Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

The Leading Daily m Newspaper of the | f Motion Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, Intelligent and Faithful Service; to the Industry in All Branches >1. 35. No. 65 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1934 TEN CENTS lode Boards Are Asked to Meet Quickly ant Early Start and Expense Estimate ^'ith the sending out of manuals rules and regulations for clearance 1 zoning and grievance boards, Exitive Secretary John C. Flinn of de Authority yesterday requested liated distributors on the grievance irds and independent first run exlitors on clearance and zoning irds to get together and immedily call joint meetings of both irds in each territory. Purpose of sessions is to get the men acBnted with the contents of the man(Continued on page 4) mly Gives Board Choices to Seattle oeattle, March 19. — First notifica1 of the impartial appointees to the evance and zoning and clearance rds was given to the trade here by tion Picture Daily through its il representative. When exhibitor 1 exchange members of the two rds were notified of the appointit of Judson T. Jennings and O. C. Dutton on the grievance and trance groups, respectively, they •ressed approval of the impartial nbers and appreciation to Motion iure Daily for supplying first innation on the matter. xpect to Complete Boards on Thursday 'ersonnel of the New York and ladelphia clearance and zoning rds will in all probability be annced Thursday following the Code hority meeting. Impartial membelieved set for these boards and meapolis, are now being checked will most likely be approved by (.Continued on page 4) The Latest The other night in Atlanta an exhibitor — name edited DUt — got on his two feet and announced to his audience, of tvhich there was little: "Due to a lack of patronage, [ am raising my prices from 15 cents to 20 cents." James R. Grainger brought his one back yesterday from he South. Patman Bills Believed Dead for This Session Pillories Circuit Operation By Remote Control fromN. Y. By DAVID J. CHATKIN Cleveland, March 19. — Circuit operation of theatres by remote New York control as it exists today cannot, in my opinion, continue to function in this manner very much longer. It is slowly but surely becoming apparent that these theatres are only rising and falling with the tide of general conditions and under the present setups can never return anything regularly on their investments. So-called circuit operation reached its peak in 1931. At that time I was the operating head of the circuit comprising the largest number of theatres in the country, scattered practically through all of the 48 states. I had at my command some 20-odd years of experience in every phase of the motion picture industry, in addition to actual, first-hand acquaintanceship with each of the theatres in every state. Therefore, I felt myself fully equipped to sit behind a desk in a big building on Broadway and with the aid of countless managers, district managers, division managers, etc., to operate this business. I recall on many occasions discussions with other executives in which (Continued on page 11) F. & M. Tips Prices; Others May Follow What may develop into a general move to tilt admissions on the West Coast is seen in a plan of F. & M., following its recent step in St. Louis, to hike the tariff in its houses along the Pacific seaboard. As a reflection of the swing, prices at the Paramount, Los Angeles, in the last few day have been increased from 25 cents to 35 cents from opening to 1 P. M. ; from 25 cents to 40 cents from 1 P. M. to 6 P. M., while dur(Continued on page 8) A Line on Chatkin /N 1931, the capital investment of theatres owned in toto, owned in part or operated by Paramount Publix had reached the staggering sum of approximately $250,000,000. This figure may be conservative. In point of number of theatres about which Publix had anything at all to say at that time, the total ran somewhere between 1,200 and 1J00. In charge of the works under Sam Katz was David J. Chatkin, onetime general sales manager of Educational and for six years prior to '31 a ranking theatre executive at Publix. In that year, circuit expansion had reached its zenith and, of the biggest circuit of them all, Chatkin was the operating head. Today, he is identified with Monarch Theatres, a small chain operating in Indianapolis, Akron, Youngstown and Steubenville, but, in the light of his experience in affairs considerably farther flung, the author of the accompanying article is well qualified to speak his mind. K A N N Majestic Men Here For Company Talks Majestic franchise holders yesterday started a series of conferences with Herman Gluckman, president; William D. Shapiro and E. H. Goldstein, vice-presidents, which revolve around the production plans of the organization. Current expectations are that production will be resumed in about two weeks. By that time, it is ex(Continued on page 8) RCA Men Silent on London Radio Story RCA executives were non-committal yesterday when queried on a report published by the London Sunday Dispatch, which attributed an alleged attempt by American interests to secure (Continued on page 8) Reformers for Federal Board; Hiss Conner y During Hearing Washington, March 19. — Consensus of opinion here at the close of the hearing on Congressman Patman's bill to create a Federal commission to control films was that both this bill and Patman's other bill aimed at block booking are dead for this session at least. The hearing was conducted by the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. Patman and other proponents of the bill protested they were not seeking any sort of censorship, but they were quick to hiss Congressman Con(Continued on page 12) Chicago Mayor Asks More Censor Money Chicago, March 19. — Mayor Kelly swung back at film interests this week by asking the City Council Finance Committee for an additional $40,000 for the censorship budget. This is viewed as a counter move to offset the disclosure recently that while local distributors and theatres paid out approximately $70,000 a year in censor and inspection fees, the actual cost of operating the censor board amounted to only $37,000 last year. The Mayor is reported proposing to hire additional inspectors to visit theatres with the extra money he feels the censorship department needs. This move, if sanctioned, would automatically kill any hope of relief that local distributors are seeking. Vidor Clinches Deal With U, A. as Indie Hollywood, March 19. — King Vidor has definitely established himself as an independent producer by completing a deal to release his first production on his own, "Our Daily Bread," through (Continued on page 8) Such Is Fame The price of popularity. John C. Flinn is getting fan mail. All requests for photos must be accompanied by 25 cents in cash. ft