Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Sep 1933)

18 MOTION PICTURE HERALD August 12, 1933 The chart, based on Motion Picture Herald's listings of box office grosses, compares the business done in twelve key cities during the three week period from July 8 to July 22 of 1933 with the receipts from the same cities for the same period of 1932. The black bar represents the 1933 gross; the white bar indicates the 1932 figure. GERMAN FILM CREDIT BANK OFFICERS NAMED Dr. Reicherts Made Manager of Production Financing Enterprise; Producer To Pay 30 Per Cent of Cost of Picture by J. K. Rutenberg Berlin Correspondent The board of directors of the new German Film Credit Bank has appointed Dr. Reicherts as manager of the enterprise and has named Dr. Paetel legal adviser and counsellor. The offices of the bank are in the rooms of the head organization of the German Film Industry, Inc., Bendler street 33, Berlin W 35. The bank will finance new German film production and split the expenses of producing. It is expected that 75 to 100 feature films can be financed in this way. The board has appointed a special committee to promulgate the policy of the new office. The following members will belong to this committee : Dr. Scheuermann, solicitor, as president; Dr. Bockies, member of the Association of German Film Distributors ; Adolf Engl, president of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association of Germany ; Dr. Henkel, general manager of the Tobis sound film syndicate; L. Klitzsch, general manager of the Ufa and member of the head organization of the German film industry ; Dr. Pilder, director of the Dresdner Bank ; Arnold Raether, member of the national ministry for public enlightenment and propaganda ; Herr Strehle, director of the Agfa works of I. G. Farben A. G. ; Herr Wehner, member of the studio association. The financing of ne^w German film prod uct will be subject to a series of conditions which have been adopted by the board. These conditions are : The scenario must be ready. Stars and actors must have been engaged. All rights for production of a film must have been acquired by the producer. These rights then are transferred to the Film Bank, which will come to an agreement with an existing film distributing company for the marketing of the film. The contractors must belong to an association connected with the head organization of the German film industry. The money necessary for production of a picture will be provided by means of a contract between the raw film manufacturers, the patent owners, the studio proprietors and the editors, which will act as guarantees. The producer gets 70 per cent of the production costs in the form of credit ; remainder must be paid by himself. The guarantors present drafts which will be cashed by the Film Bank. This bank itself gets the money from the four leading German banking enterprises which are behind the Film Credit Bank ; Dresdner Bank, Deutsche Bank und Diskonto Gesellschaft, Reichs-Kreditgesellschaft, A. G., and Commerz & Privatbank A. G. These already have placed ten million reichsmarks at the disposal of the Film Credit Bank. Ohio Censor Definitely Bans Warner's "Baby Face" Warner's "Baby Face," which the Ohio censor held up for two weeks, was finally barred from showing in the state. Several cuts were made. Dr. Beverly O. Skinner, chief of the censor board, said that even though the picture were completely revised, the story was such that Ohio showings would not be permitted. The picture had been set for showing at several Ohio first run situations when the board acted. German Organizing Committee Formed Important new resolutions in connection with reorganization of the German film industry were adopted by the Spitzenorganisation at a recent meeting of its board in Berlin. A permanent committee under the name of Spio-Commission was formed and granted special power to carry out the following points of the reorganization program : Regulation of admission prices. Regulation of cinema seating capacity. Elimination of unfair competition in the film trade. Control of financial relations between production, exhibition and distribution. Final settlement of outstanding questions on sound apparatus licenses. Music royalties. Elimination of high production costs. Reorganization methods along these lines will be studied by a special committee comprising representatives of employers and employees, as well as technicians and artists. The Spio board further decided to institute an advisory censorship committee whose task will be to help producers avoid censorship difficulties. The creation of this committee, which is to work in close contact .with the Ministry of Propaganda, is due to the initiative of Minister Goebbels, whose intention, it is said, is to grant all possible support to the industry. Publicists Ask Academy Branch The board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this week was asked by members of the producers' branch who are executives in studio publicity departments, for authorization to form a Publicity and Advertising Representatives Section. The members of this proposed section would be active, rather than associate, members of the Academy. Barrett Keisling was appointed temporary chairman of the group with William Pine as secretary, and Eddie Eckles, Tom Bailey and Hubert Voight appointed to form membership qualifications for the section. Jensen-VonHerberg Buy Seattle Mascot Exchange Jensen-VonHerberg, important exhibitors of the Pacific Northwest, have purchased the Mascot Film Exchange in Seattle, and will distribute independent product to theatres in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Their own circuit of twenty houses will form the nucleus of their distribution outlet. The entire output of Majestic Productions, Nat Levine features and Levine serials will be handled through the local exchange. The office will be headed by Arthur Huot, former Warner branch manager in Seattle. Monogram Pictures Moves Monogram Pictures moved this week to the RKO Building, at Radio City. Their offices have been enlarged, which was necessitated due to enlarged business and to take care of the increased number of employees in every department.