Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1929)

530 .1/ I) f i a n P i c f ii r c News Schwartz Sells Partnership In Circuit To RKO? Reported Interest In 20 Theatres; RKO Sells Other Sites A. H. Schwartz is reported to have sold an interest in his Century Circuit of twenty theatres in Brooklyn and Long Island towns to RKO. A verification of the transaction is seemingly shown in the disposal of a number of theatre sites in advantageous locations in opposition to the Schwartz houses by the vaudeville-picture organization. The Schwartz theatres are the Albemarle, Avalon, Century, Farragut, Kingsway, Linden, Manor, Marine, Mayfair, Midwood, Patio and Rialto in Brooklyn; the Prospect, Flushing; the Freeport and Grove, Freeport; the Merrick and Rialto, Jamaica; the Huntington, Huntington; the Beacon, Port Washington, and the Queens in Queens Village. A syndicate of bankers is reported to 'have been the purchasers of the sites that RKO disposed of through Joseph P. Day and the Charles F. Noyes Co. as brokers. The price that they are said to have received was in excess of $2,000,000. The sites had been acquired by the old Albee regime over the past five years, and were intended to have theatres with seating capacities of about 4,500 each built on them. The original cost is said to have been in the neighborhood of $2,500,000. In all there were four sites sold. They are located in Jamaica and Brooklyn. One was Jamaica Avenue between 168th and 169th Streets; another on Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Germania Place; a third at the northeast corner of Kings Highway and Ocean Avenue, and the fourth on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, both the latter in Brooklyn. "U" Prizes Awarded In 'Man Who Laughs' Letter Writing Contest Three letters answering the question: "Why do alluring women/ love hiomeJy men?", a contest based on Universal 's picturization of the Hugo classic, "The Man Who Laughs," were announced last week as winners of the $2,000 in cash awards. First prize of $1,000 went to Louise Michel, of New York. Second prize of $25(1 was awarded Rebecca J. Gredwohl, of San Francisco. Third prize of $100 was won by Prof. Kenneth \l. Close, of the University of Miami, Fla. Judges in the contest, which was conducted in the United States and Canada, were Carl Laemmle, Universal president; Dr. W. M. Marston, head of the V Public Relations Dept.; and Prof. W. R. Pitkin, short storv authoritv associated with "U." "The Wrecker" T.-S. Film, at N. Y. Cameo i 4''"pHE WRECKER," a TiffanyI Stahi production co-featuring Carlyle Blackwell and Benita Hume, goes into the Cameo Theatre, New York, for an extended run on Saturday. Aug. 10. The feature will be presented with RCA Fhtophone synchronization. The screen story was written by Angus McPhail. and is based on the stage play by Arnold Ridley and Bernard Merivale. Government Policy On Mergers Slated To Undergo Change {Continued from page 525) ating waste and thereby reducing costs to the consumer. But he is a strong believer in free and untrammeled competition, and it is the suppression of competition by merged organizations which has brought about the present deep interest in the policies of the Department of Justice. So far as can be learned, the film industry is not among those which have used Government approval as a shield for law violations. In at least one instance the Department has demanded and secured, the unscrambling of a merger after it was practically completed, and this was accomplished without threat of prosecution and by voluntary action on the part of the interests involved. The steady tendency toward the formation of large organizations in practically every line of business is giving the Administration considerable concern. The country today has well recovered from its fear of trusts, which some two decades ago culminated in the famous break-up of Standard Oil, having found that trusts can go just so far before they fall from their own weight, as exemplified in the Stinnes trust in Germany, which exploded upon the death of its founder. There are in the United States today a number of trusts. Henry Ford is an outstanding example of the vertical trust, and General Motors is a good sample of the horizontal trust. United Cigars being another. The Government is not interested in preventing the formation of trusts such as these, arid there is at least one trust in practically every line of business; but the Governnrent is anxious to prevent the formation of monopolistic trusts, and it is because of the fear that such organizations may be accomplished with the implied, if not the actual, sanction of the Department of Justice, that the demand has come for modification of the former policy of merger approval. Columbia Will Distribute Disney "Silly Symphonies" Cohniihia Pictures have been granted distribution rights in the United States and Canada for Disney's "Silly Symphonies," a series of thirteen synchronized souiul cartoons. The contract was signed this week by Joe Brandt, representing Columbia, and Charlie (iiegerich, representative for Waltei Disiiev. Publix And Loew Get Long-Term ' Rochester Leases Former Has Eastman, Regent And Piccadilly And Latter The Rochester Rochester, N. Y., August 8. — A portion of the battle between the giant theatre chains for favorable sites in various sections of the country was staged in Rochester last week when four of the biggest houses were leased by Publix and Loew interests for long terms. Publix leased The Eastman, Piccadilly and Regent for ten years, after having operated them for some time on a temporary management contract. Loew interests leased the Rochester for twenty-five years. The Eastman orchestra has been discontinued, joining the other two houses in strict all-sound policies. It was not made public whether or not vaudeville will be continued this fall at the Rochester. Publix has made Rochester the key city for a new northern district and Charles C. Perry has been sent from the New York office to take charge of theatres here and ini Buffalo and Tolddo, O. No changes were made in management personnel at the Eastman, Piccadilly and Regent. Publix is now assured of first runs in Warners, United Artists, Paramount and M-G-M. The Rochester will also have the r-ght to first runs in M-G-M as well as Fox. Approval Of Two Picture Mergers Reported With Drawn {Continued from page 525) An effort to obtain th-e necessary information from executives of both of principal companies affected by the Government refusals met with silence on the part of those approached. Late last week there was a report cuiTent in Wall Street to the effect that the merger of the Fox Film Corp. and Loew's, Inc., was to take place in the near future with September as the* date set for definite information to be given out. The plan is said to involve the fornuition of a new company, or the merger to be built up around the existing Fox Film Corp., taking in the Fox Theatres Corp. and the various subsidiaries controlled by Fox and Loew's, Inc. Shares in the new company to be exchanged for the outstanding shares in the various companies that are to be a part in the merger, with the price of the new issue somewhat higher than the level of any of those now outstanding. Fox Films at present is in the neighborhood of 88, while Loew's is slightly below 60. At the time that Fox made a deal for the control of Loew's the price that he is reported to have paid for the stock controlled by the Estate of the late Marcus Loew is said to have been in the neighborhood of V2ri. The cash that passed for the control is said to have been .$r)l),00(),000.