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THE
i nday, August 12, 1928 IHHOBIIHHHIH^
jJB^
DAILV
■-ere they sprout from any and all ( rctions, from Billingsgate to Gros\ lor Square. . . .
I'ive months and than a complete 1st. Well, there is a great deal of [sitiveness in Joe Schenck's ideas . talking pictures. He unburdened
I uself in London and when the impt of his opinion seeped through I.' minds of the trade here, a lot of {■ks wondered. Synchronized scores ,s|d sound effects? Great stuff, says IShenck. Talkies? Bah. A coupla
llhs. Says United Artists won't ijike any talking pictures, so Sam (l)ldwyn turns right around and annmces two. . . .
iLet's see. It was about six weeks so. We were discoursing at some figth on the industry and what jght be done to make dividend days jriods of rejoicing rather than holi<ys of mourning. Made four points. Me dealt with elimination of overMting through closing down of (jmpetitive theaters. Notice what's iippening in Cleveland? Loew is to ijll the Stillman to the Statler hotel i|tfit. A house less downtown and (te of the most ridiculously overleatered cities in the country gets a lance to breath easier. . . .
Sound Pow-Wows
.Tuesday: Smart fellow, E. P. Inith. Know him? He's president ( the M.P.T.O. of Iowa. Realizing derybody is nuts over sound, Smith •li'ures it's smart business to call a ilecial meeting to talk about it. Iowa ildisturbed. Of course everybody is (tncerned with and over sound. The wblem in the corn belt is one of l|wns under 25,000. Exhibs there h\ sound operation exactly doubles teater overhead. Some of the fellas, while wincing a little at the ■ftst of equipment, have arranged to fBtall it. But they can't get im?diate deliveries. Checks for first yments have, in some instances, en returned. Iowa is discovering w what a lot of other fellows did l^eks ago: That it is the affiliated heater that will get the first break, e unaffiliated chap following in. estern Electric is tied up in several lys with Paramount, Fox, Metro, jiiiversal and First National. Pretty ^ customers and W.E. is getting ,'d will get, a sweet revenue from em. Do you think theaters affiHled with said interests are going to ait overlong for equipment? Be lur age! . . .
•Pete Woodhull issues forth with und advice and it has nothing parular to do with sound pictures. ;te warns against oral promises -uu salesmen. Get it in writing or epare yourself to forget about it, ?te warns. Sure thing. Pete is isolutely right. . . . Tolson. The one and only Al, will ay in pictures. A brand new conict has been signed with Warners, nder it, A! will do four more picres to follow "The Singin' Fool." ou see, after "The Jazz Singer" locked everybody for a loop, bids jni competitors began to pile up. J) Jolson tourned to lawyer-friend late Burkan. And the conversation
II something like this:
Al: "The boys are after me, but I in happy with Warners and am sat'led to remain."
Turning Back the Calendar
{Continued from Page 1)
Nate: "If you're happy, stick." So Jolson remained with Warners. Of course, there's nothing very painful about that, seeing as how Al is getting six handsome figures for "The Singin' Fool" and a salary, plus a split, on the four others to come .
The Warner Sensation
Wednesday: Such excitement you never did see. This is a business where millions — other people's — are hurled about as if they meant nothing. Witness the Warner tidbit. Adolph Zukor offered $10,000,000 for the company — so the story goes; the word reaches Bill Fox over on Tenth Avenue and the figure jumps to $12,000,000. Then Zukor heard about it — so the story goes — and got kinda mad. He will, will he — meaning Fox. Up goes the figure to $15,000,000. When Harry Warner learned about the first bid — so the story goes — he listened respectfully. But when the competition became a little fiercer, Harry just sat back and smiled! Now the price is hovering around $20,000,000 and any minute it will go higher. The whole procedure — so the story goes — is traceable to sound pictures. Warners are mopping up via Vitaphone. Their business is averaging $300,000 a week. That's a lot of money. Have you any idea how many years it took several big companies we can name, to reach that figure, before they finally passed it? Anyway, Warners and Fox are way ahead of the mob on sound. If Fox purchases Warners, you can see what would happen. But if Paramount purchases Warners, you can also figure what would happen. And that — so the story goes — is the story. . . .
Now along comes David Sarnoff, whose reputation as a business man ranks very high, with, a statement that Photophone and Western Electric are interchangeable. Weeks ago wc tipped off the change in the Photophone sound track from 100 mils to 80 mils, the latter being the width of the Movietone track. Nothing else to it, remarks Sarnoff. But Western Electric remarks nothing at all. Not even a denial, it is significant to note. Important to bear that in mind — not even a denial. It looks muchly like a settlement on the bothersome interchangeability. We wonder, however, about the other devices. Pat Powers has maintained right along that Cinephone pictures — when he has them — will talk via W.E. apparatus. And, if Photophone can use W.E. without change, the equation about things equal to each other being equal to themselves holds — just like in algebra. . . .
Two important events set. First, on August IS is opening of "The Terror" at the Warner here in New York. All dialogue down to the main title and cast. The advance dope is extremely interesting. But more about that when the day arrives. Second, August 16, an auspicious day. "The Patriot" takes its bow at the Rialto, New York. The picture Hollywood has been excited over for months. Waiting to see it. Has been hailed as perfect piece of craftsmanship. We shall see what we shall see. . . .
Heap Big Meeting
Thursday : In comes the Century. Down at the station are Ned Depinet, Joe Schnitzer, Lee Marcus, Bob Kane and several others. Out steps Joe Kennedy, flanked on one side by E. B. Derr, who worked with Kennedy at the Bethlehem shipbuilding plant in war days. Much meetings all through the day. Desk piled up with this and that and out of it all comes one thing anyway. That is, a meeting of First National directors to be held Friday. It's gonna be a long one. Kennedy has certain ideas of his own about First National and how it should be run. He'll tell the directors all about it at the confab. Some changes, too, in the offing. Appears as if several familiar faces at F. N. will be among the missing when said meeting breaks up. On the other hand, one fellow and maybe two, will find themselves nearer the top of the ladder. ...
On this side of the pond David Sarnoff declares Photophone and Western Electric equipments are interchangeable. On the other, J. E. Otterson tells London there has been no decision. Our odds are placed on Sarnoff. The issue is no longer an issue. Somebody down at W. E. really should advise Otterson what's going on. Notice the rest of his talk? SaidParamount will make sound pictures in England by the first of the year; that six British theaters will be wired this year and "as many more equipments as we can spare." Bet the English will love that. . . .
Motion picture via radio. Westinghouse experiment in Pittsburgh turns out successfully. Story makes every first page in New York. The panic will probably begin any minute now. We've been digging into television. It's coming some day, of course. But don't fret about it now. Far from practical; certainly not commercially set. Also remember this: RCA which will sell the equipment when ready is now in the film business. A load of money has been spent on sound and it hasn't been put over with the public yet. _ Television and whatever else scientific America discovers will be dished out to the public in small, palatable doses — the kind that can be digested easily and without upsetting the existing system. For instance, the development of radio for as far ahead as ten years is understood to be an accomplished fact. But if you imagine for
a moment that RCA is going to (lump new devices and improvements on the market with millions of dollars invested in existing mechanism, you're imagining in the wrong direction. Same with television. . . .
Good news for exhibitors, wired and unwired. Paramount intends disbanding roadshows and send "Wings" out on program beginning September. The aviation epic is now rounding out its first year at the Criterion in New York and a mighty successful year it has been, too. Showmen usually deal in unknowns insofar as pictures are concerned, but here is one with all vestiges of doubt about drawing pull removed. You can begin doping out now what "Wings" will do. Clear the decks!
In Large Slices
Friday: Boloney, that's all. Kennedy doesn't usually bother to affirm or deny, but this time the urge got him. Up from the financial bowling alleys of Wall Street came whispered words — most of them are whispered — that RCA, determined to get started on its sound picture policy as it saw fit, had taken over Pathe, FBO and Keith-Albee Orpheum. It was this J. P. K. dismissed as boloney. Maybe we are wrong. . . .
Mr. Hays is in for an active season. Those stage producers fiddling around with Vocafilm, have selected one of those "hot damn" shows for their first. No less than "The Shanghai Gesture" one of the strongest— and roughest — melodramas to strut the New York stage in years. In the ofiing are some of the Mr. Woods' undressed bedroom farces — you know, the plays of the type that deal with Mabel's room and various articles of her personal apparel. The business is in for something. . . .
Silence may be golden according to the sages of old, but not in this here picture industry. Everything is going to talk soon. The Metro lion will roar; we suppose the mountain in the w.k. Paramount trademark will begin to erupt — with propei sound effects — and the Pathe rooster will crow. Anyway, another newsreel goes sound. It's Pathe and the talking stunt starts sometime in the fall. Next? . . .
On the Dotted Line
Today: They even passed up lunch, those First National directors. The meeting was that important. Several things took place. For one, Kennedy finally closed his deal. Signed a five year contract to run the whole shebang, carrying with it an option to buy a 25% interest any time within the life of the agreement. Promptly thereafter, Joe left for Cape Cod to see Mrs. Joe and his flock of children. It's been six weeks since last he made whoopee with them and he w^as right anxious to go home.
E. B. Derr than whom Kennedy thinks there is no better soul alive on office operation and management was placed in charge of details. My goodness, with Boothby and Derr on the job, watch how First National's overhead gets socked right midships. . . .
Those two boys sure know how.
KANN