The Film Daily (1931)

Intimate in Character International in Scope Independent in Thought The Dai ly N ewspa pe r Of Mo ti o n Pict u res Now Foi rteen Years Old VOL. I> VC.15I NCWyOCr, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 1931 /((IMS Court Dismisses Suit Over Loew Stock Sale NINE FILM BOARDS OUT IN CONSOLIDATION New Wisconsin Indie Exhib Unit Joins Allied Ass'n Organization Headed by McWilliams Replaces M.P.T.O. Group Milwaukee — Allied Independent Theaters of Wisconsin, headed by J. McWilliams, has joined the Allied States Ass'n, replacing the M.P.T.O. of Wisconsin, of which Fred 5. Meyer is president. The new (Continued on Page 3) DR. BECKER NOW HEADS TOBIS CROUP IN EUROPE London — Dr. Rudolf Becker, general manager of General Sound Film I 'reductions and A. S.F.I, of Wembley, has been appointed manager of trie Kuchenmeister Maatschappi of Amsterdam, the controlling concern of the European Tobis group. His new post makes Dr. Becker one of the highest film executives in Europe, with international standing due to the Tobis affiliations in the U. S. B. F. Moore Now Heads RKO Columbus Theaters Columbus, O. — B. F. Moore, for the last 10 months manager of the RKO Majestic here, has been named manager of the RKO Palace and city manager for the RKO theater interin Columbus, succeeding Burns O'Sullivan. Anti-Censorship Group Plans Broadcast Series Censorship of films, books and plays will be assailed as unnecessary and ineffective in a series of six broadcasts planned by the National Council on Freedom from Censorship, over WOV, starting July I. Cordon W. Moss, secretary of the organization, will speak on the first program. Others in elude Harry Elmer Barnes, Dorothy Kenyon and Harry Weinberger. RKO Declares July 4 Holiday Week Complying with the wish of Vice-President Charles Curtis, that the Independence Day holiday be extended into a full week of patriotic thanksgiving, the RKO Circuit throughout the country will celebrate the period from July 3 to 10 as "Patriotic Week." Officials, merchants organizations, etc., will be invited to join in the event, which is to be ushered in with a monster broadcast July 3 at 10:30 P. M over NBC's 47 stations. Too Much Sameness in Stories Chief B.O. Worry, Says O'Reilly Key City Units of Hays Office Being Cut from 32 to 23 Discontinuance of nine of the 32 Film Boards of Trade as part of a consolidation plan will be effected by the Hays organization July 1. The remaining offices in 23 key cities will take over the territory of the ones closed under the arrangement, in(Continued on Page 3) Too much sameness in stories is injuring box-office value of present releases, said Charles O'Reilly, president of the T. O. C. C, in an interview with The Film Daily yesterday. Stories are being made in schools, like fish, he declared. O'Reilly asserted that admission price cutting is positively not the solution of the present situation. Screen entertainment is now sold to the public at a nominal cost, he pointed out, and price cutting only serves to make picturegoers wary of the fare offered. Good product is what is needed, said O'Reilly. Hays Answers Gang Film Protest East Orange, N. J. — In a letter to Mayor Charles H. Martens, who had protested against gangster films following the accidential shooting of a Montclair boy early in the week, Will H. Hays declared that the divergence of opinion concerning gang pictures is offset by unanimous scien tific judgment which accepts such films as crime deterrents. "I have no excuse for a film glorifying a gangster," said Hays. "The proper treatment of crime as a social fact or dramatic motive is the inalienable right of a free press or an unshackled stage or screen." Suit Over Sale of Loew Stock Dismissed by Supreme Court ISIDORE OSTRER BECOMES -P.C.T. PRES. London — In a readjustment of the directorate of Gaumont-British Picture Corp., Isidore Ostrer has resigned the chairmanship of GaumontBritish and Provincial Cinematograph Theaters to become president ol compu' Mark Ostrer Incomes (Continued on Page II) United Artists To Release New D. W. Griffith Picture United Artists will release 1 1 1 ture production which D, W. Griffith now i preparing in New York cording to present plans, Griffith will >tart shooting on Jul) <> at the Cinema studi Hal Skelly will have the featured role, with 1 1 ) Pa the News in Drive Against Crime Wa v e Suit brought by Edward M. Stanton and other Loew stockholders against Nicholas M. Schenclc, David Bernstein and Arthur M. Loew over ile of the controlling stock in . in. . to Fox, was dismissed Friday in Supreme ( 'onrt The ' out l ruled that the transaction wa sentially the sale ol Mr-. M Loew's stork, with the St hem I Arthur Loew share going alun. it. .ind that the d.al a IU< h W tirel) within the law I louse, Holthusen & McCI counsel for Stanton, will in || tu the f\p| A drive against organized crime and gangsters is bung launched in the tttht News released fodav Howard W Ameli U. S attorney for the Eastern dut New York, congratulates Pathe News on its campaign, and Elmer L In M JO» trnment to win over A! *. government ach> gang rule.