The Film Daily (1931)

THE THE NEWSPAPER OF FILM DOM ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME VOL. LV NC. 28 NEW TCBK, TUE/DAy, PEBKUARy 3, 1931 9 CENTS "B" and "C" Houses Chief Tiffany Aim — Rowland 7,865JJNWIREDHOUSES INJJ. S. New Skouras Circuit May Extend Into Warner Ground Merry'Qo'Round —a statistical tornado — —By JACK ALICOATE-^— We are in A Big Business the numerical Grows Bigger center of our annual statistical jag. In spite of the fact that before us is an ever-changing picture and slightly beclouded panorama of digits, dots, dashes and data, due primarily to our somewhat intimate connection with the final preparation of the 1931 Film Daily Year Book, we still mentally react with enthusiastic interest to some of the latest authoritative figures on this great international motion picture industry. For instance, we find 101,945,025 shares of pictures stocks were traded in on the Big Board and Curb last year; that the total cost of production in 1930 was approximately $182,000,000; that exports of positive film during the past twelve months totaled 290,000,000 feet; that salaries paid out in the industry in 1930 represe it slightly over $500,000,000; that sponsored advertising films are commanding an . audience of something like 18,000,000 ' weekly; that about 25,000 miles of ' celluloid, enough to circle the globe, passes through American film exchanges every day of the year; etc., etc., etc. Carry this statistical data, together with a thousand other fascinating and interesting motion picture subjects, on for 1,200 pages and you'll have some idea of the comprehensiveness of the coming edition of The Film Daily Year Book. After all, our enthusiasm for this annual volume is no secret and you can take our confidential word for it that this 1931 edition will be bigger, better and more practical than ever, and, although we say it with due modesty, the finest book of reference ever published in the motion picture industry. Brothers Negotiating for Theaters in Eastern Territory Negotiations are under way on the part of the Skouras Brothers, who recently left Warner Bros., for the acquisition of a string of theaters in the eastern territory as part of the new circuit they are building up. Plans are understood to be on a big scale, and locations promise to embrace several of the Warner strongholds. Some sort o! alignment with the Hughes-Franklin Theaters also is regarded as likely. GOV'T ANTI-MERGER CASES DELAYED SEVERAL MONTHS Another delay is indicated in connection with the Federal Government's Clayton Act suits pertaining to the Warner-First National and Fox-Loew merger deals. John H. Amen, special assistant to the attorney general, in charge of the cases for the government, yesterday told The Film Daily that the Federal Court, Southern District, will not reach the cases until three or four months. A few weeks ago expectations were that the cases would go to trial early in March. 15,000 Indies In a press release concerning the forthcoming Allied States Ass'n convention in Chicago, Abram F. Myers refers to "15,000 independent exhibitors of the United States." ROXY MEET A LOVE-FEAST; CLARKE HEADS NEW BOARD Annual meeting of the Roxy stockholders, which had promised plenty of action with S. L. Rothafel as the target, ended up in a lovefeast, minus all semblances of fireworks. According to the annual report, net profits of the Roxy Theaters Corp. for the year ended Oct 31, 1930, after all deductions, were $438,317.78, equivalent to $3.55 per (Continued on Page 8) LALLEY MADrfPATHE V. P. AND GEN. STUDIO MANAGER West Coast Bureau, The Film Daily Hollywood — Fred J. Lalley, formerly in charge of short comedy production, has been made a vice-president of Pathe and general manager of the Pathe studios at Culver City. Tiffany To Aim at "A" Houses Only When Stories Warrant "Dracula" for Roxy "Dracula", produced by Universal from the stage hit, will have its Broadway first-run at the Roxy, starting Feb. 13. Three members of the stage production, Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan and Herbert Bunston, are in the cast, which also includes Helen Chandler and David Manners. "Tiffany will principally aim to serve the Class B and C houses and occasionally, when the story warrants it, shoot at the (lass A theaters," said Richard A. Rowland to Thf. Fii m Daily yesterday, his first day with the Tiffany organization "We will make medium-priced pictures based on good stories and personalities," he stated. Tiffany will develop personalities (Continued on Page 8) One-Third of Country's Theaters Still in Silent Class Out of 20,993 theaters in the United States, as of Jan. 1, a total of 13,128 are still in the silent class, it is shown in a complete checkup of the country made by The Film Daily, in co-operation with the Film Boards of Trade. The full list of houses, classified by states and cities, and with the silent theaters designated, will appear in The Film (Continued on Page 8) HAYS OfflCfSPONSORING "BETTER BUSINESS" DRIVE A "better business" drive sponsored by the Hays Office and affecting all industries will soon be put in motion as a result of a meeting held at the Will Hays office and (Continued on Page 8) 18 TWO-REELERS^ PLANNED BY PHIL RYAN THIS YEAR West Coast Bureau, The Film Daily Hollywood — Phil Ryan, who is just finishing the sixth of a scries of two-reel comedies starring ("luster Conklin for Paramount release, plans to increase his schedule to IS this year. Ryan is now negotiating with two of the major companies re garding release of the new product, which probably will star Conklin. Upon completion of his current production, Ryan will go to Xew York to close negotiations with his new releasing affiliation. "Cim" Tops "Rita" In its first week at the Globe on Broadway, RKO's "Cimarron" topped the gross of the same, company's "Rio Rita" record by about seven grand.