Motion Picture Daily (July–Sept 1938)

Wednesday, September 28, 1938 MOTION PICTURE DAILY i Purely Personal ► JOSEPH N. W EBER, president of the American Federation of Musicians, lias left New York for Houston to attend the national conveirtion of the A. F. of L., which opens tl ■next week. He is expected back ^ew York for the Oct. 20 meeting of the executive board of his organization with heads of affiliated circuits, at which increased employment of musicians in theatres will be discussed. • Herman Wobber, 20th CenturyFox sales chief, and James P. O'Loghlin, S. R. Kent Drive leader, are due tonight from a tour of exchanges and will wind up a series of drive meetings tomorrow morning at the local branch. • Harry Smith, cameraman, and Bert Cunningham, director of Pathe Reelisms left for the New Jersey State Fair at Trenton yesterday to begin on a one-reel short concerning carnivals. Pat Casey, producers' labor repre.i sentative, has returned to Hollywood following a brief visit here. He is expected back in New York about Oct. 12. • Lou Smith, Paramount associate producer, will leave for Boston tonight to make arrangements for the Oct. 12 opening there of "If I Were | King." • A. H. McCausland, RKO trustee's representative, will arrive in New York today after a two-week visit at the RKO studios. • Carl Storeim, manager of Ross Federal's Charlotte branch, and Doris Dickert were married recently in Charlotte. • James Whale, director, will arrive in New York today from the coast to sail on the \ronnaiidic for a vacation abroad. • Leonard Gaynor has deferred his flying lessons, due to circumstances beyond his control. Col. Fred Levy of Louisville, OVERNIGHT TO LOS ANGELES Big, luxurious Flagship Skysleepers. No change of planes. Air-conditioned at airports — nature-cooled en route. The Southern AllYear route. Complimentary meals. To Los Angeles or San Francisco, $149.95. 10% saving on round-trip nights. The MERCURY The SOUTHERNER Lv. Newark . . 5:10 p.m. Lv. Newark . . 9:00p.m. FOR RESERVATIONS Call your travel agent or VAnderbilt 3-2580. Ticket Offices: 45 Vanderbilt Avenue and Rockefeller Center, 18 W. 49th St. AMERICAN AIRLINES 7/U. Hollywood Preview "Sharpshooters" {20th Century-Fox) Hollywood, Sept. 27. — The camera daredevils, Brian Donlevy and Wally Vernon, are catapulted through this headlong sequence of newsreel adventures — first of the series — at a pace that gives the audience scant respite between laugh and thrill. James Tinling's direction preserves a nice balance between humor and melodrama and the screenplay by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan, from a story by Maurice Rapf and Lester Ziffren, parallels actual newsreel events of easy memory so closely as to keep the spectacular goingson well within the limits of credibility. Lynn Bari, looking and talking like Claudette Colbert, plays the girl the intrepid photographer loves but doesn't get. John King, Douglas Dumbrille, C. Henry Gordon and Sidney Blackmer are the heroic and sinister personalities encountered in a mythical kingdom where assassination appears to be the chief industry. Martin Joseph Spellman, Jr., is the very personable boy king whose life and throne are saved by the indefatigable representative of Graphic Newsreel. The plot, counterplot and subsidiary plots are too numerous and too intricately integrated to be briefed in the available lineage. The picture is doubly timely. The population is perhaps a little more newsreel conscious just now than at any time since 1917. The contents of the picture are the type of contents likely to make up the real newsreels if that overseas situation explodes. The time to set in the attraction is, it would seem, right now. Running time, 65 minutes. "G." Roscoe Williams. Newsreels Expect Censor's Control former theatre operator and First National franchise holder, is visiting in New York. • Sabu, Indian boy star of "Drums," will be the guest at a tea at the English Speaking Union today. • Louis Chatain, a director of M-GM's French subsidiary, is due to sail on the Normandie today. • Jasper D. Rapoport, Paramount manager of distribution in Cuba, will leave today for Havana. • Robert Donat sailed yesterday on the Nieuw Amsterdam after a threeweek visit here. "U" Borrows Stewart Hollywood, Sept. 27. — James Stewart has been borrowed by Universal from AI-G-M for the title role in "Destry Rides Again." Joe Pasternak will produce and Harold Shumate is adapting the Max Brand novel. Pittsburgh Union Signs Pittsburgh, Sept. 27. — All of the independent theatre owners in this district have signed new one-year contracts with the operators' union, Local 171, according to Larry Katz, I. A. T. S. E. representative in this district. In a majority of cases, slight increases have been granted, but theatres paying the highest wage scale were not asked to come through with raises. The circuit operators will not be required to negotiate a new contract until next summer, when their present pact expires. Set Austin Film Opening Oklahoma City, Sept. 27. — Max Alexander, independent producer, has closed a deal with B. F. Moore, general manager of Standard Theatres Corp. for the premiere on Oct. 6 of "Songs and Saddles," starring Gene Austin at the Liberty. Other openings are scheduled for Tulsa, Memphis and Kansas City. The Newsreel Parade The hurricane's toll on the Atlantic seacoast is recorded in current issue of the newsreels. Chamberlain's conversations with Hitler and construction activities on Germany's new Siegfried line are also featured. College football is included. The reels and their contents : MOVIETONE NEWS — Chamberlain meets Hitler at Berchtesgaden, Daladier and Bonnet arrive at London for Czech talks with Chamberlain. Mussolini speaks at Trieste. Sudeten refugees escape to Germany as Hitler makes war speech. Brother of Czech President Benes arrives in New York. Navy Day off California coast. Hurricane damage. MinnesotaWashington and Alabama-U. S. C. football games. Tennis finals. Women's National Golf finals. NEWS OF THE DAY— Chamberlain in Germany. Mass demonstrations in London. Sudeten fugitives. Germany's Siegfried line. Mussolini at Trieste. Benes at Prague. Navy Day in the Pacific. Roosevelt asks for peace. Aerial survey of hurricane damage. New London in flames. Navy-William & Mary, AlabamaU. S. C, MinnesotaWashington, California-St. Mary's, football games. PARAMOUNT NEWS— Hurricane toll. Moilization in Paris and Praha. Sudeten refugees. Siegfried line under construction. Scenes from London. Alabama-U. S. C MinnesotaWashington, Navy-William & Mary football games. RKO PATHE NEWS— Hurricane havoc. Chamberlain at Berchtesgaden and London. Mussolini speaks at Trieste. Czechs pay tribute to Masaryk, republic's founder. Votja Benes arrives in U. S. Budge wins tennis finals. Minnesota-Washington and California -St. Mary's football games. UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL — European crisis in Sudetenland, Berchtesgaden, London and Prague. Benes' brother in New York. New England floods. Plane wreck in Burbank, Cal. Flint, Mich., motor festival. Manx Grand Prix, tennis finals, women's golf finals, and Navy-William & Mary football. (Continued from page 1) yesterday's release of both reels. Reel editors point to loyalist Spain, where only Amkino photographers are permitted behind the lines, as an example of what may be expected. However, in the event that no censorship is imposed, cameramen who have had experience on European, African and Asiatic battlefronts in recent years, as well as several with a World War background, are ready to go into action. New Wisconsin Bank Night Case Quashed La Crosse, Wis., Sept. 27.— Ted Bolnick, manager of the Hollywood, was cleared by a six-man jury on charges of conducting a lottery in connection with Bank Night. A similar action against the Rivoli, operated by the La Crosse Theatres Co., was dismissed following the jury's decision. This marks the third time that juries have failed to convict exhibitors on Bank Night charges. Walter Baier, manager of the Fort theatre, at Fort Atkinson, was cleared earlier in the year on a similar count, while at Kenosha, where charges of conducting a lottery were preferred against William Exton, manager of the Gateway, the jury failed to agree and was dismissed. F. P. Canada Pays Second Toronto, Sept. 27. — Famous Players Canadian Corp. has declared a second dividend of 15 cents for this year on outstanding common shares, payable Oct. 1 to stockholders of record Sept. 30. The previous payment was made last June. In 1937, the circuit paid one dividend of 50 cents on each share in December. Depending upon the effect of European developments, a third dividend may be declared by the company before the end of the calendar year. Buy s "Life of Bolivar' Hollywood, Sept. 27. — Eddie Le Baron, heading the Spanish language production company bearing his name, has bought "Life of Simon Bolivar," bv Jose Vasconzelos, to be produced for the Spanish market. Deluxe overnight Sleeper ■fa Latest evening departure — 7:15 p.m. (DST) — with arrival for morning business in Hollywood. Or take United's famous Overland Flyer, another Sleeper plane, leaving at midnight. Fast, luxurious, fewest stops. RESERVATIONS at 58 West 42nd Street, MUrray Hill 2-7300. Or travel bureaus, hotels UNITED AIR LINES The Main Line Airway