Inside facts of stage and screen (May 3, 1930)

rAGE TWO INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1930 I. A. T . S. E. Sho w to Aid Convention Finances Specials Fail As B. 0. Sensations m quiet’ mm $13,337 III CIRCLE Although a heavy battery of spe- cial releases were loosed upon the local film market during the past week, nothing sensational in the way of boxoffice returns turned up. “All Quiet on the Western Front” opened at the Carthay Cir- cle and brought $13,337 for its first four days, including the pre- miere. This is good, but not sen- sational, running about the same as the first week of “Happy Days.” John MacCormack’s “Song O’ My Heart” brought $20,527 to the Chinese for its first six days, which is only about even with house av- erage and does not compare very bravely with the $37,000 brought in by the “Rogue Song’s” first week. “King of Jazz,” Universal’s Paul Whiteman endowment, brought $13,884 to the Criterion for the first six days, which is $1500 over house average, but only half the showing made on the first week of Garbo’s “Anna Christie.” Loew’s State sank five grand be- low average with Ramon Novarro’s “Devil May Care” grossing $27,- 403. This downtown run followed a Carthay Circle showing. Fan- chon and Marco’s “Goodfellows” Idea was in support. The Boulevard stayed in the dumps with a take of $4716 on “City Life” and F. & M. Varieties. This figure just escapes the low record for this house. “Vagabond King” at the Egyp- tian brought in $12,435, seven hun- dred better than house average. Warner Brothers’ Hollywood Theatre spurted to $24,500 for the opening week of “Song of the Flame,” four thousand over aver- age, but the downtown house took a licking on “Those Who Dance,” 'grossing $13,700, ten thousand be- low average. “Paramount on Parade” paraded $25,000 to the Paramount box- office. This is a couple of thou- sand below average. George Ban- croft brought $17,200 to the United Artists with “Ladies Love Brutes,” best showing for several weeks. A tie-up with a parking yard, taking the car from the theatre door and parking it for 10 cents, was going big. Bebe Daniels’ “Love Comes Along” at the RKO, with four acts of vaude in support, dropped grosses down to $13,000, three thou below average. “Ingagi,” the gorilla picture at the Orpheum, continued to hold up big for its second week, repeating the first week’s gross of $27,000, and the third week starting out about as big. NEW BUREAU IS F. M. ADDITION HE LISTENED AND LOOK WHAT HE GOT Harry Blanchard, artists’ representative, sat in his Hol- lywood office the other day, his desk loaded to the gunnels with manuscript piled on manuscript. On his face was a worried, puzzled look. In dashed a friend exuber- antly, to be caught up by the sad and sober mien of the agent. “Whattsa matter? Why the sad face?” breezed the new arrival. “Well, I’ll tell you,” said Harry. “All my life I’ve been bothered with people who had a lot of great ideas but never could find time to write them, but always had plenty of time to tell me about them—” “But, why should that de- press you?” puzzled the friend. Quoth Harry, pointing to the piled desk, “they finally got time!” A convention entertainment bu- reau is the latest addition to the Fanchon and Marco organization, under the direction of “Doc” Howe. Jolley Jones will supply talent to sales force gatherings, plant meet- ings and conventions. When one organization has several meetings in different parts of the country, the same program will be furnished to all. BEERY CONTRACT Wallace Beery has been placed under a new long-term contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At pres- ent he is appearing with Johnny Mack Brown, Lucille Powers, Russell Simpson, Karl Dane and others in the drama of the life of the famous Western bandit which King Vidor is directing, “Billy the Kid.” CONTEST WINNERS HERE The winners of the contest staged by the Buffalo Tixes-Fox Raynor Theatre have arrived in Los Angeles. They will be fea- tured in a forthcoming Fanchon and Marco Idea. Miss Ida Hedin, a blonde, Evelyn McElwain, bru- nette, and Nancy Murray, red head, will follow the footsteps of another batch of New York state beauties, the winners of the Graph- ic contest. FOX-W. C. THEMES ■mil shifts Several changes in local Fox- West Coast Theatres organization followed the transfer of Harry Ar- thur to New York. Harry Hartman, former manager of W. C. Theatres in San Diego, was moved to Los Angeles to suc- ceed Arthur as division manager. Howard White, former assistant general purchasing agent, fills the shoes of C. A. Caballero as gen- eral purchasing agent for' the cir- cuit, following Caballero’s transfer to New York. Les Fountain gets the former Hartman job in San Diego. Foun- tain was formerly in charge of the W. C. theatres in. Long Beach. Marshall Taylor gets the Long Beach job. He previously handled the Ocean Park theatres. Lew Clarke gets the Ocean Park post, coming from the Santa Mon- ica W. C. house, where he is suc- ceeded by Narath, his former as- sistant. Jack Ranee resigned from the Santa Ana house to go into busi- ness for himself, and is succeeded by Norman Sprowl from Riverside. Gary Carr gets the Riverside job, with Ralph McGowan, of the vaude- ville booking department, going to Glendale to fill Carr’s former place. Hie pHb it The executive committee of the board of directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci- ences Monday appointed William Conklin to represent the Academy as “contact man” betwen the ac- tors and producers in the admin- istration of the new minimum contract. Conklin’s appointment was rec- ommended unanimously by the Actors’ Adjustment Committee, the Actors’ Branch Executive Com- mittee, and by the Actors’ Mini- mum Contract Committee con- sisting of 25 actor members of the Academy. This action of the Academy is in keeping with an agreement made at the time the actors’ minimum contract was signed. Conklin will commence his duties at an early date making his office at the Academy headquar- ters in the Roosevelt Hotel. The new Hollywood - Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, to be operated by West Coast and the Pantages brothers, set to open May 29, will feature an elaborate Fanchon and Marco stage produc- tion, designed at least to some de- gree to fit in with the theme of the various screen productions from week to week. These presentations will be ex- clusively produced for the new ace house, thus giving Hollywood a first-run weekly change class house to replace the former Egyptian Theatre policy of second-run to the downtown Loew’s State. The productions are to be elab- orate, individually staged presen- tation somewhat on the prologue order, and especially designed for Hollywood consumption. NEUFELD AT TIFFANY , Sig Neufeld, for 18 years asso- ciated with Universal or connected companies, has been engaged by Phil Goldstone, Tiffany’s chief stu- dio executive, to head the depart- ment which will make unusual short novelty features. Tiffany immediately will make three novel short two-reel subjects in techni- olorc, followed later by several se- ries of short features. ACT GETS CONTRACT Jones and Hull, at Loew’s State this week, have been signed for five years by Fanchon and Marco. FAWCETT PLAY TRYOUTS HELD Tryouts are now being held for parts in George Fawcett’s produc- tion of “The Great John Ganton,” due to open at the Vine Street May 18. At time of going to press no definite selections had been made. If this venture into legitimate production proves successful, Faw- cett will launch others, and is con- sidering some Shakespeare revi- vals. SNAPPY SERVICE DREW SNAPPY COMEBACK Socked on the nose for giv- ing service the head man of a lunch room near the Holly- wood American Legion Box- ing Stadium learned the dif- ference between slang and good English. A burly biffer who earned his money easy by stowing away a pushover at the sta- dium parked his body on a stool and prepared to take on some groceries. The head man polished the mahogany and sang out to a waiter: “Give this fellow a setup.” Taking the familiar remark for sar- casm the fighter let loose a right cross that brought the claret. The customary ex- planations followed. ‘CHIC SITE HEILLT (Continued from Page 1 ) 8. A $50,000 house for Alturas, the builder not being announced. 9. A picture house at Auburn to be built by T. and D. Jr. 10. A $1,000,000 house to be built by Publix in Sacramento. 11. Another Sacramento house, this one by Fox West Coast which chain already has three theatres there. They plan on spending $850,000 on the fourth. 12. A $500,000 theatre at Stock- ton to be erected by National Thea- tre Syndicate. 13. A $165,000 theatre at Paso Robles to be built by the Paso Robles Realty Co. 14. A house at San Luis Obis- po with Fox West Coast named as builders. 15. A Santa Barbara theatre. No builders or amount named. 16. An amusement center at Santa Cruz to be erected and op- erated by John Tait and others. Plans for this are well under way. 17. A $30,000 house to be built in Healdsburg. MONTANA ORCHESTRA MOVES TO ST. PAUL Phil Sheridan and his Montan- ians from Missoula, Mont., where they have been featured the past three years on an extended en- gagement in the Northwest, have been signed up by the Music Cor- poration of America in Los An- geles. Sheridan and his Orchestra will be featured on the M. C. A. circuit the entire summer, opening at St. Paul, Minn., May 24. The orches- tra also is being brought east to do some recordings. GATZERT PROMOTED Phil Goldstone, chief studio ex- ecutive for Tiffany, has appointed Milton Gatzert business manager of the studio. Gatzert has been well known as purchasing agent of the Tiffany studios and has been connected with the film industry for many years. SHERMAN SIGNED Radio Pictures’ officials, headed by William LeBaron, liked Low- ell Sherman’s work in “He Knew Women” so much that they signed him to a long-term contract. When Charles “Chic” Sale, he of the backwoods satire in vaudeville and musicomedy, ripped off that best-selling dollar literary item, “The Specialist,” he started more than he ever guessed at the time. Comedians, synthetic and the real McCoy alike, scanned the country epic at one buck a throw and ideas began to sizzle. Right back of the schnozzle the boys all got smacked with the idea of em- ulating the Sale success and retir- ing from the show biz to bask in the warm glow of incoming roy- alties. Now comes from the presses fur- ther Sale stuff, but not in the soli- tary glory of that first effort. For side by side on the book- shelves stand Joe Cook’s green and white bound “Why I Won’t Imi- tate Four Hawaiians,” with Char- ley Grapewin’s “Squawk Bridge,” Eddie Cantor’s “Caught Short,” and other similar masterpieces come tumbling from the publish- er’s presses, each coyly hinting of laughs lurking within. And whether you believe it or not, there’s more of them to come. Which develops a new angle for the funny fellows. Why not a dollar book of the month club with heavy emphasis on comedy? One week we could have The Four Marx Brothers, Clark and McCullough and Will Mahoney vieing for honors, then the next lunar cycle Fred Allen, “Doctor” Rockwell and Ted Healy could stane a literary free-for-all for pre- miere laugh-provoking honors. Maybe, in retalliation, Irvin S. Cobb, Octavus Roy Cohen, George Jean Nathan and Ring Lardner would take a fling at the show business. Then, of course, if some real belly-laughs were wanted, the pub- lishers could have a film supervisor write an essay on “How to Make Talking Pictures.” HILL WILL DO ‘LITTLE SHOW’ With various producers being credited with intentions of putting on “The Little Show,” current New York success, John Hill is going ahead with his plans to pro- duce it here about June 1st. He owns all Pacific Coast rights from the New York owners, as well as a cut in picture rights, and has no intention of relinquishing them to anyone else, he says. NEW RODEO CLUB The Screen Women’s Press Club was launched at a meeting held Monday night at the Chateau Ely- sees, following a decision of mem- bers of the Wasps (Women’s As- sociation Screen Publicists) to change the purpose of the club, in- crease the scope of its activities and hence change the name. The first meeting of the new organiza- tion is named for May 12 and will be held at the Chateau Elysees, with dinner at 7 o’clock. THEATRE TRANSFER SAN FRANCISCO, May 1.— As part payment on another build- ing Louis R. Lurie last week ac- cepted the old Garrick Theatre on Ellis street near Fillmore and has since sold it to Lee Murphy, who has plans for remodeling the place. I. A. T. S. E. members expect to net around 25 grand for their big show at the Shrine Auditorium here on May 6, the proceeds to go for financing the first national convention of the oiganization held outside Ohio in 17 years. The convention to include: Cam- eramen, lab technicians, studio me- chanics, projectionists and the- atrical stage employees, will be held here from June 2 to 9. I. A. T. S. E. is one organization financ- ing the trips of its delegates, of whom there will be around 2000, some with their families. With plenty of cooperation from studio execs, musicians and actors, the show is expected to land a nice sum to defray a good share of the convention expenses. With the show starting at 8 p. m., music will be provided by Leo Forbstein and his 40-piece Vitaphone Orchestra, the cham- pion Los Angeles American Le- gion Drum Corps, Harold Roberts and his band, with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians jumping in from the Mason to close the bill near midnight. Included on the program will be: Eddie Cantor, “Skeets” Gal- lagher, Fred Niblo, Taylor Holmes, a Larry Ceballos ensemble, Edna Covey, Neil Hamilton, Laurel and Hardy, Alice Gentle, Freeman Lang introducing 30 Paramount stars, A1 Jolson, RKO vaudeville, D. W. Griffith, Sid Grauman, Lil- lian Albertson, Charles Irwin, Joe E. Brown and Winnie Lightner, Laura Lee, 4-year-old Mary Ross, two productions staged with 30 Hollywood Beauties by Katherine Campbell, one a “lingerie” show, the other a bathing beauty revue; Bob Murphy, Estaleah, George O’Brien, Tom and Hank McFad- den, Ruth Chatterton, Dorothy Mackaill. Johnny Mack Brown, Anita Page, Lee Carrillo, Gene Morgan, Clyde Hager, Frank Fay, the Sldte Brothers, Bill Ray, chief KFWB announcer, Ferris Hartman, Ed- die Lambert, and Allan Prior with the male chorus from “The Stu- dent Prince.” With a first class bill and plenty of cooperation all around from theatres and studios, the big bene- fit show, staged last Saturday night at the Shrine Audtorium went over as a financial wow, with a gross of nearly $30,000, accord- ing to checkup reports this week, with all the returns not yet in. The auditorium was almost com- pletely sold out to see a big snappy bill, which included: The 75 Meglin Kiddies, Eddie Lambert, Murray Sisters, Frances McCoy, Elizabeth Murray, Mos- coni Brothers, George Olsen’s Band with the “Whoopee” cho- rus and William O’Neil, Estelle Taylor, Davey Lee, and a produc- tion number staged by Joseph Santley for the Pathe picture, “Swing High.” Eddie Cantor, A1 Jolson, Benny Rubin, Jack Benny, Charles Irwin were the master-of-ceremonies . Others, who appeared, were: Donald Kerr, Leatrice Joy and Norma Gregg, Dixie Lee, Ben Bernie and his Band, Nino Mar- tini, Harry Langdon, Lina Bas- quette, Kramer and Boyle, Larry Ceballos revue with Jimmy Clem- ons, Sisters “G”, theme song writers number with Arthur Freed, Joe Burke, George Meyer, Sam Steppe, Jos McCarthy, Jimmy Monaco, Cliff Friend, L. Wolf Gilbert and Abel Baer; Lottice Howell, Danny Dare and Fox studio beauties, Everett Marshall, Bill Robinson, Charles King, Lil- lian Roth, Rosita, A1 Trahan, Fred Scott, Fay Marbe, Daphne Pollard, Three Slate Brothers; Fanchon and Marco revue with Georgie Stoll and his Band and Frank Richardson, Abe Lyman and his Band with A1 Norman, Rube Goldberg, Irene Rich, Harry Green, Mary Lawler and Tom Pa- tricola.