Boxoffice-June.19.1948

. .
. . William
BROADWAY
lyTary Pickford and Charles "Buddy" Rogers
arrived for a short stopover before starting
on a European vacation. Miss Pickford
will confer with United Artists officials while
Rogers will help set up plans for the opening
of "High Fury." which he produced with
Ralph Cohn ... J. J. Unger, United Artists
sales manager, went to Philadelphia to conduct
a meeting of the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
and Washington branches on UA sales
policies . . . James FitzPatrick has arrived
to continue work on his MGM Traveltalk
on New York City, production on which
was halted last October due co unfavorable
weather conditions.
Edward L. Walton, Republic assistant general
sales manager, has left on a branch tour
to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake
City, Denver and Chicago. He will return to
New York in July . . . Louis S. Lifton, publicity
and advertising director for Allied Ai-tists,
left for Hollywood after holding a special
New York screening of "The Dude Goes
West" and conferring on the national ad
campaign on "The Babe Ruth Story" .
Walter L. Titus jr.. Republic division manager,
left for the Dallas branch, with stopovers
in Oklahoma City and Cleveland.
Edward L. Hyman, vice-president of Paramount
Theatres Service Corp., and Max Fellerman.
Paramount Theatres executive, left
for Marion, Ohio, to visit theatres in that
territory and confer with Jack Keegan, general
manager of Northio Theatres Corp. Tliey
also met Earl Hudson, president of United
Detroit Theatres.
Noel Coward sailed for London . . . Ronald
Colman and his wife Benita Hume, Eleanor
Parker and her husband, Bert Friedlob, and
Edna Best and her husband, Nat Wolff, film
executive, returned from London.
Samuel Schneider, vice-president of Warner
Bros. Pictures, with Mrs. Schneider; Mrs.
Ben Goetz, wife of MGM's head of British
To sell
. . Carmen
production; Mrs. Howard Strickling, wife of
MGM's coast publicity chief, and Tony Hartley,
husband of Deborah Kerr, left for England.
Schneider will confer with Max Milder
in London and Joseph Hummell in Paris.
The others will join their spouses who are
working on "Edward, My Son" at the Elstree
studios . . . Others aboard the Queen Elizabeth
were Charles Boyer, Raymond Massey
with Mrs. Massey and Jules Stein, president
of the Music Corp. of America .
Miranda and her husband David Sebastian
returned from England on the America June
17 ... I. E. Lopert, president of Lopert Films,
returned on the same boat from a two-month
survey of the new French and Italian film
product.
'William Goetz, vice-president in charge of
production at U-I, has arrived for a stay at
the Waldorf-Astoria . . . William F. Rodgers,
MGM vice-president and general sales manager,
returned to the home office from Chicago
. . . Hal Wallis, Paramount producer,
has also arrived for a Manhattan visit . . .
Jules Weill, president of Masterpiece Productions,
flew to the west coast to complete arrangements
on new productions. He will also
cover the 31 company branches before he returns
to New York in mid-July.
Maurice "Red" Silverstein, regional director
of Latin America for Loew's International
Corp., left for Brazil; the first stop on an
extended tour covering all MGM branches
in Central and South America . . . George
Murphy, MGM star, arrived from the west
coast. He will attend the Republican convention
in Philadelphia as a California delegate
. . . Guy Madison, under contract to
David O. Selznivk, is in the east and will
star in the summer theatre production of
"John Loves Mary" at Lake Whalom June 21
followed by engagements at other summer
spots.
Wanted:
DISTRICT MEN
Irene Dunne is extending her New York
the most successful theatre give-aways and popcorn
equipment and supplies lor the following territories:
Cleveland, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Baltimore, Md.
Washington, D. C.
Virginia
West Virginia
Chicago, 111.
Must be experienced and well knov^n in the motion picture
industry. Live in the territory. All replies entirely confidential
but please make them complete in the first instance.
Address: Sales Manager
PRICE THEATRE PREMIUMS CO.. INC.
352 W. 44th St., New York 18, N. Y.
The World's Largest Distributors of Theatre Premiums
0m
holiday in order to attend the Republican
convention . Powell is vacationing
in New York and seeing the shows . . . Gary
Cooper is here for conferences with architects
and engineers in connection with "The
Fountainhead," his forthcoming film for
Warner Bros.
Howard Dietz, MGM vice-president in
charge of advertising, publicity and exploitation,
left June 16 for the west coast to spend
a week at the studios looking at the new
product . . . Barbara Aaron, daughter of
Edwin W. Aaron, MGM assistant sales manager,
was to be married Sunday, June 20,
to Herbert S. Nusbaum, Hollywood attorney
. . . Daniel J. Loventhal, legal liaison to the
RKO sales department, was in Philadelphia
during the
Kenna of
week on business . . . Frank Mc-
MGM eastern story department is
the proud parent of his fifth child, John
Joseph, born to Mrs. McKenna at the Holy
Name hospital, Teaneck, N. J.
Censor Bill May Go
Back to Committee
NEW YORK—The city council has laid
over the Cunningham bill to increase the
censorship powers of the license commissioner
over theatrical exhibitions, performances and
advertising until its next meeting on Tuesday
1 22 1. The council is expected to recommit
the measure to the general welfare committee
which reported it out favorably several
days ago.
Benjamin Fielding, former license commissioner,
and Councilman Eugene P. Connolly
have criticized the measure. Early in the
week the Metropolitan Motion Picture Theatres
Ass'n requested that no vote be taken
on the bill until public hearings had been
held.
Oscar A. Doob, chairman of the MMPTA
executive committee, urged the council to
"move with caution when it comes to granting
arbitrary powers which could be used to
stifle freedom of expression and thought."
The MMPTA members agreed the bill is
"unwarranted, unnecessary and an un-
American extension of arbitrary censorship
powers." They pointed out that there now
are sufficient laws to correct all the evils
that might exist. They warned that any
further blanket powers of censorship could be
a dangerous step in the wrong direction.
Doob said: "We want it understood that our
organization is completely in favor of clean
advertising and already has codes and controls
to keep its advertising within the
bounds of good taste. Violations of these
standards are rare, and when they occur the
city authorities have plenty of power now to
correct any transgressions.
"Passage of a censorship measure of this
type without the usual public hearings is
most unusual and is not in accord with the
processes of democratic government . . . Censorship
of advertising might be a dangerous
step toward invasion of freedom of the press.
Newspapers themselves guard their advertising
columns and need no outside bureaucratic
censorship."
Opposition to the bill also has been expressed
by the Citizens union, Marsha Hunt
and Brock Pemberton, theatrical producer.
"Voice of Theatre Speakers"
JOE HORNSTEIN has them!
44 BOXOFFICE :
: June 19, 1948