Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1934)

The Leading ;fiewspa^^ Motion Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, Intelligent and Faith fut^ J Service; to the Industry in All Branches VOL. 35. NO. 106 NEW YORK, MONDAY, MAY 7, 1934 TEN CENTS Fight Brewing On Proposed Rezoning Plan First Runs, Suburbans Are Both Agitated Kansas City, May 6.— Nothing that has happened in recent years has stirred up so much excitement here as the forthcoming announcement of the new clearance and zoning schedule this week. Protests are expected from suburbans as well as first runs. The proposed reduction of clearance on 25-cent first runs from 28 to 49 down to 14 days with no restrictions on duals directly hits Loew's Midland, the Publix Newman, Pubhx Royal and the Tower, independent house. The only two undisturbed are (Continued on page 3) Warner Anti-Trust Suit May Be Ended The suit of the Department of Justice against Warners, charging that the Clayton anti-trust law was violated in connection with the acquisition of a controlling interest in First National, is expected to be reached in the U. S. District Court here within the next week or 10 days and will probably be dismissed at that time. The government's action, which was slated to have been marked off (Continued on page 2) Lou Metzger Named American BIP Head By BRUCE ALLAN London, May 6. — Lou Metzger, San Diego exhibitor and former general sales manager for Universal and Columbia, has been named American agent for British International Pictures. He will sail Thursday on the Manhattan and will open an office in the RKO Building. Arthur Dent says Metzger will sell to national distributing companies and will first offer "Blossom Time," "Red Wagon" and "The Return of Bulldog Drummond." Checkup Upon Union Nearing Completion Checkup of service employes in Loew's and RKO theatres is being continued today with prospects that a final tabulation of the percentage of such employes who are members of Local 118, service union, may be made tonight or tomorrow. If the checkup reveals a majority of such employes within the union's membership, the (Continued on page 3) All in Family Denver, May 6. — Mr. and Mrs. Fred Lind will both be busy this summer. Each will manage a theatre. They own two houses, one the Chief at Steamboat Springs, and the Grand at Littleton, and Mrs. Lind will spend her time at Steamboat Springs, while her husband will manage the house at Littleton. It's close to Denver, so Fred will handle the bookings for both houses. Score Charge Loss Claimed in Canada Toronto, May 6. — Canadian distributors, replying to a demand by independent exhibitors for removal of score charges, say that every reel released in the Dominion is assessed $75 by producers and the total cost to distributors is $450,000 a year as against $400,000 aggregate cost to exhibitors, according to claims of Allied of Ontario. Therefore, exchanges (Continued on page 3) Monogram Finishes New Season Lineup With the closing of deals for seven story properties during the past few days Monogram's 1934-35 production schedule of 20 features has been completed, W. Ray Johnston, president, said Saturday. The seven story properties completing the schedule are : "Girl of the Limber Lost" and "Keeper of the (Continued on page 2) Paterson Theatres Get Big News Break Paterson, May 6. — Theatres are getting the first break in several years from the Paterson Evening News. The paper last Thursday inaugurated a full page of theatre news, containing a column by "Warren Bogue," nom de plume for J. Ellis Kirkland, News oldtimer. The Morning Call is also giving more space to theatres. Early Passage Of Bankruptcy Bill Awaited Will Speed Revamping of Paramount Affairs Passage by the U. S. Senate late last week of the Corporation Bankruptcy Bill, permitting readjustment of the debts of bankrupt corporations by consent of creditors in order to facilitate reorganization and refinancing programs, will speed the reorganization of Paramount Publix and may result in the company's ultimate discharge from baukruptcy months sooner than has been anticipated, it was learned over the week-end. Although Senate amendments to the bankruptcy measure will make it necessary to return the bill for conference with the House, which has already passed it, its approval by the Senate is regarded as making its ultimate enactment a certainty. Under the bill, bankrupt corporations may apply for readjustment of their debts (Continued on page 2) M-G-M Discussing 4 Regional Meets M-G-M regional conventions in Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and possibly one _ other central point are now being considered in preliminary discussions between Nicholas M. Schenck and Felix Feist. The plan is to hold the sessions late in June or early July. Production executives, including Louis B. Mayer and Hal Roach, may (Continued on page 3) Harmon-Ising to Do M-G-M Color Shorts M-G-M's new color cartoon shorts will be made by Harmon-Ising, who have just been signed to turn out a new series for the 1934-35 program. This series will replace the "Willie Whopper" group produced by Ub (Continued on page 3) Grosses Fall to Levels Reported Last September Grosses from 22 key cities and 133 theatres are falling down to the level of last September. For the week ending April 27-28 the total was $1,307,764, which is getting back to the lowest figures of Lent and is $263,931 below the high mark chalked up Easter week, and is also $34,954 under the low mark set last September when the fall pickup was getting under way. Last week's decreases were practically uniform throughout the country, with the exception of eight cities — (Continued on page 3) Schaefer Gets Kohn's Posts At Paramount Now Regarded as Second Only to Adolph Zukor Election of George J. Schaefer, vice-president and general manager of Paramount Pictures Dist r i b u t i n g Corp., to the j presidency and the boards of [ Paramount's j administrative theatre subsidiaries on Saturday, succeeding Ralph A. Kohn, who resigned last week, is regarded a s | placing Schaefer in a position of executive authority in Paramount second (Continued on page 3) George J. Schaefer Release Schedule Completed by "U" With James R. Grainger back from the coast, Universal is making public the order of release of the remaining 11 films in its lineup for this year. The releasing schedule will run to September 1. First is "The Black Cat," which will be released today. "Affairs of a Gentleman" will be released May 14, to be followed by "The Love Captive." "Little Man, What Now?" is set for May 28. The first in June will be "Funny Thing Called Love." Other June releases will be "I Give My Love" and "Embarrassing Moments." "The Human Side" and "One More River" are the July releases. "Imitation of Life" and "Castles in the Air" will be released in August, to complete the program. Rogowsky Wants 10 Defendants Called Sam Rogowsky, operator of the Embassy, Port Chester, has requested the grievance board to subpoena 10 defendants in his overbuying complaint against the Skouras Theatres Corp., operating the Capitol, Port Chester, and all major distributors. Because (Continued on page 3)