Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

November 29, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 55 W THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY LETTERS FROM READERS Issues Circular on Plaque ENCLOSED YOU WILL FIND SOME articles publisned by tne newspapers El Mundo and Porto Rico Progress about the Award of Merit presented, to my San Jose theatres. I thank you very much for your courtesy in sending me this beautiful plaque. Enclosed you will find a circular I sent to nearly all my patrons, informing about the award and, YEE ! It has increased very much my business. I'm very proud of exhibiting this plaque in my lobby. With kindest regards.— .Pedro Gelabert, Teatro "San Jose," San Juan, P. R. and divided up like this one is at the present time, it is of no benefit to anyone. Therefore we are withdrawing and will try to struggle along without your assistance as New Protest on Horwitz ENCLOSED IS A COPY OF A TELE gram that Mr. Will Horwitz of Houston, Texas, is sending to the exhibitors of Texas, also a copy of my reply to this telegram. If space permits I would appreciate it being published in your magazine. Thanking you in advance for whatever consideration you can give this. — C. H. DeWolfe, Manager, W. C. Dofflemyer, Owner, Palace theatre (formerly Majestic), San Saba, Texas. f Following is the text of the Horwitz telegram to Dofflemyer.] "State censorship of pictures cannot harm the exhibitor who wishes to be recognized as a decent member of his community. Any exhibitor in New York, Ohio or Pennsylvania will say so. Eight hundred thousand Methodists and six hundred thousand Baptists of Texas have endorsed through their conferences. Who of us is big enough to be identified as an opponent of moral decency by fighting that campaign to give Texas women and children clean pictures? Dare you antagonize your church goers? Opposition has come only from distributors for the film companies making dirty pictures and from Jeff Strickland, hired hand of Publix in Texas. Will you wear his collar or make your own decisions? Please write me how you wish your community to know you. Regards — Will Horwitz, Texas theatre, Houston, Tex." [And here is the text of Dofflemyer'* reply to the Horwitz telegram.] "I cannot see why any small town exhibitor in Texas should agree with you in regard to your stand on censorship. "I am a small town exhibitor and an independent exhibitor. The chain organizations don't owe me one cent, and I owe them less than that. They cannot make up my mind for me, and neither can you. "You have made a suggestion that there be a censor board in the city of Houston until a state board can be appointed. Let me make a suggestion. If you are so stuck on a censor board, why don't you censor the 'vile' pictures that are shown in your own theatres, and let the rest of us 'corrupt' the morals of this great state if we want to. "No, you don't want to do this ; there would not be enough publicity in it. You are afraid that the rest of the state of Texas would not know who Will Horwitz is. Well, we know ■who you are now. "This theatre has been a member of the Allied Theatre Owners for sometime, and has received some benefit from being a member, hut since this organization has become Horwitz-Cole, Inc., you are trying to use it to shield your own hide at the members' expense. When an organization gets into a row NOTICE D. J. Harkins is not an authorized representative of EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD. president of this harmonious organization. I remain, Very truly yours — VV. C. Dofflemyer, C. H. DeWolfe, San Saba National Bank, San Saba, Texas. On "Madame Satan" HERE IS A REPORT ON MADAME Satan (MGM), a gorgeous picture that would have been better for about a thousand feet less footage. It drags in the love scene with Kay Johnson, and the Zeppelin sequence had too much that could be seen only dimly. You heard them but had to guess what was happening due to the night shots. It has too slow a tempo to be a real audience picture. Roland Young has a fat part in this one and is very good in the role. Altogether the fault is that it has too much footage and the story drags too much. — Columbia theatre, Columbia City, Ind. "Better Theatres" a Help I KNOW I AM RATHER LATE WITH this, but I want to congratulate you on the recent Fall Buyers Number of Better Theatres. I was particularly impressed with the make-up and typography which leaves nothing to be desired. Better Theatres certainly is a decided help to theatre owners and managers. That of course, makes it a real teammate to Exhibitors Herald-World. Now, with that off my chest, I have a few words to say about R K O and its recent pictures. I am temporarily out of the theatre business, but I believe my judgment as to pictures is as good now as it ever was. I have had an opportunity to witness several R K O pictures lately, both their specials and programs, and I have yet to see a really poor one from R K O. I do not want this, or what I am about to say, to be interpreted as a knock for any other company. It is merely a brief analysis of some worthwhile product made and released by R K O. The Bebe Daniels pictures have all been Rood, at least none of them were poor, and "Dixiana," in my opinion, outclassed a good many pictures of its kind by far. It had just enough of evervthing to make it good. The Richard Dix pictures, especially "Lovin' the Ladies" and "Shootin' Straight," were first class pictures. I did not see "Seven Keys to Baldpate" but everyone who has seen it tells me it was a very good picture. "Conspiracy," a picture which was released as a program feature, had more entertainment to the square inch of film than 90 per cent of the socalled specials. The picture was not cluttered up with a lot of big sets and dancins: girls, but it had action as well as dialog, and with the most clever piece of character acting we have seen in a long time, done by Ned Sparks, as the eccentric writer, it was real box office entertainment all the way through. And now RKO comes out with "Danger Lights," a most excellent railroad drama produced both on wide and standard film. We were privileged to see the world premiere showing of the wide film version at the StateLake theatre, Chicago, last Sunday, and from what we saw, we would say that in this picture, whether it be shown with wide film or standard, RKO has a real box office attraction. It is 100 per cent entertainment all the way through, action does not lag for a moment. And just a word about the Mickey McGuire comedies. They are knockouts each and every one of them. And now we'll explain why the sudden burst of enthusiasm for these pictures. We have seen the pictures. We're tellin' you about 'em. That's really all there is to it. So far as I know none of the RKO fellows know me and don't even know I am writing this until they see it in print. But if it helps RKO and the exhibitors each to make a little money then I am satisfied. Now, just a word or two about a couple of Columbia's pictures that are box-office, and I'll quit. "Ladies of Leisure" is one of those exceptionally fine dramas that are few and far between. Barbara Stanwyck (a new one to us : we did not see her in "Locked Doors," United Artist) contributes one of the finest pieces of acting we have seen for some time in talking pictures. Hope the producers don't spoil her by casting her in types. Ralph Graves gives the most satisfactory performance ever, since we first saw him. To our notion his work was not any too good, but in this he carried his part in first class manner. The second of Columbia's pictures that we cannot refrain from saying a good word for is "Around the Corner," the Jewish-Irish story with Charlie Murray and George Sidney, really the only two comedians who can do this type of story right. It's a genuine entertainment from start to finish, and after all that's what people want when they go to the theatre. Both RKO and Columbia's disc recording is very good. I saw all of the fore-mentioned pictures with sound on disc with exception of "Danger Lights," which I believe was shown with sound-on-film, and the sound was very good in all cases. Well, I will lay off now, and give someone else a chance to say a word or two. — Kenneth W. Thompson, Adams, Wis. Plans Special Program I TAKE GREAT PLEASURE IN THANKing you for bestowing the Honor of the Merit of Award to the Balboa theatre. I have not as yet had the plaque presented to the theatre, as I am planning a large program to commemorate same. I am going to ask a favor, that you write to Governor H. Burgess, of the Panama Canal, asking him to present the plaque in behalf of Exhibitors HeraldWorld to the Balboa Clubhouse. Hoping this is not asking too much. — Paul E. Kline, Manager, Balboa Clubhouse, Balboa, Canal Zone.