Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1935)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Saturday, May 18, 1935 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 37 May 18, 1935 No. 117 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 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 Box-Office Check-Up. Hollywood Bureau: Postal Union Life Building, Vine and Yucca Streets, Victor M. Shapiro, Manager; Chicago Bureau: 624 South Michigan Avenue, 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. 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. Spyros Skouras Delayed Albuquerque, May 17. — Spyros Skouras was grounded here today en route to New York by plane. He has been in Los Angeles for the past few days conferring with his brother Charles on Fox West Coast. Kansas City, May 17. — Elmer Rhoden returned today from F.W.C. conferences. He leaves next week for New York. John D. Clark, general sales manager of Fox, is due from the coast Monday. He conferred with Fox West Coast and National Theatres' film buyers on new product. Kills Fairbanks Deal Hollywood, May 17. — Asserting the actor is needed in England for a picture to be made for them, Warners have opposed Universal's efforts to obtain the services of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., for the male lead in "The Magnificent Obsession." Shutrock New Rapf Aide Hollywood, May 17. — Jack Shutrock, until recently music department head at M-G-M, has been made executive assistant to Harry Rapf, who has charge of M-G-M's shorts. "U" Club Dance Set The Universal Club will hold its annual supper dance at the Hotel Astor in the Grand Ballroom June 1. Sign Jeanette MacDonald Hollywood, May 17. — Jeanette MacDonald has been signed to a new three-picture contract by M-G-M. 4 Purely Personal ► HAROLD J. RINZLER, son of Sam, partner of Louis Frisch in the operation of Randforce, will become a benedict on June 16. The lucky girl is Rosalind Bernstein and the ceremony will take place at Brooklyn Jewish Center. • H. F. Kincey and Bob Wilby of the southern circuit bearing their names arrived and left for Miami yesterday after attending a clearance and zoning case in which the Graham and Alco, Graham, N. C, were involved. Rutgers Neilson escorting Mrs. Hepburn and her two other daughters, Peggy and Marion, into the Music Hall to see "Break of Hearts." The audience mistaking Peggy for her more famous sister, Katharine. • A. B. and Mrs. Thompson, of Burlington, N. C, are in town. They plan to leave for home today. J. J. Henderson, their attorney, accompanied them on a clearance case against Kincey & Wilby. • Mrs. Maury Silverstone is in New York with her two children, awaiting the arrival of her husband, who is managing director for U. A. in England. • John E. Kennebec, Paramount managing director in Australia, is in Omaha on a visit and is due back in town about the first week in June. • Sam Eckman, Jr., managing director for M-G-M in England, sails on the lie de France this morning, accompanied by Mrs. Eckman. Mrs. Sam Marx sails today on the Pennsylvania for the coast. Her husband, coast story editor for M-G-M, returned west last week. • Regina Crewe, picture critic on the New York American, leaves for the coast tomorrow over the airline. She'll be away three weeks. • Betty Goldstein, secretary to Moe Sander at the New York Fox exchange, leaves today for the Carolinas on a 10-day vacation. • Charles S. Roth, owner of the State, Harrisonburg, Va., is in town looking for new equipment and picture deals. • Willie Howard has arrived on the coast for his role in Paramount's "Rose of the Rancho." • Robert Edmond Jones has an article on color, particularly on its application to films, in the current issue of Vanity Fair. • Ned Depinet watching the crowd pour out of the Music Hall after the last performance the other night. • Conrad Nagel, window shopping on Fifth Ave. the other night. Al Mendelson, New Jersey booker for the Fox exchange, starts com muting to Munsey Park, N. Y., for the summer on May 25. • Tallulah Bankhead limping up Broadway yesterday. A broken toe suffered the night before the rea Joe Penner will be master of ceremonies at the annual spring ball of Rutgers College Friday night. • Alfred Gray, brother of D. W. Griffith, had J. J. McCarthy on his calling list yesterday. • Milton Feld paid a visit to his old haunts in the Paramount Bldg. yesterday. • Al Jolson attended the recent double header at the Polo Grounds. • Joe Seidelman arrives at Los Angeles today from "down under." • Arthur Mayer is going to Mexico for a vacation. Illinois Light Strike Shuts Many Theatres Springfield, 111., May 17. — Scores of theatres in 49 central and southern Illinois towns have been forced to cease exhibition of pictures as a result of the disruption of electrical service due to a strike of union employes of the Illinois Power and Light Co. Some towns are entirely without power, others having only a limited supply. Some theatre owners who sought to install private power plants were informed the strikers would not permit such a step. Other houses are turning to stage shows, with oil lamps furnishing the illumination. Gov. Horner today continued his efforts to bring about a peaceful settlement. Until the strike is settled theatres that are unable to operate will be compelled to refuse film shipments and set back playdates. It is understood local exchanges will cooperate with exhibitors in the emergency. Form Fox Winnebago Wilmington, May 17. — Fox Winnebago Corp. was chartered here today with capital of $1,000. United Radio Artists, Inc., changed its name to Cherwel Corp. and M. K. G, Inc., changed its name to United Radio Artists, Inc. Approves New Members Hollywood, May 17. — At a meeting of the Screen Writers' Guild last night the following new members were approved : Marcella Burke, Melvin Levy, Mortimer Offner, Ethel Gillette, Virginia Kelogg, Roger Whately and Robert Benchley. Consolidated Dividend Consolidated Film Industries yesterday declared a dividend of 25 cents a share on the preferred stock, payable July 1 to holders of record June 10. Previously the company had paid 50 cents a share on the issue. Mrs. Wood Recovering Columbus, May 17. — Mrs. P. J. Wood, wife of the secretary of the Ohio I.T.O., has been discharged from a local hospital, and is recuperating at her home from an aggravated attack of the flu. Grace Moore Given Art Society Medal Grace Moore was presented the annual medal of the Society of Arts and Sciences "for raising the standard of motion picture entertainment through her work in 'One Night of Love' " at a dinner and reception given by the society last night at the RitzCarlton. Miss Moore is the first figure in the industry to receive the prize and the second woman in the 53 years of the organization, the first having been Eve LeGallienne. Prominent among the speakers was Will H. Hays, president of the M. P. P. D. A., who said in part: "The motion picture is the most potent factor in the development of national appreciation of good music." Harry Cohn, president of Columbia, accompanied by Mrs. Cohn, was also present at the dinner and reception, having flown in from the coast for the occasion. Stadium Board Meets Directors of Stadium Theatres Corp., holding company for Orpheum Theatres which operates about 25 houses in the west and middle west, met yesterday and discussed financial and general matters. Leslie E. Thompson is president of Stadium. RKO will close the Strand, Syracuse, on June 1 for the summer. Only one or two other houses will be darkened for the warm months. They are in college towns where the circuit has two theatres, with one closing. William Elson, who is operating the President and 7th Ave. in Minneapolis under a lease from RKO, arrives Monday for home office confabs. Music Hall Films Set With "Escape Me Never" and "Becky Sharp" set for the Music Hall following the run of the current Katharine Hepburn picture, "Break of Hearts," the bookings for the house are considered closed for the next six weeks. It is expected "Escape Me Never" will be held over for two weeks and possibly more and that "Becky Sharp" will run for at least three weeks. The new Grace Moore film, "Love Me Forever," is also set for the Music Hall, and may play before "Becky Sharp." Morris Rabanus Killed New Haven, May 17. — Morris Rabanus, local M-G-M salesman, was killed last night in an auto crash near New London. He had returned last week from Detroit where he attended the company's regional sales meet. Rabanus died at the Lawrence Hospital, New London. He had been with M-G-M for 18 years. His widow is flying in from Chicago to set funeral arrangements. Change Golfing Scene The RKO golf tournament on May 23 has been switched from the Westchester Country Club to the Fenimore Country Club, also in Westchester. Pine Returns to Coast Hollywood, May 17. — William Pine, publicity and advertising director for Paramount on the coast, returned here last night.