Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

28 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD December 20, 1930 Producers Expect Too Much From African Market, Says Hayden White Population Only 1,600,000 Out of Twenty Millions, Says RKO Manager — 1 20 Theatres in Chain Now, 20 Added in Past Year (Special to the Herald-World) ^TEW YORK, Dec. 18. — American producers overestimate the possibilities of the African market, expecting too much from a territory which con^ tains a white population of approximately only 1,600,000 out of a total of over 20,000,000, said Sidney Hayden, RKO manager for the territory of South Africa, in an interview. BOOKINGS HAYDEN'S territory embraces all of the African continent south of the Equator, an area of some 2,500 miles north from the coast to the equatorial line and stretching entirely across the continent, larger than the United States. 120 Theatres in Chain, 20 New A definite reaction to talking pictures in his territory is noted by Hayden, who supervises the 120 theatres of the RKO chain, known as Kinema, Ltd. In the past year 20 additional theatres were added to the group, with four more now planned. However, in this connection, he pointed out that no further building is anticipated since the market there has reached practically a saturation point in the matter of the number of houses. Of the 120, there are 45 or 50 already wired for sound, with additions to the list being made at the rate of one per week. B.T.P., the British De Forest sound system, is used in the circuit. It is expected that certain of the theatres will not be wired at all, since they are either too small or their location does not warrant it. Exhibitors in South Africa, said Hayden, are faced with a serious situation in the matter of import duties, which are equally imposed on American and English pictures, as well as the few importations from Germany which are shown. The duty, which amounts to approximately $1,400 for the original and three prints on a film of 8,000 feet, is partially caused by reason of the fact that' the farm group, in power in South Africa, holds that the town population, which forms the principal audience of the theatre should pay by taxation for its privilege. Calls Audience "Hypercritical" Hayden termed the South African audience as "hypercritical," commenting further on the statement that a saturation point has very nearly been reached in the matter of theatres, he noted that where heretofore programs were changed once every fortnight, and then weekly, it has lately been necessary to make the change semiweekly. An additional charge is exacted from the exhibitor for a censoring fee, which, added to the rate of 6 cents a foot import duty on sound films and 4 cents a foot on silent, imposes a heavy burden on the theatre operator in the territory. Audiences there, said Hayden, are much Knock, Knock! And Film Shows Why (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Dec. 18. — T. A. Boyd, of the General Motors research laboratories, described motion pictures which show the nature of the knock in an automobile motor before the American Chemical Society. It seems that a narrow quartz window was put in the cylinder head, and through it was photographed the flame from the spark plug as it moved from the point to the other end of the combustion chamber. like those in any other country, demanding good pictures, with no particular choice for any one type. He did state, however, that just now musical films are having a great vo?ue in South Africa. The RKO manager makes his headquarters in Johannesburg. The principal cities in which theatres of the chain are located are Cape Town, Kimberly and Pretoria in addition to Johannesburg. Cape Town, which has the largest white population of any of the cities, has only 100,000 whites, which indicates the decided limitations of this vast territory as a market for films. Plan Campaign for Modifying "Blues" In Quaker State (Special to the Herald-World) PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 18.— A campaign for modification of the Sunday Blue Laws is reported to be planned for a meeting to be held in Harrisburg within the next two weeks, which will be attended by representatives of many cities and towns of Pennsylvania. This was announced on the occasion of a visit in Philadelphia of three members of the Pittsburgh City Council Blue Laws Committee. They were Councilman Harry J. Little, chairman; M. J. Muldowney and Clifford B. Connolly, who were accompanied by M. A. Musmanno, a member of the State Legislature from Allegheny County and a vigorous fighter for Blue Law repeal. The Pittsburghers held a conference with Mayor Mackey and members of Philadelphia's City Council Blue Law Committee. At the Harrisburg meeting plans will be laid for a campaign among members of the Pennsylvania Legislature for modification of the Blue Laws. Pathe A contract just signed calls for the playing of Pathe features in 130 houses of the Fox West Coast circuit. Among the important situations included are: Butte, Great Falls, Missoula, Boise, Pocatello, Eugene, Aberdeen, Everett, Yakima, Berkeley, Fresno, Oakland, Cheyenne, Pasadena and San Diego. Sono Art-World Wide Budd Rogers, sales director, has compiled a report which indicates that in the past 60 days, 1752 exhibitors, including 32 circuits, have signed contracts to play the entire program of Thrill-O-Dramas. The series includes 10 features, and the report shows that the company already has 17,520 playdates guaranteed for them. Big 4 A deal has been closed whereby the Westerns of this company will play Warner Brothers houses in the following towns in Indiana: Elkhart, Goshen, Hammond and Indiana Harbor. The Paramount Publix house at Lynchburg, Va., has booked both series of all talking Westerns, through the Gold Medal Film Corporation. Film Accounting Service To Expand; Will Cover All Exchange Centers Claud Saunders, general manager of the Federal Theatrical Accounting Service, Inc., this week announced an expansion program which will put branch offices of his company in practically every exchange center of the country. At the present time_ the concern has units in 16 of the larger cities. Federal Theatrical Accounting Service is an organization whose representatives check grosses for producing companies which release pictures on a percentage basis. The company does not confine its business to film interests, however. It also handles the grosses on any public performance at which an admission price is charged. The home office is in Chicago. Harry A. Ross is president of the firm. Both Saunders and Ross held executive positions with Paramount for a number of years. Ufa Adds 2 New Houses To German Theatre Chain Two new and modern cinemas, one in Leipzig and the other in Breslau, have just been added to the chain of Ufa theatres in Germany. The Gloria Palast at Leipzig has a seating capacity of 1200 and is one of the most modern and best equipped houses of Germany. The Deli theatre, Breslau, also seats about 1200 persons. It was erected by Prof. Polzig, one of Germany's leading architects, and is likewise equipped with the latest improvements. Theatre Collects Old Clothes for Unemployed (Special to the Herald-World) HAMILTON, ONT., Dec. 18. — Two thousand bundles of old clothes, brought to the Capitol theatre by children, have been given to the unemployed here. Leonard Bishop, manager, gave an "old clothes matinee" for Harold Lloyd's "Feet First," for juveniles. All who brought used garments were admitted free. Newspapers were generous with publicity. O'Donnel to Atlanta (Special to the Herald-World) NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 18. — Robert O'Donnel, divisional director of the Saenger division Publix this city, has been transferred to the Georgia-Florida section; with headquarters in Atlanta; he is succeeded by William Jenkin, formerly with the Lynch Enterprises, a Saenger subsidiary, handling real estate for Publix. Opens New Box Office (Special to the Herald-World) SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 18.— The Texas theatre, a Publix house, opened a new box office and arcade on North St. Mary's street here last week, which is boosting the theatre receipts and is the second of its kind in the Alamo City. Estelle Taylor's Grandfather Dies WILMINGTON, DEL.— Charles C. Barrett, grandfather of Estelle Taylor, actress, died here this week. He was 78 years old. I