The Film Daily (1939)

I v . U-TT H W C K — VI lJ P RO 13 2 (3 W 4 4 S T 2 I F L n f c i Thursday, July 13, 1935! Industry on its Own in Fighting Ohio Tax Litigation New State Tax Board Head Thinks Levy Should be Collected Columbus, 0. — Film industry will be strictly on its own in defending the two taxpayers' suits involving non-payment of Ohio's 3 per cent sales tax on film rentals from Jan. 1, 1935 to date when they come up Saturday, it was indicated here yesterday. William S. Evatt, newly appointed head of the Ohio Tax Board, clearly forecast its future policy by saying, "I am of the opinion that the tax should be collected." Evatt stated that he had no plans to defend the exemption action of the previous commission, adding that he had instructed the Attorney General to present only "the essential facts" to the Court. Any other defense, said Evatt, must come from the industry. At stake is an aggregate tax approximating: $1,200,000. While the action is directed against the film distributors, in the event of an adverse decision, the later will, under the provisions of exhib. contracts, collect the amounts from their theater accounts. Custer and Price Will Open Two In September Cincinnati — Gene Custer and Floyd Price are erecting two new theaters for early September opening. One at East Charleston, W. Va... will be called The State, and will be a 600 seater. The other house, located at Lewisburg, will be named The Lewis, and will have 618 seats. Both houses will be completely eou'pped bv National Theater Sunplies, including new Simplex Sound equipment. M'nos Buys Theater Block Pittsburgh — Mike Manos, who operates the Manos Circuit of Theaters, rurehased the building in wh'ch the Palace Theater, Tarentum. is situated at sheriff sale this week. Whether or not he will operate the theater in conjunction with Irs other movie houses or arrange for the present lessee, William L. Brown, to continue operating it, has not yet been decided. Buffalo V. C. Golf Tourney Buffalo ■■ — Golf tournament and dance wiH be held at the Wilmont Golf and Country Club here Monday by thf Varietv Club. Syd Lehman is in charge of the affair. Title Change Flops R'cine, Wis. — A'tpring the monicker nf "Shopworn Ansel" to "Love Walked In," in its opening advertising bv the N?w Granada Theater, local subsequentpin house, didn't set so well with many theatergoers. As a result, the house switched back to the regular title in I'ter cooy. Flicker was dualed with "Boys' Town." British Exhibs. and Distribs. to Co-op On Over-Building, Bank Night Problems London (By Cable) — As a result of preliminary conferences between CEA and KRS execs., the two organizations will co-operate on both redundancy (over-building) and Bank N'ght problems, it was learned yesterday. Games problem had an airing at the recent CEA summer conference at Blackpool, and it is understood that the KRS will join with the exhibitor body in a determined effort to prevent Bank Nights. $6,000,000 Warner Loan Agreement is Completed {Continued from Page 1) credit agreement entered into on B'eb. 27, last, by the company with Guarantee Trust Co. of New York, the New York Trust Co. and the Continental Illinois Bank & Trust of Chicago, has been completed via borrowing on June 27 of $4,750,000 from Step gives Warners full $6,000,000 credit amount under the agreement, all of which is outstanding. All security back of the loans has been delivered to the lending banks, including first mortgage in principal amount of $3,000,000 on the Burbank studies. Under agreement's terms company could borrow up to $6,000,000 on a series of 5 per cent loans maturing semi-annually, from Apr. 1, 1940, to Apr. 1, 1944, if full amount were borrowed. Warners also reported that on May 26 a totally owned foreign corporation was organized. Company, on grcund that revelation of subsidiary's name would be detrimental to interest of security holders, withheld it. Amusement Stocks Moving Up; No Summer Slump This Season Amusement stocks advanced fractionally on the Big Board yesterday, with one stock, Warners preferred, moving up two points. Single decline was registered, Eastman Kodak being off one. On the Bond and Curb Markets, stocks held or gained. Better tone of the markets reflected the generally optimistic note struck by a Wall St. Journal survey, results of which were published yesterday. Said the financial paper: "Trade and industry have fought off the usual summer drag; now a number of key industries are climbing steadily, tenaciously toward more profitable levels at a time of the year when businessmen normally are resigned to slumping sales and production figures. "Barron's weekly business index, seasonally adjusted, has been climbing: steadily since the end of the soft coal strike on May 13." Nanos Funeral Held St. Louis, Mo. — Funeral services were held at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church yesterday for Louis Ahileas Nanos, co-owner of the Criterion Theater. American Bar Ass'n Approves Extensive Copyright Changes (Continued from Page 1) committee on copyright discussing far-reaching changes of an international as well as domestic nature proposed in the field of copyright law. Resolutions offered in behalf of the committee on copyrights by its chairman, Edward A. Sargoy, of New York City, were adopted which: Disapproved adherence to the International Copyright Convention as recommended by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the present Congress, unless there is prior domestic enabling legislation by Congress as a whole to prepare for such adherence. Approved the Lanham bill (H. R. 5319) providing a specified period of 60 days after publication within which to deposit copies and register the claim to copyright in the copyright office. Approved in principle copyrightability for acoustically recorded works, although disapproving the Daly and McGranery bills (H. R. 487i and H. R. 6160) introduced for such purpose. Disapproved the Moser bill (H. R6243) providing for compulsory licensing? of any use of any copyrighted work of any kind, upon failing to secure an agreement with the copyright owner, by applying to the Federal Communications Commission upon royalty rates to be determined by the Commission after hearing. The report of the Committee also discussed the various international and domestic activities of the committee for the study of couvright. popularly known as the Shotwell committee, and with which the various copyright interests have been co-operating for many months, as well as the recent order of the Supreme Court of the United States making the new federal rules of civil procedure applicable to conyrip-ht suits after Sept. 1, a matter which this committee urged in cooperation with similar committees of other Bar Associations. Sills Back to Films Ted Sills, for several years director of programs and vice-president in charge of production of Grcmbach Productions, Inc., and Jean V. Grombach, Inc., radio producers, has resigned, effective as of Monday last. Following a short vacation, he will re-enter the motion picture field. BOOK REVIEWS' FOREMOST FILMS OF 1938, 6j Frank Vreeland. Published LAy Pitman Publishing Corp., Ncf pr.k and Chicago. 347 pp. Price, $3\ -. Frank Vreeland has started in to do for motion pictures what Burns Mantle has been doing for years for stage plays — preparing a yearly volume on the "Foremost Films" of each year. In the first volume, just published by Pitman, he renders a much-needed service to exhibitors and fans. And Vreeland is peculiarly qualified for the task, for he has been drama and film critic on various New York newspapers, has had two pictures produced, put in three years in Hollywood and served in an editorial capacity with Paramount. He has arbitrarily set 10 as the number of foremost films to receive extended synoptical and critical treatment, and, while some may quarrel with certain exclusions and inclusions, he had difficulties to contend with, such as obtaining copyright release, etc. The 10 pictures receiving full treatment are, in their order: "Wells Fargo," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "The Buccaneer," "In Old Chicago," "Algiers," "Love Finds Andy Hardy," "You Can't Take It With You," "The Citadel," "The Young in Heart" and "That Certain Age." Synopsis and critical treatment of the films is preceded by running comment on "The Year in Pictures," "Production in Hollywood," "Pictures in Great Britain," in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere. Survey of the year 1938 in pictures is completed by brief synopses of the plots of 476 other feature films produced during the year with casts and credits, making the bcok a handy reference volume for the industry and the general public. In his treatment of the 10 foremost films, Vreeland gives a careful and full treatment of the plot, with the dialogue of the outstanding scenes, and appends an analysis of the picture, its production and entertainment value, supplemented with biographical data on the director and the leading players. The author has been peculiarly happy in outlining the plots of the 10 outstanding films and in his introductory critical comment and the concluding analysis. The book is an invaluable addition to the library shelf devoted to books on the motion picture industry. — L.H.M. "Dry" Pix in India Bombay (By Cable) — "Bottle of Brandy," prohibition propaganda pix produced by Huns, is being distributed to Indian theaters by Famous Pictures. Establishes a precedent here.