Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Thursday, February 15, 1934 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 35 February 15, 1934 No. 38 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 York. 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-Tempelhof, Kaiserin-Augustastrasse 28, Joachim K. Rutenberg, 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. Loews, Vogels Due Arthur Loew and Joseph Vogel are due to arrive tonight from San Francisco by airplane. Accompanied by their wives, Loew and Vogel will land at Newark airport at 6:30 P.M., having left the coast yesterday afternoon. Loew will make a trip to Europe shortly after his return. Perretti Joins S perry J. J. Perretti, former eastern representative for the United States Air Conditioning Corp., has joined the Kooler-Aire division of the Sperry Products Co. as sales manager for theatres. Granlund Writes Original Nils T. Granlund has completed an original, "Man Hater," dealing with the inside dope on night life on Broadway. Universal is considering the story and Joe Rivkin of the Leo Morrison office is handling negotiations. "Standard LSfr TICKET REGISTER CORP. Will Repair and Rebuild Any Make Ticket Register Good as New — Mechanically Perfect — Not to Exceed $10.00 Per Unit Twelve Months' Guarantee Expert Factory Mechanics SERVICE DEPARTMENT CHickering 4-6810-1 1 1600 BROADWAY NEW YORK GEORGE MEAD, General Manager Birmingham Houses Battle a 10% Tax (Continued from page 1) Trianon and Ensley, is one of the leaders in the fight. The tax has been suggested by a Citizens' Committee named to develop new sources of municipal revenue. Kennedy points out that the four Valatenga houses are part of the bankrupt Paramount-Publix circuit. He also says the Legislature passed up such a tax as impossible of collection and South Carolina is now considering ending its theatre tax. Theatres are willing to stand their share of a general sales tax, he says. "U" Regional Talks Set Over Week-End Week-end regional conferences with the Universal sales forces are to be held for the purpose of getting the reaction of the men to various types of pictures. They will be asked to give their experiences with differing stories and personalities this season so the ideas can be used in developing the new season program. E. T. Gomersall leaves today for Chicago to hold a meeting tomorrow at the Drake with H. M Herbel of Chicago, George Levine of Milwaukee, .Frank Mantake of Minneapolis, Manny Gottlieb of Detroit, Floyd Brown of Indianapolis and W. J. Heineman of Los Angeles. On Saturday Gomersall will hold another session at the Hotel Muhlbach in Kansas City with Edward S. Olsmith of Dallas, R. I. Payne of Oklahoma City, William Benjamin of Kansas City, Louis Patz of Des Moines, J. E. Garrison of Salt Lake, J. J. Spandau of Omaha and John Rue of Salt Lake City. Also on Saturday, Sig Wittman will hold a session at the Pittsburgh exchange with Dave Miller of Buffalo, Saul Reznick of Cleveland, Paul Krieger of Cincinnati and A. Barnett of Pittsburgh. On Sunday Wittman will go to Washington to talk with Edward Heiber and he will have a conference with M. S. Landow in Philadelphia on Monday. Holding of these meetings is one of the results of the home office conferences which have been in progress for several days. Korda Sees Biggest Film Year for Britain (Continued from page 1) " What has been proved, however,' ne adds, "is that -Hollywood no longer has the complete monopoly of film production." Un tne showing made in 1933, the British industry, according to Korda, will be extended "greater release facilities" for its product of 1934. He asserts the aim of the English producers hereafter will be to concentrate on quality rather than quantity, adding that "quality is something which will ensure respect and attention from any country in the world, and it is an ideal, the attainment of which is an easier task in this country than in America." Korda said London Films would follow "Catherine the Great," which opened in New York tonight, with "Kongo Raid" and "Exit Don Juan." Then will come six others, costing not less than $300,0(JO each. Celebrities Attend "Catherine" Opening Film, theatrical and social luminaries were among the Broadway first night audience which converged on the arc-lighted Astor last night for the American premiere of "Catherine, the Great," the London Film production distributed here by United Artists. Among those spotted at the lobby microphone giving radio salutations for the inaugural broadcast of WNEW, and in the audience, were Clark Gable, Edmund Lowe, Lilyan Tashman, Lord and Lady Joseph Duveen, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field, Walter P. Chrysler, Chester Morris and Gerald Campbell, British consul general. Novel exploitation stunts, in the lobby and out front, capped more than a week of generous advance advertising of the opening and added color to the event. Motion Picture Daily, reviewing the picture on Feb. 1, said in part: "Emphatically registering again the strides forward which British production is taking comes 'Catherine, the Great' as an interesting and worthy successor to 'The Private Life of Henry VIII,' along different lines." Trading Light on Big Board High Low Close Consolidated Film Industries 5 4J4 4 Consolidated Film Industries, pfd 17 16J4 17 Eastman Kodak 88% 88 88 Fox Film "A" 15§4 16'A Loew's, Inc 33H 31H 325^ M-G-M, pfd 247A 23 24% Paramount Publix VA 4J4 4J4 Pathe Exchange 3$i 2% 3 Pa the Exchange "A" 17^ 17j$ V/s RKO 3VS 3 3Vs Universal Pictures, pfd 28 27 28 Warner Bros TA f>7A 7 Universal Up V2 on Curb High Low Close Technicolor 9% 8]/2 9 Trans Lux 2 2 2 Universal Pictures 5 S 5 Pathe Bonds Up 3 High. Low Close General Theatre Equipment 6s '40 8V2 8 8yi General Theatre Equipment 6s '40, ctf 8$i 7 8J6 Keith B. F. 6s '46 61 60 60 Loew's 6s '41, ww deb rights 95% 95 95J4 Paramount Broadway 5^4s '51 37J4 37 37 Paramount F. L. 6s '47 45 43 45 Paramount Publix 5^s '50 4554 44% 45& Pathe 7s '37," ww 92% 92 93 Warner Bros. 6s '39, wd 54% 55 Net Change Sales 900 + % 2,600 — IA 600 + y» 1,100 14,000 +2 600 + % 9,000 6,300 + H 2,700 900 +1 4,000 — Yi 7,300 Net Change Vs + % Net Change -% + Vk Vi + y* % +2 +154 +3 Sales 21 10 1 Sales 41 14 2 5 20 50 17 6 38 4 Purely Personal MAchard arrives on the Pans • and in a few days will leave for Culver City to do the French dialogue on "The Merry Widow" im which Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier will appear. Edward Bernard Haver, an usher at the Roxy, and Josephine Burdek,, sales girl at Arnold, Constable & Co., were married yesterday morning. Then they both went back to work. George J. Schaefer leaves for Miami today for a short vacation. Neil Agnew will alternate for him at the code meetings. Peter Colli, Warner manager in Cuba, is in town for conferences with' Karl MacDonald, division manager for Latin America. Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo Cortez and Ruth Donnelly have cut short thein New York vacations and are on their, way to the coast. James Whale, Universal director, arrives tonight on the Europa. He' will be in town a few days before go-, ing to the coast. Leo G. Carroll, who has been appearing in "The Green Bay Tree," is« on his way to the coast to appear in. "Sadie McKee." Peggy Wood arrives today on the Europa and will leave shortly to begin work with Will Rogers in his next effort. Janet Beecher leaves tomorrowl for the coast to start work in "Head! of the Family" for 20th Century. Moe Streimer, U.A. local branch manager, has been confined to bed the last few days with a bad cold. Nelson Eddy, under long term contract to M-G-M, will give a concert Sunday at the Town Hall. Howard S. Cullman will discuss the sales tax over station WINS tomorrow at 12 :45 o'clock. Bob Gillham will spend only couple of days at Miami and ther] hop over to Nassau. John C. Flinn expects to make a J trip to the coast shortly on CodeJ Authority matters. Milt Kusell flew to Buffalo yesterday on the Paramount Victory Drive. MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC I9S4-55 NOW /N PA£M/iA HON WHERE THE WORLD LOOKS FOR MOTION PICTURE KOTI0I icrui PKKE »5 S3