Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1951)

Autry Says TV^ Radio^ Films Feed Each Other by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Hollywood Editor Gene Autry, the only entertainer in this here now universe engaged in appearing regularly in motion pictures, on radio and in television, is clearly the best qualified man on earth to tell you what the present trends in the three media portend for the future of show business. His telling sums up in the fact that, a year after adding video to the other two, he’s made long commitments to all three of them. He says they feed each other. The actor whose name has appeared on this publication’s annual list of Top Ten Western Stars poll winners more times than any other’s is just back from a tour of 29 cities bringing figures, as well as observations, confirming his conviction that his television films have not only added to his personal following but have opened new, and major, territory for his theatrical features. He mentions, in illustration, that 20 of his films were shown on a single Saturday during his stay in Boston, a city in which they were virtually unknown before his television series started. He submits that expansion of this type more than offsets such shrinkage in bookings as may have occurred in some less metropolitan areas, totaling up more admissions and, of course, more dollars per picture. There is nothing wrong with show business per se from any of his points of view, he says, but there is a good deal wrong with showmen and showmanship in the theatre phase of it, an opinion he expressed to assembled exhibitors in New York and Kansas City on his trip. He says exhibitors have not yet fully recovered from the exploitation-leave they were able to take during World War H, and still are reluctant to analyze their attractions for exploitable contents offering special merchandising opportunities. Discourage Parents from Sending the Youngsters He is of the opinion, too, that in concentrating their advertising on violence and sex they are persistently discouraging family heads from taking or sending the kiddies to the movies in their formative years. He says he encountered striking instances of improvement in showmanship practice on his tour, but there is still a long way to go to get back to where we used to be. The public is as entertainment-minded as it ever was, and as unprejudiced as always with respect to the several media, but is busier, generally speaking, more discriminating, although fundamentally unchanged as to taste, which is far better than most of the pseudo-experts think it is. The public is also larger than it used to be, and has more money. Gene Autry thinks there is enough public and enough money to go all the way 'round. Five Features Started Five features started during the week. “Cry of the Swamp,” 20th-Fox, Technicolor, went into production on location in Georgia, with Robert Jacks producing, Jean Negulesco directing, and with Jean Peters, Jeffrey Hunter and Walter Brennan in the cast. Sol C. Siegel started “Deadline — U.S.A.” for 20th-Fox, with Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter and others in the cast directed by Ricliard Brooks. Westminster, Independent, Starts Production Westminster Productions, independent, began shooting “And Now Tomorrow,” with Oren W. Evans as production coordinator, William Watson as director, and with Don DeFore, Louise Arthur, Lumsden Hare, Allan Hale, Jr., and other players in the cast. Gene Autry went to work on “Apache Country,” produced by Armand Schaefer and directed by George Archainbaud, with Mary Scott opposite the star, for Columbia release. Vincent Fennely launched “The Man from the Black Hills,” a Johnny Mack Brown Western directed by Thomas Carr, for Monogram. Gene Autry THIS WEEK IN PRODUCTION : STARTED (5) COLUMBIA Apache Country (Gene Autry Prod.) INDEPENDENT And Now Tomorrow (Westminster Prod.) MONOGRAM Man from Black Hills 20TH CENTURY-FOX Cry of the Swamp (Technicolor) Deadline — U.S.A. FINISHED (9) COLUMBIA The Marrying Kind MONOGRAM Starlight Canyon PARAMOUNT This Is Dynamite Los Alamos (Santa Fe, New Mexico) RKO RADIO Tarzan’s Savage Fury (Sol Lesser Prod.) 20TH CENTURY-FOX The I Don’t Care Girl (Technicolor) Lady in the Iron Mask (W-F Prod. ; Eastman Kodak color) UNIVERSAL-INT'L Has Anybody Seen My Gal (Technicolor) formerly “Oh Money, Money” WARNER BROS. San Francisco Story (Fidelity Prod.) SHOOTING (25) INDEPENDENT Monsoon (Film Group, Inc., Prod. ; Bombay— color) MGM The Girl in White Lovely to Look At ( Technicolor) The Merry Widow (Technicolor) Scaramouche (Technicolor) MONOGRAM Waco (sepia) PARAMOUNT Famous (Lake Arrowhead, Technicolor) REPUBLIC Border Saddlemates Bal Tabarin (Paris) RKO RADIO Clash by Night (Wald-Krasna Prod.) The Korean Story The Big Sky (Winchester Pic.) Androcles and the Lion 20TH CENTURY-FOX Outcasts of Poker Flat Diplomatic Courier Way of a Gaucho (Technicolor) The Girl Next Door (Technicolor) UNIVERSAL-INT'L Red Ball Express Ma And Pa Kettle Go to Paris Hear No Evil WARNER BROS. Mara Maru She’s Working Her Way Through College This Woman Is • Dangerous You Can’t Stop the Marines (United States Pic.) Crimson Pirate (Technicolor) IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIU^ MOTION PICTURE HERALD. 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