Variety (Aug 1938)

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l^ednesdaj, August 17, 1938 PICTURES VARIETY 31 306 inlresh Move to Oust Empire Boothmen from N.Y.; Picket 8 in Bldyn Long stymied in trying to bust Empire operators from the, few booths they still control, Local 306, Moving Picture Machine Operators of New York, enlistied the aid of musicians and stagehands in a fresh drive which started with intensive picketing Monday, (15) against eight A. H. Schwartz (Century circuit) houses in Brooklyn. Hie goal of 306 is 100% unionizatioii of Greater ■ New Yoirkrto the total exclusion of Empire with which numerous efforts for a merger proved to no avaih Schwartz's eight houses pounced on Monday (15) by the triple- barreled union : offensive are the Oceania, Avalon, Kingsway, Mayfair, Midwood, Vogue, Bliss and Merrick, all In Brooklyn.. They have for years employed Empire operators at allegedly lower scales than would be necessary if ,306 were installed. There are additional theatres, though not many now, which stiir use the Emp boothmen. Among these are nine more ■ Schwartz theatres ■ which are to .be added to the picketing list this wee!: in what is characterized as 306's last stand agaiiist.. the opposition Empire union. Emp has confined itself most- ly to Brooklyn in late years, wiUi an understanding at one time. resulting iii 306 and Erhp continuing their operations without trouble. How- ever, after Allied, a miich .stronger ops union,' was taken in by 306, the latter went to .work on Empire and sought an absorption but Without success. : In the latest attack, 306 has ob- tained the cooperation of Local 802 (musicians) and Local No. 4, Brook lyn stagehands. EXHIBS QUIZ COPS ON WHY PIN6ALLS ARE OK Philadelphia, Aug! 16. Exhibs, . whose . bingo and banko games havie been nixed by the law as games of chance,, are questioning city ofiScials on their apparent ap- proval of pihball, slot-machine and other .catch-penny games in ' drug stores,: tap. rooms and amusement parkjs throughout the city. ' Film inen claim their games were no more games of chance than these and that the ban is discriminatory. Safecrackers' Missout ' Mechanlcville, N. Y , Aug. 16. .Burglars visited the State, North Main street house, Friday night (12) but departed empty handed because they were unable to crack the, office safe. There was only a small amount of money in it. . Police stated that they believed the burglars to be beginners; they succeeded only in knocking bIT the safe's combination. Atlanta, Aug. 16. Cascade (nabe) theatre's office safe is made of stern stuff. Sti-ong- box last week resisted elToiis of cracksmen for third time, when yeggs were balked after iamming combination. First attempt to loot safe took place in December, second three months ago. There was about $150 in box, e. Hi Stokes, assistant man- ager, ,stated. He said he believed yeggmen hid in house after closing hour. Tricky 'Topper' ^ Hollywood, Aug. 16. Complicated trick shots lor 'Top- Takes a Trip,' s.Urling (24^ at we Hal Roach studio, will require a. .separate eight-rhan crew of spe.- cial ^technicians in addition to the regular camera outfit. Sequel to the original 'Topper' have twice, as many ma- terializations. 'PASSAGE' WAITS Hollywood, Aug. 16. • Date for the start of shooting on raetros 'Northwest Passage' was f °^'Poned to Aug. 23. Troupe was u u ifor Idaho locations last week but director W. S. Van Dyke was busy pickup shots for Sweethearts;' . ^inter wUi have Robert Taylor, ihil'^*'' Traicy and Wallace Beery in '"e top roles. The Climax Philadelphia, Aug. .16, Life of a.'busyman: " Lewen Pizor, prez of United. Motion Picture Theatre Own- ers, next Friday night will open the Ace theatre, which he re- cently acquired and rebuilt. The following Friday night he'll, open the Tiogai,; also re- cently acquired and rebuilt. The third Friday night he'll open his nev/ Chelten theatre. . And the ' following Friday night he'll get married. ams ChainNowK Less Than a Year .. Philadelphia, Aug. 16. Affiliated Theatre .Circuit, Inc., 'headed by Dave MUgi'am, jumped io 16 houses last week with acquisition of .the Frolic. Organized less than a year ago. Affiliated is now the largest indie - chain .in the territory. . Circuit <>will take over operation of the Frolic Sept 1; It will reopen the Walton;. Ciermantowni Aug.: 24, ind light lip its hew. Adelphl on Sept 16. Adelphi is. being erected'at a cost of $80,000 .to retaliate aigainst Charles Segall, chairman of the board of: .United Motion Picture Theatre Own- ers,, whois putting up a house near Milgram's Wklton. Affiliated opened its Rialto last week after, it was closed for exten- sive alterations. Joy, Houston, b Second Barrage; Dynamite Now Houston, Aug. 16, Four sticks .of dynamite with a partially burned fuse attached were foUnd by firemen Thursday night (11) on- the roof of the Joy, sniall downtown picture house, sec- ond run. It was in the same theatre that a stench bomb, was thrown burning several patrons, about six weeks ago. Percy Wade, manager, said,- he knew of no reason why the dynamite was placed on the roof or why any- one would wish to daihage the thea- tre. Investigating police said it was im- possible to take fingerprints from the dynamite or the tape which bound the sticks together. Police blame labor trouble. The theatre employs CIO men while the other theatres deal with AFL union men. H. M. Brooks' N(Hniiiation Albany, Aug. 16. Harry M. Brooks, operator of Proctor's, Troy, N. Y., prez of the Troy Operators' Union for the past 21 years, and the present secretary- treasurer of State Association was nominated American Laboi: candi- date for Congressman from the 29th. district.. He'was .a Third District Republi- can Assemblyrhan in 1926. Woods, Chi, Again First Run When It Becomes S&SFlag ship Chicago, Aug. 16. With the takeover of the Woods, which has been a subsequent run spot under the Jones, Linick & Schaefer banner, Essaness is consid- ering returning the house to a first- run theatre as it was. when operated by RKO. Essaness threesome, Eddie Silver- man, Emil Sterh and Sidney iSpiegel, have had their eye out for ; a loop flagship for some time. Their , cir- cuit, numbers .30 theatres. Only the relatively small seating capacity (1,200 seats) militates against the Woods as an initial spot for flickers, but Essaness believes that this deficiency can be made up in the prestige which, would, accrue to the circuit, and result in increased Analysis of Oklahoma s 400 Houses Shows Them to Be Virtually Indie The Millennium . , Seattle, Aug. 16. Owner of local sign - shop, specializing in theatre lobbies, believes he's witnessed the ap- proach of the millennium. Indie operator advised him that his program was changing the following day.. Sign man stated that the shop was too busy to turn out a lobby, so theatre , man postponed opening . for a coupla days until signs could be remedied. trade for string. all the theatres in the MONO SALES CLIMB; TO PRODUCE ABROAD . Hollywood, Aug. 1,6. Monogram's sa'es thus : far this year are up 38% over the corre- sponding figures for 1937, in spite of a b.o. decline throughout the country, according to president W, Ray John- stone; With over 6,000 outlets' in U. S., Monogram plans to enter the produc- tion field in England. Cost of four productions'in London.will be shared by Pathe, the company's British re- leasing outfit. Details will be an- nounced at the next board meeting, Sept. 29. U Reshuffles Trio Hollywood, Aug. 16. Another shuflfle at Universal puts Joy Hedges back in 'Service De Luxe'; Dorothea Kent in 'Adam's Evening,' and Nan Grey back in 'The Storm.' Reason for triple re-shift is that Miss Kent, who was to have gone into 'Storm,' will not be able to finish 'Youth Takes a Fling" in time. Miss Cirey was to have replaced Miss Hodges in 'De Luxe.- idiot' Still Off ,'Hollywood, Aug. 16. Opening gun on Metro's Clark Gable-Norma Shearci slaner, 'Id.iot's Delight," has been postponed another month, making it 60 days late. Gable is still working in 'Tbo Hot to I'iaiidle," after ^vhich he will take a two-week vacatioii provided in his contract. Leonard's Starte.r Hollywood, Aug. 16. First chore by. Robert Z. Leonard under his new .irodiiccr-director pact with Metro is an untitled yarn of stage folks, starting Saturday (20). Jeannette MacDonald is in the top role. Story is by Leonard and Charles Lcdcrer. Mooney's Film Buying Combine tor Cleve. Indies • , Cleveland, Aug. 16. ; Milt A. Mooney, former branch manager of Paramount has organized Co-operative Theatres of Ohio, with idea of getting small indies better terms on film product and other ac- cessories. Combine so far includes 13 Cleveland houses, while 20 , down- state theatre;; also have signed con- tracts permitting hini to do their '38- '39 buying. Local nabes in new chain include the Avalon, Beach Cliff, Corlett, Ezella, Garfield, Jen- nings, LaSalle, Lorain-Fulton, Ly- ceum, Madison, New Victory, Parma and Regent. Song of the Sagebrush Hollywood, Aug. 16. Jack Vance, recently with Mal- colm Browne Productions, joined George H. Callaghan- of Sovereign Pictures to produce six westerns. Series is called 'The Singing Biickaroo.s.' featuring Ralph Wil- liams, Ray Thompson and Zcke Clements. WB Encoring Trio Hollywood, Aug. ic; Gombinatioh of Jimmy Carney. Pat O'Brien and Marie Wilson will be used again in. Warnois 'Boy' Meets Sally,' a picturb along, th'? lines, of 'Boy Meets Girl." Mark ■ Hellinger and Earl Baldwin wrote the story. John Payne and Priscilla Lane will have the romantic leads and Lloyd Bacon will direct. Coast Chiefs For Operations Parley Los Ahgele.';, Second regional convention of op- crating chiefs of far wcstiern sub- sidiaries of National Theatres, .Inc., comprising the Fox West Coast, Evergreen and Principal Theatres operations along the.' Pacific; Coast, got under way here yesterday (15) to continue for three days. Spyros Skouras, head of National Theatres, and Charles P. Skouras,' prexy of Fox West Coast Theatres, are presid- ing,; with around 75 field and home office execs participating. Regional follows a similar confab held last week in Kansas City for the midwestern and Rocky Mountain operations of.. SkbiirasBros.,' and takes the place of a proposed ~na-t tional convention previously ^sched- uled- for Del Monte. Meeting, is to discuss film product bought for the 1938-39 season and general theatre operating problems. Circuits' par' ticipation in the 'Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment''cam- paign will also be mapped out dur- ing the three-day parley. Here from New York with Spy- ros Skouras are Harry Cox, treas-. urer of National Theatres: attorney William Powers,. J. J. Sullivan, chief filin buyer.for Fox-West Coast, and John Haeley, sec to Spyros Skouras. Repre.senting .Evergreen Theatres of the Ptcific Northwest are Frank Newman, John Hamrick, Al Finkle- stein, Al Rosenberg, Frank Christie and A. M. Ahlskog, treasurer of the subsid. Northern California division of F-WC is headed by Arch M- Bowles, and includes district managers Dick Spier, Harry Siepel and Nick Tur-, ner; chief booker Charles Thall; Phil Phillips, in charge of advertising- publicity, and Elmer Hanks, North- ern California realty and mainte- nance chief. Southern California is represented by all district managers, head book-, er Larry Kent, all home office bookers, and one theatre manager from each district, in addition to home office execs. Oklahoma City, Aug. 10. Oklahoma's 400 theatres will b» left practically Untouched by th6 Government's divorcement ' bill it carried through, in its present form. Only a few of the state's 130 chain operated houses are connected with the production or distribution end, with the remaining-270 .coming in as full-riedged. independen . ' Griflith Amus; Co., with its sub- sidiaries, coritrOls the largest single block in the state and has no con- nections, other than booking, with any of the exchanges or producing companies. Standard Theatres, which controls all of the Oklahoma City downtown first-run houses except T. B. Noble, Jr.'s, State, is a Cooper-Warner tie- up and presumably : would be afr fccted by the divorcement bill. Com- pany,, however, -was not named in ■the indictment. Robb it Rowley, most of whoso houses ,are in Texas with a few in southern and central Oklahoma, is- understood to have a United Artists money tie "and would probably be- forced to sever this connection. Southwes.tern (I.sley & 'Moran\ with approxiniatoly 30 houses in Oklahoma City, talsa .iiiul snialler toViThs, is another purely exhib chai with central headquarteis in Tulsa.' An additional oftice maintained by Squthw'csterh in the Oklahoma City film row. , Ralph Talbot has .Tiil-sa's llrst-run business fairly well under control with four downtown spots. In ad- dition Talbot has the Akdar Temple, ■which is equipped lor film slibwing. and for special product or road shows and has the largest seating capacity in Tulsa. Talbot has no exchange or. production connections. State also lias several inclcpendent operators with from -two' to fivei. houses but none of them ^ could be considered in the chain cla.ss. Kids Go Floy-Floy Hollywood, AUf!. 10. Beri Judell picked 'The Rbvolt of Youth' as the next Pro^'ressive pro- duction following 'I Want a Divorce,' Picture starts early in October with Phil 'Rosen as pilot. CRATES FLY AGAIN Holiyv/ood, Au«. IB. Two dozen ancient Nieupovts and Fokkers are being reconditioned for war • sequences in Warners 'Dawn Patrol.' 'Pielure moves to outdoor locations this week. Time Not A'wjastin' Hollywood, Au,^. id. Triem Carr is" rushing production on his series of Bob Baker .wc.':terns for Universal. 'Twins of the West' was turned in la-st v.-eek. a, .sccohd funtillcd) is now under way and a third is ready for the gun. Filming is being clone on Iwati-n at Chatsworth; THE TOUR BEGINS Hollywood, And. abcl Takes a Tour' got iiiulc-r w;iy, yesterday ( with Jack O.Tkic a starred. Lew Landers diiectin« Others In ■ the cast iiro F'ianccs ! Mercer. Ruth Donnelly. Alice VVhite. ; Ed G;ii-g!in iind Lew Kelly. MANAGER PINCHED ON BANKO, TORD NIGHT Lynchburg ,Aug. 16. Elmore D. Heins, v. p. and gen- eral mahagei: of National Theatre Corp., Roanoke, Va., has been book- ed on lottery charge to test his right to hold 'bank nighf and 'Ford night' in American, Roanoke, Park .and Rialto theatres. Hearing set for Au-, gust 25 by Police Judge Harris Birchfleld. R. Lee Carney, attorney, presented a petition signed by citi- zens protesting against alleged lot-- Icry,. Freak Ohio Tornado Wrecks Cinema, Circus Cleveland, Aug. IC. Freak storm disrupted a circus and partly wrecked a nabe theatre la.st week. Lightning struck the 45- foot brick chimney of the Commo- dore, East Side hoiise, scattering bricks which went through ceiling ol" auditorium. Several hundred cus- tomers were panicked but nobody hurt. Same Wind blew down tent of Newton's Savage Africa Circus in nearby WiMoughby. Fact it hap- pened an hour after last show pre- vented further damages, although Waltei- L. Main, fnrrtier owner, and the only one in tent, suffered shock. Sues on Oral Pact .ris An«oIo?, Au!». 10. Geoi-Kc Klein David.son is .suing Tvilcon Productions, Inc., for Si5,807, cliiiming the indie outfit broke ■ 6i;;il contract. D;ividsori dcclorod ho w;is hired as Mondnvl -It ItKC ' '"Cation scout, a.wistJint cIii'cctDr und nd L icillc B.-.II CO- „fi^., j.o,„p,<;iin;; one pic-turo.. MICKEY'.S STDELINER Holl.vwoorl, Aim. ~ " '~ . K;iy K;in;f;;i n^^,'.; (ivc-y<!;ir nVD <rn rn contract c:-:. ;'!-ivc ici):-c'.--iitiiliva UflJi m hV for ihit Willi ;i:.:;;'-v E:r.':!-|i:^ be- IloHywood, An;;. 10; , ijrniiirij; J;in, 1. 'The Last Outlaw,' story by Robert k'ni' s'iy.- ycnv,; l<:imcn li.is imndled Krhmett.'is the first of eight Jack ..''H CfDiuii'^.".-.il .ir.-l .iccn.siir,' ;iclivi- Randall westerns to be made by ; tics of Dih D,'.-,iify names and cli.nrac- MonOgram for the 1938-.'»9 .sked, ,t,ci.<, wllh ovc'^ 151 mariiifiiclurers Shooting .starts Aug. 29 with ! ch;irter(!d tp ,ii :e cartoon characters Robert Taiisoj producliig! lb..more th.w)''?,000 articles.