The Film Daily (1923)

iTHE 7Ae BRADSTREET of FILMDOM 7/<?re(ochizeg Authority 'ol. XXIV No. 49 Saturday, May 19, 1923 Price 5 Cents Roth Resigns ,eaves Universal After Brief Period of Service — No Reason Assigned for Change (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Los Angeles — Eugene H. Roth, as resigned at Universal. No furher statement is made at Universal ;ity relative to this. Roth joined Universal in March as p e c i a 1 representative of Carl ..aemmle. In view of his long exlerience as an exhibitor in San Fran:isco, it was figured that his advice vould be invaluable in helping Universal to determine a production policy that would meet exhibitor detiands. Shortly after Roth joined Universal, Hunting Big Game in Afrecia" was tarned over to Universal for distribuion, follwing a long and successful un at the Lyric, New York. R. H. Cochrane of Universal, had 'io comment to make relative to Roth's resignation yesterday. Fur'her than confirmir the coast dispatch and adding that tl.e relations between Universal and Roth were Perfectly amicable, he had nothing o say. Kane Conferring With Ray (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Los Angeles— Arthur S. Kane is lere conferring with Charles Ray. To Convention from Coast (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Los Angeles — Sam Grand has left or the Chicago convention. P. A. Powers is also going to the Chicago meeting. Grand Engages Bosworth (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Los Angeles — Sam Grand has en-^ jaged Hobart Bosworth to appear ij» 'The Blood Ship" by Norman 'Springer. Golf Competition Universal Tops List with Five Entries Four Companies Each Have Four— 86 All Told In point of number, Universal ha entered more names in the gq tournament than any other comp, to date: five all told, including Julius Laemmle, the youngest srolf nlayer in the film business. Close on the heels of Universal are Hodkinson, Inc~:'-ation, Al Lichtman Corp. and Joseph M. Schenck Prod., each with four golfers or goofers, as the c .se may be. Of course, inasmuch as George Gallup is on the committee, it was expecieci he would corral the Hodkinson staff for the tournament. So Calhm sold the idea to Foster Gilroy, his side-kick and then persuaded Ravmond Pawley and W. F. Seymour to chime in. Someone over at Inspiration got working this week and lined up Robert Harris, Henry King, and the two Smiths — J. Boyce and E. L. — to send in their applications, so that laces Inspiration with one sweep of the pen right up front. Now that Jack Bachmann at the Lichtman office belongs to two country clubs and Henry Ginsberg is more or less secretly taking private lessons every day, it was a foregone conclusion that they would set aside June 5 as an all-play-and-no-work day. Then Bachmann got Al Lichtman interested and Ginsberg, Sam Schwartzman pepped up. That's the reason for those entries. Over at the Schenck office, Felix I Feist is on the committee. And if 'a committee member can't get his own gang to come out, well — . So Feist lined up Joe Schenck, Louis Brock and Eddie Mannix and jacked his total up to four. Tied for third place are Famous Players, First National, F. B. O. and Goldwyn with three each. This tip should be enough for some enterprising individual in each of those organi Sails for London Premiere Marion Davies sails for London on he Olympic today to make personal ippearances at the Scala theater, Lonlon, where "Little Old New York" vill open on June 3rd. Some Inside Stuff Relative to the making of "The Covered Wagon" will appear in Sunday's issue of THE FILM DAILY. Don't miss it. zations. (Continued on Page 3) Sees Drive Against F. P. Shorts The Evening Post financial editor said yesterday: "Weakness in Famous Players common, which has been evident for several days, was somewhat accentuated this morning when the stock broke below 77. Action of the stock is, of course, connected by most market obsarvers with the testimony in the Trade Commission's suit against the concern, but signs are not wanting that the bear party has not hesitated to make use of this development for its own purposes. The short interest in Famous Players is supposed to be very considerable, and in fact just before the break in the market on April 30 there were widespread rumors in the Street that a drive against the shorts in this issue was planned for the near future." Koerpel Challenges J. A. Koerpel, district manager of Goldwyn in Cleveland, turned in a wonderf 1 score in a recent match game with Dr. M. A. Loring on the Highland Golf Course at Cleveland. Koerpel, playing in great form turned in a card of 79 on a course of par 72 for 18 holes, winning his match in easy manner. So enthused over his game in the third time* out this year. Koerpel issues a for. il challenge to meet the winner of the FILM DAILY Golf Tournament. The condition of this match is to be 36 holes, 18 to be played on the Cleveland Highland course and the other 18 to he played at the option of the opponent. Two on Broadway Metro will have tw6 pictures on Broadway next week, "Trailing Wild African Animals" at the Capitol, and "Soul of the Beast" at the Rivoli. Bruce Series of 10 For Educ'l (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Portland, Ore. — Robert Bruce has arrived to spend the summer in the Pacific Northwest, making scenics which will be distributed through Educational. The present contract calls for 10 pictures. Lieber On Stand Testimony Reveals 1st Nat'l Plans 52 for Next Year — No Hearing Until Monday With Government counsel in the Federal Trade Commission's attempt to prove that Famous players and subsidiary organizations are operating in restraint of trade rounding up witnesses to help prove the Government's trust allegations, and with the last few witnesses examined apparently failing to deliver testimony incriminating to Famous the last few days' sessions have developed into a humdrum routine, and yesterday after the brief testimony of Robert Lieber, president of First National, the hearing was adjourned until 10.30 Monday. Government counsel hope to have more witnesses ready by that time. Robert T. Swaine, cross examining for the respondents asked Lieber, who had previously been under direct examination, if he had seen the dispatch in the FILM DAILY of May 14, quoting M. L. Finkelstein as saying that First National will release 52 pictures during the current year, but will only produce 16, relying upon other producers for the balance, and if Finkelstein was correct. Lieber replied that he had read the FILM DAILY despatch, and that the statement was substantially correct. (Continued on Page 2) Universal Lists Six Universal has listed six Jewels for release this fall and winter. "MerryGo-Round" is the first, to be released in September; "A Lady of Quality" in October; "Jewel" in November; "The Acquittal" in December; "Turnoil" in January and "Up the Ladder" in February. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" will be released as a super-Jewel. The probable schedule of Jewels for the remainder of the season will be "White Tiger" starring Priscilla Dean; "Wanted a Home" starring Babv Peggy; "The Magician," starring Virginia Valli; "The Storm Daughter," starring Priscilla Dean; "Court Martialled," starring Reginald Denny; and "Damned" with Barbara La Marr. Edward Sedgwick has signed a five year contract. He will direct Hoot Gibson. Bennett Forms New Company (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Albany — Whitman Bennett has formed a new company here known as Film Traders, with" headquarters in Yonkers. The capitalization is $20,000. Associated Gets "Copperfield" Roy Crawford of Associated Exhibitors, has closed a c ntract f . r the distribution in the United States and Canada of "David Copperfield," release to be 'in the fall. Negotiations for the feature were carried on with Andre Olsen. representing the Nordisk Film Compagni of Copenhagen. Ray Lewis Here Ray Lewis, publisher of the Canadian M. P. Digest, the only trade paper in Canada was in New York yesterday. In commenting on conditions in the Dominion, Miss Lewis said that if American distributors would make a real effort to study Canadian conditions and not attempt to run their business up there from New York, they would get more revenue out of the country than they are at present.