Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Monday, May 7, 1934 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 35 May 7, 1934 No. 106 Martin Quigley Editor-in-Chief and Publisher MAURICE KANN MEditor JAMES A. CRON A dvertising 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 CIcle 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: Remo House, 310 Regent St., London, W. 1, Bruce Allan, Representative; Berlin Bureau: Berlin Tempelhof , Kaiserin-Augustastrasse 28, Joachim K. Rutenberg, Representative; Paris Bureau: 19, Rue de la Cour-desNoues, 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 H eve si, 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. Cleaners File Suit To Avoid Film Code American Building Maintenance Co., contractors for theatre cleaning service, has filed suit in U. S. District Court here to restrain the Code Authority from enforcing labor provisions of the film code on the cleaning company's employes. The company sets forth that it has signed the President's voluntary reemployment agreement, permitting it to maintain a 48-hour week at a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour. Employes of the company work in hospitals and other public buildings in addition to theatres and, therefore, are not subject to the film code, the company's complaint states. NVA Drive Under Way The NVA Drive, which got under way Friday to continue for one week, has enlisted the cooperation of 2,487 houses from coast to coast. This is the largest number that has ever cooperated in the 18 years of NVA's organization, according to Major L. E. Thompson, its chairman. Every local first run house is participating. Zanuck Busy on Lineup Darryl F. Zanuck, of 20th Century Pictures, arrived yesterday for a six day stay before sailing for Europe and Africa. While here he will hold conferences on the company's 1934-35 lineup for release through U. A. S. R. Kent Back Today Sidney R. Kent, president of Fox, arrives today from a four weeks' visit at the company's Hollywood studios. Insiders' Outlook Hollywood *Tp HIS is not only the land of A sunshine and previews. Here theatre audiences, like the film colony's favorite description of every picture, are "terrific." They gasp and squirm in sheer delight when the main titles of previews hit the screen. Between their honest pleasure and the frequent, deliberate stacking of the house by the previewing studio, all celluloid comers get a great reception. The consequences are more than apt to be deceptive, if you don't watch out. ... y Between the Iowans turned Californians and their ideas that previews get them close to the Hollywood inside, the "friends" of the preview who turn out, the studio claque which finds it convenient to think everything is colossal and the preview cards which are an essential cog in this whirligig, the producer more times than not gets a first class misconception of what his product eventually means at the boxoffice. . . . T The least resistance method is to unleash the adjectives and pass them around freely. Familiars with this Hollywood custom concede this to be the best method of getting along and making friends ; they ought to know, for in them is the virtue of practising what they preach. The other night, the latest with an important star was previewed. The next day one of the studio's press agents asked what we thought. "Terrible," seemed to be the appropriately laconic reply. P. A. turned white, phazed and dazed and probably is still all three ways. . . . However, one test and a variation of the routine remain. If the picture is that bad, the bunch will scram. It's more in keeping with the accepted routine not to be found when the inevitable "How did you like it?" begins to make the rounds. More social breaches, predicated on failure to observe the "I'll see you after the picture," have been committed on the Boulevard than through any other cause, beyond doubt. Social delinquencies hop easily from dislikes to enmities and even bevond. . . . Highbrow writer recently sent his employing producer a copy of Spengler's "Decline of the West." Producer couldn't determine if it concerned Mae or another attempt by New York to carry production East. . . . Several dailies fell over themselves on yarn narrating how Jack La Rue presumably rescued Vince Barnett, town ribber, from a burning building. Interviewed over the phone on the type of heroics, Barnett said La Rue had pulled him out by the hair. Reporters failed to recall Barnett's pate is bald. . . . Marion Gering, director, lives in Beverly Hills. Not always, however. He was born in Russia, now seeks naturalization papers and lists his middle handle as Maximilianovitch. . . . Two independents, producers and partners, after filming a gangster film, called upon their advertising man to prepare a page of copy. Ad man, for a rib, used as a catchline : "Indies Produce Undie." ... KANN Warner Pfd. Off 2 on Big Board High Columbia Pictures, vtc 29 Consolidated Film Industries 4 Consolidated Film Industries, pfd 16J4 Eastman Kodak 91 Eastman Kodak, pfd 139 Fox Film "A" 1S7/S Loew's, Inc 3354 M-G-M pfd _ 25% Paramount Publix 5 Pathe Exchange 2J4 Pathe Exchange "A" 2254 RKO 3% Universal Pictures, pfd 43 Warner Bros 6% Warner Bros., pfd 28 Net Low Close Change Sales 28 2sys v% 600 4 4 — a 100 16}4 16K 100 89 9054 -m 600 139 139 —i 50 w 1534 Vz 900 3254 + 3/8 10,100 25% 257% + Vt, 100 *H 234 + 3/g 15,400 2% 54 400 21 % 2134 — H 800 y/% 3J4 1,800 43 43 20 6V2 54 2,600 28 28 —2 100 Technicolor Off y4 on Curb Technicolor 954 Paramount Publix Bonds Jump 2% '40. High 1054 General Theatre Equipment 6s General Theatre Equipment 6s '40., ctf, Loew's 6s '41, ww deb rights 1007/| Paramount Broadway 5r4s '51 47 Paramount F. L. 6s '47 52Y% Paramount Publix 554s 50 52 Pathe 7s '37 ww 9554 Warner Bros. 6s '39, wd 63 Low 10 954 100J4 45 50 5054 9554 61 V2 Close 10 954 10054 46 51% 52 9554 52 Net Change Sales 54 200 2% Net Change Sales 16 18 X 3 +2 28 +m 21 +234 8 -154 2 101 Bankruptcy Bill Passage Awaited (Continued from page 1) outside of actual bankruptcy proceedings on approval by creditors representing 10 per cent of the total creditors' claims against the company and 25 per cent of the holders of any single class of claims. The readjustment of debts would also be contingent upon the consent of 10 per cent in amount of the stockholders who would be affected and upon the solvency of the applicant corporation, and would also be subject to Federal court approval. The actual compromise on the debts requires the approval of two-thirds in amount of creditors and a majority of each class of stockholders. Enactment of the measure is expected soon and, immediately following, Paramount Publix creditors' groups are expected to be invited to confer with the reorganization committee headed by Dr. Julius Klein in an effort to agree on reorganization procedure opened up and simplified by the bill. Monogram Finishes New Season Lineup (Continued from page 1) Bees," both by Gene Stratton Porter; "Women Must Dress" and "Cheers of the Crowd," by Tristram Tupper ; "Dames and Dynamite," by George Bertholon ; "The Mysterious Mr. Wong," by Harry Stephen Keeler, and "Mystery Man," by Albert Payson Terhune. The balance of the Monogram program is comprised of "The Nut Farm," by John C. Brownell; "The Healer," by Robert Herrick; "Million Dollar Baby," by Joseph Santley; "Redhead," by Vera Brown ; "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," by Edward Eggleston; "Sing Sing Nights," by Harry Stephen Keeler; "Girl of My Dreams," by George Waggner; "Honeymoon Limited," by Vida Hurst ; "Reckless Romeos," by N. Brewster Morse ; "Murder in the Stratosphere," by Tristram Tupper; "Women Who Kill," by Frederick and Fanny Hatton; "Tomorrow's Youth," by Harry Sauber, and "Successful Failure," by Michael Kane. Warner Anti-Trust Suit May Be Ended (Continued from page 1) some time ago, has been kept from the Federal Court's calendar by the recent death of Judge Francis Coleman, to whom the case had been assigned. With reassignment of the case expected this week, the anti-trust suit, it is believed, will be dismissed in accordance with N. I. R. A. provisions for suspension of anti-trust laws in connection with coded industries. Helen Kane Loses Suit Helen Kane lost her suit for $250,000 against the Paramount Publix Corp.; Max Fleischer, creator of "Betty Boop," and the Fleischer Studios, Inc., Saturday when Supreme Court Justice Edward J. McGoldrick held she had failed to prove the defendants had wrongfully appropriated her singing and acting style in the cartoon.