Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1933)

The Leading Daily jiewspaper If the' Motion Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, Intelligent and Faithful Service to the Industry in All Branches VOL. 34. NO. 80 NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1933 TEN CENTS RIGHT TO BUY, SCORES, DUALS OUT OF NRA CODE Inquiry into C.B.S.-Para. Deal Blocked Further inquiry into the transactions by which Paramount Pubhx acquired and later disposed of a half interest in Columbia Broadcasting System was barred by Referee Henry K. Davis at a trustees' examination yesterday until a report on details of the deals, now in preparation by an independent accounting firm, has been submitted. Referee Davis's ruling, subscribed to by attorneys for the trustees and counsel for all creditors' groups except Samuel Zirn, attorney for a group of bondholders, ended an ineffectual two-hour grilling of Ralph A. Kohn, former Paramount treasurer, by Zirn. The latter's line of Questioning attempted, according to Zirn, (Continued on page 12) K, C. Independents Write to President Kansas City, Oct. 4. — Protesting I. A. T. S. E. demands that the industry code impose two men in a booth on small houses, the Independent Theatre Owners of Greater Kansas City early this week sent personal letters to President Roosevelt (Continued on page 11) No Monopolies Washington, Oct. 4. — Viewed as referring back to the conversation understood to have been held between Deputy NRA Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt and President Roosevelt, when the same observation was made, is Section 2 of the new NRA code. It reads: "No provisions of this code shall be interpreted or applied in such a manner as to permit monopolies, permit or encourage unfair competition; or eliminate, oppress, or discriminate against small enterprises." Star Salary Fixing Body Is Expected Washington, Oct. 4. — Article 10 in the producers' code, which, in its re-drafted form, was yesterday submitted to Deputy NRA Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt, is understood to provide for a salary-fixing commission to control star income. Inability of all Hays member companies to view the proposal in the same light is reputed to be the inside reason why the article originally designed to end star raids has not been completed. The clause in its new form is said to follow the mandate laid down re(Continued on page 11) No Reference to Big Points, Including Block Booking, Stuns Exhibitors; Fireworks Impend at Conference as Result Four More Players Leave the Academy Hollywood, Oct. 4. — Four more actors resigned from the Academy today, boosting the total to 18. They are: James Dunn, Aubrey Smith, Claude King and Reginald Barlow. Others, more conservatively inclined and showing a willingness to await further code developments at Washington before taking action, expressed confidence in the Academy's efforts in the actor's behalf. Meantime, those who have resigned are holding another meeting here tonight to map a program and later will meet jointly with the .\ctors' Guild. By REDKANN Washington, Oct. 4. — The right to buy, score charges, double features and block booking — four hotly contested points which were wrangled over in prior attempts to formulate an industry code — are passed up entirely in the proposed industry code, drawn by the NRA through Deputy Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt and made public early this evening. Members of the exhibitor code committee, grabbing mimeographed copies of the text — 14,000 words of it — immediately went into a hurried meeting to learn what the NRA thinks about moot points battled over to and fro, on and off, here for weeks, and emerged stunned by what their eyes told them. Tonight there were meetings on several floors of the Mayflower. The M. P. T. O. A. was conferring and endeavoring to organize a battle front. Charles L. O'Reilly, who fought vigorously for the right to buy in some form or other, was in the vanguard of a second session. Over at the Wardman Park Allied's cohorts were in a huddle, and, according to reports, were considering withdrawing from the code deliberations, so "burned up" were they reported to be. Independent producers and distributors, dissatisfied by what some observers considered ^ victory for twin bills, in that the code did not even refer to them, gathered in Jacob Schechter's room to find out not what they proposed to do, but how to do it. They are fixed in their determination that no code can be a fair one so far as they are concerned unless it contains an expressed provision designating that the exhibitor is to re (Coiitiiiucd oil page 8) Separate Code Set For Minor Groups Washington, Oct. 4. — Narrow gauge interests which argued they were not subject to regulation in the film industry code and so should have a code of their own are on their way to winning their point. In the NRA draft it is held sub-standard film interests are not to be included. Golden Is Named as Film Code Advisor Washington, Oct. 4. — Nathan D. Golden, chief of the Motion Picture Section of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, has been named industrial advisor on the film and thetre supply and equipment codes by Edward B. Stettinius, Jr., liaison officer between the Industrial Advisory Board and the National Recovery Administration. Code Authority Vested With Unlimited Powers Washington, Oct. 4. — The Code Authority, the impending "supreme court" for the industry, will have practically unlimited powers under the code draft drawn by Deputy NRA Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt and made public late this afternoon. While the duties of the Authority are outlined in full, its membership is left blank. Rosenblatt explaining that the final membership has not yet been determined. However, Motion Picture Daily's exclusive story of Wednesday morning listing all but two of those reported to he slated to conduct the operation of this highly significant body is understood here to be authentic, and its publication aroused the widest interest among the industry's codifiers here. Those reported by Motion Picture Daily to be slated for membership on the code authority are: Sidney R. Kent, president of Fox; Nicholas M. Schenck, president of M-G-M ; Harry (Continued on page 11) Significant? Washington, Oct. 4. — "Did you get your copy of the code?" a top-line executive was asked tonight. "Yes, and I'm going to give it plenty of study. As a matter of fact, after they all study it it's going to be a question of how many will sign it," he replied.