Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1948)

THE HOLLYWOOD SCENE Academy Theatre Used As Testing Ground for Research Council Work by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Hollyuood Editor Large among the activities of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences not so widely known as its annual bestowal of Academy Awards is the year-around use of the Academy Award theatre for purposes bearing directly upon the advancement of the art and science of the motion picture. In total, the services to the medium rendered directly aggregate a more substantial benefit than the internationally publicized awards, although "the world at large hears nothing about them. It is generally known, of course, that the Academy Awards theatre itself, by reason o: the special attentions given its equipping and conditioning by the Motion Picture Research Council, formerly an integral part of the Academy and now maintained by the Association of Motion Picture Producers, is considered the finest exhibition auditorium in the world, its projection, sound and general technological character epitomizing the art-science at its present best. Theatre Presents All Pictures at Their Best This 'state of affairs is of more than single-sided moment. For one thing, it presents pictures at their best, when the theatre is used for press previews, which is a direct contribution to the welfare of the product. For a more important thing, it facilitates the practical procedures of test, trial and experimentation which the Research Council, always at work on improvement of the industry technology, carries on in the Academy Awards theatre. This goes on steadily throughout the year. It is not so generally known that the Academy Awards theatre is the scene of special screenings conducted every Saturday and Monday evening for audiences made up of the production staff and casting department personnel of all Hollywood studios, and that these are strictly professional gatherings held for the purpose of comparing product, checking up on new talent, new techniques, for the mutual benefit of the people who actually make the product. Additionally, Sunday evening screenings are held, for Academy members only, with the most interesting, novel or advanced films from all over the world, including Hollywood, shown for study. Maintains Extensive Film Library of Screen History Atop the Academy Awards theatre, in a long wing of the building, the Academy maintains a library containing probably the most comprehensive store of industry history, records and memorabilia extant. (Just now the pet item shown visitors is a 1906 Pathe camera, of the type with which "The Birth of a Nation" was filmed, although it looks impossible.) This reservoir of information is available not only to the industry, which uses it regularly, but also to the press, to schools, to organizations and plain citizens. The Academy's film library, steadily being expanded, is available to both professional and non-professional researchers. A recent acquisition is an original print of "The Birth of a Nation," with all original subtitles and tinted sequences, and a cherished objective is the tranferral to film of the hundreds of paper-prints unearthed by the U. S. Patent Office, covering the beginnings of the industry fully. These are some of the things the Academy does when it is not presenting its Oscars for outstanding achievement. There are others. But it is always the Oscars that make the headlines. Nor is this strange, since the public interest in the Oscars has become phenomenal, trailing the financial interest close behind. (Samuel Goldwyn is said to have indicated that the yield of "The Best Years of Our Lives" went up $2,000,000 in consequence of its having swept the Academy Awards slate). Perhaps most damaging of the unfounded publicity given the Academy is that fascinating section of columnist comment which implies, when not saying so outright, that producers control the Academy and dictate its acts. Actually, the Academy is composed of 12 branches, each of which elects two members to the Academy board of governors, which makes all policy decisions. Each board member has one vote. Two of the 24 governors represent the producer branch of the Academy. They have no more voting power than the two camera men, the two film editors, nor any of the other constituents. The Academy has found this fact the hardest of all to get into circulation. Production Index Off, With 26 in Work The production index came down from 30 to 26 on completion of eight pictures and start of four. MGM started "In the Good Old Summertime," produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Robert Z. Leonard, with Judy Garland, Van Johnson and S. Z. Sakall. RKO Radio launched "It's Only Money," produced by Irving Cummings, Jr., and directed by Irving Cummings, Sr., with Frank Sinatra, Jane Russell and Groucho Marx. Executive producer W. R. Frank and producer John Tainter Foote, who is also the author, rolled "Dan Patch," the story of the illustrious race horse, with Dennis O'Keefe, Gail Russell, Ruth Warrick, Charlote Greenwood, Henry Hull, John Hoyt. Republic turned cameras on "The Hideout," produced by Sidney Picker and directed by Phil Ford. Lloyd Bridges, Adrian Booth and Sheila Ryan are in the cast. STARTED M-G-M In the Good Old Summertime REPUBLIC The Hideout RKO RADIO It's Only Money UNITED ARTISTS Dan Patch (Frank) COMPLETED COLUMBIA Home in San Antone MONOGRAM Gun Runner Tuna Clipper REPUBLIC Montana Belle The Duke of Chicago RKO RADIO She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Argosy) SCREEN GUILD I Shot Jesse James (Lippert) 20TH CENTURYFOX Down to the Sea in Ships SHOOTING COLUMBIA Jolson Sings Again Greed (formerly "Bonanza I") M-G-M The Stratton Story Neptune's Daughter The Great Sinner The Secret Garden PARAMOUNT Easy Does It Bitter Victory Samson and Delilah Top o' the Morning Manhandled (PineThomas) RKO RADIO Sam Wynne Roseanna McCoy (Goldwyn) 20TH CENTURYFOX You're My Everything The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Mr. Belvedere Goes to College Hard Bargain UNITED ARTISTS Champion (Screen Plays) Africa Screams (Nassour) UNIVERSALINTERNATIONAL Ma and Pa Kettle WARNER BROTHERS Task Force Happy Times MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 4, 1948 27