Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1935)

Wednesday, September II, 1935 MOTION PICTURE DAILY II Put Over Case In St, Louis 1 To October 1 (Continued from page 1) journment of 10 days to two weeks, due to the absence of former Senator James A. Reed, Warner attorney, who left for Portland, Ore., yesterday folI lowing the death of his sister, Mary E. Reed. Jeffries explained to the court that Reed had been working on the case for some time and was thoroughly familiar with it while he had been on it only two weeks. Hardy objected to the delay, declaring the Government had gone to an expense of $4,000 or $5,000 in bringing witnesses from all parts of the country. He added that adjournment would mean a waste of time "due to the fact that the victims of a conspiracy are being destroyed, that immediate action is required and the Government is entitled to an early hearing." He emphasized that "the victims are being crushed out of business." Hardy pointed out that Warners was represented by counsel and that neither RKO nor Paramount had asked for a continuance. He said the application for continuance was "simply on the personal request of one man." Jeffries countered by saying that he never heard of an instance where the bar or court did not recognize death in a family and put over cases, adding "the so-called victims are not being put out of business and the Government is trying to crucify innocent companies." When it became apparent Judge Moore would delay the hearing Hardy asked for the earliest date possible, declaring hearings would last' only five days, to which Jeffries replied that the sessions would take from four to six weeks inasmuch as each witness must be examined. Hardy Objects When Moore heard Jeffries' remark he said if the trial was going to last several weeks, it will start now, pointing out that the criminal indictment case is on the calendar for Sept. 30. Hardy then took the floor and said that if the hearing had to be delayed the defendants should pay the cost of bringing witnesses here, to which the judge agreed. Moore then agreed to set Sept. 30 as the date for the injunction proceedings, but Jacob Lashly, local RKO attorney, intervened and informed the judge that the criminal action set for the same date may not go on because Hardy had not submitted a bill of particulars due Sept. 9. Judge Moore said RKO will get them either Wednesday or Thursday. The Federal judge then set the preliminary injunction hearing for Sept. 30 to follow the criminal case but Lashly said this wasn't good as RKO attorneys would not know which case to concentrate upon. A 10-minute recess was granted for the attorneys to get together but when they failed to agree Moore set Oct. 1 as the injunction hearing date leaving Sept. 30 stand as the criminal action date. Jeffries told the court Abel Carey Thomas, general counsel and secretary of Warners, had recently suffered a stroke and although improving rapidly he did not know if Thomas would be available at the end Matrimony St. Louis, Sept. 10. — The Government action nearly interfered with matrimony. As soon as Clayton T. Lynch, M-G-M manager, who was subpoenaed in the case, learned of the postponement today, he dashed to marry Cletus Utterbach, the couple leaving immediately on a honeymoon. Harris P. Wolfberg, district manager, is coming from Kansas City next week temporarily to run the exchange. of the month for the indictment session. Paramount's local attorney, William R. Gentry, asked that the two dates be set for Sept. 30. Hardy objected to moving up the indictment hearing. All witnesses were excused and ordered to return Oct. 1. The defendants will pay the cost of bringing witnesses for this hearing. Most out-of-towners left this afternoon by plane and train for New York, among them Ned E. Depinet, Neil F. Agnew, Louis Phillips, Irving Lesser, I. Levinson and Gordon Youngman. Jules Levy left for a short trip to Chicago. Representing RKO were Youngman, R. R. Irvine, George Leisure, William Mallard, Russell Dorr and John Howley from New York, and Lashly from here. For Paramount were Phillips and Sam W. Fordyce from New York and Gentry from here. Warners were represented by Levinson and Robert W. Perkins of New York and Jeffries, Fred Wood and Simpson Plummer locally. Fanchon and Marco were represented by Ernest L. Wilkinson, of Washington and John S. Leahy locally. In addition to Hardy and the local district attorney, Harry C. Blanton, the Government was represented by John F. Claggert, William R. Denham and Harold L. Schilz from Washington. J. W. Fulbright and Robert M. Cooper, Government attorneys who had been working with Hardy, were unable to attend. Milton Arthur of California flew to the coast tonight. William Gehring and William Sussman, who arrived here last night, left for Oklahoma City by plane today after conferring with Benjamin Reingold, local Fox branch manager in connection with the third Kent drive. Lesser and Partington left for New York by air. Hardy and Denham leave for Washington Wednesday and Claggett and Schilz leave Thursday. Libeau to Des Moines St. Louis, Sept. 10. — R. C. Libeau, Paramount district manager with headquarters in Kansas City, attended the court session and then left for Des Moines after seeing Agnew. Report Grosses Hold Up St. Louis, Sept. 10. — Jules Levy, before leaving for New York, declared "Top Hat" grossed $71,000 in the first four days of the second week at the Music Hall in New York, compared to $74,500 in the same period of the first week. Irving Lesser said "Diamond Jim" would probably end its third week at the Roxy at $30,000, with $22,000 for the first four days. Moves Begun For Merging 306-Allied (Continued from page 1) and Allied-manned houses to an immediate end. The meeting and truce were arranged at the instance of Tichenor, who is reported to be acting upon insistence from Mayor LaGuardia that the theatre picketing "nuisance" be terminated. As a result of the truce, Broadway and other theatre fronts throughout the city were free of pickets yesterday for the first time in many months. According to reliable reports the only Local 306 pickets not called in were those assigned to the seven Harry Harris houses, the Bluebird, Columbia, Gotham, Sunset, Washington, Bronx and Central. Under the truce Local 306 agrees to refrain from efforts to make employment contracts with theatres manned by Allied members and the latter organization makes the same agreement with respect to theatres manned by Local 306 men. The strife between the two unions has been spirited from its very beginning. During the past few weeks an unprecedented outbreak of violence, marked by the bombing of houses owned or operated by Brandt and the beating of Allied pickets on duty at Local 306-manned houses., was ascribed by police to the warfare between the unions. Theatre operators, particularly those in the Times Square area, have chafed for months over the picketing of their houses by one or the other of the rival unions. Meanwhile, Local 306 is continuing its negotiations on a new basic wage scale with circuit representatives. No conclusive progress in the negotiations up to a late hour yesterday was reported by either side. A membership meeting of Local 306 is scheduled for today to hear reports on the status of the negotiations and the local's recent petition to I.A.T.S.E. headquarters at Washington for a revocation of the latter's order against a strike by Local 306. According to reliable reports, the petition was denied. Acting on the suggestion of circuit representatives, a request is expected to be made of today's meeting to grant authority to the local's negotiators to act on their own initiative without being required to submit recurring proposals to the membership for approval. Local 306 representatives predicted that the request, if made, would be refused. Republic Has 2,000 Deals Closed — Golden Contracts have been closed by Republic Pictures with over 2,000 exhibitors in the two months since the company's organization, Edward Golden, general sales manager, reported yesterday. The contract list includes leading circuits and important key runs in every section of the country. "The Keeper of the Bees," a Monogram special, is booked to play the Loew circuit from Sept. 30 to Oct 3. "Two Sinners," with Otto Kruger, will have its world premiere at the Fox Brooklyn starting Friday. Para. Quarter Receipts Hit $1,582,500 (Continued from page 1) wholly owned or substantially wholly owned subsidiaries ; $76,800 was received as dividends from non-consolidated subsidiaries, and $216,200 from a foreign exchange adjustment. Deductions were as follows : Interest on bank settlement (non-recurring after June 29, 1935), $55,000; Federal income taxes (estimated), $195,500 ; interest for second quarter on new debentures of Paramount Pictures, Inc., from Jan. 1, 1935, in accordance with the reorganization plan, $400,000 ; reserve for losses of Paramount Broadway Corp. and companies which are inactive, or the future status of which is uncertain, $136,000. This left an estimated net earnings total of $796,000. A statement issued by the company read : "The above results have been prepared by the company's accountants from the books and reports of subsidiaries, and are subject to annual audit by public accountants. They exclude expenses incident to the bankruptcy and reorganization of the parent company. They do not include the results of operations of Olympia Theatres, Inc., and the Minnesota Amusement Co. and certain indirectly owned subsidiaries which were in receivership or bankruptcy throughout the period, and whose operations, therefore, do not affect the current earnings of Paramount Pictures, Inc. "Net capital losses for which new reserves were created on the balance sheet of Sept. 29, 1934, are also excluded. Operations of companies which are not wholly owned or substantially wholly owned are included only to the extent that dividend income has been received therefrom. "The second quarter's earnings reflect seasonal factors, and to some extent the adverse effect of the temporary slowing down of production resulting from the reorganization of the studio management undertaken early in the year and still in progress. Studio production is increasing, but the effect of the lower production rate during the spring and early summer will continue to be reflected in operating figures for some time." Fill List for Wayne Hollywood, Sept. 10.— Republic has purchased "The Battle of the Alamo" from Lindsley Parsons and Robert Emmett who also will do the screen play. This completes the list of eight for John Wayne this year, three of which have been made. Following the success of "Westward Ho," Republic plans to concentrate on historical subjects in future Wayne productions. Buttolph Gets Going Hollywood, Sept. 10.— David Buttolph, formerly with Station WGY, New York and now under contract to 20th Century-Fox, will arrange a musical score for "This Is the Life," Jane Withers picture, as his first assignment.