Motion Picture Herald (Jun-Sep 1934)

54 MOTION PICTURE HERALD August 11, 1934 Two Theatre Men Condemn Contents Of Fan Magazines Sharp denunciation of the general run of content of the so-called motion picture "fan" magazines was voiced recently by two southern exhibitors. From one, Vogel Gettier of the Liberty theatre, at Sedalia, Mo., came the expression, "yellow journalism," and from Arthur Swanke, manager of the Saenger theatre, at Hope, Ark., the phrase, "suggestive picture books." Declared Mr. Gettier : "Your present-day fan magazine is the worst type of 'yellow journalism,' sex-ridden, all the filth and gory slime that can possibly be dug up about our stars and members of the film colony, and the good suflfer along with the bad. ... A little investigation will show just how few of our real fans read this trash. There are thousands of 'hearse chasers' in this broad land . . . but these are not the profitable customers, the regular patrons who make up our regular audiences." With reference to cooperation between the theatre screen and the fan magazines, on the part of the theatre manager, Mr. Gettier was vehement in his warning against any such practice. "The manager who plays with the present-day fan magazine," he said, "is playing with dynamite, the same as when he failed to raise his voice against sex and filth in his picture." Mr. Swanke, somewhat less harsh but HANDBOOK OF PROJECTION SOUND RECORDING REPRODUCTION ANO PROieCTlON there is no substitute for RICHARDSON in the projection room Theatre managers and projectionsists admit that a set of Richardson's handbooks on projection is one of the indispensable features of their operating equipment. There is no greater safeguard against sudden breakdown, no quicker and more efficient repair service, no surer guide to better projection than is to be found within the covers of these three volumes — the accepted authority on projection and sound all over the world. FOREMOST AUTHORITY ON PROJECTION IN AMERICA If you have put off owning a set of Richardson's put it ofT no longer. Let the author acquaint you by text, illustration and diagram with all the diverse elements of projection, such as the Arc; Light Sources; Carbon; Condensers; Electrical Action; Projection Angle ; Generators : Fuses ; Insulation ; Lensees ; Light Action ; Optics ; Picture Distortion ; Practical Projection ; Resistance as It Applies to a Projector Circuit ; Spotlights ; Switches ; Wiring ; The Microphone ; Recording Sound ; none the less emphatic, leans very much in the same direction when he says, "They are not 'movie' magazines, but suggestive picture books and they are helping, with each issue, the cause of national censorship. . . . Their main stock in trade seems to be the publishing of hot scenes, love clinches and the like ... 20 years ago we used to have two or three fairly decent movie magazines . . . but not now." Mr. Swanke is equally decisive in his opinion that, in view of the type of material to be found in the regular run of fan magazines of today, any cooperation on the part of the exhibitor which looks to a buildup which must inevitably result in increased circulation for the fan papers, is, to say the least, unwise. DeMille Starts Lecture Tour Around the Country Kansas City, Mo., will be the first stop of Cecil B. DeMille, Paramount producer, in a lecture tour throughout the country, talking before civic, church and social organizations on motion picture films. He will speak at the Community Church in Kansas City on August 12th, following with a talk at Detroit. Get 16mm. High Fidelity Burton Holmes Films, Inc., producers of travelogues and educational films, has completed arrangements with RCA Victor Company for immediate installation of facilities for optically reducing 35 mm. negative to 16 mm. size by newly developed High Fidelity methods. Cleaning and Splicing Sound Film ; Sound Reproduction; Light Valve Recording ; The Photo-electric Cell ; Electrical Condenser ; Amplifiers ; Motor Control Box . . . etc. Check the volumes you want — send in your order today. Remittance must accompany order unless you, prefer shipment C.O.D. IN THREE VOLUMES Volumes 1 and 2 $ 6.20 Volume 3 5.10 C ombination price 10.20 SHORT PRODUCT PLAYING BROADWAY Week of August 4 MAYFAIR Fiddlin' Fun RKO Radio Mediterranean Blues Educational Mickey's Rescue Columbia PARAMOUNT Society Notes Paramount RIALTO There's Something About a Soldier Paramount Superstition of the Black Cat Paramount Going Bye Bye MGM RIVOLI Playful Pluto United Artists Rock of Gibraltar Fox RKO MUSIC HALL Harnessed Lightning Columbia See the World Educational ROXY Gulliver Mickey United Artists Get Along, Little Hubby. . Columbia STRAND Service with a Smile Vitaphone Penny a Peep Vitaphone Gillham Bills 55.000 Sheets For Opening of "Cleopatra" Robert Gillham, director of Paramount advertising, will complete this week a billboard campaign for the opening of Cecil De Mille's "Cleopatra," for which he is using the equivalent of 55,000 one-sheets pasted on boards in some 93 cities and towns in the Metropolitan district, embracing New York, Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. The premiere, scheduled for the Paramount on Broadway, on August 16, will mark the beginning of a long run policy at that theatre. Mr. Gillham's billboard campaign, which was routed by Alec Moss, his assistant, includes 350 28-sheets, 1,000 14-sheets, 2,000 6-sheets, 3,500 3-sheets and 8,000 1 -sheets, representing 55,000 one-sheets covering a total of 15,000 boards. It is the company's first extensive billboard campaign since Marlene Dietrich's "Song of Songs." MGM Launches Campaign In 36 National Magazines An extensive and far-reaching advertising campaign was launched this week by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 36 national magazines in a concentrated effort to bring MGM 1934-35 product to every motion picture goer of the country. The magazines, which represent a coverage of 33,185,000 circulation, include the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, McCall's, Collier's, Liberty, Delineator, Pictorial Review, Good Housekeeping, American Magazine, True Story, Cosmopolitan, Literary Digest, Red Book, Time, Life, Fortune, Film Fun, Screen Romances, Modern Romances, Modern Screen, Motion Picture, Movie Classic, Movie Mirror, Photoplay, Shadowplay, Picture Play, Screen Book, Screen Play, Screenland, Silver Screen and the Tower group of Home, Mystery, Serenade, New Movie and Tower Radio. QUIGLEY BOOKSHOP 1790 Broadway