The Hollywood Reporter (Jan-Jun 1933)

Page Two ittfe .^i!3>©iTil^ Ian. 3, 1933 W. R. WILKERSON Editor and PubHiher FRANK POPE...; Managing Edrtor Published and copyrighted by THE WILKERSON DAILY CORP . Ltd Exocutive-Edltonal Otfices and Office o* Publication, 67 1 7 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood. (Los Angeles). Calrforma Telephone HOIIywood 3957 N*w York Office: Abranam Bernstein. Mgr.; 229 W 42nd St. Wisconsin 7-7193; Chicago. 6 N. Michigan Ave . London, 41 A Carlisle Mansions; Paris, 122 Blvd Murat. Berlin. 83-84 Mauerstrasse: Buenos Aires. San Martin 501 ; Sydney. 198 Pitt St. Published every day with the exception of Sundays and Holidays. Subscription rates, including postage, per year in the United States and Canada. $20. Foreign, $25 Single copies. 10c. Entered as second class nnatter June 4, 1932, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, under the act of March 3, 1879. Jean Harlow was the sensation of Caliente over the week-end. . . There was a big chemin-de-fer game indulged in by Connie Bennett, Joe Schenck. jack Warner, Bob Leonard, Eddie Mannix and Gilbert Roland — Connie and Roland won — and how! . . . Howard Hughes was there with Sondra Shaw until she left and then he almost made Junior Laemmie mad. but Eleanor Holm remained true to Universal. . . . Contributing to the blonde week-end were )oan Bennett. Carole Lombard, Leila Hyams, Betty Compson, Alice White and Claudia Dell. . . . There were no chatter writers in evidence from any paper, but millions of photographers with plenty to shoot at. Harry Ruby has a new system for vfnnJng at roulette — -"You bet on the etter E — and if the fellow next to fOU Is named Max — you lose!" — Harry tried it out at the Dunes. . . Others glimpsed Hiere and at the Mirador in Palm Springs over the week-end were the Dick Arlens, the Lew Ayres. the Harry Brands. Rouben Mamoulian and family. Martha Sleeper, the Frank Capras. Ralph Farnum, Alice Glazer, the Pete Smiths, the Frank Joyces, and Beth Newman, who cleaned up In the Keno game. . . . The Wertheimer boys outdid themselves with hospitality and favors N'years eve . . . and Paul Lukas outdid himself with aeroplane loops over the Mirador pool. . . . Sam Jaffe almost missed his telephone call to Miltret at St. Moritz (yeah, Switzerland) because H. Mankiewicz ran out of gas five miles from the Springs — Sam hitch-hiked back to town. Norma Talmadge left last night to fix up that new home of hers in Florida. . . . Ceorgie Raft, fresh back from his trip. Is sending sizzling wires to Margie King in New York. . . . Bebe Daniels, celebrating her birthday for the sixth consecutive time, at the Hearst ranch. . . . Doug Fairbanks Jr. gave Joan Crawford a gudgeous Eng.ish sheep dog for Christmas. Lightman Fights Loew's Dual Bills New York. — The policy of Loew's in running double bills in its theatres in Memphis has brought a threat from M. A. Lightman, president of the MPTOA and a Memphis theatre owner, that he will cancel his contract for the MGM product. He does not object to double bills at decent admission prices, but competition from Loew's, he says, may force opposition exhibitors to run double bills at ten-cent admissions. Evans In 'Pigboats' Madge Evans has definitely been set for the female lead in "Pigboats" for MGM. Jack Conway Is directing. 'Big Ben' Picked Up For 'Masquerader* The New Year's broadcast from London of the striking of "Big Ben," which was heard here at four o'clock Saturday, was picked up and recorded at the United Artists studio for use in the Colman picture, "The Masquerader." Tetzlaff With Small Teddy Tetzlaff, cameraman for Columbia the past three vears. has been signed by Edward Small to handle the camera on the first Reliance picture for United Artists, "I Cover the Waterfront," which James Cruze directs. (Continued from Page 1 1 over the box-office counter. Will the production companies make some REAL effort to cut their costs in the hope of saving their companies? That cry of cutting costs in the past has been, more or less, a smoke screen. There has been very little cost cutting, negatives are higher now (with the possible exception of Warners) than at any time in the history of this business. The production heads can't get really serious with their efforts to lower costs because they have no desire to slice their own weekly checks. But salaries and that portion of negative costs represented by those payments are only a small part of the cost cutting. The highly competitive condition in the making of pictures at present. CREATED BY THE PRODUCERS THEMSELVES, will send each and every company to the sheriff's office unless that condition is readjusted. The business will not stand the high prices that are being paid for story material, it will not stand the high costs of production delays because of the inefficiency of the production heads. • With every major producer trying to out-produce the other companies, with each producer's foremost desire being for personal glorification, with no thought of his company or what will happen to it with flop product made at insane costs, the new year holds little hope. There is no penalty at present for bad pictures. Production heads are not penalized. If the picture is a flop at the box office, that's that and there is nothing else to It so far as he is concerned. A swell condition brought on by the old army game of holding down the fort and killing off any approach of an element that may possibly unseat the man at the top. For years they have shot the stilts from under anyone who showed too much progress for the health of their jobs. There has not been, and will not be. under present conditions, any effort to encourage new executives, to listen to new ideas, to give way for progress. There is no better program for pictures being made in this business today than that being produced by Tradeviews Warners under Darryl Zanuck and there is no program of major product that is costing so little money. When you can make a picture like "I'm A Fugitive" for $273,000. then your costs are cut to fill the bill. And the "Fugitive" cost is something in excess of the majority of pictures that plant turns out. What is true at Warners should be the case with every other major studio. They buy a story which, in their judgment, should make a good picture. Once the purchase is made, one and possibly two writers, are turned loose to transfer it into picture form. Not $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000 writers; that type only slows up the production works, but men and women who are assigned, working at nominal salaries, picked because of their enthusiasm for the yarn and their known capabilities; and the type writer who values his job, has a desire to continue his or her work and the type that gives a studio little or no trouble. • There is nothing placed in the way of anyone connected with the preparation of a Warner story. That yarn goes right through and, from the looks of most of their pictures, has as much preparation and certainly more showmanship than the majority of the stories of other studios, with the highpriced writers, (four or five sets of them) working weeks and months to complete what? Generally a bad script for pictures. We are not in sympathy with the new schedule Zanuck was forced to put in, that 12. 14 and 18 day time for the completion of their new product. From what little we know about production and from what the men and women working on the lot have told us, that order is forcing things a bit too strongly and. although almost every person on the lot is trying to come through for their production boss, some have found the task impossible. • This year of 1933 can be successful only so far as Hollywood's contribution and that of the big chain theatre operators are concerned. The wholesale closing of lots of theatres, not only their closing but their conversion to some other business, and the REAL FIGHT to make pictures at reasonable costs, will save the situation for the present set-up of pictures. Radio Wants 'Wiggs' ForOliver-Durkin Radio has made Paramount an offer of $30,000 for "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch." having plans to produce the story for its program with Edna May Oliver and Junior Durkin in the leading roles. Paramount, however, is understood to have turned the offer down, although it is said to be $10,000 more than the original purchase price of the play. Torpedo Habit Gets Him Job As Advisor William Cerson has been engaged by Paramount to act as technical director for ship sequences of "The Woman Accused." Gerson. former ship steward who was torpedoed four different times during the war. was working as an extra on the set when production officials discovered his experiences. Mary Phillips Sought New York — Paramount is negotiating with Mary Phillips to go to the coast for a part in "The Story of Temple Drake." She recently returned to the east after working in "Life Begins" and "Farewell To Arms." Westcott To Warners Cordon Westcott goes to Warners on a loanout from Paramount for a part in George Arliss' next production, "The Adopted Father," which John Adolfi will direct. Majors Lend Players (Continued from Page 1 ) able does not measure up to requirements. In consenting to lend their players, the majors have taken into consideration the short bankrolls of the independents and are dropping the sevenweek guarantee customarily demanded in favor of a modified bonus for the players borrowed. Matters of billing, story approval and other details usual in loans are being adhered to. The story is the toughest obstacle, as the majors do not desire to have any of their players appear in inferior ma-" terial. Already MGM has loaned Anita Page to Arthur Beck, Monogram producer for "Jungle Bride," and Paramount has loaned Charles Starrett for the same picture. Universal has loaned Paul Lukas to Phil Goldstone for "Sing, ou Sinner," and other deals are being negotiated. 1933 Success ! will be judged by how mucli money you SAVE. Buy a series of annuities and guar ' antee a life-long income. * THAT'S REAL SUCCESSI ALBERT ESCHNER ; 310 TAFT BLDC. CR. 1721