The Film Daily (1934)

I -■■' ' Intimate in Character Internationa! in Scope Independent in Thought -«ss7o. mm The Dai ly N ewspe i per Of M t i o n Pict ures Now Six teen Years Old -IF DAILY VCL. LXV. NO. 13 NEW y©Ett, TUESDAY, JANLACy 16, 1934 <S CENTi Companies to Cooperate on Salary Questionnaires 71 PER JNT OF WORLDTTHEATERS §W WIRED Will H. Hays Sees 1934 as Year of Big7 Pictures Predicts Many Significant Films Among Output in Coming Months That 1934 will see more pictures of "big caliber" than any previous year was predicted by Will H. Hays in an NBC radio talk Sunday night in a symposium that also included expressions by Daniel Frohman, H. L. Mencken, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Richard C. Patterson and others. Pointing to the numerous historical and dramatic spectacles being produced, Hays said that this year's crop of films would prove (Continued on Page 4) STEP UP ACTIVITY AT M-G-M STUDIOS West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood— Activity at the M-G-M studios is being stepped up, with seven pictures now in preparation for early production, in addition to seven at present in work. The group being readied includes "Marie Antoinette," "The Good Earth," "Livirg in a Big Way," "The Duchess of (Continued on Page 4) Lou Brock Producing 3 More RKO Features West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Two more musicals and a comedy-drama have been assigned to Lou Brock by Merian C. Cooper for production this season. This is in addition to Brock's supervision of RKO shorts. The mu (Continued on Page 4) Theater and Church Boston — Church services are being held Sundays in the new Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline, built on the former site of the Beacon Universalist Church. Morris Sharaf, head of the theater company, allows the church to use the theater free on the Sabbath. Walt Disney Joins Hays Association Walt Disney, producer of "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphony" animated cartoons released through United Artists, has become a member of the Hays organization. ' STAGE TALENT GROUP FORMS ORGANIZATION A proposed national organization of vaudeville prodacji., and theater dance directors, tentatively known as the United Producers and Directors Association, has been launched following a meeting of interested parties at the Playhouse Theater on Saturday. C. B. Maddock, chairman of a (Continued on Page 8; Intermountain Exhibs Abiding by Film Code Salt Lake City — Members of the Intermountain Theaters Ass'n, convening here last week, decided to abide by the NRA film code and not formulate a state code, says Beverly S. Clendenin, secretary and counsel. C. E. Huish was re-elected president; J. J. Gillette, vice-president; John Rugar, treasurer. Board of directors includes these three officers and I. H. Harris, Stanley Rich, Albert Stetson and A. F. Johnson. VAUDE. EMPLOYMENT HIT BY FILM CODE The Interstate Circuit will abandon its plan to give 20 weeks' work to some 1,500 actors unless the film Code Authority modifies certain clauses, particularly the one requiring that actors be paid during layoffs, Charles Freeman, local booking representative for Interstate, has informed vaudeville producers. Freeman, who says he succeeded in in (Continued on Page 8) Paramount Theater Men Meet in Dallas Friday Work of organizing a national theater advisory board for Paramount houses will be continued on Friday when another zone meeting is held in Dallas. Officials present will be: Ralph A. Kohn, Sam Dembow, Jr., Y. Frank Freeman and Paul Raibourn, in addition to Paramount officials and partners in the territory. No Resistance Encountered By Salary Questionnaires Southern Calif. Unit Joining M. P. T. O. A. Next exhibitor unit to affiliate with the M. P. T. 0. A. will be the Independent Theater Owners of Southern California. Ben Berinstein, official of the association and who generally sided with the M. P. T. 0. A. faction during the codedrafting days in Washington, is now in New York. Despite rumored rumblings of dissatisfaction with the salary questionnaire submitted by the Federal Government pursuant to the Executive Order seeking to find out about allegedly excessive compensation paid within the film industry, indications yesterday were that major companies would not raise any serious objections but would "go along" in a cooperative spirit. As one executive put it, any re(Continued on Page 4) Dept. of Commerce Figures Number of Theaters in World as 57,347 Out of 57,347 theaters throughout the world, 41,822 or about 71 per cent are now wired for sound, according to the 1933 survey of the Department of Commerce. Total houses in the U. S. is given as 19,000, including 15,000 wired. This does not allow for closed theaters, which amount to about 25 per cent of the total. In Europe vh*.. r. .beaters nurrber 29,533, of which 20,933 are wired, the totals for principal countries are given in the survey as follows (wired houses in parentheses ; Ger(Continued on Page 8) 10 MORE NOMINATED FOR FILMCODE POSTS Ten more nominations for members and secretaries of local clearance and zoning boards and local grievance boards were announced yesterday by the Code Authority. The list follows: Buffalo, Nikitas Dipson; Chicago, Emma Abplanalp; Detroit, Audrey (Continued on Page 8) Ed Kuykendall Holding New Orleans Code Meet New Orleans — First meeting of affiliated and independent exhibitors tc discuss code matters and possibly to effect code organization has been called here at the Jung for Jan. 21 by Ed Kuykendall. Exhibitors from the entire territory will be present. Greece, Rumania All Wired Movie theaters in Rumania and Greece are all wired, according to the 1933 survey of the Department of Commerce. The former country has 350 houses, and the latter 100. Russia is down on the chart for only 2,000 theaters, also all wired, but some classes of cinemas have not been taken into account in this figure.