The Film Daily (1929)

Sunday, September 22, 1929 -AND THAT'S THAT By PHIL M. DALY MARK THIS name down in your little notebook. You're going to hear it often in filluni circles from now on. Donald Calthrop. He's a blackmailer. That is, he takes the part ®f the blackmailer in "Blackmail," the Sono Art-World Wide feature just brought over from the British International studios. We're making book right now that when they chalk up the ten best characterizations of the year, the marvelous role portrayed by this artist will be on the list. * * * Joe Rivkin woke up the staid burghers of sleepy Philadelphia last week with his ballyhoo for Pathe on Eddie Quillan's "The Sophomore." There was nothing startlingly original about the idea, but it was the way he did it. He rigged up an old Ford and plastered it with the usual goofy signs. Then he tied cow-bells on all four ivheels. But the trick was in the college-type youth who drove the car. He was rigged up in an exaggerated costume that you could spot a block away. The driver was a natural comedian, and kept the crowds laughing all along the line. He pulled some boneheads in traffic, got the cops sore, and then had 'em laughing with the innocent apologies he made. Which all goes to prove that in publicity stunts it's not what you do, but HOW you do it. Joe Rivkin goes on the slate as one of the coiners among publicity aces, or else we're all cockeyed. * * * Empey Club Chatter {By Charley Schwartx) What's a "Wattsit"? That poo1 game played by those mugs at the Empey Club. * * * "Did I Deal?" (Set Jack DeLacy) "Experts are strongly opposed to bids of 2 originally, on the ground that you can convey the same information by first bidding 1, and then rebidding if necessary, without the disadvantage of at times shutting out a possible game at No-trumps, or some other suit. In Contract, a 2bid means something." Along The Rialto with PhilM. Daly, Jr. EARLE SMITH heads the Famous Sound studios which has taken over the old Edison studios in the Bronx. The entire four-story structure is being redecorated and conditioned for sound productions, which will start in a few weeks. George K. Arthur is in Noo Yawk for his vaude engagement. "The movies have gone from bad to words," is the observation of "Judge" Phillip Tannura, who was recently made a director of Pathe talking shorts, is a recent benedict, having flown to the Coast to take the fatal leap There was great ado on the Emgeeem lot when Winston Churchill, British statesman, arrived to look over the plant Phonoplay is the name for talking flickers which drew down five yards in "Photoplay's" competition A gate-crashing stunt which clicked was that of a youth who revealed to the manager of the Noo Yawk Winter Garden that there are 3,150 electric lights in "The Gold Diggers of Broadway" sign Ben Wallerstein, pilot of the Broadway at Buffalo, motored in with the new Hudson Morton Downey and the frau, the former Barbara Bennett, arrive today after the Yurropean trip. It's to be a vaude engagement and then a picture on the Coast Gloria Swanson returns from Yurrop Choosday. Roxy stresses honesty to his marine-trained ushers, and sent a hundred buck tuition check to the lad who turned in a $50 check found in the house. The rule is that unclaimed articles go to the finder, so Roxy matched it with another fifty in appreciation Al Grey has some really ambitious plans for Phono-Kinema. Dolores Del Rio is Coastbound on Monday And then there is the one about the hardboiled flapper who asked the manager, "Do you mind if I smoke in your theater?" And back came the retort swell, "Oh, dear no. It's all right with me if you burst out in flames." THEIR FIRST JOBS IRVING LESSER selling ice cream cones 4 4 We will very likely show such an attractive medium that silent pictures, as a whole, will be forgotten. In the development of the sound technique, however, it may be that we shall be able to use a great deal more of them than seems apparent at the present time. J f JOSEPH P. KENNEDY No *j\ Industry Statistics No.47 By JAMES P. CUNNINGHAM Statistical Editor, The Film Daily There are in the United States approximately 600 national and independent distributing exchanges located in important cities. New York City leads, having 52 exchanges with Chicago's 28 closely followed by Philadelphia with 26. Exchanges, listed in THE FILM DAILY YEAR BOOK, show the following number in the various key cities. New York City, 52, Chicago 28, Philadelphia 26, San Francisco 25, Minneapolis 24, Boston 23, Cleveland 21, Buffalo and Los Angeles 20 each, Milwaukee 19, Pittsburgh 19, Cincinnati and Detroit 18 each, St. Louis 16, Washington, D. C, 16, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Seattle 15 each, Charlotte, Omaha and Salt Lake City 14, New Haven and New Orleans 13, Albany and Portland, Ore., 12, Des Moines 9, Memphis 8, Butte 7, Baltimore 6. Charleston, W. Va., Jacksonville, Louisville, Portland, Me., and Sioux Falls 3 each, Birmingham, Columbus, San Antonio and Syracuse 2 each and one each for Fargo, N. D., Little Rock, Spokane and Worces| ter, Mass. Timely Topics A Digest of Current Opinion — c— Woodhull Praised for Qualities of Leadership AS a public character, such as *»• president of an organization where war and arbitration predominate, we seldom find a man like R. F. "Pete" Woodhull, whose sterling qualities endear him to such a vast majority. M. A. Lightman, even with his asset of "the congeniality of the south," will have to go some to fill Woodhull's place, we fear. And, as they say in Memphis — "you speak to an aristocrat, when you talk with Pete." "Zit's" * * * New Talkers Boost U. S. Films Appeal in England T1HIS has been a great week A for American talkies. Without any special fuss or boost at least five pictures have been shown which, in point of plot-power and technique, have done much to enhance the general entertainment appeal of the new art. We have been struck principally with the varied types of story that have been presented, the superb direction accorded each, and the fine acting talent they have called forth — in many cases of players who were appearing in talking films for the first time. "Daily Film Renter" * * * VAUDEVILLE will have arebirth. It will be the stronghold of the legitimate actor. Talkies are arousing great interest. New players and vaudeville stages will provide the only means whereby theater patrons may see the actors and actresses in the flesh. Joseph I'lunkett, General Manager of Radio-Keith-Orpheum TEN YEARS AGO TO-DAY IN Loew purchases eight southern houses. T. L. Tally buys the Los Angeles Kinema Theater for $650,000. * * * Pathe to star Juanita Hansen ki series.