Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (Sep 1935 - Aug 1936)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1935 5 Warners -Fox May Make New Pact With Musicians In Phila. Vaudeville . . . Negotiations have been reopened in Philadelphia between Warners, Al Boyd and the Musicians' Union to seek a solution to the impasse which resulted in vaudeville being dropped in the Earle and Fox several weeks ago. A lengthy meeting was held on Tuesday and while no immediate results were apparent, it is understood that ground was broken for some agreement on the number of orchestramen and their salaries in the two houses. The Earle and Fox have experienced severe drops in their business since the stage shows were discontinued. Meanwhile, two independent houses with vaudeville, the Carman and Fays, have been drawing the regular vaudeville trade which formerly traveled downtown. These two factors are said to be behind the revival of the negotiations between the Warners, Boyd and the musicians. MERR.ITT CRAWFORD OBSERV1NQ THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY NEW RELEASES Eastern Pa., S. N. J., Del. Major contracts provide for a ten per cent cancellation privilege for exhibitors. If you desire to cancel a picture, you must notify the exchange by registered mail WITHIN 14 DAYS of the date of general release. Latest releases are listed below. Send in your notice NOW! COLUMBIA Public Menace Sept. 30 FOX Thunder in the Night Sept. 17 Here's to Romance Oct. 9 METRO Bishop Misbehaves Sept. 14 Broadway Melody of 1936 Sept. 21 PARAMOUNT Two for Tonight Sept. 13 RADIO Return of Peter Grimm Sept. 12th WARNER'S Little Big Shot Sept. 7 Goose and Gander Sept. 19 Special Agent Sept. 20 UNITED ARTISTS Dark Angel Sept. 21 This is the second article by Merritt Crawford, veteran trade paper writer, now on the FILM BULLETIN staff. Mr. Crawford, one of the real pioneers of the film industry and former editor and publisher of several outstanding trade journals, will report his observations of the industry scene each week in this publication. For almost a quarter of a century, he has been active in various branches of the business, prior to which he was associated with metropolitan newspapers, and this background should make his comments of particular value to theatre owners and others in the film industry. NEW YORK. Will H. Hays is due back in New York this week. The "Little General" has been in Hollywood since July 1st trying to straighten out numerous knots and tangles in trade practice and policy, which grew out of the collapse of the NRA and threatened to produce dangerous discord among the allegedly happy family of which the former member of the Harding cabinet is the titular head. It is said, that the ""General" has not been entirely successful and that some of the Big Boys, who used to jump, lie down and roll over, whenever the "General" snapped his whip, now refuse to stay put. They are looking forward to a big year with mounting film rentals, and anything which may fetter or limit competition they regard unfavorably. Only the threat of actual governmental interference might halt them and at the present this possibility seems somewhat remote. The MPPDA head, however, is more foresighted than most of his membership. He recognizes the danger to his empire, once Uncle Sam takes up seriously the questions involved in the steady pressure brought by the five major companies, with their vast theatre control, against the independent theatre operators, tending directly to iheir ultimate absorption or elimination. Hays also recognizes that he is not what he '"wsefer be." In fact he is distinctly persona non grata with the present administration, despite efforts to woo Presidential support through the employment of Roosevelt's son-in-law, John Boettinger. So the so-called "movie czar" is not without his headaches. Too many of the jewels in his cash-and-carry crown are turning out to be only paste and the tin is tarnishing. Now, it is currently reported, he is coming back to his New York headquarters to find another headache, worse even than any he has had during this somewhat hectic summer on the West Coast. It is the possibility that one of the three nontheatre owning companies in the MPPDA, which have helped to give it a semblance of being broadly representative of the film industry, is contemplating withdrawal from his organization. These three companies are, of course, Columbia, United Artists and Universal. But which one of the three is the one threatening to kick over the traces, is still a matter for some speculation. All of them are, in a sense, "independents." They do not compete in the theatre field with the exhibitors upon whom they must depend to book their productions. They are all of them highly successful because they receive their main support from the independent theatre owner. The sole reason why they have remained members of the Hays organization, in recent years, at least, has been that they hoped to obtain an adequate share of the bookings from the houses and circuits controlled by the Big 5. This business has been steadily dwindling. Also, the terms upon which it has been secured ha\ e been consistently growing less profitable. (Continued on Page 7)