Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

The Leading Motion Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, Intelligent ft the Industry in All Branches *rOL. 35. NO. 67 NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1934 TEN CENTS Line Up Busy Schedule for MPTOA Meet business Items Varied — Entertainment Lavish Tentative program for the M.P.T.O.A. convention, as it stood yesterday, appears on page 8. Program for the annual convention t the M.P.T.O.A. in Los Angeles ipril 10-12 took definite form yesterjay. The entertainment features of ie program are in charge of the condition arrangements committee in .os Angeles of which B. N. Berinstein . chairman. The general plan is to hold the busiiess sessions in the forenoons, the trips irough the studios in the afternoons (Continued on pane 8) lee Big Year Again With Fair's Return Chicago, March 21— With the Chiiago World's Fair set to play a reurn engagement at the end of spring, xhibitors here are looking forward /ith high hopes to another big year, ^.n index of what they may expect ; the number of advance reservations eported by Chicago hotels. Officials f the Stevens and Palmer House and mailer hostelries announce reservaions are as much as double those of ast year. Expectation that this year's hotel rade will be 80 per cent transient and Durist, as against 20 per cent in 1933, i pointed to as indicating bigger exosition crowds and hence bigger boxffice business. rhree Bills Aimed At N. F. Censorship ' Albany, March 21. — Three bills for bolition of censorship are pending in jhe Legislature. The latest was introduced today. Two bills presented by Assemblyman Herbert Brownell, Jr., of New /ork, are designed to continue the •resent $3 per 1,000 feet negative (.Continued on page 4) WO Picks Muchnic To Succeed Nolan George Muchnic has been appointed assistant secretary of the RKO Disputing Corp. by Ned E. Depinet, resident. He succeeds Joseph Nolan, (Continued on page A) Begin With Gin Cincinnati, March 21. — Whether intentional on the part of the host, or a slip of the printer, is not known, but invitations to a midnight party to be given by a local exhibitor, read in part: "Festivities will be gin at 11 :30." Coast Agents, Actors Draft Labor Pact Hollywood, March 21. — After several meetings between attorneys representing agents and those representing the State Labor Bureau, to draft a new set of rules and laws by which the state can adequately supervise the agents' employment activities, both parties held their final meeting here today and agreed on a new draft acceptable to both factions. This draft will now be forwarded to Joseph J. (Continued on page 4) Skouras Orders End Of All FWC Triples Declaring he is against triple features in any shape or form, Charles Skouras has ordered them out of Fox West Coast houses. Some F. W. C. managers have been adding previews to dual bill shows on the coast while Skouras has been in the east. When the practice was called to his attention, it was immediately ordered stopped, according to Skouras. Another Para. Rent Claim Is Expunged A $2,500,000 rent claim against Paramount Publix, filed bv the Chippewa Realty Co for the Great Lakes (Continued on page 4) YEAR MORE OF TAX ON TICKETS LOOMS Council Told 75% of Films Hit the Mark That 75 per cent, of Hollywood's output is acceptable to the critical eyes of leaders of the Motion Picture Research Council was among the first statements to be made by Mrs. August Belmont, New York social luminary and new president of the organization, in addressing the council's national conference luncheon at the Hotel Roosevelt yesterday. Everything considered, the industry itself was treated pretty leniently by the luncheon speakers despite the fact that films came in for their full share of such harsh, descriptive terminology as "low-charactered" merchandise and (Continued on page 10) Code Complaints to Be Aired at Hearing Washington, March 21. — Declaring that a "very large number" of complaints against the code have been filed with them, officials of the recently appointed National Recovery Board of Review will hold a hearing March 26 on charges that the agreement is (Continued on page 4) Rosenblatt Receives $7,060 in NRA Post Washington, March 21. — Sol A. Rosenblatt, division administrator in charge of amusements, today was shown to be among the highest paid (Continued on page 4) Hearst Paper in Chicago Tries New Type Reviews Chicago, March 21. — Exhibitors and distributors alike are watching the recent innovation in film reviews instituted by the Chicago Evening American under which this newspaper is publishing forthright "reports" on pictures rather than critical opinions. This change to reporting on pictures in place of the time honored criticism is an idea nurtured by William Hollander, advertising director of B. & KLj over the past two years. Hollander was no little surprised, and (Continued on page 7) Senate Finance Group Favors Continuance Of Present Levy Washington, March 21. — Retention of the present admission tax until after July 1, 1935, was provided for today by the Senate Finance Committee through rejection of Chairman Pat Harrison's plan for elimination of a number of nuisance taxes, admissions included. The committee accepted Harrison's proposal for retention of the capital stock and excess profits taxes and made a few changes in miscellaneous taxes other than admissions, but held it unwise to make any wholesale elimination of taxable items until capital stock and excess profits revenues begin to come into the Treasury 15 (Continued on page 4) Lilyan Tashman Dies In a Hospital Here Lilyan Tashman died unexpectedly yesterday afternoon at the Doctors' Hospital following an operation performed five days ago for a tumorous condition. Her death came as a shock to those in the show world. Edmund Lowe, her husband, was present at her death. Miss 'Tashman was born in Brooklyn and attended New York public schools. Her early ambition to become an actress led her to a tour of New York agencies. While on one of (Continued on page 7) Poster Men to Meet Apr, 7 in St. Louis St. Louis, March 21.— Members of the National Poster Service Ass'n from all over the country are slated to hold an important meeting here around April 7. Simon Libros, of Philadelphia is president of the organization, which plans to print its own posters on pictures from all companies. Recently the men met in New York where tentative approval was given the plan for putting out posters on a plan similar to distributing companies. Lesser Will Repeat 'Tarzan' Experiment Hollywood, March 21. — Sol Lesser will follow the experiment of "Tarzan, the Fearless" with another picture along the same lines. When (Continued on page 4)