Boxoffice-January.07.1950

—
Vhonevision Is Shown
Monogram to Release
For Studio Executives
HOLLYWOOD—What its
proponents claim
is the logical catalyst to meld two entertainment
giants—motion pictures and television
so that both can enjoy continued prosperity
was demonstrated for a number of studio
executives when a film outlining the workings
of a suggested "pay-as-you-see" home rideo
plan was unwound by Eugene McDonald,
president of the Zenith Radio and Television
Corp.
ARBITRARY FEE IS SET
Long under discussion by both film and
TV toppers, the Zenith scheme would require
a linkage between the nation's telephone systems
and home TV viewers, with television
audiences selecting the programs they wish
to see and asking their local phone companies
McDonald
to complete the necessary circuits.
has set an arbitrary figure of $1 per feature
picture, but this amount would be subject to
approval by the Federal Commimications
commission—w^hich also, of course, must give
its blessing to the project in its entirety.
McDonald made a brief trip here in an effort
to interest Hollywood production moguls
in supplying him with films to be used in a
test-run in the Chicago area next month, provided
FCC approval is secured. The initial
demonstration of Zenith's "Phonevision" was
staged for studio toppers including Marvin
Schenck and E. J. Mannix, MGM; C. B. De-
Mille and Y. Frank Freeman, Paramount; Al
Lichtman, 20th Centurj'-Fox; and George
Slaff, representing Samuel Goldwyn. The
Zenith executive planned to return to Hollywood
within three weeks to meet with other
studio officials and hold further demonstrations.
CLEARANCE CONSIDERED
McDonald explained that the arbitrary $1
fee would be split among the producers of the
televised films, the various telephone companies
and video stations. "Phonevision"
would not necessarily demand first run films,
he declared, but would make a pitch for features
after they have reached the subsequent
run stage.
The upcoming Chicago test is to determine
how many times a week a family would want
to view films and how much they would be
willing to pay. McDonald said all arrangements
witli telephone companies have been
finalized and FCC approval is the next major
step to be taken.
Arthur Sachson Resigns
As Goldwyn Sales Head
NEW YORK — Arthur Sachson, general
sales manager of Samuel Goldwyn Productions,
resigned, effective January 4. He had
discussed plans for leaving the company with
Gold\^7n for several weeks.
Sachson has supervised Goldwyn product
sales through RKO for four years. He left
the millinery business to become a real estate
sale.-iman in 1923, then joined Warner Bras,
in 1925. That company named him manager
of the sales and contract departments in
1931 and assistant general sales manager
in 1943. No successor has been named.
Two General Managers
For Intermountain
SALT LAKE CITY—Appointment of
Ray M. Hendry and Sidney L. Cohen as
associate general managers of Intermountain
Theatres, Inc., succeeding the
late Tracy Barham, was announced midweek
by Leonard H. Goldenson, president
of the company, from his offices in
New York in a wire received at Salt Lake
City headquarters. Hendry and Cohen
had been serving as executive assistants
to Barham, with Hendry as assistant
general manager and Cohen as booker
and buyer for the circuit which operates
27 theatres in Utah and Idaho. All managers
of the circuit were called for a
meeting in Salt Lake City Thursday for
formal announcement of the appointment.
Will Consider 481 Films
In Oscar Sweepstakes
HOLLYWOOD—A grand total of 481 motion
pictures are eligible for Academy Award
consideration for achievements during 1949,
according to a tabulation disclosed by Charles
Brackett, Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, as plans for the upcoming 22nd
annual Oscar sweepstakes advanced.
As in the past, any film exhibited in the
Los Angeles area in a commercial showing
for a period of seven consecutive days is automatically
entered for consideration.
Nominations ballots will be mailed January
19 to members of the crafts for which awards
are to be handed out, with a period of nine
days allowed for voting. Nominations will be
announced February 13 and presentation of
awards will take place March 23.
20th-Fox, RCA Renew
Large-Screen TV Pact
NEW YORK—Twentieth Century-Fox and
RCA have signed a new cooperative research
contract for joint advancement of largescreen
television. This is a renewal of an
agreement reached two years ago.
Several new RCA equipments, including one
of the first commercial-type instantaneous
systems and the first production model of
the new intermediate film apparatus are to
be delivered.
Earl I. Sponable will continue as technical
director for 20th-Fox. He carried on the
negotiations for the new pact with Barton
Kreuzer of the theatre and fUm recording
unit of RCA.
MGM Releases New Shorts
NEW YORK—MGM Will
release four short
subjects duj-ing January. The quartet consists
of two Tom and Jerrj' cartoons, "Little
"
Quacker and "Saturday E\'ening Puss," produced
by Fred Quimby, and two Pete Smith
specialties, "Pest Control" and "Crashing
the Movies."
'Our Gang' Reissues
HOLLYWOOD—Monogram, which heretofore
has placed little emphasis on short subjects,
is invading the briefie field on a large
scale with the acquisition of 26 two-reel and
13 one-reel reissues of the "Our Gang" comedies
originally made and released by MGM.
The comedies will be distributed as the
"Little Rascals" series by Monogram, with
releases probably to be spaced out over the
next two years. The shorts were obtained by
the company from Auerbach Film Enterprises,
which originally purchased them from MGM.
Distribution wUl begin March 1. New
prints, posters, lobby cards, stills and pressbooks
are being prepared for the series, in
which Farina, Dickie Moore, Jackie Cooper,
Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb and Mickey Daniels
are featured.
Only two other shorts have been distributed
by Monogram—a documentary, "Thunderbolt,"
with narration by James Stewart,
and an Academy Award winner, "Climbing
the Matterhorn."
Emil Jannings, 63, Dies;
Famed Silent Film Star
STROHL, AUSTRIA—Emil Jannings, 63,
leading German film star who won the first
"Oscar" award of the Motion Picture Academy
of Arts and Sciences, died at his home
at Lake Wolfgang January 2. Jannings was
born in Brooklyn, the son of a well-to-do cutlery
manufacturer, but his family moved to
Eui'ope when he was one year old.
When the world's finest silent films were
being made by UFA in Germany, Jannings
won fame as the star of "The Last Laugh"
and "Variety." He refused many offers to
come to Hollywood but finally signed with
Paramount in 1926. He won the award for
his first American picture, "The Way of All
Flesh," and followed this with "The Last
Command," "The King of Soho" and "The
Patriot." After his return to Germany in
1929, he appeared in "The Blue Angel," which
made Marlene Dietrich a star. After the rise
of the Nazi regime, Jannings continued to
make films, including the propaganda pictures,
"The Old King and the New" and "Ohm
Krueger." After the war, when some of his
unfinished films were found in UFA files, he
was formally investigated by Eric Pommer,
pre-Nazi director of UFA reinstalled by
American Military Government. He was de-
Nazified in 1946 and moved to Austria.
Jannings is survived by his third wife, the
former Gussy Lee Holl, and a daug-hter, Ruth
Maria.
Bill Would Ban Drive-Ins
Within Mile of Church
BOSTON—A bill
that would ban construction
of any drive-in theatre in Boston within
a mile of any church or school was filed Tuesday
(31 b>' Rep. Joyce Dorchester. The bill
would include any structure not finished by
Jan. 1, 1950, and has as its target former
Mayor Curley's last-minute grant of two
drive-in permits to Michael Redstone to erect
ozoners in West Roxbury and Dorchester.
Redstone's office announced construction
started on Neponset Bridge Dorchester drivein
on Friday at 3 p.m.. two hours after Curley
signed permits with West Roxbury to start as
soon as contract bids are returned.
12 BOXOFFICE January 7, 1950