Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Tuesday, March 13, 1934 Kinematograph Year Book for 1934 Here The Kinematograph Year Book for 1934 published by Kinematograph Publications, Ltd., London, yesterday reached this country. It contains 596 pages. The issue is the 21st. Like last year's book, it has colored tabs for each section, making it very convenient for seekers of quick reference. In addition, each section has an index. The main divisions are : Overseas Directory, with company offices and addresses listed from practically every section of the world; trade shown films ; renters' offers, a list of all films offered for sale in Great Britain, with company names ; films registered ; trade organizations ; equipment and technical section ; trade personnel ; studio personnel ; general classified trade directory ; theatre circuits ; a list of London theatres, and a list of provincial theatres. All acts governing the film business in Great Britain are either given in full or in condensed form. It seems to be a complete, handy reference volume for companies doing business abroad. -J. M. J. David Harum "Big Draw Of Week in 3 Key Spots MPTOA Men Need Identification Cards M. P. T. O. A. conventioneers will be required to obtain identification certificates from national headquarters, 1,600 Broadway, in order to obtain the special convention rate railroad fares to and from Los Angeles, it was stated yesterday. With the identification cards, railroad tickets to the convention may be purchased in Pacific Coast states beginning April 3 ; in western states, beginning April 2; mid-western states, April 1, and earlier in eastern states. Two special trains, one leaving Chicago, April 6, with a special section being added at St. Louis the same day, and one leaving New Orleans on April 6, will be joined at El Paso, April 8, to arrive in Los Angeles the following day. < In applying for identification certificates, conventioneers should state which special train they will take and what Pullman accommodations they will require. Special through Pullmans will be arranged over leading railroads from eastern cities to either Chicago or New Orleans. LeBaron Signs New Paramount Contract Hollywood, March 12. — William LeBaron has signed a new agreement with Paramount to continue as an associate producer with his own writing staff, directors and supervisors. He will make 10 features in the next year to be known as William LeBaron Prod., among them thei new Mae West. "It Ain't No Sin." LeBaron is reported to have had under consideration a three-year contract to head production for a British company, name unknown. Col. Suit Postponed Examination of Jack Cohn before trial of a Columbia stockholders' suit for an accounting, which was scheduled for yesterday, was postponed to March 21. Both Cohn and his attorney in the action, Nathan Burkan, are out of town. (Continued from page 1) troit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Boston. Katharine Hepburn's "Spitfire" piled up a fine $27,000 at the Palace in Chicago, going over the house par by $5,000. It was generally agreed that the draw was the film and not the vaudeville bill. "Frolics of 1934" was also a first class grosser with $40,000 at the Chicago, $5,400 over normal. Addition of vaudeville at the Oriental helped "Eight Girls in a Boat" up to a par $23,000. "Death Takes a Holiday" stayed up to $11,500 in its second week at the Roosevelt. Three other grosses, all weak, were: "Moulin Rouge," second week, $10,000; "Bombay Mail," $13,000; "You Can't Buy Everything," $12,000. "Harum" Big in Cleveland "David Harum" ran a close second to "Carolina" in Cleveland with an $8,000 take at the Hippodrome. "Spitfire" was also in the big money with $19,000 at the RKO Palace, helped by a stage show. "Master of Men," on at the Allen with the first week of a stage show, was good for $6,500. "This Side of Heaven" and "In the Money" had a par $4,000 at Loew's Stillman. "Nana" trailed along with a bad $8,000 at Loew's State. "David Harum" took nearly all the stray money in Detroit. The $23,500 gross at the Fox, with a stage show, was $8,600 over average. "Queen Christina," with $11,600 at the United Artists, was the only other attraction in town to do a good business. The weak links in the chain were: "It Happened One Night," $8,100 at the Downtown; "This Side of Heaven" $5,400 at the Fisher; "The Cat and the Fiddle," $19,200 at the Michigan; "No More Women" and "Six of a Kind"_ at the State, $5,100. Indianapolis was another spot that went for "David Harum" in a big way. The Apollo was nearly three times average at $6,000. "It Happened One Night" ran a good race for second honors with $5,000 at the Circle. Even Kate Smith couldn't help "I've Got Your Number" over a normal $10,000 at the Indiana. "The Cat and the Fiddle" was average with $4,500 at the Palace, but "The Poor Rich" was off at $5,500 in the Lyric. Montreal Picks Up Montreal didn't mind the winter weather. "The Cat and the Fiddle" did a strong $10,500 at the Capitol and Loew's reached the same figure with "Four Frightened People" and five vaudeville acts. "Let's Fall in Love" and "East of Fifth Avenue" hit $7,000 at the Princess, but the other dual. "Six of a Kind" and "Search for beauty," fared badly with $9,000 at the Palace. ( "It Happened One Night" and "Oueen Christina" mopped up in Minneapolis and St. Paul. "It Happened One Night" took $6,500 in Minneapolis and "Oueen Christina" reached $8,000 in Minneapolis and $7,000 in St. Paul, both figures away over par. "Hi, Nellie" was pood for $4 000, $500 up, at the St. Paul Riviera. "Moulin Rouge" was weak at $5,000 in the Minneapolis State. "Dark Hazard" also failed to stir any excitement at the St. Paul Orpheum. "Em peror Jones" reached a good $2,500 at the World. "Fugitive Lovers," "You Can't Buy Everything" and "Frontier Marshal" were fair. Most of the heavy money in Oklahoma City went to the Warner, playing "I've Got Your Number" and a stage show called "Hollywood Premiere." The take was $6,400. "Moulin Rouge" was away off at $3,800 at the Criterion. "Mandalay" was $300 up with a take of $2,800 at the Capitol. Other houses suffered. With the return of something like spring weather, Boston showed improvement. "Mandalay," with Will Mahoney and a stage show, ran over par by $5,000, reaching $33,000 at the Metropolitan. "The Lost Patrol," with the "Greenwich Village Follies" on the stage, piled up $20,500 at the Boston. "I've Got Your Number" and "Devil Tiger" took a good $10,000 at the Fenway. "It Happened One Night" topped average by $5,000 with $21,000 at Keith's. "Mystery of Mr. X" rounded out a total of good grosses by getting $18,000 at Loew's State. Providence turned out in a big way for "The Poor Rich" and ''Midway Nights Revue," a stage show, by shoving $11,500 into the RKO Albee boxoffice, but the others felt the strain. "Mystery of Mr. X" was $1,000 up on a $13,000 take at Loew's State, and "If I Were Rich" and "No Funny Business" were better than fair with $1,100 at the RKO Victory, but two duals, "Good Dame" and "Sixteen Fathoms Deep" at the Paramount and "Heat Lightning" and "Coming Out Party" at the Majestic, were weak. McKay Is Dead; Ont. Exchange Inspector Toronto, March 12. — William Rupert McKay, inspector of film ex changes for the Ontario governmer;. for 14 years, died here today froir the result of war wounds. He lost a leg in France. Although his dutk< were disciplinary, McKay was popular throughout the film trade. In largmeasure he was responsible for trV adoption of safety regulations for e> changes in Ontario following th< Cleveland hospital fire in which fum< from burning films killed man; No fire has ever occurred in an Or tario exchange under his regime. Burial Not Set Although no funeral arrangement: have been completed yet, services foi Airs. Edward J. Bowes (Margare Illington), wife of the managing d rector of the Capitol, are expected tc be held Thursday. The former act , ress, who held a high place in the profession during the early^part of the century, died Sunday in Miami Beach Dinty Moore Picked Dinty Moore, theatre manager ant j not the restaurant man, left for St ; Louis last night to prepare for the opening of the Shubert Rialto then, on March 31 as a Warner first run Moore has had considerable experi ence with the Orpheum and latterh i has worked for Warner theatres it, Ohio under Nate Wolf. Postpone P.-P. Meet An adjourned special meeting o Paramount Publix creditors, schedulet for yesterday, was postponed till to morrow. The meeting will be held ii the offices of Referee Henry K. Davis 140 Nassau St. GREATER BOX OFFICE VALUE THE box office value of the brilliant, snow white light from National High Intensity Projector Carbons has placed them in most of the large down-town theatres. Smaller theatres may gain a like advantage through the use of National Copper Coated High Intensity A.C. Projector carbons. These carbons, in the new lamps built especially for their use, give a brilliant, snow white light and a higher level of screen illumination than the low intensity D.C. arc.