Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1929)

1196 An Average Week On BVay Without Outstanding Hit; Influx Of New $2 Specials "Married In Hollywood" Only One Last Week's Crop To Show Life; "Rio Rita" Due Sunday BROADWAY failed to have an outstanding box offiee hit last week. It was an average week on the street from the money viewpoint with nothing developing that stood out. The leader of the street was Fox' "Married in Hollywood," at the Roxy which did $116,972 and was held over for a second week. Second money went to the Capitol with William Haines in "Speedway" a silent picture which came through to the tune of $77,094..V). while at the Paramount "Paris Bound" got $70,600. "The Careless Age" at the Strand played to $33,512, which is nice business there, but not any too hot, while "To-night at 12," a mystery thriller at the Colony, managed to get $13,643. "Seeds of Revolt," in its third week at the Cameo, droped to $4,467. The Rivoli held "The Dance of Life" for its ninth and final week there with a box office showing of $20,000, against which "Bulldog Drummond" at the Rialto in its fifth week returned $27,700. Goldwyn's end of the Rialto engagement will be in the neighborhood of $85,000. New Specials Arrive This week was a week of openings along Broadway as far as the extended runs are concerned. Five new offerings are being made. The first was on Tuesday night when Richard Barthelmess' "Young Nowhere" opened at the Central; Wednesday night George Arliss came to the Warner's in "Disraeli"; Thursday night "Sunnyside Up" was offered by Fox at the Gaiety and on Friday night "Blackmail," a British made talkie, came to the Selwyn. Radio's "Rio Rita" opens at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunday night. This opening is being awaited with the keenest interest I'm the picture has been heralded as the greatest of till outdoor talkie productions to date. The "(iir.ii Gabbo" film moved from the Selwvn t" the Globe 1 1 1 i .-, week, after having drawn $6,072 at tin 12nd street bouse. Tin chances an it will do better at the Globe. At the Astor "The Hollywood Revue" returned $22,905, which was a drop. "Fast ON THE AIR Hollywood — At Grauman's Chinese when "The Cock-Eyed World" opened: 1). W. (irillith: "Good evening, ladies and Ken tlcmen." Radio Announcer (cutting in): Thai w as David Wark Griffith.' DWG —"Good night, ladies an 1 ecu tlemcn.' World Total W. E. Sound Systems 3,000 THE installations of a Western Electric sound system in the Coliseum Theatre, Barcelona, Spain, marks the 3.000th installation throughout the world. In the United States the number of houses now wired with this system has reached a total of 2,539. These are well scattered throughout the States and are practically all film and disc devices. Seating capacity where they have been installed ranges from small projction rooms of branch exchanges to houses of from 500 to 2,200 seats. P. L. Palmerton, foreign manager for ERPI, announces that the first W. E. system in the Malay Peninsula, at Singapore, is being installed. The nearest wired houses to this point are in India where five are in operation. Life," at the Central in its seventh and final week, did $7,680.50, while "Flight," the Columbia aerial feature, pulled $18,194 at the Cohan, proving itself a hit of considerable proportions. "Four Feathers," at the Criterion in its fifteenth week, showed $10,500 and is leaving next week to be followed by "Applause." "Hallelujah," at the Embassy, dropped off a little to $S,(m!I, while the Grandeur showing of "The Movietone Follies" in its second week was a decided flop. The business was under $6,000 on the week. "Street Girl," in its ninth and final week played to $10,516. Al Jolson's "Say It with Songs" finished the run at the Warner with $14,214.25 making way for "Disraeli," while "The Gold Diggers of Broadway" continued at the Winter Garden doing $26,751.50. Dual System Of Sound Acquired By Phono-Kinema Phono-Kinema. a corporation recently formed in New York, has acquired a license to manufacture sound-on-film apparatus in the United State anil Canada under the Nakken patents. This move will enable tlie company to include both disc and soundon-filni with installations. Deliveries nl' the dual \ teni 'ire at pi-edit scheduled Eor Eour weeks after receipt and acceptance of m-der and reproducers are priced al $2,950 in-tailed, implifioa linn, monitor, control hoard anil speakers are included in this figure but not cost of wiring between stage ami booth, Exclusive ,.t' amplification, monitor, control board ■■on! speakers, -nun. I heads are listed al $] ,750 each per units ui two. All equipment is sold outright, withoul service charge and a guaranti t' patent protect ion Motion Picture News 100 Technicolor Feature Pictures On New Schedules 25 Color Cameras In Work; One Added Each Week; Plant Expanding There will be at least 100 feature motion pictures photographed entirely or in part in Technicolor shown in theatres throughout the United States this season, was stated this week by Dr. Herbert Kalmus, president of the Technicolor Company. Contracts have been signed, he says, with Paramount, Warner Brothers, M-G-M, First National, R-K-O, Universal and other companies for use of special camera equipment for more than fifty feature productions and these, supplementing completed Technicolor films or those now before the cameras, comprise the hundred pictures. Twenty-five cameras are working and this supply is being increased at the rate of one per week. Technicolor is engaged in plant expansion which will provide eight times the present production capacity, is making plans for a New York plant to handle color photography and negotiations are under way to establish a European plant with headquarters at London. More than a score of the most important talking and musical films to be presented on Broadway during the next few months will be entirely or partly in Technicolor. Some of them are : Paramount's "The Vagabond King." starring Dennis King in the musical romance which brought him fame; "Pointed Heels," with William Powell; "Glorifying the American Girl." _ First National's "Sally," starring Marilyn Miller; "Paris," starring Irene Eonloni ; "Song of the Flame." from the musical show "No No Nanette;" "Little Johnny Jones," starring Eddie Buzzell; "Footlights and Fools.' starring Colleen Moore and "Son of the Gods." Warner Brothers' "The Show of Shows." a novelty revue featuring 100 stars of the screen, theatre and opera; "General Crack," starring John Barrymore; "Golden Dawn" and "Hold Everything." Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "The Rogue's Song," star, ring Lawrence Tibbett; "Cotton and Silk." starring the Duncan Sisters; and "Lord Byron of Broadway RKO's "Rio Rita," starring Bebe Daniels and others. 11 Distributors And Film Boards Of Trade Sued A suit of injunction brought by the Byrd Theatre Co., ' Bluebird Theatre Co., the Brookland Theatre and Walter ,1. Coulter, all of Richmond, Va.. ami the Bluebird Theatre, Petersburg, Va., has been filed in Washington, ll. C. Defendants in the action an the Hays Office, the Washington Film Board, .lames ]',. Fitzgerald, secretary of the Board, and 11 distributors who are charged with $5,700 damages in deposits which, declare the plaintiffs, were demanded before they could obtain Sims, in what they claim is an illegal combination nl' tin Sherman anti-trust law. They ask that the awards he set aside. The eleven defendant distributors in this suit attacking the legality of deposits demanded from exhibitors and exhibiting companies Eor alleged failure to comply with awards made bj the arbitration board an-: Interstate Film Co., Paramount, M i' \l. First National, United Artisis. Pox, Pathe, BKO, Tiffany, Vitagraph, W. B.