The Film Daily (1924)

iTHE :s^« brAdstreet of PILHDOM AU i HORIT Y Vol. XXIX No. 53 Tuesday, September 2, 1924 Price 5 Cents OPENING By DANNY The season is on. Labor Day meiStie ATn and kids are back hor " theater again comes intt c .A month from now it'll ■ cinlly at night. Collars ' up. .'Vnd all that sort of thing. And after the sink is cleaned. ; And the kids put to bed. Ma and Pa vill be shopping for pictnrcb. Let's take stock. How are 3'ou set? For the season. With pictures. Because there are a lot of mighty good ones floating about. And you had I'^t*^' r 1^ ve your share of them. Becai .\ L .. brother exhibitor down — o across the street — will have . <-'-"m. Even tho he tells you he v.on't '. ^'jck book to get them. You know better. Or you should. If . you've ' . en holding off, just bear this in rji.id. But regardless of how you book. How you buy. Hold dates open. You'll need them. Some companies are doing business without selling 20 or 30 or 40. At a clip. And you want to remember this. You never know where a good, fine, big money making picture is coming from. And you want time for it. " Last week Fox showed "The Iron Horse". Except for the "low down, inside" which no one believes anymore. Who knew how big this picture was going to be? Fox, perhaps, Sheehan, perhaps; and a handful more. But the picture community as a whole knew little — or nothing. Yet it's a fine, box office picture. And unless they want the earth for it. You should run it — and make money. And so it goes — and will go. As long as there are cameras and companies. . Next to product, are you set? With plans for getting closer to your community? Are you set to go after good will and build it until it means as much as your pictures? If not take stock. Because just as the store show was pushed out of business. So just running good pictures in nice, clean, up to date theaters is becoming meaningless. You Imust be more than an exhibitor to stay. You must be a showman, plus. Today is an important milestone. Tough Sledding Salesman Finds Rough Going in Mid^'' vVith Independent Product ndwriting on Wall The following excerpts are from a letter sent the Editor by one of the best known salesmen in the state right field from Chicago. In part he writes: "Pity the poor independent. ■"The hand-writing is on the wall and you can start to sing the requiem at any time you see fit. "I would hate to be holding the bag like — (and here he mentions four of the leading state right distributors of the business.) "Take the Chicago territory as an example. As you probably know, Balaban and Katz, together with Lubliner and Trinz control this territory, bag and baggage. We were fortunate enough to sell our picture to the Lubliner and Trinz, Warner exchange and to receive a good price, but if we were unfortunate and had to sell one of the other 'independents' we would have been out of luck. "To go a little bit further, take Hoffman's Renown exchange here — they have 59 pictures, the best that (.Continued on Page 3) 9 On Committee To Award Zukcr's $10,000 Cash Prize for Author of Best American Picture The Authors' League of America, designated by Adolph Zukor to select the judges who will name the winner of the $10,000 prize offered by him "to the author whose story or play makes the best picture," has announced the personnel of that board. The members are: Ellis Barker Butler, President Author's League of America Inc. Frederick Roy Martin, General Manager of Associated Press. Edward Childs Carpenter; President, American Dramatists' Society. Charles Dana Gibson, artist. Elmer Rice, playwright and scenario writer. Allan Dwan. Mary Roberts Rinehart, novelist. Robert Sherwood. George Barr Baker, who was Chairman of the International Congress of M. P. Arts held last summer. This offer by Zukor was announced at the first International Congress, held at the Waldorf Astoria last year. (Continued on Page 2) Shawnee Gets Sunday Shows Dallas — Shawnee, Okla., has won the fight for Sunday shows, by a vote of 1,936 for and 1,644 against.. Oklahoma City — A special city election at Kingfisher resulted in a vote against Sunday shows. Tax Still On But Hope Is Held Out for Action On South Carolina Admission Tax in January (S fecial to THE FILM DAILY) Atlanta — At the general election held in South Carolina, no action was taken on the repeal of the ten per cent admission tax which is collected there as a State levy. It is impossible to sound the situation. The General Assembly meets in January and it is possible that something might be done then. It is understood a number of South Carolina exhibitors have been lining up on their side, members of the Carolina House and Senate. Anna Aiken Patterson of the Weekly Film Review is editorially behind a plan to enlist exhibitors in that State in a concerted move to urge the Assembly to repeal the measure. India Seeks to Break In It is reported from London that a group of twelve producers in India is seeking to break into the American market with their product. An emissary is said to be in New York for that purpose. Hill Plans More 'Changes Pittsburgh— R. G. Hill Enterprises, a state righter now maintaining an office here will shortly open exchanges in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit. Brenon Off For Coast ^tcrbert Brenon who rcti-ined Friday on the HiMiiigaria from England is en route to the Coast to start work on "Peter Pan." '23'24 Tax Jumps $77,712, 523 for Fiscal Year— $7,537, 376 Increase Over 12 Mor-^hs Ending June, 1923 Washington — Admissions to i : 3 of amusement during the fiscal year ended June 30, last, paid taxes amounting to $77,712,523, according to figures compiled by the Internal Revenue Bureau, an increase of $7^ 537,376 over the fiscal year ended June 30, 1923, when collections ag-lV gregated $70,175,147. Collections from the special seat-.v^. ing tax on places of amusement amounted to $1,623 361, against $l,-ijO( 865,289 in the fiscal year 1923, a de ' crease last year of $241,927. fVI 1 Both these taxes operated under the \ 1921 revenue law during the entire V^ fiscal year, but, beginning with July, the admission tax applies only to ad-,^ missions of more than 50 cents and' the capacity taxes are repealed eq;^^*^ i tirely. ■'' Collections from the admission and seating capacity taxes during the fiscal year, by months, were as follows, the figures being subject to correction by the Internal Revenue Bureau: 1923 Admissions Capacity July $5,140 506.34 $813,147.02 Aug. 5,560,748.10 402,344.82 Sept. 4.932.527.44 134 660.20 Oct. 6,999,867.70 88,758.24 Kov. 6.849.212.81 43,660.31 Dec. 7.047,876.97 33.723.62 1924 Jan. 7,576,991.58 27.707.73 Feb. 6,738.627.08 21.771.47 Mar. 6,920.91287 15,646.43 .'\pr. 7,162.876.10 17,114.99 May 6.571,502.04 14,844.39 June 6,210,874.57 9,982.3S Fox (Brit.) Slashes 42 Employees Dismissed in England —Reports That More Will Follow (Special to THE FILM DAILY) London — Drastic economy has been effected at Fox following the return of Louis Levin, managing director from America. Over forty-two members of the staff were dismissed, and there are reports of more to follow. H. D. Wood, general manager incurred a serious illness during his return from America and is now in the hospital. He is expected to return to business within the next week or IVSO. Cochran May Produce ■ (Sfecial to THE FILM DAILY) London — Charles B. Cochran, theatrical producer may make some pictures. k I Pickford in "Cinderella"? Los Angeles— It is understood that Mary Pickford will make a new version of "Cinderella" in which she appeared some years ago. This will not be placed in work until another piC ^ ture on a smaller scale is made. | Circuits Sign With Operators Signing a two-year contract which calls for a five per cent increase in wages, with a like increase Sept. 1, 1925, the Vaudeville Managers' Protective Association, comprising the large circuits and Broadway firstruns have met the demands of Local 306. The new contract also calls for a double shift of operators. ''i