The Film Daily (1929)

^NEWSPAPER FFILMDOM UL THE NEWS ALLTHE TIME 1. L No. 10 Friday, October 11, 1929 Price 5 Cents ]ox Celebrating 25th Year in Film Industry 1000 THEATERS EXPECTED AT MEMPHIS MEET OOO Franchises in Sixty Days Allied States Aim "Bill" Fox -By JACK ALICOATE 1 ^WENTY-FIVE years in the motion picture business. Each new day full of strife as well mance. Each new month mark i milestone of picture progress. new year invading new worlds onquer and now, reaching his ■ Anniversary with enterprises span the globe, a world wide lization reflecting a twenty-five march of dominating progress, a name that is known in every town and hamlet in the civilized That's Fox. William Fox who y is the active far-seeing and ag ;ive head of one of the two great imusement organizations in the A Romantic Figure Jill" Fox will always be known ne of the armored knights of the stry. His career, that of the lone ior, is as romantic a life as can ound anywhere in pictures. His are experiences have taken him the management of the glittering ly arcade and nickel store show ygone days to the ownership of largest theater in the world, the y. In production it is generally eded that William Fox together i the Warner Boys are alone end to the credit of completely revionizing the industry, through leering the advent of sound. His ietone News marked another forl step in picture progress, and his Grandeur process bids fair igain turn things literally upside n. His Organization s an organizer, he has probably le fewer changes among the exives of his business than any ;r company. Sheehan, Rogers, inger, Leo, Smith and Zanft, old ds who know their stuff and do it. igratulations to you Bill Fox on r Silver Anniversary in pictures ir idea of starting out to get some sre in pictures and arriving there hout fear or favor from anyone is omplished. 70,000 Play Dates per Year Assured RKO and T-S, Steffes Says West Coast Bureau, THE FILM DAILY Los Angeles — Within the next 60 days 3,000 Tiffany-Stahl and RKO franchises will have been sold, W. A. Steffes, one of the leaders of Allied States Ass'n, declared at a meeting of exhibitors here. "First National," he said, "sold 2400 franchises in eight years, but Tiffany-Stahl and RKO will sell at least 25 per cent more in the next 60 days. At the rate franchises are being sold 70,000 play dates per year for the next five years will be assured Tiffany-Stahl and RKO." The meeting continues today and tomorrow. M. P. Theater Owners' Annual Convention to Draw 500 Exhibitor Members is Predicted Between 5,000 and 6,000 theaters of the United States will be represented at the forthcoming annual convention of the M.P.T.O.A. to be held Oct. 29 to 31 at Memphis, according to expectations of officials. The number of exhibitors present will be between 400 and 500, it is anticipated. President M. A. Lightman states he will make a definite effort to ascertain the exact status of the business at the convention which Lightman believes that the most rigid and searching stocktaking in the history of the industry is now absolutely essential for the benefit of all concerned (Continued on Page 6) In Music Field Fox is set to enter the music publishing field, forming its own company, with Pat Flaherty, veteran of every branch of the music publishing field, as head. Flaherty has resigned from De Sylva, Brown & Henderson to accept the new post. FOX SILVER JUBILEE DRIVE P-F-L QUARTERLY NET UP MORE THAN 115% Consolidated net profit for the third quarter of 1929, which includes earnings of subsidiaries, after all charges and taxes, are reported by Paramount Famous Players to be $4,600,000 amounting to $1.74 per share on the 2,647,326 shares outstanding at the end of the quarter. , This profit, as estimated, is approximately 119% greater, according to (Continued on Page 6) THEATER DEAL IS DENIED Persistent reports that Paramount is dickering for the Comerford circuit of about 80 theaters in Pennsylvania and New York were branded as without foundation by Frank Walker, operating head of the Comerford chain in a telephone message last night to the FILM DAILY from Scranton, Pa. Silver anniversary in show business of William Fox will be celebrated by Fox theaters of the nation during the week of Oct. 12. "Silver Jubilee Week" is the official designation, in which more than 1,200 theaters from Coast to Coast will participate. Circuits which are included are Fox Theaters, Fox Metropolitan Playhouses, Fox West Coast Theaters, FoxSchine, Fox Chicago Theaters, FoxPoli, Fox Midwesco and others. (Continued on Page 7) 155 SOUND FILM PRINTS IS PARAMOUNT AVERAGE Paramount delivers on an average 155 prints of a sound film, although in the case of some stars' pictures, the company delivers as many as 280 prints, according to John Hammell, manager of the sales analysis department. Before advent of sound 188 prints was the average number . 'V livered. In addition to the 155 sou. prints now delivered, about 75 silAl prints are supplied to unwired housfcr4 The life of a positive sound print is (Continued on Page 2) Renewal of Equity Shop Drive in Films Forecast by Harding Renewal of the Equity Shop drive in pictures is forecast for Actors' Equity Ass'n, in a book, "The Revolt of the Actors," just published. Alfred Harding, editor of Equity's house organ, is author of the new (Continued on Page 2) RCA-Photophorie Shows New Portable Projector New type of portable talking picture equipment designed to "bring audible and visual education to a point of easy and practical usage" (Continued on Page 2) Seeking Another Philadelphia — While disposition of the Stanley injunction suit to restrain operation of the Erlanger as a film house, is awaited, Radio-Keith-Orpheum is reported dickering for another theater here. Lease of the Erlanger was acquired recently by R-K-O, but Stanley says operation of it as a picture house will violate a sixyear old agreement. The theater is slated to open tomorrow.