Variety (Nov 1938)

Favor Hays Office Supervision For Next Year s Silver Jubilee With another 'greatest picture* campaign for 1939 now_assured, just what form it will take, and under ■whose auspices it will be managed, are things that must be decided in the next few weeks. Prevailing opinion is that som$ decision must be made before the start of next year so that preparations need not be hurried. Advertising-publicity bally next year.will be the industry's 50th an- niversary celebration. At the pres- ent time there is talk of taking the silver jubilee before the Hays office at the next directors* meeting or, if not considered by this board, the advertising advisory council of the Hays organization should consider it before the end of December. Feeling is growing in the industry that at least nej^t year's campaign should be handled by the Hays of- fice, possibly with a few sides added to the staflf. Because the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors or- ganization has been closely identi- fied with the development and growth of the business in recent years, many believe it should have an active part in any celebration honoring the industry's anniversary. Move towards having the Hays of- fice head the campaign is based on several premises, MPPDA organi- zation is already set and operating so that it can handle many of the campaign duties as part of regular routine. Whether or not the Hays office is given supeitvision for next year there is a decided trend towards^' leaving all newspaper advertising in the hands of exhibitors ihemselves. Film business officials believe that the ex- hibitor as a rule, is in more active touch with local situations and prob- ably can place such ad material with . less • friction- than by any other source. This also is counted on to eliminate any squawks from smaller publishers, such as weekly newspa- pers, which were ignored in ..this ycar*s drive, excepting where some theatte operators were called in to fill the gap. Besides these factors, the plan of permitting exhibitors to handle ad- vertising will eliminate this extra burden to prbducers-distributors. While they will pay lor the cost of press books, advertising and ad ma- terial, it will be strictly up to the local exhil^tors to pass on the amount of space that is to be used or the'expenditures over ff-period of time for. the campaign. Pcfjaanent iPrtK Bureaa Official report of the advertising committee headed by Howard Dietz last week recommended that per- manent pres^ relations bureau be es- tablished to represent t^e film b.usi- Xtess, idea being to preserve the good- will ^generated by the current 'great- est pfcturfe year' driye. Dietz said he would suggest a motion picture press club. A continuing organiza- tion, with a paid staff which would be a clearing house for' the industry js also advocated. In his report , he points out that ; 'sources of dissatisfaction were week- ly newspapers and radio organiza- tions.' Weeklies felt they were over- looked in' the advertising. His com- mittee recommenced that in the fu- ture the weekly newspapers be given jnost earnest consideration. National Association of Broadcasters also ob- jected to the exclusion of a radio appropriation. Committee made the same recommendation as regards iradio. 'It seems that the industry,' read the report, 'has grievances with the radio, mainly due ' o the zeal of com mentators. It scenos now that the radio has a grievance with the in- dustry mainly due to our lack of time ljuying.' Committee report summarized the situation as follows: •We have found that the box^ office success, bf the campaign has been in direct ratio to the activities of the local coinmittees of individiual ex- bibtors.' Newsfeels in next few issues will carry announcements giving notice of closing' weeks in the $250,000 Movie Quiz contest. Deadline for inailinig entries is midnight, Dec. 31. Five Majors Dicker For Release of Tinoccliio' Hollywood, Nov. 22. With ^ve major companies offering to release 'Pinocchio,' Walt Disney is deferring negotiations until more complete returns are in on 'Snqw White.* Offers are from Metro, United Artists, Warners, Paramount and RKO, latter presently releasing 'Snow White' and other Disneys. Latest figures show 'Snow White* grossing around $4,750,000, with an anticipated total of $9,000,000. RKO's cut of 25% will net about $1,250,000 more than was expected. No pro- vision was made for reducing the percentage after a certain figure.. Injunction Vs. Prin Exchanges Over 12 hdie Fihn Releases Superior Talking Pictures, Inc., and Stage & Screen Productions, Inc., filed New York supii'eme court appli- cation .for injunction, -restraining Principal Film Exchanges, Inc., of New York from continuing further distribution of a series of 12 inde- pendent action features made by in- die producers on Coast for Superior and Stdge & Screen companies. Jus- tice Edgar Lauer granted their appli- cation last week. According to Oliphant & Lernian, attorneys for 'plaintiffs, a 50-50 deal was entered into between parties to distribute the pictures in N. Y^,-but Principal Exchanges failed to make remittances, financial or booking re- ports. They want accounting of monies collected, accounting and ap- pointment of receiver, insofar as it relates to this particular deal. Principal Exchanges, Sherman S. Krellberg, pres., contends that Supe- rior and Stage tc Screen contracted to deliver 25 pictures; only delivered 13 and, because they failed to deliver the balance. Principal stopped remit- tances and reports. Principal has counterclaimed for $6,600 against plaintiffs for breach of contract. 'SUCX* GETS GODTG Hollywood, Nov. 22. •Huckleberry Finn' roUed yester day (Mon) on location at Isleton, Cal., with ibe Sacramento River playing the role of the Mississippi. • Metro'pictibre 1^ directed by Rich ard Thorpe. VOICE OF'SNOW WHITE' SCORES POINT IN SUIT Adriana Caselotti, the 'voice' of the Princess in Walt Disney's 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* won a concession Friday (18) in her suit for $200,000 damages against Disney Productions and RCA Manufacturing Corp., when N. Y, Supreme Court Justice Wasservogel decided that the demand for a bill of particulars re- quested by the plaintiffs; be modified Instead of -upplyin;g. full details of the agreement she claims she en- tered into with officials of the Dis- ney Corp., when she was engaged for the part, the court decided she need only supply the substance if the agreement was an oral one. Miss Caselotti claims the defend- ants violated her contracts by mak- ing and distributing discs record- ings of her dialog in 'Snow White.' She claims this resulted in prevent- ing her from capitalizing on her own personal appearances. Even Turks Tabu Philadelphia, Nov. 22. Even turkey giveaways for Thanksgiving, which have beea indulged iii for years by the-* atres .here, are beinir banned this year by Philly police as a raffle. Like banko and bingo, cops claim the drawings are illegalt GB AND BAIRD BATTLE BBC ON MO London, Nov. 14. Gaumont-British and Baird chiefs are in a long huddle with British Broadcasting Corp. and. Television Advisory Committee over rights to present publicly visio shows aired by BBC from its Alexandra Palace transmitter. Ever since GB put in big screen. plants at three West End theatres, battle has been 6n, the com- pany and its visio affiliate. beating against the monopoly rights vested by Government in BBC. Talks are slowly getting some place, and it is thought agreed meth- ods will be determined early in 1939 whereby at least specified looksee programs will be given on theatre screens under license, though with- out prejudice to Corp.'s normal copy- right Both Baird and Scophony at one time handled their cards with a view of getting licensees to play their own programs exclusively for. theatre re- production, in the*one case the GB circuit, in .the other Odeon. Might have meant they would be transmit- ting^ a combination of films and floor shows, but in any event that project got sat on pretty soon.' Now it is to decids just which part of its air program BBC may release' for screen projection—and-what fee can and will be levied for the ser- vice. Anticipations are the theatres will only require to take remote pro- grams of outside events (the Derby, the Football Cup Final, and the like), as a spUt-second topical adjunct to the newsreels. Acad's Balancing Fibi Goes Out to Theatres Hollywood, Nov. 22. New technical device, known as the 'balancing film,' is available to all theatres through the work of the Research Council of the Academy of Motion Pieture Arts & Sciences. It enables projectionists ,to balance their machined to present an entire show without, jarring changes in the loudness or softness of the dialog or music. . Production of the new film is un- der direction of the Research Coun- cil's theatre standardization commit- tee headed by John K. Hilliard Stu- dios cooperating in fhe project are Metro, Columbia, Paramount, Re^ public, RKO, Roach,. 20th-FoX, United Artists, Universal and War ners. Armistice. Broadcast London, Nov. 11. Visio. version..' bf Armistice Day celebrations here this morning Splayed' to biggest privately invited aut^ience ever to see a program on the big screen, with neap 900 individ- uals cramming the small Tatler thea- tre to capacity. Baird prpjection^ system has in- creased many times in brilliance, but clarity of definition is still missing in the remote broadcast Closeups are excellent, but longshots and spectacle effects lose impressiveness due to lack of detail. Also, possibly on account of cameras all wearing telephoto lenses for the Occasion, marked distortion was evident, fa- mous Whitehall Cenotaph being seen to liurch like the Leaning Tower at Pisa. General impression Is "that Baird has got really going with the large- scale image, but was handicapped at this show by variable work at BBC end, one of the three emitron cameras on the job picking up far less than the other two. But in a final analysis, large audi- ence was clearly impressed by the occasion, though probably in some degree' by the emotional nature of the event presented. Coast Visio Show Hollywood, Nov. 22. Television show on New Year's Day is promised by Arthur Klein, operator of the Tele-View theatre, Hollywood's only newsreel house. Theatre is equipped with receiving apparatus for televised subjects. Fonda, Others Dropping Off Wanger Contract List Hollywood, Nov. 22. Henry Fonda's pact with Walter Wanger expires on completion of his current loanout job at Columbia, and will not be renewed. Wanger is dropping his contractees as fast as their pacts lapse. Among the departers are Charles Boyer and the writing team of Gene Towne and Graham Baker. Utys(^Expk)itali«Goes To ikDiigs, So He s Going to L A By Joe Laurie^ Jr. Coolacres, CaL, iJov, 22. Dear Joe: Well, here I am, not so well. Laying in bed with a bum gam and a bad fln. It all comes from .trying to make.,.;Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment' posslb],e. After all the lessons I got in exploitation I should have known better, but like a kid touching the fire to make sure that's what burned him, I tried c^ain, and as I said before I ended up with two casualties. It happened this way. I booked in a picture called 'Call of the Wild,' which, ais you know,^ has ii dog in it as a lead. -Well« I figured out it would be a great publicity stunt to tie up with- dogs, so I offered a five buck prize to the kid that brought the best dog and another five bucks.for the kid with'the worst mutt Well, Joe, I never saw so many dogs, outside of Feltman's, Coney Island, and'those were in rolls. I think the kids went to other towns to get some dogs because no one- t6wn could hold so many. Some kids came with two and three. Well, they came into the . theatre and all the dogs made a rush for tcie. I never felt so much like a tree in my life. I couldn't duck 'em and they cornered me on the steps leading to the balcony^ Two police dogs gave me their special attention, and when I kicked ait them, they thought I wanted to play, so one grabbed my leg and the other just took a taste of my hand. Those bites hit the jackpot on my tonsils and boy you never heard a guy yell louder than I did. Some- body put in a call for' the cop and the ambulance. The cop happens to be the town dog catcher too; sort of doubles in brass. Well, while the doctor was cauterizing my wounds, which ielt like the guy in Boston cutting out your best gags, the cop was rounding up all the kids and dogs. Half of 'em didn't have any license, so the kids figured that I just pulled the stunt to help the town collect some dough. So they got sore and started to hiss me -ft^hen I was taken out to the ambulance. That made me feel terrible, because that's one bunch I want to think well of me, not from any business angle, but I don't want anybody to say I'jn a kid-hater. And I love dogs, too. I know they didn't mean to bite me, they just happened to see me before they saw a bone. Well, I told the cop that I would pay for all the dogs that didn't have a license. I'd do it even if I had to hire the money from the bank, and when the kids heard about it they went out and picked soihe fiowers and sent them to me with a note. To Our Pal, Lefty.' That did me more good than any doctor In the world. That night the place was jammed, ^t I've made up my miiid that the only animal exploitation I'll ever do from now on will be no bigger than a canary bird. Banker Softens Up 2% Aggie has been waiting on me hand and foot—seeing that that's what was hurt—and Jimior looks at my bandages like I was a war herd. Aggie says that I've had hydrophobia for years according to the way I've barked at her. She's a great gal and when a guy is sick he finds out who his friends are. Even the banker softened his heart 2% land wanted to know was there anything he could do for me. To make things tougher the tubes blew out at the radio station and now I've gotta £0 to Los .Angeles and get new equipment So when I'm better which will be in a few days I'm gonna take Aggie and Junior and drive down to L. A. It's a nice trip and will make a nice vacation for all of us. Remember me to all the gang back there and tell 'em you can't piit t^ngs across by getting cross. Sez Your Pal, Lefty. P. S.—Parkyakarkus sez, 'Never ask people not to tell. It puts Ideas In their heads.* RAH-RAH SONGSMItHS HAVE TWO FUJI m Clay- A. Boland and S. Bickley Reichner, songwriting team who did the score for 'All Around the Town,' this year's show of the Mask and Wig Club, University of Pennsyl- vania, have been offered Hollywood terni contracts by 20th Century-Fox and RKO. However, they want only a one-picture deal. Boland is a prac- ticing dentist in Philadelphia and Reichner is on the staff of the Phila- delphia Evening Bulletin. Neither wants.to abandon his present setup for a regular salary job on the Coast. Their present publishing house is Lincoln Music. In addition to the collegiate show, they are also authors of 'Beating Around the Mul- berry Bush.' In the current 'AH Around the Town' two portions had to be omitted because of their topical angle. One is 'Crummy Elbow,' a skit about President Roosevelt and Father Devine. Other is a Roo.sevelt verse in the song, 'I Love My Coun- try.' Since the U. of P. is largely dependent on state appropriations, it was figured diplomatic to make the two deletions from the show. [Show is reviewed in this issue.] Grade Fields in Huddle With 20lli on Her Next Pic Hollywood, Nov. 22. Gracie Fields heads for the Coast this weekend for conferences at 20th- Fox on her future pictures in Eng- land. Monte Bahks is already here work- ing on the English comedienne's next picture, ^oth return to London alter Darryl Zanuck okays the script DOBOTHY BEIB'S POST Hollywood, Nov, 22. Dorothy Reid has been named istory department head by Mono- gram.. She was a producer on the lot 20th Excku^es Handlfflg G-B as bonomy Move Booking of Gaumont-British pic- tures, in half of G-B of America's 31 key city sales' organizations, has been taken Qver by 20th-Fox exchanges, as an economy measure, according to Arthur A. Lee, v. p. and general manager. Gaumont-British has no intention of disbanding its American distributing system, having delivered 12 pictures to date for the '38-39 sea- son; three more have arrived and are awaiting release, and nine more are expected from London for bal-* ance of this season's commitment of 24 pictures. Lee will keep full booking and sales personnel going in the more important key centers while in those exchanges where 20th-Fox has taken over booking, former Gaumorit book- ers have been shifted to the sales staff. Not more than a dozen em- ployees have been aifected by the takeover, and sales managers in 28 exchanges will still be maintained. Memphis, New Orleans and Char- lotte are the only cities where no sales head is functioning, the wotk being performed by bookers. ■Lee maintains shifting of booking details to 20th-Fox will not result m hiking Of letter's percentage of gross for distribution because 20th-Fox had originally agreed to do all the bookipg of Gaumont product. Out of 'Ambush' Hollywood, Nov. 22. Gladys Swarthout wound up added scenes on 'Ambush* at Para- loount and pulled out for San An- tonio, to start a six month concert tour. •Ambush'- was her last picture under the Paramount contract