Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1948)

\Here, Chick j [NEIL AGNEW, once head of the Selznick Releasing Organization, has gone into the <rhicken farm business — just a sideline, howj Jever. He's got a flock of some 2,000 birds y\on his Southbury, Conn., farm and he'll ! :[handle distribution himself. He's reported I !to have received a standing offer from New : York's 21 Club for all the capons he can ■ deliver. No Luck THE anti-trust action against the leading producers, filed by the Screen Writers Guild, Inc. and charging the companies ! with conspiracy to blacklist persons suspected of subversive political leanings, was dismissed last week by Federal Judge Samuel H. Kaufman. Judge Kaufman thought the original complaint was "too vague and argumentative." However, he gave the Guild permission to file an amended complaint which would ! comply with the federal rules of civil practice requiring a "short and plain statement j | of charges." The suit grew out of a resolution adopted by film industry leaders November 25 to the effect that they would not hire persons j suspected of Communist or subversive j views. Their decision followed the refusal of 10 writers to tell the House Un-American Activities Committee whether they were Communists or not. The Guild move was directed against the Motion Picture Association of America ; Eric Johnston, MPAA president; Paramount, Loew's, RKO, Warners, Twentieth Century-Fox, Columbia and Universal. No Nazi, She LENI RIEFENSTAHL, the well-known German actress, has been cleared by a deXazification court at Villingen, in the French occupation zone, according to reports from Dena, the German news agency. Miss Riefenstahl's features have included "S. O. S. Iceberg," "Der Weisse Rausch," and "Das Blaue Licht." Saved THE SHUBERTS— that's J. J. .and Leeannounced Wednesday the purchase of four theatres and their sites on 44th and 45th Street in the heart of the Times Square. That news was widely reported in the New York press. The story we liked best was Robert Sylvester's in the News. Under the heading, "Shuberts Balk Films, Buy 4 Theatres, Alley," Mr. Sylvester led off with this: "'The Shuberts yesterday saved the heart of Broadway show business for the living theatre — -and for themselves. . . ." Mr. Sylvester reported that "the deal saved the very core of legitimate theatre real estate from a Hollywood threat. The film industry for two years has been studying plans and designs for purchase of the block bounded by 44th St., 45th St., Broadway and Eighth Ave., for transformation into a huge 'Film City' of movie theatres and office buildings." Mr. Sylvester is breathing easier, now. The houses the Shuberts purchased were the Booth and Plymouth on 45th St., and the Shubert and Broadway on 44th. The Alley, is Shubert Alley, which cuts through 44th and 45th Streets between Broadway and Eighth Ave. Rude Shocks London Bureau OUTSPOKEN Oliver Bell, director of the British Film Institute, had some rude shocks for the members of Nottingham's newly formed Film Consultative Committee when he accepted an invitation to address them on the Appreciation of Films. Representatives of more than 50 of the city's organizations had assembled to hear him. He read to them a list of the films shown last week in Nottingham and asked, after each one, how many had seen it. He passed scathing comment on the scant number of hands which went up. Said Mr. Bell: "You people ask me to come and talk about the appreciation of films, but you don't see the films yourselves. It makes me hopping mad. This subject is so important that you ought to tackle it in a serious manner. The only solution is for you to go to films, learn to discern, teach peoeple the difference between the good and the false. . . ." UA Plus SRO THE United Artists board of directors was to meet in New York Friday to consider a deal by which UA would handle sales and distribution for Selznick Releasing Organization. Negotiations were completed early this week by Gradwell L. Sears, UA president, and David O. Selznick. If the board approves, it is understood SRO personnel in the United States and Canada will be merged with the UA staff, with the possibility of SRO men handling special deals for Selznick product, and UA concentrating on the broad field of smaller accounts which the limited SRO staff have been unable to cover thoroughly. Physical distribution of SRO has been handled by National Film Carriers. PEOPLE George Brown, of the Paramount studio, succeeded Universal's John Joseph as chairman of the Studio Publicity Directors Committee in Hollywood Monday. Mr. Joseph is now executive committee chairman. Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees, vice-president of the Eastman Kodak Company, was presented the Progress Medal of the Photographic Society of America last Friday evening in Cincinnati. The medal was presented for his "technical, literary and inspirational" contributions to the field of photography. Robert Flaherty, documentary film producer, was guest of honor at a special testimonial luncheon given by the New York Film Council on Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel in New York. Louis Nizer, industry attorney and executive secretary of the New York Film Board of Trade, was chief speaker at a dinner given at the Hotel Kenmore in Boston last Thursday by the theatre division of the Combined Jewish Appeal of Greater Boston. Fred A. Weller, attorney and formerly with anti-trust division of the Department of Justice, has been appointed executive secretary of the Independent Theatre Owners of Southern California and Arizona, succeeding Robert H. Poole, resigned. Mr. Weller was the organization's general counsel. Justin Spiegel has been appointed manager of the Screen Guild exchange in Cleveland, succeeding Edwin R. Bergman, resigned. Mr. Spiegel had been an Eagle Lion salesman in Cleveland. Lou Allerhand, who has been with MGM for 22 years, has been promoted to New Jersey branch manager for the company, succeeding Ben Abner, resigned. Don Hartman has been named to handle arrangement for the presentation of the 1948 Academy Awards by Jean Hersholt, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Edward Arnold, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, will address the American Federation of Labor convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sunday as the representative of the Screen Actors Guild. Forest Moore has resigned as northeastern district sales manager for Warner Brothers. No successor will be named as the district will be operated out of New York, it is reported. Charles Smakwitz, Warner zone manager in the Albany area, was guest of honor at a testimonial dinner given by the Albany Variety Club last Thursday evening. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, published every Saturday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City 20. Telephone Circle 7-3100; Cable address "Ouigpubco, New York", Martin Quigley, President; Red Kann, Vice-President; Martin Quigley, Jr., Vice-President; Theo. J. Sullivan, Vice-President and Treasurer; Leo J. Brady, Secretary; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; Martin Quigley, Jr., Associate Editor; James D. Ivers, News Editor; Charles S. Aaronson, Production Editor; Ray Gallagher, Advertising Manager; David Harris, Circulation Director; Gus H. Fausel, Production Manager. Bureaus: Hollywood, William R. Weaver, editor, Yucca-Vine Building; Chicago, 120 South LaSalle Street, Telephone Financial 6-3074. James Ascher, editorial representative, Urben Farley, advertising representative; Washington, J. A. Otten, National Press Club; London, Hope Williams Burnup, manoger, Peter Burnup, editor, 4 Golden Sauare. Correspondents in the principal capitals of the world. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. Other Quigley Publications: Better Theatres and Theatre Sales, each published every fourth week as a section of Motion Picture Herald; Motion Picture Daily, International Moflon Picture Almanac and Fame. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 13, 1948