Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

Ned E. Depinet, vice-president of RKO Radio Pictures (left), and S. Barret McCormick, director of advertising and publicity, on their departure from New York to Hollywood for conferences with studio officials on the company’s 1937-38 sales convention which starts June 16. B'DWAY SEES TWO THIRD-WEEK HOLDS New York — Broadwayites are witnessing the unusual sight of two third-week holdovers playing simultaneously in the city’s largest first-run houses this week. “A Star Is Born,” the seventh attraction in the Radio City Music Hall’s history to play this long, started its third stanza on Thursday, and the following day “Wake Up and Live” went into its third week at the Roxy. The theatres have a combined seating capacity of more than 11,800 and both have accompanying stage presentations. “Cafe Metropole” started its second week at the Rivoli on Wednesday and business has been strong enough to make a third week certain. The opening of “Mountain Justice” at the Rialto on Monday will give Warner four Broadway first-runs. The others are “The Prince and the Pauper” at the Strand, “That Man’s Here Again” at the Palace and “Call It a Day” at the Capitol. Otherwise the Broadway first-run outlet is for M-G-M product. Sells Advance Rights New York — Mitchell Leichter of Advance Pictures has sold the distribution rights to his series of eight H. H. Van Loan action melodramas to Masterpiece Exchanges in Philadelphia and Washington. The first will be released Sept. 15, 1937. Sign Gloria Swanson New York — Gloria Swanson, absent from the screen since completing “Music in the Air” for 20th Century-Fox in 1934, will return to pictures in the leading role of “Second Mrs. Draper” for Columbia. She was engaged over long distance telephone to London this week. Film-Radio Committee of MPTOA Plans New Survey 33,000,000 Radio Sets in Use in U. S. Ne2a York — Radio sets in use in United States total 33,000,000, exceeding the number of automobiles and rhore than double the number of telephones in operation, according to a survey just completed by Columbia Broadcasting System. The network found that more than 24,500,000 families in the country have radio sets and that in the first three months of this year 1,300,000 sets were purchased for homes and automobiles. Warner, Musicians Settle Dispute Philadelphia — A rift between the Musicians Union and Warner Bros., which threatened to assume strike proportions, was settled last week following a conference between union and company officials. The breach occurred when Warner insisted on the right to dispense with the orchestra at the mid-city Fox Theatre whenever it desired. Union officials charged that it violated the agreement signed at the end of the strike last fall. It was reported that Warner was contemplating dropping vaudeville and orchestra at the Fox to avoid any impending strife. At the meeting it was finally decided to guarantee the number of weeks to musicians at all Warner houses. Conferring were: Joseph N. Weber, president of the musicians international union; A. A. Tomei and Rex Ricardi, president and secretary of the Philadelphia local, and Frank Phelps, Ted Schlanger and Ellis Shipman, representing Warner. FILM ART STUDIOS TAKES OVER EDISON New York — Film Art Studios, Inc., a newly-formed company, has taken over the studio stages of the Edison studio building in the Bronx and on May 10 will operate its own production schedule there under the direction of John T. Doran. Film Art’s plans call for the production of features, shorts, commercial films and screen tests in the east, the first on the list being a series of “We, the People” shorts based on the U. S. Constitution and having the cooperation of the Constitutional Commission. No release has been set. New York — A cross-sectional survey of several hundred film theatres in different sections of the country is planned by the MPTOA committee on radio which is seeking solutions to the asserted problems involved in the film-radio situation. The theatre operations to be studied will include large city houses, subsequent runs and small town theatres. The survey will be more extensive than the one conducted some months ago by the Hays office, results of which were never announced. Will Study Effect on Boxoffices The committee will seek to determine whether theatres suffer boxoffice declines when certain programs are on the air. with a view to suggesting possible studio control of talent under contract and their radio material. The possible harm of certain broadcasting material on the stars themselves also will be taken up. Walter Vincent, chairman of the MPTOA committee, is to call a joint session of company heads, production executives and broadcasting network officials to meet with his committee. Invitations for the meeting will go out after he has had an opportunity to confer with Will H. Hays, it is understood. PICKFORD-ROGERS TIE NEXT MONTH New York — Mary Pickford, United Artists partner, returned to Hollywood late this week to complete arrangements, she said, for the organization of a producing company and to be married next month to Charles (Buddy) Rogers. The new company, financial plans for which are in the formative stage, will be affiliated with United Artists. Miss Pickford remained in New York four days after her return from Europe on Monday. Reluctant to discuss the studio strike in Hollywood because, she said, she was an actress as well as a producer, she nevertheless remarked: “I’m sort of on the spot. As a rule my sympathies are with the actors. It’s a shame, though, to hold up 50 productions.” LEAGUE OF NATIONS WILL SHOW FILMS New York — The League of Nations is becoming film-minded, according to cable dispatches from Geneva saying that the League is equipping two of its assembly halls with Gaumont British sound projection equipment. The pictures to be shown will be chiefly documentary and educational films dealings with international problems. Newsreels of import also will be shown regularly. BOXOFFICE :: May 8, 1937. 21