The Film Daily (1934)

10 THE Friday, March 30, 1934 15 EXHIBS TESTIFY AT WASJTN HEARING (Continued from Page 1) non-exhibitor appearing was Alida C. Boler of the Department of Labor who protested against block booking as affecting children's morals. It was apparent however that chairman Clarence Darrow was not in accord with her views of the leisure time for children. A board that seemed desirous of getting a first hand knowledge of the trade practices complained of, under the guidance of Lowell Mason, its general counsel, heard in the main testimony of New York exhibitor members of the I.T.O.A. Harry Brandt, president of I.T.O.A. was the rir;t witness called to the stand yesterday morning at opening of the hearings. Prior to that,> Lowell Mason,, general counsel for the Board, asked and received permission to insert into the record a copy of Nathan Yamins' Code Authority "minority report." Permission was also given to include copy of the 1928 Senate hearings before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on the Brookhart Bill. Brandt opened his testimony by alleging that during the code conferences last summer division Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt threatened to adjourn a certain hearing at which he found Attorney Jacob Schechter taking shorthand notes. From this he was led into a review of his appearance and testimony at the public hearings here during the summer and fall. He was followed to the stand by Julius Charnow, owner of the. Leonia Theater, Palisades Park, which entered into the hearings on Monday. He attempted tQ prove by his testimony that his "run" was set bac; after Fox had turned the house back to him and that he couldn't buy pictures soon enough to make the theater pay due to circuit theater competition near by. Following him Irvin Gerber, another exhibitor, offered testimony relative to "forcing shorts," which he claimed the code did not remedy. Next witness was Leo Brecher, who attempted to show that the T.O.C.C. headed by Charlie O'Reilly was in reality composed mainly of affiliated houses but that O'Reilly was termed an unaffiliated exhibitor in the code. He alluded to O'Reilly's sale of candy machines to circuit theaters. He was followed by Edward Frieberger, exhibitor of Dover, N. J., who claimed tha. a Warner Theater competitor of his "ovei bought" in order to keep him from getting product. He claimed that due to increases labor costs under the code and that due to the code's giving "credibility" to bloc!; booking and "forcing shorts" plus fixing o admission prices by distributors, condition were becoming "unbearable" for the independent. Next witness was Bernard S. Barr, whr attempted to show a differentiation in per centage demands between affiliated theaterr and independents. He, too, went into the increased labor cost phases of the code. At this point Gerber was recalled to the stand and offered testimony alleging that by erroi he received a copy of a bill intended fo an affiliate competitor of his claiming thai rentals for affiliates were under those charged independents, regardless of the priority oi the "Run." Testimony of the next witness, A'bert Cooper, was along the same line. Nicholas Palley, a Westchester County exhibitor, next attempted to prove that ; theater of his costing $470,000 received pictures after affiliated competitors in the county. A board member asked him why, if he knew the market in advance, he built the theater Chicago Stopover Host Chicago — Jack Miller, local exhibitor leader, will hold open house for delegates passing through here on their way to the M.P.T.O.A. convention in Hollywood. He has offered the use of his office as headquarters for the boys from the east. A LITTLE from "LOTS" By RALPH WILK HOLLYWOOD 'pHE title of W. C. Fields' "Grease Paint," in which he will star as the heavy lover, has been changed to "The Old Fashioned Way." Paramount has assigned William Beaudine to direct, and Joe Morrison is included in the cast. Eve Little, who has worked for M-G-M, is appearing in "The Wrong Side of the Railroad Tracks," a comedy at a local theater. Arthur Bloch and George Seaton have completed the screen play for "Student Tour," which Monta Bell will produce for M-G-M. The second annual Paramount tennis tournament will be held at the Los Angeles Club April 8 to 15. Valuable prizes will be given the players in the finals in the singles and doubles. Sam Frey will be in charge of the tourney. Edmund Grainger, who is the associate producer on "Affairs of a Gentleman" and "Alias the Deacon," for Universal, is making preparations for his next picture, which will be a starring vehicle for Edmund Lowe. Harry Segall, whose contract was recently renewed at M-G-M, is collaborating with Richard Schayer and Ned Marin on the screen play and dialogue for "Any Port in a Storm," which will star Wallace Beery. Harry Hallenberger, veteran cameraman, is celebrating 16 years of continuous service at Paramount. He has more than 200 pictures to his credit. Lois January's contract has been approved by Carl Laemmle, Jr. Universal is taking up its option on "One More River," John Galsworthy novel. James Whale will direct, with screenplay by R. C. Sheriff, and Margaret Sullavan or Jane Wyatt will be in it. Mack Gordon and Harry Revel have been assigned to write the music for "She Loves Me Not," Bing Crosby's next Paramount film. Columbia's production which bore the working title "Murder in the Studio" has been definitely named "The Crime of .Helen .Stanley." It features Ralph Bellamy. "Embarrassing Moments" will be the releasing title of "The Practical Joker," Universal picture starring Chester Morris. Rose Vespro, a beautiful Italian girl, is one of the candidates for Wampas Baby stardom. She started her career by singing and dancing in cabarets. In the past six months she has appeared in "Hollywood Party," "Flying Down to Rio," "Meet the Baron," "Sitting Pretty" and is soon to start work in "Down to His Last Yacht." Buster Keaton says that aviation will really have arrived when a twopassenger plane goes by with eight high-school students in the front seat. William Nigh is directing "The Mad Honeymoon," for Liberty Prods. The cast is headed by Marian Nixon and Neil Hamilton, with Aileen Pringle, Kathleen Howard, William Austin, Raymond Hatton, Bradley Page and Don Alvarado in supporting roles. William Wyler will direct "Fanny" for Universal, which has given him a new contract. Title of "Alias the Deacon" will be changed to "Half a Sinner" when Universal releases it. in the first place. His answer was, "1 had too much money." Remainder of the morning session was occupied w.th Brandt being recalled to the stand for questioning by Darrow and others of the board regarding explanation of "protection," and other terms used in the in dustry. He said all independents were wel coming the board's findings, stating that when the code was first proposed ail independents looked forward to it on an equal footing, but instead they find themselves worse off. Louis Blumenthal complained of designated play dates and percentages. He 'was followed by Milton Weisman, attorney for the group who alleged that the code set up a "dynasty." He claimed that Sol A. Rosenblatt promised him a report on certain clauses of the code which he has not as yet received, and cited an alleged distrust upon the part of the-, exhibitors of NRA as a result of the code. He was followed by Rudolph Sanders, who attempted to prove differences in theater property values between independents and affiliates in given territories. Following him. H. A. Cole, Allied leader of Texas, was called upon. He complained of price d scrimination. He was followed by H. M. Richey of Michigan and Fred Herrington of Pittsburgh. During the afternoon counsel was granted permission to enter as evidence the decision in the 1932 Youngclaus case. The sess'on ended to be resumed Monday afternoon, when the Code Authority and sales managers are expected to appear before the Board. NRA BEING TURNED INTO LEGAL MACHINE (Continued from Page 1) son. The shakeup will transform the NRA into an administrative machine. W. Averell Harriman is in charge of making the changeover. The new legal division will be under Donald R. Richberg, NRA general counsel. Higher Import Tax Spurs First Film Lab for India (Continued from Page 1) Kleinerman, U. S. representative of the largest importer of American films. This will enable both majors and independents to ship negatives and print in India. The tax was recently raised from $20 to $40 a reel, but lowering of the levy on shorts and an increase on features is being considered, says Kleinerman. 8 Vitaphone April Releases Eight Vitaphone shorts will be nationally released in April, according to Norman H. Moray, Vitaphone sales chief. The two-reelers include Lillian Roth in "Story Conference"; "Morocco Nights," a Technicolor special with Fuzzy Knight; Ben Blue in "Very Close Veins," and Harry Gribbon and Shemp Howard in "Corn On The Cop." The onereelers include Phil Spitalny in "A Big City Fantasy"; "Slackers and Workers of The Jungle," an E. M. Newman subject; Edgar Bergen in "Pure Feud," and The Radio Ramblers in "A Cabinet Meeting." "Cheaters" for Broadway in April "Cheaters," M. H. Hoffman-Liberty production, is slated to open on Broadway late in April, according to Jack Bellman. Bill Boyd, Dorothy Mackaill and June Collyer are featured. Paramount Meeting Adjourned A meeting of Paramount Pubix creditors originally scheduled for today at the offices of Henry K. Davis, referee, has been adjourned until April 13. Business concerns Fox West Coast claims. Remodel Milwaukee Houses Milwaukee — Several local neighborhood houses have closed during Holy Week for remodeling. Among them are the former Lexington, operated by Harry Hart, which will reopen Easter Sunday as the Franklin, and the Parkway, operated by Harry Perlewitz, which reopens the same day. The Radio, another neighborhood theater operated by Herb Perlewitz, recently reopened after being remodeled. Movie on Soviet Plane Moscow — A movie theater is part of the equipment of a giant propaganda plane just launched. The ship has been christened the Maxim Gorky.