Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1934)

MOTION. PICTURE DAILY Friday, May II, 1934 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 35 May 11, 1934 No. 110 Martin Quigley Editor-in-Chief and Publisher MAURICE KANN Editor JAMES A. CRON Advertising 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. Warners Sued Over Lease in Sandusky Sandusky, May 10. — Suit has been filed by the Seitz Theatre Co. against Warner for $369,315, claimed to represent an amount due on an unexpired portion of a 15-year lease on the State, which defendants turned back to the owners a short time ago. In a previous suit, Judge Savord in Common Pleas Court recently awarded judgment to plaintiffs for 29 days' rental to cover the period intervening between the serving of notice to vacate and actual vacation, following abrogation of lease by the defendants. Fabian Is Seeking Manhattan Houses (Continued from page 1) of Fox Metropolitan, he operated a group of houses in New Jersey which he later sold to Warners. Acquisition of the Manhattan Playhouses group would bring him back to active operation on his own since reorganization plans for Fox Metropolitan are about to be filed with the court any day. With the reorganization of Fox Metropolitan, Fabian will step out as co-receiver. Quigley Award to Golden Walter L. Golden, manager of the Riverside, Jacksonville, is winner of the fourth Quigley award for an exploitation campaign. The award was made for his work on "Nana." The decision of the judges, Felix F. Feist, Hal Home and William H. Raynor, was unanimous, according to A. Mike Vogel, head of the Managers' Round Table Club of Motion Picture Herald. Insiders' Outlook WHILE representatives of major companies cogitate about inclusion in exhibition contracts of a clause prohibiting their films from being doubled with any other feature, the dual billing situation evokes many provocative, as well as humorous slants in Hollywood. Shrewd commentators on business and human nature state that if the majors were seriously intent on eliminating the double feature practice a starting point unbeatable might be their own affiliated theatres. . . . Many of the show shops operated by majors continue to present double bills, although a halt has been called on triples. In meetings, company operators have expressed willingness to stop dual billing, provided competitors also stop. Individual operators in their meetings have said ditto. Both independents and chain operators defend their own dual billings as a protective measure against the opposition and vice-versa. . . . One astute showman, who alludes to twin bills as the "bargain basement," suggests independents and chain groups cease and desist duals — at the same time on the same day to bring about the results both desire. According to him, all that is necessary is for an official proclamation to be unfurled naming the day when both sides cease dualing; an armistice declared and from thenceforth, no dual billings. Another showman, not so sanguine about such a plan, although opposed to duals, naively inquired : "Who would blow the whistle to make the day and date official?" . . . T The Disney influence in the field of cartoons in color finds producers, practically one and all, doping series competitive with the Silly Symphonies for the new season. Exactly as there are more cartoons on the market today than the market can successfully emasculate, so goes the outlook in this direction for '34'35. Word from New York has it some of the sales managers now busy figuring out what to have for '34-'35 are becoming wary. Cartoons in color, they say, might be swell, but (1) prints cost more, (2) they aren't novelties if everybody has them, (3) exhibitors are not inclined to stand rental hikes. . . . A director, who has his office on the third floor of a studio building, was sending back story after story to the scenario editor for some reason or none. At wits' end, or nit-wits' end, story chief sent the director a note: "May I send, for your perusal, that well-known story, 'The Passing of the Third Floor Buck.' "... One definition of Hollywood : "The place where you are a genius if you know a little more than the next guy." . . . Definition of the picture business: "It's made up of a lot of *tsowras and a little of Skouras." T Unaware that Hollywood advertising code applied to catchlines as well as photos, a studio, without having the Hays office pass on them, sent a batch of their catchlines mimeographed to a showman running a chain of Columbia Down One on Big Board High Columbia Pictures, vtc 2654 Consolidated Film Industries.. 334 Consolidated Film Industries, pfd 1554 Eastman Kodak 9054 Fox Film "A" Loew's, Inc Loew's, Inc., pfd. Paramount, c$s. . . Pathe Exchange . , Pathe Exchange " RKO 145/8 3034 93% 434 254 20 3 Warner Bros 6 Low 25 35415 88 1334 29 9m 4J4 254 18J4 234 554 — ¥i + 54 Net Close Change 2654 —1 334 153i 90 14% 30% 93% 234 193/6 2Vs 6 —1 — Vs — 54 + 54 — Vi Technicolor Off % on Curb High Low Close Sentry Safety Control 54 34 54 Technicolor 854 854 854 Trans-Lux V/& \% VA All Bonds Take a Beating High Low Close General Theatre Equipment 6s '40 9 854 8% General Theatre Equipment 6s '40, ctf 854 8 8 Loew's 6s '41, ww deb rights 101 10054 10054 Paramount Broadway 554s '51 4454 44J4 44% Paramount F. L. 6s '47 5054 5054 50^ Paramount Publix 554s '50 51 5054 5054 Pathe 7s '37, ww 9654 9534 9534 RKO 6s '41, pp 32 32 32 Warner Bros. 6s '39, wd 60 5734 5854 Net Change Net Change 54 34 54 —1 -254 -134 54 —4 -154 Sales 900 200 800 1,000 2,900 22,200 100 10,700 6,000 6,800 2.700 10,500 Sales 300 600 100 Sale theatres. Reading said catchlines, the exhibitor rushed to his typewriter and scorched off a letter to a company official. "If we'd only leave these press agents alone, they'd bring on censorship all by themselves," he said, plus more. . . . T Titles which may or may not be what they imply, but in work or planned: Broadway Virgin Fifteen Wives Anything Once One Night of Love 100 Per Cent Pure It Ain't No Sin Hey, Sailor The Party's Over Blind Date Miss Pacific Fleet Merry Wives of Reno. KANN *Yiddish for trouble. Milwaukee Council O. K.'s But 24 Films Milwaukee, May 10. — Of 85 films reviewed last year by the Milwaukee Better Films council, only 24 were classified as suitable for the whole family, according to a report submitted to the council's annual meeting by Mrs. Harold Smith, chairman of its preview committee. Fourteen were rated as suitable for adults and young people, 16 for adults and young adults, and nine for adults only. Twenty-three, including Mae West's "She Done Him Wrong," were given no rating. Mrs. A. A. Laun was elected vicechairman of the council. The chairman will be appointed by the new president of the Milwaukee County Federation of Women's Clubs in the: fall. Other officers elected were Mrs. Cyril Colnik, recording secretary; Mrs. L. B. Porter, corresponding secretary, and Mrs. E. E. Worthing, treasurer. M-G-M Set to Make Films in England (Continued from page 1) native backgrounds, particularly English stories on home ground instead of Hollywood sets. American players, directors and some technical crews will be sent abroad to work on these films. First picture for English production will most likely be "David Copperfield," Loew stated. On May 3, Motion Picture Daily by cable reported M-G-M would in all probability produce in England and that Loew was working on such plans. Local 306 Gets Stay Against Rival Union A permanent injunction was granted yesterday to Local 306 by Judge Wasservogel in the New York County Supreme Court against Allied M. P. Operators and the picketing of the Harris and Wallack on West 42nd St. Judge Wasservogel, in handing down the ruling, stated the signs carried by Allied men were "misleading and inaccurate." Earlier in the day, Local 306 attorneys subpoenaed code assent records of Code Authority which involved the Wallack.