Inside facts of stage and screen (March 22, 1930)

VoL XI ESTABLISHED 1924 Entered as Second Class Matter, April 29, 1927, at Post- office, Los Angeles, Calif., under Act of March 3, 1879. Saturday, March 22, 1930 EDITED BY JACK JOSEPHS Published Every Saturday at 800-801 Warner Bros. Down- town Building, 401 West Seventh St., Los Angeles, Calif. No. 12 EXHIBS, PUBLIC GO “COLD” ON SONG-AND-DANCE FILMS $3500 TALKIE W.E.SHORTLY The long-promised “sound equip- ment within the reach of all” was just in the offing this week. Western Electric, it became known, though not officially an- nounced as yet, is planning to put. out equipment for the smaller the- atres of around 500 seats at a cost of about $3500, though the plans are not yet at the point of a final okeh. The plan, if it goes through, is expected to open up the biggest field for talkie exploitation since the early days, with the big stu- dios finding real competition in seeking bookings for the houses, a large proportion of which are in- dependent. Along with technical develop- ment, the plans include a system of financing to make the money part easy for the exhibs, and, it is ru- mored, announcement may be made of conditions under which an in- stallation will be made for a duly accredited theatre owner on a ba- sis of straight periodical payments without anything down. The keynote to the reported W. E. plan is said to be volume pro- duction, the low cost being only possible if profits are run up from great numbers. With the W. E. interest in picture producing, it was stated, the company is not looking for any great profit out of the equipment installations, but will get its returns from the increased revenues which talkies will then bring forth. There are approxi- mately 18,000 houses in the United States still unwired, and a vastly greater number in foreign countries playing American pictures. If all houses were wired Hollywood pro- duction costs would diminish simul- taneously with the increase of re- turns. The present silent versions necessary are considerable of a financial burden. It is understood that W. E. ex- ecutives made a careful check of exhibitor opinion before going into the new wiring phase, and Tound the demand for an economical in- stallation overwhelming. While the W. E. plans are still officially sub-rosa, it is known that a definite announcement may be forthcoming within the next two weeks. P 7 ,' • •••'. iigl m Teddy Charlie Arnold Mickey FOUR CIRILLO BROTHERS March 20 RKO Theatre, Los Angeles BOOK METRO FILMS The Burbank, under its new policy of playing talking pictures and a stage show, will run M-G-M first runs for the Main street area, after three Fox pictures already booked. NEW HOUSE OPENING The New Fairfax Theatre, at Fairfax avenue and Beverly boule- vard, opens March 26. “Troopers Three,” a Tiffany picture featuring Rex Lease, Dorothy Gulliver and Slim Summervile, is the opener. EDDY ON TRIP EAST Don Eddy, local chief of Radio Pictures publicity, left Tuesday for New York for a series of confer- ences with eastern officials. He probably will be gone about a month. ACTION STOUT FILMS BEST Public apathy toward Song-ar.5- Dance films, which started in the metropolitan centers, has now spread to the sticks, and both the public and the exhibs are com- pletely fed up on them, according to a cross-section rf exhibitor opinion gathered this week. The public’s demand now is for action and dramatic plot pictures, it was stated, with westerns look- ing like a great bet. Exempted from the statement were operettas such as “Rogue Song,” “Vagabond King,” etc., as this class of production has not yet crashed into the rural dis- tricts. The consensus of opinion was that the Hollywood producers made a mistake in forcing all the screen actors and actresses to sing and dance, whether they could do so or not, and in chucking a lot of mediocre vaude talent in also. Flooding the market with this very so-so brand of song-and-dance turned the public against it rap- idly, they say, and now listlessness sweeps over a house whenever, in the middle of a good picture, the orchestra strikes up and warbling or pedal-tapping starts. Top Singers Good By “song-and-dance films,” the exhibs made it plain they meant that brand of picture in which is a good plot, but one which is in- terrupted constantly by some mu- sical interpolation. As examples among the recent pictures, they cited First National’s “Playing Around,” starring Alice White; Paramount’s “Roadhouse Nights,” etc. They said they believed the top- notch singers, such as Lawrence Tibbett, Maurice Chevalier, AI Jolson, Winnie Lightner, etc., could go on peddling their wares to good boxoffice forever, but that lesser singing entertainers and would-be dancers were so com- pletely washed up that soon the audiences would be openly giving them the razz. This has already happened in some instances, it was stated. Particularly distasteful, it was added, are the rung-in cabaret and show shots which have no bearing on the story. Big Demands The exhibs said that their feel of the public pulse showed that (Continued on Page 3) YOU'LL