The Film Daily (1931)

Intimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought The Daily Newspaper Of Motion Pictures Now Fourteen Years Old VCL. LV NO. 63 NEW yCCr, TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1931 5 CENTS Exhibitors Cashing in on East Texas Oil Strike PROBEJJEVEALS UEMMLE'S AID OFJNDIES Allied States Ass'n May Launch Own Exchange System Just Chatter^ — on nothing much =By JACK ALICOATE = There seems to Not More, But be a certain Better Talk! unanimity o f opinion upon the question of what is the weakest spot in the present production armor. Nine critics of the cinema out of ten will answer dialogue. Pictorially you can hold almost any audience if the action is sufficiently thrilling, enticing or entertaining. Trying to hold that self-same audience with a two-hour load of inane, stupid talk is quite another and more difficult problem. Of course, every writer of dialogue cannot be constantly brilliant, but one thing is certain, unless he is continuously entertaining his picture cannot be commercially successful. And that's being proven every day. * * * The result of the Many Uses survey now being Of Pictures conducted by the UT flexures Mot.on p.cture Di_ vision of the Department of Commerce to determine the exact and many uses of motion pictures in business, and the relative value attending their employment commercially, should be of more than passing importance to this industry. Particularly so now that practically every large outfit has its finger in the industrial cinema pie. Up to date some 200 companies in the U. S. have tried motion picture advertising. Advertising is but one phase of the inquiry that will take in the entire field of motion pictures other than that of so-called exhibition. The result of the survey will no doubt prove illuminating to those who think of motion pictures only in terms of the theater. * * + It is violating no To Version industry confidence Or Not To to suggest that perhaps the most irritating production problem of the (Continued on Page 2) Organization Would Handle Exhibitor Unit's Industrials In event that distribution arrangements for Kinograms, containing 30 per cent of industrial matter, are not made with some established national organization, Allied States Ass'n may launch its own exchange system, The Film Daily learned yesterday. The two-releases-a-week schedule would not necessitate an elaborate or expensive setup. One industrial subject will be {Continued on Page 7) SEALING SHIP BLOWS UP WITH FILM MEN ABOARD St. John, N. F.— Varick Frissell, director, and A. E. Penrod, cameramen, were aboard the sealing ship, Viking, which blew up at sea yesterday off the North coast of Newfoundland. Frissell last year made "The Silent Enemy", Paramount re{Continued on Page 7) Cresson E. Smith Made Pathe Dist. Sales Mgr. Cresson E. Smith has been appointed midwest district sales manager for RKO Pathe, it was announced yesterday by Ned E. Depinet, vice president and general sales manager. Smith resigned from a similar post with United Artists to join Depinet's staff. 20 Censorship Bills Twenty state censorship bills have been introduced in Legislatures this year compared with seven two years ago when approximately the same number of legislative sessions were held. A censorship measure introduced in Connecticut will be given a hearing at Hartford on Thursday by the joint finance committee. LEWISTON EXHIBS DEEEAT HIGHER LICENSE MEASURE Lewiston, Pa. — Following a strenuous fight by exhibitors, the borough council has rescinded its motion boosting the monthly license fee of each theater from $15 to $45. Warner-Publix War Looms in Charlotte Charlotte, N. C. — With Publix planning to reconstruct the Imperial, recently destroyed by fire, into a de luxe house, while Warner Bros, are reported negotiating to erect an elaborate theater as well as investigating sites for additional houses in the future, opposition between the two companies appears to be under way here. Oil Boom in East Texas Brings Circuit Scouts Hunting Sites Yes? West Coast Bur. THE FILM DAILY Hollywood— "Quiet" is replacing "yes" as the studios' most used word, according to a Pathe statistician, who says he counted 162 "quiets" used in four hours on Constance Bennett's new pix, "Born to Love." Dallas — Oil strikes in northeast Texas, likely to make this section one of the biggest oil fields in the world, is turning a group of little movie houses into veritable bonanzas, and attracting a horde of promoters and circuit scouts seeking sites for theaters. In Kilgore, where the population jumped from 800 to about J 5,000 al {Continued on Page ) Universal Chief Ordered Relief for Small Ex hibs in Canada Toronto — Refusal of Universal to give exclusive rights to W. P. Dewee, circuit owner at Trail, B. C, reserving the right to sell to A. Laurenti, independent exhibitor, was in accordance with Carl Laemmle's policy to give the small theater owner the break, according to testimony at the government inquiry into the Canadian film situation. Commissioner Peter White, in charge of the probe, read a ietter {Continued on Page 7) SUNDAY SHOW BILL SIGNED BY NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR Santa Fe, N. M. — The governor has signed the measure "emitting theaters to operate on Si1 ly. Waxman Joins Pati ; Ad Counsel, Short P ducer A. P. Waxman, forme special exploitation director fc Warner Bros., has been appointe dvertising counsel and short su~/ect producer with RKO Pathe. Waxman assumed his new duties yesterday with Charles Giegerich as executive assistant. Plans for the production of short subjects by Waxman have not as yet been announced. The present RKO Pathe advertising and publicity staff will be kept intact, according to Waxman. Dry Comedies Al Christie, a teetotaller, qualifies as the screen's greatest reformer with his two productions, "Charley's Aunt" and "Meet the Wife." The first features Charlie Ruggles and the latter Lew Cody and Harry Myers, all players hitherto portrayed on the screen as heavy drinkers. In Al's productions they GO DRY.