The Film Daily (1932)

THE ■S^k DAILV Tuesday, August 2, 1932 WILLIAM FOX IS NAMED IN $1000,000 SUIT William Fox is defendant in a suit for $1,000,000 filed in Supreme Court on his guarantee to that extent that the Fox Theaters Corp. would carry out the terms of a contract made in March, 1927, with Herbert Lubin for the purchase of 750,000 shares of the Roxy Circuit. Inc., and $2,500,000 of debentures of that corporation. The price fixed was $2,930,000, for which paymentwere to be made in yearly instalments beginning two years after th^ purchase. A default in payments' due last March is the basis of the suit. The action was brought by the Chicago Title and Trust Co., which recites that Lubin assigned a share in the payments to Arthur H. Sawyer, and assigned the balance to his wife, Marie Lubin, after which both delivered their interests to the plaintiff. The agreement recited that the Roxy Circuit, Inc., owned 176,000 shares of the Roxy Theaters Corp., 1,688 shares of Real Estate Enterprises, owner of the lease on the Fox theater at 58th St. and Lexington Ave., and 200 shares of Uptown Playhouse, Inc., owner of a lease at 7"th St. and Broadway, in addition to which the Roxy Circuit held in excess of $160,000 of notes of the Real Estate Enterprises and $246,000 of the Uptown Playhouse. FOX TRUSTEE UPHELD Management of the Fox Theater property in Brooklyn by the Continental Bank & Trust Co., following default on a $6,000,000 bond issue by the Flatbush Ave. and Nevins St. Co., owner, has been upheld by Supreme Court Justice Schmuck, who denied an application by Louis Grocco, bondholder, to have a new trustee named. Sh O W man D a i REMINDER You should check sound every performance to keep up to perfection standard. ALONGjapiALTO \\r( /y^y^A^ PHIL M DALY mSq NEW VORIC • • LOS ANGELES • THE CRY is still going up among the film producers "What can we do to bring 'em back to the theaters?" as Billy Wilkerson remarks in a recent editorial in his "Hollywood Reporter" and he sums up the situation pretty thoroughly the public is tired of murders, sex, courtroom dramas the smart-cracking tea table form of drawing room chatter tired of having all the events of current conditions in our daily lives dramatized, exaggerated and rubbed in by way of the screen and labeled Entertainment for which the public is expected to pay cheerfully • • • IF YOU stop to analyze the screen product from all the major studios for the past two years you will note that all types of pictures have been built up on EXAGGERATION everything has been grossly exaggerated murder sex courtroom dramas drawing room sophistication current events they have been exaggerated to the point where they bear little resemblance to the facts of life • • • MEBBE WE'RE all haywire in our deductions but this is how we dope it out in our artless way when the patient is suffering from an aggravated form of anaemia pretty weak and listless the doctor does not prescribe heroic treatment . . rather, he counsels rest, relaxation anything that's soothing to the tired body and jaded nerves one thing he positively taboos and that is Excitement anything that tends to EXAGGERATE the patient's already overwrought condition that's plain horse sense do you agree? • • • FOR THE past two years and more the Public who happens to be the Patient of Ole Doc Film Biz has been steadily wasting away under a most alarming case of Financial Anaemia what the patient craves more than anything is real rest and relaxation something to soothe tired body and jaded nerves from the daily economic battle that waxes tougher and tougher the Public is in exactly the same condition as the anaemic patient who is physically washed up whereas the Public is mentally fagged but the psychological reaction is THE SAME • • • AND WHAT treatment has Ole Doc Film Biz been prescribing steadily for these past two years? Excitement Exaggeration he's been pounding the patient's frazzled nerves with Thrills jouncing him around with all sorts of artificial stimulants wild sex "horror" dramas goofy drawing room monstrosities he's given the patient everything everything but quiet, soothing sedatives • • • SO WHEN vacation comes what does our patient the Public, do? why, he sez "T'ell with this doctor. He ain't doing me a bit o' good. Guess I'll go away to the quiet mountains. I'll relax in the woods by a quiet stream on a sleeping hillside." and he comes back refreshed, invigorated and when Ole Doc Film Biz comes around he sez "Nix. I've learned my lesson. When I want Relaxation, I'll hop off week-ends to Nature, where Life is Sane Natural Real." MORAL The Youessay is full of stories of Natural Things Natural People OUTSIDE the artificial city life but Ole Doc Film Biz hasn't hit on this REMEDY. « « « » » » FIRST-RUN IN ST. LOUIS St. Louis — Warner Bros, is temporarily without a first-run house here as t'he result of passing of control of the Ambassador and Missouri theaters from Skouras SuperTheaters Corp. The Ambassador is being operated for the present by the St. Louis Properties Corp., owners, while the Missouri has been released to Publix for the old rental of $10,833 a month, with an adjustment on back rentals, according to Clarence M. Turley of St. Louis Properties. Skouras Super-Theaters, an operating unit, was owned jointly by Publix and Skouras Bros. Enterprises, the latter controlled by Warners. The services of an experienced showman will be obtained to handle the Ambassador, says Turley. It is also believed likely that Warners will enter into a new lease at a rental under the present $26,000 a month. Meanwhile no change is contemplated in either policy or personnel of the two houses. U. A. Selling Season Starts in September United Artists is expected to officially launch its selling season, with an exclusive first run sales policy, the first of September. Initial picture on the program will be "Mr. Robinson Crusoe," with Doug Fairbanks. CHANGE BUILDING CODE Meridian, Miss. — An amendment to city building code making it legal to operate theaters upstairs was passed at a recent meeting of city officials. The ruling makes it possible to operate the Grand Opera theater, which has not been used for several years. August 2 Jack L. Warner Myrna Loy Glenn Tryon Hal Mohr Claude Gillingwarer