The Film Daily (1935)

1 n t i m a t Internat Wepen e in iona dent Ch in in a racter Scope Thought The Da ily N ewspc i per Of M t i o n Pict u res Now Sixteen Years Old 'CL. LXVIK NO. 37 NEWyCPr,HEDNE$DAy.fEDRtADy 13. 1^3* 5 CENIS 25 Houses in Pittsburgh Area Opened Last Month 20 BILLUFFECTING FILFBIZ NOW INlONGRESS Court May Veto Hertz as Member of Paramount Board Items ... of passing interest ^By DON CARLE GILLETTE = fWO statements quoted from speeches j! by members of the San Francisco chapter !f the Motion Picture Research Council at s regular luncheons which are broadcast '•om that city: i No. 1, by Oscar Sutro, social leader and anker: "I am strongly against block bookig and blind selling. I do not attend liovies regularly, in fact I have not gone 9 one for a year, and I am not interested | them." 1 No. 2, by Dr. Wilbur, former U. S. abinet member: "We will have more incheons and make nuisances of ourselves. Ve want to make nuisances of ourselves ntil we get these people irritated into etting what we want." Write your own comment. rOME discussion seems to have been pro•* voked by the conflicting figures on umber of theaters in the U. S. as compiled >y the Census Bureau, the Film Boards and "he Film Daily Year Book. Speaking solely for the latter, it can be tated that the Year Book's figures are acked up by a complete list giving the ames of the theaters and their locations, necked and verified. And the official FD.Y.B. number is 15,73 wired houses (of which 13,386 are •pen) in the U. S. at the start of 1934. A BITTER controversy is raging in Hollywood over some omissions in the ominations for this year's Academy awards. It bears out a feeling of long duration lere, namely, that Hollywood with its ocaMzed viewpoint and maze of political arF^ktions is no place for the selection if Vlr 'bests" of the year. The unprejudiced, unfettered and clear:yed motion picture critics of the country vill always constitute the best court of itandards for judgment of films, acting, diecting and the cinema in general. RKO Interlock in Bank Connection May Bring Disapproval Considerable speculation exists on whether Federal Judge Coxe will use the power he has reserved to veto any name on the first board of directors selected to guide Paramount after it emerges from the reorganization proceedings. Indications are that the court may disapprove of (Continued on Page 10) TRANS LWIXPANSION PUT OFF FOR A YEAR Kentucky Gets Him Boris Morros of Paramount, appointed a Kentucky colonel last week, not only has adopted the mint julep as his ne " coat of arms, but says he has bought two two-year-olds from the stock farm of John Stanford and will train them for the 1936 Kentucky Derby. NORTHWEST AREA HIT BY THEATER CLOSINGS Trans-Lux Movies Corp., which now has five newsreel houses in operation, has no plans for opening additional theaters at least until 1936, it is learned from the headquarters of the organization. M-G-M Sets Releases To the End of March Release dates have been set by M-G-M to the end of March. They include: "Shadow of Doubt," Feb. 15; "After Office Hours," Feb. 22; "Vanessa," March 1; "Casino Murder Case," March 8; "West Point of the Air," March 15; "Vampires of Prague," March 22; "Naughty Marietta," March 29. These will be followed by "Public Enemy No. 2," '"Reckless" and "Times Square Lady," which are now in work. Minneapolis — Closings of 15 theaters, without a single opening to offset them, is reported by the local Film Board of Trade for the past month. Heavy snow and storms put a crimp in Northwest theater business last month. British Exec to Discuss Production in Hollywood Reginald Baker, Associated British Talking Pictures financial head, who sails tomorrow from London on the Olympic with William Fiske III, vice-president of First Division Exchanges, will spend five weeks in the U. S., visiting Hollywood to discuss production with F. D. executives there. While here, Baker may consummate a long pending reciprocal deal under which F. D. would handle U. S. distribution of 12 features produced by Basil Dean for A. T. P., (Continued on Page 10) Theater Biz in Steel District Shows Continued Improvement Another 10% Tax Bill Is Filed in Missouri Jefferson City, Mo. — Another bill providing, among other things, for a 10 per cent tax on admissions has been introduced by Rep. E. M. Brady of St. Louis. Pittsburgh — Reflecting the continued improvement in operations among the steel mills, 25 theaters in this territory were opened in the past month, according to the report of the local Film Board of Trade. Three of the reopenings were in West Virginia. In the same period four Pennsylvania houses closed temporarily, while six were dismantled. Record Number of Film Measures Pending in Washington Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — Twenty bills affecting film industry directly or indirectly, are now pending in the 75th Congress. They are: Prohibiting blind and block booking, prohibiting unfair price discrimination, giving Federal Trade Commission additional powers, antiblock booking requiring submission of synopsis before pictures are sold, general manufacturers' tax with 2Vz per cent assessment on films, licensing corporations engaged in inter (Continued on Page 10) WARNER ZONE HEADS GET ADDED AUTHORITY Extension of authority of Warner theater zone managers has been granted to apply to direct charge of operating, auditing and purchasing of supplies and equipment. Following a New York meeting of these (Continued on Page 10) Big Increase is Shown In Studio Equipment West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Los Angeles — Industries in this area showing the largest gains . in employment at the year-end were j aircraft and motion pictures, ac-' cording to the monthly summary of I conditions by the Security-First! National Bank of Los Angeles. Employment recently reached the highest point since the recovery started. Fight New Penna. Tax ; Harrisburg — ■ Pennsylvania exhibitors are preparing to combat an admission tax proposed in the Governor's program which seeks to raise $200,000,000 in additional revenue. A measure authorizing the assessment will be introduced into the Legislature shortly. Hutu S&