Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1932)

December 10, 1932 Illl'-Hillilllliijjl! 111,1 111 ■llliiifl Miss Tallulah Bankhead is to be congratulated. She, of Jasper, Ala., New York, London and Hollywood, arrived in town Monday from the Coast, with eight trunks, 48 pairs of shoes and Edie Smith, maid and companion — but with nary a word of criticism or condemnation for the movieland whence she came, admittedly unable to successfully hurdle the obstacles of stardom. "I'm going to be original," news writers quoted her as saying. "I'm not here to pan Hollywood, but to praise it. Hollywood's all right," she went on. "So are the people. But the sunshine's lousy." y A village theatre in Western New York, which still has special gift nights, had a happy choice of prize announcement and picture title that resulted in this marquee line : "Passport to Hell — Refrigerator Given. Free" V S. L. Rothafel traveled down to Washington personally to invite President Hoover to the opening of the Roxy theatre at Rockefeller Center on December 27. Mr. Hoover took the offer under advisement, posed with Roxy for photographs on the south lawn of the White House, and news writers covered the event to the satisfaction of Mr. Rothafel and his sponsors at Radio City. V The School of Thoroughness has pervaded the industry! When Sidney R. Kent left Paramount some months ago to join Fox he started a train of changes that seeped into the selling force and down into the secretarial strata. But the high mark came the other day when we found the bootblack who graced the Paramount headquarters during other days shining things up for the "Old Guard" at Fox's headquarters on Tenth Avenue. V Decision of Allied to renew its efforts for federal legislation brought mixed reactions in New York. Improbabilities of the ultimate success of such a campaign were voiced informally far and wide following the Eastern mass meeting at the Park Central. Exhibitors congregated in small groups about the hotel and continued the discussion far into Thursday night. One gentleman, who occupies an important position in the industry and knows a thing or two about the political aspects of Capitol Hill, made the very interesting observation that, in his opinion, proponents of a federal bill have overlooked the fact that the Presidential pen controls the important power of veto and that several members of the opposing element within the industry enjoy the friendship of Franklin Delano Roosevelt ! V Stacey Woodward, producer of shorts for Educational, returned to Hollywood from location in Death Valley, where he filmed demons of the desert, and reported that the denizens lie dormant for 23 hours out of every 24. For 60 minutes, while the sun is setting, the badgers, lizards, snakes, gila monsters, tarantulas and other inhabitants of this famous desert valley emerge to eat — or be eaten. The strong sunlight will kill within ten minutes, it is said, even the most monstrous reptile venturing forth into its deadly rays. V The combination of SO Japanese waltzing mice and 95 girls brought about a large-sized panic at Educational's Metropolitan studio the other day. Al Christie was making a comedy and, being a realist, turned thumbs down on "prop" mice. Fifty little rodents of the Japanese breed were brought in but the lid fell off the mice's cage. MOTION PICTURE HERALD By JAMES CUNNINGHAM MR. LAEMMLE ENTERS BUSINESS Carl Laemmle is getting ready to celebrate another anniversary, his twenty-seventh in the motion picture business. The Universal chief attaches mtich sentiment to these occasions. Early in February in 1906, F. Worthington Butts, who printed Mr. Laemmle's first poster, accompanied "Uncle Carl" to the front of a little 200-seater located on Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago. The night was bitter cold and both stood for hours secretly "clocking" the customers. Mr. Laemmle had opened negotiations to purchase the theatre and he wanted to satisfy himself that he was not buying a "lemon." The crowd was large and both agreed that it was a successful property. Mr. Laemmle learned later that about two-thirds of the admissions on that night were passes. The Wrigley influence is at last coming to the surface in the Paramount organization. The late William Wrigley, Jr., who died suddenly on January 26, 1932, entered the Paramount picture with John Hertz and became a member of the board. Last week Publix officials notified house managers of the circuit that a Wrigley gum gift package is available for youngsters at Christmas kiddie matinees, at absolutely no cost to the company. This comes as a result of an exclusive tieup with the Wrigley Company, of Chicago. The package contains one stick "of each of all the fine flavors made by Wrigley," says Paramount, and includes card-board cut-out dolls of the Wrigley trade mark characters. V , "To be successful, a wild animal tamer has to keep on the right side of his beasts," observes Frank ("Bring 'Em Back Alive") Buck. Which, we assume, is the outside. V Advertising and publicity writers who are members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers in New York might pass on to their bosses a few pointers. The AM PA "Naked Truth Dinner" of a few weeks ago netted a profit of $167. Not much, but a profit. V Adolphe Menjou has an enviable reputation in Hollywood for being meticulous about his appearance and the cut of his suits. In order to eliminate the bulges of cigaret cases he has had two small leather packets made which he straps to his wire-haired terrier and carries his smokes therein. We read about it in Leo Meehan's Hollywood Herald. V The United States government recently ordered General Electric to sever its stock relations with RCA and the other day G. E. announced it immediately would market a new sharpener for razor blades. V Helene Madison, champion swimmer, will make her film debut in a Mack Sennett comedy, thus becoming the industry's first bathing beauty who can swim. 39 Censoring of "Grand Central Airport" by aviation leaders raises a question which will have to be settled definitely, and that is whether outside interests should be allowed to interfere with the filming of a picture descriptive of their business to the detriment of realism and plot, according to Jack Moffitt, motion picture editor of the Kansas City Star, who wrote the original air story. It is understood that Jack Warner effected a compromise with aviation interests and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. "The major complication in the story arises out of the efforts of an air line official to suppress news," said Mr. Moffitt. Some of the scenes which are said to have raised objections called for air crashes of commercial skyliners and close-ups of passenger wrecks. One sequence depicted the shooting of a pilot injured in the crash of a burning plane, to save him from agony. This, according to Moffitt, actually happened. We may now expect the railroads to yowl about the venerable train wreck, and the automobile manufacturers to complain about auto crashes hurting their business. V Ho Hum Department : Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporation officially announces to the world, via publicity channels, that Lupe Velez's hairless Chihuahua pup weighs a mere two pounds, and because she (the dog) gets cold at night, the Radio star has had an ermine coat made for it. V Prior to E. V. Richards' departure for New York for final conferences with Publix in the deal whereby he acquired management of the Saenger circuit, he returned to his native heath at New Orleans from a hunting trip in Mexico. Mr. Richards reported that he shot and killed a tiger while Ernest Boehringer, former Baton Rouge owner and a member of the hunting party, was enjoying a nocturnal swim just a few feet away. It sounded too much like a press agent's yarn to the skeptics, who didn't believe there were tigers in Mexico. They're not very big, but there are tigers down there. V A sub-executive at a Hollywood studio dictated a memo to the big boss in the front office and alluded to him as "the power behind the throne." When the secretary typed the memo, the big chief read that he was "the power behind the thrown." Then there's the one which Hollywood Herald tells about a studio executive who was in the midst of a socalled conference. One of his assistants brought him a telegram. Glancing at it just long enough to recognize what it was, he handed it back to the assistant, saying: "Stand by and remind me to read that telegram!" V Working girls of Omaha got an early breakfast of "sinkers," java and Clark Gable for a quarter when they attended the Paramount theatre's matinee the other morning at 7 :30 to see "Red Dust." Breakfast was served by "sheikish gentlemen" from a night club in town. They turned up the lights a bit and took the doughnuts and coffee arouiul to the customers, who dunked and slurped with eyes glued on the screen. Each young lady received a photograph of Idol Gable. V Freddy Jablons, of the Paramount home office, concludes a series of articles on theatre advertising, written for Publix Opinion, with this advice to the company's theatre managers: "Let's have more sex in our ads — but let it be veiled; let it be beautifully phrased; let it stir the imagination; let it create a glorious illusion; let it surround the individual with a halo of glamour." AMI tS & INTERLUDES