Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1935)

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MOTION PICTURE DAI LY MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Insiders' Outlook By RED KANN Vol. 38 November 8, 1935 No. 110 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-Uf. Hollywood Bureau: Postal Union Life Building, Vine and Yucca Streets, Boone Mancall, Manager; Chicago Bureau: 624 South Michigan Avenue, C. B. O'Neill, Manager; London Bureau: Remo House, 310 Regent Street, 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; Tokyo Bureau: 47 Higashi Gokencho Ushigome-Ku, H. Tominaga, 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. No "Top Hat" Suits Follow Ohio Ruling St. Louis, Nov. 7. — No other exhibitor suits have been filed against RKO in connection with "Top Hat," it has been learned here on good authority. Four separate test cases to compel the distributor to deliver the AstaireRogers picture as one of last season's group were thrown out by Common Pleas Judge Lee C. Skeel in Cleveland on Oct. 30. There will be no appeal. RKO attorneys considered these cases the toughest of all complaints made, in that four were tried individually. It is admitted numerous complaints have been lodged with the company, but no court cases have been filed, it is stated. Clubs to Aid Benefit Night club talent will be featured at the benefit of the American Federation of Actors at the Majestic Sunday night. Latest talent additions are Abe Lyman and his orchestra, the Hollywood Restaurant revue, Nils T. Granlund and his Paradise revue, with Jerry Freeman's orchestra, and Eddie Garr. Chest Drive Gaining Hollywood, Nov. 7. — -The Motion Picture Division of the Community Chest Drive has subscribed $141,737 toward a quota of $200,000. This is approximately 70 per cent of the quota. A total of $64,784 was raised last week. J^TOTES from a bedside rest: ■* ' The selection of Leo Spitz ultimately to head RKO emphasizes the influence in that direction which John Hertz may be expected to wield. For Spitz and Hertz, their friendship tracing back to an earlier day in Chicago, have maintained the association through paths which have met in the world of business as well. There was the time when Sam Katz had moved his base of operations from New York to the Paramount studio in Hollywood. Originally asked here by Katz for whom, as well as for the Balabans, Spitz had been attorney, the latter's sphere of influence in Paramount administration grew until it filled the Number 1 spot in that company's affairs. . . . T They spoke well, very well indeed, of Spitz at Paramount during that era. It was told of him that he was an executive of keen perception and of sharp and thorough analytical power; that, through a long and intimate contact as a lawyer for important interests in this industry, he had acquired an appreciative knowledge of its sensitivity and a familiarity with its essential manpower. If he possessed these attributes as an administrator then, it is logical enough to assume he continues to retain them and will bring to his new post at RKO a background in experience which will eliminate halts in reorganization while the chief reorganizer learns what has to be reorganized. His appointment further indicates that the AtlasLehman group, now dominant in RKO affairs, is displaying judgment by sidestepping the usual decision of bankers, which is to name an outsider to run a type of business which has never been successfully operated except by an insider. . . . T Conclusions will be jumped at again. Hertz, as Spitz's sponsor, is a factor in Paramount, tied in Jewish Film to Open "Land of Promise," a sound film with music and narrative, which has been shown in a number of spots in Europe and also before the League of Nations Mandates Commission, will open at the Astor, Nov. 20. It was made in Palestine and shows the modern developments and the return of refugees from Germany. Boris Morros did the music score and the narrative is by David Ross. Hoffberg Sets a Title "An Old Spanish Custom" is the title finally decided upon by the J. H. Hoffberg Co. for it's third release this season. with the Atlas-Lehman-Fortington group. The impress on RKO's future which the Spitz appointment indicates is Hertz's, plus the joint participation in RKO of his firm (Lehman Brothers) and Atlas, might be interpreted as tying the two film companies together in a working agreement or a merger. As many judge matters in this business, such a construction is almost certain to be forthcoming and at once, too. An intriguing possibility to bounce around conversationally and speculatively, we remind once again of the fallacies in forecasts and the uncertainties which are often inherent in them. . . . T Spitz's first task, by his own word, will be one of general inspection. His formal elevation to the presidency will come with a reorganized RKO. Elsewhere in this edition today you may read how it all came about. Offered the post once or twice before, Spitz finally succumbed. The deal must be a pretty one to persuade resumption of a New York residence when Chicago is his home. . . . T T With a deal finally struck between New York's major circuits, which are Loew's and RKO, of course, and Local 306, attention can now be directed toward further accord in labor union ranks. Some see an elimination of competitive cross-currents by a consolidation of Allied and Empire with 306, although such a three-cornered deal carries no assurance another union will not spring up. Some also see a less complex situation locally if the city, through its Department of Electricity, Gas and Inspection, checked into operator licenses already issued. There is one, at least, in the hands of a barber who has never seen the interior of a projection booth. . . . Marxes St. Louis Hit St. Louis, Nov. 7.— With $25,000 in the till for the week, "A Night at the Opera" hit the best gross for Loew's State in the last three years, beating "China Seas," its nearest competitor. The Marx Bros, comedy is being held six extra days, following which "Thanks a Million" will run a week. "Mutiny of the Bounty" will succeed the Fox picture and run for two weeks. Hearst Arrives Here William Randolph Hearst arrived in New York yesterday from California. Friday, November 8, 1935 Long Reel Details Changed by Council Hoi .lywood, Nov. 7. — Recommendations for changes in the 2,000-foot reel specifications, as submitted by distributing companies in New York, were approved by the Academy's Research Council at a meeting last night. The changes include reel diameter reduction from ISyi inches to 15 inches, with a minimum reel length of 1,750 feet. With the exception of unusual cases, all reels are to be cut at the studio to reach the theatre between 1,750 feet and 2,000 feet. Studios are to continue to indicate the projection changeovers at the end of the first 1,000 feet of each reel to provide for theatres not yet equipped with 2,000foot projection apparatus. The council approved the method recommended by the reel length subcommittee, whereby studios will provide these auxiliary changeovers. Bondholders to Get New Beecroft Plan Madison, Wis., Nov. 7. — With the conclusion of hearings in the Beecroft Building Co. reorganization case, Paul Grubb, special master, accepted a tentative plan, which he indicated will be submitted later to a vote of bondholders. The plan, which would be effective Jan. 1, 1936, calls for borrowing $80,000 to place with an existing reserve of $60,000 and retire the present first mortgage bonds, and provides for bondholder control of the Orpheum, Strand and Parkway until all obligations are satisfied. It was declared that as soon as the reorganization takes effect under the proposed plan, the present lease of the Ashley Theatre Corp. could be discontinued and a lease more favorable to the bondholders prepared. Educational Films Discussed by SMPE Educational films will be one of the principal topics to be discussed next Wednesday at a meeting of the Atlantic Coast Section of the S.M.P.E. at Public School No. 11, 320 West 21st Street. Speakers will be : Dr. Joseph M. Sheehan, associate superintendent of schools ; Mrs. Joseph H. Kohen, vicepresident of the United Parents' Ass'n., and Albert R. Brand, Cornell University. Several teachers will demonstrate methods of using educational films. City Takes Theatre For Show on Sunday Cordele, Ga., Nov. 7.— The City of Cordele is operating the Woods Theatre on Sundays, turning over all the profits to charity, following conviction of Frank J. Woods, owner, for violating the Sunday laws. Woods was given a probation sentence of 12 months and wras ordered to pay a fine of $200. Danubia Gets Two More Two Hungarian features "Edes Mostoha" (Kind Stepmother) and "Budai Cukrascda" (Queen of Roses) have been acquired by Danubia for American distribution. Twentieth Century-Fox has purchased the story rights of the latter to remake it in an English version.