The Film Daily (1929)

Both Sides to Draft Plan in Sound Confab iTHE 7Ae NEWSPAPER / ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME VOL. XLIX No. 8 Wednesday, July 10, 1929 Price 5 Cents A Two Slants SERIOUS-MINDED and essentially fair showman discussing percentage : "Of course, the distributor doesn't get a square shake. Percentage terms arc so prohibitive that the exhibitor is forced to resort to trickery to get bis share. Likewise does he become a poor showman because the more etTort he puts behind an engagement the greater ihe return— for the distributor. Therefore, the incentive is gone." A nationally known sales manager, one of the most widely known of them all : "Juggling and chicanery on the part of the exhibitor make it obviously impossible to countenance percentage minus a guarantee. If the exhibitor were to be depended upon to make an unbiased boxoflice report, it would be too bad for ihe distributor. This is no idle chatter. Experience — the sad kind — bears out this statement. The industry knows it." Isn't It Lovely? This is typical of the constant and terribly regrettable misunderstanding which prevails between buyer and seller. One is necessary to the other, yet each regards the other as if through the sights of a rifle. An insidious poison that pollutes the industry's veins. A Practical Dreamer Classic composers and classic music? They told him such arty stuff was out. Public wouldn't go for it. With this encouragement, he went ahead and found that strangely enough the film-wise crowd was wrong. Rather than play down to the mob, he played up and succeeded in dragging some of that mob with him. Today, this man has his own exchange from which he sells his product nationally. Further, he is producing in sound and while the entertainment angle sticks plentifully in his mind, his type of short stuff carries the distinction of the different and the select. You should know James A. FitzPatrick. Loss and Gain One of the bright happenings of the summer season: John Eberson, faithful Chicago son and theater architect of renown, has forsaken Michigan Boulevard for Gotham's highways. Too bad for the Windy City, but what a gain for little old New York? KANN Plans Park Show Pittsburgh — Mayor Kline has requested expenditure of $5,000 to present Sunday picture shows in the Schenley, Highland, McKinley and West Parks here. 26 FEATURES; 78 SHORTS West Coast Bureau, THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Twenty-six feature talkers, ten of them designed as specials, 26 Talking Screen Snapshots, 26 Columbia Victor Gems and 20 Krazy Kat cartoons, comprise the Columbia line-up for 1929-30. Outline of the product is being made at the sales convention here, now in its third day. The sessions wind up Thursday. Joe Goldberg, general sales manager, is presiding. Pictures designed as specials arc "Broadway Scandals," to be produced by Rufus LeMaire; "The Squeal, r," (Continued on Page 8) Films Classed as Public Utility, Reformers' Aim Proposal that films be classified as public utilities and regulated as such is contained in a report of the M. P. Committee of the National Council of Women, signed by its chairman, Mrs. Robbins Gillman, and made public by Canon William Sheafe Chase, secretary of the Federal M. P. Council in America. Mrs. Gillman also is president of the council. Centralized control is needed to regulate the industry, it is claimed. Columbia, New York, to be Operated as R-K-0 2-a-Day Radio-Keith-Orpheum is understood to have secured a long-term lease on the Columbia, 47th and Seventh Ave., New York, for showing of talking pictures. A two-a-day policy may be adopted when the house is taken over in Fall, after re(Continued on Page 2) Light Through Fabric Film New Recording Idea Pittsburgh — Light beams are projected through a ifabric film upon which are recorded positive sound images in an invention being developed here by Dr. F. W. Hochstetter, scientist and inventor. The film, he says, can be manufactured from (Continued on Page 2) GROUNDWORK LAID IN SOUND RENTAL PARLEYS MYERS FELICITATES AND Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Expressing best wishes for the success of the conferences begun yesterday by producers and exhibitor members of the antiMyers group, Abram F. Myers, president and general counsel of the Allied State Ass'n, warns that the two groups have assumed "a terrible responsibility," and the result had "better be good." "I have been pressed for a further expression regarding the amazing performance of a certain exhibitor organization, dominated through majority control of the board of direc (Continued on Page 8) INTERCHANGEABIL1TY to BE CARRIED jOPARLIAMENT London (By Wireless) — Interchangeability will be brought to the attention of Parliament next week, when a deputation from the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Ass'n, meets with the president of the Board of Trade, to discuss their protest in the situation. It is believed here that if necessary legislation will be introduced to force Western Electric to grant interchangeability. Arbitration of Quota Row Offered by French Official Paris (By Cable)— Dispute between American companies and' French producers caused by the quota proposals and vigorously attacked in the U. S. Congress by Sen. Samuel M. Short(Continued on Page 8) Italian Film Head Quits Causing Flurry in Rome Resignation di Mario Bisi, former under secretary in the Ministry of National Economy, as director of Ente Nazionale della Cinematografia, (the Italian state film trust) has created a sensation in Rome, states (Continued on Page 2) Distributors, Exhibitors Plan Subcommittees to Draft Program Groundwork for future conferences on the sound overhead problem of small independent exhibitors was laid at a preliminary meeting in New York yesterday. Sales managers of nearly all companies met with the committee selected by the anti-Myers group, consisting of R. F. Woodhull, M.P.T.O.A. president; R. R. Biechele, head of the Kansas and western Missouri unit, and D. A. Harris, Pittsburgh exhibitor. The meeting was a closed one and those present were pledged to make no comment other than a brief announcement issued by the Hays organization. Under the plan agreed to, subcommittees are to be appointed by each group to draft plans which are slated to be ready for submission in about two weeks. Distributors will name (Continued on Page 8) EQUITY CHARGES BAN ON GILLMORE RADIO TALK Six radio talks of 15 minutes each, which Actors Equity Ass'n, says it bought and paid for, have been denied the association by Station KM'rn Los Angeles, Paul Dulzell, execu^ secretary in New York, was advise, from the Coast by Frank Gillmore. Appeal to the Federal Radio Commission and the American Federation of (Continued on Page 8) "The Lady Lies" We happened to catch them sneaking one over at midnight the other night at the Paramount. Ultra modern in theme, deftly handled by Director Hobart Henley. Walter Huston, Claudette Colbert and Charles Ruggles an excellent combination in this all talkie. Paramount mum on plans for this one, but it will probably come along in the fall with a bang. Tab it. -_._., ALICOATE.