Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

The Leading Newspaper of the Motion Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, Intelligent and Faithful Service to the Industry in All Branches OL. 35. NO. 42 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1934 TEN CENTS Exhibitors in I. C. Agree to ind Price War ote to Ban Giveaways And Other Practices Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 19— At a y-wide exhibitors' meeting today, was voted to meet the demands of iwntown houses and eliminate price asions which caused Sam Dembow Paramount to declare a price war Ire. It was decided at the gatherg, which was called by Jay Means, T. O. head, to abandon all kinds ot iveaways, two-for-ones, passes, coutas. lotteries, 10-cent nights and milar practices. 'Doubles, it was decided, should be (Continued on page 6) lukor, Hays Called [n Rembusch Trial Adolph Zukor and Will H. Hays e scheduled to take the stand today the trial of the $2,000,000 antiust suit brought against major com.nies and the M. P. P. D. A. by -ank Rembusch, former Indianapolis :hibitor, now in its second week of ial before Federal Judge Alfred M. ixe here. Defense attorneys have nsented to produce the two as wit:sses. The trial yesterday was high.drted by the reminiscences of Ivan (.Continued on page 7) >t. Louis Decision Goes to Operators St. Louis, Feb. 19.— Dr. William . Patton, neutral arbitrator in the orators' wage dispute, has decided favor of the union, and has made | s ruling retroactive to Sept. 1, al,iough the code did not become effecce until Dec. 7. Under this decision wages of two aerators in each of 32 independent (Continued on page 7) ]reel Takes Hand For Studio Labor Hollywood, Feb. 19. — Climaxing a pries of complaints from studio nions and organized extra groups, larging inactivity by the recently apointed Studio Labor Board, George (Continued on page 7) Who? What? When? rHE code, what it will be and what happens to it, is largely in the hands of the men who make up grievance and clearance and zoning boards. Who are they? What have they done? What's their experience? Motion Picture Daily answers the questions, beginning today, in an historical series that throws the spotlight on Code Authority representatives who, from this point on, will administer the code in their territories. Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Seattle are covered in the opening instalment. Others will follozv daily until the entire country is KAN N blanketed. Los Angeles, Feb. 19. — J. J. ("Jake") Milstein, representing affiliated national distributors on grievances, is M-G-M's manager here and has held that post since Jan. 2, 1928. Born in Denver in 1897, he was educated at the Denver High School and Denver University. His war record includes service with the coast artillery, New York, during the World War. Milstein entered films as an inspector for Vitagraph, successively becoming booker and salesman, the latter job first getting under way with Fox. He opened the Pittsburgh branch for Associated Producers and the Washington office for American Releasing Corp. First joining M-G-M as a Baltimore salesman on May 3, 1926, Milstein went to a coast convention in 1927 and remained there an assistant to George Hickey until his apnointment in charge of the office in 1928. Howard Stubbins, representing unaffiliated distributors on grievances, is manager of the Monogram exchange here as well as part owner with Floyd St. John. He has been in the business 15 years and is one of the original Monogram franchise-holders. Lou Halper, representing affiliated exhibitors on grievances, is general manager of the Warner circuit in Southern California. The company operates 12 theatres, two of which, the 900-seat Rose in Santa Barbara and the 2,400-seat Western between Hollywood and Beverly Hills, are currently dark. Halper's activities embrace the Beverly Hills, seating 1,611; the Hollywood, seating 2,800 ; Huntington Park, seating 1,500; Downtown, Los Angeles, seating 1,800; Forum, seating 1.800; Ritz, San Bernardino, seating 700; the San Pedro, seating 1,600; and the California, 900 ; Granada, 1.700, and Mission, 1,000, the latter three in Santa Barbara. Bex Berin stein, representing unaffiliated exhibitors on grievances, is president of the Independent Theatre Owners Ass'n. of Southern California, which functions locally and with no national exhibitor affiliation although Berinstein's leanings are de (Continued on page 4) Charges Wide Smoke Screen By Agitators New Haven, Feb. 19. — Professional agitators are working behind a nationwide smoke screen to impose political censorship on the industry, it was charged here today by Charles C. Petti iohn, general counsel for the M.P.P.D.A., before the New Haven Bar Ass'n. at the Yale Law School. "The smoke screen," he declared, "is the alleged evil of block booking, a business practice passed upon by the courts, accepted with proper limitations in the industry code approved (Continued on page 7) Ohio Theatre Men Backing Unit to Full Columbus, Feb. 19. — On the basis of a quick survey, there is greater enthusiasm and pledges of wholehearted cooperation apparent in exhibitor ranks of the Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio, formally launched here late last week, than has been the case in any similar organization in recent years. Secession of the independent faction from the Ohio M.P.T.O., and discontinuance of the Independent M. P. Exhibitors of Ohio, formed here in (Continued on page 7) Yamins Files Complaint On Board Choices Insists All MPTOA Men Are "A ffiliated" Nathan Yamins, Code Authority member, has filed a brief with that body protesting the method followed in selecting members of local clearance and zoning and grievance boards, contending that independent factions have insufficient representation on the boards, it was learned yesterday. Yamins' brief suggests that a distinct division should be drawn between M.P.T.O.A. members who are named to the boards and "independents," and asked that nominees approved as qualified independents be placed on the boards in the same ratio as all other members of the boards combined. The brief maintained that grievance boards should contain two "qualified" independents as against (Continued on page 6) Telegrams Pour in On Board Choices About 50 telegrams of congratulations were received yesterday by Code Authority members who have been working on compilation of clearance and zoning and grievance boards lists. The wires were received from various parts of the country, despite the fact that publication of the names was limited to New York. Here's what accounts for the out-of-town messages : Upon official release of the 42 boards yesterday by Code Authority, (Continued on page 6) Code Assents Total Is Placed at 7,512 Unqualified assents received by Code Authority in the last four days totaled 35, bringing the former figure of 7,477 to 7,512._ The sum total expected at expiration of the time limit is more than 8,000. Last day for mailing compliance is Feb. 28. Hearings on Today On Alien Talent Bill Washington, Feb. 19. — Hearings will open tomorrow before the House Immigration Committee on legislation introduced by Representative Dick(Continned on page 2)