The Film Daily (1936)

-. £gg"S DAILY Friday, Sept 4, 1936 TELEVISION FIRM SEEKS $4,000,000 B\ GEORGE W. MEHRTENS FILM DAILY Staff Correspondent Washington — The International Radio-Television Corp. has applied to the Securities Exchange Commission for permission to float a $4,000,000 stock issue to carry on experimentation in television. According to William Priess, head of the new corporation, television receiving sets to be produced by him are ready for the market. Priess is at present experimenting with a three-foot screen. Hearings will be held next Wednesday. Commenting upon the Priess experiments, Andrew W. Cruse, head of the Department of Commerce Electrical Division, told The Film Daily that contrary to popular opinion development of television will be the greatest help to the motion picture and theatrical business that has materialized for many years. "I can see no reason why the motion picture industry and television broadcasting companies cannot cooperate for the common good," Cruse stated. According to Cruse, Priess feels that he has a marketable television receiver which will sell for around $200, but further experimentation is necessary on the transmission end. Akerson on Campaign George Akerson, formerly with Paramount in an executive capacity, is working with Congressman Joe Martin, in charge of the Congressional campaign for the National Republican Committee. Akerson was formerly a secretary to Herbert Hoover while the latter was President. Scrappy Contract Renewed Scrappy will continue as star of the Durable Toy & Novelty Co.'s line of toy films for another year under a renewal contract recently signed by that company and Columbia Pictures, owner of the animated cartoon character. MILWAUKEE Preparations are well in hand for the annual convention of the Independent Theaters Protective Ass'n of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, now set for Sept. 16-17 in the Plankington Hotel. W. A. Steffes, Edward Golden and H. M. Richey are among those scheduled to attend. Ben Miller, secretary of the Film Board of Trade, will address the Milwaukee Better Films Council at its first fall meeting Sept. 8 on "Is Censorship Good for the Movies?" The reopening of the Alhambra, down-town Milwaukee house, last week was brief. Advertising a $250,000 fur and lingerie show with a double feature bill, the house went dark after two days. ▼ T T • • • THAT KID brother of the film biz has been sneaking up on the 35 millimeter mug and even though only half the size, the 16 mm. kid is attracting a lot of attention from the public those engaged in the 16 mm. field are up to their necks in work and some of them are actually swamped ▼ T T • • • OVER AT the Du-Art Film Lab on Fifty-Fifth Street, those experts, Al Young and Jack Goetz explain the sudden expansion in their 16 mm. activities thusly the technical advances in reducing 35 mm. to 16, and getting the sound so perfect, has caused a tremendous demand both from the industrial users of the smaller film as well as the individual fan making it his home hobby the Du-Art biz has been tripled in the past year T ▼ ▼ • • • A BIG factor in the sudden spurt in the 16 mm. field is due to the technical contributions of the Eastman company they have devised a machine for reducing the 35 mm. to 16 that producers practically perfect sound which lack was the drawback in the growth of this field till Eastman realized the need, and had the experts get busy T ▼ ▼ • • • TAKE THE situation of Bell & Howell they are so swamped with orders that they are running two months behind on delivery of 16 mm. sound projection machines big industrial organizations like the oil companies and the auto manufacturers are calling for the latest equipment for all their branch offices, while home users are increasing by the thousands, with every big department store installing a 16 mm. department to meet the demand T ▼ ▼ • • • FOR THE smaller labs in the industry, this 16 mm. spurt looks as if it will eventually give them most of their busi ness making them practically independent of the producers with their 35 mm. requirements all the steamship lines rtow use 16 mm. for museum and library purposes, looking toward the future generations who will want a complete film record, 16 mm. answers the purpose perfectly, and saves storage space and is vastly more economical T T T • • • WE IN this business of supplying theatrical entertainment lose sight of the vast field outside the narrow confines of the motion picture theater's walls it is a fact that in a few short years the 16mm. demand for visual education in schools and colleges will be a far bigger industry in dollars and cents than the industry in Hollywood the majors are beginning to see the handwriting on the wall and are planning extensively to place their film libraries at the disposal of the 16 mm. field T T T • • • WHEN YOU stop to realize that 75 per cent of the big manufacturers of the nation who sell their product through local dealers, are now regularly using 16 mm. in order to proper ly inform these dealers and keep them pepped up you get a slight idea of the importance of the 16 mm. field most of these dealer-showings are too small audiences where a short throw is adequate a 1,000-watt lamp brings up the 16 mm. to look like 35 on a standard-size screen only an expert can detect it in two years we predict a lot of experts in this industry will be very, very independent for they will easily find jobs in the 16 mm. field paying more than what they are getting now so stick around, fellers that kid brother size 16 may be your out T T T • • • A FILM plug for Warners will go over a short wave broadcast to South America, with Mrs. Maria Garrett of the home office foreign dep't speaking in Spanish on several of the company's recent pix ... • On the Martin Starr program over WMCA this eve, Darryl Zanuck will receive the Four Stan Award MIRROPHONE ORDERS SWAMP W.E. FACTORY The industry response to Erpi's new Mirrophonic sound system has so far exceeded expectations that even though the Western Electric factory has been stepped up to 24hour production, actual shipments are in many cases being retarded, Erpi made known yesterday. In the Philadelphia territory a dozen orders for the new system have been placed including two from the Comerford circuit for the Strand, Scranton, and Strand, Shenandoah, and two from Jay Emanuel for the Grand, Philadelphia and Park, Reading. Erpi reports that sales activity is on a par in the 23 other Erpi territories. The Comerford circuit has also requested Erpi to provide its new co-ordinated service for the Strand theaters in Scranton and Shenandoah as was previously done for all other Comerford houses. No Important Studio Shifts Are Being Proposed by Zukor {Continued from Page 1) day, Zukor will spend the holiday at his New City residence and will be at his office at Paramount on Tuesday. It is possible that a board meeting will be called for next week while he is in town. The board met yesterday and transacted routine business. DETROIT « « « » » » Bennett & Straight, architects, are starting work on remodeling the Gladwin Theater for Julius D. London. House will be renamed the Booth, with opening about Oct. 1. The same architects are working on the Avon, Rochester, formerly called the Idle Hour, for Charles L. Stern. Capacity is being enlarged to 500 seats. Earl Wright, formerly manager of the Capitol for Associated circuit, is now managing the Tower for Wisper & Wetsman, succeeding Nero Ottati, who becomes relief manager. Clarence Koppin, who manages the Highland Park, just acquired by W. & W., will continue in his post. L. A. Jameson & Co., architects, are preparing plans for a new theater. Russell Chapman, manager of the Madison for United Detroit Theaters, is to manage the new Varsity Theater opening this week. Henry Zapp of the Ramona succeeds him at the Madison. "Three Women", Soviet film, has been banned by the police film censor, following the ban which apparently applies to all Russian films. Clem Pope, formerly manager of the RKO Downtown, is now city manager in Providence for RKO.