Variety (August 1925)

f-« J.. > TV, VARIETY PICTURfeS We^lfieiaay,'llttCm 18. ii ■■K= INSDE STUFF ON PICTURES (Continued from page tl) fekco went out o( ita way to iw-each loyalty to the employe*. • little of the same (or the employers? What about According to understanding the Peggy Joyce-Pat Powers Aim. "Sky- rocket" will not be handled by Associated Exhibitors (Pathe) unless Oscar Price annexes hlmseK with A. B. The connection is the quantity ot •Id Triangle pictures and stories now held under control by Price, with Powers in with Price oo it A. ED. wants to use some ot the old tltlM •nly. taarlng original stories written to each. Several of the old timers were produced by Triangle. Price Is said to have about 60 of them. 'ikyer Lesser, president of the Blaine-Thompson advertising agency In Cincinnati, has been made director of publicity and advertising tor Warner Brothers, having recently taken the post The present staffs wUl •Und, with Lesser the head of all the press departmentil. Currently be and Sam Morris, general manager of distribution for Warners, are «n a tour of the various sales districts talking to the branch manager s *nd salesmen. Oretta Nlssen. whom Famous Players figure that within a short time >.wlll be one ot Its best screen bets, has worked In five pictures since her arrival at the coast studios Jn February, lllsa Nlssen was new to the screen art when brought to the coaat It is expected that her work In the "The Wanderer" and "The Lucky Lady" wUI be responsible for her being placed in the range ot the Paramount atara •horCly. N. L. Royster, ii«anaglng director ot Warner Brothers' southern the- atrea, wishes to have* It made known he is not the Nat Royster recently returned from New Tork to Chicago on a charge ot family abandonment The Royster In Chicago la a tonqer press agent N. L. Roystet says he ham a wife and one child, with no thought ot running out on either. Neither Is N, U related to Nat Royster. ^ A report says the new Loew's, Coney Island, cost $1,(50,000. . It Is on leased ground. There is an office building addition. The theatre seats IfiSOO and. according to the story, Loew's leased It at an annual rental of.tlKO,000. The high cost of building Is said to have brought about through the sandy foundation at the Island, this Item running into 9400,000. The Chanins built the Coney Island house. They have built and are building five theatres around New Tork. The huge Zeppelin hangars throughout Oermany have been converted Into picture studios by UFA Sacha-Vlta and Star. On account ot the great proportions ot the hangars they are able to be used for almost any kind ot a scene. An Idea of their slxe is to be gcUned from the fact that the Long Island studios of Famous, rated as among the largest In the country, could easily be placed in the hangars with ample room over (or a work shop. t Pamous FUyenC merger with NaU Robbins upstate (New Tork) wlU give Robbins a ye<u4y salary of |2S,000 as general manager of all ot his own aad r. P. houses thrown into the merger. Robbins has many part- ners ta his various enterprises, and they are aU Uken care of by the T. P. deaL Aooordlng to undersUnding, Robbins, although aware of the Corthootting deal tor some time, made no effort to buy out a single one ot hia partners. A woman star, who was let out by a large coast producing orgaa- Isftttea. brought salt for breach ot contract but signed a contract with *noth»t prodvloer. She is now engaged in her flrst picture for the latter •ppealte a prominent male star, and is displaying the same temperament responsible for her release trom the flrst company. Her antics played IMTOC with the shooting schedule, with the director and 5ther members •t the caa* dlsguate^ with her petty foolUhness. A producer ot short stuff!, backed by a national vaudeville organisa- tion, la carrying on a war with his distributor because of the latter's print charge, said to be two cents above the current market rate. The distributor la Immovable about thto charge, believing it a fair source 9t profit No producer has ever received an adjustment no matter how Important But the vaudeville parties say they must have an inside »rlee on tOotage and—It's a great war! Meadoaa Interoessloa ia reported responsible (or Famouv Players're- moving the locale ot "Flower ot Night" trom Mexloo to Lower Calltomla. The pictured story la aald to have had the Mexicans aa outlaw* and rowdies. '> Out on the ooaat one ot the largest dalUea Is holding up • story on one of the screen leadlBg comeduina tor the verlfloation of a couple ot dates and then It will break a story it ia believed will materially affeSt one ot the forthcoming releases starring the player. Pat Dowllng trom the Christie lot out oa the Coast ses: "'Taint sot" about Julian Bltlnge is only to appear on dresses In a couple of scenes in "Madam Lucy." Instead the impersonator will appear in about 300 of the 400 scenes in the picture In skirts and wig. The feature, which will be in seven reels, Is being built trom a comedy angle entirely and U to be billed as "a sister to Charley's Aunt" Mrs. Clara Oelsler and Bstelle McKee, sentenced June 1 Indeflnttely t9 the State Reformatory for Women ot New Jersey for defrauding the Branford, Newark, by reselling tickets when ticket sellers, have been resentenced by Judge Foster and placed on probation. They are to pay U cents a week for two years. The men concerned in the theft are stiU serving their sentences. A film comedian who.has produced off and on tor the state rights market was recently able to promote a bankroll tor production ot a series ot comedlea. The substantial sum ot money did not go very far. and operations were finally suspended. Now the "butter and egg man" ia checking up on Indlvldtial expenditures listed on the hooka. One thing that haa heartened the small Independent film producer la the proposed activity in new theatre building throughout the country. They maintain that the combinations may sew up most of the profit- able territory, but there Is always room for the smaller reeled subjects. BO matter what territory and how booked tor first and second runs. Ia addition to hitohlag Matt Moore aad Dorothy Devore up as a com- edy teaai. Warner Brothera are figuring upon making a aerlea ot fea- ture length comedlea with WlUard Louis and Louise Faxenda as the stars. Louis has been a member of the Warner stock company since Its inoeption, and was given the leading role of "Babbitt" Two ot the major independenta are now making two aei>arate features with other and smaller independents. Warner Brothers are doing the zSnagwiU play. "The MelUng Pot" In aasoclaUon with C. B. C^ while Universal Is making "Two Blocks Away" In association with B. M. Aaher. ot Faultless Ploturea, Ja^ Lalt will attempt his flrst serial when sketching out^the 10 chap- ters'Pathe want for a Capt Nungesser story. It will be maSe br Arcadia Films. ''0- FILM REVIEWS THE HOME MAK_ Unlveraal produoUoa dlrootod by viL, BMSOt. PMturlnc Alio* Joyo* and aS Brook. From tha novel of tho mom nTT! bf Dorothy CanlUl^ Cootlnuit/ by uSZ O'lUn. PiMrfosrapdMbr JohnStuinM' A4 tho Ooioar. Now Tork, wtk Aus. 9 k£l •boet TO mlnHtM. ^ **• IBve Knapp aiioo jfom l.aater Kaapp caivo BmS StaphM BUIjr Koat BetuHmm Hoanr Maurice Marak* Holes...^^ Jaoauelln, ii/Sk Dr. Merrltt Oeorc. B^«S Avat Mattle Famooi...Margaret CkaMtS Mra. Aii4ereo« liutha Mattes Jolw (Jaaltort...i Alfred rialiie Mlaa W«at , AUee Plowtra Mm. Proatr.,,., .Vtrsiaia Boardnaa Nolly ProMty Blaine BtHi Mrs. HenBoaey......,,••. Marr QerdM Mr. Wllllns* , .....Lloyd Whltte«k Aa a study ot middle-class domea^ tic life there are moments whin "The Home Maker" almost reaches the heights ot greatness. Unfot'* tunately, the general Impressiog, handicapped by one thing or aa» other, is only that of one more aver- age feature picture. King Baggofa direction is thorough and workiaaa> like, but It is not human nor ua« derstanding enough to give the story the tremendous wallop it might have had. Perhaps had the plot not been so typically Amer« lean, one of the highly touted <o»» eign realistic directors might have done something big with Jt. Miss Canfleld is a novelist ot al- most distinguished reputation, and although "The Home Maker" is not one ot her most popular books it has been highly praised Ity many as a searching study ot family life. A husband and wife are central figures. Both are failures In their respective life tasks, chiefly beoaive they deteat the work alloted te them. He is - an unpractical dreamer to whdtn office work la «a« Bearable while she. though aha keepa her home meticulously neat cannot with any efficiency, control the whims and tf^ntrums of her three youngsters. Consequently* near-poverty and unhappiness nigm In the home, a circumstance deli- cately hinted at when the two older children are shown taking the longest way home from schooL Finally the father loses his Job and decides that suicide Is the only way out But even In this he is a dub and paralysis ot the legs Is the result The wife haa to support the family and in the businaaa •world her initiative and efflclJRgf. bring her success and happlnaatt Her husband on the other hand I I r 1..^ . J Here is a cut-and-dried business proposition that will bring big returns on a small inyestment "i^'k f. HERE'S your chance to start the big business ball rolling and keep; it gathering momentum for TWENTY- FOUR SOLID WEEKS. Statistics show that nearly seventy percent of the people buy magazines to find out what happens in the next in- stallment of a serial. Film B(x>king Of- fices two-red series are showing that * large majo/ity of theatre {»atrons com<^ back, week after week, to find out what happens in the next episode of one of these series. We are now releasing two crackerjack two-reel series that will pull patrons to vaudeville houses jUst as surely as thejT will pull them to, picture houses. One of these is "THE ADVEN- TURES OF MAZJE" series, written by the popular author, Nell ^i^rtin. and starring Alberta Vaughn, the girl with a million followers. The other is the^ "FIGHTING HEARTS" series, writtc«.^. by Sam Hellman, a'favorite of all Sat- urday Evening Post readers. v 9 THE managers of Loew's Metropoli- tan Vandeville Theatres; Ed Fay's Theatres in West Philadelphia, Roches- ter and Providences^ the Commerfoixl Theatre in Pennsylvania and many other leadinl; vaudeville theatres and circuits have recognized the cumulative box office value of these series and t^y have become a fixed part of their vaude- ville bills,. ' / . ,. , . Each of these contains ^twelve epi- sodes. Each episode is a separate story r—which will please the transient trade—t but each episode is a further adventure of the same characters—which will keep the regulars coming to your theatre, week after week, FOR XWENTY- FOUR SOLID WEEKS. Don't hesitate! Look into this prop- osition TODAY! Get all the details and then make up your mind whether or not this is a bi^ "bet"! ^. ■^A '-i. V ■, ■ FILM BOOKING OFFICES OF AMERICA 723 Seventh Ave, New York, N. Y. tfp. -ii^' ,.r >)t»p fifj :- i^-- h M :-l 39 Exchanges in U. S. A. and Canada ^MAm