Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1937)

8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD September 25, 1937 This Week Guilds and Unions Creative talent groups in the industry, organized in guilds for collective bargaining, formed a solid bloc in the path of a militant drive undertaken by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees for control of all organized labor connected with motion picture production. Increasing opposition to the IATSE bid for power was heard from the guilds, led by the Screen Actors, largest and, because of its alliance with Equity, most powerful of the group. Recollection of an accumulation of events before, during and since the Hollywood strike last spring bears importantly on understanding of the present issue. The troubled situation is explained in its present status and its earlier manifestations in the story starting on page 13. Collections Drop Admission tax collections by the federal government in August dropped to the lowest point since May at $1,599,242, it was reported this week by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The month's collections were nearly $34,000 under the July total of $1,633,088, and about 275,000 under the June high of $1,874,775, but were some $215,000 better than the August, 1936, collections of $1,384,107. For the eight months ended with August, the bureau reported, federal admission tax collections totaled $12,752,344, more than $1,500,000 better than the $11,189,899 collected in the same period last year. New Musical, Old Rules "Blossoms on Broadway" will be B. P. Schulberg's contribution to an already existing mass of proof that entertainment, and box office receipts, is still to be conjured from formulate old when Weber and Fields could command any booking. Gus McCarthy explains the method and analyzes the ingredients in the pictorial preview on page 16. Allied Views Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors of New Jersey assembled in convention in Atlantic City to discuss the sales policies of Paramount and MetroGoldwyn-Mayer, a proposed merger of the Independent Theatre Owners Association with Allied, and a plan put forward by Abram F. Myers for a film industry code similar to that in operation under the NRA. The meeting is reported and dates for two others are announced on page 38. Ruth Roland Dead Ruth Roland, for years a favorite heroine in death defying serials, died Wednesday in Hollywood after a long illness. Born in San Francisco and educated in Los Angeles, Miss Roland was first on the stage as a child actress, Baby Ruth, one of her first appearances being as Cinderella in a stock company. In 1912 she made her first Ruth Roland serial for motion pictures and it was quickly followed by many others. Her activities in recent years included vaudeville tours for RKO and Fanchon and Marco. Legion Antics Legionnaires, taking over New York City this week for the American Legion convention, proved a greater attraction with their street antics than motion picture theatres, with the result that, although there were approximately 500,000 visitors in the city, grosses did not spurt upward, as expected. Newsreel companies took advantage of the event by giving it extensive coverage. Paramount issued two specials on the convention. Legion activities with respect to theatres are explained on page 21. MOTION PICTURE HERALD Published every Thursday by Quigley Publishing Company, Rockefeller Center, New York City. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address "Quigpubco, New York." Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Colvin Brown, VicePresident and General Manager; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; Ernest A. Rovelstad, Managing Editor; Chicago Bureau, 624 South Michigan Avenue, C. B. O'Neill, manager; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Boone Mancall, manager, William R. 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Other Quigley Publications: Better Theatres, Motion Picture Daily, Teatro al Dfa, International Motion Picture Almanac and Fame. Lower Rentals Something in the nature of a retort, unmistakable even if not direct, is made by British exhibitors to suggestions that they increase charges for admission. Instead, the General Council of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association has decided to press anew for a reduction of rental rates. A special rentals committee was voted by the Council. All of which rubs up against a refusal of the Kinematograph Renters Society to discuss rentals with the CEA. A factor in this impasse, if such it again becomes, is the fact that in previous years, when the CEA has made similar demands, exhibitor members have paid 50 per cent or more for outstanding attractions, in spite of resolutions for a "40 per cent maximum," rather than see competitive theatres get the productions. Bruce Allan's story on this perennial problem starts on page 39. Wilbur and Council The Motion Picture Research Council this week ended two years of dormancy with a new program to "reform" the motion picture, this time aiming its crusade in the direction of "graded" films both for children and for adults, an ambition which the Council hopes to have realized by direct action of the producers, working with "the counsel of educational authorities." Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, president, names 24 prominent educators, clergymen, economists, industrialists, politicians to the Council's advisory committee, as reported on page 18. Increases Ordered The Commonwealth Amusement Corporation, operating 28 theatres in Missouri and Kansas, ordered admission prices increased "wherever and as fast as possible" at a managers' meeting at Lake of the Ozarks. Tentative increases to test out public reaction were reported satisfactorily received. The method by which the scales are to be revised is explained in the story on page 21. Asks Church Support Support by the church for the motion picture industry's policy of self-government was urged upon the Maine Universalist convention in Bangor by Carl E. Milliken, secretary of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, who emphasized, however, that the industry "confines itself to the business of furnishing wholesome entertainment." Mr. Milliken is quoted on page 34.