Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1937)

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Wednesday, January 6, 1937 JLjrJr~m±M. JL-e M, 13 MOTION PICTURJE DAILY 4 Purely Personal ► Paramount' s Issues Soar to New Highs Congress Gets Started with 2,000 Bills {Continued from page 1) were introduced today or will be submitted before the end of the week. Among those so far introduced are two measures by Representative Culkin of New York, one to prohibit block booking and the other to establish a commission to protect the industry from unfair trade practices and monopoly and settle trade controversies ; two bills to prohibit the entry of alien actors, one by Representative Dickstein of New York and the other by Congressman Kramer of California, the latter permitting the entry of actors from countries which permit American artists to take engagements ; the block booking bill of Congressman Pettengill of Indiana, and the copyright measure (passed by the Senate in the last Congress, but not acted upon by the House) by Senator Duffy of Wisconsin. Potman to Revise Theatre Measure {Continued from page 1) retail distribution by producers, it is expected the bill will vest in the Federal Trade Commission authority to compel the abandonment of retail outlets by producers whose distribution activities tend to create unfair competition, lead to monopoly or "injure the business of a customer who is a retailer." More mature consideration of his measure, it was represented, has led Congressman Patman to the belief that a flat prohibition against retail selling by manufacturers would cause unnecessary injury to many small concerns while the large "monopoly" producer-retailers can be driven from the field by the proposed substitute provisions. Under the bill, as redrafted, producers having theatres would be subject to attack on three grounds — that their theatres constitute unfair competition, that they tend to build up a monopoly, or that they injure competing exhibitors who also buy the producers' pictures. Constitutionality Of Sales Tax Hit {Continued from page 1) tax assessment against its film rentals here furnished the test case for the other distributors, are included in the new brief. They are that the licensing of film does not constitute a sale of tangible property; that such transactions are not sales at retail and that such transactions are in interstate commerce and, therefore, not subject to a municipal tax. Wood's brief charges that the sales tax law itself, which was conceived to provide funds for the relief of unemployed, is in violation of both the state and Federal constitutions because it appropriates public funds for private purposes "in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and the due process clause of the State Constitution." O'Brien, Driscoll & Raftery, attorneys for United Artists, are attorneys of record in the case. TOE MOSKOWITZ and Jack k) Goetz and Lester C. Burdett of the attorney general's office in New Jersey congregated at the Tavern for lunch yesterday. Moskowitz leaves Friday for a month's trip to the coast. Goetz misses his partner, Arthur Gottlieb, who has gone to Toronto and is due back the end of the week. A. W. Smith, Jr., and Lowell Calvert are together and Monroe Greenthal and Lynn Farnol discuss advertising. Jack Lait and Nate Spingold are in a corner talking things over. George Hirliman, A. J. Van Beuren and Frank Snell are seated together, while M. H. Hoffman is accompanied by Budd Rogers. James Winn, Grand National's division manager, just back from New Orleans by air, talks about bookings for "Great Guy." • Chester Erskine drops by and says hello to Moskowitz. He has just recovered after being down several days with the grippe. Don Hancock and Harold McCracken confer on shorts, while Fred McConnell is seated alone. J. H. McFarland and James P. Cunningham talked things over, while James Clark, just in from Philadelphia, is paired with Clint Weier. • Leo Justin, Mitchell Klupt and Irving Wormser are gathered at the the big round table, while Harry Shiffman and Henry Brown desert them for the day. Harry H. Thomas and Jules Chapman are together and give Hoffman a big handshake. Edward Schnitzer, Bill Saal, Emil Jensen, Arnold Van Leer and Irwin Kleeblatt are at other tables. • Ray Johnston, Herman Rifkin, and Edward Golden are together at one of the rear tables, while Jules Levy and Bob Wolff are seated at a side table. George Weeks and George Batcheller are at the other side of the room. • John Murphy, assistant to Joe Vogel, and Larry Beatus, Loew division manager, have returned from the coast where they visited the M-G-M studios. On their return they stopped at St. Louis and Denver. • Tamara, last seen in "Roberta," has been signed for the lead in "Tide Rising," new play by George Brewer, Jr., to be presented by Richard Aldrich and Richardson Myers. • Mrs. David Loew and her two sons will leave for Hollywood today. They came east expecting snow and were disappointed. • Hal Horne, due yesterday from the coast, was grounded in Texas and is due to arrive today. • Robert Schless of Warners' office in Paris will leave for home in about 10 days. • Louis B. Mayer and Howard Strickling are due today from Hollywood. • Nat Cohn is back from Miami after a two-week vacation. Al Lichtman is planning to leave for the coast again shortly. STANTON GRIFFIS, chairman of the Paramount executive committee, joined the home office contingent which is en route to the coast for the Adolph Zukor jubilee dinner tomorrow night. • Antoinette Spitzer, formerly with the Blackstone Agency, has joined the local Walter Wanger office to do special exploitation for "Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938." • Barney Rapp, orchestra leader, and Ruby Rice, his soloist, will be married this afternoon. A reception will be held at 6 :30 in the Paris Room of the Hotel New Yorker. • Frank Gillmore, president of Actors' Equity Ass'n will leave Friday on a vacation trip which will take him to Rio de Janeiro. • William R. Ferguson and Eddie Carrier are in Detroit visiting W. G. Bishop, Loew exploiteer, who is ill with pneumonia. • Sara Fox is gaining steadily at the Sth Ave. Hospital where she underwent an operation the other day. • David Souhami, who is here from Paris on an extended visit, has left for the coast. • Luli Deste, under contract to B. P. Schulberg, left yesterday for the coast. • Irving Mack, the Chicago trailer man, is in New York for a few days. • C. C. Petti john was confined to his home with a cold yesterday. • Louise Fazenda is at the Lombardy. . . . Omaha Arthur Anderson, Warners' Des Moines manager, recently had a close call with pneumonia contracted at Oskaloosa, la. He is reported recuperating. Joe E. Scott, 20th Century-Fox exchange manager, and Nynee Frances Lefholtz, formerly of the Lefholtz Sisters singing trio of stage and radio, took a Christmas honeymoon following their marriage at St. Bernard's Catholic Church. L. C. Ehlers, manager of the Minden at Minden, Neb., has been elected president of that city's Chamber of Commerce. • . . . Cincinnati Tracy' Barham, general manager Southio Theatres, with headquarters in Hamilton, is spending the holiday season in Alabama. Harry Schwartz, formerly Grand National salesman, is now with Big Feature Rights as salesman out of Indianapolis. Steve Hollander, student booker at M-G-M, in New York for a holiday vacation with his family. • . . . Portland Matt Apperton, formerly with Sheffield-Republic, making a quick trip to visit Pacific Northwest friends via motor. J. T. Sheffield of Republic back from Denver for the holidays. All three Paramount issues on the stock exchange yesterday hit new highs and closed % of a point from the top quotations. The first preferred gained &% on the day and ended at 178%. The common went as high as 25y2, finished at 25%, for a point profit, while the second preferred reached 23%, closed at 23 and also netted a point to the good. Trading was heavy in all three issues, the company taking the lead in comparison with other film stocks on the basis of the number of shares changing hands. Atlas Has 1,516,483 Para. Shares Atlas Corp. is beneficial owner of 1,516,483 shares of Paramount first preferred stock, according to a statement filed yesterday with the N. Y. Stock Exchange. In its report, however, the investment company, which is also heavily interested in RKO, disclaims responsibility for accuracy and completeness of the holdings as indicated. The Paramount report, dated Oct. 3, 1936, lists Allied Owners Corp. as owner of 25,000 shares of first preferred. The shares were issued to Allied as part of the settlement arrangements for a $5,000,000 claim filed against Paramount in its reorganization proceedings which originated with theatre building and leasing deals made with Paramount. John D. Hertz with Lehman Bros., of which he is a partner, are listed as owners of 8,000 shares of second preferred and 600 shares of common. Maurice Newton with Hallgarten & Co., of which he is a partner, are listed as owners of 5,000 snares of second preferred and 5,000 shares of common. The report disclosed that Adolph Zukor received a salary of $91,645 during 1935, and that John E. Otterson received $84,000 as president of Paramount for the period from June 17, 1935, to Jan. 1, 1936. S. A. Lynch, who served as chairman of the Paramount advisory committee during the reorganization of the company, received a salarv of $79,500 for the full year 1935. The statement reported that Paramount owned 560 theatres in 1936. This number does not include theatres partially owned and operated by partners, which are believed to number about 500. Start Giving Zukor Medals The special silver medallions, commemorating the showing of "Queen Elizabeth" starring Sarah Bernhardt in the first full-length production, are now being distributed through the various Paramount exchanges to the exhibitors who played "Queen Elizabeth" when it was first released in 1912. In addition to the 387 exhibitors previously mentioned for these medallions, there have been added the names of 1 1 more theatreowners. Included in this new group, which makes 398 showmen in all, are : Chicago: Harry Foster. Dallas: E. H. Rowley and H. B. Robb, Dallas; Yuill Robb, Big Springs, Tex. Kansas City: 'Arthur H. Cole and R. C. LiBeau, Kansas City; A. L. Hackett, Fairfax, Mo.; Hugh Gardner. Neosho, Mo-; Mrs. Rolla Booth, Rich Hill, Mo. Canada: George Cook, Picton, Ont.; Sara Lester, Toronto.