Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1935)

MOTION PICTURE DAI LY Saturday, June 22, 1935 Ladies" Big Boston Draw; Others Slump Boston, June 21.— "No More Ladies" was the big noise of the week. It ran up to $18,000. above the line by $6,000, at Loew's State in the face of a general slump. The only other attraction to develop any strength was "The Glass Key" which took $24,000 at the Metropolitan, helped by a stage show. This was $2,000 over average. "The Girl Who Came Back" and "Doubting Thomas," playing day and date at both the Fenway and the Paramount, were weak in both spots. ^ Total first run business was $65,500. Average is $68,500. Estimated takings for the week ending tonight: "THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK" (Chesterfield) "DOUBTING THOMAS" (Fox) FENWAY — (1.382). 30c-50c, 7 days. Gross: $3,500. (Average. $4,500) "HOORAY FOR LOVE" (Radio) KEITH'S MEMORIAL — (2.907), 25c-65c, 7 days. Gross: 57.000. (Average, $12,000) "NO MORE LADIES" (M-G-M) LOEW'S STATE — (3.537), 25c-55c, 7 days. Gross: $18,000. (Average, $12,000) "THE GLASS KEY" (Para.) METROPOLITAN — (4,332), 35c-65c, 7 days Stage: "California Collegians. Gross: $24,000. (Average. $22,000) "THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK" (Chesterfield) "DOUBTING THOMAS" (Fox) PARAMOUNT— (1,793), 25c-50c, 7 days. Gross: $5,500. (Average. $7,000) "THE PEOPLE'S ENEMY" (Radio) "THE HEALER" (Monogram) RKO BOSTON— (3,246), 25c-50c, 7 days. Gross: $7,500. (Average. $11,000) Assert Europe Wants Half Action: Rest Talk. Music (.Continued from page 1) Reagan Opens Para. Session in Chicago Chicago. June 21.— Charles Reagan, western division manager, held the first of a two-day regional meeting today of Paramount sales forces from the " Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls and Indianapolis exchanges. From here Reagan will go to Excelsior Springs, Mo., where representatives of the Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha, and Des Moines exchanges will convene for discussions on new sales policy and the new lineup. The two-day session starts Monday. Denver is the next stop where a meeting will be held June 27-28. The last session is set for San Francisco for June 30 and July 1. Reagan anticipates returning to New York about July 6. Atlanta. June 21.— J. J. Unger today met here with Paramount exchange forces in surrounding territories. The session will be continued until tomorrow. On Sunday he will fly to Dallas where another session will be held Monday. He expects to be in Cleveland on Tuesday for a regional gathering. The Buffalo and Boston meeting dates are not set. Sons Join Mercy Firm Portland, June 21. — Frederick Mercy, operating an independent circuit with headquarters in Yakima Valley, has dedicated a new $45,000 office building and has taken his three sons into partnership in Junior Amusement Co. Mercy holds the presidency, with Frederick, Jr., as secretary, Paul as vice-president and Edgar as treasurer. studio executives at the parleys, of their requirements with particular emphasis placed on the dialogue equation, stressed their need for stories with a more pronounced international flavor and cheered on the convention floor when they were assured the 193536 Radio program would stress action. In England, the British subsidiary will release the domestic 48 plus 15 English-made features under the Films Act which is now in its 20 per cent, or highest, bracket. The product will come from four units, Stafford Prod., Embassy Prod., G.S. Enterprises, headed by A. George Smith, and Joseph Ermolieff, Russian with a German production record behind him. Hollywood talent will be used for these attractions to bring within easier reach the objective which will dominate the British enterprise : 50 per cent of the planned 15 for American distribution. E. D. Leishman, chairman of Radio Pictures, Ltd., and managing director of Radio Pictures International, stated the negative cost of each will run between £30,000 and £40,000. Interesting was a plan he evolved to ascertain the reaction of the British exhibitor as to types. A questionnaire forwarded to all English theatre operators brought these results in this order : 1. — Musicals. 2. — Comedy-dramas. 3. — Dramas. 4. — Shockers. The British program, therefore, will be governed accordingly. Hanbury Is Satisfied Ralph Hanbury, general sales manager in England, expressed his satisfaction over conferences with studio officials in Chicago and declared the production department is now conscious of the scope of the international market. Of conditions in England, he stated theatre business had sloughed in April, but had regained its stride in May. The theatre spree which currently characterizes the English industry to him represents an ultimate danger in overbuilding and, therefore, in overseating. Excess and unused funds in the treasuries of insurance companies and building societies are the principal sources of new financing today, he added. Harry W. Leasim, general sales manager of Radio Pictures International, Ltd., and managing director of Radio Pictures, S. A., of France, finds the greatest obstacle to the normal progress of American distribution abroad is the successful effort of many European governments to halt the flight of capital from their respective countries. "After the sale is made, the job then begins of getting the funds out of the given country into headquarters," he said. "This, of course, is a worry which all companies are experiencing." Asked about the status of native producing industries and whether or not the growth of national production is not further hampering American sales on the Continent, Leasim gave it as his opinion the quality of the film determined the issue. Recognizing that to hear talkers in their own language was a natural reaction of Continental publics, he expressed himself as seeing any gain from reasons of nationalistic pride as one which is giving away to the greater appeal of American stars and the technical excellence of Hollywood manufacture. European production is gaining, he added. Czechoslovakia will make from 30 to 40 this year; Austria, Hungary and Poland will each contribute to the total in their native tongue, although Leasim was not prepared to chalk up a definite number from these three sources ; Sweden, he marked down for a total identical with Czecho's and credited French studios with an anticipated 100 to 120 for 1935. Similar to the divisional managerial system which prevails in the American selling scheme, Leasim has a staff of three. Michael Havas handles Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czecho, Poland and Jugoslavia. Carl Wallman represents Radio International in Scandinavia and the Border States ; Joseph Biondo, with headquarters in Rome, looks after Italy and the Balkans. Michael Gerassy is Leasim's assistant in Paris. Joost Smit, director of N. V. Remaco's Filmbedryf, Radio's distributor in Holland and in the Dutch East Indies, stated there are 200 theatres in Holland, all of them wired. The Dutch East Indies have 400, practically all of them wired. Business in Holland is not too good, he added, giving as his reason a too low scale in theatre admissions. The average is one guilder, which currently is 60 cents, American. Smit believes an immediate increase of 25 per cent is necessary and a step which Dutch exhibitors can absorb without difficulty. Plans 12 Dutch Features "Loet Barnstyn plans 12 features in Dutch. Twenty to 24 loom from all sources very shortly now," he remarked. "I see no curtailment facing American product because of the growth of the home industry because Hollywood product definitely has the edge in point of facilities and production excellence." American exhibitors may be interested in learning that the theatremen and distributors in Holland are banded tightly together in the Netherlandsche Bioscoop Bond, a trade association which has a pleasant habit of cutting of film service on a Tuesday if films played as recently as a previous Friday are not paid for. Smit thinks it is a good idea from both the angle of the exhibitor and the distributor. At the same time, he said he appreciated the fact that talkers in Dutch, at the outset at least, will have a marked appeal to Hollanders. Therefore, two of the features to be made for Radio in England also will be made in Dutch. Smit, aside from his film association with Radio, operates what is reputed to be the largest advertising agency in Holland, with a companion company in India. Max Bosnian is the Radio agent handling Belgium, Luxembourg and Belgian colonies. He makes his headquarters in Brussels and is also interested in the widely known Roxy theatre in Amsterdam, which is operated by A. Tuschinsky. "If pictures had less dialogue, the need for superimposed titles would correspondingly decrease. We have to use Flemish and French titles now. In many instances they fill enough of the screen to reach into the faces of the players. Obviously, such a state of affairs can hardly be described as satisfactory," he said. Like Smit, Bosman thinks Belgian admission scales are geared too low. Ranging from one to seven Belgian francs in average, he believes the range should start at five and end at 15. Of the 1,000 theatres in Belgium, Bosman computed 600 are wired. Pierre Le Long, whose company handles Radio in France, favors the dramatic picture, although, like the other of Radio's foreign contingent, has had pronounced success with outstanding musicals. They, however, are best with a Continental background, in his opinion. He plans two French originals this year, will "dub" eight of Radio's 48 and confine his activities on the others to the French regulations which limit American talkers in their original versions to 15 theatres. Five are in Paris and the others in the provinces. "Dubbed" versions, on the other hand, are submitted to no restrictions and may play in as many houses as can be sold. The "dubbing," however, has to be done on French soil. Of his country's 2,700 houses, Le Long estimates 2,000 are equipped for sound. Favors Sophisticated Films Wallman, Radio's sales overseer in Scandinavia and the Border States, is for the sophisticated type of picture, provided dialogue is reduced to its minimum. In Sweden, as elsewhere, 40 features will be made this year as against an average of 10 three years ago. Censor regulations are severe, he reports, it being impossible to show a gun firing a shot, the shot itself or bodies falling as a result of the shot. A custom levy of S2.50 per reel levied on all prints, to his mind, is the most severe of any country in the world. Eighty-six of Sweden's 600 houses are in Stockholm, Wallman added. Norway has 300, all owned and operated by the government with a national board sitting in final judgment on what may or may not be imported into that country. Superimposed titles prevail generally. In the instance of Sweden, he declared, "dubbing" failed because the public refused to go for it. "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" was a big draw in Roumania, Nikolas Cazazis of Arta Films, stated. He is for musicals, and drama provided they have paucity of dialogue. Two hundred and fifty houses of Roumania's 400 are wired at this time. The foreign contingent will remain in New York for about another week, most of them sailing for their respective cities on the 'Majestic June 29. Leishman and Leasim may stay over for a couple of additional weeks. Acquit "ZJ" Cameraman Havana, June 21. — Abelardo Domingo Rios, Universal Newsreel cameraman, has been acquitted on a charge of espionage by an urgency court. He was arrested after the showing of films depicting the execution of a Cuban by a firing squad on May 8. His acquittal followed proof that he had permission to make the picture from military authorities. Domingo was arrested May 24 along with George Naylor, American in charge of the local office. Naylor was released 60 hours later.