The Film Daily (1930)

THE E NEWSPAPER OF FILM DOM AND WEEKLY FILM DIGEST VOL. LIII No. 16 Sunday, July 20, 1930 Price 25 Cents Photophone Averaging 30 Installations Weekly SINGING^ FILMS LOSING FAVOR "ABROAD Fox Theaters Maps Out New Acquisition Program Second House in Ossining Will Start in Two Months In announcing plans for its new 2,500-seat de luxe house in Ossining, Fox Theaters states that this is "the (first action toward the acquisition of more theater properties by the new management" of the company. Work ]on the Ossining theater, to cost $300,000, will begin in 60 days. This will be the second Fox house in that city, the Victoria having been acquired a few months ago. Fox West Coast also has a number of projects under way in its Western territory. FOX WEST COAST STARTS NEWSREELJOUSEINLA West Coast Bureau, THE FILM DAILY Los Angeles — Fox West Coast is converting the President here into a newsreel theater. Horace Liveright Joins Paramount Studio Staff Horace Liveright, prominent publisher, who also has figured in various legitimate stage ventures, leaves in a few days for the Coast to join the production staff at the Paramount studios. He will act as adviser to B. P. Schulberg on novels and plays suitable for the screen. $400,000 for Extras in RKO Film West Coast Bureau, THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — On the word of Wesley Ruggles, director, approximately $400,000 will be paid to extras in the filming of RKO's "Cimarron". Cast calls for about 750 atmosphere players working daily for six weeks as drivers, horseback riders, etc., and about 5,000 extras to take part in the grand land rush. 'IT Supers To Tour England With Portable Equipment London (By Cable) — To bring its supers, including "All Quiet," "King of Jazz," "Phantom of the Opera," "Captain of the Guard," and others, to the small communities where houses are not wired, Universal is planning to use portable RCA Pho tophone equipment, with seven trucks expected to be on the road shortly, according to J. V. Bryson. It is stated that any theater or hall can be put in shape for talker performances within a space of a few hours. 8 Comics In Drama Although Pathe's "Her Man" is a serious drama of the Havana underworld, the cast contains eight comedians. They are James Gleason, Harry Sweet, Slim Summerville, Jerry Drew, Neely Edwards, Kewpie Morgan, Charlie Dougherty and Bud Jamieson. The dramatic. contingent is headed by Helen Twelvetrees, Marjorie Rambeau, Ricardo Cortez and Phillips Holmes. Equity and Agents Hold Goodwill Feast A goodwill luncheon, under the auspices of the recently formed Artists' Representatives Ass'n, was held Friday at the Astor. De Wolf Hopper was toastmaster and brief speeches were made by Arthur Lyons, president of the agents' group; Julius Kindler, Frank Gillmore, Paul Dullzell and Paul N. Turner. The spirit as well as the letter of the new Equity-Agents agreement was ratified. Zoning Committee Named for Philadelphia Field Philadelphia — A committee consisting of three members from exchanges, three from the affiliated theaters and six from the independent theaters, has been appointed on the rezoning plan for the local district. The next conference will be held July 31. Meanwhile a schedule is being presented that is expected to prove satisfactory, but if this fails a general meeting will be called. RCA Equips 775 in 6 Months; Many Replacements Are Made Installations of RCA Photophone have taken a big spurt in recent months, with a total of 775 equipments placed in the U. S. in the firsl half of this year, which is about twice the number installed in the previous K> months and represents an average of around 30 jobs weekly. This brings the total world installations of Photophone up to 1,635, of which 1,185 are in the U. S. and 450 in foreign countries. Sydney E. Abel, general sales manager of Photophone, says the company did not really get under way with distribution of its product until last February, when radical changes in policy were made, and business since then has exceeded expectations. A helpful factor is the number of replacements made by RCA in houses that originally bought cheap equipment which did not prove satisfactory. Expected International Appeal of Music Fails to Hold London (By Cable) — Singing pictures, contrary to the belief that they had a better chance than straight dialoguers due to the international appeal of music, are fast losing favor in England, it is shown by reports from exhibitors to the renters. This trend is stated to be not confined to Great Britain, but also evident in other countries on the continent. Too much of the music has not been of the type to satisfy tastes over here, while the lavishness of the productions seems to make no impression on the audiences. Broad comedies with more action than dialogue are the most popular of any U. S. product being sent to this side at present. 52 'CELEBRniSHORTS BEING KADEBY WARNERS A series of 52 shorts featuring celebrities of the day, are planned by Warner Bros, for production at the Eastern Vitaphone studios. Walter Winchell and Mark Hellinger, prominent newspaper columnists, are the first subjects. The shorts will be turned out at the rate of one a week. Indoor Sports Going a step further in the popular game of changing titles of pictures and names of players, the Fox crew is having a merry time manipulating character names in Movietone productions. In line with this, the publicity department, without batting an eye, informs that the character name of Kenneth Thomson in "Just Imagine," originally MT-3 but changed to XX-4, has been restored to MT-3.