Variety (Nov 1938)

VARiETT PICTURES Wcdnefidiiyf November .16, 1938 Griffis Analyzes Par-Dumoiit's Visio; Scophony s American Hans •A special art for the production of film for televising, by Dumont, In which Paramount owns a 50% in- terest, may be developed, according to Stanton L. Griffis, chairman of the executive committee of Par who announced plans while on the Coast to immediately go ahead with this form of entertainment There is no present plan to-televise Par features or short subjects, but so far as news- reels are concerned, the television mediimi applies itself very directly. Par will operate Dumont as one of its subsidiaries but not as an in- tegral, direct part of production- distribution and theatre operation which forms the backbone of Para- mount Pictures Inc., although Grif- fis stresses that Par's interest in de- velopment of. television is to keep space of. progress, protect the in- vestment of its stockholders and theatres which will depend on tele^ vish -as .a benefit. He' senses no de- velopment in television that won't be to .the beitefit of .pictures and the theatres. What form a new type of film for television use may take is something that cannot be predicted at this stage, pending -the operatioii of . a Dumojtkt transmitter at Montclair, N. J., -some time in January or short- ly thereafter. A production sub- sidiarjr to tiorn out special film en- tertainment to be televised would no' xLoubt be set up by Par and Du- mpnt. The other 50% of Dumont Laboratories,. Inc., pioneer's- in tele- vision is owned the Allen B. Du- mont interests. Par is said to have paid ^0;000 for the half interest it controls. In addition to certain basic patents wiiich it is claimed.no one else has, and tests which have brought out good reception, the Du- mont Lab is manufacturing receiv- ing sets aiid cathode ray tubes with .certain improvements. Griffis has one-of ..the" "first sets in his private . ofHce at Par. It is built to retail for $395, v/iih first orders being filled to Macy's and Liberty Musie Stores, N. T. The set> receiving, an image ' Z X 11. inches and iio larger than the 'averae^ radio, yriU be brought down in cost when' matiufaclure. advances The li{;ense team the Federal Com- munications Commission, is to con' duct, experiinental. broadcasts. Cpmmetating On'tj^leviston but re minding'that he''s going to continue selling pictvu^es Hhe same; as usual, Neil F, . Ag|iew, Par v.p.. Over dis tribution, feels It is as dangerous to preset hoiy far televising "will go as it was to guess what would hap "pen to talking pictures when sound first -was developed.^ Scophony 'SolomoQ'. Sagall,' managing diree tor of ScopiuMiy, Ltd;, English -tele visioa company, claims that the American Scophony company plans r to place, its .own hpipe' television re . clivers.on the .market in anticipation of the start of regular' televjision broadcasting in N^w York nwtt spriqg. Company proposes to build a manufacturing plant to make these receivers for the U> S. market Scophony statement claims its television receivers give a picture nearly two feet square ih size.' Also stated that it has developed tele vision, apparatus providing large : screens and hopes to 'interest some picture companies in this country. Company proposes to enter the field of manufacture and sale of transmitting equipment after de- veloping film television transmitters and synchronization equipment. .The Scophony statement also says 'the American company, when estab lished. will investigate the possibili- ties of entering the.- field of com' . mercial television broiadcasting.' • WARNERS INTENSIVELY DAY-DATING 'ANGELS' With 300 or more day-and-date Thanksgiving week bookings as its goal,-more than 150 of Which have already been set by Grad Sears' sales department, Warner Bros, is sending 'Angels AVith Dirty Faces' on gen- eral release concurrent with this, the company's strongest, drive pn simultaneous dating on a try for a top rental take on any single week- ■for a picture. WB is plunging on an ad campaign for 'Angels' which may run to as much, as $125,000 in cost, according to the home office. A similar campaign is being laid out for 'Dawn' Patrol* release of which will be withheld until Christ- mas week. An early December release. Devil's IsLwiid,' is being tested in six spots Thanksgiving week. One of hese will. be New York and prob- able that the RiVoli will get 'Island' in'line with pre-release plansi Spe- cial exploiteers wilt be .put on to cover the six.-testing engagements. Have You ah Aspirin? Judges who will make final awards of prizes in the Movie Quiz contest being conducted by Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment, Inc., were announced yesterday (Tues- <iay) by George J. Schaefer. chairman. . Arbiters who Will pass upon distribution of $250,000 In prize money include- Mrs. Ogden Reid, of the N. Y. herald Tribune; Congressman Bruce Barton; Helen Wills Moody, tennis champ; Dr. James E. West, national commander of the Boy Scouts, and Hendrik Willem van Loon, writer. Contest closes Dec. 31. Maria Gambarelli Set To Head Met Opera Ballet ■ Maria Gambarelli, former picture house ballerina, goes to the Metro politan Opera this" yea?: to head an! ' expanded ballet of about 90 dancers Met's ballet has been around 35 in izv> of recent years. .'.' ••. ' i With an jicreased budget and un der the direction of Boris RamnofI, who cotnes over froin the ^Royal Ppeta, Rome, the Met will give sp;^* 'Cial evenings of all-ballet as welLjids V^loos - afterpieces. Miss OaioSbai^^llir^^w^ three i^otion .pictuires-in".Italy; last j^eason, ViU debut at the Met iti -connection Witli 'Aida' Thanlcsgiving Day. Jesse Jaiiies Shoots Up A Cycle in Hdllywood Hollywood, Nov. 15. Life of Al Jennings, one-time Ok- lahoma outlaw, will tie told in film planned by. Harry Sherman, pro- ducing for Paramount* Sherman, just back from, a loca- tion toiir of Oklahoma, proposes a picture costing $750,000 and'employ- ing 1,000 men, to start next Jan- uary, BM's New G.H.Q. Chicaj^o, Nov. 15. Balabari it Katz will move. its executive offices to the State-L^ke building shortly after the first'of' the. year. B. A K.- offices now located in the Chicago theatre building, and the Loop-End- building adjoining. By that time B.\ & K. will .be op- erating the State-Lake theatre on its own following terminatioii Of oper- ating, deal with Jones, Linick & Schaefer. Wagons Going West • Holly wdod,. Nov. 15. •Wagons Westward,* Repub^'s big budgeter, rolls Dec.; 1,. Sol Slegel producing and George Nichols, Jr., directing. Mary McCall, Jr., has been signiid to write additibsral dialog. LONDON WITH mKLU Hollywood^ Nov. IS. John R. London -moved into Ed' wiard Small Productions as assistant to Joseph, Nadel, production man- ager. Formerly London was at 20th-Fox, Okla/s m Wagner Act'Proposal Would Also Affect Show Biz Oklahoma City, Nov. 15. American Federation of Labor and the Committee for. Industrial Organ- ization have joined hands in Okla- honia to demand passage of a. 'little Wagner act' to cover all-Oklahoma industries not engaged in interstate commerce'. This would cover thea- tres, film exchanges, radio stations, niteries and practically all other forms of amusement. First step in the campaign was a move to heal the breach between the two rival labor organizations by the Oklahoma City trade and labor council Support of the plan has been- assured by the powerful Oil Field Workers Union, a CXO affiliate. Sixteen sections are contained in the draft. Major sections would com- pel employers to bargain with rep- resentatives chosen by a majority of their employees, set up a quasi- judicial State Labor Relations Board, guarantee employees the right of self-organization and collective bar- gaining free from interference, de- •fine unfair practices -and empower tlie board to prevent unfair labor practices by use of court cease-and^ desist orders. Unfair labor .gractices are defined in the draft as jq)ying on'employees, distribution of black- lists, interference with unions, dis- crimination, .refusal to bargain and refusal to discuss grievances. A decision is still waited from the state supreme court <>n constitution- .ality. of a state' wage and hour law which if held legal, will affect all forms of. the amusement field in Okldjioma. fle£scher Animators Veto CIO Unionization. New Orleans, Nov. 15. Employes of-tile art production dC' partment of Fleischer. Studios, Inc., of Miami, .voted against affiliation with the CIO in a National ^Labor. Relations Boird-election, Charles H, Logan, regional director for the ^oard with heiadquarters here, re -ported.'. ' Logan '^id that 124 votes were cast, 66 against aiEfiliatioh with the United American Artists, a CIO union, and 5d in favor. The election was con- ducted under the direction of Jack Dolan, one of the board's New Or^ leans field examiners. BBC Tries Tekvision in Theatre During Actual Perfwmance London, JCiov. 15. BBC visio dept. will ■.'' tomorrow (Wednesday) "undertake full-length play.from theatire in.-which it is being performed. $ignificance of experiment is considered great as a successful transmission would open boundless fields for ilevelopment, and may mean -the first step has been made towards an eventual revolution of major proportions in the show world. Play to be thus presented Is J. B. Priestley's- 'When "We Are Married,' ciirrently at the St. Martin's. Broadcast will be done through three, emitrons, one • Centrally in the. dresis (fircle to shoW:the entire stage, ''othei;s at «ach side bf the stalls to, do closc'-ups. 'Viewers will see the performance exactly as played to the theatre '.audience, with .rise and fall of curtain, intei^als, etc. Show, incidentally, will >^e one of the longest'unbroken'visio shows yet handled by BBC. Only difference observable by the atre audience will be increased stage lighting and the presence oi the cameras in position where they will not affect a clear view of the stdge Production staff and technicians from Alexandra Palace are studying the- performance every night for a week in advance to study action and lighting needs. Second stage broadcast will follow a week later (24), when first visio biroadcast of a theatrical .first night .will.be opening of new Jack Hul- bert-Cicely Courtneidge show, 'Un :der .Your Hat,' at the Palace. This time,. though, cameras will concen' trate chiefly on foy6r scenes and in t^ryiews with the stars In their dressing rooms, i>ut ian excerpt from the first act will later follow. $BC has already shown a fllpi first night, when .hom.e viewers looked .in on scenes at the C!!ai:lt6n for open' ing of . 'St. Martinis. Lane' and also saw brief shots from the picture. Lefty's Switch on the Milkman s Matinee, hut Different Hours By Joe Laurie, Jr. Coolacres, Cal., Nov. 15. Dear Joe: Junior is over the mumps and it sure makes us happy. He Is a great kid and Is growinig like a weed, and is plenty l^ard on his clothes. Aggie found a way to keep the kid's clothes clean for several days at a time—she Just don't put 'em on him. He is now at .that putty blowing age and shoots the pease all over the house. Pretty soon his fac* Will be big-enough to slap. I had a guy come in to talk to me about putting on a commercial pro- gram over my station. He represents a bridge construction firm .and they want to try a one shot show to see if it would help theiyi get sonie busi- ness. I think the guy is screwy because I don't know anybody in this town who would want a bridge. Some of the.natives could use a bridge because it's awfully hard to make 'eni come across.. (Gel; it?) I put on an hour show at night from 10 until 11 p.m., something like 'Th?' Milkman's Mati- nee'; same idea but different hours. I run it just for the stay-tips; every town has guys with insomnia. I bought a big biinch of second hand records which I play during that hour, yic said I got stuck; because they are practically all played out. They screech somethin' fierce' and jump four and five bars at a clip. I told Vic it proves that somebody liked them if they've been played a lot Anyway,. when the listeners hear the screeching they usually blame their sets or static. I got a letter today telling me that I have to pay royalty for playing records too. I hopie the listeners don't start an orgcmization that Will ' make me pay them for listening. Well, you know me, I'm always trying something new, so for a novelty I booiced in Charlie Chaplin in 'Modern Times.' As you know it's a silent and the customers wanted to know if my sound track was broke; The picture still gets plenty of laughs. I think they should silence some of the pictures they're making noW, and we'd all be better off. I ran anotiier leature with it; one of them draggy things that should have at the finish of it a caption reading 'Positively the. End.* Ilie guy that wrote it must have run outta talk because he put plenty , of .drinking scenes in it. Every time you'd look somebody in the picture was hysting a highball. I find that too much drinking in a picture makes the drunks go out for si real one, and the nice people go out for good. What the Industry needs is a new word, for Feature, besides what the audiences call 'em. Tallor-Made Lead See by your letter that you want to see the show 'Abe Lincoln in IHinois.* I read some rave notices on'it. It reminds me of the- time when a casting agent asked an actor could he play Lincoln, and the guy said, 'Why not, I played Cleveland once.' While I'm telling stories here's one a film sales- man told me about a gal who was down to her last cent and finally landed a two-day picture job with a quickie .company. They told her to report the next day for* work and to wear her street clothes for the picture. So the gal went to .a little tailor shop and told the tailor to clean the dres3 and that .she had to have it the next morning. 'Okay,' sed the*, tailor. 'What time shall I call for it?' asked the dame. 'You don't havfe to call for it. I'll deliver it to you myself. I'm your leading man,' sed the tailor. .I'll be glad when the football season is over; my newsreels are full of forward passes but it sort of gives the warships and marching soldiers a rest I'm'looking forward to'seeing the sweepstake winners, and'snow- storm scenes. .{ Well, 'give our best to the boys and girls back there and tell 'em not to worry. Now that the elections are over things will be. picking up again, and it won't, be long when a baby's bank will rattle again when shaken. Sez ' Your Pal, Le/ti;. P. S. Tiny Ruffner £ez, 'Nothing ever causes a yoving. man greater sur- prise than to find some one has fallen in love with his sister.* DarlHn's 326 Prints TPhat Certain Age' after two weeks at the Roxy, N. Yj, where it could have stayed a third, was pulled due to.' the fact' that Universal has booked it into'the RKO metropoli- tan N. Y. houses starting Thanks- giving (Nov. 24). With this bookings, Universal will have 326 prints of 'Age' -in circula- tion, 26 prints mbre than ever used pn any previous Deanna Durbin pic- ture. Standard Exchanges In 31 Cities for Indie Pics Hollywood, Nov. 15. Standard Pictures is setting up a national distribution organization of 31 exchanges to handle outside inde- pendent product' in addition to its own program of 12 pictures this sear son. To permit exchanges to work out prior commitments, distribution obli- gations start after delivery of three Standard pictures. After the third picture, the exchange is obligated to use the Standard name. Standard's program for the. season consists of six Headley Family fea- tures and six Radio Reporters. Permanent Drive Setup Permanent setup for the good will of the film business in a manner not. unlike that of the Motion Pictures'. Greatest 'Year campaign was pro- posed last week by George J. Schae- fer, chairman of the drive executive committee, at the AMPA luncheon. He urged that steps be taken to form the drive, in order to meet the pic- ture industry's seasonal problems next spring, - Schaefer explained how the cam- paign this Ifear .raised $I,000,(>00 for the greatest picture year, and paid tribute to various committees. N. Y. STATE'S 17-YEAR FIX NET-$2;537,322 Albany, Novi 15. ~ :;venteen years of pix peeking by the Motion Picture Division of the Department of Education has grossed tho State of New York a total net revenue of $2,537,322. This is shown in the annual report jus.t'siibmitted' by Director Irwin Esmond to Dr. Frank P. Graves, Commissioner of Education. Figures for the fiscal year ending June 30 showing a total income of $304,073 against an outlay of $64,- 648 gives the state a profit of $239,- 42C. . The income was upped by $11,- 638 over the previous 12-month pe- riod and the outgo was decreased to the tune of $272.85. Now You're a Director Hollywood, Nov. 15; Jack Townley, Republic writer, was upped to director and put to work on 'Mexicali Rose,' a Gene Autry starrer due to start Nov. 25. Gerald Geragherty is doing the screen play. New High Speed Film Hollywood, Nov.. 15. New Eastman high-speed film Is being used for the first time by War- ners in the production of 'Juarez.' Tony 'Gaudio, after two months of exhaustive tests, said the new film emphasizes the illusion of depth and reduces the illimiinatioh factor by 50.%.' ON LOAN TO 'LIVE' Hollywood, Nov. 15. Metro loaned Maureen O'jSuUivan to Columbia for the femme, lead in 'Let Us Live,' slated to start Nov, 2A. Ralph. Bellainy .and Henry ^onda have the top male Tolei.