The Film Daily (1939)

1M» DAILY Monday, September 11, 193S BRIT. PIX THEATERS ALREADY REOPENING (Continued from Page 1) of theaters in the West End and other large centers is expected within a few days — possibly today. (That the Home Office was giving "sympathetic consideration" to the trade's views, presented by a joint CEA-KRS deputation, was exclusively published in The Film Daily on Thursday). It was disclosed that those theaters reopening would be permitted Cables received in New York trade circles at the week-end indicated that theaters permitted to reopen by the British Government approximated 60 per cent. not only to operate during the day but would remain open until 10 p.m. The Home Office decision was given the trade Friday and came on the heels of an editorial barrage laid down by the influential Evening Standard of Lord Beaverbrook, which said that closing of the film theaters had brought on increased drinking. "Madrid watched Charlie Chaplin when Franco was beating at the gates of the city," the Standard thundered, "so why not here? We don't want to fiddle while Rome burns, but we will fight none the worse for an occasional glimpse of Ginger Rogers. Even the voice of Deanna Durbin will not distract us from our duties." Licensing of "Bank Nite" Ends Athol, Mass., Fight Athol, Mass. — The Selectmen, licensing authorities of the town, have announced an agreement with the management of the York Theater for the resumption of Bank Night. The agreement is an outcome of controversy since Bank Night and Bingo were stopped in March, 1938. Under the new agreement the town will receive fees of $40 for each Bank Night as well as a total of $535.30 to be paid also in the first 10 weekly installments of $53.53 to reimburse the town in full for expenses incurred in a lawsuit brought by the theater management since the former Bank Night was stopped. Under the previous setup the town received but $30 per year for the theater license whereas under the new agreement the amount to be received for a full year means about 20 cents on the tax rate, it is pointed out. Sophie Tucker Back in AFRA Sophie Tucker has been reinstated in the American Federation of Radio Artists, following the recent settlement of the union jurisdiction dispute with the stagehands' union. She was suspended from AFRA for her activity in support of the American Federation of Actors. with PMLM. OALYi T T ▼ • • • IN A recent issue we ran a box about cm usher at the B & K Chicago theater being appointed to Annapolis this story intrigued the folks at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, the ace house of the Ashley Theater Co. in the Wisconsin city because one of their ushers made the grade at West Point • • • SOME time ago Rollin Hamelin was an usher on the Orpheum's main floor, assigned to aisle three in his spare time he attended the University of Wisconsin one day he told J. H. Rupp, Director of Service Staff, that he would be leaving soon, as he had completed his examinations and qualified for West Point "Roily" used the ushering job as a stepping-stone to better things every once in a while he comes back to Madison from the military academy to visit his folks he drops in to see his old theater pals, and tell them how much benefit he received from his training as an usher he has made the ushers very proud of him he has shown them how to look ahead and visualize a future while swinging up and down a theater aisle ushering patrons and so Director Rupp sends sincere best wishes to this B & K usher from all the Orpheum staff in Madison just a li'l Human Touch between theater workers many miles apart who don't even know one another • • • ACCORDING to Besa Short of the Interstate Circuit down in Dallas things are a-goin' on down in the Southwest that we should know about ever since Blanche Hatton. Interstate's only woman manager of the Melrose Theater in Dallas, put over an All-Short Subject Program without a feature picture the idea has been catching on and cashing in not only for Interstate but for the other large circuits in that territory ▼ T T • • • ONLY recently Charlie Meeker, Interstate's Dallas assistant city manager, and Henry Long, manager of the Melrose Theater, put over an All Short Subject Program and not only broke several records but increased business 300 per cent • • • THE idea of the All-Short Show or several shorts booked with a feature is growing by leaps and bounds Standard Theaters of Oklahoma City are doing swell business with a regular weekly Variety Hour at the Midwest Theater where Spence Pierce uses five or six outstanding shorts with an average feature Jefferson theater's Irwin Waite at the Paramount in Marshall, Texas, is having great success with All Cartoon Shows Robb & Rowley's Don Douglas recently booked on All-Short Show in Huntsville, Texas, and doubled the take so Besa Short figures that this favorable reaction to Shorts when they are given a break deserves suitable recognition so do we T T ▼ • • • SMASH publicity break for Little Irene Dare of RKO Radio's "Breaking the Ice" in the Hearst newspapers with the youngster featured in the color section « « « » » 3» CIO ATTACKS IATSE IN THEATER FIELD (Continued from Page 1) has petitioned the State Labor Relations Board for recognition as the bargaining agent for ushers, cashiers and doormen, in the RKO Metropolitan houses and the Rugoff & P ker circuit, but the fact that the .ion also intended to organize in other fields was unknown. The extent of their jurisdiction has not been made public until this time. What reprisal action the IA and other A F of L unions will take, in whose fields the CIO union is attempting an invasion, can not be determined at this time, but the IA will certainly battle them at every turn. The UTMPSE has 18 organizers in the field now. However, it was pointed out at the week-end that all legit, houses have hard and fast contracts with actors when shows go into production, and also with stagehands, both unions now working together would seeming to present an unbeatable front against any invasion. But in smaller independent film houses organization has never been completely finished and at the present time Local 306, IA operators union, is already being opposed by the Empire State Motion Picture Operators union, although it controls comparatively few houses. It is expected that the principal organizing battles will take place in the small film houses unaffiliated with circuits, which in most part have contracts with Local 306. Labor Board petitions already filed by the new union have been opposed by the IA or other A F of L affiliates in each instance and no rulings have been handed down yet. Appellate Division Hears "Ecstasy" Censorship Case Albany — First important test to powers of the New York censors, "Ecstasy," which was banned nearly four years ago, comes for the second time today before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in a modified manner. "Ecstasy" is a Czecho-Slovakian picture to which distribution rights are owned in this country by Eureka Productions, Inc., today's appellant. Banned as "indecent" by Irwin Esmond, chief New York censor, in its original sequences, film now has been reshaped into a 1939 "streamlined" version in which a marriage precedes some of the objectionable scenes. Film was again rejected by Esmond and the reviewers early in February, however, and since has failed to get a license on appeal to the Board of Regents, hence today's resort to court test. Sennett to Produce West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — With a feature comedy, "Gas Masks," planned as the first production, Mack Sennett says he will resume as an indie producer in 60 days.