Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1941)

Page 6 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 4, 1941 Zanuck Denies "Propaganda" Balaban Questioned Briefly; Committee May Adjourn The Senate sub-committee hearings appear to be nearly over, following testimony by Darryl F. Zanuck and Barney Balaban last Friday. While the committee is scheduled to meet Monday, no move has yet been made to screen the pictures alleged to be war-mongering, and rumor has it that the hearings will be adjourned after a couple of witnesses have been heard as a face-saving gesture. Zanuck's testimony was quite lengthy, but Balaban was on . the stand only a few minutes. He was asked by Chairman D. Worth Clark of the sub-committee why his company hadn't made any pictures of the type complained of and he explained that the Paramount studio did not have the man power to do so and preferred therefore to stick to the lighter type. Other information which he had expected to obtain from Balaban he had received from other witnesses, Clark said. Zanuck went into his own beginnings, including the fact that all four of his grandparents were born in the United States; that he, himself, came from Wahoo, Neb.; that he enlisted as a private in the World War and how he "rose to the rank of private first class." He denied flatly that the Government has ever asked the companies to make propaganda or war pictures. He pointed out that the daily newspaper had always furnished him and his associates ideas for films and to condemn the industry for that is to submit it to an impossible censorship. BERNHARD ADDRESSES MANAGERS Seeley to Research on Submarine Detection E. S. Seeley, Altec Service engineer and inventor of many devices by which incipient dislocations in film sound mechanisms are detected, has been granted leave of absence to take up scientific research in submarine detection with the National Defense Laboratories. Astor Pictures' Business Ahead of Last Year Astor Pictures' business at the end of the third quarter is 33-1/3 per cent above that for the same period last year, according to President R. M. Savini. Savini credits much of this increase to the action of many Class A theatres refraining from closing "major" deals due to dissatisfaction with new selling terms offered under the Blocks of Five plan. Joseph Bernhard, general manager of Warner Theatres, addressed the managers of the Philadelphia zone at a meeting held last week. Sitting next to their chief are Ted Schlanger, zone head; Everett Callow, advertising director; Harry Goldberg, circuit advertising and publicity chief; A. J. Vanni, asst. zone mgr. Hobolth Acquires Complete Control of Midway Theatre Imlay City, Mich. — Purchase of his former partner's interest in the Midway Theatre, Davison, was announced this week by Harry Hobolth, owner and operator of the Capac at Capac and the DeLuxe Theatre here. 25th Variety Club Launched Studio Executives, Sales Heads and Theatremen Attend Banquet Marking Induction Ceremonies for Newest Tent Los Angeles — Before one of the most representative gatherings in the studio city Tent No. 25, the newest unit in the VarietyClubs of America was inducted into the organization at a magnificent banquet in the Cocoanut ~ Grove of the Ambassador Hotel here on Monday night. Executives from every studio as well as sales heads who were to be in Los Angeles, all attended to do honor to Charles P. Skouras, head of Fox West Coast Theatres and the first chief barker of Tent 25. Due to the large number of industry celebrities attending the dinner, the committee eliminated a large dais and substituted in its place a small head table at which were seated the following : John H. Harris, national chief barker ; James G. Balmer, national dough guy ; General William McCraw of Dallas, Texas, who acted as toastmaster ; Charles P. Skouras ; "Chick" Lewis, national publicity director ; Duke Clark, sistant chief barker of Tent {Continued on page 19) as25; Phila. Warner Club Names Zimbalist Pres. Philadelphia — At its first meeting of the new season held this week, the Philadelphia Warner Club elected Al Zimbalist president. Other officers chosen were : Stanley Benford, vicepresident in charge of entertainment ; Joseph Feldman, vice-president in charge of welfare ; Floyd Bretz, vice-president in charge of membership; J. Ellis Shipman, treasurer, and Helen Mahoney, secretary. Delegates elected include Sam Phillippe, Martin Aninsman, Irving Blumberg, Edward Bergin, Ben Blumberg, George Balkin, Sidney Ulan, Paul Harvey, Dorothy Burd, Berk Binnard, Walter Makowski, Max Bronow. The finance committee includes Ted Schlanger, J. Ellis Shipman, Ed Hinchey, Joseph Feldman and Al Zimbalist. Alternates, representing the entire Philadelphia membership, are Robert Loving, Joseph Forte, Roland Haynes, Lee Kline, Melvin Wooden, David Fishman, Bill Lafferty, Karl Schaeffer, Elmo Sarno, Al Kerns, James McConomv. Robert DeFino, Roy Robbins, John Wagman, Ruth Berger, Mary Imperatrice and Francis Flammer. West End, Newark Wins Arbitration Arbitrator Michael Chanalis this week cut the clearance of the Ritz Theatre, a Warner House in Newark, N. J., over the West End Theatre from 14 days to seven days. The clearance of the Savoy Theatre, also a W arner house was eliminated entirely. The Cameo Theatre in Jersey City is a complainant in another action this week against all five distributors. The owner asks that the clearance granted to the Apollo Theatre in the same city be cut to 7 days and that the clearance of the Orient be eliminated completely. Both of the latter are Skouras houses. The Cameo also filed under Section X of the consent decree a complaint stating that it had been refused second run pictures after the Fulton, the second run having been granted to the Apollo. The arbitrator is asked to direct that no second run be permitted unless definitely sold. The Linden Theatre, Baltimore, filed a complaint this week charging that the clearance of 14 days given to the Rialto, Metropolitan and Fulton Theatres is unfair. James Hayes and Robert Sher, former attorneys in the Department of Justice, who were active in the preparation of the consent decree, are acting as attorneys for Harry Silver, owner of the Linden. Following the demand by Graepner's Egyptian Theatre, Portland, Ore., for a reduction of clearance from 90 days to 45, three intervenors have filed to oppose the reduction. In Detroit, the United Detroit Theatres and Co-Operative Theatres of Michigan have both filed interventions in the case of the Parkside Theatre making it the most farreaching case in the territory as far as the interests affected are concerned. The Parkside, a new theatre, has stirred up a lively controversy over its clearance. Take Steps to Fight Probe SWG Calls Mass Meeting; 40 Groups Organize in N. Y. Hollywood — A mass meeting of representatives of the Screen Actors' Guild, Screen Directors' Guild and executive artists groups from every branch of the motion picture industry was called for this week by the Screen Writers' Guild, whose president, Sheridan Gibney, stressed that a feeling was growing in Hollywood that the motion picture industry should take affirmative steps to counteract the unfavorable publicity it is receiving as a result of misinformation rising from the Senate committee's investigation. Meanwhile, at a meeting in New York at the Martin Beck Theatre this week, a national drive against the operations of the Nye-WheelerClark committee's war propaganda probe was launched by representatives of more than 40 organizations. A resolution condemning the Senate sub-committee was passed unanimously and a permanent organization, to be known as the Stop Film Censorship Committee, was set up. Purpose of the inquiry, the resolution charges, in part, was to block the production of anti-Nazi pictures and "is, in effect, a censorship of the free expression of American culture." B & K Employes Club Names Officers at Meeting Chicago — Edward F. Dloughy of the Gateway Theatre here, has been elected president of the Balaban & Katz Employes Club. Vice-presidents named include Joe Stout, short subject booker, Will Schwartz, Chicago Theatre, and Warren Jones of the home office. Joe Rehak was reelected treasurer and Joseph N. Miller was named secretary. Hugh McGinnis, Donald J. Hofstetter, Jack DeWiggins, O. D. Moats and Milton Officer were named to the board of directors. Charles C. Potwin Dies Charles C. Potwin, nationally known acoustic consultant for Electrical Research Products, Inc., died Thursday, September 25, at the Park East Hospital, New York City, following a two-week illness. During his professional career he was responsible for the acoustic design of the Temple of Religion and the A. T. & T. Building at the New York World's Fair, the new Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, the auditorium of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and many others. Alliance Fights Move by Indiana to Collect Tax Chicago — Any attempt by the State of Indiana to collect a levy claimed due under an old state law will be fought by the Alliance circuit, which operates houses in the Hoosier state. The State Auditor recently billed the circuit for tax on its houses, due since 1937.