Inside facts of stage and screen (September 20, 1930)

ESTABLISHED 1924 EDITED BY JACK JOSEPHS Vol. XII Entered as Second Class Matter, April 29, 1927, at Post- office, Los Angeles, Calif., under Act of March 3, 1879. Saturday, September 20, 1930 Published Every Saturday at 800-801 Warner Bros. Down- town Building, 401 West Seventh St., Los Angeles, Calif. No. 12 LOCAL PREVIEWS ‘OUT’ CARLA TORNEY Whose Dancers are a Feature o£ Fanehon and Marco's “ON THE SET" Idea Loews State ... Los Angeles This Week MARATHON DANCES IN BIG SPURT Marathon dances, considered dead stuff around here and which certain officials in the city have frowned upon, took a sudden leap with the long dic- tance dance which Bill MeikeB john promoted at the Casino in Balboa Beach. Contest endured for a period of 1226 hours, and wound up in ex- citement and packed houses that, notwithstanding the large overhead and slow start, made a big profit for the promoters. During last few hours of the dance, excited spectators threw $2200 on the floor for the be- draggled dancers, which was in addition to the cash prizes of- fered. The marathon attracted an unu- sually high class of patrons, catch- ing the fancy of the effete society summering in the vicinity. It was a nightly rendezvous for social names. Toward the end, a spectator brought Bill Meikeljohn a windfall, that happens once in a lifetime. A cattleman from the open spaces, had been attending the dance nightly, and just before the end, had been throwing handfulls of coin and bills at the dancers, making himself a center of attraction. When his cash was all gone, he walked up to Bill and con- gratulating him for the good time he had, and said he had just sold 40,000 head of cattle, and liked to encourage such af- fairs, so would stick around and finance a dance. He reached in his pocket, and drew out a check for $500 and handed it to Meikeljohn, with his com- pliments, saying he had $15,000 more to play with. Bill thought it a joke, until he presented check at the bank, and got the cash. You can knock him over with any feather you have now. He believes the offer of the (Continued on Page 2) Profession Mourns Sills’ Death Milton Sill’s death has plunged the motion picture workers, as well as the fans, again in mourning. Just as pic- ture followers had recovered from the sorrow occasioned by Lon Chaney’s passing, came news of Sill’s last curtain. Both were beloved by co-workers and everyone, who knew them. KORNHEISER OUT NEW YORK, Sept. 18—In a shifting of executives of Leo Feist, Inc., Phil Kornheiser resigned as secretary this week. Rocco Vocco, former Chicago manager, stepped up to the position of general man- ager of promotion. LE BARON RETURNS William LeBaron, vice-president in charge of production of RKO Radio Pictures, is back at his desk at the West Coast studio after a several weeks’ trip to New York, where he conferred with othe RKO officials in the forthcoming produc- tions of this busy company. MYRA KINCH BOOKED Myra Kinch, dancer, who was re- cently featured with Ted Lewis after completing many seasons with Fanehon and Marco, will open with the “Temptations of 1930’’ at the Mayan Theatre as a specialty dancer. UNFINISHED FILMS GET ‘PAN’ HERE Elimination of previews of talking pictures in the vicinity of Hollywood was a decision of the movie industry this week. ■Instead, advance public show- ings of pictures are to be given in San Francisco, San Diego, San Bernardino and other points considerably distant from the movie capital. Too many wise ones in the in- dustry, and their friends, have been attending the local previews, and making smart cracks about films, not yet cut or actually finished. As' a result, many good pictures have been given the “black-eye” from these premature swats. Some of the swats are reported decidedly amateurish in character. Yet, they carried weight because they came from “big shots” in financial or social circles. Now, the reaction of cold audiences, purpose for which pre-views are given, will be obtained from throngs, consid- ered, at least by the film execs, as being the natural audience— not the wise Hollywood clique. Film industry, for long, has tried to discourage newspaper attendance at pre-views. Some of the critics, and many fan writers, have been attending in and around Los An- geles. After seeing the picture once, the writers refused to sit through it again. San Francisco bay region has been adopted as the preview center for many films by the local studios, where the pictures, unheralded, are slipped in upon an unsuspecting audience. Even house staffs of the north- ern theatres are not informed of either the name of the picture nor the studio showing it. In most instances, nights upon which pre- views are to be shown are kept secret, no one being the wiser until the title is flashed upon the screen. Fox Grand Lake in Oakland has been getting a number of the ini- tial once overs, “Liliom” and “Just Imagine” from the Fox lot being (Continued on Page 6) “1930 Temptations” In Postponement “Temptations of 1930,” which Franklin Warner is producing at the Mayan theatre and which was scheduled to open on Sept. 22 has had its premier postponed, and will not ring up before Thursday, the 25th. -YOU’LL SEE IT IN FACTS- - ■ ' v " ■ " ~ . ■ ' ’• ! V -*" " - ■ " 1 , ^ ■ ’ -