Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Monday, November 26, 1934 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 36 November 26, 1934 No. 125 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 Circle 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 pubications: 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. Cable address: "Quigpubco, London"; 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: 3, Kaplar-u, Budapest, II, Endre Hevesi, Representative; Moscow Bureau: Civtzev Vrazhek, N. 25, Apart. 146, Moscow, U. S. S. R., Bella Kashin, Representative. Cable address: "Samrod, Moscow." 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. "Iron Duke" Date Set London, Nov. 25. — Premiere of "The Iron Duke" at the Tivoli next Friday evening looks like the highlight of the theatre week here. The Prince of Wales is expected to attend. Gaumont British declared Saturday it intended launching a fan magazine advertising campaign here beginning with "The Iron Duke." Estelle Schrott is handling that branch of the company's publicity. Charter New M. H. Corp. Albany, Nov. 25. — The new Radio City Music Hall Corp. has been chartered here with capital of 500 shares non par value stock. Directors and subscribers are listed as Francis T. Christie, Andrew Jackson and Rudolph A. Travers of New York. Milbank, Tweed, Hope & Webb are attorneys. Colbert in "One Woman*' Hollywood, Nov. 25. — Claudette Colbert's first film on a new two year contract with Paramount calling for six pictures, will be "One Woman," a Tiffany Thayer yarn. The actress' new ticket allows her to do pictures for other studios. Plans "Hood" Road Show Sol Lesser plans to produce "Robin Hood" on a road show scale. Insiders' Outlook ROSSES are not what they ought to be. This is the wail of the distributor and the exhibitor. In practically all instances, the gain as of this day is no gain when numerically matched up alongside of the figures for the identical period of 1933. Yet the net is better. Sounds like no sense at all, but the answer finds itself in the type of operation to which your up-and-going theatreman today subscribes. He is more sane, more economical and he has gone places in wringing the water from his bond and debenture issues. While grosses, therefore, may be disappointing, the chagrin is not as keen as some would have you believe. The take is less, but so is the "nut" and black ink more generally prevails. . . . T For what was apparently no reason, Manny Cohen put himself between quotes on the coast the other day. It was all about his distaste over and his lack of intention of filing a salary claim against Paramount. Listen to heights to which his loftiness soared : "Many times during the last few years I have requested people in my department to take salary cuts in order to help the company. They did this, although their work was entirely satisfactory. Most of these had no contracts, and I always mentioned to these that I was taking proportionate cuts, even though I had a contract. "Many of these people are still working at these reduced salaries and I do not feel, under these circumstances, that I have a moral right to file a claim for these reductions or for the uncompleted term of my contract while these people cannot do the same." The question, which is not much of a question at all, is whether or not Cohen was taking a back-handed slap at George Schaefer who has a claim of his own— total about $98,000— and has filed it. Cohen's face ought to be red when he learns Schaefer's petition so far has not been allowed. So churn the churnings. . . . T Considerably more smoke than fire permeates the Hollywood yarn narrating in excited fashion the difficulties between Walter Wanger, producer, and Will Hays, adjuster, over "The President Vanishes." For the none too subtle hand of publicity played its part. Evidently it did it well enough to make the United Press and certain newspapers fall. There is a difference of opinion about several of the sequences, but that sort of thing is routine now under Production Code Administration. The picture will be released virtually extant; Jay Paley, the broadcasting man who is a partner of Wanger's in this and other pictures to come for Paramount, will hardly find it necessary to hire his own theatres and Wanger himself denies the attraction is steeped in Fascist propaganda. In other words, a build-up. . . . T From out of the wide open spaces served by the Dallas exchanges comes the story of a new fly-by-nighters "racket" seemingly made possible by the overbuying provisions of the code — too liberally or too carelessly interpreted. Unknowns, the story goes, will open shop in any convenient, vacant store or hall and, if not bought out promptly by an established competitor, will go to the local grievance board with complaints of inability to obtain oroduct due to the alleged over + % Fox Up Half on Big Board Net High Low Close Change Columbia Pictures, vtc 39 39 39 Consolidated Film Industries 354 354 354 Consolidated Film Industries, pfd 1754 1754 17J4 Eastman Kodak 116 115^ 116 Eastman Kodak, pfd 14254 1421/ 14214 Fox Film "A" 13^ 1354 13% Loew's, Inc 35% 34% 35% Loew's, Inc., pfd 10254 10254 10254 M-G-M, pfd 2754 2754 27;4 Paramount Publix, cts ,. 354 354 354 Pathe Exchange 154 1% 1% Pathe Exchange "A"... 1454 1454 1454 RKO 2 1% 2 Warner Bros 454 4f£ 454 + 54 + 54 + 54 + 54 54 % 54 Sales 200 700 4,600 300 1,000 700 4,500 100 100 2,200 1,000 100 200 700 Technicolor Jumps % on Curb Net Technicolor Paramount F. L. 6s '47 Paramount Publix 554s '50. Pathe 7s '37, ww Warner Bros. 6s '39, wd... High Low Close Change Sales • 127% 1254 12^ + H 200 Quarter Rise Net High Low Close Change Sales 1054 10 1054 + Yz 46 4154 4154 4154 1 60 5954 5954 a 20 60 60 60 32 99 99 99 -54 1 59 58% 59 + 54 12 buying by the established theatre. The "racket," it is said, has worked in several instances where the known exhibitor has bought off the intruder at his nuisance value. Says Campi, in effect: "It might work if the established exhibitor permits it to, but not if he carried the overbuying complaint as far as Campi." . . . ▼ Nick Ludington, Jack Curtis and "Jock" Whitney — friends all. That may be responsible for the story around that Whitney's publicized Technicolor features will be released through First Division. Not all of them you understand, for "The Last Days of Pompeii" is set with Radio. And perhaps "Becky Sharp," as well. . . . Joe Hornstein's decision to go it on his own in the equipment field was six months in the making. He lost much of his taste for his former post with Continental, the Warner equipment appendage, that far back and bided time and opportunity to step out for himself once again. . . . Universal advertising of "Imitation of Life" makes no mention of Louise Beavers. She is the colored performer who appears all through the attraction, delivers an excellent and touching performance and, in many scenes, takes the picture away from its star, Claudette Colbert. . . . T London mailbag, all about Gaumont British : "Maurice Ostrer has been sent down to Shepherd's Bush to take complete financial control of the studios. "Mickey Balcon (production chief) remains and, while his title is unchanged, he — among others — recognizes that he is in a secondary position and not the head of the studios, as he was prior to his departure for America. "C. M. Woolf (joint managing director) has been negotiating a large number of contracts and there is talk G. B. must have a pipeline from the Bank of England to Shepherd's Bush. This has been stopped and the comment is Woolf has been removed from much of his former authority and has to bow now to the dictates of the Ostrers. "In spite of all the denials and protestations, it is a well known fact that negotiations are still continuing, not only with Maxwell, but with other interests as well for the purchase of the majority holdings held jointly by Fox and Isidore Ostrer. The feeling over here is that at some time or other in the near future, the control of Gaumont British will change hands." T Sol Rosenblatt came close to quitting the NRA before his appointment as compliance director was cloaked with official approval. It is understood he was offered two other posts in the NRA structure, but Rosenblatt turned (Continued on page 8)