Showmen's Trade Review (1945)

12 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW November 10, 1945 Mary Pickford Plans 60-Minute Features Formation of a new production company which plans to make six features averaging 60 minutes each during 1946 for United Artists release, was announced late last week by Mary Pickford, who will be president of the new company, with her husband, Lt. Comm. Charles Rogers, acting as vice-president and treasurer. The hour or so running time set by Miss Pickford shows a return to the standard length of the pictures made in earlier days when she was at her height as a screen actress. Edward J. Peskay will be executive vice-president of the company, and I. J. Prinzmetal will be secretary. The first production, as yet untitled, has been tentatively set for January. The new production company will in no way interfere with Miss Pickford's previously announced plans to make "One Touch of Venus," "There Goes Lona Henry" and "Champagne for Everybody" for UA. Activities Aimed at Suppression Begin as Spread of Juvenile Delinquency Threatens Activities for the suppression of crime and juvenile delinquency were getting under way this week in Vancouver, Canada, and in Chicago, Milwaukee and Omaha. As an appeal was made for a larger police force in Vancouver, revival of an old curfew law was being considered in Chicago, plans for children's movie programs were being set up in Milwaukee, and the police department and a committee in Omaha were preparing to discuss the request of the parents' board of a local school to advance the children's curfew hour from 10 to 9 p.m. With the present Vancouver police force held inadequate to cope with the mounting crime wave there, the public was said to be clamoring for a larger force to deal with the daily robberies. Exhibitors must protect themselves in any way possible, and theatres — particularly those in outlying sections — are feeling the effect of the crime wave on after-dark attendance. Last week, Henry Dale, Army deserter and selfconfessed hold-up man, was lashed ten times and sentenced to a year in jail for having held up the Cambie, Vancouver, and the Westminster. Despite heavy sentences, however, the Vancouver crime wave is still in high gear, with the majority of criminals reported to be in their teens. Revival of an old Chicago curfew law under which juveniles not yet 18 must be off the streets by 10 p.m. was being considered by Assistant State's Attorney James Cherry as a means of reducing delinquency and auto accidents. First violations would bring reprimands to the parents, while later offenses would impose fines from $5 to $100. The measure was declared unworkable, however, by Miss Jessie Binford, director of the Juvenile Protective Association, and a leading manager said that if it were enforced it would seriously hamper evening theatre attendance. Meanwhile, the City Council Judiciary Committee has asked Assistant Corporation Council Martin H. Foss to determine the legality of the measure. In a move to combat rowdyism, the Milwaukee Parent-Teachers Association is sponsoring several hours of movies suitable for children each Saturday. Already the local PTA has 12 or more movie houses on its list, and is hard at work to convince other theatremen that such programs will redound not only to the benefit of movie houses but to the public welfare as well. The programs will include cartoons, educational sports, travelogs, government releases and a full-length family-type picture. At the end of a show, the children leave in a group. There is no staying for a second showing. Any disturbance results in the immediate expulsion of the guilty. Editorializing on the movement, the Milwaukee Journal characterized the project as selfsupporting in that it "keeps the children off the streets, gives them something unobjectionable to see and think about, and is at least as constructive as most of our concerted efforts for child betterment." The editorial predicted that as the demand spreads "we may expect the producers will finally yield to the pressure for pictures made expressly for child audiences," and foresaw "the ultimate possibilities" that "the movie houses may become an important factor in child development in cities, helping to decrease delinquency and, on the positive side, building better citizens through unobtrusive education." The delinquency problem in Omaha was tackled by the parents board of St. Francis school whose request for a 9 p.m. curfew was referred by the City Council to the police department and a committee for discussion. Council members said they planned to . include the request in a general survey of the entire delinquency problem. Rev. Joseph Micek, sponsor of the board advocating the change, said the board believed the change should have been made when standard time was restored. In Philadelphia, Eddie Rose, manager of the Model Theatre, lost three suits and a topcoat when thieves broke into the theatre by way of the fire escape. In Indianapolis, Earl Bell, manager of the Howard Theatre, wrote finis to the "crime career" of a youth who took several shots at patrons and the manager with a beanshooter after one of the beans struck Bell's eyeglasses. The youth was taken to the Juvenile Aid Division. Last week in St. Thomas, Ontario, thieves carted off a 500-pound safe from the Tivoli Theatre. In Atlantic City, James Armstrong, manager of the Embassy, operated by Atlantic Theatres Circuit, was struck on the head while he was putting away the day's receipts and robbed of approximately $1700. No one in the theatre knew what happened until George Innes, an operator, discovered Armstrong and called the police. The Embassy is located a block away from City Hall, where police were attending a political meeting prior to Tuesday's elections. The screen attraction was 20th-Fox's "The House on 92nd Street." Jackson Park s Appeal The United States Supreme Court will review a decision of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which reversed a $360,000 Federal Court decision in favor of the Jackson Park Theatre, Chicago, in a triple damage suit against RKO, Loew's, 20thFox, Paramount, Warners and Balaban and Katz. Action had alleged conspiracy and a monopoly, with the result that the Jackson Park had to play behind B&K's competing houses. Rank-Universal Form Worldwide 16mm Co. Formation of a new company for. the distribution of 16-mm. educational, religious and scientific films in all countries except the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, was announced this week jointly by J. Arthur Rank, on behalf of all Rank producing units, and J. H. Seidelman, president of Universal International. The company will have access to the library of Gaumont-British instructional films, the features and shorts of the Rank producing groups and all Universal features, documentaries and shorts. Special films may be produced for schools, educational institutions and technical colleges. It is anticipated that in countries where present 35-mm. commercial outlets are insufficient to cover isolated areas, 16-mm. installations will be encouraged on a commercial basis. Both Rank and Seidelman stressed the fact that they will not permit 16-mm. activities of the new company to enter into competition with any existing commercial houses or exhibitors of 35-mm. product, and that such exhibitors would be protected. Goldwyn Claims Trade Paper Misquoted Him Samuel Goldwyn declares that he was misquoted concerning subsequent-run bookings in a trade paper report of his recent interview in New York, according to a press release issued by his New York publicity representative. Following is the text of the release : Tn a recent issue of a weekly trade publication, Samuel Goldwyn was quoted as saying, "Subsequentrun bookings mean nothing to me," and that if he could book his pictures into fifty top first-run theatres throughout the country he "would be willing to forego all subsequentrun bookings." Mr. Goldwyn would like to call attention to the fact that he was not only misunderstood, but entirely misquoted; and that none of the other trade publications (and there was a representative of each one at the interview) quoted him in this fashion. "I cannot understand," said Mr. Goldwyn this week, "how one publication could quote me entirely at variance with the stories in the other trade publications. "I did say that I thought the ideal way to show pictures in our bigger cities was to play them simultaneously in about fifty situations in theatres with a seating capacity of 1200 to 1400. I thoroughly believe that such a policy would not only not harm the subsequent runs, but would materially benefit them." "To quote me as saying, 'I want my pictures to play in only fifty theatres throughout the country' is simply nonsense." (Ed. Note — Though the publication which Mr. Goldwyn claims misquoted him is not specified in the above, two of three phrases included in the statement appeared in the report in Showmen's Trade Review issue of Oct. 20 covering the interview referred to. For that reason we publish, as a courtesy to Mr. Goldwyn, the full text of the publicity release containing his claim that he had been misquoted. We want to emphasize, however, that this action is not to be construed as indicating that we wish to retract or amend our report of the Goldwyn interview held in New York Oct. IS. That report was prepared from notes that were checked by our reporter — whom, we wish to add, has been a member of our staff for many months, has had years of training and experience in reporting and previously to joining us had served as a reporter with other publications in the daily and weekly field in this industry. We would like to point out that in declaring that only one publication quoted him on the subject of subsequent runs, Mr. Goldwyn overlooks the report of at least one film trade publication, because to our knowledge at least one other publication quoted Mr. Goldwyn as having made, at the same interview referred to, statements concerning the relative unimportance of subsequent runs. Furthermore, as far as we know, no paper reporting the interview has quoted nor referred to the statement which in the above publicity release Goldwyn declares to be the correct quotation of his remarks on subsequent runs.) Columbia to Pay 50% Dividend The Columbia board of directors this week| declared a dividend of 50 per cent on the common stock of the company payable December 2IJ to stockholders of record December 14. Cash will be paid where fractional shares of common are due.