Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1939)

FEBRUARY NEW YORK TIP-OFF Washington and Lincoln certainly did their part to raise grosses at Broadway first-runs during the past two weeks, the entertainmentseeking crowds on both holidays crowding all theatres along the Main Stem. With the exception of "Made for Each Other," at the Radio City Music Hall, which seems made-to-order for feminine patrons, week-day business in general was generally considerably below average. Roxy business again took a nosedive with "The Three Musketeers" (Ritz version) after a disappointing week with "Tailspin." The theatre hopes to get back to normal with the current "Wife, Husband and Friend." The Paramount also expects to attract customers to "Cafe Society" following two blue weeks of "St. Louis Blues." John Wright, manager of the Rivoli, is smiling again now that Universal's "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" is filling up the empty spaces in the house caused by the Paramount film, ". . . one-third of a nation . . ." Brittania ruled the picture field between 44th and 47th on B'way last week. "Mutiny of the Elsinore," at the Criterion; and Grade Fields' "Smiling Along" at the Central, added to "Lady Vanishes" in its 9th week at the Globe and the perennial "Pygmalion" at the Astor made up a quartet of English-made films. The Shaw picture's 8:30 A. M. opening on Washington's Birthday gave the Astor the earliest opening in its history and resulted in ten showings for the day. "Mutiny of the Elsinore," distributed by Principal Film Exchange, will play the entire Loew Metropolitan circuit — a good break for an English-made independent. The Capitol, which just completed three prosperous weeks with "Idiot's Delight," opened "Honolulu" on Wednesday last week to take advantage of the holiday. This Loew house is planning a return to stage shows with its first-run films when the World's Fair opens . . . The Brooklyn Strand, which tried vaudeville and films, then pictures with a name stage band during the past year is now back to a straight picture policy again. Explanation, of course, is that the Grade B pictures didn't attract under ANY policy . . . The second attempt at a return to an all-vaudeville program starts at the 44th St. Theatre on March 2 under Frank Fay's management. Kurt Robitschek's try at the Majestic, also on 44th Street, lasted little more than a month . . . The Fifty-Fifth St. Playhouse, now in the throes of a four-week Music Film Festival, has booked sixteen comparativelyrecent pictures with operatic personalities or stories for that period . . . "Grand Illusion" is nearing the half-year mark at the Filmarte, the present week being its 24th at that house. With early plans for 1939-40 announcements coming to a head, major company executives are kept on the jump between home office and studio, and vice-versa, for product conferences. Maurice Silverstone, general manager of United Artists, expects to lead the field by announcing U. A.'s program early in March . . . Other companies will wait until the yearly sales conferences usually held in April . . . Jack Warner and Hal Wallis will come eastward early next month to join Charlie Einfeld, Warner advertising and publicity head, in conferences here . . . George Schaefer, RKO-Radio president, just returned from Hollywood, declares the company will have forty-eight features next season . . . Barney Balaban, Paramount president, and Neil Agnew, general sales manager, plan to leave for the West Coast early in March on 1939-40 business. Columbia will again hare forty features and sixteen westerns for next season. Vice-President Jack Cohn, was glimpsed at the opening of "Miss Swan Expects" the same day he returned from product talks on the Coast. He was passed up by the pesky autograph hounds who rushed Wayne Morris and John Barrymore and waited at the stage door for John Beal at the same premiere . . . The autograph fiends have had a field day at the Paramount Theatre recently. Tony Martin, in the new stage show, followed John Boles and Patricia Ellis in person last week . . . Rodney Bush, in the 20th-Fox publicity department, has been upped to the post of national exploitation representative following Marc Lachmann's resignation . . . Jose Schorr, with Columbia publicity, collaborated with Dr. William Engel on "Sensible Dieting," new book just published by Alfred Knopf . . . Mort Blumenstock, Warner's eastern publicity head, has been kept at home due to a fractured ankle . . . Harry Buxbaum, 20th-Fox 19 25, 1939 FRANKLY SPEAKING By LEYENDECKER In the face of numerous recent editorials decrying the absence of adult ideas and themes in American pictures and praising the superiority and intelligence of such recent French films as "Carnet de Bal," "Grand Illusion" and "Mayerling," it is extremely unfortunate that the New York Regents Board's banning of "Yes, My Darling Daughter" should occupy front page and editorial space. The result, when the feature is eventually shown, will merely give undue prominence to a film which has already been passed in toto in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Chicago. In addition, this action will influence audiences to look for "obscene, indecent, immoral or sacrilegious" implications in an amusing and, on the whole, innocuous comedy. Mark Reed's play, which ran on Broadway for 405 performances during the 1936-37 season and was rated one of the ten best stage shows of the season, concerned the activities of an extremely modern household centering around a daughter of marriageable age. After being lectured by her supposedly broad-minded mother for considering a trial marriage, the girl discovers that the parent had been guilty of "indiscretions" in her pre-nuptial days. As a result, she decides to emulate her mother, but, after an unconventional week-end with her fiance, the complications are straightened out with a marriage license. Daring and sophisticated, yes, but the Warner Bros, film, although employing the same characters and using many of the identical situations, has been considerably toned down from the original play. The dialogue, in fact, has been changed to such an extent that only an evil-minded person would find it "morally objectionable." While we are inclined to side with Warners in its contention that the producers "did not consider anything immoral in 'Yes, My Darling Daughter' as made," we do censure the same company for glorifying a two-gun killer of the last century as they have apparently done in "The Oklahoma Kid." The Kid, played by James Cagney, is pictured as a deadly and somewhat indiscriminate two-gun man out to get the men who lynched his father. In like manner "Jesse James", despite the attempt to white-wash the title character by attributing his criminal acts to a ruthless desire to avenge his mother's death, was a cold-blooded robber and murderer. Will not the very natural hero-worship of these bold, bad men of the west, especially when portrayed by James Cagney and Tyrone Power, again make youngsters gun-conscious? It was largely the prevalence of gangster films, many produced by Warners, which led to the formation of the Legion of Decency five years ago. Instead of modern killers, the boys of today are being influenced to admire the deeds of legendary wild west bad men. Does it not seem inconsistent that Warners is the very picture company which has been educating the public to love and admire the great figures of American history by producing a series of patriotic shorts. The Technicolor featurettes, "Lincoln in the White House" and "The Declaration of Independence," plug Americanism while "The Oklahoma Kid" glorifies murder. Incidentally while "Jesse James" was a fine adventure film and probably "The Oklahoma Kid" has its full quota of excitement, for sheer entertainment of the same blood-and-thunder variety we vote for Walter Wanger's "Stagecoach", a magnificently directed, superbly photographed film of the old west. For vitality, suspense and real human interest, this outdoor drama has rarely been equalled since the silent days of actual MOVING pictures. exchange head, will be local zone chairman for the drive to raise funds for the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital at Saranac. W. Roy Johnston returned from the West Coast in time for the Monogram stockholders' meeting scheduled for March 1 . . . That cute youngster in all the National Screen Service ads is a Philadelphia baby . . . Tom Murray heads the eastern end of Universal's playdate drive in honor of F. J. A. McCarthy and W. J. Heinamen, Eastern and Western division managers. Starting February 26, it will run for eight weeks . . . Warners' Eastern district, headed by Ed Schnitzer, is leading in the company's Sears Drive, now in its tenth week.