Motion Picture News (Apr - Jun 1928)

Ma y I 9 1701 Philadelphia DAYLIGHT saving ha* not affected business in Philadelphia as seriously as expected. The Stanley Company houses as a whole are doing better business than during the corresponding period of daylight saving last year. Other important chains in the city report a similar condition. William Haines in "The Smart Set," with an elaborate stage presentation "Around the Clock," in which Allan Rogers again acted as master of ceremonies, showed good box office results at the Stanley. The Fox bad George O'Brien and Estelle Taylor in "Honor Bound" on the screen, and a stage show consisting of Juan Sebastian and his Guatemala Marimba Band, Addison Fowler and Florence Tamara, dancers, Fmil Boreo and the Abbey Sisters. The Carman showed "Bare Knees on the screen and a bright and snappy "Song and Dance Revue" that drew satisfactory attendance all week. Harold Lloyd in "Speedy at the Stanton still continues to draw the crowds. The action is swift and entertaining, and proves that a good comedy is always a good boxoffice attraction. "Street Angel," with Janet Gaynor and Charles 'Farrell, at the Fox Locust has achieved great success and will continue there for several weeks more. "The Legion of the Condemned," a sequel to "Wings," with a splendid cast, completed its second week at the Aldine with a fine record. "The Big City," with Lon Chaney, had rather a disappointing week at the Karlton. The opinion seemed to be that this is not quite up to the Chaney standard. At the Arcadia, Pola Negri in "Three Sinners" played to average business. The Palace reports satisfactory results with Lew Cody and Aileen Pringle in "Wickedness Preferred." Greta Garbo in "The Divine Woman" drew a good share of patronage for the Capitol. Atlanta REOPENING with Vitaphone and Movietone, the Rialto Theatre last week leaped far ahead of the other houses with the showing of "Tenderloin," its initial offering of Vitaphone pictures. The other theatres fell into about an equal split. Keith's Georgia, with Adolphe Menjou in "A Night of Mystery," proved popular, while next door, at the Capitol. "Honor Bound," with George O'Brien and Estelle Taylor, was likewise liked. Richard Barthelmess in "The Noose" did not draw the houses anticipated. Not the picture's fault, but business conditions generally. At Loew's Grand, Rene Adoree and Lionel Barrymore played to fair houses in "Body and Soul." "The Port of Missing Girls" brought only a mediocre box-office for the Metropolitan. The Tudor held its own with "Beyond London's Lights," "Sky High Saunders," and "Slingshot Kid." Ont first run, "The Return of Peter Grimm," and four second runs brought the New Alamo its usual good week. Indianapolis RECEIPTS at Indianapolis theatres were only fair the past week, although firstrun houses managed to show a little profit for the week. The weather was ideal for good picture business, somewhat bolstering business, which has been off for several weeks. Exhibitors over the State generally report business bad, due to unemployment. The Indiana offered "The Latest From Paris," and found results from this showing satisfactory. Charlie Davis' stage band continues to hold Indiana crowds. Gloria Swanson in "Sadie Thompson" did moderately well at Loew's Palace, and Richard Barthelmess in "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come," was accorded fair patronage at I be Circle. Dave Silverman, of Louis, guest conductor of the Circle orchestra, drew heavily. Monte Blue and Belle Bennett in "The Bush Leaguer" was the feature at the Ohio, and was very well attended. Tom Wilson and Heinie Conklin, in "Ham and Eggs at the Front," with Movietone and Vitaphone vaudeville, enjoyed a good gross for the week at the Apollo. Stuart Walker's stock at Keith's and Berkell players at English's drew heavily from movies. Good advance sale for Walker's opening week. Baltimore A l.THOUGH the attendance at the races here is eating into the patronage of moving picture theatres to some extent, generally speaking the week beginning, Monday, May 7, was a fairly good one at the first-run houses. At the Keith-Albee New Garden prices were lowered to meet those of the regular movie houses and, with "San Francisco Nights," starring Percy Marmont, business was good with seven acts of Keith-Albee high class vaudeville on the same bill. At Keith's Hippodrome, where five acts of Keith-Albee family time vaudeville is given with a feature picture, the attraction was "Night Life," featuring Alice Day and Johnny Harron. Business throughout the week there was fairly good. The Little Theatre, operated by the Motion Picture Guild, Inc., went along with good business with "The Treasure," a foreign production featuring Werner Krauss. But the high mark in good attendance for the week was grabbed off by Loew's Valencia, where "Laugh, Clown, Laugh," starring Lon Chaney, was given its world premiere for the public, and pulled wonderfully during the entire week. At Loew's Century "Easy Come, Easy Go," starring Richard Dix, proved a fairly good patron getter with a presentation act entitled "Swanee Moon" with Ted Claire and other vaudeville favorites. The Stanley went along pretty good also with "The Shepherd of the Hills," featuring Alec B. Francis with Molly O'Day, and a presentation act called "In Bermuda," with Sammy Kaufman, and other vaudeville headliners. "Ham and Eggs at the Front," with Tom Wilson, Heinie Conklin, Myrna Loy and Noah Young in blackface, proved a fairly good patronage getter at Warners' Metropolitan with Vitaphone accompaniment and other Vitaphone acts. Honor Bound" did not go over so good, at the New Theatre, with George O'Brien, Estelle Taylor and Leila Hyams in the featured parts. This might be attributed to the subject of the film rather than to the way it was acted and directed. Des Moines ' 'rTHE GARDEN OF EDEN," at the I Des Moines, where the Vitaphone pictures continue to draw well, played to a very good week. The sudden warmth in the midweek had a decided effect on business, but did not cut business so badly but that the week's run was good. At the Capitol Theatre "Across to Singapore" was the feature, with a very good stage show, with Casey Jones, fill-in personality man, making a good record. His songs were enthusiastically applauded, while the jugglers almost stopped the show. At the Strand, "Burning Daylight," with Milton Sills, also made a good record. This theatre, however, always does well, due to the price reduction there. Minneapolis THE best picture shown in Minneapolis last week, "The Showdown," did not do as well as it deserved to do at the box-office. This excellent film, which featured George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent, was shown at the State, but did only a fair business. "Harold Teen" was the film attraction at the new Minnesota, where it played to good houses. The fact that the comic strip, "Harold Teen," runs in The Minneapolis Journal, undoubtedly helped this picture some. The Publix stage unit attraction at the Minnesota was Boris Petroff's revue, "Tick Tock." Pantages gave "Honor Bound" the advantage of some good advertising and, although the critics did not seem to think this film was a knockout, it seemed to please the patrons of the theatre. Norma Shearer in "The Latest from Paris" did a fair business at the Strand, and Lew Cody and Aileen Pringle in "Wickedness Preferred" ran about the average at the Lyric. The Hennepin-Orpheum found a "Midnight Madness" a nice picture to top off its vaudeville program with, at the Seventh Street Theatre Hoot Gibson was attracting the western fans in "A Trick of Hearts." The Grand showed "Legion of the Condemned," which was seen a few weeks ago at the Strand, and this picture retained much of its box-office kick. Business was fair to good at the neighborhood houses, with the 1 ^agoon, American, Lyndale and Loring showing such pictures as "Two Flaming Youths," "Sorrell and Son," "Rich Men's Sons," and "The Spotlight." The movies received their stiffest competition from the Shubert, where Clara Kimball Young was appearing in person with the Bainbridge Players in "The Constant Wife." Hundreds of movie fans flocked to the Shubert during the week, and the cinema theatres suffered to just that extent. Chicago DAYLIGHT SAVING, which became effective the first of the month, has failed to help matters in Chicago, and business straight down the line in all classes of houses, was only fair. The Chicago Theatre, which was holding its annual "Take A Chance Week," fell off somewhat the first two days, and in Tuesday's ads announced "Easy Come, Easy Go" with Richard Dix as the feature, and a stage bill, business for the rest of the week showing some improvement. "Laugh. Clown, Laugh," was in its last week at McVickers' Theatre, and continued to do fairly well. "The Fifty-Fifty Girl" was the screen attraction at the Oriental and, Kosloff, as guest conductor, headed a stage show. Attendance being somewhat below the standard set by the Oriental during Ash's regime at this house: The Roosevelt continued to do average business with "We Americans," which was in the last week of its run. Both the Granada and Marbro Theatres featured Dolores Costello and Conrad Nagel in "Tenderloin," advertised as the first talking motion picture. At the Granada. Kaley's stage band headed the program and at the Marbro, popular Benny Meroff led. attendance at both houses holding up very well. "The Big City" and elaborate stage show accounted for the average box office receipts at the Uptown and, at the Tivoli, the same feature with Benny Kreuger and his orchestra and Henry A. Keates as guest organist, pulled good business. A comedy program, "The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris," went over well at the Avalon, and a crook melo. "Chicago," at the Capitol, again proved itself a good local box office attraction.