Exhibitors Daily Review and Motion Pictures Today (Jan-Jun 1930)

6 Exhibitors DAILY REVIEW and Motion Pictures TODAY, TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1930 FOX FILM ‘‘WHO’S WHO” ORGANIZATION STRENGTHENED BY NEW EXECUTIVE LINE-UP ❖ SHEEHAN DOMINANT FORGE IN FOX FILMS EXPANSION A As the result of the recent reorganization of the executive personnel of both the Fox Film and Fox Theatres Corporations the management of both these companies has been materially strengthened. Harley L. Clarke, now president of both companies recently announced the following complete roster of executives of the corporations : Fox Film Corporation Harley L. Clarke, President; Winfield Sheehan, Vice-President and General Manager; James R. Grainger, Vice-President in Charge of Distribution; Saul E. Rogers, Vice-President and General Counsel; Courtland Smith, Vice-President; Walter E. Green, Vice President; Samuel R. Burns, VicePresident and Secretary; W. C. Michel, Vice-President and Treasurer; Clayton P. Sheehan, General Foreign Manager; Sidney Towel, Comptroller; W. Wyckoff, Disbursing; Charles A. Caballero, General Purchasing Agent; Glendon All vine. Director of Advertising and Publicity; George A. Roberts, Personnel Director; John F. Coneybear, Laboiatory; A. E. Freedman, Jack Sichelman, Assistants to Mr. Grainger; E. C. Grainger, W. J. Kupper, John Nolan, Home Office Representatives; Max Roth, W. E. Sennett, Requisitions; George Eisele, Advertising Accessories; Leo Adams, Maintenance; F. R. Bruns, Building Maintenance; Miss H. G. Baker, Editing and Censorship. Directors: Harley L. Clarke, Matthew C. Brush, Charles W. Higley, Oscar L. Gubelman, Winfield Sheehan, Joseph E. Higgins, S. C. Munoz, William Fox. Fox Theatres Corporation Harley L. Clarke, President; Winfield Sheehan, Vice-President; W. C. Michel, Vice-President and Treasurer; Samuel R. Burns, VicePresident and Secretary; Saul E. Rogers, Vice-President and General Counsel; Oscar S. Oldknow, Executive Vice-President; ‘Harry Arthur, General Manager; Charles A. Caballero, General Purchasing Agent; Wilfred Eadie, Comptroller; Gabriel Yorke. Director of Advertising and Publicity. Directors: Harley L. Clarke, Arthur F. Lafrantz, Samuel F. Fordyce, Robert C. Winmill, A. E. Gilbert, Otto E. Koegel, Walter R. Herrick, C. E. Hetrick, Montgomery Clark, William Fox. Divisional Officers New England— Fox Poll Theatres, Herschel Stuart, General Manager ; Wisconsin — Fox Midwesco, H. J. Fitzgerald, General Manager; Bronx and Upper Manhattan— Rudolph Kramer, Manager; Brooklyn — ^Samuel Rinzler, Manager; New Jersey — Harry M. S. Kindred, Manager; New York, Up-State — Harry Goldberg, Manager; Chicago — Sidney Meyers, Manager. De Luxe Dirision John Zanft Local Managers — Harry B. Watts, Brooklyn; Jerry O’Connell, Academy of Music; Harry Moore, Audubon; William Raynor, Detroit; Hardie Meakin, Washington; David Idzal, Pliiladelphia; Harry Greenman, St. Louis; Rocky Newton, Atlanta. Names that for many years have represented uncanny judgment in giving to the public what it wants on the stage, the screen or in book form, comprise the list of writers under contract to Fox Film Corporation. Almost all of the twenty-seven writers under contract have wu’itten novels or short stories as well as plays. Eighteen of them are dramatists of note; three are novelists who have never written directly for the stage but some of whose works have been transferred to the stage by playwrights; one is a famous cartoonist who has also written two books and numerous articles; three are scenarists who have also had short stories published, and two are adventurers who write of their own experiences. Leading in number and quality of plays among the dramatists is Owen Davis, Sr. He does not remember how many plays he has written but they number almost three hundred. In 1923 he was awarded the Pulitzer prize for his play, “Icebound,” and among the better known of his stage works are “The Nervous Wreck,” “The World We Live In,” “Beggars On Horseback,” and “For Ever After.” His understanding of the character and mannerisms of Will Rogers was demonstrated by the dialog he wrote for “They Had to See Paris,” adapted from Homer Croy’s successful novel, and he was assigned to write the dialog for Rogers’ second talking picture, “So This Is London.” Mr. Davis, in collaboration with Mr. Croy, will work on Rogers’ third picture for Fox, “See America First.” Two phases, or periods, in the history of the Fox Film Corporation have come to a close and a third is about to start. The first was pioneering and developing, the second improvement, the third promises to be an era of unparalleled expansion in the new medium of sound. In the march of picture progress no company has so definitely felt the impress of one man’s personality. That man is Winfield Sheehan. February, 1915, marked the beginning of Mr. Sheehan’s climb to his present eminence. His first problem was to introduce into selling and make the Fox organiza As the author of ten novels Mr. Croy has created some of the most human characters ever Actionized. “Tljey Had to See Paris,” “West of the Water Tower,” and “Caught,” are outstanding among his books. He has another about to be published — “Coney Island.” His droll humor is incorporated in numerous articles which appear in current publications. Prominent among the imposing staff of Fox writers are: S. N. Behrman, Theatre Guild dramatist, author of “Meteor”; Tom Barry, author of the Broadway successes, '“Courage,” “The Immortal Thief” and others; Edwin Burke, writer of vaudeville sketches and the full-length play, “I’his Thing Called Love”; Rube Goldberg, cartoonist and humorous writer; Russell Medcraft, author of “Cradle Snatchers”; Lynn Starling, who wrote “Weak Sisters,” “In His Arms,” and others; Howard J. Green, well known scenarist and former writer for Broadway revues ; Llewellyn Hughes, short story writer; Norman Hall, writer of magazine articles, and fiction as well; Earle Crooker, who wrote “Family Affairs,” the stage play; Hayden Talbot, novelist and playwright; Dudley Nichols, formerly one of New York’s foremost reporters. Many other writers noted in many lines who are now under the Fox banner are: Ernest Pascal, Sonya Levien, Willard Robertson, Frank W. Gay, Marion Orth, Harlan Thompson, Hal G. Evarts, Maurine Watkins, Jules Furthman, Andrew Bennison, Henry Johnson, Maj.-Gen. Aylesworth Bowen Perry. tion a world wide model of its kind. Early in 1925 he decided he had a selling organization that needed something better to sell, and in October, 1925, Mr. Sheehan went to the West Coast as vice president and general manager in charge of production as well as distribution. From that date the improvement in Fox product was so immediate that there has never been any dispute as to where the credit belonged. This swift change in production methods reached a new peak with the release of “What Price Glory” and again when “7th Heaven” was presented to the public, thereby starting Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor on the road to fame. Sound hit the motion picture business like a cyclone in 1927. While some producers were arguing as to whether it was a passing fancy Mr. Sheehan decided to stake everything on its future. A program of Movietone short subjects was shown to the public for the first time in connection with the presentation of “What Price Glory” January 21, 1927. Another program was presented with the silent version of “7th Heaven” on May 25 of that year at the Roxy. At that time only two sound pictures of feature length had been made by any company, "but Mr. Sheehan concentrated all activities on Movietone. Synchronized versions of “7th Heaven” and “Sunrise” were out in September. Fox Movietone News began regular issues. By June, 1928, the first all-dialog two-reeler, “The Family Picnic,” was out, and an all-dialog feature production, “The Air Circus,” was under way. In the midst of this tremendous activity Mr. Sheehan summoned a Cforps of sound and studio engineers and ordered them to build a $10,000,000 Movietone Studio in ninety days. Under his orders “In Old Arizona” was made on the desert, the first feature dialog production to be made outdoors. It blazed a new trail for sound pictures and struck off the shackles im immobility. Outstanding pictures have followed in swift succession since that time. Among the outstanding ones are “The Cock Eyed World,” “They Had to See Paris,” “Sunny Side Up” and “Song O’ My Heart.” This has been accomplished in the face of unprecedented difficulties. For more than six months he directed the production activities of the company from New York while engaged in the delicate task of steering the company through a series of financial difficulties which led to the taking over of control by. Harley L. Clarke, head of General Theatres Equipment, Inc. and a number of (Continued on page 74) 27 CONTRACT AUTHORS ON FOX WRITING STAFF