Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1938)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY i Purely Personal ► 2 MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Vol. 43 February 14, 1938 No. 36 MARTIN QUIGLEY Editor-in-Chief and Publisher A-MIKE VOGEL, Editor J. M. JERAULD, Managing Editor JAMES A. CRON, Advertising Manager —\ Published daily except Sunday and ^holidays by Quigley Publishing Company. Inc., Martin Quigley. president, Colvin Brown, vice-president and treasurer. I Publication Office: 1270 Sixth Avenue at Rockefeller Center. New York. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address: "Quigpubco. New York." All contents copyrighted 1938 by Quigley Publishing Company. Inc. Address all correspondence to the New York Office. Other Quigley publications: .MOTION 1'K'TUKE HERALD. BETTER THEATRES. TEATRO Ah DIA. INTERNATIONAL MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC and 'FAME. HOLLYWOOD: Postal Union Life Building, Vine and Yucca Sts. ; Boone Mancall, Manager. CHICAGO: 624 S. Michigan Ave.; C. B. O'Neill. Manager. WASHINGTON: Albee Building; Bertram F. Linz. Representative. AMSTERDAM: 87 Waalstraat; Philip de Schaap. Representative. BERLIN: Steulerstrasse 2, Berlin W. 35; Joachim K. Rutenberg, Representative. BUDAPEST: 3 Kaplar-u, Budapest II; Endre Hevesi, Representative. BUENOS AIRES: Avallaneda 3949; N. Bruski. Representative. COPENHAGEN: Vesterbrogada 20; Kris Winther. Representative. HELSINKI: Fredriksgatan 19C; Charlotte Laszlo. Representative. LONDON: 4 Golden Square. W. 1: Cable address. QuigDUbco. London; Hope Williams, Manager. MELBOURNE: Regent Theatre Buildings, 191 Collins St.; Cliff Holt, Representative. MEXICO CITY: Apartado 269; James Lockhart. Representative. MONTEVIDEO: P. O. Box 664; Paul Bodo. Representative. MOSCOW: Petrovski Per 8; Beatrice Stern, Rep PARIS: 29 Rue Marsoulan; Pierre Autre. Representative. PRAGUE: Uhelny trh 2, Prague 1; Harry Knopf. Represents ti ve RIO DE JANEIRO: Caixa Postal 3S58; L. S. Marinho, Representative. ROME: 54 Via Delia Mercede; Joseph D. Ravotto. Representative. SANTIAGO de CHILE: Casilla 13300; A. Weissmann. Representative. SHANGHAI: Rooms 38-41; Capital Theatre Building, 142 Museum Road; J. P. Koehler. Representative. STOCKHOLM: Kungsgatan 36; Ragnar Allberg. Representative. TOKYO: 880 Sasazuka, Iehikawa-shi. Chiba-Ken; H. Tominaga, Representative. VIENNA: Ncustiftgasse 54 Vienna VII; Hans Lorant. 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, and foreign $12. Single copies'. 10 cents. Legion to Watch All Pictures in Quebec Montreal, Feb. 13. — The Province of Quebec is to have an unofficial Legion of Decency, it was said here today by Lieut. Col. Henri DesRosiers, vice-president of the Imperial Tobacco Co., who will be its chairman. The group will consist of 17 members, all but one French-Canadians. It will have no official standing and will not interfere with work of the Quebec Board of Censors. Rev. J. P. Archambault of Quebec City will act as spiritual adviser to the legion which is composed entirely of laymen. Warburg, Wanger Confer Hollywood, Feb. 13. — Felix Warburg, New York financier and member of the Walter Wanger directorate, is here for conferences with Wanger. Warburg will vacation in Honolulu later. Rialto Grosses $6,100 The Rialto grossed $6,100 with "The Jury's Secret" and "Harlem on the Prairie" as an added attraction. The latter was cut to four reels. HARRY L. SOMMERER, RCA Photophone division manager, has returned to the home office in Camden after a five-week visit on the coast. Bernard Sholtz, New York sales executive, will return from a twoweek Florida vacation tomorrow. • Joseph N. Weber returned to New York over the weekend from the Miami meeting of the A. F. of L. executive council and will leave for the coast in about a week to confer with Pat Casey on new employment plans for studio musicians. • Edward Golden, Monogram sales manager, has postponed until later in the month his projected trip to Chicago to oppose the local attack there on double features. • Nate J. Blumberg, Universal president, postponed his scheduled departure for the coast a few days. He will probably leave New York tomorrow. • Sydney Samson, 20th Century-Fox branch manager in Buffalo, returned to his territory yesterday after home office conferences. • William F. Rodgers, M-G-M general sales manager, is back from a trip to Chicago, Minneapolis and other western points. • Howard Dietz is due to arrive today from coast conferences and a Honolulu vacation. • Nathan Ottinger has been named counsel for the National Council on Freedom from Censorship. • George J. and Mrs. Schaefer went to Miami for a brief vacation last weekend. • Austin C. Keough is remaining in Miami for a week. WILLIAM MELNIKER, head of Loew's foreign theatre operations, left Saturday by plane for Miami where he will board a Pan-American Clipper for Sao Paulo, Brazil. He will remain there for the opening of the new Metro Theatre on March 15. • Charles McCarthy, 20th CenturyFox advertising and publicity director, is in Boston to attend the opening of "In Old Chicago" at the Colonial there tonight. • L. J. McCarthy, producer of "Assassin of Youth," has returned from Washington where he screened the picture for officials of the Federal narcotics bureau. • Lily Pons, Lawrence Tibbett and Jan Kiepura will be featured in a benefit performance of "Rigoletto" at the Metropolitan Opera House Wednesday. • Emanuel and Mrs. Cohen are expected in New York on Thursday and will spend five or six days here before sailing for a European vacation. • Y. Frank Freeman is due back in New York today from a meeting of Paramount Florida theatre partners in Miami over the weekend. • Lamar Trotti has been spending a few days at Ellis Island getting material for the film of that name 20th Century-Fox will produce. • Jack Cohn may leave for the coast within the next few days. • Will H. Hays is scheduled to leave the coast late this week en route back to New York. • Roy Disney is expected here this week. Monday, February 14, 19 20th-Fox 1938-'39 Sales Are Generc Twenty-three branches of 20 Century-Fox, including two in Ca ada, have reported sales of 1938product contracts, it is shown in tabulation made by the company 1; last week. Many managers report that they were hopeful of going to t annual sales meeting in Kansas Cii April 1 and 2, with new records^* pre-convention sales of subsequent^ son product. The Kansas City meeting has n been designated a convention sin not more than 85 representatives the United States and Canada sal staffs are expected to attend, includii home office members, division and d; trict managers, branch heads, a: studio representatives. The meeti; will be confined to these because se ing for the new season is already w under way and policies are being e plained to salesmen in the field. All branches are conducting a dp to maintain playdates and collectio on a quota level set by the home offi for this year's contracts. Lehr and Thorgerse In 20th-Fox Short A series of 12 comedy shorts wi Lew Lehr and a 12-unit series sports subjects with Ed Thorgers' are to be included in the plans i, shorts production by 20th Centur Fox for 1938-'39. Both are comme tators for Movietone News and w continue with the newsreel. T; "Magic Carpet" series and "Adve tures of a Newsreel Cameraman," eat six and both produced by Trum; Talley, will be continued as part the program of 52 one-reelers to made by Talley. Kupper Tours Branches W. J. Kupper, 20th Century-F( western division manager, is on swing around his midwestern ai southern branches, on which he k Friday. He will be gone about month and will visit exchanges in i Louis, Kansas City, Oklahoma Ci1 Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans, A lanta and Charlotte. Meetings will held with sales staffs and new seasi policies and product will be outlined., Discontinue Fla. Garni Tallahassee, . Feb. 13. — On tl heels of recent Circuit Court decisit banning chance games in Florida, . P. Talley, manager of Tallahass Theatres, has discontinued Bai Night. R. H. Gibson, a realty deak stated he would withdraw his app' cation for an injunction against giv away games, which he contendt blocked traffic, creating a fire hazar Epstein to Republic Morris Epstein, who resigned Grand National branch manager, t day will join Republic as New Yo: branch head. The appointment w made by Herman Gluckman, preside of Republic Film Exchange, Inc. E; stein succeeds Jack Bellman, who r cently was named eastern district sal manager. Circle Reports a Loss Circle Theatre Co. reports a n loss before subsidiary preferred dn dends of $13,208 for 1937. Net incon for 1936 was $2,661. Hollywood Preview "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (Selsnick-U . A.) Hollywood, Feb. 13. — Like "The Prisoner of Zenda," Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer" has been produced again and again for the cinema consumer yet it remained for David O. Selznick to do it correctly. This is as fine, as sure, sound and quite likely to be as profitable, as any production in the impressive Selznick collection. It is without limitation in commercial appeal and without ceiling as to gross, a box office picture by every definition including the artistic. Much credit for the fresh effectiveness of the familiar story material is due to John V. A. Weaver's artfully developed screenplay and Norman Taurog's thoughtful direction, a generous use of sustained silences and strikingly integrated sound effects contributing vitally to the realism of the purposefully fantastic sequence. Color is likewise employed with exceptional skill to this end. Perhaps most notable on the talent side, from the showmanly point of view, is the presence of the long sought and much publicized Tommy Kelly, as Tom. His sterling performance is matched by Jackie Morgan as Huck Finn, Ann Gillis as Becky Thatcher, David Holt as Sid, Mickey Rentschler as Joe and Cora Sue Collins as Amy, perhaps the best juvenile cast ever assembled. No less distinguished and more significant in the marquee sense are the adult performances of May Robson, Walter Brennan, Donald Meek and Victor Jory. Yet it is as the Selznick "Tom Sawyer" rather than as the vehicle of any player, that the attractive attraction impresses and is likely to be remembered, talked about and patronized mightily. Running time, 90 minutes. "G."