Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

24 MOTION PICTURE HERALD April 4, 19 3 1 Monogram Is Set For 28 Features Monogram Pictures, federation of regional distributors, headed by W. Ray Johnston, is hning up directors for the 28 features on the 1931-32 list. Trem Carr, vice-president, is heading production, Charles A. Post, Coast studio business manager and Ernie Hickson technical director. Twelve melodramas and 16 Westerns are included. The former are "The Arm of the Law," "Ships of Hate," "Klondike," "The Western Limited," "The Law of the Sea," "Police Court," "Strangers of the Night," "Forgotten Women," "The Midnight Patrol," "Isle of Hunted Men," "The Fatal Alarm" and "In Line of Duty." The Westerns, in two groups of eight, each to feature a star, include: "Dugan of the Badlands," "The Montana Kid," "The Land of Wanted Men," "The Law of the North," "So This Is Texas," "Oklahoma Jim," "Mason of the Mounted" and "The Man from New Mexico." The second eight are "Partners of the Trail," "Vanishing Men," "Galloping Through," "The Man from Death Valley," "The Ghost City," "Two-Fisted Justice," "The Honor of the Mounted" and "Single-Handed Sanders." U Seeks to Solve Idle Print Problem To solve the idle print problem, Universal is rapidly inaugurating a system of four central booking stations. The first is located in Chicago, where the plan is said to be successful ; the second opens in New York April 6, and there will be one for the South in Dallas and another for the West Coast in either Los Angeles or San Francisco. According to the system, duplicate booking records of the various exchanges will be kept by the central offices, and control of all prints will be in the hands of central bookers, who will date in bookings for exchanges not having sufficient prints and ship to the theatres designated by the exchange booker. No Decision Reached by U On Successor for Rockne Stunned by the fatal accident to Knute Rockne, noted football coach, executives of Universal have not yet given thought to his successor in the football sequences of the Ail-American Sports series. Twentysix one-reel subjects will comprise this group of subjects to be produced in conjunction with Christy Walsh. Rockne was killed in an airplane accident while en route to Universal City for a conference with Carl Laemmle. Goe Resigns Tiffany Post To Join Hanson's Company Carl J. Goe, for the last three years with Tiffany, has resigned to assume general managership of Hanson Corporation, distributor of commercial short product Goe's last post with Tiffany was that of sales manager, succeeding Oscar Hanson, whom he now joins. A. H. Schnitier Promoted Ned E. Depinet, vice president and general sales manager of RKO Pa+he, has appointed A. H. Schnitzer short subject sales manager, to assume his duties immediately. Schnitzer who is a veteran sales executive has been special representative of Depinet's home ofRce staff. He came to RKO Pathe from the Pittsburgh office of RKO where he had been in charge since 1922, having continued in this post through the various mergers culminating in the present RKO Radio organization. The new short subjects sales manager will meet the sales staff at the first national convention of RKO Pathe in Chicago in April, at which time he will outline the 1931-32 line-up of short product to be distributed by the organization. Writers Studio ''Kings'', States W. A. Johnston The weekly payroll of writers at the studios exceeds $250,000 and the yearly total is probably $15,000,000, states William A. Johnston, Hollywood general manager of Quigley Publications, who calls the writer the "king pin" of the studio, supplanting the director, in his article "Writer's Gold" in the New York Herald Tribune. Talking pictures were responsible for the elevation of the writer, he states, noting that "Hollywood today houses the greatest writing industry this old world has seen thus far." One company has erected a five-story building with 90 luxurious offices for its writing staff, he states. The great care required to produce talking pictures, with dialogue a new development, has caused producers to insist on air-tight scripts that will do away with useless "shooting." "The status of the picture writer in the Hollywood studio right now tells the present day story of motion picture making. He is the king-pin in creative work. "He has, to an extent, taken that position away from the director. Only the director who can write seems to be sure of retaining his prestige these days. And this radical change has come about because of talking pictures. "In the early days of the silents, the director often wrote the story on his cuflf. And if he changed his shirt the next day was of no literary consequence. The picture generally wrote itself, anyway. "Later on, when motion pictures decided they were an art, the top-notch novelists came trooping to Hollywood; and that seems to be about all they did do. The script writers labored earnestly to put the masterpiece into picture form; but the director was the supreme factor. Quite often he would read the famous story and say: 'Now, I'll write a good one.' The novelists were generally amazed when their books appeared on the screen, and wondered who on earth wrote them. Again, pictures were frequently made in the film cutting rooms, strictly according to a film editor's idea of just what a story should be. "Today this is all changed. A new element, called preparation, has come into picture production. The story anatomy, dialogue and all, is meticulously laid out, well in advance of the shooting. The preperation era runs from one month to as high as six. Everything ^oes down on paper like an engineer's set of blueprmts." Argentina Faces Film Famine Buenos Aires — Producers' decision to suspend releases in Argentina because of duties threatens the country with a film famine. Chicago Fights to Halt Double Bills Taking its cue from Chicago, theatres in many sections of the country are going in for double featuring as never before. Chicago's "pink" system, by which pictures play on "adult only" tickets, first began to find more or less widespread adoption many months ago. And now, double features are beginning to follow the same course. Which does not, however, place the industry's stamp of approval on the system, as evidenced by decision of Balaban & Katz yesterday to turn over its two largest outlying Chicago de luxe houses, the Marbro and Granada, to double features in an attempt to force a show-down on the situation in that section of Chicago where the double feature "evil" has been most pronounced. Local Allied and MPTOA units now are meeting in Chicago to curtail double and triple featuring. Last fall, an agreement in Chicago failed to materialize because independents insisted on booking eliminations as the only basis of abandoning the doubling practice, but since that time canvasses have proved the exhibitors ready to cooperate since they found the objectionable practice unprofitable. Illinois Allied Extends Scheme Chicago (QP) — Illinois Allied plans to extend its booking circuit to include country and downstate theatres, in addition to the 35 Chicago houses now using the service, anticipating an eventual total of 100. Plans were developed at a meeting this week. An attempt will be made to enroll entire membership of the organization. The meeting also approved playing of the Oscar Hanson sponsored reel and Allied's cooperative maximum buying agreement with Universal. Ochs Succeeds Al Lightman As Prexy of M. P. Club The Motion Picture Club elected the following officers at a recent meeting: president, Lee A. Ochs ; vice-presidents, Jack Alicoate and James L. Ryan; treasurer, Lee A. Ochs ; secretary, Paul Gulick. One year directors are L. Klebenow, Sam Katz, David Loew, Sam Stern, E. H. Goldstein, James L. Ryan. Ochs succeeds Al Lichtman. Two year directors are: A. W. Stebbins, Lee A. Ochs, Harry Reichenbach, Arthur W. Kelly, Moe Mark, Al Lichtman. Three year directors are: Jack Alicoate, Emil C. Jensen, Lee Marcus, E. A. Schiller, Jack Shapiro, Louis F. Blumenthal. Martin Stern is assistant secretary and publicity director. Maclyn Arbuckle Dead Ogdensburg, N. Y. — Maclyn Arbuckle, 65, stage and screen actor, died this week at Waddington, St. Lawrence County, after a long illness. Jannings Due This Month Emil Jannings will arrive late this month for work at Paramount's Eastern studio. Ernst Lubitsch will direct the film.