Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1935)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Friday, January II, 1935 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 37 January 11, 1935 No. 9 Martin Quigley Editor-in-Chief and Publisher MAURICE KANN Editor JAMES A. CRON Advertising Manager ST 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 1935 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. 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; 600 George 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. D. C. Allied Unit Elects Washington, Jan. 10. — Officers have been named by the recently formed District of Columbia unit of Allied, with C. H. Olive as president. A. E. Lichtman is vice-president; J. H. Hiser, treasurer, and E. Laurence Phillips, secretary. The organization has a membership of 30 theatres. Reports Cleveland Gain Theatre business in Cleveland, Cin cinnati and Pittsburgh is perking up Nat Lefton, Monogram district manager covering these territories, stated yesterday. He said factories are now humming and people are visiting the shows. Brown Signed by Fox Hollywood, Jan. 10. — Melville Brown has been signed by Robert T. Kane to direct "Man Eating Tiger," written by Ben Hecht and Rose Cay lor, for Fox. Golden to Be Speaker Edward Golden, general sales mana ger of Monogram, will be one of the speakers at the annual M. P. T. O. A session in New Orleans on Feb. 25-27. "Romance" to Music Hall RKO Radio's "Romance in Man hattan" has been booked for the Music Hall for the week beginning Jan. 17. Insiders' Outlook "XT 0T at this time" wil1 Con_ ■L^l solidated consider sponsoring an exchange organization for the varied assortment of independents in the financing of which the big laboratory company plays a part. Herb Yates says so and that means he knows, for, when you talk about Consolidated, it's virtually the same as saying Yates. The understanding is these selfsame independents have approached him at various times over a period of some months to do something about it to the end that they get the break which they are not getting now but which they say should be theirs in the constant struggle for a proper place in the sun. "Not at this time," it might be said, is as permanent as was yesterday, a hectic day what with all this excitement over Federal grand jury probes thundering up in the north, south, east and west. . . . Will Hays delivered an address before the Los Angeles Realty Board the other night and wondered aloud over the reasons why the real estate boys were crooning less these days on the wonders of Southern California. "In the years Fve been coming to California the motion picture has found its voice and you appear to have lost yours," our favorite trade paper said of Hays' gentle chidings, adding that the loosened celluloid tongue had gotten that way "through tremendous struggle and labor." It must be tough, very tough for those overworked minions filmatic to get along at the current rate of their earnings. Just how tough, in one direction which might be multiplied by many, is demonstrated by reading elsewhere today the cost of maintaining the Paramount studio payroll weekly. . . . Over the bridge in Brooklyn where the Strand, Fox and Paramount are blood brothers in an operating pool, complications appear to be setting in to the ultimate discomfort, beyond doubt, of Si Fabian. There, the Fox operates on a combination stage show and picture policy at 65 cents top. There, the Paramount yesterday went to double features, first run, with no stage show but with the identical top. You figure what's about to happen. Then add to it, the rising tide of indignation on the part of independent exhibitors in that borough over the duals development and you get a perfect picture of this winter's discontent on the other side of town. . . . TIME was when Al Steffes, good old political fire-eater all in the cause of Allied, used to stamp up and down the country lambasting producers and their theatres and raising hell in largesized quantities. For some time now, however, Al has been operating the World theatre in Minneapolis, right in his own bailiwick and what's happened financially has been very comforting and comfortable on Steffes' behalf. He is about to annex the Shubert there with a nice hunk of cash changing hands to cement the deal. The lessen in all of this should be apparent, so apparent as to make unnecessary and futile any observation from this quarter which always has regarded Steffes as more noise than bite anyway. . . . T Following the suggestion, paid for in generous newspaper space by Lynn Farnol and Abe Waxman, this reporter took himself to the Music Hall yesterday to meet Jessie Matthews. It developed to be an unfortunate event in that the introduction turned out to be a long distance affair with Miss Matthews only a shadow of herself on the screen and this column sprawled gracefully, it hopes, in the upper reaches of the theatre's loges. For, this English actress is personable; she has charm, a nice, albeit small, voice, and a definite capabality for making herself ingratiating before a camera. "Evergreen," her first picture, which is discussed on another page this morning, promises much for her after something is done about the job of making her known to the customers in this country. She should prove a bet if handled properly and exploited well. . . . T Ed Kuykendall and his ebullience flowed over the dikes yesterday in a statement which had him saying the plans for the M.P.T.O.A. convention in New Orleans had reached the point where, denials notwithstanding, he could say it would be "so novel, so typical of New Orleans and the sunny South that it can be only adequately described as thrilling, colossal, terrific, magnificant, supreme and stupendous." Please, Mr. Kuykendall. . . . T Who is to get the dues from those Philadelphia theatremen, members of the I.E.P.A., who the other day decided to graft their theatres onto the Allied of Jersey structure while, at the same time, keeping the faith with their original organization ? Solomon Gets Award At Newark Luncheon Sig Solomon of the Regent, Newark, was presented the December Quigley award yesterday at a luncheon in the Hotel Douglas, Newark. Don Jacocks, Newark Warner division manager; the entire personnel of the division, and a number of home office representative attended. Jacocks expressed the company's appreciation of Solomon's services. A-Mike Vogel, head of the Managers' Round Table Club of Motion Picture Herald, one of the speakers, said that five award winners had received promotions. Gottlieb Quits U. A. To Do Columbia Ads Alexander Gottlieb, who has been assisting Hal Home in the U. A. advertising department for more than a year, has resigned to join Columbia under Herschel Stuart. He assumes his new duties Monday. Kenneth O'Brien has been assigned to press books at U. A., while Al Adams, formerly Monroe Greenthal's assistant, is now in charge of trailers and national advertising copy. Max Hirsh, who has been working under Herb Jaediker, succeeds Adams in the latter's former post. Du-Art Granted Stay Du-Art Film Laboratories, Inc., yesterday was granted a stay in the Supreme Court under which Universal's laboratory work will be handled by the plaintiff company until Monday when the action will again be heard. Du-Art filed suit against "U" on Wednesday alleging the latter is endeavoring to throw out a contract for printing which the plaintiff claims to hold in favor of Consolidated. Roxy Grosses $29,500 "It's a Gift" garnered a nice take of $29,500 at the Roxy last week, giving the theatre a handsome profit. "Sweet Adeline" at the Paramount was off with a gross of $22,500. The Palace, with "Kentucky Kernels," hit $8,500 on the first Broadway showing. "Enter Madame" opens tonight as another first run attraction. Plan New Rialto Bldg. When Arthur Mayer vacates the Rialto it will be torn down for the erection of a four-story building containing a theatre, stores, offices and a restaurant, according to Anthony Campagna, president of Rialto Times Square, Inc., which has leased the property from the Gerry estate. The cost is estimated at $150,000. Skouras-RKO Deal Set George Skouras today takes over the Strand, Rockville Center, L. I., and the Embassy, Port Chester, N. Y., from RKO. The contracts were signed last week. Final details have been worked out during the last few days. That's always an important and usually a non-productive situation in any man's exhibitor association. Ask Myers. Ask Kuykendall. Ask Sydney Cohen. Or Jimmy Walker. . . . KANN