Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

APR 18 193! ©Cie 111597 MOTION PICTURE HERALD Vol. 103. No. 3 April 18, 1931 Mrs. Rockefeller Goes Modern THE lay press has been making a great pother about the plans for Radio City and their pictorial aspect as represented in the photographs given out for publication. In sequel to the uproar has come an announcement of some modifications of plans, a placating statement in answer to the critics who appeared to be hurt by the evidences of a most acute modernism in the architecture. Investigation reveals that it is just a teapot tempest after all. The truth is that the plans are not now, and likely for months yet will not be completed, save, in their broadest aspects. Also the pictures which were given to the press were issued largely because the architects had spent about $30,000 on a plaster model and insisted on some publicity action for their money. The plans had already been changed before the model was itself complete. A hundred and odd other changes have gone across the drafting boards since. No one will be absolutely sure about how Radio City will look until the day it is done. It is entirely certain however that Radio City will be acutely modern and that it will be worth looking at. It has been a somewhat guarded secret that the strongest influence for modernism in the project is Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. She has declared for the spirit of newness and aggressive youth, which seems quite natural enough in the mother of the dashing Abby Rockefeller, the snappy motorist. Incidentally one of Mrs. Rockefeller's sons is employed by an architect engaged in Radio City plans. It is likely that the young man's mother's ideas get rather prompt delivery in that office. In the modern spirit and the tempo of the times, nothing is settled about Radio City but the size and the place. It will be large and probably loud. Incidentally, too, in this project there is a remarkable exemplification of the interweaving of the strands of our commercial and social fabric. Radio City is essentially an amusement enterprise, apparently rather practically to be a part of the institution of the screen, what with Radio's picture connections and impending television. But, even though Radio City is to be a capital of the industry of mere sounds and shadows, its roots and ramifications extend afar. The order for steel alone amounts to 125,000 tons, an item of $10,000,000 to be spent for labor and ore, from the Iron Range mines to the mills of Gary, employment for thousands. And on the other hand the ground rentals of the site represent between a third and a half of the income of Columbia university. So in this wise the motion picture becomes an important indirect participant in the affairs of everything from labor to culture, very much indeed a part of the whole structure of the life of America today. AAA "At Liberty" also "Resting" NOW that the King of Spain has resigned from his exciting postion he may be considered to be the most ornate addition to the masses of the unemployed. In view of the considerable publicity which he is receiving and his influential connections it would seem inevitable that the motion picture should make an offer for his services. He made a screen debut some time past in Fox Movietone News with considerable success. "While the HERALD hesitates to exert editorial pressure on a royal and urbane personage like Alfonso, it may not be amiss to remind him that some years ago Czar Nicholas of Russia failed to respond to a cabled offer from Lewis J. Selznick to appear in the pictures that "make happy hours. " That the Czar made a mistake is now a part of unhappy history. AAA Roxy's Lucky R's RKO's acquisition of Samuel L. Rothafel for theatre operations, announced in this issue, brings to mind the persistence of the letter "R " in the affairs of "Roxy." He believes in the letter and considers it lucky. "R's" have run through all his Broadway history in the names of theatres and staff. Consider: Rialto, Rivoli, La Rose, Riesenfeld, Rapee, Ramsaye, and now the rippling radio. AAA The Spring Blossoming IT IS the glad season of daffodils and dandelion greens, and new grey hats and motion picture conventions and product announcements. This is the season of the optimists, the budding, burgeoning, blooming weeks of fresh ideas and new hopes, with the colors of first growth. Now is perhaps the brightest, merriest time of all the motion picture year, all the way from the studios where there is the hum of preparation to the exhibitor in the field, looking with eager anticipation for the story of the pictures which promise to make this a golden year at his box office. Each year at this time it is the glad mission of this paper to be the bearer of the gay, bright colors of the producers' presentations of their wares for the season, pages laden with the concentrated distillation of the ideas which are to be purveyed to the audiences of the nation, the messages of promise to the theatres which are in fact the purchasing agents of happiness and entertainment for the millions. This is a pleasant function, and a blithe season. AAA "insignificant, But Noisy" CHEERFUL significance attaches to the observation of Dr. Clinton Wunder, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, speaking before the Berkeley Women's Club: "... leaders of organizations representing a total membership of six and one-half million people are cooperating in a constructive movement for better pictures. Opposed to this group is an insignificant number of men and women who find nothing good in motion pictures and prefer their own intolerant standards, and who seek through politics to dictate what the American public shall see and hear in their theatres." Dr. Wunder might have qualified his phrase, "insignificant number," adding "insignificant, but noisy." MOTION PICTURE HERALD MARTIN QUIGLEY, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher '■■iori. The Editor-i _ ....^ General Manager, Chicago, 407 South Dearborn street; William A. Johnston, GenerarManagerr Hollywood, 7006 Hollywood boulevard; Jay U.'Shrec'k ISInagme Yditor' James P. Cunningham, News tditor: London representative, W W M^nrSttn Tot-^/l^.^ w^„ro om n „ t> i t i nrr-i. a j t.' * . bert Fecke, Ray Gallagher ; Better Theatres, ~ tising Representatives. Member Audit Bureau u/ \^ircuiuiians. contenis 'copyrientea lyji Dy ouielev f'ublishmc Lomoanv. .All editnripl anri hi.oJn^cc '■"rrespondence ndon representative, fT. H. Mooring, Faraday House, 8-10 Charing Cross Road. London, W.C.2; Advertising Representatives Her', res, George Schuts, Editor; C. B. O'Neill, Advertising Manager; Raymond Gallo, Thomas C. Kennedy, Harry E Holauist AdverI. y, AA A t -K, VI Affi^"" °L Circulations. All contents /copyrighted 1931 by Quigley Publishing Company. . All editorial and business correspondence shon d be addressed to the New York OfBce. Better Theatres (with which The Showman is incorporated), devoted to the construction, equipment and operatic of theatres is published every fourth week as section 2 of Motion Picture Herald. Other Quigley Publications: The Motion Picture Ai.iiAjdc, published annually I HE l^HICAGOAN,