Variety (Dec 1942)

Vedncsda^t Decemlwr 30, 1942 nCTUBES Fiim Salesmen Binned Up at llieir 'Forgotten Man Status; Can't Get Gas Bnt Urged to Push Propaganda Pix Pittsburgh. Editor 'Variety': A huRP chorus of resentment and anger, which is gaining momentum in these troublesome times, and founded on a real grievance— especially against vested organiza- tions for their inactivity in their be- half—is the entirely legitimate de- mand by all film salesmen that we have been the neglected persons in the Ras rationing edicts of the GoV' ernmcnt. With the advent of the war, and the hardships it has imposed on every one. the hard working and consciontiou.s film salesmen of all the disiriuuliiig organizations have been the p.itsies insofar as gas ra- tionins is concerned. With the Gov ernment turning out hundreds of reels for propaganda purposes, and in turn the distributing organiza- tions seeing to it that they are prop- erly shown in all of the theatres, from the very largest to the smallest, it has devolved upon th<^,fllm sales- men to see that these propaganda reels arc sliown. With direct orders that they are to devote so much of their time to the hooking of the Government films, each man has to go in many instances hundreds of miles to cover hbi territory—territory he has al- ready made in the sale of his com- pany's product, to impress upon the theatre the absolute necessity for the showing of the various propa- ganda films that are being turned out like doughnuts in Washington and elsewhere. All of the road men are public spirited and patriotic and they have without any exception taken on the added burden of extra travel over dangerous and hazardous winter roads to see that the dates are set in all of (he theatres in their zones. But with all this—a real patriotic work—what have they received from the various gas rationing boards when tlicy have applied for addi- tional gas, to do both their own work and that of the Government? Just plain and gruff 'noes,' when asking for B or C cards. And we have seen other men and women get the cou- poivi with less excuse for getting them than the film salesmen. Repeatedly have the road men re- ported all this to their respective Branch Managers, who in turn have (Continued on page 14) WB'S ACAD SHORTS ART GROUP NAMED Hollywood, Dec. 29 Three short subjects have been entered as candidates for Academy Awards by Warners, leading off with the Capt. Hewitt T. Wheless two-reeler. 'Beyond the Line of Duty." Other entries are 'Winning Your Wings.' a documentary with James Stewart, and a one-reeler, 'The United States Marine Band.' Waller Wanger, prexy of Academy, appointed a committee of art di rectors to adopt rules governing their particular sector of the 1942 Academy Awards. They are Lionel Banks, Albert D'Agoslino, Perry Ferguson, William Eerrari, Bob Haas, £arl Hedrick, Russell Kim ball, Martin Obinza and Joseph C. Wright. RKO AT PEAK AS'43 STARTER Hollywood, Dec. 29. RKO shoves off into the new year with the heaviest January produc- tion schedule in its history,, com- prising six features and two prob- able added starters. First starter for next month will be 'Petticoat Larceny.' to be followed by 'The Fallen Sparrow,' 'The Fal- con Comes Back.' 'The Leopard Man,' 'Queen of Burle.<;que' and 'Gilder- sleeve's Bad Boy.' Two biggest budgeters on the new slate are 'Look Out Below.' co-slarring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie, and 'Free for AH," with Jean Arthur and John Wayne in the top spots. 6RAD SEARS T.ATT) UP Grad Sears was bedded by cold which nearly turned into pneumonia over the past weekend. He's not due back ai his desk until next week. Lots of Latin Goodwill Atmosphere In Pix on B way; CIAA Rates Bow PREPmiE TO CIIPE Curb on Duals Via Govern- ment Decree Being Given Increased Consideration in D. C. As Means of Con- serving Materials—Exhibs See No Saving in Celluloid Because Shorts Would Be Needed to Fill—Fear Ad- verse Audience Reaction MELLETT BALLOON 7 Success of the Office of Coordi- nator of Inter-American Affairs in making Hollywood Latin America- conscious has been evidenced on Broadway in the past month. Three films with good will angles, injected under the aegis of the CIAA, were playing Broadway houses almost simultaneously. They were 'You Were Never Lovelier' (Columbia), 'Now. Voy- ager' (Warner Bros.) and 'Spring- Jime in the Rockies' (20th-Fox). 'Lovelier' has an Argentine locale and characters and is based on a story first made into a film, 'Orchids Tuesday.' by an Argentine producer. Now. Voyager' sends Bctte Davis on a cruise to Rio and as back- ground shows the beautiful Rio har- bor. 'Spi ingiimc' has several Latino scenes. Amazingly enough, there has been nary a squawk from Latin America about any of ihe characters or \n^'u^' definitely recognized , "oll.vwood as an innovation since ">e e.-ilabli.shment of the CIAA little fnore than two years ago. There was scarcely a pic with anything in it before that time that didn't bring down all .sorts of ri ili- cism on Hollywood and the U. S. in general. Careful o.o.ing of srri!)!.- by a CIAA rep has been partially responsible for the lark of squawks, but principally it's the result of increased diligence on the part of individual studio.s anxious to do everything possible to cooperate Willi the alms of the CIAA. Films, like the trio mentioned above, serve a dtial purpose. For one thing they warm Latin Ainer- icans to the U. S. and, equally im- portant, they further acquaint and keep people in this country awaie of the other Americas. This is felt to be vital after the war to insure continuation of the Good Neighbor policy when the pressure of needing the Latinos on our side is off. In addition to the throe pix above, there wa.s a fourth almost sinurl- lancou.'ily on Broadway in which the CIAA had a hand. It ««s 'Pitts- burgh' (Universah. CI.^A v.as in- strumental in obtaining for the pro- ducer shots of Smoky City factories. Purpose was to carry out the aim of the Coordinator's ofl ice. to ac- quaint Latins with U. S. industry, commerce and culture. Government action to eliminate double billing is getting increased consideration in Washington, as re- sult of growing shortages in vital materials. Lowell Mellett's recent declaration against duals was gen- erally regarded as a trial balloon to test industry response, and while many theatre operators and exhibitor associations backed Mellett's sug- gestion openly, inside reaction re- mained unfavorable. War Production Board officials, reluctant to impose any regulations which would shutter houses or affect boxoffice grosses adversely, are meantime gathering additional sta- tistics and information on the duel- ing situation. Should the materials shortage become more acute WPB would be in a position to apply re- strictive measures aimed to produce the least harmful effects. While a large number of producers and exhibs are in favor of single bill- ing, a larger number are opposed to the measure, contending that there would be virtually no saving in either celluloid or theatre equipment. Past records among both chain and independent operators show that every attempt to establish single bill policy has been disastrous, boxoffice- wise. Contention, also, that sup- position there would be a saving in celluloid by eliminating one feature picture is a fallacy. It would only result in a change of progr: ig. with shorts filling in, rather thr.n a curtailment of running time. Those against singje-billing, even if it is established on a nationwide basis by Government edict, which w'Mld give no imdue advantage to any operator, claim that tneatre patrons buy film entertainment in units of time. Exhibs also believe that public re- lations would be hurt since theatre- goers woujd think they were being unnecessarily deprived of additional entertainment. While exhibitors are under the im- pression that elimination of duals by Co\ ernnicnt decree is merely in a llicorcllcal .-lagc. the realities of war- li:iic emeixency are forcing WPB authorities to examine the problem I anew with a view to direct action. In some respects, elimination ol dkiaLs on a uniform basis, in all situa- tions, would be beneficial in that it would ease the pressure on studios and distribution forces facing raw slock, transportation and manpower difficLilties. Producers who have been advocating single billing prior to the war. have been warning exhibs not to burn up product faster than it can be produced. Wall Street Cheered on Film Backlog That Includes Many Top Features; Over 200 Pictures Await Distribution WAC's Proud Record By FRANCIS S, HARMON (K«rc. \ Icv-CliMlrman of WAO un .%<1tlctl KeHturr In 'Show Business At War' theme of the 37lh Anniversary Number of P^niETY STILL HOPEFUL ON BRIT. FREEZE Although no word had been received from London up until 'Va- riety' press time yesterday (Tues- day), major company foreign sales chiefs still were hopeful that the remaining frozen funds in Great Britain would be dislodged by the end of the year. This covers the period between Sept. 29 and Oct. 24, amounting to upwards of $6,000,000. This amount was left in Britain, representing about two months busi- ness, at the lime the British unfroze app^pximately $42,500,000 last Oc- tober. When this coin is remitted, all American .distributor funds up to last Oct. 24 will have been remitted to N. Y. After that, U. S. distribu- tors plan to seek free flow of all rental revenue in Britain. Victor Herbert Heirs OK 3d 'Marietta' Film The heirs of Victor Herbert last week issued a license to Metro for the l ight to make another version of '.N'aushly Marietta." The agreement restricts the exhibition of the film to \?> ycais. and the price was some- what o\ri' $.50,000. Deal was handled by tl-.c Warner Bros, music group, which is the exclusive agent for most of Herbert s scores. Metro has done 'Marietta' twice before. Frances Manson at Rep Hollywood, Dec. 29. Story editor post at Republic goes to Frances Manson, formerly with Goldwyn and Columbia. She replaces Francis Langlon, now in the Army. Large portion of the bullish en- thusiasm generated for motion pic- ture shares in Wall Street during the last few weeks is directly at- tributed to the vast inventory of unreleased pictures being piled up in Hollywood. Even in the face of numerous handicaps and War Pro- duction Board rulings, it is now estimated that the industry has the greatest inventory on record for the American filrh business. Latest checkup indicates more than 200 features are in the cans available for I release or in the final stages of com- pletion, with cutting and some dub- ibing only necessary to make them available for di.strib.ulinn. Of the 200 features. It is eslimate(i that 80 to ao are in 'A' classification, which should land them in first-runs of key cities. This is the most pleas- ing factor to the Street because It means extended runs in the big- money houses which gives the dis- tributor his greatest return per pro- duction. The fact that many name players, since joining the colors, are in these finished productions also is rated good by Wall Street. Inroads on manpower really hurt the Coast production setup during the past year, yet the ability to stack up such a huge backlog of product is expected to form protec- ' tion at the boxoffice until producers are able to re-arrange their sched- ules in line with the scarcity o( draft-age male stars and the in- creased use of femme talent. Opin- ion quite freely expressed in N. \. financial circles is that production headaches will be less severe in 1943 than in the past year, $25.000-ceiling and loss of manpower notwithstand- ing. The Street does not look for the $25,000 salary regulation to stay in force long as currently worded, and would not be surprised to see the whole thing tossed aside. Information received in financial quarters is that the bulk of the backlog piled up in Hollywood rep- resents well-made pictures, with production values and merit seldom sacrificed for speed to finish the product. TTiis was possible because the industry as a whole started building this inventory of pictures t>ecause it had the foresight to see dislocation of manpower. Also ma- jor companies wisely have encour- aged extended runs wherever pos- sible this season. This, too, has aided n increasing the overall inventory. Ontario Censor Rescinds Ban On Documentary Fdm As 'Propaganda Toronto, Dec. 29. On the thar.^e that the film is 'po- litical propasaiida favoring the Fed- eral administration.' release to On- tario theatres of the National Film Board's documentary. 'Inside Fight- ing Canada.' was first banned by Mitchell F. Hepburn, chief of the Ontario Board of Censors, and later okayed. The film had been passed by all the other provinces of Canada Hepburn, who is also treasurer of Ontario, further charged that 'pubi c lunds are being u.icd to produce films ot a purely political nature' and that 'it has been the policy of the Ontario govern- ment for years not to let pictures be shown to the [•olitical advantage of any paity. whether it is in power or not.' He further charged- that the ver- sion of 'Inside Fightiiiu Canada' re- leased in Quebec i.s different from that released in other parts of Can- ada. In announcing approval of the nint Ontario censors said it had been held up nine days in order to check the commentary. According to John Grier^on, head of the National Film Board, tht documentary was made at the re- quest of the U. S. Government arid to be issued from Washington as an official picture of Canada's war ef- fort. The film was sent to Wash- ington and it was decided to release it in Canada simultaneously. Grier- son .says, 'the film make.s reference to the fact that Mackenzie King is the Prime Minister of Canada. It would be strange it in a survey'of Britain's war effort, special care was taken to omit the name of Mr. Churchill. It would seem perversity in a film of the United State.s' war effort if the commentator failed to mention Mr. Roo.sevelt." As leader of the Liberal party of Ontario, Hepburn twice before has banned films for his current reason. A month before the Federal elec- tions in 1940. he banned the March of Time release. 'Canada at War.' New.sreel clip.s of CIO fights and dis- orders in the U. S. were also banned when Hepburn, then holding a re- election camiiaign and fighting the CIO at the same lime, refused what he then termed parly propaganda via the Screen, though IhU would have been to his political advantaa*