Edmund Grainger — He’s a Film Salesman Who Turned Producer (1950) 🇺🇸
Edmund Grainger looks at picture-making from the exhibitor’s angle, which explains his high record
by Paul Manning
Showmen of the nation have good reason to give a solid vote of thanks to Howard Hughes for corraling for the RKO production ranks one of the most consistent money-picture makers in this game today, producer Edmund Grainger.
The Grainger production staff, headquartering in the Culver City RKO Pathé Studios, is buzzing with activity whipping into shooting shape the solid program of pictures approved by Hughes. The initial Grainger production for RKO will be Flying Leathernecks, in Technicolor, and to go before the lens some time this month.
Making box office hits is not some esoteric secret belonging solely to Grainger, of course, but one bent on compiling statistics covering the past 15 years would soon discover that Grainger has been as consistent in producing the kind of pictures theatremen demand as any other single producer in this industry. Since the day he started in the business as a film salesman for the old Fox Film Corporation, Eddie Grainger has virtually lived with the exhibitors of the nation, and today he uses a very simple guide in judging stories submitted to him for potential films. It is just this question, which he asks himself: Can I sell this idea to exhibitors once it is finished and in the film can? It is much safer, reasons Grainger, to pass up a doubtful story property than it would be for some worried film salesmen to be burdened with a can of film representing a million or so dollars at which exhibitors have turned their noses. And so, it is fair to argue that these years as a film salesman have stood Grainger in good stead.
Immediately prior to joining the Hughes organization, he accomplished something of a production record at Republic, when in just 12 months, he produced at the studio two top grossers for that company, Wake of the Red Witch and Sands of Iwo Jima. For the latter, Grainger won, among other things. Exhibitor Laurel Award.
Grainger says he wants to win Academy Awards now and then because he knows that such accolades always add measurably to the box office grosses of any film, but for him the solid, moneymaking idea is what any clear thinking producer should have squarely between his sights when making pictures.
Showmanship ideas have always been clearly evident in any Grainger production. No slick advertising men have to pore over the film with microscopes searching for selling angles. If the original story did not contain perfectly natural selling angles, Grainger would have passed it up, and that would have been that. The fact of the matter is that any Grainger film can be sold with complete and sincere honesty. The subject matter has always been such that none of his pictures have had to be “played down” in advertising. Grainger films are for every member of every family in every situation.
His first for RKO, the Technicolor Flying Leathernecks, will be the first motion picture about the flying arm of the marines. It is the story of the heroic courage and Yankee stamina of the “flying leathernecks” at historic Guadalcanal and Okinawa. Actual footage shot by the Marines during the fierce fighting for these strategic islands have been offered Grainger by the marines for inclusion in the film. For the very first time, the public will see the stubborn, victorious flying that won the war for this country in that searing battle. The biggest and best Marine Camps have been made available to Grainger for the filming of authentic backgrounds. The filming of the take-offs of screaming Corsair fighters and Gruman Wildcats from plane carriers far at sea has also been arranged. All these, set up in an air of complete harmony between Grainger and the navy and marines, gives colorful promise of the hottest marine film ever to reach the screen.
Diversified in his talent, Grainger follows this film with The Day They Gave Babies Away, a dramatic and simple story which ran in Cosmopolitan. This poignant human interest tale tells the story of a 12-year-old boy faced with the heartbreaking task of finding good homes for his five younger brothers and sister after the untimely death of both their parents.
Switching then abruptly to a far-off land of quiet danger and strange beauty, Grainger’s cameras will film “African Intrigue,” a story of underground espionage. This will be in Technicolor, filmed in British East Africa. This is a small sample of what exhibitors can expect with confidence from Edmund Grainger.
“But” — as an exhibitor leader recently said, “What’s so strange about expecting top grade merchandise from Eddie Grainger? This boy has always been a real exhibitor’s producer. To me, he’s money in the bank!” — P. M.
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Realistically portraying battle-hardened marines in this scene from Republic’s Sands of Iwo Jima are members of the competent cast, headed by John Wayne, second from right, as the Devil Dog sergeant.
RKO producer Edmund Grainger, left, is shown as he received the 1949 Laurel Award for his Republic picture, Sands of Iwo Jima, from Exhibitor’s Paul Manning on the coast early this year.
Collection: Exhibitor Magazine (Studio Survey), October 1950