The Film Daily (1937)

If : londay.Jan. 18,1937 <5AY N. Y. SALES TAX IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL » i (.Continued from Page 1) thereof, or upon gross receipts derived from a business wholly inter3 <tate in character," it is declared, [nasmuch as prints "never come to ■■est" within the state of New York, :his assessment is unlawful, accordrig; to the brief. Other points emphasized are: subicensing of rights to exhibit a copyrighted photoplay by a distributor to in exhibitor is not a sale of a tangi5J ole personal property, the sale of .""'the positive print by the laboratory ...to the producer, nor the temporary rt ibailment thereof to the exhibitor, is the taxable transaction, amendv-ment to Local Law No. 20, brought '■>;__ about by Local Law. No. 24, must be J7 construed to extend the tax only to -ale of tangible property disguised i as leases or licenses, the exaction ^'levied by the tax is in reality an arbitrary exappropriation of private ;' property for devotion in large part ' at least to non-public purposes and the expenditures of monies directed JSJjby the act is a violation of the New York state constitution. United Artists asks a refund of n.T $21,188.92, plus interest from Feb. 5, 1936, and that the assessment of the additional sales tax be vacated. Frederick H. Wood will argue in 155 behalf of the distributor in the Court of Appeals on Jan. 25. National Screen Moves Detroit — National Screen Service has moved offices maintained by its representative, Harris A. Silverberg, from the Film Exchange Building to the new distributing building occupied solely by National, this week. Building was formerly the Paramount Exchange. Space vacated by National in the Film Exchange has been taken over by Nat Schnitzer ' for Metro Premium Company. Max Heine, representative for Bank Night, will also share the office space. Flu Closes Neb. Houses Ainsworth, Neb. — By order of the town council, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Syfert have darkened the New Ainsworth and R. R. Bailey the Royal until the flu epidemic subsides. NEWS AS SEEN BY THE PRESS AGENT Una Merkel has started a collection of miniature perfume bottles. — M-G-M. • • • INTERESTED IN acquiring the screen rights to the gargantuan Max Reinhardt production, "The Eternal Road" Warners got to the point of talking an actual deal and discovered that five people were each claiming half of the movie rights Reinhardt, Franz Werfel, the author, Bel Geddes, the scenic designer, the producer and one other which reminds us of the story of the playwright on the opening night of his show, when the producer heard him muttering in the lobby: "I hope it's a flop, I hope it's a flop." amazed, the producer asked him why "If it's a hit, I'm ruined," moaned the playwright lad. "I've sold 135 per cent of my play to two other guys." T ▼ T • • • THAT ANNUAL riot of Harry Brandt's I. T. 0. A. crowd took place at the Waldorf-Astoria Saturday nite as industry celebs and execs joined in the jamboree which went on and on toward the yawning dawning ... • Picture and stage folk found grand entertainment at a party given by Arthur Wiessenberger for Pamela Murray, representative of the "Tatler" and other Lunnon publications Bernie Sobel guided the festivities folks dropping in included Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Tullio Carminati, Natalie Shaefer, Mrs. Oliver H. P. Garrett ▼ ▼ ▼ • • • JUST DISCOVERED that there is a rubber bumper strip around the sides of our new office chair that goes with the new desk with a new typewriter in our new offices but the stuff we will be writing under these painfully new conditions will be the same Old Hoosh now to get back to the rubber bumper on the chair some wit suggested it was a shock absorber in case we dictated at too close range to a sexy sec but we have no sexy sec in fact we have no sec at all so our guess is that the rubber bumper is to insulate us against shock if some press agent ever sends us a story that is Entirely Devoid of publicity just a Darn Good Yarn ▼ T T • • • WE HAVE torn our hair a score of times when some dame's sugary, affected, cloying, simpering, just plain irritating voice drove us nuts as we sat peacefully in our family circle listening to the radio we have jumped up with a curse and turned off the dam dial for the evening so have you, fella, many a time how is it that most femmes on the air can't talk Naturally? but glory be, the other day we listened to Helen E. Martin the noted worker in various national women's organizations and Mrs. Martin charmed us, soothed us for she has that Natural radio voice that most femmes lack listen to her on WBNX 11:45 to 12 a. m. Tuesdays talking for the American Plays Association she's a Treat just her Voice T ▼ T • • • THE MANY friends of Jack Kyle, a 20-year vet of the film biz, will be sorry to hear that he is seriously ill at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn Kyle was with the old Pathe company for 16 years the past two years he has been in the m. p. dep't of the Government at Washington T T T • • • HOT ITEM on Jack Benny's radio show Sunday nite there were two Bucks Buck Jones and Jack (Buck) Benny the idea was conceived by Walter Greene, Jones' publicist, who planted it with Young & Rubicam, who handle the show (so help us, that is the way a pal in Hollywood sent us the item, and — there it is) A record bicycling of print was established when "Pigskin Parade" made 250 miles in one day between two New Haven theaters and a third in New Britain, Conn ten round trips were made, without a hitch BINGO BANNED FROM MAILS BY P. 0. DEPT. (Continued from Page 1) unmailable and may be seized by postal inspectors. Exhibitors throughout the country have filed complaints against bingo, the prevalency of the game in the smaller cities and towns seriously cutting into theater patronage. Orpheum Appraisers Will Report on January 25 (Continued from Page 1) to the RKO plan. It is pointed out that under the law creditors are entitled to 100 cents on the dollar of a bankrupt estate before unsecured creditors like Beck and his associates could receive anything. Kresel maintains that there has been "waste and mismanagement of the Orpheum estate by RKO." RCA Sound Contracted for 6 New Los Angeles Houses West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Gore Brothers have signed contracts calling for installation of new RCA deluxe high fidelity sound recording equipment in their two houses. El Rey and Lido, now under construction in Beverly Hills <ind Los Angeles. Deal puts RCA high fidelity apparatus in all of the six new theaters being constructed in the Los Angeles area. Others are, Elite, Trocadero, Regina and Esquire. « « « » » » Aid President's Ball Milwaukee, Wis. — E. J. Weisfeldt, managing director of the Riverside theater is chairman of the entertainment committee in charge of arrangements for the President's ball in the Auditorium here Jan. 30. L. Roy Pierce, supervisor of Milwaukee houses for Fox, is also a member of this committee. "Mysteries of Paris" Next "Mysteries of Paris" will be the next attraction at the Cinema de Paris. FACTS ABOUT FILMS Australia's investment in the film industry is $150,000,000.