The Film Daily (1934)

Monday, June 4, 1934 WARNER SALES MEET 1 OPENS TODAY IN A. C, (.Continued from Page 1) y Sam E. Morris and Joseph Humlel, speaking on foreign business of he past year and plans for the coming season. Grad Sears, in charge of southern ^nd western distribution, will then ddress the men, to be followed by "orman H. Moray, Vitaphone sales xecutive, who will discuss selling lans for Vitaphone shorts. Sam ax, production executive of the rooklyn Vitaphone studio, will outne the production plans of the rooklyn plant. The afternoon session will be deoted to addresses by Joseph Bernard, general manager in charge of "arner theaters, and other of the ompany's theater executives. The ession will be closed by an outline ■if the new feature product by S. Jharles Einfeld, home office adverising and publicity chief, who will ilso discuss the advertising and exportation plans prepared by Warlers for the new season's product. \.s already published, the 1934-35 irogram will be approximately the ame size as this season. At 11:30 ?. M. all the men will attend a per'ormance of "Madame DuBarry," tarring Dolores Del Rio, at the Stanley theater. The second session of the meet vill take place at 9:30 tomorrow norning. , In addition to the men already nentioned, those present for the ;ales meet include Ray S. Smith, Ubany; Thos. B. Spry Boston; H. \. Seed, Buffalo; Nat Furst, New laven; R. Mochrie, Philadelphia; Robert Smeltzer, Washington; M. ■White, Cincinnati; M. Mooney, Cleveland; F. E. North, Detroit; A. shmitken, Indianapolis; Chas. Rich, Dtitsburgh; Roy H. Haines, Harry pecker, Harry Hummell, S. Lefkovitz, G. Solomon and P. Swift, all if the New York exchange; and the ollowing from the home office: Carl jeserman, Harold Bareford, I. -levinson, A. W. Schwalberg, A. jachson, S. Shuford, I. F. Dolid, H. Jlosenquest, C. Kemke, J. Kelly, L. fietjen and H. M. Doherty. Erpi Transfers Bill Murphy I W. P. (Bill) Murphy has been ransferred from Chicago to the Mew York sales force of Erpi. He will handle the metropolitan territory north of 125th St., working ander Bert Sanford, Jr., northeastern division sales manager. Boards Have Clean Slate Local clearance and zoning committees will be inactive next week because no complaints have been received. Book "Damaged Lives" Bayonne, N. J.— With a Health Department tieup, "Damaged Lives" opens June 7 at the Opera House, Feiber & Shea house, 11 • • • A GREAT combination specially for picking writing talent not only picking it but directing and guiding it referring to Ben Hampton and Verne Porter who for the first time to our knowledge in the history of authors' agents are giving the authors a Complete and Specialized Service a constructive service that builds a writer for the Future and does not try to exploit him for the Present and just for what the authors' representative can get out of him T T T • • • WE APPROACHED these two experts with two questions in mind "Why, in spite of the many established writers, are good film stories so scarce?" and "Are film companies at fault in the way they handle writers, and if so, what would be a better method?" and, boy, did we get our answers! draw your chair up close, and listen T T T • • • FIRST OF all a creative worker can't go into a room with a desk and turn out a script to order the author who has gone over big as a novelist or a playwright didn't write to order he wrote when he had an Idea but when he goes to Hollywood he is forced to write on Demand often on an Idea that is alien to him just because the producer has decided to make a certain type of pix and picks this certain writer to do the job regardless then the producer can't understand why the result is a bust a Great Idea a Great Writer a Great Director hell, the Great Writer must be a phoney, after all T T T • • • THEN AGAIN "Producers produce for other producers." that may sound ambiguous let us explain it as Messrs. Hampton and Porter explained it to us Hollywood is a little village the studio folks are watching one another's productions they start competing Among Themselves trying to outsmart and outglorify each other and they FORGET the outside world for whom they are really making the pictures that is why we have so many Similar Pix Cycles one gent makes a pix the other sez "Hell, I can make a better one on the same type of material." and so we have our stupid cycles ad nauseum and Real Authors can't do themselves justice working on Stupid Cycle Pix when given such assignment, they turn out a routine job why not? ▼ ▼ T • • • A WRITER is called in to do a story for a certain star from sad experience this Distinguished and Capable Writer knows he must follow the Formula for every star has a certain Formula he dare not depart from it he cannot be original, and give the star something worthwhile he must follow the tried and tested stuff so he just runs over the star's six previous releases hits a composite idea of all six and presto! the producer slaps him on the back and tells him what a great writer he is while the public looks at the pix, yawns, and shrugs its shoulder because it is their favorite star and they forgive everything till they get tired of the star which won't be long ▼ ▼ ▼ • • • CAN YOU imagine our embarrassment! we've only STARTED to tell you the reactions of these two experts to the manner of handling Real Writers and here we are at the end of the column well, more later and it's Startling we assure you it will Jolt and Jar a lot of studio folks in Hollywood but if they're honest and sincere they'll thank God for such Constructive Criticism Ben Hampton is starting for Hollywood he can tell 'em personally HAYS SAYS CRITICISM LIFTSSCREENPOSITION (Continued from Page 1) « << « » » » to keep the red out of the face of civilization." Commenting on criticism of the movies, Hays said: "Ever since the motion picture emerged from the peep-show, the screen has been the subject of constant controversy. Naturally. The motion picture business is everybody's business. Every one of 123,000,000 people in the United States — man, woman and child — has and is entitled to have his own opinion of the movies. It is expressed at the boxoffice. It is expressed by the daily published opinion of more than 600 motion picture critics in the newspapers of the United States. It is expressed from the pulpit and from the public platform. "It is expressed by thousands of honest people whose only purpose is to advance the art and to further the entertainment interests of the American family. "It is expressed by hundreds of representative groups whose primary desire is to make screen entertainment a great social force as well as a great entertainment medium. It is expressed by thoughtful leaders of public opinion who have helped vastly in the effort to raise public acceptance to the highest standards that the art has made possible. "It is expressed on the other hand by those who make a living by paid lectures de nouncing the motion pictures; by job-seekers who would fasten themselves on federal or state payrolls through proposals for alleged iederal regulation or political censorship; by trade chiselers who would gain from the confusion created by the destruction of certain standard trade practices. It is expressed bymany who have failed to sell their services, their scenarios or their money-making schemes to the industry. "Perhaps the severest critic of the product is the trade association which 1 have the honor to head. The record shows that during the past year 564 scripts, books or synopses for feature pictures and 293 for short subjects, were reviewed within the established machinery of self-regulation; that more than 1,000 conferences to ensure production code observance were held during this period; that more than 1,500 written opinions and sugges tions were thus transmitted to our studio and that a total of 548 pictures were finally reviewed and passed. "A vast flow of constructive criticism reaches our studios through the conduits established by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. In the past year the industry has established active working contact with more than; 10,000 additional local leaders in the joint efforts to promote and consolidate the movement for public support of pictures of the better kind. Among these socially-minded volunteers are more than 6,000 teachers, 1,200 librarians, 800 clergymen, editors, leaders and directors ot religious educational and club groups. Tu each and all of them the; industry owes and acknowledges a debt of gratitude. Their judg ment has been unbiased, their comments lormative. They have appreciated the intricacy of the problems presented to a business that represents both an art and an industry. They know that many of these problems can be solved only by pat,ent and unceasing effort, by public education in matters of taste and standards. The American public and the motion picture industry have everything to gain from every movement, church or otherwise, that works for the proper selection of motion picture entertainment. Far from resenting, the industry has always sought and welcomed honest, constructive criticism." Philly Meeting Tomorrow Philadelphia — Meeting of the M. P. T. O. tomorrow at the Broadwood Hotel will take up matters of considerable importance, President Lewen Pizor is advising exhibitors in his plea for a record attendance. Fidler Gets Mascot Product Denver — Lon T. Fidler of Distinctive Screen Attractions has signed to distribute Mascot product in the Denver and Salt Lake territories.