The Film Daily (1938)

1 Wednesday, November 2, 1938 SAYS TELE MUST BE BORN FULL-FLEDGED (.Continued from Page 1) Road Ahead to Television," emphasiz'-Jjthat "Who shall pay for the tei-^sion programs?" was "the big problem ahead of television today," and warned, "The public has been educated to expect a high degree of excellence in radio programs, and it is doubtful whether mediocre program material in television would be acceptable." Pointing out that the size of the televised picture is limited by the size of the cathode ray receiving tube, Kaar said that a 12-inch tube, giving a picture 7% by 10 inches, is "about the largest size practicable for use in a home cabinet" at present. "Interesting future developments in tubes" were predicted. The future as well, Kaar said, will bring a great reduction in the costs of relaying programs in tele network hook-ups. Aspects of television that have counterparts in film practice were also discussed yesterday by G. L. Beers, E. W. Engstrom and I. G. Maloff of RCA. Comparisons of techniques of both were presented. Among the advantages expected from this program of mutual exchange of information is a more effective "matching" of one system with another, for the transmission of film by television, and for possible future application of television devices to the pix field. Among the phases touched upon were the relationship of the size of a television picture to the distance from which it will be viewed, the number of "frames" per second necessary to produce the best illusion of continuous motion to the eye and the ability of a television system to convert the light reflected from objects of varying color into corresponding values of light and shade. E. M. Lowrey and K. S. Weaver of Eastman Kodak disclosed a method for taking the temperature of color, while M. Rettinger of RCA and D. J. Bloomberg of Republic described the precise acoustical design and technical equipment of a dubbing and scoring stage. SHORT SHOTS fROfll ERSTCRII STUDIOS By SID WEISS PRODUCTION on the Dudley Murphy-Harold Orlob pix, "... onethird of a nation . . ." starring Sylvia Sidney will wind up this week at the Eastern Service studios — under schedule and within its appropriation. This marks the first English dialogue feature to be produced at the Astoria lot since the days of Hecht and MacArthur. It also marks the innovation of the director-producer-profit sharing system of production here, an idea which Murphy has been nursing for two years or more and which is now rapidly gaining in favor on the Coast. Murphy, Sylvia Sidney and Oliver H. P. Garrett will all share in the gross intake. Murphy also reports that the financial powersthat-be have been so favorably impressed with the Murphy-Orlob initial effort that new financing for future production has already been offered from two different sources. Kenneth Rock Dead Denver — Kenneth Rock, 34, projectionist at the Paramount exchange, died at a Denver hospital from the effects of a fall sustained in his home. Piling It On Kenosha, Wis. — Kenosha Theater here has raised the ante on the horror program by advertising horrific "triple bill." Attractions included "Dracula," "Frankenstein," and "Attic of Terror," latter a short. Milwaukee, Wis. — Horror show craze has hit its stride here with the Alhambra and Strand, downtown houses, playing the shows as well as a half dozen or more nabes. Programs include reissues of a wide variety of shockers. Featured in the picture, along with Miss Sidney, are Leij Erikson, Hiram Sherman and Muriel Hutcheson. Bill Miller and Eddie Hyland rate credit for the camera work while Saul Harrison assisted Murphy in the direction. Walter Keller was in charge of the art work. Glett's assistant . . . Bill Howard's current picture, "Frankie," is his 47th — and he's convinced it's going to be one of his finest . . . Practically all the members of Dudley Murphy's cast in " . . . one-third of a nation . . .'' are either appearing in stage shows now or are about to open in one . . . Good to see Charlie Harten recovering so nicely from his long siege of illness . . . He'll spend the Winter in Florida . . . Look-Alikes: Harold Orlob and Walter Keller . . . Rumored around that Rozine has left Kendor Productions . . . Ray wrote and directed "Flight" at the Rockridge Theater this past Summer ... At present he's consultant on plays at the Experimental Theater at Vassar. TEST OF DIVORCEMENT ADVOCATED BY GOLDEN Among the extras in "Frankie" was a former ranch hand who had worked for Stu Erwin's father years ago in California. Needless to say, Stu gave the chap a stake and is trying to arrange a steady job for him. On and off the sets . . . Harold Orlob, a veteran in the legit, theater, may do a stage play before producing another pix . . . Dick Chapman, Audio director, was badly hurt several weeks ago while shooting sequences in Detroit — but is back on the job now and as Charlie Familiar faces at the Casa Manana. . .Lanny Ross and Frank Libuse . . .The former needs no introduction. . Is in greater voice than ever and there's no reason why the films shouldn't take to him as fondly as did radio. . .His reception at Billy Rose's nitespot comes under the head of tremendous. . .As for Libuse, there's no getting around it. . .The fellow is screamingly funny. . . Meanwhile Sam Sax has him under contract for at least one more Warner short. . . Bragg Named Chairman of Toronto Film Section Toronto, Ont. — At the annual meeting yesterday of film section of the Toronto Board of Trade Thomas Bragg, of Famous Players Canadian Corp. was elected chairman succeeding N. A. Taylor. Committee on "Go to the Movies Week" reported it had merged with the general industry campaign. The special two-reel campaign film will be made available to all theaters free after it has been shown in houses participating in the Movie Quiz contest. Television Won't Hurt Pix, Hollis Baird View Boston — "Television will be commercial, just as radio is, and it will have no more effect on movie attendance than radio had," in the opinion of Hollis Baird, prexy of General Television Corp. General will transmit tele shows thrice daily from W1XG at the World of Tomorrow Exposition opening here Nov. 12. Says M-B Has Worked Out a New Distribution Setup A wholly new distribution setup designed to help the indie producer, has been worked out by Malcolm Browne Pictures Corp. John E Browne, president of M-B, told THE Film Daily yesterday. Browne stated that it was possible the number of pictures M-B will distribute would run well over the 20 the company will produce itself. A feature length film that will be commercially sponsored will be distributed by M-B, Browne disclosed. It was stated that the cost of the film would approximate the budget on major studio productions, with only commercial aspect a credit line for the sponsoring company. (Continued from Page 1) that neither self-regulation nor Government regulation offered a permanent solution to the industry's ills, specifically urged: "Let us all agree to the selection of a representative state in the Union to be used as a testing ground for pictures to be exhibited with block-booking eliminated and theater operation divorced from distribution for a definite period of time. In the results, I believe, our answer will be found." Golden was critical of the failure to invite Monogram to participate in the present trade reform negotiations. "No interest has been shown in the solution of problems which we also have," he charged, adding "This is much too important a matter for us to permit others to represent us without our having a voice in the discussions." "The fallacy of self-regulation," said Golden, "is apparent in the fact that the regulators represent various vested interests in the motion picture industry and of necessity must operate so that their own interests are protected, even to the detriment of others involved. We had an opportunity to observe selfregulation, such as it was, under the NRA. ... I saw too much of the operations of people in our industry during my association with the Code Authority ever to agree to a continuation of the methods employed in self-regulation as they proposed it. . . . "We now find that exhibitors are requesting concessions from the producers and their sole interest seems to be themselves. One of their requests is the inclusion of a 20 per cen cancellation clause in their contracts. As a practical person and realist, I would like to inform you that the 20 per cent cancellation clause will only enable affiliated theaters to buy 20 per cent more product to take care of that cancellation; the individual exhibitor will find himself with a larger cancellation and will be much worse off than he is now. More cancellation means giving affiliated theaters more right to buy those pictures which an individual exhibitor has the right to cancel out." South Philly's Exhibitors Unable to Agree on Dishes Philadelphia — Attempts to regulate dishes in South Philadelphia flopped when exhibitors of that area met but could not agree. Report here also has Stanley-Warner joining in the dish distribution as soon as deals can be arranged. JVotc IV s Salary Night Seward, Neb. — Although all manner of giveaways were outlawed in Nebraska by Supreme Court, Izzy Kuhl, manager of the Rivoli, has a salary night gag. Every week he offers $20 to a person to be good will ambassador for the Rivoli. Every patron makes application, and if present when their "application" is accepted, they get the money. If they're not on hand, the job is declared vacant, and in order to lure another applicant, the salary unpaid is added onto the next week's offer. It's claimed untouchable by law.