to issue opinions concerning domestic films, and to supervise the artistic level of domestic production. That's the word from the Department of Commerce which has been reading the Polish press. The council, appointed for a three-year term by the Minister of Culture and Art, is an advisory and MOTION PICTURE HERALD for February 28, 1948 THIRTEEN companies to offer 206 films in six months Page 13 RED issue flares at Congress coast strike inquiry Page 16 SOLUTION of British tax impasse near, Lords are told Page 17 ON THE MARCH— Red Kann in comment on industry affairs Page 20 MAJORS deny contempt of Jackson Park suit decree Page 20 "THE Pre-History of Motion Pictures," by Martin Quigley, Jr.— reviewed by Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith Page 22 ASK rehearing of decision in Goldman anti-trust action Page 24 HONOR J. Robert Rubin at annual Brotherhood luncheon in New York Page 25 BOX OFFICE Cha mpions for the month of January Page 28 NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT— Notes on industry personnel across country Page 29 SERVICE DEPARTMENTS Hollywood Scene In the Newsreels Managers' Round Table Picture Grosses Short Product at First Runs What the Picture Did for Me Page 33 Page 36 Page 41 Page 40 Page 35 Page 37 IN PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION Showmen's Reviews Page 4077 Short Subjects Chart Page 4078 Advance Synopses Page 4079 The Rel ease Chart Page 4080 supervisory body for the Polish film monopoly, Film Polski. Resolutions of the Film Council will be binding on the Central Board of Film Polski, according to the dispatches. The Department's wry comment on the situation : "The excessive number of members on the Council gives rise to apprehension since it is easier for a large body of casually selected people to deal in general theories than to take effective action." Take the Stand TOM C. CLARK, U. S. Attorney General, will be asked to testify before a House subcommittee investigating paroles of four men convicted of extorting more than $1,000,000 from the motion picture industry. Representative Clare E. Hoffman, who heads the sub-committee, told reporters in Chicago last week "we want to ask him on what team he's playing." Mr. Hoffman said the committee had received evidence that the men would not have been paroled had not the Attorney General's department withdrawn a second indictment against the men. Mr. Hoffman charged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a branch of the Department of Justice, had "constantly thwarted" effort of the committee to get the full FBI report on the parolees — Louis Campagna, Philip D'Andrea, Paul Ricca, and Charles Gioe, paroled after serving a third of their 10-year terms. Alger Story ANOTHER one of those Horatio Alger stories, one of those rags-to-riches plots that Americans, are so fond of relating at public functions, came to light last week with the announcement that 47-year-old Leroy August Wilson had been elected president of American Telephone and Telegraph. He's been with AT&T, or its subsidiaries, ever since he was 21 years old. But long before that there were other jobs. He started working when he was 13 years old. And his job: a non-salaried position as operator of a projection machine in one of those 1914 "nickelodeons" owned by his father in his native town of Terre Haute, Ind. Later he was a theatre pianist, pounding out an accompaniment for such film classics of the day as the "Perils of Pauline" serials. Protest ANGERED BY reports that the J. Arthur Rank Organization has been given the exclusive rights to the coverage of the Summer Olympic Games in England, the major American newsreels were to have met Friday to frame a protest against the arrangement to the British Olympic Committee. It is the understanding of the reels Mr. Rank will be the only one permitted to film the Games and that anyone wanting to obtain these pictures will have to buy them from his organization. This, the Americans feel, is contradictory to the amateur aspect of the Olympics and unfair. Mr. Rank also has the rights for the production of a 10-reel Technicolor special on the Games. Sounds almost like a monopoly. 8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 1948