Exhibitors Daily Review (Jul-Dec 1928)

In this Issue AdolphS\ Zukor Tells "What's Right with the Movies99 DAIt^MVIEW Reg U. S. Pat. Off. — Continuing; Inhibitors Trade Review Devoted to the fostering and developing of the Motion Picture Industry. •24 \«> ion New York, Friday, November J). 11CJN KIVK CENTS Playing Safe By ARTHl R JAMES We hear strange rumbles about the award of the Sain Harris Cup ■rhicli was to have been determined yesterday and which was again postponed to see if a chosen person could attend the dinner. As we understand it. if he can attend he gets the cup. • • • The directors of the A.M.P.A. who, after the Three Editorial Timidities declined to say what individual had done the most to promote international amity between the film groups of Great Britain and America, were forced to take the matter into their own hands. The meeting is described as acute. The spirit was mettlesome. Several excellent names were brought forward and all were received with great consideration. • • • But there was something in the air! It was the spirit of a compromise choice. We have no knowledge of who is to be chosen although we do know that the winner will be selected from a limited field already talked about. We have no candidate to promote, we have a choice we would have made public In committee but the committee evaporated — likewise then our choice as it became none of our bally business. • • • Whoever is chosen will suit us and the choice will suit the others who might have been selected because outside of the inner circle there is much amity, and good nature in this whole picture. A cheap little politician or so and a nervous ego niore or less won't make much difference a few years from now — even in the inner circle where now nerves, fear, shivers and trepidation reign to beat the band. ROBERTSON FILES CONSPIRACYMONOPOLY CHARGE IN DETROIT T-S PREMERE AT EMBASSY TONIGHT The subject of trial marriage seems to have awakened wide-spread interest in this city judging from the acceptances received by TiffanyStahl for their premiere of "Marriage by Contract" at the Embassy Theatre tonight. Judges of the Supreme Court, city magistrates, prominent lawyers, club women, clergymen and welfare workers have signified their intention of attending. Patsy Ruth Miller and Lawrence Gray are the featured players in "Marriage by Contract", which is a new Tiffany-Stahl sound production with something new in the way of a synchronized score called "musical dialogue." PUBLIX BOOKS "U" "LOVE ME" IN SOUTH According to information just made public at the Universal home office, "Love Me and the World Is Mine," the Universal super production starring Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry, has been set into a number of important situations in the South by Fublix. The first Publix houses to show the picture under the new deal will be the Queen Theatre, Houston, the Hippodrome in Ft. Worth, the Rialto In McAlister, Okla., and the Sugg in Chickasha, Okla., all first-run houses. Rosengarten Leaves Commonwealth Exch. David Rosengarten, until yesterday general sales manager for the Commonwealth Exchange, has left that organization having made a settlement on his existing contract with Samuel Zierler, president of the company. Rosengarten's future plans are indefinite for the present. Montagne Writes Original E. J. Montagne, scenario editor for Universal pictures Corporation, has written "The Compromise," an original drama for Laura La Plante, according to an announcement by president Carl Laemmle. Production probably will start around the firs-t of the year. Nine Month's Universal Profit $1,286,516 The Universal Pictures Company, Inc., for the nine months ended on Aug. 4 reports a net profit of $1,286,516 after charges and Federal taxes, comparing with with $1,026,772 in the corresponding period of 1927. For the quarter ended on Sept. 4 the net profit was $635,383, against $482,958 in the third quarter of 1927. COHN ARRIVES AFTER LAYING PLANS ABROAD Harry Cohn, Vice-President of Columbia Pictures, in charge of production returned from Europe yesterday on the Leviathan, after having arranged a Columbia Foreign Production organization, which will actively function next Spring. Cohn found that despite strong restrictive quotas still existing abroad, there was no serious competition there for American films. Pearson Returns Elmer Pearson, former V.P. and Gen. Mgr. of Pathe Exchanges, Inc., is in town for a spell, after several months out West on his cattle-breeding farm. Pearson would make no comment whether he was here for business or not. "Jimmy Valentine" Premiere Next Wed. The premiere of "Alias Jimmy Valentine," Metro-Gold wyn-Mayer's first full length film with dialogue sequences, as well as sound synchronization, will be at the Astor Theatre, next Wednesday evening, (Nov. 14th). William Haines is starred in this picturizatlon of the famous stage play by Paul Armstrong, and the cast includes Lionel Barrymore, Karl Dane, Tully Marshall and Leila Hyams. Jack Conway was director, and A. P. Younger made the adaptation. "White Shadows in the South Seas." which has been running at the Astor since July 31, will close after the evening performance next Monday. Exhibitor Cites Kalamazoo Meeting of Exchange Managers NO U. A. BREACH B) BPKC1 \l. \\ IRE DETROIT— Ralph A. Routier, attorney for James X. Robertson yesterday charged five of the leading film distributors in Detroit, with conspiracy, coercion and monopoly, in Judge Guy A. Miller's Wayne County Circuit Court. The new charges allege that the theatre owner has been shut off from the supply of available synchronized pictures, for his theatres, equipped with the Humaphone device. Routier further specifically charged the managers of the various film exchanges, with holding a special meeting recently at Kalamazoo, Mich., to effect the conspiracy and coercion. In the second day's proceedings of the trial, in which Robertson seeks a permanent order to force the film companies to carry out contracts (Continued on page 2) ZUKOR-KATZ GUESTS OF BROOKLYN, NOV. 13 Movie stars and celebrities will be present at a dinner tendered in the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Club by its board of directors Tuesday. Not. 13, with Adolph Zukor, president of Paramount Famous Lasky. and Sam Katz, president of Publix Theatres, as the honor guests. The dinner is in appreciation of the new Brooklyn-Paramount Theatre at Paramount Square. Klatbush and DeKalb Avenues, which opens Nov. 24 and gives Brooklyn worldleadership by possession of "the last word" in theatre luxury and beauty. 3rd Annual Fox Banquet At Waldorf Feb. 2 The Third Annual Banquet, Entertainment and Dance of the Fox Athletic Club, composed of employees of the Fox Film Corporation, will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Saturday night. February 2nd. The entire membership of 600 are expected to lie present.