Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1937)

Alert. Intelligent MOTION PICTURE DAILY First in Film an< VOL. 41. NO. 108 NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1937 TEN CENTS Metro Selling 32 Percentage For 1937-'38 Will Run from 25 to 40 Per Cent Under Plan Los Angeles, May 7. — M-G-M next season will sell 32 features on percentages running from 25 to 40 per cent, and with the decision as to how many attractions will fall into each group remaining with the company. The designation will be determined by test runs in Loew's theatres in widely scattered territories. It will be possible, under this change in company policy, to have as many as eight pictures selling at 40 per cent. During the current season, M-G-M sold 30 features on percentage, but while the attractions were not specified by name in the contracts, the {Continued on page 2) Buying Still Slow, Allied Report Says Not more than 22 of approximately 400 theatre operators canvassed by Allied States have bought product to an extent approaching their requirements, it is claimed by Allied in a report on the preliminary tabulation of a questionnaire sent out prior to the Allied convention in Milwaukee May 26-28. It is said 29 exchange centers have been covered. The organization claims 38 exhibitors of the group queried have bought two or three lines of product, and 34 have bought only one line. The final report will be disclosed to the exhibitors during the course of the coming convention. Spoiled the Show Tampa, Fla., May 7. — The police spoiled Bank Night for a host of car owners in the Tampa and Victory here the other night. The law staged a sudden and unexpected raid on a street in the wholesale district nearby which had been used customarily by theatre patrons for parking. Word of the raid was flashed to the theatre, broadcast to the audience via loud speaker, and following the pell mell rush of owners, the police found only a pair of cars when they returned with the towing cars. Strike Appears Inevitable As Parleys Prove Fruitless Hollywood, May 7. — Despite heavy barrages of propaganda from both union and producer camps it became evident here today that the Actors' Guild and producers will be unable to reach an agreement and that the actors' mass meeting Sunday night possibly will result in a general walkout. The feeling among the membership leans towards a strike since it is understood the producers will not recognize the primary demand for a Guild shop. The Actors' Guild today stated officially that the write-in ballot vote conducted during the past few days resulted in 99 per cent of the voters favoring a strike. This is said to have included all of the big contract players. Guild officials would not say whether or not the voting was done in accordance with instructions from organization leaders. Aubrey Blair, of the Guild, expressed the hope that his organization would not be forced to strike but he emphasized that the strike would be called Sunday if negotiations failed. It is understood from an inside source that the current producer parleys are merely a stall by the Guild until its members' decision regarding a strike can be fully determined. The producers, realizing the current seriousness of a strike and its impending reverberations, are now worried, it is learned. Meanwhile, salient factors contributing to a prolonged strike condition were as follows : (1) The Central Labor Council admitted it is stymied and accused Pat Casey of issuing an erroneous statement when he told the press that the Council had assured him a strike would be terminated if the producers agreed to the two-point peace plan. (2) Members of striking unions met (Continued on page 4) Warner Men Begin Arriving for Meet Part of the 250 field representatives who will attend the Warner sales convention, which opens at the WaldorfAstoria Monday, will begin trickling in from all parts of the country today. By tomorrow night the entire force will be in town. For the first time in five years salesmen will be included in the roster of men attending the four-day sessions. The first meeting will be held in the Sert Room which has been decorated with a huge replica of the Academy of M. P. Arts & Sciences statuette. Warners took nine of the awards last March. Every branch of the company will (Continued on page 4) Lohr Denies Frisco Office to Be Moved Chicago, May 7. — In an interview with a Motion Picture Daily representative here today, Major Lenox R. Lohr, president of NBC, denied a printed report elsewhere that the network's west coast headquarters in San Francisco would be shifted to Hollywood. Lohr said the report of the impending transfer was untrue, and that such a move had not been contemplated or discussed. He said that Don E. Gilman, NBC vice-president in charge of west coast operations, would spend more time in Hollywood than heretofore, due to increasing radio work. More Radio — Page 4 Ray Johnston Greets MonogramDelegates Chicago, May 7. — W. Ray Johnston, president of Monogram, in opening the fifth annual sales convention of the company at the Drake Hotel here today, told the 95 assembled delegates that delivery on the first of the new Monogram releases has been set for July 1 at which time eight features will be on hand in the exchanges. Among these, he said, will be "Boy of the Streets," "Paradise Isle," "Romance of the Limberlost," "The Outer Gate," "Legion of Missing Men," "The 13th Man," "The Hoosier Schoolmaster" and "Blazing Barriers." During the course of his speech Johnston paid tribute to Henri Elman who (Continued on page 2) Colonial Is Dropped In Anti-Trust Suit Boston, May 7. — Two anti-trust actions filed by Nashua Theatres, Inc., and Commonwealth, operators of the Park and Colonial at Nashua, against Colonial Theatres, which has the Tremont and State, have been dismissed by Federal Judge George Sweeney. The first two companies are controlled by Moss & Rothenberg and Colonial Theatres is owned by Mort A. Shea. Although the conspiracy actions against the exhibitor have been marked off the calendar, enght major distributors, defendants in the suits, have yet to file answers. When Moss & Rothenberg first instituted suit, it was claimed that distributors and the Shea company had (Continued on page 4) Airship Fire Films Cover U.S. in Day At Salt Lake Yesterday; On Coast Early Today Theatres as far west as Salt Lake City and Denver showed newsreels of the Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, N. J., throughout yesterday and last night as a result of the swift functioning of the industry's five newsreels. Pacific coast theatres will have the reels for their opening performances today. Air express shipments of the prints out of Newark arrived there last night too late for regular shows. The efficiency of the newsreels and laboratories made the most of one of those rare coincidences in news coverage which finds cameras on the scene and grinding while a major disaster occurs before the lenses. Such was the situation at Lakehurst on Thursday evening. Cameramen of Movietonews, News of the Day, Paramount, Pathe and Universal were on the landing field or circling the Hindenburg in chartered planes, covering the ship's arrival on its first trip of the season to the United States, when the giant dirigible exploded near the mooring mast. Cameras which had been trained on (Continued on page 2) Universal to Make 8 Musical Westerns Hollywood, May 7.— Universal will make a series of eight musical westerns annually starting with next season's program and the company is now testing players for the singing cowboy role. Charles R. Rogers has turned the responsibility for the series over to Trem Carr, who will handle these in addition to the John Wayne action films. Universal plans to announce the series at its convention. Picketing Record Fort Dodge, la., May 7.— Charles Schultz, who has been picketing the Pokadot here for the past two years, has asked that the theatre owner, Francis Mahoney, be required to post a peaee bond because he claims that Mahoney has attacked him twice. Mahoney claims the union is trying to put him out of bus