Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1940)

6 Motion Picture Daily Monday, January 22, 1940 $900,000 Put Into Mexican Trade in 1939 By JAMES LOCKHART Mexico City, Jan. 21. — Mexico's picture industry attracted an investment of $900,000 during 1939, the highest outlay for any year in some time. Most of the money was spent for production and new theatres. Examination with a view to making desired modifications is being made by the local municipal Government of regulations governing theatres, supervision of pictures and other paid public entertainments. Some of these regulations have been in effect for 25 years. Asserting that the domestic picture industry is in such a precarious position because of the sharp slump in production that many of its workers face unemployment, the Cinematographic and Allied Workers' Union has petitioned President Lazaro Cardenas to act toward remedying the situation. Production last year was but 43 pictures. The petition declares that up to now the Government has done nothing appreciable for the picture industry. It is no longer obligatory for exhibitors throughout Mexico to show at least three Mexican-made features a month, as the Senate passed a bill killing the Presidential measure making this demand. Numerous protests from exhibitors prompted the Senate action. A special hospital for film workers has been established here by the National Cinematographic and Allied Workers' Union. Colombia and Peru have forbidden exhibition of the Mexican picture, "El Indio" ("The Indian"), on the ground that it is Communistic. Use 2-for-l Coupons Despite Wichita Pact Wichita, Kan., Jan. 21. — Harold Gibbons of the New Theatre here has started using two-for-one coupons, but the practice is not expected by Wichita exhibitors to cause any complications in the functioning of their fair practice code, adopted in December and signed by all exhibitors. Gibbons has indicated that he will accept the penalty of being set back one year after first run on pictures in connection with which he offers an admission reduction under his regular 15-cent price. The question has arisen as to whether or not film companies will permit Gibbons to pick out poorer films for his bargains and retain his regular spot with regular admission on top films. Variety Club Sets Party Pittsburgh, Jan. 21. — The local Variety Club will stage a housewarming party the end of February to celebrate the opening of its new quarters at the William Penn Hotel. A new bulletin is being issued, with James M. Totman, assistant publicity director of Warner Tri-State theatres as editor. Hollywood Review Adventure in Diamonds (Paramount) Hollywood, Jan. 21. — A melodrama based on the activities of diamond thieves in South Africa, Paramount's "Adventure in Diamonds" presents George Brent as an army officer who helps Scotland Yard capture the thieves, with the aid of Isa Miranda, a regenerated criminal. Supporting players include John Loder, Nigel Bruce, Elizabeth Patterson, Ernest Truex and E. E. Clive. The picture, directed by George Fitzmaurice, has two extremely interesting sequences, one showing the mining of diamonds in Kimberley and the other presenting for the first time on the screen a~ race between ostriches pulling sulkies. Leonard Lee and Frank Schulz wrote the screenplay based on a story by Frank O'Connor. The A. M. Botsford production mildly entertained the preview audience, high point of the comedy being the ostrich race. Miss Miranda, falling in love with Brent, agrees after imprisonment to aid in the capture of diamond smugglers. After a ruse, they become involved with the criminals and are exposed finally, but help arrives in the nick of time. Running time, 74 minutes. "G."* Vance King *"G" denotes general classification.' Alaskan Exhibitor Must Have 7 -Month Film Supply Hollywood, Jan. 21. — There arrived in Hollywood last week an exhibitor who must have 125 features and 300 short subjects stacked in the vaults of his house by Sept. 27 or face the wrath of an irate community. He is C. H. Code, who operates the only theatre in Nome, Alaska, and this is his first trip to Hollywood. Code, an exhibitor since 1912, must have the films there by Sept. 27, date of the arrival of the last boat for the year, for the harbor is blocked for the following seven months by ice. If the film is not there, delivery is impossible and the theatre will have no product for the seven months except that which is delivered by plane under extremely difficult and expensive conditions. On the first boat from Nome in the Spring, the films are returned to the Seattle exchange, after unloading new product for the Summer months. Indications of how Nome residents like their film fare appeared several years ago when his theatre burned to the ground. Promised that a new theatre would be erected in less than two months, some of the residents pitched in to lend a hand in building it. When it looked as though the promise would not be kept, the rest of the town's inhabitants lent a hand, but threatened that they would tear the whole thing down if it were not completed by the time set. , , The .exhibitor-, however, managed to keep the promise and on opening night the patrons sat on benches held together by far too few bolts. None collapsed, though, he said. Here with Mrs. Code, the showman is visiting a niece, Mrs. Edith Pearcy of Monrovia. Having exhibited Paramount pictures since 1912, he visited the studio for the first time this week. He disclosed to an amazed audience on the 'The Woman from Hell" set that he screened Adolph Zukor's first film, "Catherine the Great," in his Alaskan theatre. "Residents of Nome, who are shut off from all physical contact with the outside world for seven months each year except by plane, like all kinds of pictures," he said. "They are especially fond of Bill Boyd westerns. I can't get enough of them." Last year, Code promised residents he would have a print of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by a certain time. When the picture couldn't be sent by boat, it had to be shipped there and returned by plane to Seattle. Code is an extraordinary exhibitor. He doesn't have to worry about his programs ; he can bill them seven months in advance, provided, of course, the last boat to Nome makes it. He doesn't have to worry about competition ; he has the only theatre in the town. And he can figure out, he said, his grosses for any month in the year ahead of time, for he knows approximately how many persons will be traveling through the community on their way from or to the gold fields or trap lines at any given time. He plays a single bill policy, with three changes a week. New Wilmington Law To Permit Standing Wilmington, Del., Jan. 21.— The City Council has passed new fire prevention ordinance revamped to permit standing in the rear of theatres, banned in the original bill. Theatre managers' objections delayed passage for months. The new ordinance orders two square feet of floor space per person. Clear passageways are required at all assemblages. Obstructions at doors and auto parking in front of theatres are barred. Passageways must be maintained on sidewalks. Canada Extending Film, Air War Use Montreal, Jan. 21. — Films, radio and newspapers will be used to a greater extent by the Canadian Government to inform the Canadian people of their war effort, the tasks which lies before them and the need for a lasting peace at the end of this war, according to W. D. Euler, Minister of Trade and Commerce. Prime Minister Mackenzie King i fully behind the move. Creative work has been done under the auspices— of the National Film Board. Contributions to the war cause have been made in such films as "Call to a Nation," and those recording the moving of Canadian troops. The press and radio are being used, and presumably will be used to a greater extent in the future. A sample of propaganda work on the radio is given in two programs to be heard shortly. Tomorrow, the CBC networks will carry a program, "London After Dark," the first of a special series "With the Troops in England." Another program will be the story of Canada's Air Force, which will be told Jan. 26. An hour is being devoted to telling of the training of Canada's "war birds," as they pass through various stages of instruction. AGVA to Organize In Frisco Feb. 20 San Francisco, Jan. 21. — Organization of the local chapter of the American Guild of Variety Artists will be effected Feb. 20, with election of officers, according to acting secretary Vic Connors. The guild succeeds the American Federation of Actors, which lost its AFL charter to the new organization. Members of the nominating committee are Lou Ashe, Don Francisco, Catherine Toomay, Jimmie Harvey, Vincent Avery, Buddy Bowen, Joe Johnson, Will Aubrey and Don Santos. Modern Art Elects Museum Trustees Henry Robinson Luce, chairman of the board of Time, Inc. ; Mrs. John S. Parkinson, Jr., Alfred H. Barr, Jr., and John E. Abbott have been elected to the board of trustees of the Museum of Modern Art. Abbott was one of the organizers of the Museum's Film Library. Douglas L. Baxter, former art director for 20th Century-Fox, has been appointed assistant to the executive vice-president of the Museum. Alistair Cooke, former film critic for the British Broadcasting Corp., has been named assistant to the curator of the Film Library. News Competition Chicago, Jan. 21. — All Loop theatres have placed emphasis on their newsreels in ads and lobby displays since the Telenews opened and they are also playing the short subjects featured at the Telenews, day and date, in many instances. The Telenews is Chicago's only newsreel house.