Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

December 6, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD -WORLD IS No Film Legislation Placed On Congress9 Clogged Calendar Solons to Waive Any Measures Expected to Disturb Business This Doorman Is Nobody's Yes Man "I am a man of few words," said the hard-boiled manager to the new doorman. "If I beckon with my £nger, that means COME!" "Suits me," replied the new employe. "I'm a man of few words myself, and if I shake my head, that means I Ain't Comin'l" Crabtree Selects SMPE Committee Chairmen for Year H. T. Cowling Heads Membership; W. C. Kunzman to Handle Next Convention (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 4.— J. I. Crabtree, president of the SMPE, has made committee appointments for the coming year, with committees and their chairmen as follows: Color, W. V. D. Kelley, Du Chrome Film Systems, Hollywood. Convention, W. C. Kunzmann, National Carbon Company, Cleveland. Membership, H. T. Cowling, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y. Papers, O. M. Glunt, Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York. Progress, G. E. Matthews, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester. Publicity, W. Whitmore, E R P I, New Vork. Historical, C. L. Gregory. Sound, H. B. Santee, E R P I, New York Standards, A. C. Hardy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Studio Lighting, M. W. Palmer, Paratnount-Famous-Lasky Corporation, Long fsland. J. E. Jenkins Is New Chicago SMPE Head, Mitchell Is Secretary J. Elliott Jenkins becomes the new president of the Chicago section of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers as a result of the elections just announced. R. Fawn Mitchell is the secretary and the governors are Oscar B. Depue and Robert P. Burns. The members of this section now to<-al 77 Columbia to Do Foreign Versions of Picked Films (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 4.— Following a conference with Eastern executives, Harry Cohn, vice president in charge of production for Columbia Pictures, has announced the decision to make foreign language versions of certain films. Only those pictures particularly suited to readaptation will be used, he said. First consideration will be given to the Bert Lytell vehicle, "Brothers," and "The Criminal Code," starring Walter Huston and Phillips Holmes. Spanish versions of these two films will be made immediately Doubt Whether Proponents of Pending Bills Can Muster Strength to Pull Them Out of Committee [By Washington Correspondent of the Herald-World] WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.— Little legislation affecting the film industry, other than the increase in income tax which is expected as a result of recommendations of the administration that the one per cent cut in normal rates made on income last year be not continued, is expected to be enacted during the present session of Congress. Lack of film legislation will be due not so much to lessening of desire on the part of the reform element as to the lack of time for its consideration. The present session is limited to three months, expiring automatically on March 4, next, and there are so many matters of more pressing importance pending that it will be impossible to give consideration to measures in which there is, to say the least, no widespread interest. All of the bills which were introduced last session — block booking, prize fight pictures, and so forth— are still pending and can be called up if their proponents can muster sufficient strength to gouge the bills out of the committee files where they are now reposing peacefully. But it is doubtful whether that strength can be worked up. Appropriation bills for the various Government departments, bureaus and commissions; unemployment; elections; world court and other outstanding questions already have so filled the congressional calendar as to make consideration of minor matters practically out of the question. There may be a little talk on the floor regarding so-called evils of the motion picture, but that will be largely for home consumption, as so much of congressional talk is, and not necessarily, an indication that any action will be taken. As a matter of fact, Congress will make every effort to keep away from legislation likely still further to unsettle business. There is bound to be some business legislation, but leaders in the senate and house will endeavor to keep it to a minimum so that business may have a breathing spell to get back on its feet. The brightest ray of the whole situation is the fact that any measure pending at the expiration of a Congress "dies," and if it is to be considered in a future session must be reintroduced and sent through the same procedure of committee hearings and consideration which it may have already passed through. Film legislation now pending, therefore, will drop into the dim, musty recesses of the past on March 4 unless Congress can be induced to act on it in the meantime. Bombers Sentenced to Six Months Jail Term; Also Draw $500 Fines (Special to the Herald-World) PORTLAND, Dec. 4.— David HeffermaE and Jack Cunningham, charged with throwing bombs made of skunk oil in the Capitol theatre on November 24, were convicted on charges of disorderly conduct and sentenced to six months in jail and a fine of $500 each Both admitted the charges, Cunningham declaring he had been paid $25 by an unidentified man, and Hefferman promised $40, but arrested before the money was paid him. In reviewing the case Judge Tomlinson suddenly queried, "You don't insist that the oil be brought into court, do you?" Both sides assured him that they did not. Rules Overtime of Sixth Of Salary Be Paid Stage Crews After 11:30 P. M. (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 4.— William Canavan, president of the I. A. T. S. E., has recently ruled that members of stage crews traveling with motion picture presentation units shall receive one-sixth of a week's salary, in addition to their weekly wage, whenever they work beyond 11:30 p. m., for each day they work after this hour. The new ruling is effective immediately. Court Rules Against Aelograph in W. E. Suit; Says It Failed to Establish Any Infringement (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 4. — An announcement has been received from F. T. Woodward, general patent attorney for ERPI, that Federal Judge West in San Antonio, Texas, has rendered a decision against the Aelograph Company in its patent infringement suit against the Western Electric Sound System. The action, which was brought last March, claimed that the patent which was asserted to cover the standard theatre equipment of ERPI had been infringed. The particular patent, No. 1,494,514, is entitled "Art of Producing Motion Pictures and Sound Synchronized Therewith," and relates to a mechanical connection between the turntable and film projecting apparatus and several other features of sound picture reproducing equipment. Judge West gave a decision from the bench that the plaintiff had failed to establish any infringement, and since there was none, the court did not attempt to pass on the validity of the patent involved. This decision marks the fifth patent infringement suit successfully defended by Western Electric and its affiliated interests within the past year.