The Film Daily (1931)

Small Towns As Critical As Cities 'THE provincial attitude toward A the theater, once associated exclusively with rural communities and small towns, no longer manifests itself there; while, on the contrary, the larger cities exhibit quite as much naivete toward drama and theater folk as the "tank towns" ever did. The lesser centers of population are quite as critical of the motion picture today as their metropolitan neighbors ever were, and it is equally true that there is a surprising want of discrimination among the fans of the large cities. It is no longer profitable to exploit the small towns with inferior pictures. The demands there are for the most sophisticated and modern productions. — Richard Wallace • ♦ * Serials Belong In Neighborhood Houses CERIALS are "box office" for J the neighborhood theaters but not for the major houses. That's the verdict of Syracuse exhibition, based upon the experience of the past few months. Patrons of the down town theaters are too sophisticated in their amusement tastes to accept the chapter plays, but in the ward houses the youngsters are eating 'em up and yelling for more. Providing, if anything, that kids are still kids. Neighborhood exhibitors report that the serials are chiefly responsible for their successful opposition to the special children's matinees run down town by the majors. One answer is that the outlying houses permit the kids to hiss the villain and cheer the hero, practices verboten down town. — Chester B. Bahn, Syracuse Herald TEN YEARS AGO TO-DAY IN Sigmund Lubin leaves for Europe where he expects to perfect important producing combine. * * * J. Gordon Edwards to produce for Fox in Europe. • * * Harley Knoles, Alliance production chief, returns from England. Denies serious difficulties in company affairs. • • •SPRING IS in our midst, boys and girls and we hope you were up bright and early this morn to greet the fair maid we got our dates mixed, and jumped up Friday morn at the break of dawn and rushed out to the front doorstep to greet her and plunked right into the milkman we have been dodging for a month, who handed us the bill along with the milluk however, we were not to be de nied to us, Spring had started on the 20th so to work with unwonted enthusiasm, gusto and whatnot we dashed into the home ossif of RKO Pathe and found the Rooster strutting and crowing all over the place evidently we were not alone in our belief that Spring was here the whole gang was springing around like a load of Mexican jumping beans in rapid succession we flew into the coops of Lee Marcus, Ned Depinet, Manny Goldstein, A. P. Waxman, C. J. Scollard, E. J. O'Leary, Joe O'Sullivan and Rutgers Neilson they were all in fighting trim, spurred and kicking up dust and shaking their plumes several of these champs have lately been recruited from other film barnyards all have records to crow about and with those 21 promising features in the new RKO Pathe lineup to go to work on, this aggregation looks like a winning combination they've already started to strut their stuff yezzir, Spring is here and you realize it when you walk in on this bunch the Rooster has undergone a rejuvenation treatment you wouldn't know the ole place now * * | * * • • • AND THERE was the gink who became a big film exec, and hired a genealogist to trace his ancestry and the research developed such surprising things that now the exec is paying him hush-money • • • AFTER THAT testimonial dinner the Film Center boys gave him, "Zip," the odd-job man known to everybody on the Film Curb, feels that he owes it to his public to appear and give everybody a thrill he has sent us a series of photographs, intended to show him registering the entire series of human emotions they are captioned respectively Fear, Happiness, Misery, Anger, Sorrow, Puzzlement but to us they all show Puzzlement • • • ANDY KELLEY, feature writer for the Washington "Times," wafts this fair bouquet in the general direction of Emgeem "Trader Horn," say D. C. showmen, was the best exploited and publicized roadshow picture to hit Washington since 'Birth of a Nation'." them's powerful woids Andy but happening to know the work that Exploiteer Chief Billy Ferguson, and his ally, Dewey Bloom, did on the pix in the Capital, we know this praise must be deserved • • • RALPH STITT of the Rivoli blurbed that in translating "The Front Page" from the stage to the screen, they had soft pedaled on the lurid, pungent phrases to avoid censorship, and still retained the PUNCH as big as ever it sounded exaggerated to us but after seeing the pix, we're convinced Ralph understated, if anything oh, boy, wot a Wallop! Lillian Bleeker, sec to Max Fleischer, is motoring to Miami in a baby Lincoln and it ain't no cartoon car. either It costs nothing, but buys much it is born in an instant, but lives forever it means as much to the film exec as it does to the ossif boy A Kind Word Moral to Ossif Boys: Give the Film Exec a kind word, once in a while Lucky Coupon Wins Refrigerator THE idea of giving away an electric refrigerator to the holder of a lucky coupon, tried out at the Playhouse in Ridgewood, N. J., has proved so excellent a box-office stunt that it is likely to be widely copied. Manager Costa arranged with a furniture house for the electric refrigerator. The contest ran for a week, during which time, "Little Caesar," "Divorce Among Friends" and "Outward Bound" were the bills. — Playhouse, Ridgewood, N. J. Comedy Stunt Gets a Play AMONG the means taken by the management of the Regent in Springfield, Ohio, to awaken interest in "Sit Tight," was the distribution of what appeared to be a doctor's prescription, a small dried pea the size of an ordinary pill accompanying it. The "prescription" advised its possessor to take the pill in a tub full of fervent water and then rush madly to the theater, disregarding traffic signals, and meet Dr. Winnie and Jojo the tiger. The "prescription" was signed by "Dr. Bunkem." The stunt had the merit of putting people in good humor. — Regent, Springfield, Ohio « « « » » » MANY HAPPY RETURNS Best wishes and congratulations are extended by THE FILM DAILY to the following members of the industry, who are celebrating their birthdays: March 21-22 James Ford Sam Hardy W. S. Van Dyke Edward Cronjager Sidney Franklin Henry Hobart Bernice Claire Carmelita Geraghty