Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Sep 1933)

July 2 9, 19 3 3 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 17 STORY PURCHASES ESTABLISH RECORD (Continued from prccedinq t>acic) Little Man, W%at Now ? Hans Fallada "best seller." Mad Game, by Edward Dean Sullivan, for Spencer Tracy; adaptation, William Conselman and Henry Johnson; director, Irving Cummings. Marie Galante, by Jacques Deval, for Spencer Tracy; (listed in annual product announcement.) Music in the Air, stage operetta by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, to be produced as complete musical. Odd Thursday, by Vera Caspary, for Warner Baxter; (listed in annual product announcement). Orient Express, by Graham Greene, for Heather Angel and Norman Foster; (listed in annual product announcement) . Puppet Show, original by Sig Herzig and Hector Turnbull. Sleepers East, by Frederick Nebel; (listed in annual product announcement). Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, for Warner Baxter; screen play and dialogue by Edwin Burke. There's Always Tomorrow, by Anne Cameron, for Will Rogers and Zasu Pitts. Walls of Gold, by Kathleen Norris. World Moves On, by Reginald Berkeley; director, John Ford. LESSER (SOL) Calling of Dan Matthews, by Harold Bell Wright. MAJESTIC Backstage Mystery (to be released as Curtain at Eight), by Octavus Roy Cohen, for Dorothy Mackaill and Jack Mullhal. Woman in the Chair, original director, Howard Christy. METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER Age of Larceny, by Anita Loos; (listed in annual announcement) . Evelyn Prentice, by W. E. Woodward. Forsaking All Others, play by Edward Barry Roberts and Frank Morgan. Garden of Allah, by Robert Hichens; (talker rights purchased; picture was produced as a silent feature by Rex Ingram, MGM release, in 1927). High School, by Paul Baker and Dick Templeton; (listed in annual announcement). Kink, by Thomson Burtis; (short story). Lost Daughter, by Matell Howe Farnham; (listed in annual announcement). Marie Antoinette, by Stefan Zweig; (listed in annual announcement) . Mrs. Van Kleek, by Eleanor Mordaunt, for Marie Dressier. Old Maid, by Edith Wharton, for Helen Hayes. Paid to Laugh, original by Frances Marion. Stockholder, original by Jerome Sackheim. To the Victor, original by Frank Dolan. Too Much Air, by Thomson Burtis; (short story). Wicked Woman, by Anne Austin. MGM gave new writing contracts to Samuel and Bella Spewack and added Paul Green to the writing staff. PARAMOUNT Captain Gericho, original by Max Miller and Agnes Brand Leahy. Catspaw, by Clarence Budington Kelland, for Harold Lloyd production. Cradle Song, play by Gregorio and Maria MartinezSierra, for Dorothea Wieck; adaptation by Marc Connelly, Frank Partos and Martinez-Sierra. Eight Girls in a Boat, original, produced in Germany as "Acht Maedels Im Boot," English rights to which were bought by Charles R. Rogers, who will remake it. Green Gold, original, for Charles Rogers production. Last Curtain, play by Burton Davis and Morton Barteaux; (to be released as "Reunion"); adaptation by Barteaux; for B. P. Schulberg production. We're Sitting Pretty, original musical, book by Jack McGowan; music by Gordon and Revel; to be produced by Charles R. Rogers, starring Jack Haley and Jack Oakie. White Woman, original, for Dorothea Weick. Maxwell Anderson was assigned to adapt "Lives of a Bengal Lancer," and Thomas Mitchell "Cloudy with Showers." Five writers were working on the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup," including Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Edward Kaufman, Arthur Sheekman and Nat Perrin. Bartlett Cormack will adapt "Shoe the Wild Mare." RADIO Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand; possibly for John Barrymore; adaptation by Laurence Stallings and Kenneth McGowan. Dance of Desire, original by Donald Henderson Clarke, for Dolores Del Rio; Myles Connolly, producer. Deluge, by S. Fowler Wright; continuity by John F. Goodrich and Warren Duff; director, Felix F. Feist, Jr.; supervisor, Sam Bischoff. Family Man, original by Salisbury Field, for Clive Brook. Girl Meets Boy, original by Vina Delmar, for Dorothy Jordan and Joel McCrea. Preferred List, original satire on Morgan situation by Joe Fields and Leigh Jason; featuring Chick Chandler and Dorothy Lee. Wild Birds, by Dan Totheroh, for Dorothy Jordan and Eric Linden. David Lewis, associate producer, was promoted to post of story editor, succeeding Alexander McKaig, who returns to New York stage production. Al Persoff, former assistant associate producer, becomes assistant to Lewis. BEST SELLERS AND RENTERS The following listings of Best Sellers and Best Renters appeared in the July 1 issue of "The Retail Bookseller," organ of The Baker & Taylor Co., New York. The Best Seller ranking is based upon actual count of the company's sales of fiction during the given period. The Best Renters first ten was compiled from reports of distributors of "The Fiction Guide." BEST SELLERS May 22 to June 21 1. The Album, by Mary Roberts Rinehart. 2. Little Man, What Now? by Hans Fallada. 3. Wife For Sale, by Kathleen Norris. 4. As the Earth Turns, by Gladys H. Carroll. 5. Grand Canary, by A. J. Cronin. 6. Zest, by Charles Norris. 7. Strange Understanding, by Harriet T. Comstock. 8. Men of Good Will, by Jules Romains. 9. The Broken O, by Carolyn Wells. 10. Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas. BEST RENTERS May 10 to June 10 1. Ann Vickers, by Sinclair Lewis. 2. As 'the Earth Turns, by Gladys Hasty Carroll. 3. Grand Canary, by A. J. Cronin. 4. The Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas. 5. White Collar Girl, by Faith Baldwin. 6. Hardy Perennial, by Helen Hull. 7. An American Girl, by Tiffany Thayer. 8. Zest, by Charles G. Norris. 9. The Last Adam, by James G. Cozzens. 10. Forgive Us Our Trespasses, by Lloyd C. Douglas. Cyril Hume was signed to adapt "Green Mansions," and John Monk Saunders, to do "Balloon Buster." Wells Root was working on "Hide in the Dark." Agnes Christine Johnston was writing "Stingaree." SHOWMEN'S PICTURES Police Call, original, for Merna Kennedy and Nick Stuart; director, Phil Whitman. UNITED ARTISTS Bail Bond, original by Roland Brown; for Schenck Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures. Blood Money, original by Roland Brown; for 20th Century. Born to Be Bad, by Ralph Graves; for 20th Century. Bowery, (from the novel, "Chuck Connors"), by Michael L. Simmons and B. R. Solomon; for 20th Century; director, Raoul Walsh; script by Howard Estabrook and James Gleason; featured. Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Clark Gable. Broadway Thru a Keyhole, original by Walter Winchell, about his life as a news writer; for 20th Century. Coast-to-Coast, by Herbert Asbury, for Anna Sten; Samuel Goldwyn production. Miss Lonely Hearts, by Nathaniel West; for 20th Century. Rothschild, for George Arliss; (formerly bought by Warners as Arliss vehicle), 20th Century production. Trouble Shooter, original by J. R. Bren and Elmer Harris; for 20th Century. Unnamed Woman, original by William Robertson. William DuBois arrived at the Sam Goldwyn studio to work on a story about an American family, similar to the English "Cavalcade." Four more writers were signed for 20th Century Pictures, by Darryl Zanuck. They are Courtenay Terrett, Ralph Graves, Harold Long and Nathaniel West. UNIVERSAL Blossom Time, Shubert's musical play, by Sigmund Romberg; (listed in product announcement). Glamour, original by George O'Neill; director, Lois Weber. Happiness Ahead, by Ring Lardner, for Slim Suramerville and Zasu Pitts; (listed in product announcement). I Give My Love, by Vicki Baum; (listed in product announcement) . Imitation of Life, by Fannie Hurst; director, John M. Stahl. Ma Cinderella, by Harold Bell Wright. Marriage Interlude, by Luigi Pirandello; scenario by Lois Weber. My Lady's Legs, by Willard Mack, for Myrt and Marge, radio performers; director, Bryan Foy; (may be released as "The New Deal"). Only Yesterday, by Frederick Lewis Allen; producer. John M. Stahl. Take a Chance, musical play written and produced by Schwab and Mandel; bought by Rowland and Brice, for Universal release. That's Gratitude, play by Frank Craven; (listed in product announcement). Ward Morehouse was in Hollywood to prepare his "One Glamorous Night," adapted from "Bagdad on the Hudson," by Morehouse and his wife, Jean Dalrymple. William Hurlburt was assigned to adapt "Good Red Bricks." WARNERS As the Earth Turns, by Gladys Hasty Carroll; purchased stage and screen rights, producing both. British Agent, by R. H. Bruce Lockhart, for Leslie Howard. Dark Hazard, by W. R. Burnett, for Edward Robinson; adaptation by Brown Holmes and Ralph Block. Ever in My Heart, original by Bertram Millhauser and Beulah Marie Dix, for Barbara Stanwyck. Havana Widows, original by Earl Baldwin, for Aline MacMahon and Glenda Farrell. Headquarters, by Robert W. Lee. Hi, Nellie, by Roy Chanslor. House on Fifty-Sixth Street, original by Joseph Santley, for Ruth Chatterton; adaptor, Sheridan Gibney. Kennel Murder Mystery, adaptation of S. S. Van Dine novels about "The Kennell Murder Mystery." Massacre, by Robert Gessner, for Paul Muni. Miss Benton, R.N., play by Frances Johns and Wilton Lackaye, Jr. Shanghai Orchid, original by Gene Towne and George Baker, for Richard Barthelmess. Sweethearts Forever, original by Thomas Monte, for Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Wonder Bar, musical play, for Al Jolson. With production going full blast on 1933-34 product, Warners announced last week that its writing staff had surpassed all records in size, now totaling 40 members.