Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1936)

MOTION PICTURI DAILY Wednesday. June 24, I93t MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 39 June 24, 1936 No. 148 Martin Quigley Editor-in-Chief and Publisher MAURICE KANN, Editor J. M. JERAULD, Managing Editor JAMES A. CRON, Advertising Manager Published daily except Sunday and holidays by Quigley Publications, Inc^ Martin Quigley, president; Colvin Brown, vicepresident and treasurer. Publication Office: 1270 Sixth Avenue, at Rockefeller Center, New York. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address "Quigpubco, New York." All contents copyrighted 1936 by Quigley Publications, Inc. Address all correspondence to the New York OSice. Other Quigley publications, Motion Picture Herald, Better Theatres, The Motion Picture Almanac and The BoxOffice Check-Up. 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: 4 Golden Square, London, W. 1, Bruce Allan, Representative Cable address "Quigpubco, London"; Berlin Bureau: Stuelerstrasse 2, Berlin W 35; Joachim K. Rutenberg, Representative; Paris Bureau: 19, Rue de la Cour-des-Noues, Pierre Autre, Representative; Rome Bureau: Viali Gorizia, Vittorio Malpassuti, Representa tive; Australian Bureau: Regent Theatre Buildings, 191 Collins Street, Melbourne. Cliff Holt, Representative; Mexico City Bureau: Apartado 269, James Lockhart, Representative; Budapest Bureau: 3, Kaplar-u, Budapest, II, Endre Hevesi, Representative; Tokyo Bureau: 880 Sasazuka, Ichikawa-shi, Chiba-Ken, H. Tominaga. Representative: Prague Bureau: Uhelny trh 2, Prague 1, Harry Knopf, Representative; Shanghai Bureau: Rooms 38-41 Capital Theatre Building, 142 Museum Road. /. P. Koehler, Representative; Rio de Janeiro Bureau: Caixa Postal 3358, A. Weissman, Representative: Buenos Aires BureauCorrientes 2495, N. Bruski, Representative; Barcelona Bureau: Hotel Ritz, Plaza de las Cortes, Harry Chapin Plummet, Representative. Entered as second class matter. January 4. 1926, at the Post Office at New York Citv, N. Y., under Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates per year $6 in the Americas, and foreign $12. Single copies: 10 cents. Outward Bound R. H. Cochrane and Mrs. Cochrane sail on the Paris Saturday for a cruise which will end in New York on Aug. 3. The Universal president is after a rest and has had arranged for him a trip with ports of call where Universal has no offices. He sails from Havre July 29 on the Normandie. Ralph Hanbury, managing director of Radio Pictures in England, sails on the Aguitama Saturday. Louis Phillips, Paramount lawyer, and Mrs. Phillips sail for the coast Tuesday en route to Honolulu. Courtland Smith, president of Pathe News, goes on the Normandie July 1. William B. Levy, representative for Kay Kamen in England, is booked on the same boat. Ralph Rolan of "The March of Time" sails on the Normandie July 15 to attend Radio's British convention beginning July 30 in London. Phil Reisman. vice-president of the RKO Export Corp., goes abroad in about 30 days. The date is not definitelv fixed. Bryson, Prinz Marry Hollywood, June 23. — Betty Bryson, niece of Warner Baxter, and Leroy Prinz, dance director, were married yesterday in Yuma. Insiders' Outlook By RED KANN TpXHIBIT Number Three, current series, in the chain of evidence which, with justification, permits those interested and proud in their industry to hold heads on high is "The Green Pastures," ready and coming up for release by Warners quickly now. The Hollywood preview wire, weeks ago, took this offering through the analytical ropes with the odds very heavily in favor of the film version of the play written by Marc Connelly from Roark Bradford's "01' Man Adam an' His Chillun." Our purpose today is to take full cognizance of an important Hollywood effort and to discuss several angles bearing on its future. . . . T "The Green Pastures," it seems almost totally unnecessary to state, is a story of the Deity as seen through the simple, believable and credulous eyes of the Louisiana negro. To him, "De Lawd" is, of course, kindly and sympathetic, but also wrathful, and His Kingdom, which is Heaven, a land of elaborate fish fries and fragrant ten cent cigars. The story of Creation is told, of "De Lawd's" trials and tribulations as the humans He created slip into the slough of careless and unholy conduct. Yet "The Green Pastures" is never shoved down the throat, never turned into moralizing or preachment, while yet it gets over clearly and succinctly its message. . . . ▼ The angels discourse in matter-of-fact terms as they dust off their wings. Gabriel talks to "De Lawd" in accepted business administration terms. Noah builds the Ark according to divine specifications and, according to the Good Book, along comes the flood to wipe out the sinners and to allow "De Lawd" a chance at starting all over again. The results are delightful in their utter and wholesome, child-like simplicity, the picture charming and miles off the beaten track. It is so far off the beaten track, in fact, that any predictions as they may concern its commercial future constitute a guessing contest in which we propose taking no positive part. On the other hand, there are facts, formidable facts, which enter any discussion of "The Green Pastures" and command reflection. Some of them follow. . . . T As a play, its success, of course, grew into a hardy perennial of the American theatre. The show ran eighteen months in New York, won a Pulitzer Prize and played 1,652 performances in 203 cities and towns throughout 39 states with a gross of about $3,000,000. Those engagements included a notable tour of one-night stands in the deep South; 2,000,000 people are estimated as having seen one performance or another ; in the 4,000 seat Shriners' Auditorium in Des Moines, the play filled every seat and grossed $11,000 in one day. In Big Spring, Texas, the receipts for a single day ended at $600. "The Green Pastures," before it completed its amazing barnstorming tour, had developed into a combination of American folklore and legend and became permanently woven into the fabric of the American scene. . . . ▼ The conclusion interpretable from this scattered assortment of facts and figures would appear to be that an audience, as readily-made as any audience might be said to be, is waiting for the Warner version of the famous play. It will be argued that those who patronize the theatre do not always patronize the film and this is essentially true. But the circulation which the play achieved, in this instance, strikes us as being different— different and sufficiently embracing to assure a considerable percentage of those who saw and liked the play for the film. The others will have to be sold. We think they can. . . . T It is in the history of the play that its tour was marked by no religious intolerance in this country. England where materialization of the Deity long has been ruled out has banned the film. The Province of Ontario has done likewise and that, it is our opinion, is unfair. This is no argument with the fundamentals behind the belief. Their purpose is to avoid encouragement or to run counter the danger of irreverence. But "The Green Pastures" rightfully should be considered an exception by the very nature of conception and execution. It would be highly regrettable if this production for which the industry will be praised should find its circulation hampered because of a censorship restriction that properly does not apply under the circumstances. . . . Ontario Bans "Pastures'* Toronto, June 23. — Premier Hepburn announced today "The Green Pastures" has been banned in Ontario with his concurrence. An appeal to the Appeal Board is expected. Dual Features Have Firm Hold in Brazil The double feature has a firm hoi' on the exhibition field in Brazil, de clared Al Szekler, Universal mar ager in that South American country here for home office conferences. The only houses not using duals are th< leading first runs in the major citiet he said, and he indicated that othei houses are able to make a profit onh when they show double bills. Attempt: have been made to discard the prac tice, but without success, Szekler said At least 70 per cent of the film busi ness in Brazil is centered in about 1. major cities, with American produc dominating the market to the extent o 90 per cent, he said. The use c superimposed titles on original ven sions has been found the best prcj cedure. The only real competition t\ American films is developing fror. England, Szekler declared. There a little building in the area, the Plaz in Rio de Janeiro, seating 2,000, jur opened, and the new M-G-M hous< also to seat 2,000, which will b opened in November, being the onl outstanding new houses. Szekler wi leave Saturday, returning directly t his headquarters in Rio. New GTE Asks Court To Permit Payment (Continued from page 1) sation, including disbursements < counsel for the reorganization con mittee and others, $301,510.80, le: $25,000 previously paid ; fees and e; penses, including disbursements of committee representing holders of pr ferred stock and counsel for the con mittee, $10,000 ; compensation, inclui ing disbursements of engineers, a praisers and accountants engaged 1 the reorganization committee, $75,501 Charges, including disbursements depository of certificates and sub-d positories under the reorganizatii plan, registrar of certificates of d posits and receipts issued thereunde substitute trustees under the inde tures relating to debentures, $41 433.98. Figure $1.50 for Loew Downtown financial editors es mate earnings of Loew's, Inc., for t 12-week period ending June 6 at $1 per common share as against 88 cei J for the previous year's period. In 38 weeks ending March Loew's net was $5,033,038, or $3.4( share, of which $1.97 was earned the last 16 weeks of the period. Hit "Dust Bowl" Film Philadelphia, June 23.— Democr; delegates here from Texas are p testing against the Dept. of Cc merce "Dust Bowl" film on the groi that there is plenty of water in section now. They want it w drawn on the ground that tourists shunning the area. Buck-Para. Deal Off Frank Buck's deal to produce a : ture for Paramount in associal with Grantland Rice and Jack Ea has been canceled. Buck's immed film plans are indefinite. He is b with his animal zoo at Massapec L. I., and has contracted for anol series of magazine stories.