Exhibitors Herald (1927)

September 17, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD 17 Civic Bodies Hit Dog Races Cutting into Theatre Trade Industry Eyes Campaign Launched at St. Louis Houston Faces Threat of New Track — British Exhibitors See Menace in Socalled Sport Theatre interests throughout the country are watching developments at St. Louis, where business and religious organizations have launched a concerted drive against operation of dog racing establishments in the county. Hit Body Blows at Receipts It is generally agreed among exhibitors that the dog races are hitting heavy blows at theatre receipts, and in many places the blows are considered foul blows, with 95 per cent betting to 5 per cent entertainment, while city and county officials wink at the open violation of anti-gambling laws. Mussolini* s Movietone Talk to be Given with Opening of “Sunrise” (Special to the Herald) NEW YORK, Sept. 13— The FoxCase Movietone is to present a Fox-copyrighted address by Premier Mussolini of Italy to the American public in connection with the premiere of “Sunrise” Friday night, September 23, at the Times Square theatre. The speech will be. in English. F. W. Murnau directed “Sunrise.” The gross business of the Fox Film Corp., in Europe will be doubled in the next 12 months, according to W. R. Sheehan, vicepresident and general manager of the company, who has just returned from Europe. Indiana Blue Law to Have Test in Warsaw (Special to the Herald) WARSAW, IND., Sept. 13.— Whether or not theatres and motion pictures may operate and be shown in Kosciusko county, Ind., depends upon the outcome of actions filed in circuit court at Warsaw against Mr. and Mrs. Frank Parish, Charles McAuliffe, Lee McDonald and Dimple Van Pherson, all charged with violating the Indiana blue laws. These five are charged with operation of a motion picture show at Milford, Ind., 12 miles north of Warsaw. They had been notified in advance by the county prosecutor that such action would be taken if the house again were opened on Sunday. Residents of Milford are said to be widely divided on the question of Sunday shows. Many business men have signed a petition in favor of them, it is reported. Cincinnati Puts Ban on “ Callahan ” Picture (Special to the Herald) CINCINNATI, Sept. 13.— There will be no showing of “The Callahans and The Murphys” in Cincinnati this season. Decision to put a ban on the show, which caused a near riot in New York recently, followed a conference between local theatre owners and Safety Director Grover Smith. The Orpheum was the first to withdraw the film and others followed suit following the conference. Seymour Stone Dies After Auto Accident ( Special to the Herald) BOSTON, Sept. 13. — The film district was shocked to learn of the death, due to burns received in an auto accident, of Seymour Stone, formerly of the Paramount and Metro staffs here, at Carrollton, Ky., Saturday. The remains were brought to his home in Dorchester, Mass., for services and burial. F-N Drive Shows Speed ( Special to the Herald ) NEW YORK, Sept. 13. — The Portland exchange is leading the First National John McGuirk Month booking drive started Aug. 28. Competition is keen in the race and all four districts are working at top speed. The races — if such they may be called — have cut sharply into theatre business in Texas, with a track at Galveston cutting into the theatre business as far away as Houston, and Houston showmen are facing the threat of establishment of another track in their city. At Columbus, Ohio, there has been heavy attendance at the racetrack in a suburb. England Awake to Menace Even in England the industry is awake to the menace of the socalled sport, and one writer in the Cinema charges that “this silly game of dog deceiving with a stuffed hare on a wheel has no relation to sport.” The writer points out that if motion pictures were given editorial space in the newspapers proportionate to the relative attendance and advertising in Greater London, motion pictures would have 32 columns a day. He declares that if the editors give all the space they do to dog races because the papers have an eye to circulation, “they surely must be one-eyed, and that single optic must have lost the movement muscles,” because “there are more film fans than followers of any other kind of sport or amusement” and “there would appear to be more revenue.” Medium-Priced Houses Hurt at St. Louis (Special to the Herald) ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13. — Medium-priced theatres of St. Louis are believed to have lost considerable at the box office as a result of the dog races, now the objective of a protest campaign started by religious and commercial bodies. There are two dog tracks in St. Louis county while a third is under construc Schenck Goes East; Denies M-G-M Deal (Special to the Herald) HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 13— Joseph M. Schenck, president of • United Artists, left Friday for New York. He denied he is going East to fill the position left vacant by the late Marcus Loew. He also denied that any merger of MetroGoldwyn-Mayer and United Artists is contemplated. tion. Efforts are also being made to construct such a track in the city proper. The tracks are operating with the full knowledge and consent of Governor Sam Baker, a former school teacher; Attorney General Gentry and the sheriff and prosecuting officials of St. Louis county. Why the authorities have taken no steps to close the tracks and prevent open gambling may best be explained by such authorities. The opening gun in the campaign against the dog tracks was fired by Archbishop John J. Glennon, head of the Roman Catholic Church in the archdiocese of St. Louis, in a school sermon at the St. Louis Cathedral. He said the dog races are “five per cent sport, and 95 per cent gambling,” and he charged they are a strong force tending to instability of home life. “It is a sad thing, he declared, to see men and women go night after night and put up money they have earned during the day. And of course they lose it. That is a mechanical, mathematical necessity.” Leading Protestant and Jewish clergymen later endorsed the archbishop’s views. The Thirty-ninth Street Business and Improvement Association of St. Louis has called a public mass meeting tomorrow at the St. Louis Public Library to discuss ways and means of forcing the authorities to close the tracks. Houston Exhibitors Face Menace of Another Track (Special to the Herald) HOUSTON, Sept. 13.— Talk of establishing a greyhound track in Houston, while there already is one accomodating 15,000 people at Galveston, 50 miles away, has made the showmen of Houston sit up and take notice for the protection of their interests. Box office receipts are impaired seriously every night. The Houston Electric Railway Company runs a special train nightly from Houston to the dog track, where admission is free, the income being made off betting. Eddie Breamer, manager of the Majestic, lists the races as his biggest competition on every box office report that he sends in to his home office. The races are listed on the Publix statements, and also the Horwitz house reports.