The Film Daily (1931)

THE THE NEWSPAPER OF FILM DOM VOL. LV NO. 4r All THE NEWS ALL THE TIME NEW YORK, TtEfPAT, JANlACy 6, 1931 <5 CENTS $125, 000 Ad Campaign Planned for "Cimarron ' ' PATHESALE OKAYEDHMINORITY WJLLFIGHT $1,400,000 Hisher Offer Than RKO Made for Pathe The Yokel — and other things -By JACK AL1COATE How dumb is The Parade your audience? Or Moves On more politely, how intelligent? We hear very little these days of the average mentality of the picture patron being that of a school boy. The day of the yokel in America is past. The youth of Ypsilanti and the young lady of Youngstown are every bit as smart mentally, sartorially and regarding screen-fare as their brothers and sisters of Broadway and Michigan Boulevard. Exhibitors who make the mistake of under-estimating the intelligence of the modern picture patron in their advertising, contacts, or on their screen are flirting with that old fellow who hangs up the bankruptcy sign. * * * Film Hamlet Soliloquizes Now that business shows a tendency toward picking up, we will soon be faced with the old problem— "To merge or not to merge." Old Hamlet Filmdom has been thus soliloquizing for years. No company, no matter how large or small, but has flirted with a cinema marriage. No executive, but at one time or another has thought and talked merger. Just now, with the curtain going up on 1931 A.D., the merger market is rather bare of merchandise. Most companies will spend the immediate future, at least, putting their respective houses in order. As far as the merger market is concerned, the future is mildly bearish. * * * It looks like Music Is the fellow who Coming Back toots the horn and does didos with the violin has finally won out {Continued on Page 2) Jacob Conn Submits Price of $6,000,000 for Company Offer to purchase Pathe for $6,000,000, or nearly $1,400,000 more than RKO is to pay under terms of its deal, was made by Jacob Conn, Providence exhibitor, at yesterday's special meeting held by Pathe stockholders. Conn declined to say who was associated with him in the proposition but let it be known that a man prominent in the film industry was back of the proposal. The offer came as a bombshell and pro (Continued on Page 3) $8,000,OOOTORSTORIES SET BY F0)LFOR 4 YEARS West Coast Bureau. THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — An appropriation of 2,000,000 yearly for the next four years, or a total of $8,000,000, has been made by Fox for story material, (Continued on Page 6) Truman Talley Planning More Newsreel Theaters Plans for the opening of newsreel theaters in South America and Asia, as well as additional houses under this policy in North America and Europe, are now being worked out by Truman H. Talley, general manager of Fox Movietone News. Fox newsreel houses are now operating in New York, 'London, Berlin and Oslo. Pathe Was for Sale Pathe was offered for sale to Howard Hughes, United Artists and Paramount, said Joseph P. Kennedy at the Pathe stockholders meeting, in declaring that; the company has been on the open market. None of these organizations was interested, he asserted. Kennedy made the statement in replying to charges that the Pathe-RKO deal was put through quietly. PITTALUGA PRODUCTIONS WILL BE SHOWN IN U. S. Cines Pittaluga of Rome, largest producing company in Italy and the only studio in that country licensed to record by RCA Photophone system, will place its productions on the U. S. market through J. V. Cremonini, New York importer, who has formed the Cremonim Corp. of America with offices at 236 West (Continued on Page 6) Zanft Handling Theaters For Trans-Lux Circuit Major John Zanft, formerly of Fox theaters, is in charge of theater operations for Trans-Lux, THE FILM DAILY learned yesterday. Jack Connelly, who was with Fox as foreign newsreel representative, is in charge of production. Deal Ratified at Stormy Session — Kennedy Is Grilled Efforts of minority stockholders failed to prevent ratification by Pathe of the deal in which the company is acquired by RKO. At the conclusion of a stormy, all-day session yesterday in New York, the agreement was approved by a vote of 668,545 to 9,021. Minority stockholders, late in the afternoon, left the special meeting and, convening in an adjoining room, (Continued on Page 3) J. P. KENNEDYSAYS DEAL OPERATIVEJ 20 DAYS The Pathe-RKO deal becomes operative within 20 days, said Joseph P. Kennedy in an interview last night. Most of the liquidation will (Continued on Page 3) NAT'L SClNlYS INTO FAMOUS ARTISTS OF AIR National Screen Service has acquired a half-interest in Famous Artists of the "Air and will release its electrical transcription programs for (Continued on Page 3) Another Titan Ad Campaign Set by RKO for "Cimarron" Adjourn Meeting The special Pathe stockholders' meeting held yesterday was adjourned until Wednesday, Jan. 21, when matters subsequent to the RKO deal will be acted upon. As a result of the tremendous success of the "Amos 'n' Andy" publicity campaign in which over $72,000 was spent on advertising, RKO will allot approximately $125,000 to publicizing "Cimarron", scheduled for release Feb. 15. According to Hy (Continued on Page 6) 10 Best Deadline This week marks the deadline for voting by motion picture critics on the Ten Best Pictures of the past year, a feature of the 1931 FILM YEAR BOOK, due off the press at the end of the month. With the number of ballots received so far well over 300, a new record poll is assured. Results of the vote promise several surprises. First p'ace will probably be a walkaway, but a close race is being run on the other positions.