FILMS FOR USE ON TROOPSHIPS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 January 1940, Page 8

FILMS FOR USE ON TROOPSHIPS

GIFTS OF AMERICAN FILM PRODUCERS MINISTER EXPRESSES APPRECIATION fUnited Press Association} WELLINGTON, This Day. The National Patriotic Fund committee has advised that American film producers, through their local representatives, the Film Exchanges Association of New Zealand, Inc., have made a considerable contribution to the happiness and comfort of the first echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Aboard the troopships are 60 programmes lifted from the supplies of the eight major producers represented in New Zealand. The pictures are a gift to the fighting forces, and are to be destroyed at the wish of the producers when the troopships have reached their destination. The following letter has been dispatched by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, to Mr S. H. Craig, president of the Film Exchanges Association:— “I shall be glad if you will accept and convey to the other members of your association my very warm appreciation of their kind action in making available an excellent supply of programmes for the entertainment on board the troopships of members of the first echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. “I realise that you and your members had to work very hard in order to fulfil the request, and I need hardly assure you that your help in this direction is most warmly appreciated . . . “Again thanking your association for its wonderful help.’’ When asked to comment, Mr Craig said all members of the association were genuinely grateful of the opportunity to play even a small part. “We found an immediate preparedness on the part of producers in the Untied States of America to take care of the entertainment need of our boys,” he added.

Pictures from the studios of Columbia, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, R.K.0., 20th Century Fox, United Artists, Universal and Warner Bros., are those forming the gift.