Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1939)

22 FILM BULLETIN "Not a dark house in more than 20 years of film delivery service!" NEW JERSEY MESSENGER SERVICE Member National Film Carriers' Asi'n 250 N. JUNIPER STREET PHILADELPHIA LOCust 4822 RACE 4600 INDEPENDENT EXHIBITORS FILM "BULLETIN SAVE TIME ENERGY INSURANCE WORRY MONEY • • Economically Sensible for All Your Deliveries io Be Made by HORLACHER DELIVERY SERVICE, Inc. PHILADELPHIA 1228 Vine Si. WASHINGTON 1638 3rd St., N. E. BALTIMORE 1801 Bayard SI. NEW YORK 606 W. 47th St. M. Lawrence Daily, Notary Public, Phila. Member National Film Carriers, Inc. Smart Theatremen Use . . . FAMOUS SILVERAY PRODUCTS "SILVERAY" INSECT SPRAY Odorless and a Sure Killer for bedbugs, flies, mosquitoes, moths, roaches, ants, fleas, etc. FLAVOR PRODUCTS COMPANY .1 N 5th STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Phone Your Order Now! — LOMbard 7554 EXHIBITORS ACCEPT CODE AS ONLY PARTIAL SOLUTION* ( Continued from Page 21 ) "I think a continuation of the present policies of the major distributors will soon have the entire industry in such a mess that no number of 'fair trade codes' will help. It is just another case to prove that dictatorship will not work." CALIFORNIA-Allied. A FARCE ALREADY "The two most flagrant abuses, compulsory block-booking and blind-selling and producer ownership of theatres are not even mentioned in the code. The 20% cancellation is meaningless, because the film companies insist on raising prices on the rest of the pictures, therefore taking away what saving there might be on some extra cancellations. Regarding short subjects and newsreels, the exchanges are making a farce of it by subterfuge and veiled threats, and in some cases they come out openly and state that short subjects and newsreels must be bought if we want the features " CALIFORNIA-Unaffiliated. "I devote little time in studying changes the majors might make from time to time. They have a little fellow like myself over a barrel all the time and so far I have not learned of a method to avoid that." MONTANA-Unaffiliated. "I do not think acceptance of the code will solve the problem, because I do not believe the majors (especially those who operate theatres) will carry out the letter of the code. My opinion is that it is only a subterfuge and the majors will get around it in order not to give an inch." LOUISI ANA-Unaffiliated. SHORT SUBJECTS FROM PHILLY By "Jaywalker" There appears to be practically no selling o '39-'40 product so far. Exhibitors are apathetic and the filmen are deterred by the slump in business and the apparent desire on the part of the film execs to know where they stand on the Code before they do much peddling. The independent theatremen, for the most part, are not interested in talking deals for next season until after the Allied Convention, from which they hope to glean some pointers on the trend of prices and the final form the Code will take. Naborhood exhibitors continue to complain of poor business and they are not quite sure what to blame it on. First run Warner spots have been rescued in recent weeks by an unusually strong array of pictures, but even in those spots most of the gross is garnered on the weekends, with weekday audiences frightfully sparse . . . Biggest local surprise of the week was the sensational biz done by "Wages of Sin", the MURRAY BEIER-MORT ENGLAND sexer, which is reported to have grossed close to $7,500 at the Erlanger in very hot weather! The word is around and exhibs are beating a path to Preferred's door with their dates . . . The RAY O'ROURKE Testimonial Dinner at the St. James next Wednesday (14th) will be attended by close to 150 film and theatre men. AL BLOFSON has done o trojan job on the arrangements. Unfortunately, a number of men who wanted to attend will be in Minneapolis at the Allied confab at the time . . . FRANK McNAMEE returns from a fortnight's vacation on Monday . . . Matrimonial rumors again name bachelor DAVE BARRIST! ... A large contingent from the local branch left last Sunday to attend the Paramount sales convention in Hollywood. Manager EARLE SWEIGERT, ULRIK SMITH, HERMAN RUBIN, RALPH GARMAN, GEORGE BE ATT IE, JACK HOLMAN and WILLIAM SHARPE were in the party. They are due back at their desks on the 17th . . . An open-air theatre at Cain, near Coatesville, is being readied . . . GEORGE FISHMAN did an outstanding job on the publicity for "Wages of Sin", his sock copy and ballyhoo having much to do with the pic's click . . . JAY EMANUEL sails for South America on the 16th . . . The Troc plans to remain open all summer . . . ISADORE BAROWSKY takes over the New Jewel on August 1st. He will close the house for renovations and reopen Labor Day . . . The Stanley was closed for two days last week to replace the troublesome old air-conditioning system which has been worrying manager AL REY for two years . . . The Indiantown Gap Army Camp opens its theatre for the summer next week . . . The National Guard Camp at Bethany Beach also opening for summer shows . . . The new Little Theatre, New Hope, will go into pictures in the fall. Has been used exclusively for plays in the past ... JIM and BILL CLARK, OSCAR NEUFELD, ELI OROWITZ, CHARLES GOLDFINE and SID STANLEY are on committee handling Women's Medical College Carnival, June 1 0th . . . RAY SILVERSTEIN, ex-exhib (he operated the Broad, Soudertown I amazed all his friends by qualifying for the National Open Golf Tournament. Quite a few of his film and theatre pals went out to follow him during the first round played Thursday. The pressure of competing in his first important play apparently wrought havoc with Ray's game, because he took a poor 45-40 for a total of 85 . . . DAVE DIETZ is in town with the Baer-Nova Fight pix . . . Another move was made last week by South Philly indies to stop or limit dish giveaways. All were in agreement except one exhib, who formerly opposed dishes strongly, but now says that since the downtown houses have adopted giveaways he is not inclined to give them up. Another attempt will probably be made to induce all theatremen in the section to use dishes no more than two days per week.