The Bioscope (Jul-Sep 1931)

16 THE BIOSCOPE September 30, 1931 “ Roxy ” Seeking ideas For Mammoth Amusement Centre Radio Home of All Entertainments Is America coming here for ideas on showmanship, architecture and lighting ? East Wednesday Samuel L. Rothafel ("Roxy”) asiled for Europe on the Bremen. He is accompanied by a large party of architects, engineers and builders, and they are making a tour of Europe to study the latest developments in drama, ballet, architecture, lighting and acoustic effects. Roxy” is to control the £5,000,000 Radio City which is now being built in New York. This building scheme was conceived largely by John D. Rockefeller, Junr., and occupies a whole block bounded by Fifth Avenue, 48th Street, 51st Street and Sixth Avenue. Contracts have already been placed for framework steel to an amount of 130,000 tons. The central building is a 68-storey one, 700 feet high and 15 floors in this will be occupied by the Rational Broadcasting Company, which controls the principal networks of wireless broadcasting in the States. There are also two 45-storey and one 30-storey buildings. Twenty-seven broadcasting studios are located in the central building, and the entire block when complete will house over 50,000 people, mainly engaged in the entertainment industry in every form, from television to variety. Now that the site is being cleared the sponsors are coming here for ideas, but " Roxy” will also look out for star variety and stage talent for the big International Music Hall which the R.K.O. Corporation is opening in Ne\v York in October next year. Ferreting out of so-called “ bootleg ” exchanges, trading in condemned prints and disposing of them to innocent foreign buyers as w'ell as distributing them in America in complete disregard of the fire laws, is an objective of the Copyright Protection Bureau, which has found this condition existing in at least six cities of the United States. The Copyright Protection Bureau, while labelled a separate organisation outside the actual organisation of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, is in a closely working relationship with the Hays office. Prints of pictures of several national and regional distributors which had been ordered junked have been reappearing recently to plague their rightful owners. It was assumed that those to whom thousands of reels had been delivered had destroyed them : instead, they apparently patched, glued, synchronised and resurrected them, says the Bureau. East week 1,600 rolls of copyrighted films owned by Pathe Exchange, Inc., wrere seized by E'nited States marshals on a writ issued by the Federal District Court in New Jersey, and at the same time suit for damages under the copyright law was instituted. A second seizure wras made later at a theatre in Irvington, N.J., and it was learned that prints had been supplied by the exchange In the party are Webster B. Todd, head of Todd & Brown, builders and engineers of this Rockefeller enterprise ; O. B. Hanson, engineering manager of the National Broadcasting Corporation ; Gerald Chatfield, technical and art director of the N.B.C. ; and L. Andrew Reinhard and W. K. Harrison, two of the principal architects of this Radio City, as it is to be called. r The first destination is Berlin, w'here Rothafel is conferring with. Max Reinhardt. Wireless experts will also make an extensive study of the recent technical advances in Berlin broadcasting studied. Elaborate arrangements *have been made to receive the party in3 Russia, where an official committee has be¥n appointed to escort it. Special attention is to be given to the current development of opera and ballet under the Soviet' regime, and conferences have been arranged with Stanislavsky, director of the Afoscow Art Theatre, and Stokovski, the Soviet, orchestra leader. "Roxy” is to make an international broadcast from Berlin, which will be sent on a short wave to America and relayed by the N.B.C. A similar broadcast may be made from London when the party arrives here in the middle of October. While in London Rothafel will confer with C. B. Cochran on modern stage production, and will also make a survey of current architectural and lighting developments here. It is also intended to make an attempt to induce Chaliapin to go to New York in connection with the voice culture side of the School of Arts, which will form part of Radio City, the building of which is expected to occupy four years. in Newark that had been raided the week earlier. Several other seizures of pirated films were made in other “localities. Prints of several national distributors were found at a building in New York City after the operators of the exchange had denied having pictures belonging to other copyright owners. United States marshals located the vaults of the exchange in another part of the building, it was stated. Suit immediately was filed. There have been cases of disappearance of prints, later reappearing just as mysteriously after having been duped at a nearby laboratory. Another factor in the matter is the ignoring of fire laws in storage of film. The fire department officials in Newark were quite concerned, over the unsafe manner in which the defective films were stored. America s Admission Tax While the proposed increase in admission taxes in England for the purpose of balancing the Budget will have no effect on tax legislation in the United States, according to authorities, introduction of an admission tax as part of the limited sales levy is predicted for the next session of Congress. The proposed assessment would be on admissions under the present S3 limit. Seabury’s Secret Visit American Who Deplores “U.S. Monopoly” Wm. Marston Seabury, former CounselGeneral of the Motion Picture Board of Trade and the National Association for the Motion Picture Industry in U.S. A., has just concluded a visit to this country. Although Mr. Seabury has been in close contact with British politicians and Government officials, he has not been accorded a flourish of trumpets, his business here being of a somewhat confidential nature. In conversation with a Bioscope representative, Mr. Seabury expressed alarm at the growth of American combine interests, and said he “ happened to be one of those Americans who considered that for any country — even his own — to hold a practical world monopoly of an industry of such vital cultural importance as the film industry, was a bad thing for everybody. You see what has happened in Canada and in Australia,” he added. “ I am inclined to agree with an article in The Bioscope a few weeks ago. When referring to the increasing participation of American concerns in British film production, you said : ' In less than a couple of years — unless British concerns are fully alive to the situation, Britain will have a big film producing industry ; but it will belong to America.’ ” Percy Broad head “ Annoyed ” No Sale of Circuit Yet‘ Latest information concerning the possibility of negotiations for the disposal of the Broadhead circuit is that all the “talk” which has appeared in the lay press has a very shallow foundation. Enquiries, which have been made in authoritative quarters, enable me to say, writes The Bioscope Manchester correspondent, that Harry Buxton, of Regal Cinemas, Ltd., who is associated with a circuit of about 15 theatres, has written to Broadhead’s stating he could negotiate up to a certain figure for the theatres. Percy Broadhead, one of the sons of Alderman W. H. Broadhead, let it be known last week-end that the lay press reports had caused him much annoyance. No decision on future policy would be taken until Alderman Broadhead’s will had been passed through probate. Edgar Wallace for Radio To Write Originals Edgar Wallace has signed up with Radio Pictures to write original screen stories, says a Bioscope cable from New York. Confirming this statement, Mr. Wallace told The Bioscope yesterday that he would be leaving for Hollywood in November, and would remain in America for about four months. Mr. Wallace was unable to disclose details of the contract, but stated that it would not interfere with any contracts he has at present in hand. " I am going to Hollywood with a blank mind,” said Mr. Wallace, " as until I get there I can form no conception of what is expected of me.” Film Pirates at Work Old Prints Sold for New (By Ernest Rovelstad, “ Bioscope " New York Correspondent)