Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Wednesday, January 24, 1924/ MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 35 January 24, 1934 No. 20 Martin Quigley Editor-in-Chief and Publisher MAURICE KANN Editor JAMES A. CRON Advertising Manager Published daily except Sunday and holidays by Motion Picture Daily, Inc., subsidiary of Quigley Publications, Inc., Martin Quigley, President; Colvin Brown, Vice-President and Treasurer. Publication Office: 1790 .Broadway, New *ork. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address "Quigpubco, New York." All contents copyrighted 1934 by Motion Picture Daily, Inc. Address all correspondence to the New York Office. Other Quigley publications: MOTION PICTURE HERALD, BETTER THEATRES, THE MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC and THE CHICAGOAN. Hollywood Bureau : Postal Union Life Building, Vine and Yucca Streets, Victor M. Shapiro, Manager; Chicago Bureau: 407 South Dearborn Street, Edwin S. Clifford, manager; London Bureau: 6 Brookland Close. Hampstead Garden Suburb, Bernard Charman, Representative; Berlin Bureau: Berlin-Tempelbof, Kaiserin-Augustastrasse 28, Joachim K. Rutenberp, Representative; Paris Bureau: 19, Rue de la Cour-des-Noues, Pierre Autre, Representative; Rome Bureau: Viale Gorizia, Vittorio Malpassuti, Representative; Sydney Bureau: 102 Sussex Street, Cliff Holt, Representative; Mexico City Bureau: Apartado 269, James Lockhart, Representative; Glasgow Bureau: 86 Dundrennan Road, G. Holmes. Representative; Budapest Bureau: 11 Olaaz Fasor 17, Endre Hevesi, Representative. Entered as second class matter January 4, 1926 at the Post Office at New York City, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates per year: $6 in the Americas, except Canada $15 and foreign $12. Single copies: 10 cents. Nationwide Variety Club Is Discussed Columbus, Jan. 23. — Formation of a national Variety Club is under consideration. Two members of the local club have been named to confer with representatives from St. Louis, Detroit and Cincinnati. Clubs are being organized in Cleve land and Denver. O IGNS on the winter horizon are beginning to point to better days for a long harassed picture business. The awful impact of the prolonged depression has left its marks and the ravages are not pleasant. It will be a long time before salary cuts are forgotten, once they are restored as eventually they will prove to be ; before the difficulties created by an enforced curtailment of working personnel, cessation of dividends and huge wallowings in red are wiped out and forgotten. Gradually, however, and as business conditions continue to improve slowly, the past will become the past and faces will turn resolutely and sanely, we hope, toward the new order of things. Triflingly short of a cataclysm as the last three years have been, there seems to us little to worry about over the stability and the future of a business that retains the common sense to realize it has been through something and, having so learned, proceeds to function along judiciously economic lines. A Peggy Fears to Fox Fox has signed Peggy Fears to a term contract and she will leave early in March to start in her first assignment. Miss Fears made a screen test for Fox while on the coast last spring. MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC 1934-35 NOW /A/ PMM/iA r/OA/ WHERE THE WORLD LOOKS FOR MOTION PICTURE «5 S a marker of the times and from a number of angles, all interesting, one of the best of the steering jobs through perilous whirlpools has been done at Warners. There, the benefits finally reaped from conservative management are beginning to reflect themselves on the balance sheet and, while the latest in financial reports deals only with the first quarter of the company's fiscal year, it is something in these times of deficits to note that the company changed inks to the tune of $105,752 in the black. Don't get any faulty ideas about the struggle that stalked behind these figures. There were salary cuts. As a matter of fact, there were salary cuts as high as 50 per cent. There were times, when cash was lacking to meet the payroll. Employes didn't cheer. As a matter of fact, undoubtedly they didn't like it and there wasn't much they could do about it. but that particular blow was accepted with some sort of a hard times philosophy which may have dented loyalty without leaving any permanent scars. There were times when, because the Warners have been operating without banking aid, the brothers themselves had to dip into their private accounts and advance the necessary funds without which there could have been no continuance. There were times when the brothers not only cut their own salaries, but turned over what thev drew for apportionment among lesser employes. JLVERYONE who professes to be at all film wise must have heard the stories, bandied about freely months ago when the receivership era took hold, that the Warners would be the first to go. Only the company didn't, but remained by what sheer audacity and courage make explanation difficult, to adjust and trim corners and slash costs in a terrific battle, common with the entire business, to keep head above water. Theatremen may have and, subsequently, did rant over the terms demanded for "42nd Street." The percentage brackets went higher. In many places, the picture was re-sold on stiff er terms. But perhaps overlooked has been the fact that the musical which knocked records to the warm places and back again was released during the moratorium last March when other distributors, or some of them, began to consider and. in some cases, actually did pull releases off schedule until the banking holiday had terminated. It took some courage to adopt that course on "42nd Street." That must be conceded as a point in fairness. (Continued on page 10) Eastman Takes V±-Point Gain Columbia Pictures, vtc. Consolidated Film Industries. Eastman Kodak Eastman Kodak, pfd Fox Film "A" Loew's, Inc Loew's. Inc.. pfd Paramount, cts Pathe Exchange' Pathe Exchange "A" pfd. Warner Bros. Net High 26/ Low Close Change Sales 25/ 26/ / 100 4 4 4 + / 400 14 13/ 14 + / 1.600 87'/ 8SM 87 + a 2.100 120 120 120 4,000 15 14/ 15 1.300 29"/4 28^ 29 + / 15.600 81/ 81/ 81/ + / 100 3/ 3 3/ + H 17,600 m m V/t 900 1254 12 12 / 500 3 2/ 3 2,600 7/ 7 7 6.200 Sentry Advances x/% Point Net Change High Low Close Sentrv Safety Control / / / Technicolor 10J4 WYt 10*6 — Sales 100 500 Paramount Broadway Down 1XA Net General Theatre Equipment 6s '40 General Theatre Equipment 6s '40, ctf. Keith B. F. 6s '46 Loew's 6s '41. ww deb rights Paramount Broadway 5/s '51 Paramount F. L. 6s '47 Paramount Publix 5/s '50 RKO 6s '41. pD Warner Bros. 6s '39. wd High Low Close Change + / Sales <M 6/ 17 6Vs 6H m — a 2 58 57 57 3 91H 90/ 91H 5 37 37 37 -i/ 1 39 37 37 / . 15 38 36/ 38 + Yi 18 25 25 25 1 50/ 49/ 50/ / 61 i Purely Personal 1 AT Mrs. Astor's boarding hoi: for lunch yesterday : Sidney R. Kent and W. C. Michel, Bob Sisk, Georgj; Sc h a ef er, Austin Keolgh. Henry Hobart, Charlie Ein-3 feld, George Dembow, Milt Silver, Clayt Bond and Jules Levy. Lionel and Mrs. Barrymore wi arrive today at the Hotel Warwic for a short vacation. Barrymore scheduled for a personal appearand tour, beginning at the Capitol Feb. Pete Mayer contemplates an in portant trip to Massachusetts. Xortl ampton is in Massachusetts ; Smil College is in Xorthampton. Ray Johnston's desk and windc sill are cracking under the weight books for which Monogram has cured the talker rights. Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Li] slipped into a trade showing of "Hi| Hips Hooray" at the RKO projectii room yesterday, almost unnoticed. Taylor Holmes R. H. Burnsih S. J. Kaufman and Samuel GolJ wyn were Cheese Club guests yesteJ day. Edmund Goulding is here to viq his wife, who is seriously ill. He can in by plane from the coast. J. J. Unger and Milt Kusell leav todav for Cleveland, Cincinnati an several other Paramount exchange Jack Bachmann. president of Pr| ferred Pictures, leaves for the coa tomorrow. Bob Gilham got in from the coa yesterdav. as moden as the airflow') auto trade showing HOTEL ASTOR Feb. 8th -9th