Variety (Apr 1945)

Wednesday, April 4, 194S PICTURES T Pix Biz Spent Over $15,000,000 in 1944 To Sell Many Billions in Bonds; Since Pearl Harbor Donated $24,800,000 Pix Dining 1944, the motion picture Industry spent more than $15,000,000 participating in war bond drives, and actually sold $64,778,625 worth of bonds in two of last year's war loan drives in the New York area alone. In addition, the industry, linre Pearl Harbor, has contributed 16 mm. gift films of an estimated, value of $24,800,000. These are the figures'announced last .week, by the War Activities Committee. . The report showed that distribu- tors and exhibitors spent large sums to advertise War Bond shows, ar.d tiistribs waived film rentals—thea- tre men cancelled regular shows, ^sponsored bond preems and 15.110 free shows, and. provided time and space for children's preems and free movie days. These house waivers. represented more than $4,500,000 in admissions, The bond sales in the New York area alone amounted to $28,418,550 iii the Fifth War Loan drive, and were lipped by 31% to a total of $30,358,975 in the sixth drive. The 1G mm. gift film service, at the end of 1944, had provided 24.867 prints'of feature films and 26.341 shorts for showing to servicemen overseas. WAC report estimates daily showings at 3,500, with 156 fea- tures' shipped from N. Y. headquar- ters of the Army Overseas. Motion Picture Service. There are 21 ex- change centers in the 16 mm circuit. Of the 2,241 subjects shown in newsrccls in 1944 more than 1,100 were war scenes. Around 35<:;. of the shots were of the European phase of the war and 14% dealt with the Pacific zone. Newsreels^devotcd only 8% of footage to political events, de- spite the Presidential campaign. Since May, 1943, some 13 trade pa- pers and magazines represented in the WAC'contributed 833^4 pages of advertising to ; the Industry's war effort representing $272,834 value. During the. same period trade pa- pers devoted 13,554 columns of hews to war activities. Report states that 8,000 of Holly- woods male workers entered the combat forces. Of the 1.501 from the Screen Actors Guild 49 were stars Screen Directors Guild reports 132 members in service and the Screen Writers Guild is represented by 230. No accurate tabulation is vouch- safed of the number of other indus- try employees in the service, but es- timated that some 40,000 from the , trade entered service. Hollywood Victory Committee re- ports that 94 film stars and perfdrm- erj of somewhat lesser status enter- tained troops on the battlefronts. Ac- tors and actresses averaged 50 ap- pearances daily for 1944, with a total W 18,331 appearances in 2.363 events. Tins was in addition to hospital ap- pearances. ■ SAG DICKERING FOR UPPING MINIMIS _ Hollywood, April 3. Request for resumption of nego- tiations on-proposed modification of Basic agreement between producers and Screen Actors Guild has been fl'ed with E. J. Manhix, prexy of producer's. Association,- by Jack "ales, SAG executive secretary. ■. Dale's request is in accordance w 'tU clause in 10-ycar agreement w nich provides for meetings in April 194? aCh yCaV - Pact ex P' re s in May- The Guild is asking . for increase n niinimums for all players in lower wage brackets. 'Moonstone' Re-Polished . ... Hollywood, April 3. ♦»£ ^. nt Wilkie Collins' mystery .'^^TIit Mopnstone; 1 will be made oyjVainervwith Arnold Albert pror f«T. ? and Ni S el Bruce pencilled in 101 a top role. as^Jili!"! was recently announced •b^ffi* 0 * Production, but later Borzage's One Pic Deal Hollywood, April 3. Frank Borzage, currently produc- ing and directing with his own unit at Republic, will make one outside picture a year, as permitted by the terms of his contract. Hitherto a director only, Borzage is negotiating with a. major lot as producer-director on his outside chore.; At present he is readying "Concerto" as his first job at Re- public. Labs Will Work Out Labor Plan in Event Raw Film Curb Grows In the event the shortage in raw- stock makes it necessary to further curb laboratory operations in the east, producer and independontly- controllcd'labs have agreed to try to work out some equitable plan with I he Motion Picture Laboratory Tech- nicians. Local 702 of the IATSE, covering approximately 1.800 mem- bers engaged in printing and proc- essing of film. Meantime, the .only appeal so far in view of less work was made by Paramount covering its Astoria. L. I., lab which has slowed up partly be- cause of film having piled up due to delay in moving a deal with the Loew metropolitan N. Y. circuit. In- stead of\going on a three or four- day weekly basis, as suggested, 15 members of Local 702 who are em- ployed by Paramount elected to take all of last week off in order to ease the situation. A total of 80 lab work- ers are on the payroll at Astoria. Par also has a news lab in N. Y., but it . is running at. normal. . Lab owners have agreed wjth. Local 702 that if It should become necessary in the near or distant future to restrict operations, newer employees would be laid off first. Except for the breather' given Par last week, all of the 18 eastern labs are continuing their present payrolls on a five-day week basis, but since rawstock became scarce there has been very , little overtime and only occasionally has it been neces- sary to operate on Saturdays or Sundays. Vast majority of the printing is done in the east by N. Y„ Long Island and northern New Jersey labS, big five being Paramount Patlie, DeLuxe. Warner Bros (known as Ace Labs) and Consoli- dated. However. ■ in addition to some printing and processing on the Coast by major distributors, all Technicolor is handled out there. The Lab Technicians union is now in process, of negotiating a new con- tract with the lab owners to sup- plant the one which expired March 10, No hitches are anticipated and employers have agreed in writing to Local 702 that any new deal reached will be.retroactive, to thai dale. SEE FIX RELEASE International Oscar Planned by Academy Hollywood, April 3.. Special Achievement Award, a new entry in the. Oscar Derby, is be- ing warmed up for next year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Award is for any picture, no matter whore produced, which contributes the most toward international understanding. Waller Wanger, Academy prexy. will appoint an International Awards Committee which will include rcpre- senlalives from the Allied Nations. WeshnerY Crosby Chore David "Skip" Weshner will handle the publicity and advertising, cam- paign for the forthcoming Bing Crosby indie production. "The Grenl John L.", which stars newcomer Greg McClure. It's an United Artists release. If raw stock shortage continues indef, it .may force major dis- tributors to realign releasing sched- ules in order to-meet the emergency. It is likely to force back release, dates two weeks to a month. Coupled with the dearth.of avail- able raw stock, per Government orders, it takes! more prints than usual today to handle their average accounts. Where only 200 prints were heeded to cover something like 12,000 theatres, it is now taking up- wards of 300 prints. Each print formerly was played in 60 theatres. Today, it can be used in only 40 theatres. Extended runs of many topflight features are partly blamed for this need for additional prints. Figured that prints play 25% longer in'big flrstruns. Besides this, the need for additional prints is accentuated by the fact that numerous projection machines are not in topnotch repair because of difficulty. in getting re- placements. Also films are not as well inspected, it is reported. Raw stock shortage and print sit nation is so bad that it's estimated that the same print, in some in stances, is in use nine months from the original release in firstruri the at res. This means that small coun try houses, really get worn-out prints, with resulting squawks to the distributor. Schaefer Sees Film Easement Returning to N. Y. from Washing- ton over the weekend. after con- ferring with War Production Board officials and pressing for additional rawstock. George J. Schaefer, chair- man of the War Activities Com- mittee, believes some relief is in sight. «»• . Citing that producers are now able to print only pictures that are going into current release, for show- ing in theatres, Schaefer in a state- ment which he issued Monday (2) declared: "I am certain after a review of all the facts with respect to the 50% •film credit reserved for .the indus- try, that the War Production Board will continue to make available the same amount of film as in previous quarters, which approximates 30,- 000,000 feet or. 120 million a year." Speaking of the scarcity of positive stock, Schaefer makes the observa- tion that "shortage of any critical material, whatever it may be, creates a problem for the manufacturer and the consumer, and is bound to cause confusion and misunderstanding." The WAC chairman, who is also chairman of Lester Cowan Produc- tions which releases through United Artists, pointed out that up to now film made available by the Army has enabled the industry to print sufficiently far enough in advance to permit new product to be shown in the Army camps as fast as it was produced and long before. it went into national release. "Since the 30 million feet made available to the Army," stated Schaefer, "was for the purpose of making release prints of finished product in advance of release date and was, taken from the original stockpile, it seems only proper that the Army now put back Into the stockpile the said allotment and it be divided proportionately among Ihe companies.. I am certain when the War Production Board, have been able to analyze all the facts, they will follow this procedure." 8 H'wood Unions Told by Producers To Return to Jobs Today (Wed.), or Else; Sorrell Challenges Strikebreakers SCHLAGER'S'NAVY' PIC VIA UNITED ARTISTS Hollywood, April 3. Sig Schlager leaves for New York~ today (3) and will be gone for about two weeks to confer with United Artists regarding his next release, 'O'Brien's Navy." Due to progress of war, film originally intended as a melodrama will be converted into a comedy. Schlager negotiated release deal here with Georgo Bagnall, produc- tion contact for United Artists; 'People' Prove Scarce Hollywood, April 3. Radio broadcasts are interfering With the filming; of the Pine-Thomas production, "People Are Funny," but not because of any aerial disturb- ances on the sound track. Six members of the film cast have radio assignments which keep one of them away from the set every day. Doubling on airwave and cel- luloid are Rudy . Vallee. Frances Langford. Jack Haley, Ozzie Nelson, Art Lirikletler and Roy Atwell. Educational and Training Pix Get 50% Raw Stock Tilt and Will Go Higher Washington, April 3. Producers of educational, training and factual films draw a 50% in- crease' in direct allotment of 35 mm. raw stock for the second quarter of 1945. WPB announced Friday (30). First quarter allocation totaled 5,000,000 feet; and this goes up to 7,500,000 feet for April, May and June. WPB said it would probably be still higher during the third quarter. . Huddling with WPB early last week, the Industrial Film Producers Advisory Committee pointed out that its overall consumption is less than pre-war, even with the extra footage turned over to the industrials by- the Army and Navy added to it. The industrial group makes pix on order for the armed forces and is granted chunks of the Army and Navy allocations for that purpose. WPB officials pointed out that many .of the companies are doing a far larger business than before the war due to Army-Navy orders, even though the industry as a whole is using less stock. Future allocations are to be developed on a system using 1941 and 1944 as the two base years for distribution to individual firms. Since the educational and factual producers also use large quantities of 16.mm. footage, WPB commented in a statement: "Because of increased military de- mands, supplies of 16 mm. color film are tighter than ever before; 16 mm. negative film continues scarce in re- lation to demand, but supplies of both 16 mm. and 32 mm. positive are less scarce than a few months ago, since military demands for positive film have recently lessened. It is, however, impossible to estimate fu- ture requirements for 16 mm. posi- tive film." 4- ' Hollywood, April 3. Members Of eight striking unions ': were informed by wire by the pro- ducers yesterday (2) that unless they returned to work by tomorrow (Wednesday) "men from other avail- able sources" would be hired to. carry on work of keeping film pro- duction going. Threat to hire strike- breakers was answered by Herbert Sorrell, Conference of Studio Unions prexy, with offer to have men back to work by. tomorrow (4> if the producers agreed to abide by the WLB decision covering jurisdiction of the Set Decorators. . Sorrell restated his position, "This- is not jurisdictional strike and can be settled any time you decide to deal with us." CSU also-moved on the San. Fran- cisco office of the War Manpower Commission protesting issuance of availability certificates to workers who might be.called in for jobs held by strikers. ■ While waiting for arrival of Dick Walsh; IATSE prcz, from New York, executive* board of Local 44 (prop- erty men) voted unanimously for the International to take over action following a rebel meeting of some 1,500 IATSE members at Hollywood Legion Stadium Friday night. Eugene Mailcs and Erwin Hentschel, leaders of this "rebellion." were sus- pended from membership by board because of their actions..The meet- ing on Friday set up a'jurisdictional committee with power to act in dis- putes between unions. It was pointed out workers on the committee are directly involved, know the prob- lems better than Walsh, and the IA International and could sit down with committees from - carpenters, machinists, electricians, etc,, and reach amicable accord that would terminate walkout. Hentschel in secret meeting of IA locals members held last night (2) charged IA take- over ojt local was "undemocratic" and that "Walsh will be asked to withdraw from the picture." Pro- posal restated that the rank-and- filers want to work out a. peace to end strike. Meantime, pleas of not guilty wer« entered yesterday by W. E. Fred-' ■' erikson and Anthony E. Schiavon* (Continued on page 20) 'Hopalong' Stays Witb Sherman for 11 Years Hollywood, April 3. Harry Sherman corraled "Hopa- long Cassidy" for 11 more years through a copyright deal with Clar- ence E. Mulford,; author, and is readying to resume the scries. Un- derstood William Boyd will return to the title role. It will be Sherman's first filming In more than a year, during which he has been active in the manage- ment of the California Studios, on which he holds a lease. His last productions were "Buffalo Bill" and Woman, of the Town," released last Spring. Susan Hayward's 'Deadline' Hollywood, April 3. Susan Hay ward,- recent mother of twins, returns to pictures, as one of the stars in "Deadline at Dawn," as a loanoul from Paramount to RKO. Harold Clurman, formerly with the Group Theatre, makes his debut as' a film director in "Deadline," scripted by Clifford Odots and pro- duced by Adrian Scott. . RENTAL STUDIOS FEEL SLUMP DUE TO STRIKE Hollywood, April 3. Business in rental studios is doing a tailspin because of the strike, al- though only two of the five in town are picketed. Crowded to capacity in recent months, they have only, four pictures in production. David O. Selznick's "Duel in the Sun" and RKO's "The Bells of St. • Mary's" are in work on the RKO- Palhe lot in Culver City. Interna- tional's "Tomorrow Is Forever" on the Samuel Goldwyn lot and the Pine-Thomas picture, "People Are Funny" at PRC. The Pathe and Goldwyn studios are the only rental lots picketed. On completion of the current productions, no new pictures are slated to slart on these lots tor at least two. weeks.' nor at Califor- nia 6r General Service, which have recently washed up all shooting. M-G Exits War Films In Favor of Mufti Pix Hollywood, April 3. Metro is eliminating war pictures and instructing its producers to rush, development of non-military scripts. Studio's only combat film currently in production is "They Wore Ex- pendable," now on location in Flor- ida. Understood the company is aiming at foreign markets, particularly in Europe, where war is no longer en- tertaining. Belief is that the best of the war yarns recently in prepara- tion will be held back for the pres- ent and produced several years after peace is signed.