Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

TRACK BARS FIRE RESENTMENT Hollywood Turf Club Blasts California State Racing Board and Others What Hollywood believes may become a rift within the film industry of more serious and damaging proportions than any differences among motion picture producers over production, talent or distribution practices loomed larger on the cinema city’s horizon this week when the Hollywood Turf Club unleashed another blast against the California State Racing Board and the owners of Santa Anita and the Los Angeles Turf Club. Monopoly Inferred The Hollywood club’s latest broadside took the form of a statement issued by Jack L. Warner, chairman of the board, which inferred that Santa Anita officials were responsible for “an obviously organized campaign to defeat the very purpose of the California Racing Act and thus insure a continued monopoly now held by Santa Anita.” Off to a late start in organizing and laying plans for the construction of a second track in southern California, Warner and his associates have experienced difficulty from the first — not only in securing sanction from local suburbs, several of which refused to house a racetrack, but also from the California State Racing Board over the matter of racing dates, although the racing board has allotted 100 days to this area for an open racing season. Santa Anita Silent Old-timers in Hollywood are unable to recall any situation within the industry itself which has borne the earmarks of becoming as serious a controversy. Warner some weeks ago opened fire on the Los Angeles Turf Club by hurling charges of monopoly, which assertions he followed up this week with an amplified statement. Santa Anita track representatives meanwhile have been maintaining an official silence on the matter, although a spokesman for the track unofficially told Boxoffice this week that the Los Angeles Turf Club would issue no counter-statement, but preferred to let the community and racing board settle the question. This representative pointed out that there has been more than the usual opposition to the construction of the second track, not only by suburbs surrounding Los Angeles, but also by Parent-Teacher Associations, churches, and other organizations. The Santa Anita official also commented on the history of the founding of the Los Angeles Club, at which time, he declared, stock in the corporation was offered to everyone in Hollywood whose financial standing warranted his interest in such an enterprise — and that many persons who are now charging Santa Anita with being a monopoly because they are unable to obtain legal sanction to get in on what has proven to be a very lucrative business, are the same individuals who declined to gamble when the Santa Anita track was launched. Securities Have Been Sold “The unfortunate part of the situation 'Continued on page 35) Film News Winning Press Space Increased theatre patronage and general interest in motion pictures is reflected in the additional space being devoted to film news in the nation’s newspapers, according to a survey just completed by Barrett C. Kiesling, Metro publicist, who recently returned from a tour of the principal cities from coast to coast. His report shows that more than 150 motion picture and dramatic editors from all parts of the United States will visit the Hollywood studios during the coming year, an increase of more than 100 over the influx of 1936. Kiesling credits the increase to the greater amount of time allotted Hollywood on major wire services and the space devoted to the film city by syndicate writers, all of lohich has had influence with independent publishers. "Hurricane" Unit Takes Record Trek The longest location trek to be taken in years — if not the longest in the history of motion pictures — got underway last week when 18 r. en and women, including hairdressers, makeup artists, cameramen and helpers under the leadership of Stuart Heisler, associate director to John Ford, and Percy Ikerd, unit manager, left for Pago-Pago, Samoa, for the filming of Samuel Goldwyn’s “The Hurricane.” Their departure may spell the revival of lengthy and highly expensive location trips which, during the years before the depression were regarded as almost essential to the making of a really colossal motion picture. The farther a location unit went, the reasoning ran in those days, the better the picture would be. The practice was minimized during the lean years, however, when economy measures forced screen executives to watch their production budget figures with a canny eye. It is not unlikely that, with the at least partial return of prosperity, the film studios will again turn to long location trips for the purpose of picking up expensive background shots and capturing authentic atmosphere, with the Goldwyn jaunt to the South Seas giving every indication of being the forerunner. REPUBLIC RETAINS MARJORIE MARGULIF Marjorie Margulif has been given a spot in Republic’s scenario department. She was formerly secretary to Nat Levine, Grants Demurrer in Agency Suit On the heels of recent legal rulings upholding the right of agents to collect commissions for the period of the contract from clients who severed their connections before their pacts expired, Superior Judge Robert W. Kenny placed a different interpretation on the suit filed in his court by Hoffman-Schlager, Inc., against Leonard Fields, supervisor and director at Republic, when he sustained a demurrer filed by Gordon "W. Levoy and A. Edward Nichols, attorneys for Fields. The agency seeks $5,680 in actual and potential commissions from the defendant, suing for commissions on $56,800, the sum which it claims Fields would earn during the time his contract should be valid, although Fields served notice of dismissal on the plaintiffs last November when his pact still had more than three years to run. Labor Board Arbitration The demurrer declared that the contract specifically provides that before legal action can be filed or tried, the matter in dispute must be submitted to the State Labor Board for arbitration. Judge Kenny studied the contract and surveyed state laws on the matter, after which he sustained the demurrer. Harry Sokolov, attorney for HoffmanSchlager, who was given 15 days in which to file an amended complaint, told Boxoffice this week that he did not contemplate doing so, but would turn the matter over to the Labor Board for arbitration. "TOP OF TOWN" GETS BIG PREMIERE CROWD Hollywood bedecked itself in top hats and evening capes Wednesday evening to partake of the glamour and spectacle which surrounded the west coast premiere of Universal’s musical production, “Top of the Town,” at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. The house, which reserved its seats for the event, reported a sell-out earlier in the week, indicating a record-smashing attendance for the premiere showing of the Doris Nolan-George Murphy starrer. The opening marked the first use of the new Erpi Mirrophonic sound system, which Erpi officials cut in for the premiere. The film went into its regular day and date runs the following day, with the John Wayne picture, “California Straight Ahead,” as its running mate on a dual program. COLUMBIA PEN PACT TO WOMSER Columbia has signed Richard Womser, novelist, to a short term writing contract. 32 BOXOFTTCE :: April 10, 1937.