Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

^sday, February 6, 1934 MOTION PICTURE DAILY \o Decisions Lrrived at by idministrator (.Continued from Page 1) ■(on during his absence, Rosenblatt .ared he had received no complaints 1 producers were forcing shorts, as fged in Allied's telegram to Sena'•Borah of Idaho. If any complaint j)his practice is received, it will be Tptly and thoroughly investigated.. »romised. 'he Allied suit in New York will »ably be defended by a special as•jit to Attorney General Cummings, d by a member of the Recovery 'tiinistration legal staff, Rosenblatt , with Code Authority members ::cted to have their own counsel, .leplies to the salary questionnaire ! coming in steadily, he disclosed, 'urge number have already come in I there are many more yet to be jived. As soon as practically all I in, the work of analyzing the data ,. be started, with a general report siul of being ready some time next lath, said Rosenblatt, who added when the analysis is completed Bral figures will probably be made lie, but there will be no invasion tlie confidence promised members lie industry with respect to individ■data. ys Some Actors vor Royalty Plan i response to a question concerning possibility he will recommend a pity plan for stars, directors and ters, Division Administrator Sol Rosenblatt restricted comment 3e in Kansas City to the statement : "some of the artists are in favor the plan, but that matter will e to be considered along with the ers." lowdown on Reel Men Strafford's Aim Chicago, Feb. 5. — W. H. Strafford, sident of Local 660, International 3tographers' Union, has submitted Division Administrator Sol. A. ;enblatt questions seeking a showm on newsreel men's working time. >ducers are insisting on interpret the code their own way, Strafi claims, with the result newsreel i are working more than the preyed 320 hours in an eight-week iod, without getting time off with after putting in the maximum, trafford's interpretation of the code that the men must automatically e time off at full pay when the cified number of hours have been rked regardless if these hours were rked in less than the eight-week iod. He says producers are inpreting the code on a 40-hour per :k basis and want to count only time a cameraman is working en the time should be figured from moment he leaves for an assign Qt. •acuss Vaudeville Today rhe committee on vaudeville labor its today at the New York Athc Club to discuss possible changes the provisions of the code affectactors. Maybe $105,000 "Nana" grossed $66,200 from its Thursday opening to close of Music Hall business Sunday night. RKO officials are estimating between $105,000 and $110,000 on the first week which closes tomorrow night. Technicians' Branch Swings into Action Hollywood, Feb. 5. — Assured of financing by producers to carry out technical research work, the technicians' branch of the Academy is swing into action again with several former members returning to the fold. A number of meetings are planned for the immediate future to map out the work to be done. Twelve nominations have been made for submission to Division Administrator Sol. A. Rosenblatt for appointments to the agency committee. The nominees are: Cedric Gibbons, J. C Okeh, Benjamin Herzbrun, Max Parker, George Barnes, Karl Struss, J. M. Nickolaus, Hal Rosson, Carl Dreher, Douglas Shearer, Wesley C. Miller and Nathan Levinson. Writers, actors and directors will make nominations to the same boards at Rosenblatt s request, who pointed out that nominations could be made by any faction and are not being restricted to guilds alone. Clark to Represent Kent on Authority John D. Clark will represent S. R. Kent at two Code Authority sessions slated for this week. The Fox president is vacationing in Florida and, during his absence, Clark will attend the meeting of the committee on clearance and zoning and grievance boards nominations on Thursday and the Code Authority session on Friday. W. C. Michel, Kent's permanent alternate, will not attend these sessions inasmuch as they will pertain to distribution. Says Allied Has a Basis for Its Suit Washington, Feb. 5. — Morris Legendre, assistant to Division Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt, believes Allied has a basis for its suit against the Code Authority and Rosenblatt filed by the Congress Theatre, Newark. "Have the plaintiffs anything to stand on ?" Legendre was asked. "I think they have," he replied. Ask Labor Clauses Be Better Denned Several requests for definitions of certain labor clauses are being turned over to Division Administrator Sol ARosenblatt by Executive Secretary John C. Flinn. Rosenblatt is expected in New York from Washington before the Code Authority session on Friday and will decide the issues involved. Relief Fund Aided 16,000 Hollywood, Feb. 5. — Marion Davies, president of the M. P. Relief Fund, says the organization spent $150,000 last year, giving aid to approximately 16,000 ill and unemployed. Unqualified Code Assents Reach 6,934 (.Continued from page 1) the suit of the Congress Theatre, Newark, against the authority is heard. Shortly after the first boards' personnel are named, duplicate assent cards, indexed at Code Authority headquarters, will be sent to key cities where set-ups are approved by Division Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt. The second set of cards is for file in the local territories so that only exhibitors assenting can officially make complaints for hearings. U. S. Starts Probe Of K.C. Labor War (Continued from page 1) exhibitor disputes over the past two years. Among those subpoenaed by the Federal grand jury are Jay Means, head of the I.T.O.; Robert Dillon, business agent of Local 170 during the strike of two years ago; W. H. Lollier of Los Angeles, Fox West Coast labor representative at that time, and Clyde Weston, Granite City, 111., I.A.T.S.E. international representative. A large number of operators and suburban exhibitors are understood also to have been subpoenaed. The inquiry follows an investigation conducted last November by the Jackson County grand jury, which found numerous instances of outra^s and coercion of exhibitors by the union and which, admitting local officials were powerless to remedy conditions, recommended a Federal probe. It is believed the Jackson County grand jury turned testimony given to it over to the Federal authorities. Officials of the operators' union assert they fear no Federal investigation, declaring the Government can find plenty of evidence revealing exhibitor activities in past disputes in an unfavorable light. The investigation comes on the heels of a visit here last week by President William Elliott and other I.A.T.S.E. officials which brought reports of an impending shakeup of the operators' local. Elliott officially came here, it is understood, to investigate dissension in operators' ranks revealed by an anonymous bulletin received by exhibitors and operators attacking union officials. Rosenblatt Asks Pay Arbitration Pushed Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 5. — Division Administrator Sol A. Rosenblatt has instructed Jay Means, head of the I.T.O., to proceed with arbitration of the local contract dispute with operators involving 60 subsequents and suburbans. The union has agreed to arbitration, which will be carried on locally provided both sides can agree on an impartial chairman. Exhibitors are understood demanding a reduced scale for one-man operation. On behalf of exhibitors, Means gave Rosenblatt a picture of the local situation, including the Federal investigation. Rosenblatt informed him it was immaterial to him whether exhibitors dealt with the union as long as the code were complied with. i Purely Personal ► ROBERT MONTGOMERY leaves the coast for New York this week on a month's vacation. Upon his return to Hollywood he will be starred by MG-M in "Calm Yourself," an Edwin Hope original. Lynn Farnol, press agent for Samuel Goldwyn, and Jeffrey Farnol, British author, are cousins since last Thursday. They set the relationship and the date themselves with witnesses to prove it all. Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey leave this afternoon by plane for the coast after a five-week stay here. Dorothy Lee, their leading woman, starts west by train. Maria Gambarelli is on her way to the coast to appear in a stage show in connection with the opening of "Queen Christina" at Grauman's Chinese. Milton Schwarzwald will start work tomorrow on a two-reel musical short for Mentone, with Ed Sullivan, columnist, as master of ceremonies. Colleen Moore arrives in New York today for a visit with her husband, Al Scott, before starting work in her next for Radio. Mrs. Charles F. Reisner, wife of the director, is expected soon in New York, where she will spend a sevenweek vacation. Jean Dixon, recently signed by M-G-M, will leave shortly for the coast to appear in "Sadie McKee." Gertrude Niesen, torch singer, has started work in a Vitaphone musical, "Darling Enemy." Allen Rivkin and P. J. Wolfson have sold "Star Express" to M-G-M. Herman Rossman has sold "The Ace," a play, to M-G-M. Sam Katz is over a four-day attack of the grippe. Short in Boston on Block Booking Fight Boston, Feb. 5.— -Dr. William H. Short, director of the M. P. Research Council, continued his campaign against block booking and blind buying at a luncheon of the Massachusetts Civic League here. He made no mention of the report that Allied States is said to have an agreement with the council whereby it pledges itself to help raise a fund of $200,000 so that the council can carry on its block booking fight. Start "Bad Boy" Mar. 6 Hollywood, Feb. 5. — Production on Sol Lesser's picture, "Peck's Bad Boy," with Jackie Cooper, has finally been set to start March 6. Eddie Cline will direct and he is now collaborating on the story with Marguerite Roberts. To Show Religious Film Integrity Film Corp., headed by David Calcagni, will give a press showing Thursday afternoon for "Miracle Man of the Centuries," based on the life of St. Anthony of Padua, at the Ameranglo projection room.