Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Oct-Dec 1928)

64 EXHIBITORS HERALD and MOVING PICTURE WORLD October 20, 1928 J. C. Jenkins — His Colyum {Continued from preceding page) the world would take a forward stride toward the Brotherhood of Man and the caus'e of Christianity would be advanced, for after seeing the picture there will come to the public mind that Scriptural passage, "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." * * * Mr. DeMUle is to be commended for his marvelous direction of this picture. His ability to pick types marks him as the outstanding genius of this cinema age, and in "The King of Kings" he has given to the world an incentive to better things, to loftier purposes and to nobler ideals. Would that we had more such pictures. We are not Mr. DeMUle's press agent, he doesn't know we are on earth, but we want to say to all exhibitors that it is a duty you owe your patrons to show this picture, regardless whether it makes you a nickel or not. It will remove the bad taste that has been engendered by a lot of stuff you have been forced to give them heretofore. Play it if you win, play it if you lose, but by all means, play it. We could say more but we couldn't say less and we will be criticized for saying this much, but our opinion will remain the same. It's the outstanding epic of the age. * * * We have just been down in the lobby listening to the broadcast of the World Series game at St. Louis. We didn't have a nickel on any of these games and therefore didn't care which whipped, only we would have liked it much better had St. Louis won. The only time we will back our judgment with dough is on presidential elections and the Corn husker football teams. Outside of that we are a Congregationalist. » * * We found Henry Petersen busy remodeling his theatre at Genoa, Nebraska. He took us up to his house for lunch in the middle of the afternoon and Henry knows how to put up a lunch too, Swiss cheese 'n' everything. The crops around Genoa are excellent and Henry is getting ready for the fall rush. If you could hear Mrs. Petersen laugh you wouldn't want to leave there for a month. K. R. Smith has lately taken over the Rialto at Stromsburg, Nebraska, and K. R. has taken a front seat right up among the live exhibitors of the state. We predict that there won't be any such an animal as Bad Business around the Rialto. * * * Alexander Frank has recently opened his new York theatre at York, and it is a theatre any city might well be proud of. Mr. Frank advised us that business had been satisfactory since the opening and he has promised to send photographs of the theatre to the HERALDWORLD. Some weeks ago we passed through York and Jay Shreck, of the "What the Picture Did for Me" department, jumped all over us for not calling on his father. We called on him this time and found him a most delightful gentleman to meet, and now the question is, how did he come to raise such a boy, we can't understand it. We noticed a large picture of Hoover and Curtis in Mr. Shreck's window and it may be that that accounts for it. He spoke very highly of Jay and told us what a fine boy he had always been and we agreed with him. We thought it better to do that than to start an argument. Of course there were a lot of things we could have told him, but didn't. * * * At Minneapolis, Kansas, we found Ed Smith down in the basement of the Cozy theatre working. We told him we wanted his photograph for our curiosity collection, that during our ramblings we had found two or three other theatre men working and hoped to get up quite a collection. Ed was making a bell out of plaster paris and some other stuff that was about the size of the one in Independence Hall, only this one didn't have any clapper and there was no crack in it. Ed uses this bell on "The Dina-Phone," which is a loud speaking arrangement, as an additional amplifier and tone softener, and the one he has installed certainly does the business and solves the music question for the small theatres. Ed says he will furnish any theatre man full information regarding it if they will address their inquiries to him at Minneapolis, Kansas. The one we heard was a winner and Ed says his guarantee is behind anything he claims for it. * • • O. K. Mason of the Regent theatre at Newton, Kansas, seems to be the chief cook and bottlewasher of about everything around town. He was superintending the street decorations for their annual harvest carnival when we called. He can use a hammer as well as a megaphone and we judged that he did not require any advice in anything he undertook. He is well grounded in the belief that the HERALDWORLD is a necessity wherever knowledge of the business is required. We would have liked to have visited with him longer but he was busy. It beats all how this presidential election is dividing families all over the land. Out in western Nebraska there is a family where the father is a Methodist and is going to vote for Smith, the mother is a Catholic and is shouting for Hoover, the oldest boy says he is going to join the Ku Klux Klan and the daughter intends to marry a Norwegian on November 7th. Tragsdorf says that up in Neillsville, Wisconsin, where he lives, a Republican married a Swede and they had seven Democrats before the next presidential election. If this ratio keeps up it would look like Al might carry Wisconsin and Minnesota both, -<> \<>!i never <:m tell in presidential years just what will happen. Crockett Brown might have another litter of Hullfoundlund pups for sale. Tomorrow we are going down in Oklahoma and look those Sooners over. We hope some of 'em have taken a hath since we were there two years ago. Betrha Stettmund hasn't. J. C. JENKINS, The HERALD U ORLD Man. THK FOREIGN I.KGION: Ston.-K. . »»•„. Spetember 28. Pleased practically 100 per cent. Mnny of our patron* said better than "Beau G*8te." Great for any theatre. — Maynnnl Madden. New Virginia theatre, Harrisburg, Va. — General patronage. THK NIGHT BIRD: Reirinald Denny -t0%. September it. Very good, but patrons auk. "Where'* the racing car?" — H. W. Kerr. Kerr theatre, Little Sioux, la. Small town patronage. A HERO FOB A NIGHT: Glenn Tryon— 65%. September 8. A very good comedy. It could be used as one of the Iynemmlo novelties. Eight reels. — J. D. Howard, Jr., Institute theatre, Oak Kidge. N. C. — Small town patronage. THE COUNT OF TEN: Special cast— Better than the title would have you think it is. Pleased our Wednesday night crowd. — R. K. Lattin, Strand theatre, Valparaiso, Neb. — General patronage. ON YOUR TOES: Reginald Denny— Denny it liked pretty well here. A good Saturday picture with plenty of action. Six reels. — Marion Bodwell, Paramount theatre, Wyoming, III. — General patronage. THE LONE EAGLE: Special cast— Good Saturday picture. — Marion Bodwell, Paramount theatre, Wyoming, 111. — General patronage. THANKS FOR THE BUGGY RIDE : Laura LaPlante — Just a fair program that seemed to satisfy and that i6 just about all. The story seems to be written around the 6ong by the same name. Attendance very poor. Six reels. — Marion Bodwell, Paramount theatre, Wyoming, 111. — General patronage. Warner Bros. MILLIONAIRES: George Sidney— 65%. September 29. Rather disappointed in this one. Did not please as we thought it would. Has a few good spots that put it over the draggy spots. Would be okay on an off night. Not as much comedy as one would expect. Seven reels. — Paul B. Hoffman, Legion theatre, Holyrood, Kan. — Small town patronage. BEWARE OF MARRIED MEN: Irene Rich— Irene can do no wrong. The picture was goofy but she and Audrey were good. — F. E. Sabin, Majestic theatre, Eureka, Mont. — Small town patronage. THE LITTLE SNOB: May McAvoy— Fair. We used Vitaphone score. It 6how6 Coney Island stuff and has a good lesson without rubbing it in. — E. T. Mathes, Avalon theatre, Bellingham, Wash. — General patronage. State Rights THE ROAD TO RUIN: Special cast— August 23. Packed to the doors to 6ee this unusual attraction. Give us more such State Rights pictures. — H. W. Peery, Egyptian theatre, Ogden, Utah. — General patronage. THE ROAD TO RUIN: Special cast— October 2-3. Thre is nothing particularly hot or vulgar in this, but it does show the modern trend of things. You wouldn't, of course, expect to run it for a Church benefit or an old maid's quilting bee. Six reels. — Win. E. Tragsdorf, Trags theatre, Neillsville. Wis.— Small town patronage. Short Features COLUMBIA THE ADVENTURER: Charlie Chaplin— These antique Chaplin comedies are not much. Settings look like ancient times. Two reels. — G. O. Tunstall. Midway theatre, Martinsville, Va. — Small town patronage. EDUCATIONAL CALL YOUR SHOTS: Al St. John— A knockout two reel comedy that kept the Saturday audience in a continuous uproar. Two reels. — G. O. Tunstall, Midway theatre, Martinsville, Va. — Small town patronage. METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER GREAT EVENTS:— "The Heart of Robert E. Lee." A pleasing colored film that is good and clear.— W. T. Biggs. Adair theatre, Adair, la. — General patronage. YOU'RE DARNED TOOTIN': Laurel-Hardy— Excellent comedy and good print, except that some awkward celluloid pusher must have had part of the first reel tangled up with his dogs. Annoying, quite. But these boys sure go right to the funny bone. Wow I Two reels. — Wolfe & Williams. Screenland theatre, Nevada, O. — Small town patronage. PARAMOUNT INKWELL COMEDIES : — These aren't quite an poor as the "Krazy Kats" but they are poor enough that we don't want any more. One reel. — Robert K. Yancey, Bonny theatre, Mansfield, Mo. — General patronage. KRAZY KAT COMEDIES : — We have reported on these before, but the more we run the worse we hate them. We wanted to book a few to try them, but no, we had to book them for a whole year or we couldn't have them at all. Well, we have tried them and we don't want any more. No, thank you! One reel. Robert K Yancey, Bonny theatre, Mansfield, Mo.— Genernl patronage. A SHORT TAIL: -A terrible piece of cheese. Of course, some people like cheese but it happens to be out of our diet. The only novel part of this socalled "novelty" is the absence of the printed word — no subtitles. Otherwise away below par. Why we bought this is now a mystery to us. Two reels. — Wolfe & Williams, Screenlnnd theatre, Nevada, O.— Small town patronage.