Variety (Nov 1944)

WAR ACTIVITIES VARIETY Wednesday, November 1, 194 % Exhibs, Distribs, in Mass Huddles, Blueprint Plans for 6th Bond Drive Following well-attended meetings* of exhibitors and distributor repre- sentatives in several key cities, on the Pacific Coast and. in the midwest, national committee representatives continued their whirlwind tour to blueprint plans for the forthcoming film industry participation in the. iTHtrons Sixth War Loan drive. Led by national campaign chair- man Harry Brandt.' and ■ including Ned E. Depinet national -'distributor chairman. John D. Hertz, -Jr.. na- tional ad. and publicity director, John Rugar. national co-chairman: Capt.- Raymond' W.Wild. Treasury Dept. rep, and others, industry par- ticipation by the. nation's' nearly 16,- 000 theatres to help reach the $14,- v 000.000,000 goal was. assured. Brandt and his four honorary chairmen. Si Fabian; L. C. Griffith, Charles SkQuras and R. J. O Donnell. have devised a plan for a "medal of honor" /to be .given to all industry exhibs who. will be ./issuing agents for bonds during the drive which lakes place Irom Nov. 20 through Dec. 16. Jay Emanuel, national, cam- paign coordinator, has advised the irne co-chairmen for the drive »'• oughout the country to secure verified lists of industry personnel entitled to receive this special award. In" Hollywood, plans moved, for- ward for a gasless parade to inaugu- rate the Sixth War Loan drive in ''that area, with an entry list of cow- boys, stage coaches and other ap- purtenances of the horse era, drawn chiefly from the film studios. Harry Sherman will be marshal of this . cavalcade. '•..■:/ -. ';■ ■>■:/-,';■ Last week members of the N. Y. uvea committee for the campaign met. with Major L. E. Thompson, jSj. Y. drive director presiding, and heard Fred Gehle, state chairman, declare that N. Y. state would be responsible for selling 30''-«. of- the rational quota of bonds during the . drive. Those attending the session were, given a special bulletin pre- pared by the N. Y. publicity com- mittee under Harry Mandel, which will augment ideas contained in the Sixth War Loan press book to be issued around Nov.,1. < As a.curtain raiser and "preview" of the drive, the Capitol theatre, N. Y., will present the world preem showing of Metro's "30 Seconds Over • T.'.kyo - ' at 9 p.m. Wednesday «15) with admittance by bond purchases only. This will probably be the first bond; preem of the forthcoming cam paign.. More than 5,000 };rc expected to be sold for "this wing. ,'./'•'' Film industry of five midweslern •st: tes set its machinery in motion ff> participation in. the all-out cam- pj'i'.n .at a meeting, of exhib and dis- ti\b vtps in Omaha last Friday i27). , fnllowed by a similar session in ly-jisas City.. Saturday afternoon ■ • l. •. Plans promulgated at these fissions. . dining Which national Moves Too Fast . Series' of transcriptions : to , have been.made by Arch Oboler and Bill Robsoh for the Treasr ury Dept's Sixth War Bond drive has been cancelled. '.. '.V- : Reason is that the war in the Pacific .has moved so quickly the subject, matter originally chosen Already has beer, outmoded. WING IN 3-FOLD SETUP FOR 6TH BOND DRIVE 'The Speakers Bureau of American Theatre -Wing, now .supplying legit talent to. theatres as intermission speakers for the War Fund drive, plans similar activity for forthcom- ing 6th war loan campaign. In addi- tion, the Bureau's two adjuncts, the Victory Players and the Script De- partment, will be utilized in the bond drive. The former is sending out actor troupes in sketches dramatizing the campaign, the latter is supplying sketches to various civic groups throughout the country to stage themselves. The bond drive is ex- pected to be the biggest venture of the Wing's Victory Players to date, with thcee sketches to be done by multiple troupes of actors, most of them Equity members, all serving on volunteer basis. Victory Players of the Wing's Philadelphia branch will be toured and subsidized by the U. S. Treasury on trips to every county in Penn- sylvania, with 10 companies doing sketches, planning 800 performances .in the four-week drive. The Treas- ury has cancelled Hollywood celebs booked for the Pennsylvania cam- paign, and discontinued use of re- turned servicemen, to concentrate on the Victory Players. In other areas! like New York, the Treasury will call on the Wing's troupes but not as intensively as in Pennsylvania. JERRY WAYNE I'urreitll.v Henri lining Ko\y, New York Singing Star of Ed Wynn 8how For Borden a Friday Nites, T P.M. on the Blue, WJJ5 ■ I "Jerry Wayne knows all the tricks of selling' a song;." HARRIET VAN HORNE, '"....■•; "■ World-Telegram. IVrNiinul Miintigfitifiit DELL PETERS > Ml VIMIi Avr., ,N*W York city. I'llblieity, A K I M I K PIN K Transit Snags Deny Shows to Front Troops Paris, Oct. 31. Recent Army 'order banning USO shows in Paris, because frontline troops felt they were being neglect- ed, has caused ironic, situation here, several USO shows being stranded in the city without transportation to the front and thus not being permit- ted to perform. Visiting GIs here E*'^bonds ' nave to depend on French stars or on films for entertainment. , . - Transportation is being held up because Army has more pressing war, needs. ' •' '.'." •': .' • ' . , ' General Sales Meet For WB in N. Y.Nov. 9-10 A general sales meeting, to.be at- tended by homeoffice distribution ex- ecutives as well as all district mana- gers, will be held by Warners on Nov. 9-10 at the Warner homeoffice in N. Y; with Ben Kalmenson, gen- eral sales manager of the company, presiding. Policy, plans on forth- coming product and related matters will be discussed. District managers to be on hand will include Norman Ayers. Eastern; Robert Smeltze.r, Mid - A 11 a n t i c ; Charles Rich, Central; Harry A. Seed, Midwest; Hall Walsh, Prairie; R. L. McCoy, Southern; Henhy.Her- bel. West Coast, and Ralph Clark, Canadian. •';'".'•-• ; - In addition to S. Charles Einfeld, east from, the Coast, and Mort Blumenstock, eastern advertising- publicily director; h o. sales execs at- tending the sessions are Arthur Sachsdn. assistant general sales manager; Roy Haines, western- southern divisional head; Jules La- pidus, eas'.ern divisional sales mgr.; I. F, Dolid, supervisor of exchanges; Ed Hinchy, head of the playdate de- partment; S'anley Hatch, contract manager, and Norman H. Moray, shorts sales head. AAF STEPPING UP ITS PIX PROD. ON COAST ■ ' Washington, Oct. 31, Stories-that the Army. Air Forces plan to fold the big studio at Culver City are apparently without basis. The real inside appears to be that Culver City will step up its activity and that practically all AAF film production will move to the Coast. The 5th AAF base unit in New York will probably discontinue all but its newsreel activities in the near fu- ture, shifting personnel and material to Culver City. . Xmas Presents for All GI Convalescents Aim Of Am. Legion, Eddie Cantor More than 100,000 packages have already been channelled into hos- pitals for GI,wounded home from ' the fighting fronts in the show biz-j American Legion, Christmas .."cheer, up" campaign. Unusual humanitarian move.iiri- tiated by Eddie Cantor and backed by. a multiple all-out promotion drive qn the part of NBC- Bristol- Myers (-sponsors of the Cantor Wed- nesday night show), Young & Rubi- cam, the American Legion, and the National Retail Dry Goods Assn;, ts designed to reach out to every one of the thousands of GI wounded and convalescents back in this country. For the past four weeks Cantor Via his "Time to Smile" airer has been driving home to listeners their duty to get the Yule packages mov- ing off the dept. store shelves to the bedsides of the wounded boys;- with the campaign currently being spurred on by 12.065 American Legion posts, 9,499 auxiliaries and others. .' ; Raritan's 5 Nucleus Of Wackoff Buying Service The ,'Raritnn .circuit of New Jer- sey, headed by Morris Jacks and John Bookbinder, which until re- man Harry Brandt and others i cently was hooked up With the spoke, call for free matinees with blinds es admission tickets, special 'Continued on page 18) ■, E>: r ra 25c Divvy Brings 20Mox to $2 on Year ve; r to ' 2. Diiet t i! s pUo, de; l.uxd 50>.' which is ..listed as the regular ir.tarte '' fs > '"■ i* 1 ; 1 < <i ' eo titnon Walter ffaade chain under an oper ating agreement, forms the nucleus of a new buying association estab- lished by Arthur A. Wackoff. for many years buyer-booker for the Rcar'.e circuit. Raritan houses, numbering five, are the Ditmas and Crescent in Perth Amboy, the Strand and Lyric in Bv cutting ?.n extra 25c melon on , Summ'it ; ' : ah.d the Madison at Marii- 51- ; : V:timon,at. lts directorate meet- j *?"' a " J f. rhe .v we're-for- Thursday (26) in NY. ?0;h-Fox ■ '" elly opera ed. by Reade under a b':ou-lH' l t'ie' :'dividends 'oh 'i:icse : !' T^-',-: P° ohn S agreement which sWs-paid or declared pdy.iblc. this'. l^?? ?i CQ "S e .months ago.'-. .; ... : Wackelt states thiit other houses ; lor u iuch' he would buy and book. i are; at. present .ia th e ' process . of C >: poi ation.had paid -$1.25 P'-evious,.i "foliation lie,. will not restrict )y llvs year, representing two 50c ! opeial.ons to .Jersey (i Clifford Severn, 19, Off To So. Africa to Enlist • Because he is. a native of South Africa, Clifford Severn. 19-year-old who appeared receniiy in "They Live in Fear" for Columbia, is re- lu.rhing to that country to enlist in the Army there. He arrived in N.Y. over the weekend, headed for Cape- town... Young' Severn is the oldest of seven children, and all of them have been in pictures. South Africa is still the home of his parents. $150,000 in Back Pay To N.Y. Screen Publicists • A total of approximately $150,000 retroactive pay was paid by N. Y. homeofTices of major prodiicer-dis- tributors to members of the Screen Publicists Guild. CIO. under provi- sions of the two-year contract re- cently placed in force... '"• .'■ The retroactive pay, under in- crease of varying proportions, as granted under the new deal recently made, covers a total of 78Weeks and brings all members of the east- ern SPG up to the 15% limitation of the so-called Little Steel Formula. Hail Contribs Of Foxhole Troupers •Two reports) last Week from over- seas, one from a non-coin Army mail,. another from a Blue network correspondent, were particularly sisniiicant because they followed on the heels of broadsides aimed at American performers Tor their al- legedly lax attitude in entertaining servicemen in the China-Burma-In- dia area. The attacks were started a couple of weeks by the CB1 Round- up. Army newspaper, and has since served to raise a considerable stew in tins country. Cast ot "Over 21," first legit show to play the foxhole circuit in Africa'-, and Italy, returned lo New Yoik late, last week,■■ •.■■haying remained overseas for the full six months originally, scheduled. A firsthand report about the show from a sol- dier at the front headed Ed Sulli- van's Broadway column in the Sun- day (291 News. N: Y„ Sgt. Sid Weiss writing; T am going to ask you to tovv a hotiauct or two in ••;e direction of a USO unit headed by Erin O'Brien Moore. Philip Ober, Judson Laire, Adele Longmire, Vivian Vance, Bob Allen and Harry Bellaver. The unit has been touring northern Italy in a legit show called "Over il" and it's by far the best morale-booster I've yet caught on this side. The guys of the Fifth Army fell in love with the show at first sight ... I don't know how much has been writ- ten about these units : . .'.,. : , but it couldn't be too much. Ei in O'Brien Moore, for instance, carried the ball when she lost 18 pounds from a threatened pneumonia siege . . . tell them back home that the Fifth Army thinks, these people are swell." /Upon arrival Miss Moore was. still considerably, under Weight. ... Shortwaved via WJZ-BlUe. to the States from Belgium last Friday • 27) afternoon was a report from Gordon Fraser. who. paid hijth tribute, to a troupe of Ameiieen "smalllimc" performers, entertaining Hoops at the front. It was a spot, broadcast, lasting only a couple of minutes, as part of the Blue's gen- eral newscast from its correspond- ents abroad. V . representins .two "Hid p'n errlicr one of 25c j :f);l5-Fox: f'l'ii'eetprs • also declared | t' 1 «>•.({• I.'SJ 12- quarterly on prior ' p. iie red- and 3-7.?^c. on. cunvcrf iblc ' Rre.ft'-rre.fi.- Tiie 75c. on' eommoh and 1 convertible, preferred divvy, are pay- j Uec* 15 t«V stockholders of ,rec- : (j;;d Nov- 15. Prior preferred divvy piiyabj'e' Dec. 15. to stockholders o!' rei'i.ird Nov 6. .'. . .; . Berlin's 20 Pix Songs ■•; „■'■■' 'Holly wood. Or-t. 31. Devi lopmcnt of story line of "B'ue Skies" got under way yester- f"'i:.y <S01 with arrival of Irving Ber- ■ !;i- :";. ' ■ •;■■:,::'-.;- " - '•Ju.-i.eal'.-iw Technicolor with Mark 8».J :iric!i •p/otlucing, >nd riiieelihg will h;t\e 20 Berlin tlittits, some new, some old. : ■ Bud Lollier's Spill . i'fol'vwooi. OJ 31 Bud. Lollitr. .'•Fox-'Wcst C v -t official, suhcreri bruises and a broken ankle ■';, when", 'the'.."'''steering knuckle of the car he was' iiviving broke and sent his auto erashirts into a free. Accident occurred near Bukci's- field, Calif., and Lollier was bi ought to L. A; i tter emei'eney tret-tmen; AMPAEO ITURBI OVERSEAS , .Amparo Iturbi, pMiis, s.«U> of Jose Iturbi, is going overseas with a concert unit for USO-Camp Shows. ui1.il : 'including Helen AirofT, Lela flyiin. Gwendolyn Thomas . ;ind Frank Piti'timbo.- - ; .'; ' Tour is set for six months. , Jim Sauter's Encore • Reappointment of James E. Sauter a.s chairman of the entertainment in- dustry division of the War Finance Committee for N.Y. was announced last week. ..•>..' - V.. }■ •. ■"... . . Sauter. who is executive director of the United Theatrical War Ac- t'viU'rs; Commitlec,- has. served the Tr.ei-vury Df pt,'as a rep of the en* tcrlainiiient .industry .since the . in- ception ot the w ir bond organization in N Y in 1041. L. A. toN. Y~ Ch, ' H tie. Boerner. Bruce Cabot. ■■ •, ;■ -•'■. ■ : • Bonnie C; hm Cc-cli ic Gibbons. Maurice Krllis. . Madeleine LeBeau. John Nesbilt, • Ann Rutherford: . Andrew Solt. ■ Bill Stuhler, Joseph Szigeti;. .";■' .,'■,'• ■ [ C;.-,' : '.-- Charles Vidor.. ' Dick Walsh. Carey Wilson. . Nat Woifl - .'. Flacks, Prods. Face WLB Hollywood, Oct. 31. Conflict between the Screen Pub- licists Guild and the major studios over a new contract is Headed for the War Labor Board for final de- cision, following the refusal of both sides to agree , at a hearing before j Earl J. Ruddy, U. S. Coiieiliation Commissioner. . Chief points of disagreements are j classifications and computation of salaries on actual hours worked in- stead of the Current 54-hour week. Jack Warner to Be i Quizzed in Trust Suit Warner Bros., through its vice- president; Jack L. Warner, will be examined before trial of the Hill- side Amus. Corp.'s anti-trust action, according to notice filed last week (25) in N. Y. federal court. Exami- nation is scheduled for Nov. 2 at the offices of Hays. Podeil & Schulman, Hillside attorneys. Meanwhile, on Thursday t26>, Federal Judge Simon H. Rifkind, reserved decision on motion by Hill- side attorneys to compel Paramount Pictures, to produce, certain .docu- | ments needed to complete the.exaini- l nation of Adolph Zukor chairman of the Board at Paramount. ',. Suit seeks triple damages of SDOO,- 000. against Warner. Paramount and IB other, defendants. Hillside, oper- ator of the Mayfair theatre. Hill- side, N. J., charges that the cinh't major film companies and.their sub.-.' sidiarieis conspired to violate t;he trlbt laws by restraining trade in the distribution, of fustrun films and preventing the May fair' from obtain- ing them N. Y. to 1. A. Jack Hill. ':.,, Lee" .Ma'rcttf. Phi! Spitalnv Jack Rourkc. SPITZ-GOETZ, GOLDWYN NAB RKO BLDG. SPACE Wi'.h; office space in N. Y. at a premium, the International Picxires- iSpitz-Goetz) and Samuel Goldwyn oi ganizations have nabbed 8,500 teet of office space on the eighth floor of the RKO buildinfe. •Both leases are advantageous,- particularly since each.firm releases pictures through' RKO. U. S. Army formerly, oc- cupied the premises'. Results in a coordination of Inter- national's eastern publicity and dis- tribution .offices from Office stiit.es mi another floor in same building and in the Time and Life edifice a.s well. Goldwyn publicity unit also moves down from another floor in RKO building, while this outfit's distrib toppers will shift over from present offices iii 729 7th Avenue. McMurphey's Ad Post ' v Washington, Oct. :tl. George W. McMurphey, foi nv. r head of the recreation aiid amuse- ment section of the WPB Office of i Civilian Requirements, who is now working on a safety campaign for OWI, is skedded to leave the'Gbvcrn- menl iii the near future. The one-time Coast showman Wit! become assistant' director o? adver- tising for the De .Soto automobile plant in Detroit. Awards Actress 6c In Action Vs. Loew's Six cents, was. awarded Peggy Calvert, actres-singer, by a New York, supreme court jury on Friday 127) in her .second try for i50;000 •dainages against Loew s, Inc, foi al- leged invasion of her rif-hts of pri- vacy. 'The. verdict came alter an hour's deliberation by the jury in the; three-day trial before Justice Lloyd Church. • Tiie actrOi's.'had charged that her civil rights were invaded in the 'Metro'.film.. "Keeping Company." re-, leased in 1941.. She alleged that a scene in the picture showed two characters reading and discussing a newspaper headline. "Mrs; Jessie Calvert Divorced." Remarks made by the players, she charged, were defamatory arid' scandalous. Was about her and had subjected her to ridicule and shame. The actress had been divorced from Edward N. Cal- vert, Jr.. in 1938. .'' The first court action against Loew's was dismissed last year lor lack of sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action. The suit then was a -libel-, .action.' Loew's wis named. because.. it's parent company lor. Metro.