Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1934)

20 MOTION^ PICTURE DAILY Wednesday, May 9, 1934 Para. -G. B. Partner Deal Up to Referee (Continued from pane 1) bonds, which were among the liabilities of that company assumed by Paramount when it acquired the circuit in 1930. The mortgage liability, subsequently, was assigned by Paramount to Olympia Theatres. The trustees' reorganization plan provides for a foreclosure on the G. B. mortgage, with title to the G. B. properties being acquired by a new company, to be organized for the purpose, at the foreclosure sale. All of the capital stock in the new company will be retained by the Goldsteins, while the Class B shares will be sold to Lares Theatres Corp., a wholly owned Paramount subsidiary. Proportioning Officers The A stock will elect three directors, the president, second vice-president and the assistant treasurer, while the B stock will elect four directors, a treasurer, first vice-president and secretary. Bonds of the new company will be exchanged for those of G. B. in an equal amount and the holders of the new bonds will elect one director in the new company. A loan of $100,000 will be made to the new company, 52 per cent of which will be furnished by the Goldsteins and 48 per cent by Lares. In addition to the G. B. houses, about 20 in number, Lares will deliver to the new Goldstein company certain Olympia Theatres leaseholds and equipment in return for the cancellation of all claims on G. B. bonds against Olympia, Paramount and G. B. A 10-year Paramount picture franchise will be delivered to the Goldsteins in connection with the management contract. Paramount Publix is to lend $107,500 to Lares to finance its share of the agreement. Authorization for the deal will be sought of Referee Henry K. Davis on May 17. Propose $280,000 On Olympia Claims A proposal for the settlement of $280,000 in claims against Olympia Theatres on the basis of 40 cents on the dollar will be submitted to Referee Henry K. Davis for approval on May 17, in connection with a petition filed by the Paramount Publix trustees yesterday which seeks authorization to expend up to $150,000 on the settle ment. The claims are those filed by "open account" creditors and deemed by the Paramount trustees to be provable. Their petition to Referee Davis states that claims in addition to these may be settled similarly. The Paramount petition reveals that total creditors' claims filed against Olympia, the company's principal New England theatre subsidiary, now in bankruptcy, aggregate $21,000,000, and that of this amount it is believed that $13,000,000 are not provable. Of the remaining $8,000,000, Paramount's own claims aggregate $5,092,896, and an additional $1,500,000 claim represents an inter-company liability filed Warners Eliminate Phila. Dual Bills on Saturdays They May Make Up Hollywood, May 8. — After cancellation of her contract with Columbia by mutual agreement several weeks ago, Elissa Landi and the studio again have their heads together on a long-term contract. against Olympia Operating Corp. by Olympia Theatres. Thus, only slightly more than $1,400,000 of claims against Olympia regarded as provable have been filed by outside creditors. A final reorganization plan for Olympia is nearing completion and may be submitted to the Federal Court for approval within the next few weeks. Fox to Sell Action Series on Their Own (Continued from page 1) duced by Sol Lesser, will be handled apart from the Fox program next season, declared S. R. Kent yesterday. "Certain of our customers insist upon action films and they will get them. The O'Brien series will be sold to those who want them. The group also will be sold to anybody else who may want them on a sepparate basis and that won't mean buying cur regular output in order to get these." Asked whether the deal indicated Fox was embarking on acquisition of outside product for distribution, Kent stated it did not. The only other outside film is "The Catspaw" which Harold Lloyd finished in Hollywood last week. Dr. Lieber Puts Out New Device for Deaf Dr. Hugo Lieber, president of Sonotone Corp., yesterday announced the development of a bone conduction device for the hard of hearing to be put on the market. He stated RCA Victor has licensed the company to attach the instrument to RCA Photophone machines in 3,600 theatres throughout the country. The device is not air conducting, it was stated. Dean Babbit is general sales manager; Stanley Nowak, advertising counsel ; Dan Halpin, assistant sales manager ; E. Michalides, chief engineer ; and P. F. Franchot, general counsel. (Continued from page 1) with exhibitors in any Warner situation who favored curtailment of the policy. Aside from the Philadelphia situation, however, the company has no definite plans at this time for dropping duals from its own theatres independently of the policies of competing exhibitors. Bernhard objected to the Saturday policy of Warners' Philadelphia houses being described as a "double feature" one. "We have been running 'kiddie matinees' in neighborhood houses there on Saturday," he said, "and on these bills we have included a western or some other added attraction with the feature. These are now being eliminated." Selznick Returns June 1 Hollywood, May 8. — David Selznick, George Cukor and Howard Estabrook return here from England on June 1 with four English players for M-G-M's "David Copperfield," scheduled to start June 15. Jolson's Next Picked Hollywood, May 8. — Al Jolson's first for Warners upon his return from Europe will be "Go Into Your Dance," an original by Bradford Ropes, author of "42nd Street." Strand in Brooklyn Going to Dual Bills Starting May 18, the Brooklyn Strand will change to a dual feature policy with two Warner pictures slated to begin the new policy. Warners have held no two of its pictures can play on the same bill, but this rule apparently is being changed. The duo to open May 18 has not been set as vet. Deny W. B. Detroit Lease Warners are not interested in leasing the State, Detroit, Joseph Bern hard, Warner theatre head, said yes terday in denying a Detroit report published in a recent issue of Motion Picture Daily which described the company as considering a take-over of the house on the expiration of Paramount's lease. MPTOA Slants Will Bear On Future Films (Continued from page 1) along in release before they get it. Producers, therefore, recognize that any suggestions representing the public's point of view will have no value insofar as the pictures to which they directly refer are concerned and must be applied to avoidance of identical mistakes in future product. Studio heads who participated in the recent round table at the Beverly-Wilshire following close of the national exhibitor convention are resting on their oars and awaiting the next step from the M. P. T. O. A. Blank Confers in K. C. Kansas City, May 8. — A. H. Blank of Des Moines, accompanied by G. Ralph Branton, Tri-States Theatres general manager, was here today in conference with Ralph C. Libeau, Paramount district manager. It is understood an important deal is up. The pair returned home tonight, while Libeau left for St. Louis. "Social Control" of Films Is Advocated (Continued from page 1) Tennessee Valley Authority, in an address before the conference on educational uses of the radio. Dr. Morgan's recommendation for control of pictures was part of a broad proposal that the principle of public control be applied to broadcasting, the press and films as the three great mediums of transmitting culture to the nation. His suggestion was prompted by a charge of Dr. Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., vice-president of Georgetown University, that education was facing a crisis in this country because of commercial exploitation of films, newspaper and radio. Goldwyn Signs Del Ruth Hollywood, May 8. — Roy Del Ruth, who recently completed "Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back," has been signed by Samuel Goldwyn to direct Eddie Cantor's next, tentatively titled "The Treasure Hunt." To Handle Harvey Films Hollywood, May 8. — In addition to supervising foreign production at Fox, John Stone has been placed in charge of the four Lilian Harvey pictures for the new season. "U" Changes Title Again Holly wwod, May 8. — Universal has again changed the title of the B. F. Zeidman production to "Let's Talk It Over." It began as "Loves of a Sailor." To Remake "Capt. Blood** Hollywood, May 8. — Warners plan to remake "Captain Blood" as a talking picture. Episcopalians Here Assail Crime Films (Continued from page 1) Cathedral of St. John the Divine. A resolution was offered calling upon the Catholic Church, the Federal Council of Churches and leaders of the Jewish faith to unite to get producers to stop making such films. Their abolition was sought on the ground they incite the young to crime. The resolution urged that attempts be made "to secure either Federal or State legislation prohibiting their public showing" should it be necessary. Appeal to Be Asked On Sheboygan Stay Milwaukee, May 8. — A petition for appeal to the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago will be filed in a few days by the unions enjoined May 5 by Judge F. A. Geiger from picketing the Rex in Sheboygan, according to W. B. Rubin, union counsel. Much time was consumed in arguing whether the federal court has jurisdiction in such cases, Judge Geiger deciding that it did. Rubin argued that certain provisions in the labor code prevented Judge Geiger from accepting jurisdiction. Lasky Gets Bert Glennon Hollywood, May 8. — Bert Glennon, cameraman, has been signed to a one-year contract by Fox, his first assignment being "Grand Canary" for Jesse L. Lasky.