Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1934)

The Leading Daily ,Newspaper| Motion | Picture Industry MOTION PICTURE DAILY Alert, Intelligent and Faithfut! J Service to" the Industry in All Branches VOL. 36. NO. 89 NEW YORK, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1934 TEN CENTS Tips Plan for A Gov't Check On Production Mrs. Gilman Also for Distribution Brake Columbus, Oct. 14.— Plans are under way to ask that a Federal commissioner represent the consumer at the point of production and to seek government supervision of distribution, according to Mrs. Gilman, chairman of the National Congress of ParentsTeachers Ass'n. She made this statement as she urged delegates to the Ohio convention of the association to follow the mandate of the national body and discontinue cooperating with the industry. Mrs. Gilman maintains the organization should conduct its own fight to make films more wholesome for children. "We have organized in the past and (Continued on page 4) Coast Men Assert Dual Issue Alive Los Angeles, Oct. 14.— Coast exhibitors returning from New York and the appeal hearing before Campi on the local clearance and zoning schedule assert that the question of duals is not altogether a dead issue, although discussions on this topic have been dropped for the time being. Local theatre owners are anxious to get a schedule working for California and for this reason agreed to a recent decision by Code Authority not to mention duals in the plan. However, it is stated, that after a schedule is working, an appeal will be made to Code Authority to amend the schedule to provide for duals. 300 Houses Groomed To Run New Shorts Approximately 300 theatres throughout the country have agreed to use the experimental educational and moral films to be compiled from standard releases for exhibition to juvenile audiences at special matinees, such as Saturday mornings. The series of 24 shorts to be released under the title "Secrets of Success," although cut from standard releases, will be furnished with a prologue and epilogue to give them finished continuity. Sequences from "Sooky," "Sign of the Cross" and other features will be employed to point moral and educational lessons in (Continued on page 4) Blondes Lose Hollywood, Oct. 14.— Winners of the "Hollywood National Cross-Section Contest," conducted by Agfa in conjunction with Monogram, are Harriett Allan De Bussman, Kansas City; Nell Rhoades, Amarillo, Texas; Madelyn Earle, Sally, S. C; Ann Casper, Easton, Conn., and Ann Johnston, Jackson Heights, New York City. Not a blonde in the batch. NRA Draws Up Own Schedule Of Code Dues Washington, Oct. 14.— After having rejected two schedules of assessments for producers and distributors drawn by Campi's own finance committee, the NRA Division of Research and Planning has drafted and dispatched to Campi a schedule of its own which Washington officials believe will be more equitable than any yet suggested, it was learned Saturday. Under the division's schedule, companies in the higher brackets would (Continued on page 41 Oklahoma Exhibitors To Fight Music Tax Oklahoma City, Oct. 14. — Plans for pressing the national exhibitor legislative campaign against music taxing agencies were discussed by representatives of 250 theatres at the annual (Continued on page 4) MAY MEET PATENT ISSUE VIA DISCS Pathe's Plan Seen Set; No New Changes No changes will be made in the plan of reorganization for Pathe Exchange, Inc., it was decided following a study of suggested changes presented by a single group of stockholders of the company. The plan will be resubmitted to the shareholders in its original form in the event the extraordinary meeting of stockholders which Pathe is seeking leave to call is authorized by the court, it was learned Saturday. Pathe officers, after several weeks of consideration, came to the conclusion that the changes proposed would contribute nothing to the plan in the way of advantages to the stockholders or the company. Pathe has several (Continued on page 4) Warners Dropping 4 In Milwaukee Soon Milwaukee, Oct. 14. — Warners are relinquishing four of their eight neighborhood houses here, effective Oct. 15. The future of the four houses, the Venetian, State, Riviera and Kosciuszko, has not yet been determined, although it is rumored they may be taken over by Fox. Allied Holds '28 By-Laws Old; Plans to Revamp Them Because it is felt the by-laws of 1928 are antiquated, Allied will revise its constitution to conform to present-day conditions. Proposals are now being made for certain changes and a vote by mail will be made before the new amendments are officially recorded. Annual meeting of the national board of directors will be held sometime in January. The place and date have not yet been decided. Today the eastern Allied group will hold a regional session at the Copley Plaza in Boston with Walter B. Littlefield as chairman. Business and organization relations will be discussed. Sidney Samuelson, president, states four new units will be added to the national roster shortly. He would not say when the next exhibitor association would annex itself to Allied, but that when the time is ripe he will announce it. Rumored Majors See This Way Around Tri-Ergon Case Major producers are considering a plan to return to sound-on-disc recording and reproduction in order to step around or over the legal point won by American Tri-Ergon, which is William Fox-controlled, in the U. S. Supreme Court at Washington last week. Basic patents reputedly covering the film method of recording and reproduction only are involved. This is the report. Several lawyers for major producers late last week denied they will resort to turntables and discs as their way around or out of an issue as yet to be finally determined. This is one answer to the report. Significant, however, was the possibility sounded by Harry M. Warner at the dinner which concluded the annual golf tournament of the The Exhibitor of Philadelphia, a Jay Emanuel (Continued on page 4) Hayden, Stone Deal Livens Met. Bonds Renewed activity in the bonds of Fox Metropolitan Playhouses being traded on the Produce Exchange during the past few days has reflected new interest in the issue as a result of the pending Hayden, Stone & Co. bid of $4,500,000 for the assets of the circuit. The Fox Met bonds have been dormant since the withdrawal of the Loew-Warner bid for the circuit two months ago when the issue sold off from $46 to $30. Renewed buying (Continued on page 4) Talent Accumulation Attacked by Zanuck Hollywood, Oct. 14.— The accumulation of large numbers of contract players by studios yesterday was likened to the development of stock companies and frowned upon as a policy by Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century production head, who said that it leads to too frequent teaming of the same players with the public soon tiring of them. "Although it is a more costly production procedure," Zanuck said, "we believe that audiences are entitled to see new casts and new combinations of players in each picture and that the policy justifies itself."