The Film Daily (1935)

Saturday, Aug. 17, 1935 THE ■son DAILY HERE & THERE Alliance, Ohio — The Columbia theater, which has been closed for the summer, will reopen Sept. 1. Ray Wallace, who also operates the Morrison and Strand, will manage the Columbia. Birmingham — Sale of the Empire theater building by the Catherine C. Wheeler estate to heirs of the Marvin Wise estate for $113,000 has been approved by Circuit Court. The Wise estate has operated the theater for several years under the name of Acme Theaters, Inc. Montgomery, Ala. — Sunday shows in towns of a population of 1,000 or more was defeated in the Legislature recently as the House voted it down 21 to 9. It does not affect theaters in the cities of Montgomery, Mobile and Birmingham. New Britain, Conn. — Thomas J. Grogan, assistant manager of the Palace here for the past four years, has been named manager of the Capitol, Lowell, Mass., operated by the Daly-Lorenzo circuit. He starts Sept. 1. His brother, Bernard Grogan, is now manager of the Central, West Hartford, Conn. Fort Worth, Tex.— The first stage attraction ever booked for the Hollywood theater, the Colorado Cowboys, NBC quartet from Denver, proved such a hit that Manager N. Beck held them over five days after their original engagement of two days. Other such bookings may follow. Pittsburgh Briefs Pittsburgh — The Nixon turns to a screen policy Oct. 28 when "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opens a two-a-day showing at a $1.71 top, including taxes. Mark Goldman, GB exchange manager, back on the job after an auto smashup. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Harris off to Atlantic City on a 10-day vacation. L. B. Cool in from Akron preparing for the l'eopening of the Fulton. Bernie Armstrong moved to the Harris-Family, where he will remain until opening of the Alvin. Glanced on Film Row: M. C. McCombs, Charles J. Schwartz, Hyman Goldberg, Sam Hanneaur, John Bixler, Peter Profili and John G. Rainey. AS SEEN BY THE PRESS AGENT "Jalna," the estate made famous by Mazo de la Roche's fiction and to be seen on the screen in RKO's picture of that name, exists only in the imagination of the author. — RKO Radio. k\0V^ ^PHIL M.DALY REVIEWS « • • • UP AT the Biograph Studio in the Bronx there are big things under way with the place alive with the enthusiasm and vitality of Youth for they are making the series of Major Bowes' Amateur Shorts and a lot of you guys who are getting old and crabbed and cynical should run up to the Biograph and really find out what bubbling Youth can do to rejuvenate the pictures • • • ONE OF the busiest gents in this industry is H. J. Yates and one whose time is absorbed by the complex problems of many important industry activities yet he found the time to sit with us for an hour in his Biograph studio and we never saw anyone more enthused than was H. J. as he watched the Amateur kids go through their paces and he had good reason to be for those youngsters are versatile they have kids performing up there that can do practically everything: seasoned actors can do PLUS that vital and exuberant Youth that folks want to see on the screen. • • • THEY ARE now on the second of the Bowes Series (the first was previewed in New Rochelle not long ago, and they had to call out the police reserves to handle the crowds) it takes two weeks to rehearse the youngsters before the cameras are started that gives you a slight idea of the care that is going into production John Auer is the Director Bunny Brown, assistant Eddie Lane is musical director and Doctor Martin, the radio personality and friend of Youth, is ever present, watching over the youngsters of course Major Bowes is on hand, and does his famous emcee ing in every pix T T ▼ • • • WE COMMEND to your attention a very splendid article written by Ben H. Atwell of Columbia for the mag issued by the Stadium Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium at the College of the City of New York Ben writes on "Grand Opera and the Movies" and ties it up very cleverly and adroitly with his company's productions of Grace Moore's "One Night of Love" and "Love Me Forever" • • • THERE SEEMS to be no doubt that Metro's first Big Gun of the new season has gone over with a grand salvo judging by the four-deep line that winds around Fiftyfirst Street every morn before opening time to see "China Seas" and Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Wally Beery at the Capitol theater they have to detail several cops to keep the customers in orderly line the regular theater attendants can't handle 'em • • • IN THE M. P. Baseball League the Erpi sluggers managed to nose out the RKO nine the other evening at the George Washington Stadium scoring the deciding runs in the last half of the seventh inning Andy Pustay, star right-fielder of the Erpi nine, hit a double with two on, putting his team out front Bill Moylan and Bud Gordon were the battery Jimmy Mulhall and Jack Alexander held down for RKO • • • LUNCHING AT the Tavern yesterday Bill German, Eddie Golden, Pete Harrison, Harry Thomas Jack Goetz, Bill Pine, Andre Sennwald, Emil Jenson Arnold Van Leer, Irwin Kleeblat, James A. FitzPatrick, Floyd Weber, Truman Talley, Neil Agnew, Herman Gluckman M €€ €4 » » » Boris Karloff in "THE BLACK ROOM" with Marian Marsh, Robert Allen, Katherine DeMille Columbia 67 mins. FAIR MURDER MELODRAMA, OF SEMI-HORROR TYPE, SHORT ON NAMES AND HUMAN INTEREST. Karloff, in a dual role is the chief drawing card in this attraction. The story itself, replete with murders that are more or less unpleasant, is a fair concoction of its kind but not fused with enough human interest for it to appeal very far beyond the horror fans. A cruel baron who is hated by the people because of his atrocities, sends for his twin brother, a likeable fellow. Seeing that the people are fond of the brother, the hated one announces that he will turn over the estate to him and go awav. After making a public performance of this, the baron murders his brother and assumes his identitv. thus deceiv;n<? th° o'-ople into liking him. He also takes in Marian Marsh, whose uncle he had killed, and is on the verge of marrvinsr her when his exposure is effected through the medium of the dead brother's faithful dog. Then follows a horrible death for the baron, with Marian free to marry Robert Allen, her true sweetheart. Cast: Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh, Robert Allen, Katherine DeMille, Henry Kolker, Thurston Hall, John Buckler. Torben Meyer, Colin Tapley, Egon Brecher. John Bleifer. Frederick Vogeding, Edward Van Sloan. Producer, Robert North; Director, Roy William Neill; Author, Arthur Strawn; Screenplay, Henry Myers, Arthur Strawn; Cameraman, Al Seigler; Editor, Richard Cahoon. Direction, Satisfactory Photography, Good. San Antonio Notes San Antonio — Col. J. Davidson of National Theater Supply due back here soon. Mrs. Mack Rogers is now relieving in the box-office at the Texas. Dan Goldstein is bound for Los Angeles this month. He will be located at the Mascot Studios. Sophie DeMaetteis, Auditorium cashier, is recovering from a recent ailment. Work on "Wings Over San Antonio", airplane film, will be resumed this month. It is to be a National Pictures' Kier-Phillips production. McGrew F. Willis Vernon Gus Edwards Gray E eanor Boardman Kenneth McKenna June Collyer Alan Crosland Colleen Moore Joan Peers