Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

The Leading Newspaper of the Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY 1 Alert, Intelligent and iR Faith fut;| jf Service tov the industry in All Branches OL. 35. NO. 19 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1934 TEN CENTS ]ourt Objects To Radio City Theatre Pacts rders Irving Trust to Seek Better Terms Federal Judge William Bondy yesday refused to approve leases on : Music Hall and Center theatres jotiated some time ago between '/ing Trust Co., as receiver for CO, and Rockefeller Center, Inc. .ie leases are for the current year d aggregate $973,000 in rentals, so included in the lease is the RKO :ce space in Radio City. Fudge Bondy characterized the rents "excessive" and declared that he uld not approve the leases in their :sent form. He instructed repreltatives of Irving Trust at RKO to >pen negotiations with Rockefeller ,'nter for leases providing for modii terms and to submit them to the (Continued on page 4) asky to Stay With Fox, Asserts Kent It's just a lot of bunk and the ,jal film rumor. Jesse L. Lasky is i severing connections with Fox and . lappy in his association. He wrote so immediately prior to his sailing ti Los Angeles for a vacation in ja and Florida." n making this statement to Motion ture Daily, Sidney R. Kent, pident of Fox, yesterday thus dis (Continued on page 4) uart Out of Para, \ nd May Join F.&M. 'ferschel Stuart is about to sever f nections with Paramount Publix < already has been invited tb join [ & M. He is considering the offer. tuart, former general manager of i O, joined Publix a number of I iths ago and was dispatched to , roit to handle the circuit's operap there. Shortly thereafter, the re: ers made a management deal with (Continued on page 4) lapiro-Blumenthal xquire RKO Cameo ck Shapiro and Lou Blumenthal, recently acquired the Casino, : taken over the Cameo from RKO are reported to be dickering for Palace. The Shapiro-Blumenthal es could not be reached yesterday a statement on the policy of the eo under the new management it is believed no change is con>lated. Government Expected To Contest the Allied Suit Defense of the Code Authority and the code itself against the Federal court action filed by Allied States is expected to be a government function to be undertaken either by Attorney General Homer S. Cummings or by Donald R. Richberg, head of the NRA legal department, it was learned yesterday. The Code Authority, it was pointed out, is a government agency ; its division administrator is a government officer and the code itself, bearing the signature of the President, is a government document. Their defense againt attacks from any source lies properly with governmental agencies, a spokesman declared. Some doubt was expressed whether the Federal district court would consent to hear Allied's action, it being pointed out that prescribed methods of obtaining the relief apparently Sub for Sub For the first time the Code Authority will have a temporary alternate for a permanent alternate at the meeting of the body today at the Astor. With both Harry M. Warner and his alternate, Harold S. Bareford, in Hollywood, the latter delegated Joseph Bernhard, in charge of theatre operations for the Warner circuit, to substitute for him. sought by Allied are in existence, and as a matter of proper procedure would probably have to be resorted to before a Federal court would take up (Continued on page 3) Code Is Held To Govern on Cancellation Washington, Jan. 22. — Provisions of the film code itself are believed here to preclude objection to the order issued last week by Division Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt making the elimination clause effective after Dec. 7 on contracts made prior to that date. Protests against the "decision" are understood to have been filed with the Recovery Administration. It is pointed out by Administration officials that Part 1, Section F (Distributors-Exhibitors) provides that the so-called optional standard licensing agreement shall continue to apply except that any provision in conflict or (Continued on page 3) Partial Code Consents Hit By Kuykendall Columbus, Miss., Jan. 22. — The assertion recently made by Allied States that exhibitors can express qualified acceptance of the code without forfeiting any of the benefits to be derived under it was challenged in a statement issued by Ed Kuykendall, president of the M.P.T.O.A., today. "Some half-baked advice is being sent out by a certain Allied 'leader'," he said, "that signing the code is unnecessary ; that it should be signed with prepared 'reservations,' etc. Don't be misled by this irresponsible 'advice.' The provisions respecting signatures in the code itself are plain. The code (Continued on page 3) Grosses in 7 Keys Down Slightly; "Scandals" Top Grosses in seven key cities fell back to something nearer normal last week after their New Year stimulation, with "Roman Scandals" holding the limelight as the principal draw in Pittsburgh, Montreal and Cleveland. "Dinner At Eight" stepped out front in Chicago and "Design for Living" was a mild sensation at Minneapolis and St. Paul. "Roman Scandals" was the big noise in Montreal for a third week, getting $6,500 at the Princess. This raised the total for the three weeks to $25,000. "Dancing Lady" had a (Continued on page 4) Study Future Of Industry's Two Disputes NRA Is Believed Upheld; "Little Fellow" Aided Washington, Jan. 22. — Industry observers here regard the recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Minnesota mortgage case and President Roosevelt's week-end order furnishing protection to the "little fellow" with a grievance as having an important bearing on two current controversies— the major producers' objection to extending the 10 per cent cancellation privilege back to Dec. 8 and Allied's suit to test the constitutionality of the NRA on the ground that it robs independent theatre men of their rights and promotes monopoly. Commentators have been practically unanimous in their opinion that in national emergencies the government car. modify contracts between individuals. The court decision read : "If state power exists to give temporary relief from the enforcement of contracts in the presence of disasters due to physical causes, such as fire, flood and earthquake, that power can (Continued on page 3) Authority Adds 61 To Code Board List Of 61 recommendations from 16 key cities released yesterday by the Code Authority for publicity, 29 were suggested from local groups, including Allied of New Jersey and the T.O. C.C. Conspicuously absent from the list is Louis Nizer, one of the few Film Board of Trade secretaries (Continued on page 3) Code Group Members Ethics Draw Attack Washington, Jan. 22. — Sharp criticism of the practice of certain code committees of permitting members to (Continued on page 3) His Anniversary W. Ray Johnston is celebrating his 20th anniversary in the industry. The event, biggest in the Monogram president's career, is signalized today by a special section which starts on page 5.