Exhibitors Herald (1927)

34 EXHIBITORS HERALD April 23, 1927 Sol Lesser, Rosenberg, Col. Levy Organize Theatre Circuit Corporation Also W ill Produce Pictures on Small Scale — Three Premieres Given in One Night By RAY MURRAY Hollywood, April 19. — Sol Lesser, Mike Rosenberg and Colonel Fred Levy, backed by Los Angeles and Eastern capital, have formed a new corporation to operate a chain of theatres in the smaller towns between Los Angeles pany, which has offices on Vermont cipal Theatres Corporation. IKE ROSENBERG is president of the new concern, Lesser is chairman of the board of directors and Colonel Levy vice-president. It is capitalized at $l,00d,(XK). Others associated with the above named are Lee Goldberg and Fred Levy, Jr. According to announcement made last week, a group of eastern capitalists have purchased a 50 per cent interest in the corporation. In addition to the chain of theatres, the corporation will also produce motion pictures on a small scale, it was stated. Lesser owns the rights to several Harold Bell Wright stories and will produce “The Shepherd of the Hills” as the first one. William K. Howard has been loaned by the DeMille studio to direct this picture. Eight theatres have been taken over by the new corporation, one of them being a Los Angeles house. tjc jjc $500,000 Boulevard Issue An issue of $500,000 of the Boulevard Theatre Company, Inc., has been offered by a syndicate composed of the Bank of Italy, National Trust and Savings, the Security Company, and Bayly Brothers, Inc. The issue is secured hy a first mortgage on the land and building knowm as Grauman’s Egyptian Hollyw'ood theatre. It is said to have a total value of $980,000, or twice the amount of the issue. The theatre equipment worth $80,000 was pledged as additional security. Grauman’s Egyptian will be leased for a term of twenty-five years at an annual rental of $75,000, to be knowm as the Egyptian Theatre Corporation, which lease is guaranteed by the LInited Artists Circuit, Inc. The bonds are priced at $100, yielding 6 per cent. 5b Three Openings in One Day Three openings occupied the attention of dyed-in-the-wool first-nighters last Wednesday when “Casey at the Bat,” the Paramount production, had its premiere at the Million Dollar theatre; “Resurrection” occupied the screen at the Criterion, and “Mr. Wu” was presented at the Forum. Wallace Beery and other Lasky stars took a bow at the Million Dollar show while John T. Murray, master of ceremonies, introduced Count Ilya Tolstoy, Marc MacDermott, Lucy Beaumont, Vera Lewis, Rita Carewe, Monte Banks, Dolores Del Rio, Rod La Rocque, Ralph Lewis and the Duncan Sisters at the Criterion. Edwin Carewe, the director, in a brief address, thanked the principals and all who assisted in making the remarkable Russian drama. An especially well arranged musical score was presented by Jan Rubini and his s^rniphony orchestra. Carewe’s initial LInited Artists production is one of the big features of the year. * * * Ford Returns from Europe John Ford, Fox director and president of the Motion Picture Directors’ Association, returned to New York last week from an extended sojourn in Germany, where he was doing research work for his next pic and San Francisco. The new cornavenue, will be known as the Prin ture, “Grandma Bernie Learns Her Letters.” Ford visited his parents at Peaks Island, Maine, before returning to Hollywood. * * * Charles R. Condon, who recently left an executive job to write for the screen, has just finished the adaptation of “What Happened to Father,” a Mary Roberts Rinehart story. John G. Adolfi will direct the picture for Warner Brothers. ❖ ❖ 5b Hale Directs “Bar Sinister” Alan Hale has been chosen to direct “The Bar Sinister,” one of Richard Harding Davis’ successful novels, for DeMille. Vera Reynolds will be starred in the new vehicle. William DeMille will supervise the production. Kenneth Thomson, who made such a decided hit in “White Gold,” has been selected to play the male lead opposite Miss Reynolds. Work on the production started last week. * >|! Alberta Vaughn has been signed to play the lead in “Back Stage,” a Tiffany production, sharing honors with William Collier, Jr. Others in the cast are Barbara Bedford, Eileen Percy, Jimmy Harrison, Josselyn Lee, Shirley O’Hara, Marcia Harris and Louise Carver. ^ ^ 5b Alec B. Francis, famous character thespian, has just returned to Hollywood after a motor tour of Northern California. It is the first vacation for him in eighteen months and came after the completion of his portrayal in “The Tender Hour,” which George Fitzmaurice directed for First National. Herman Starr Sails (Special to the Herald) NEW YORK, April 19. — Herman Starr sails Friday for Paris to reorganize the Cie Vitagraph de France, Warner Brothers branch, to handle distribution in Switzerland, Belgium and France. Wafts Popcorn Aroma Into Theatre for Sales ( Special to the Herald) ALBANY, April 19. — Jake Rosenthal, who rose from a street vender of suspenders and matches to the owner of a motion picture theatre in Troy, N. Y., has a rather novel idea which he will put in operation at his house. He has purchased a combined peanut and popcorn machine which will be installed in the lobby and so arranged that the draft will waft the fragrance of peanuts and popcorn into the theatre, stimulating sales. At the same time Rosenthal will do away with the expense of spraying his theatre at frequent intervals with perfume. Re-Takes \^7E don’t mind attending premieres but * » when they ask you to three in one night it looks like rubbing it in. Last Wednesday “Casey at the Bat,” “Resurrection” and “Mr. Wu” all opened the same day and as we are not triplets we attended “Resurrection” and will take a look at the other two later. 5b 5b Almost everyone was present, it seemed, at the Criterion theatre, where Edwin Carewe’s sweeping Russian love tale was shown. We noticed Monte Blue, Alec Francis, Harry Beaumont, Anna Q. Nilsson, Robert Fairbanks, Anita Stewart, Kenneth Harlan, Marie P r e v o s t, Victor Schertzinger, Henry King, Bessie Love, Frank Lloyd, Ralph Lewis, Vera Lewis, Agnes Ayres, Abraham Lehr, Frances Marion, Ruth Roland and quite a few others, besides Vilma Banky, Rod La Rocque and Dolores Del Rio. =K * * My, what a hand they gave Dolores, and how they applauded Rod’s pleasant little speech in which he handed all the honors to Miss Del Rio, and made a little speech for her. The only thing that marred an otherwise enjoyable evening was a burly, flatfooted detective who threatened to throw everyone standing in the lobby out on the sidewalk if they didn’t immediately take their seats, and luckless me was waiting for W. H. Lollier, assistant Southern division executive of the West Coast theatres, to show up with the promised tickets. After which treatment we were sorry we hadn’t gone to see “Casey” at the Million Dollar, where we knew Frank Newman wouldn’t have had us arrested. * * * Tightening Up I notice at the annual convention of the Izaak Walton League in Chicago the other day they passed a resolution that a man can lie all he wants to about his catch, except to a game warden, but he mustn’t tell stories about his golf score, the weight of his baby or the age of his whisky, which is going to make it tough for a lot of them who have told all the big lies about the big fish they almost caught. * 5b sb Bum Invention Folks who give parties will have to watch their step when this new telephoto dingus becomes general. A dry agent may ring up any minute and catch you drinking something besides tea. Everyone will have to stick to gin, which looks like water. sb ."b 5b The Boasbergs at Home “Howdidja hurt your finger, wifey?” asked the gagman. “I gnashed it.” “You mean you smashed it, don’t you?” “No, I hurt it when I closed the door of the Nash.” “It’s lucky we don’t own a Pierce.” * * 5b Used to Be Hardboiled I see Chicago stores are selling step-ins for men. Gosh, how that town has changed since I left it. sK * * Famous Last Words “Don’t pan my picture, young fellow, or I’ll get your job.” * * Well, we’ve picked out the prize we want at the Golf Tournament. Now we’ve got to fix the scorer. R. M. Star at Sumner Burns The Star theatre at Sumner, Neb., operated by F. A. Millhouse, burned recently.