Variety (Jul 1944)

12 WAR ACTIVITIES Wednesday, July 5, 1944 Exhibs May Extend War Bond Drive; Free Movie Day Push to Hypo Sales Exhibitors .'throughout the 'nation* pulled out all the stops in a con- certed effort to reach the bond-sales goal for theatres in the filth War Loan drive which concludes officially next Saturday '8>. but will continue indefinitely upon the request of na- tional committee chairman Robert: X O'Donnell. ~ v:■ ',-.'".'■ " v>The drive 'will reach its climax to- morrow 16) when nearly. 9,000 thea- tres will .hold Free Movie • Day, a , total that compares with 3.403 houses which staged'Free Movie Day during the Fourth: War Loan campaign.; In Minnesota. Florida, eastern Pennsyl- vania and the metropolitan -fj.. Y. uvea, all theatres are slated to ob- serve the event, , : ■ . • This nationwide observance, dur- ing which any person buying a war bond will be admitted free, will be heralded by the greatest, radio bar- rage ever given to a film industry drive; An estimated 69,000,000 per Performer Gripes Some of the performers who ■ have; .been doing those gratis ..stints, atop the mammoth Fjf.th a War Loan cash register in Timef Sq. have been squawking about the post-show credit-line tags. They say they're only too glad to volunteer for the patriotic al fresco shows, but how about hav- ing those billings tossed off be- fore the performance-instead of. waiting until . the crowds dis-. perse and having their names •• drowned out in the whirl of re- suming/.traffic, ; -.:■ '..'■"-.- local circuit operator and national committee chairman. ■''■. As part of the Fifth War Loan Drive, the Majestic theatre is giving a special stage attraction to those . buyingwar bonds here. Stage show iHom«;ht-f5 --t-mi 1-bear-^n nqunee^ 1^%^ as . Ya n ks^an-alUsoldie^miu; men.fs concerning Free Movie Day on five ■■majornetwork radio pro- OWI Handling Pix-Radio On Int'l Monetary Confab Washington, July 4. OWI is handling worldwide radio and film coverage of the Internation- al Monetary Conference at Bretton Woods, N, H., for purposes of war- time propaganda. . The Overseas Branch is shooting special . film. exclusively for use abroad. The news is being plit out to the world by cable and shortwave radio. The Special Events Section of OWI has set up a recording room to make platters of some of the ad- dresses and to obtain special talks which can be angled to various parts of the globe via DX. In addition, the agency will assist working; news-' papermeri. . , . Among the OWI people attending are: Margaret Jones, Motion Picture Bureau;'.". Stanley . Silverman and George Houston, Radio Program Bu- reau; Lester Troob, Communications Facilities Branch. Michael J. Mc- Dermdtt, chief of State Department Public Relations, heads the crew aid- ing the working press.. grams. . These , programs, include: Dun- ninger. on the Blue, at 9 p.m.; ''Can You Top This?", oh Mutual, at 7:30; ' Allan Jones. CBS, at 8; Frank Sin- sical from Camp Fannin. Group is Headed by Frank Albert- son, formerly Hollywood film actor, and now at the Camp. ■:■. ■• ' -•'- "0" RKO's $2,353,645 in N, Y.v Bond preems in 12 RKO Metrd- atra, CBS, at 9, and "Great Moments ] polit.an theatres in N. Y. last week in Music," CBS, at .10. In addition, brought in $2,353,625, this riot includ- Innrheds of local stations will plug ing the regular sale of bonds in these the event today and tomorrow. .... ihouses nor those .of other RKO.the- In commenting on this radio - co- atres in the- Met area or out-of- cperation. O'Donnell yesterday: i4) town. ' ■ ? - '.': ■. '...'•:.%•;•>' stated, "For radio to devote so much costly air time to a. patriotic drive by the motion picture industry is an- other way of saying to the exhibitors of America that they have not only done a difficult job well, but they have convinced wartime America that the industry has won an en- during, inspiring place in the pages of history." ... . ■" ..' : Capital Pitch --—^—- - 1 Washington, J:\i1y ; An the downtown picture houses cooperated on Washington's Caval- cade of Freedom, which culminated In the Independent Day celebration on the Monument lot. Admission was by war bond, and all screens ran trailers, sold tickets, .thus creating Fourth of July opposition, since per- formance started at 7:30 p.m. Hollywood stars cooperating ar- rived Monday. They were Lt. Wil- liam Holden. Mischa Auer. Rosemary Lane, Martha O'Driscoll, Dennis O'Keefe as emcee, John Payne and Marlene Dietrich. Paul Whiteman conducted the Army.Air Forces band in- George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." A $25,000 display of fire- .. Col.'s Bond Buys ' Columbia Pictures has purchased $2,000,000 in war bonds out of its funds, this being company's contri- bution to Fifth War Loan Drive. Purchase is separate and apart from any made by employees, although it will be credited to Col's quota of $3,250,000; In addition to bond purchases be- ing made, Col employees have set up a separate goal of $232,000, not in maturity-value ot bonds^bilt ill actual, cash, -for the purchase of. a com- pletely-equipped 1,500-bed overseas hospital, the building of which Co- lumbians will sponsor. . Radio Helps St. Louis Oyer Top_ .. .. St. Louis, Mo., July 4~ . ' St. Louis was the' first city 6t ; its size to go over the top iri the'Fifth War Loan Drive, passing its goal eight days ahead of schedule with a total of $181,665,605. This exceeds the goal by-about $800,000. Drive is still continuing and millions are expected to be added to the sales total. . The radio stations of St. Ldijis per- formed - another fine job. They co- operated to the fullest extent in pro- First Liberty Ship Capt. Congrats 'Benj. Warner' Skipper From Africa In connection with the launching ot the S. S. Benjamin Warner, named in 'honor of - the father of Warner brothers lHarry M., Jack and Al- bert) and the last of the Liberty •ships to be built by Henry Kaiser, a congratulatory message was radioed, from an unnamed port in Africa by Capt. Erjin R. Olm'stead, skipper of the S. S. Patrick Henry, to Capt. H Hoeppner of the Benjamin Warner Latter is the 679th Liberty ship while the Patrick Henry was the first ■turned put.-;,.... ' ; . . ■'-,':., J- Harry M. and Jack Warner were on hand for the launching at Rich- mond. Cat., last Saturday (1), both paying tribute to the builders, of.the American merchant marine and the personnel who are. manning the ships. •'■;.!'.'■..' "Benjamin Warner knew the meaning-...of liberty betler_th_an we can know it because he had the bit ter experience of oppression," Harry Warner said in, commenting on his late father, while Jack Warner said, in part. "to . the Liberty ships, t)#e shipyards, and the merchant marine we owe an everlasting debt of grati tude." ■ - i ■Li.ta' B. Warner, daughter of the late .Sam Warner.- . christened the ship bearing her grandfather's name. works included set piece of President t'iding- complete facilities in the en Roosevelt and Gen'. Eisenhower. Jolson's $1,100,000 Louisville, July 4. Town's biggest war bond show at Iroquois Amphitheatre Friday (30) with At Jo lson.__Beiiny_jGoodman^ leading the Army. Air Force Band of the Training Command, Mischa Atier. Martha O'Driscoll, Rosemary Lane. Lt. William Holden participating; filled the big 3,500-seat outdoor thea- tre, with every seat sold. Admission rouragement of war bond purchases. Personal commercialism was not given, any attention by the stations! Radio St. Louis probably gave its best job yet on a war bond cam- paign. . Air ForceGI Sfrowi Local 306, N.Y. Operators, Donates Army Ambulance In honor of the 120 members it has in the armed forces. Local 306, Mdv ing Picture Machine Operators of N.Y.. has purchased a fully-equipped ambulance for donation to the Army" at special ceremonies held last week. > At the same time, gold member- ship cards of 306 have been given'to Father John P. Bpland. former chair- man of the N. Y. Labor Relations Carrier Pigeon Gimmick Nixed .■ Washington, July 4. '■ Best picture gimmick out of the Normandy invasion, thus far, has to do with the Army brasshat who figured out that the best way to get motion picture negatives from France to England was to send them by carrier pigeon. -. , About a week before D-Day, he sprang it on his skeptical associates. They agreed to give it a trial iri Britain, fastening small rolls of-35 mm. film to 20 pigeons and letting them go. Exactly one pigeon made home roost, the remainder-being lost without trace. - ,'■.. .': Persistent officer, hopped up with zeal lor speed, was not discour- aged: He proposed that the stunt be tried all over again with photo- graphic strips instead ot the heavier rolls. Just about this time Army Intelligence learned what was going on and: nixed the scheme. They pointed out that pigeons flying from France would be carrying uricenspred negative, some of -it-highly' secret, with a good likelihood that some of it would fall into the hands' of the Germans. ':';. . .. ."••■>■''';.' :. *'■•-''' ■'■'■'•'?/'■.'■■''•■■'■.''. .-:.'..'■:.' That, dear Hollywood, ended the Photographic Carrier Pigeon Service. ■'.:.';■■•'' •-.:".'■ .■'■.':';."''*' '■ "':..'•:■■■' •-.'•".■' ' ,■■.":■■', '-.. D-Day Newsreeling Command Performance .. . London, July 4. Members of a»iEighth Army Air was by purchase of a War Bond, and | Forces musical show now touring the the. show drew a $1,100,000 gate. Harry Blue-stone, regular, leader of the A A.F Band, pleased , with his rhythms, and the stage and screen stars made a' field day of the occa- sion, clowning and ad libbing, to the tremendous enjoyment of the bond European Theatre of Operations, "Skirts." will play a command per- formance before Queen Elizabeth lp- day iTues;i as result of carrying through a performance recently, dur- ing an air...raid and .preventing a l panic'in the audience largely of kids. »'■ 'MNi»ii^iii(iwi;wiwp»i>' '^iiwfiii tSt^j^a^. .b k > »je»4 I Gls- chosen from ■ Eighth Air Force, is .produced, and directed by Lt. Brest, of New York, city.-, remem- bered as silent film comedian George K. Arthur Board who has figured in arbrttaiion proceedings involving the union, arid License Commissioner Paul Moss. , In addition to the purchase of the ambulance out of union funds, 306 itself has invested in $65,000 of war bonds to date, while its members so far have bought $125,000. Also, vari- ous 306 projectionists are regular blood donors and, from time to time, donate their services for projection work in connection with bond drives and other war "activities. - — Cantor in Portland, Ore. :,. -:j'.', : Portland, Ore., July 4. Hot spot of entei-taininent for July 4 in Portland was big war bond .show in 25.000-capacity Multnomah: sta- dium, with Eddie Cantor sparking the bill.. ' f,.-..";: '.' ■■.-. . Sponsored by Portland's mer- chants newspapers, radio and the:.- , v Washington; July. 4: : tics,, the bond program offered Jinx ..,Col. Edward L- Munson, who has Falkenbursi Warren Hull of "Voxj been .acting chief of the Army Pic lop, Bert.-Gordon, Nora Martin, the to rial Service lias " latter Continued from past 3 could be processed without delay and it was learned that 50.000 leet a week could be absorbed in Britain, al- though peak capacity has not been reached to da.te, , Next Was the problem of getting jhe "film back from- the-Normandy., beachhead. Photographic units were instructed to use the; general news setups. The Navy had control of the beaches and set up Navy Message Centers, whi'ch were focal.points for Army Public Relations.; The centers were designated by flags, and com- manding officers had identifying arm bands. Everybody was briefed on how to get exposed footage to the Message Centers. Here the negative was put in a press rack marked •'urgent!' and ferried across to Eng- land on the first fast boats leaving.. System of shipping the exposed film was known as the SHAEF Cou- rier System, and operates lunder Colt Joseph Phillips, former Newsweek editor. ■•.;'•''-'•';.-'.! :■'■'';.<-• -V.-." : :'.' : - ; .. :': Special "courier" officers were placed on docks and jetties at Brit- ish ports to take off the sacks and rush them to Jhe office of the British Ministry of Information in London. Each of the agencies—official, news- reel, still 1 ,pi'x—were called to come and gelTheir _ negatives"as quickly-ias they arrived. Each agency had its own film processed arid then brought it to censorship for viewing and edit- ing before it could be dispatched for use:' . . : '.\. In the first days, censors operated around the clock. In the case of Arrhy Pictorial Service film, a punch system was used to indicate cen- sored portions without the delay of actually cutting the negative. D. C. Control Originally,, censored portions of newsreel-made pix were chopped out In Britain. At present the punch system is being used for this footage also. This means that everything will come to Washington. Censored portions, will be knocked out here by the Army, but will .be on hand for release at any time that security- no longer requires "these parts to be held up. Col. Mitchell said that everything worked well on D-Day, despite riifl'i- cuIties t _Xhe first camera crews hit the beaches at H>Hour plus 30 min- utes.. The first day, the Germans shot down the flags designating message centers about as fast as they were put 'up. However, the stuff got across the Channel jfist the same. By noon of D-Day, Army officials w-ere look 7 ing at the first shots, those made over- the battlefield by the U.S. 8th Air.i'orce; and two days later Lon- don theatres were showing the em- barkation stuff. First air films ar- rived in the U.S. in .60 hours, but •held .uo' th X Bergen-McCarthy Join ' Eastern Hospital Tour Edgar Bergen and Charlie Mc- Carthy have signed for a USO-Cahip. Shows hospital tour, joining the ten- act hospital unit, "Smooth Sailing," as a special attraction. '. .,'.•■'--■'■ ^jTpur^covers eight army hospitals in thei easfTstartTiig July 1 f irtrBttl— ings General Hospital. Indianapolis. Ends on July 29 at Cushing Hospital, Framingham, Mass. ; , ,. , Invasion 6-Reeler Mav > r Tie In With Fall of Paris .'■'■'■■.'-' .'.■■' Washington, July .4! First.of the official British-Ameri- can films to come out of the Nor- mandy Invasion is planned as R six- reeler which will probably cover the first 90 days of the invasion. If, how- ever, Paris should fall before then, or some other important event take place in the meantime, that may be used as a chopping off place: for the pic, in line with the policy of getting the films to the public while they me still news. The film will be made under th« auspices of the^recently set up An- glo-American Eihn Planning Board, whose job is to make films covering joint-jnilitarv-operat ions Bo ard cq-; ordinates the work of U. S , Cana- dian and English agencies making pictures, such as the Armv, Navv, OWI, MOI, etc. v ■ First of the. joint films was the recent "Eve. of Battle." Second Is "Liberation of Rome." .a fwo-reeler to be released July 13. All follow the pattern of "Tunisian Victory." Co-producers Of the coming film will be Lt.-Col. Anatole Litvak. for the Army Pifitqrial Service, and' Li.- Col. David MacDonald, producer of "Desert Victory," for the British. War Dept. representative on the Anglo-American Film Planning Board is Col. Curtis Mitchell, head of the pictorial unit of Army Public Relations, who conferred iri Britain w'ith other members at the beginning of the invasion. , - .. '. . .-■:■, ■ ■ Invasion Lenso.rs Although Jack Lieb-'(Jfe'ws of the Day) and Neil Sullivan tPa(he) sre the only n'ewsreelcrs whose footage has come into this country thus'Jar from France, Ned Buddy, head of the American newsreel pool in Europe, reports that Thomas Priestly -(Uni-. versal) is also with the invasion BrW mies. Priestly's stuff, is believed to have been held up somewhere *long the line in Normandy] John Bockhurst, . who was tlso scheduled to go into France, coh- fracted malaria in the Souih Pacifio arid couldn't be moved. Robert Blair tMovietone), who has been shooting Portland girl who .started her radio singing career 'On ' Port- land s station KGW. The "Bert WiUiains," a Liberty ship named for the famed Negro corne- lian who died in 1922, will be built With Harlem; war-bond subscriptions, it was announced by the Harlem Col. Gapra Asst. Chief TO T Wai,i ^ V . Division of the Fifth War Loan Drive. ■.. :.■;•,■:■•;■ ■■■•■'■■,■■... ■■ Williams, who Was one of the top comedians and pantomimists at the turn Of .the'.century, starred in many Ziegfeid shows, being identified.with such 'songs as "Nobody," "Woodman, Spare that Tree" and "We're- Not, Going to'Play This Game According to Hoyle,. We're Going to Play it Ac- cording to Me." :. .'•.;.. ,'■.■ • ■;.■ '■'■-.. Col. Minison in Army Pix been tipped to Chief, with Col. Frank Capra now holding the title Of Assistant.Chief, .. Col. Ivi.r.ke B. Law'oii, whom Mun- son succeeded, now carries :the title of Film and Photographrc Officer at- ftached to -Supreme. Headquarters-in | Britain, and is in charge of all Army I Pictorial Sen-ice activities on the active European fronts. . -. '■• '-■.,'/•, . Home Town Backs O'DonncU. :■ '> ':/. J . "'■''■ '■■i' Dailas, July 4. Dallas was the first city to go over the top in :-lhe Fifth War Loan drive. selling SV4.000.ntiO in bonds up to last l - Col.. Mclvin Gillette, former chief Wednesday (28 >, $2,000,000 over its] of the Signal Corps: Photographic quota, with- more than a w eek to ;go Center at ' Astoria, who Was : sent before the end of •the ..enmpaign 'across .to direct photographic activi- James O. Cherry, city exhibitor ties in North Africa, is now iri chairmen ■noHfied R. J. O'Donnell, charge in Ivi.lv;' . .'■ Fight for Rome in WAC Short The September-to-June Allied fight for Rome, filmed by British and American cameramen has'been made into a 20-miriule short "Liberation of Rome;" It will be distributed by Metiio for the WAC. Film includes sequences from the initial landings at Calabria to the Allied entrance, into Rome. : •' TVJ"*&>*£ "waitahe ironhd ffl? England ' ^ '^*:^ rounded picture of D-Day. One unique: D-Day stunt was. to mount 35 mm. cameras at Universal focus on landing barges and tanks, with one man on each directed to "push the button" at the beach. Fifty cameras were mounted; 47 were smashed or had their pix otherwise spoiled. However, three i00-foof rolls were successfully made, show- ing the first soldiers wading up on the beaches, ~*" ■ : ODT Robbed? Washington. July'4. The Office of Defense Transporta- tion thinks "we v/uz robbed" on the deal it made with the Treasury Dept. regarding star bond tours. Treasury has stuck strictly to il» promise to have no special train lor bandhawking Hollywooders, but has . scheduled star junkets via the regu- On D-Day-came the first release of Jar. rattlers. certain .wading equipment which, up- to then,.could: not be photographed because the "watermarks" on their sides, would have.shown how. deeply they loaded. On D-Day, plus 1, first pix identifying' combat divisions -were released—fastest .this' has been clone so far, :. : '■;••>.•• , '-":'■; Supervising all press and pictorial activity for GenerarEisenhower is General Thomas Jefferson Davis. At this end, rushing the stuff to the newsreels is Lt. James Faichney. Overseas Film Security Officer, and former Pa the news editor. .' '■'' That is where the hitch is. Some, at least, of-the ODT boys .understood the agreement to mean no star tours at all. The tour goes oh. bonds are being sold, but ODT sa;yV"n.b priori'-- ties, no special reservations, and( they have to, take ca.fch-as-cateh- ■ can all down' the line." Emceeing Soldier Vnit Cpl. - Albert.; D.:- Smith, -perfonner before Army got hiin, now eincfceing and entertaining with soldier unit in. Italy. ■ '-■ ■;.'■;;, '":'.■.;; . -