Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1939)

2 Motion Picture daily Wednesday, July 12, 1939 4 Purely Personal ► Industry Will Mark Golden Anniversary (Continued from page 1) publicity and exploitation men who are members of the working committee contributing. The cost of producing this manual will be borne by M. P. P. D. A. Distribution will probably be through exchanges following its completion early in August. The observance is based on the 50th anniversary of the completion of Thomas A. Edison's kinetoscope, Oct. 6, 1889. Activities will be begun immediately following an announcement of the observance to be made by Will H. Hays about Aug. 15. National publicity will go out to syndicates, magazines and newspapers at that time and, to be effective, local campaigns should be started at approximately the same time. The cooperation of schools, libraries, better film clubs and similar organizations will be sought for the observance during September. Memorials and public tributes to Edison will figure in the campaign. Paramount Planning Big Selling Stunts Paramount plans a series of elaborate stunts in connection with the new season's product, Robert M. Gillham, director of advertising and publicity, said yesterday. First will be about 30 key city trade and press screenings of "Beau Geste," starting July 18 in Los Angeles. "Our Leading Citizen," Bob Burns' vehicle, will be screened for the governors of all 48 states, followed by a coast-to-coast broadcast from Van Buren, Ark., and a lecture tour by Irvin S. Cobb. Search for talented orphans will be tied up with "The Star Maker," in which appears Linda Ware, 13-yearold orphan. A broadcast honoring Gus Edwards, whose life story forms the basis of the film, also is planned. Similiarly elaborate exploitation plans are being prepared for "Geronimo," "Ruler of the Seas," "Jamaica Inn," "Are Husbands Necessary" and "Disputed Passage." FLY AMERICAN NEW YORK TO THE COAST 3 Flights Daily 710 CIO I/)10 A.M. *J P.M. I\^P.M. Call your travel agent or HAvemeyer 6-5000. Ticket Offices: 45 Vanderbilt Ave., and Rockefeller Center at 18 REGINALD ARMOUR, RKO European general manager, sails today on the Normandie for his headquarters in Paris after an extended visit here, including attendance at the RKO sales convention. • William Cameron Menzies, art director, sails for England on the Normandie today to work on Alexander Korda's "The Thief of Bagdad." Lee Shubert, Charles Z. Case (Eastman Kodak), Constance Bennett, Mr. and Mrs. James Durbin, parents of Deanna Durbin, also are scheduled to sail. • Maurice and Emanuel Silverstone, Arthur Kelly, Joseph Moskowitz, Sam Shain, Lowell Calvert, Archie Weltman, Joseph Pincus at Bob Goldstein's Tavern for lunch yesterday. • Bob Hope will begin a personal appearance engagement at the Paramount next Wednesday. He will be assisted by Jerry Colonna. Woody Herman and his orchestra will be featured on the stage. • John D. Hertz, Jr., will leave today for a trip to Hollywood, stopping off at Chicago, and planning to spend a few days at Leona Farms, Cary, 111. He will be gone about three weeks. • Murray Ashmann, supervisor of the Interboro Circuit, is recovering from an appendicitis operation performed at the Crown Hospital, Brooklyn. • James Ellison, RKO player, and Mrs. Ellison, in the east on a vacation, are spending part of it at Corey Ford's estate at Freedom, N. H. • Walter Hampden, noted stage actor, is en route to the RKO coast studio to make his screen debut in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." • Louis Silvers, musical director on 20th Century-Fox's "Second Fiddle," sails todav on the Normandie for a vacation in London and Paris. • Fred Brown, owner of the Plymouth Theatre, Plymouth, Wis., dropped into Round Table headquarters for a visit. Await Horner Action On Illinois Duals Bill Chicago, July 11. — Illinois exhibitors are waiting with keen interest for action by Governor Henry Horner on the bill limiting film programs to a maximum of 135 minutes. The bill, which was enacted by the Legislature recently, would outlaw double feature programs in the state. The Governor must sign or veto the bill by Thursday or it will become a law automatically. Ettelson Rites Today Funeral services will be held today for Richard Ettelson, 46, brother-inlaw of Si Fabian, and operator of seven houses in New Jersey. Ettelson died yesterday of heart disease after an illness of several months. Three children survive. The services will be held from his home in Passaic, N. J. MR. and Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. are leaving the Coast today for a vacation of several days in New York ant1 Newport and a brief stay at the actor's farm in Virginia. • Emmett Stafford of the Broadhurst, High Point, N. C, is in town with Mrs. Stafford. Harry Nace of Phoenix, Ariz., also here, will return Saturday. • J. Parker Read, Jr., is in New York from Havana where he has started production of "How We Escaped from Devil's Island." • William Vermont, secretary of M. P. Laboratory Technicians Union, Local 702, has left for a two week vacation. • Harry Brandt will return Monday from a 12-day vacation in New England. • Jesse Lasky returned to the Coast yesterday via United Airlines. Luis Lezama, Mexican producer, is enroute to New York. No More Delays, Neely Promised Washington, July 11. — Consideration of block booking legislation by the Senate was again deferred today when Senator Neely consented to have the measure temporarily laid aside in order that the social security bill could be taken up. Before consenting, however, Neely demanded that Majority Floor Leader Barkley give assurances "that at the conclusion of this bill no effort of any kind will be countenanced by the majority leader to displace further the bill. "So far as I am concerned," Barkley said, "I have no intention or no desire to interfere in any way with the disposition of this bill because I am as anxious as many other members of the Senate to dispose of it without delay." Equity Acts to Save U. S. Theatre Jobs Actors Equity yesterday dispatched a committee of three to Washington in an effort to forestall the dismissal of all WPA Federal Theatre Project employes on July 31. Despite Congressional permission to continue the payroll until Sept. 30, an order was issued Monday for termination of employment on the project by July 31. Equity council pointed out that it is virtually impossible for actors to obtain employment in midsummer and endorsed resolutions calling upon President Roosevelt to continue the project and urging, in the alternative, that the city or private backers continue the work. There are 7,900 persons still employed by the project, of whom 3,500 are in New York City. Phil Tripoli Rites Funeral services are to be held today in Glendale, Long Island, for Phil Tripoli, chief projectionist at the RKO exchange, who died Sunday. He had been affiliated with RKO and Pathe for the past 19 years. His wife and two daughters survive. Night Baseball Harming Utica, Troy Theatres Albany, July 11. — Night baseball is proving a serious competitive factor in this city, Troy and Utica. In the last named city the Can? ^anAmerican Baseball League is^j *' playing regularly, and with the L .allation of lights for night games, the park is drawing approximately 3,000 fans each night. In Troy and Albany, exhibitors complain that their business is affected seriously by the nightly baseball attendance of 3,000 to 5,000 as well as the regular broadcasts of the night ball games. The Paramount, neighborhood house here, has reduced matinee prices from 15 to 10 cents. Closed except for weekends are the Schine houses in Watertown and Ogdensburg, and closed entirely for the Summer are the Lincoln, Schenectady, recently taken over by Sid Dwore; Strand, Watervliet; Bradley, Fort Edward; Rivoli, Troy, and Bright Spot, Rensselaer. A few theatres have opened for the vacation season in various of the Catskill and Adirondack Mountain resort spots. In this territory, Warners have closed the Temple, Wellsville; Winter Garden, Jamestown, and State, Olean. NJ Allied Supports Rejection of Code Allied Theatre Owners of New Jersey, at an all-day session at the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel in Asbury Park, yesterday adopted a resolution endorsing the action of the national Allied organization at the recent Minneapolis convention, rejecting the trade practice code as proposed by the major distributors. The entire meeting, a regular semimonthly session, was devoted to a general discussion of the code. It had been expected that the Neely bill would come in for a share of attention from the exhibitors, but nothing, other than the code, was taken up. Approximately 30 members were present. George Gold, president of the organization, presided. No date has been set for the next meeting. MOTION PICTURE DAILY (Registered U. S. Patent Office) Published daily except Saturday, Sunday and holidays by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc., Rockefeller Center, New York City. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Cable address "Quigpubco, New York." Martin Quigley, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Colvin Brown, Vice-President and General Manager; Watterson R. Rothacker, Vice-President; Sam Shain, Editor; James A. Cron, Advertising Manager; Chicago Bureau, 624 South Michigan Avenue, C. B. O'Neill, manager; Hollywood Bureau, Postal Union Life Building, Boone Mancall, manager, William R. Weaver, editor; London Bureau, 4, Golden Square, London Wl, Hope Williams, manager, cable address "Quigpubco, London." All contents copyrighted 1939 by Quigley Publishing Company, Inc. Other Quigley publications: Motion Picture Herald, Better Theatres, Teatro Al Dia, International Motion Picture Almanac and Fame. Entered as second class matter Sept. 23, 1938, at the post office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Subscription ratei per year $6 in the Americai and $12 foreign. Single copiet 10c.