The Film Daily (1934)

Intimate in Character Internationa! in Scope Independent in Thought .. The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Now Sixteen Years Old /OL. LXV. NO. 15 NEWyCCI^,THIJCiDAy,JANLACyi§, 1934 <5 CENTJ Take It or Leave It— Goldwyn 's Reply on Percentage 10% CANCELLATIONS RETROACTIVE, NJA RULES 23 Denver Theaters Compete in Giving Away Autos Pictures ... on Parade ■By JACK ALICOATE; T is encouraging and an industry stimulant to find over 300 more picture louses in operation than at this time last ear. The fact that there are about 4,000 motion picture theaters in the counry, open and still doing business, should illay the fears of these chronic industry )icke:s-to-pieces regarding the ability of this business to prosper and carry on « of old. There was nothing he matter with pictures that was not the natter with every other business, most :very individual, and these good old United States. It suffered from depressionitis, )lenty. And so did everybody else. No ndustry has a brighter future than that of applying the peoples of the world with :creen entertainment. THE present tax irritations in Virginia and Missouri are a sign of the times. This tax situation in the several states is a serious matter. It calls for close co:peraticn and energetic action. No individual in the world is more harassed by raxes, both from the standpoint of variety, is well as size and amount, than the theater owner. Legislators look for taxes where they think the pickings the softest. The publishing of telephone number salaries and bushels of box-office dollar marks only adds fuel to an already troublesome fire. \A/E were glad of the opportunity yes" terday to take a verbal sock, right out in the open, at an upstart industry sxecutive, for his views on newspaper men and women. No class, as a whole, are more understanding, tolerant and less complaining, than the members of the fourth estate. There is something akin in the newspaper and the screen. Their problems are somewhat alike. This industry is fortunate in having such a fine bunch of newspaper folk as its contacts. Their power to make or break a given situation should not be underestimated. Free Flivver Stunt Begun by Huffman is Topped by Rival Houses By J. A. ROSE FILM DAILY Staff Correspondent Denver — Wide interest has been aroused by a fight between eight Harry Huffman houses and a group of 15 others over the giving away of autos. Huffman started by announcing a free car every two weeks {Continued on Page 8) THREATEN TO STRIKE UNLESS DEMANDS MET Fifteen hundred members of the Building Service Employes Union, following a meeting Tuesday night at Bryant Hall, have voted to demand from circuits a 40-hour, sixday week, the hours to run consecutively, closed shop, and minimum wages of 45 cents an hour for (Continued on Page 8) Sixth House is Opened By Varbalow Brothers Palmyra, N. J. — Joseph and Samuel Varbalow reopened the Broadway here Tuesday as the sixth house in their circuit. They also operate the Walt Whitman, Pennsauken; Broadway, Pitman; Auditorium and Victoria, East Camden, and Apollo, Gloucester City. Ohio Bars Nudist Films Columbus — Setting a precedent as to future action of the Ohio censor board, several nudist films, including "Back to Nature" and "Nearly Naked," have been barred in this state. N.LNATHANSON JOINS PAR, THEATER COUNCIL N. L. Nathanson, president of Famous Players-Canadain Corp., has accepted an invitation to act as a member of the theater operating advisory committee of the Paramount theater interests, Ralph A. Kohn announced yesterday. This is the second appointment to the committee. The first was E. V. Richards. 5,000 in Actors' Guild By '35, Says Fred March With a present membership of about 2,500, the Screen Actors' Guild will have nearly 5,000 on its roster by 1935, Fredric March stated to Film Daily yesterday in New York. Future plans for the Guild include serious consideration of percentage agreements between actors and producers and discussions on the salary control question, he said. "Our leaving the Academy was brought about through our belief (.Continued on Page 6) B. O. Films Worth High Rental, GoldzvynTells ITOA Boy cotters Exhibition Board Proposed In Massachusetts Measure Boston — A bill to establish a motion picture board for supervision of exhibition was introduced in the Massachusetts legislature yesterday by Rep. Dolan. The board would consist of five members, including a woman and a clergyman. Declaring that "an exhibitor is better off in paying 40 or 50 per cent for a great picture than 15 per cent for a turkey," Samuel Goldwyn, addressing a luncheon meeting of the I.T.O.A., which had issued a boycott on his pictures, yesterday defended his right to set his own price on what he had to (Continued on Page 6) Films Bought for Showing After Dec. 7 Come Under Code By WILLIAM SILBERBERG FILM DAILY Staff Correspondent Washington — Any exhibitor who has fully lived up to the requisites of the elimination clause in the code will be entitled to the full benefits of the 10 per cent cancellation privilege on all pictures scheduled to run after Dec. 7, regardless of whether they were contracted prior co that day, according to an official NRA ruling announced last night by Division Administrator Sol A. (Continued on Page 6) 50 PROTESTS FILED AGAINST CODE NAMES Reacting to published lists of nominations for members and secretaries of local zoning and grievance boards, approximately 50 protests to some of the suggestions have been received at Code Authority headquarters in New York. Deadline for nominations is Saturday. Matter of establishing zone head (Continued on Page 6) G-B Sets $200,000 Minimum Film Cost Believing the available market now warrants an increase in production budget, Gaumont-British will hereafter allot a minimum of (Continued on Page 6) Television fearer — Sarnoff In addition to a new transmission system making it possible to send three messages over one wave length, each at the rate of 180 words a minute, recent RCA developments bring television considerably nearer, said David Sarnoff in an address this week before the Advertising Club of New York. Sending 16 pictures a minute in rotation, which constitutes television, is easy under the new system, declared Sarnoff.