The Film Daily (1929)

^NEWSPAPER o/'FlLMDOM ANDWEEKLY FILM DIGEST VOL. L No. 41 Sunday, November 17, 1929 Price 25 Cents Columbus Meeting Attracting Many Exhibitors FOX TOBUILD 5,000 EATER IN MILWAUKEE Western Electric Starts European Patent Suits Two Actions in England, One in Berlin, Filed by Western Electric Three suits have been instituted in Europe by Western Electric for aleged infringement, in what are understood to be the first in a series of lotions against European concerns. Two of the actions brought in England are against United Picture ■Theaters, Ltd., and Klangfilm, Great Britain, Ltd. The other has been Started in Berlin against Klangfilm tnd Ufa. COMPANIES™ BY Fl Two subsidiary corporations, First National Productions Corp. and First National Distributing Corp. have been jbrganized by First National Pictures, Ho facilitate legal detail connected with listribution and production, the company says. First National Prod, will let as a producing company making tictures under its own name while [First National Distributing Corp. trill act as distributor for the product In United States and Canada. First Actional Pictures will function as lieretofore. Us Months, $200 Fine for 2 on Stench-Bomb Charge Columbus, O.— Kenneth Mettle, Iterator at the Majetsic, was sen enced with Arthur Standley here ' /esterday to serve six months in the Workhouse and pay a fine of $200 and :osts after being found guilty of hrowing stench bombs in the the iters of the J. Real Neth circuit. Neth (Continued on Page 2) {Custom Court Upholds 45% Duty on Film Projector The parts of a projection machine ire held to be dutiable at 45 per cent id valorem by the United States Customs Court in a decision handed lown in New York. The ruling was nade in connection with a protest iled by the American Holding Corp. ind the E. E. Fulton Co. of Chicago. Ohio Gathering Assumes Aspects of National Exhibitor Session Columbus, O. — Assuming all the aspects of a national convention, the meeting here Tuesday of the Ohio exhibitor unit is attracting exhibitors from all sections of the nation. M. A. Lightman, president of the M.P. T.O.A. is to be one of the principal speakers, as will R. F. (Pete) Woodhull, past president, who now is executive vice president of General Talking Pictures. The Ohio gathering here is certain to attract a strong contingent {Continued on Page 2) woodhulTnotto talk politics at columbus "No Politics." That is the watchword of R. F. Woodhull, past president of the M.P.T.O.A., who today is en route to Columbus for the annual convention of the Ohio exhibitor unit. With his Columbus speech being awaited with keen interest, Woodhull, prior to his departure told I HE FILM DAILY, that he is "through with exhibitor politics." Woodhull, who recently returned from organization work after nine years of service, intends to devote his talk to sound equipment. $4,000,000 to be Spent on Entrenching Fox Circuit Holdings in Milwaukee Stronghold Milwaukee — Fox is planning a 5,000-seat theater here which is to cost an estimated $4,000,000, according to Joe Leo, president of Fox Metropolitan Playhouses. Leo came here to open a number of new houses for the Fox Midwesco chain, which he formerly headed. The proposed theater will be housed in a 12-story office building. Fox now occupies the key position in Milwaukee, one of the firm's strongholds. Chief opposition is the Universal circuit, for which houses Paramount has been reported dickering. Silent s Please Silent pictures of a few years back still had the drawing power to attract attention in face of the present sound productions, was illustrated at the Brooklyn Paramount recently when the house inaugurated a new policy of showing one of the oldtime silent production every Monday night. A week ago "Beau Geste" was shown, and according to reports, more than 1,500 patrons remained to see the picture. Last Monday, Rudolph Valentino in "Cobra" was the attraction. 250 Installations Made by British Talking Co. London — More than 250 installations of its talking picture equipment have been made by British Talking Pictures in houses throughout Great Britain. The company, reports an unprecedented growth in the number of orders received. Fox Expanding in Mid-West Steady Eastern Drive Continuing Under Direction of Harold B. Franklin — The Warner Score Charge Decision — Distributors' Liability on Unmade Films at Issue— The Week in Review -Bj) CHARLES F. HYNES FOX is continuing the rapid theater expansion begun several months ago in the Middle West sector, with a number of houses to be added to the company banner. The Fox expansion has served as a source of steady news and is being continued on a scale that presages early realization of the plan to unite eastern and western holdings. It's significant that the eastern drive has been placed in charge of Harold B. Franklin, leader of the Fox West Coast chain, and the manner in which it is being carried out emphasizes the aggressive (Continued on Page 4) CLAUDE NEON LIGHTS FOR ALL FOX MET. THEATERS Contracts have been signed by Claude Neon Lights and Fox Metropolitan Playhouses, Inc. whereby the latter's 150 theaters in and around New York will be equipped with one or more specially designed Neon electric displays. Standardized electric light advertising will be used by Fox. This is the largest order written by a theater chain for such advertising display, according to the Claude Neon company. Talkers to Aid Education, Jersey Teachers Declare Atlantic City — Talking pictures will play an important part in education, and should be encouraged by the teaching bodies of the country, speakers here declared at the convention of the New Jersey State Teachers' Ass'n held here. Sound films were shown by means of a portable Western Electric machine designed especially for school use. William Lewin, of W. E., addressed the (Continued on Page 2) Infantile Paralysis Scare Disappears at Ottawa Ottawa, Ont. — With the disappearance of the infantile paralysis scare, prevalent here for the last three months, Saturday morning performances for children have been resumed by Manager Ray Tubman at the Regent Theater.