Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1927)

1892-B M o t i o 11 Picture News New Fox Detroit Theatre Has Plans for Many Innovations BUILDERS and architects of the new Fox Theatre are discussing an innovation that should prove popular if the plans materialize. They contemplate for the comfort and convenience of patrons, a heautiful tea grotto, restaurant, caharet palace, spacious nook for dansants. dinners, after-theatre and hef ore-theatre parties of all kinds, with a direct connection into the theatre. Patrons will be able to lunch, dine, have tea or supper on one of the balconies and then pass directly through a turnstile into the theatre. Luncheon and matinee parties may be combined with theatre seats automatically included in the orders. Music from the theatre s orchestra would be available with loudspeaking arrangements and the best of New York concerts in the Movietone programs. After the show one could enjoy food in perfectly appointed surroundings without going blocks to a suitable cafe. Merger Quiz Is Routine Government Report Indicates Probes Merely Studies for Determining Conditions WASHINGTON. I). C — Investigations of mergers in the motion picture industry by the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice are, for the most part, merely routine studies such as are made of all mergers which come to the attention of the department, it is indicated in the annual report of Attorney General John G. Sargent, just submitted to President Coolidge. Discussing the merger activities of the anti-trust division, the Attorney General declares that the results obtained under the policy adopted a year ago of examining at their inception the surrounding facts and conditions of proposed combinations "have confirmed our opinion that it is in the public interest to obtain and consider the salient facts relative to any proposed centralization of business before that has become an established fact." As a result of these examinations there have been placed in the files of this department fundamental economic facts, as well as the detailed purposes and data of the proposed combination, so that, even though there may be no basis for the department's proceeding in the first instance, there will be in the files for prompt future reference information of value to the department in the event that there should be a. violation of the law. "Subsquent to the initial submission of a proposed consolidation or merger the division periodically re-examines all the facts to determine whether there has been a violation of law." Activities of trade associations which may tend to bring about undue restraint of trade also are carefully watched, it is divulged, and the department annually studies a number of such organizations, contenting itself usually with bringing to the attention of the organizations such activities as might become illegitimate and suggesting their abandonment. "It has been the purpose, so far as practicable," it is explained, "not to interfere with legitimate trade association activities, but to prevent undue restraints of trade." Nine New Theatres Open Older Houses Hard Hit With Extensive Construction in S. New Jersey and E. Pennsylvania THE opening of nine new theatres in the Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey territory within the past two weeks has played havoc with some of the older and less up-to-date houses and has affected the attendance even at some of the more modern theatres. The new houses, each the last word m equipment, have attracted unusually heavy patronage since the days of their opening and practically all of the older ones felt the loss immediately. Many of the latter showed a deficit. The nine new houses and the dates of their openings follow: New Park, Lexington, Pa., November 14th; New Cameo, Allentown, November 15th; Wynne, Wynnetield, November 18th; Princess, Philadelphia. November 19th; New Colonial, Phoenixville, November 21st; Capitol, Pottsville, November 21st; Clementon. Clementon, New Jersey, November 22nd; Cadet, Philadelphia. November 23rd; Pearl, Philadelphia, November 25th. Competition is becoming more keen daily in the Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey territory and it is not at all unlikely that many of the smaller theatre owners will be forced to the wall in the near future. All of the older houses have been hard hit by the competition of the Stanley and Fox groups with their extensive construction programs. Only those houses built in the past ten years that have kept up with the trend of the times seem to have much chance to survive, and it will be a struggle for many of those to withstand the keen competition that is growing more keen each week. Kansas-Missouri T. O. Will Meet in Kansas City The Hotel President was selected this week as the site for the convention of the M. P. T. 0. Kansas-Missouri convention in Kansas City on December 12 and 13. It is expected that the organization, which broke away from the M. P. T. 0. A. several years ago to join Allied, will reaffiliate itself with the M. P. T. 0. A. The M. P. T. 0. K.-M. board of directors recently adopted a resolution recommending that the organization reaffiliate with the M. P. T. O. A. Reaffiliation is favored by II. R. Biechele, President of the M. P. T. 0. KansasMissouri. Many Notables Will Attend Chamber Commerce Ball Among the many notables who have accepted invitations to attend the annual supper and dance of the Theatre Owners Chamber of Commerce, which will be held at the Hotel Plaza in New York on the evening of Friday, December Ifi, are the following: Hon. Royal S. Copeland, V. S. Senator; Justices Walsh, Yalente, M a hone y, Schmuck, Collins, Salmon and Kernochan; John H. McCooey; Hon. J. J. Byrne, President of the Borough of Brooklyn; Hon. John A. Lynch, President Borough of Richmond; Sheriff Charles YV. Culkin and Fire Commissioner Dorman. Keith Louisville Theatres' Musicans Strike Approximately twenty union musicians employed in Keith's three motion picture houses and one vaudeville theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, walked out after the last performance Saturday night to join stage hands and operators in a sympathy strike. The latter group struck two weeks ago after it was learned that the National Theatre had refused to hire a maintenance man when the house opened recently. Grand Canyon Unit Again Resumes Work HAVING navigated the Colorado River from Green River as f a r as Lees Ferry after having been cut off from the world for two weeks, the 13 men of the Pathe-Bray expedition filming the picture, "Menace." in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado have again entered the gorge and are completing the trip to Needles, California. The six boats used by the party had to be refitted and repaired at Lees Ferry and new radio equipment was installed and placed in charge of Staff Sergeant V. R. Herrick. The party will venture through Marble, Grand and Virgin Canyons to the landing at Needles. They have yet to shoot the "Devil's Rapids," a most dangerous course. Donald Blossom, the leading woman, will not accompany the party over this route, but will be carried in a plane to the bottom of the canyon at "Devil's Rapids." The War Department has been asked to allow the government staff of airplanes under the command of Lieutenant Walter Burgess to stand by at Grand Canyon until the perils of the trip have been mastered.