Motion Picture News (Apr - Jun 1928)

June 30 , 19 28 2193 Cleveland • "T^ENDERLOIN," the first of the sus1 tained talking movies to be shown here, easily walked off with first honors so far as business was locally concerned last week. As a whole, business was "off." Sultry weather with daily showers, and a flock of just average pictures combined to lower the previous week's record. "Tenderloin" played to big houses at the Stillman. Undoubtedly, novelty had much to do with the large attendance. It is entertaining on its own score without the talking sequences, which, however, add greatly to the interest. "Detectives," very good comedy with clever titles, is good entertainment, and under normal conditions, should do big business. It did fairly well at the State. Keith's Palace had a good week when it was expected to do capacity, with "The Fifty-Fifty Girl," a moderately entertaining picture. The personal appearance of Jeanne Eagels in extracts from "Rain" and "Her Cardboard Lover" attracted large attendance. "The Street of Sin" as shown at the Allen, suffered from the censor board shears, and business suffered proportionally. The picture was not liked as well as previous Janning productions. Undoubtedly much of the dissatisfaction with the picture was due to censor eliminations. "The Four Flusher," pleasant light and wholesome entertainment, failed to do much business at Reade's Hippodrome. "Honor Bound," melodramatic, has plenty of thrills and did nice business at' Keith's East 105th St. theatre. The Park did fairly well with first run neighborhood runs of "Drums of Love" and "Burning Daylight." "Telling the World" did very well at the Cameo its second downtown run. Neighborhood houses are complaining. New Orleans DOWNTOWN theatre business showed a marked improvement over the past week. A general depression without any diagnosed reason has been felt all through the city for the past few weeks but with excellent weather prevailing managers are optimistic that better days are not far distant. Not cniy have the theatres suffered but other forms of entertainment as well. The outstanding business in New Orleans was done at the new Saenger theatre where the world premiere of "Telling the World," starring Wliliam Haines, was shown. The picture was extensively advertised and exploited by the Saenger publicity department. A special showing of the picture was arranged for local newspaper men and considerable extra publicity space was given to the picture. The house played to capacity business practically every evening during the week while matinee attendance was light. Right on the heels of the new Saenger for first honors was the Loew State Theatre, its across the street neighbor. The State featured Sydney Chaplin in "Skirts," coupled with five Broadway acts of vaudeville that made the entire show a winner. "On Your Toes," the Orpheum theatre film feature with Reginald Denny, was fine entertainment and the house was well attended all week. The stage bill was a good one and this helped matters for Manager Vannah Taylor's house. The Strand Theatre got a lot of business with "Forbidden Hours," with Ramon Navarro and Renee Adoree. This team is popular with local theatregoers and the house that plays them is bound to draw. The Liberty Theatre showed Mary Roberts Rinehart's "Finders Keepers," starring Laura LaFlante and was liked by those who attended. "Half a Bride," with Esther Ralston, had its premiere elsewhere in the city but the Globe Theatre drew well and reported an excellent week's business. Neighborhood houses continue to report business as being excellent, especially the Carrollton, Capitol, Tivoli, Rivoli, Mecca, Gaiety, Casino and others. Within another week New Orleans will have its first opportunity to see and hear a Vitaphone presentation, when Saenger's new Tudor theatre, rcbeautified, redecorated and equipped with an air-washed ventilating system throws open its doors. As the first Vitaphone picture the management has selected "Glorious Betsy," starring Conrad Nagcl and Dolores Costello. The public parks, City and Audubon, both have mammoth swimming pools and are attracting thousands daily. The parks also offer free open air entertainment, including motion pictures and vaudeville. Albany IT rained all last week in Albany, but every rain drop brought a corresponding penny to the box offices of the motion picture theatres, with the result that many of the houses reported business that was almost up to the winter months. With automobile going unpleasant, the people just naturally turned to the motion picture theatres for their amusement and recreation. The Mark Strand, using Dolores Costello in "Tenderloin," opened big on Monday and ran to winter business throughout the week, matinees being good, while the evening crowds formed lines that stretched into the street. At the Leland, Dolores Del Rio in "No Other Woman" demonstrated beyond the possibility of any doubt that she can hold her own with any of the other screen stars when it comes to bringing business to a theatre. 'For instance, the business at the Leland on Tuesday ran to better than $300 over that of the corresponding day the previous week. The theatre was packed each night and the picture went over far better from an attendance standpoint, than "Hangman's House" and a lot of others. The Mark Ritz did only fair business with "Hell Ship Bronson," but this was probably due more to the type of picture shown than anything else. The Clinton Square theatre, using "A Thief in the Dark" and "Stage Kisses," held up in fine shape throughout the week. At Harmanus Bleecker Hall, the combination of vaudeville and pictures seems to be bringing the people while at Proctor's Grand, William Boyd in "The Night Flyer" served to hold up the picture end of the program and gave satisfaction. Some of the residential houses were inclined to complain over business. In the neighboring city of Troy, Dolores Del Rio in "Ramona" brought the biggest business to the Troy theatre last week since last February, when "The Jazz Singer" came mighty near setting a house record for the theatre. It was noticeable last week that "Ramona" brought crowds of the older people to the matinees and this served to hold up the attendance at afternoon shows, the evening shows taking care of themselves. The Lincoln had absolutely no kick whatever in the business done for the first four days with Marion Davies in "The Patsy," the blonde star not only packing the house but having the crowds standing each night. It was just the sort of picture that Troy liked. On the last three days of the week "Ladies of the Night Club" proved nearly as acceptable, judging from box office figures. At Proctor's Troy house, Pola Negri in "The Three Sinners" was used to advantage. The smaller theatres in Troy are complaining that business is not holding up as well as a year ago. SAMUEL ZIERLER b resents, An ultra-modern story of life as f lived by girls of \ the richer classes 0 A step apart from a conventional path into realms of Bohemia., with tragedy and the dominant human note of triumphant love. \y PICTURES CORPORATION SAMUEL ZIERLEP*_ president NEW Y O ft — , i4-— -SEASON