Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Friday, March 16, 1934 No Change at M-G-M; Rapf 's Deal Renewed (Continued from page 1) charge of all production. All associate producers and supervisors will take up their problems directly with Mannix with the exception of Irving G. Thalberg who stands in a division by himself. The inference is Thalberg is to be kept clear of detail in order to concentrate on the pictures he himself will make. Prior to his illness and his long recuperative trip in Europe, Thalberg handled production and it was to him that associate producers and supervisors formerly took their problems. Brief Allowed Upon Para. Rent Dispute (Continued from page 1) March 27 to file a reply to the claimants' brief. A hearing on the Chippewa Theatres claim of $2,500,000, scheduled for yesterday, was postponed to March 21. The claim is for past and future rent on the Great Lakes Theatres, Buffalo. An adjourned special meeting of Paramount Publix creditors to consider a settlement of counter claims of Paramount and Fox Film Corp. arising from lease agreements on Oakland, Cal, theatres, which was scheduled for yesterday, was postponed to March 19 by Referee Davis. Para. Men Discuss Leases in Detroit (Continued, from page 1) with the exception of Rohn, who returns directly to New York, will go to Boston. No change in the company's setup here will result from the visit, it was said. Ralph Kohn got back in town yesterday. He refused to comment on his visit to Detroit with his fellow Paramount executives. Authority Members Invited by MPTOA (Continued from page 1) have been secured by the organization whereby the rate from New York will be $123.46; from Chicago, $88.75; from New Orleans, $78.45. Corresponding low rates from other sections of the country also have been arranged. The official special trains wdl run out of Chicago over the Rock Island lines and from New Orleans over Southern Pacific. Los Angeles Plans New Industry Taxes To Build Up Pier Exhibit Additions are to be made to the film and studio exhibit on the Atlantic City Steel Pier this year. It was •established several years ago by Eddie Corcoran of the Paramount exploitation department. Burling Jarrett is now on the coast contacting studios to •get gowns, props, wax figures and photographs for the exhibit. (Continued from page 1) budget, the proposed ordinance, disguised as permit and fire protection charges, would impose levies over and above licenses and taxes now being paid. Among the proposals are assessments as follows : Film and storage vaults carrying in excess of 25 feet of film, $3 yearly; wholesale warehouses, $25 ; film laboratories, of which there are 10 in the city, $150; each wagon and truck delivering film inside the city limits, $2 per year; each wagon collecting scrap and waste film, $25 ; a $40 average fee for 216 theatres in the city. A protest was voiced in behalf of the industry yesterday by W. H. Lollier, F.W.C. tax manager, who argued before the special license committee of the council that theatres are already bearing more taxation than they can stand. He will meet the Producers' Ass'n. tomorrow to discuss the problem. Tax Situation Is Confused in Ohio Columbus, March 15. — Due to constant bickering in the Legislature over the tax question, present forecast is that the matter still will be unsolved when the solons adjourn. Strenuous opposition to the proposed three per cent general sales tax by groups allied with retail and commercial lines is becoming stronger. Governor White, who heretofore has expressed himself as strongly in favor of the measure, has assumed a sideline position, and is not goading the members into action, as had been expected. It is on the passage of a general sales tax, or an equivalent which will produce the desired revenue, that exhibitors are pinning their hopes of effecting repeal of the 10 per cent amusement tax. Kansas City, March 15. — Dr. A. Ross Hill, nominated in the primary as Citizens' party candidate for mayor of Kansas City, is known as an advocate of high state taxation on theatre admissions. As head of the taxation committee of the Real Estate Board for the last 10 years he has been attempting to get such a tax law through the legislature to relieve the burden on real estate. His efforts have been opposed by the industry. Mayor Bryce B. Smith, Democratic candidate for a second term, is considered friendly to the industry. Byron Spencer, candidate on the Democratic ticket for councilman in the second district, is a member of the law firm of Langworthy, Spencer & Terrell, co-attorneys for the trustee of Fox Rocky Mountain Theatre Co. The run-off election is March 17. Sales Tax, Censor Board UpinW. Va. (Continued from page 1) sales tax with an optional clause permitting cities and towns to decide whether it shall be imposed. A third bill affecting the industry provides for creation of a censorship board to pass on advertising as well as pictures. Reels Are Hit By Curtailed Plane Service (Continued from page 1) ice is reported to be correspondingly curtailed and many lines have been suspended in entirety. The 24-hour average delay in newsreel shipments to exchanges and theatres is contributed to by both incoming air express service carrying clips from cameramen stationed at distant points to the newsreel editors, and the outgoing service taking the finished reels to exchange centers, it was said. Use of the air mail for newsreel shipments, instead of the air express service operated by private lines, is impractical from the standpoint of expense and offers little assurance of time-saving, in any event, according to newsreel representatives. Where private lines were willing, for business reasons, to take chances on the weather in sending planes through, the new flying policy of the Army Air Corps is a conservative one, it was pointed out. The Administration is insisting on safety operation following recent casualties among army pilots, who also lack the business incentive to take chances in bad weather, it was said. Except in favorable flying weather, few planes are going through, despite the fact that the same number of planes are available now as there were under commercial operation, according to newsreel representatives. Cooperating with Newsreels Some private lines operating air express are cooperating with newsreels by wiring them immediately when planes carrying reels are grounded en route. In this way the stranded shipments are recovered by motor and train and sent on their way again with a minimum loss of time. The only newsreel shipment to come through in good time in recent weeks is said to have been the clips of the Manchurian coronation, which made the trans-Pacific and transcontinental trip to New York in 12 days. Transport and weather "breaks" favored the shipment throughout, it was said. Payrolls sent air mail from New York to exchange and theatre employes are meeting with comparable delays. Numerous complaints to home offices from out of town employes have resulted. Magazine Ads Ruled Out of Missouri Tax Jefferson City, Mo., March 15. — Advertising in periodicals and magazines, except in special cases, does not come under the one-half of one per cent state sales tax, according to a ruling by the attorney general's office. It was pointed out that magazine advertising differs from newspaper advertising, which is taxable, and only those publications carrying news are subject to tax. Each periodical will be considered separately in order to determine whether returns should be made on advertising receipts. Insiders' Outlook (Continued from page 2) solo as the State doubles "Spitfire" and "Six of a Kind." . . . T The Warner theatre holdings in Jersey run to $32,000,000, if you are interested in investment notes. . . . Sylvester Harris, the colored gentleman who called the President to save his Mississippi farm, is a riot in the Metrotone Newsreel and worth anybody's two bits. . . . The Navajo Council is peeved because Mexicans, Hawaiians, Chinese, et al simulate them in pictures and want something done about it. Looks like an added job for Code Authority. ... If, say many employes privately and some executives not so privately, business is so good and profit statements in several directions indicate it is, what about restoration of salary cuts? ... KANN Independents Watch Canada Probe Moves (Continued from page 1) system such as the NRA in the United States. The theatre situation in Canada has been drawn into the inquiry because of references to low wages to certain theatre employes and monopolistic control, as well as apparent difficulties of small proprietors. More or less of a formal communication has been forwarded to H. H. Stevens, Federal minister of Trade and Commerce, by William Brady, proprietor of the Madison, and one of the leaders among the organized independent theatre owners, commending Stevens on his crusade in behalf of the "little fellows" and urging definite action. There is a possibility that Brady will be called upon to give evidence before the committee. Biechele New KMT A Secretary -Treasurer Kansas City, March 15. — Directors of the K.M.T.A. today elected R. R. Biechele, well known locally and nationally as an exhibitor, secretary-treasurer, preliminary to launching a membership drive and a public relations campaign. The association also plans a convention to be held shortly. Re-Signs Two Hollywood, March 15. — M-G-M has given new contracts to Jean Hersholt and Johnny .Weismuller. Hersholt will soon go east for a vacation. Weismuller's next will be another "Tarzan" story. Roxy Pares Admission Admission at the Roxy between 1 P.M. to 6 P.M. on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays has been pared 15 cents and is now 50 cents. Chatkin Visiting David J. Chatkin, of Monarch Theatres, is in New York from Cleveland.