Harrison's Reports (1938)

44 HARRISON'S REPORTS March 12, 1938 Box Office Performances of 1937-38 Season's Pictures No. 2 Paramount "Daughter of Shanghai," with Anna May Wong, directed by Robert Florey, from a screen play by Gladys Linger and Garnett Weston : Fair. "True Confession," with Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, produced by Albert Lewin, and directed by Wesley Ruggles, from a screen play by Claude Binyon : Good. "Wells Fargo," with Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, and Bob Burns, produced and directed by Frank Lloyd, from a screen play by Paul Schofield, Gerald Geraghty, and Frederick Jackson : ExcellentVery Good. "Bulldog Drummond's Revenge," with John Barrymore, John Howard, and Louise Campbell, directed by Louis King, from a screen play by Edward T. Lowe: Fair. "Every Day's a Holiday," with Mae West, Edmund Lowe, and Lloyd Nolan, produced by Emanuel Cohen, and directed by A. Edward Sutherland, from a screen play by Mae West: Good-Fair. (Some, Poor.) ("Thrill of a Lifetime," already reported in the issue of December 25, 1937, as Poor. Release order in schedule altered.) "Partners of the Plains," with William Boyd and Gwen Gaze, produced by Harry Sherman, and directed by Lesley Selander, from a screen play by Harrison Jacobs : GoodFair. "The Buccaneer," with Fredric March, Margot Grahame, and Akim Tamiroff, produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, from a screen play by Edwin Justus Mayer, Harold Lamb, and C. Gardner Sullivan : Excellent-Good. "Scandal Street," with Lew Ayres and Louise Campbell, directed by James Hogan, from a screen play by Bertram Millhauser and Eddie Welch : Fair. Thirty-two pictures have already been released. Grouping the pictures of the different ratings, including the Westerns, from the beginning of the season, we get the following results : ExcellentVery Good, 1 ; Excellent-Good, 1 ; Very Good, 1 ; Very Good-Good, 1 ; Very Good-Fair, 1 ; Good, 3 ; Good-Fair, 5; Good-Poor, 1; Fair, 10; Fair-Poor, 5; Poor, 3. The first 32 pictures of the 1936-37 season, excluding Westerns, were rated as follows : Excellent, 1 ; Excellent-Very Good, 2 ; Very Good, 2 ; Very Good-Good, 2 ; Good, 5 ; Good-Fair, 3 ; Fair, 5 ; FairPoor, 10; Poor, 2. If we were to exclude the Westerns from this season's check up, the number of pictures on which box-office reports have been obtained is 27, rated as follows : ExcellentVery Good, 1 ; Excellent-Good, 1 ; Very Good, 1 ; Very Good-Good, 1 ; Very Good-Fair, 1 ; Good, 3 ; Good-Fair, 2; Good-Poor, 1; Fair, 8; Fair-Poor, 5; Poor, 3. The first 27 of the 1936-37 season were rated as follows : Excellent, 1 ; ExcellentVery Good, 2 ; Very Good, 1 ; Very Good-Good, 2; Good, 4; Good-Fair, 2; Fair, 4; FairPoor, 10; Poor, 1. It seems as if the box office power of this season's pictures are considerably lower than last season's. RKO "Danger Patrol," with John Beal, Sally Eilers and Harry Carey, produced by Maury Cohen, and directed by Lew Landers, from a screen play by Sy Bartlett: FairPoor. "Quick Money," with Fred Stone, produced by Maury Cohen, and directed by Edward Killy, from a screen play by Arthur T. Horman, Frankln Coen, and Bert Granet : Fair-Poor. "Hitting a New High," with Lily Pons, Jack Oakie and John Howard, produced by Jesse L. Lasky, and directed by Raoul Walsh, from a screen play by Gertrude Purcell and John Twist : Good-Fair. "Wise Girl," with Miriam Hopkins, Ray Milland and Walter Abel, produced by Edward Kaufman, and directed by Leigh Jason, from a screen play by Allan Scott : GoodFair. "She's Got Everything," with Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Helen Broderick and Victor Moore, produced by Albert Lewis, and directed by Joseph Santley, from a screen play by Harry Segall and Maxwell Shane : Fair. "Crashing Hollywood," with Lee Tracy, Joan Woodbury and Richard Lane, produced by Cliff Reid, and directed by Lew Landers, from a screen play by Paul Yawitz and Gladvs Atwater : Fair-Poor. "Everybody's Doing It," with Sally Eilers and Preston Foster, produced by William Sistrom, and directed by Christy Cabanne, from a screen play by Jay R. Bren, Edmund Joseph, and Harry Segall : Fair-Poor. "The Rat," with Ruth Chatterton, Anton Walbrook and Rene Ray, produced by Herbert Wilcox, and directed by Jack Raymond, from a play by Ivor Novello and Constance Collier : Fair-Poor. "Double Danger," with Preston Foster and Whitney Bourne, produced by Maury Cohen, and directed by Lew Landers, from a screen play by Arthur T. Horman and J. Robert Bren: Fair-Poor. "Radio City Revels," with Jack Oakie, Bob Burns, Milton Berle, Victor Moore and Ann Miller, produced by Edward Kaufman, and directed by Ben Stoloff, from a screen play by Matt Brooke, Eddie Davis, Anthony Veiller, and Mortimer Offner : Good-Fair. "Night Spot," with Parkyakarkus, Allan Lane, and Joan Woodbury, produced by Robert Sisk, and directed by Christy Cabanne, from a screen play by Lionel Houser : Fair-Poor. Twenty-three pictures have already been released. Grouping the pictures of the different ratings from the beginning of the season, we get the following results : Excellent-Good, 1 ; Good-Fair, 5 ; Fair, 5 ; Fair-Poor, 10 ; Poor, 2. The first 23 pictures of the 1936-37 season were rated as follows : •Very Good-Good, 1; Good, 1; Good-Fair, 5; Fair, 7; Fair-Poor, 5 ; Poor, 4. UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION 729 Seventh AvenueNew York, N. Y. March 3rd, 1938. Mr. Pete Harrison, Harrison's Reports, 1270 Sixth Avenue, New York, N. Y. Dear Pete : When we were discussing your review on TOM SAWYER, I mentioned the fact that we were opening the picture in Scranton, Pa., and Denver. For your information, I think you would like to know that in Scranton we took in $2,235.00 on Saturday at the Strand Theatre. The picture will show a new attendance record at that theatre for the past year. In Denver it opened on Tuesday at the Denver Theatre and beat NOTHING SACRED, A STAR IS BORN and THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, other sensational Selznick hits, on the opening day by more than $500.00 and on the second day was better than opening day. As you know, the reviews all over the country were sensational. Fidler gave it five bells, the Daily Nczvs four stars, and wherever they have a star rating, or any other rating of that kind, it got tops. The picture is now plaving the Sparks Circuit in Florida to 145% of normal ; at the Sheridan Theatre in Miami to 135% of normal. I thought you would like to have this information since, when we talked about this picture, you said you were always open to conviction. Kind regards. Sincerely, Monroe W. Greenthai.. WAR AGAINST DOUBLE FEATURES IN CHICAGO ABANDONED On February 28, the Board of Aldermen of Chicago held a hearing on the complaint against double features, with a view to determining whether an ordinance prohibiting them in the city of Chicago should or should not be passed, but for some reason the proponents of the measure refused to take the floor to speak. As a result, the hearing was dismissed, without any action taken. ORDER YOUR MISSING COPIES Look over your files and if you should find any copies missing order them from this office at once ; they will be supplied to you free of charge. A sufficient number of copies of each issue is kept in stock for just such a purpose.