Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1934)

34 MOTION. PICTURE HERALD November 17, 1934 PARAMOUNT PLAN IN TWO WEEKS: COHEN Production Executive Confirms Belief No Innportant Executive Changes Will Be Made The Paramount Publix management and trustees and the vast array of legal talent are now beginning to assemble the last loose threads preparatory to submission of the final formal plan of reorganization. That the date for the announcement, while still undetermined, cannot be very far off was indicated Monday when Emanuel Cohen, vice-president in charge of production, arrived back in Hollywood and said: "I am happy to find that reorganization of Paramount has reached the final stages with actual plans to be announced within the fortnight." Final Problems Understood to be among the final problems before the plan of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. will be ready are: Allied Owners' $23,000,000 claim. Electrical Research Products' claim of $1,800,000, and some internal complexities involving stock transfers, said to have resulted in a minor division within the principal stockholders' group, the committee headed by Duncan A. Holmes and representing some 50 per cent of outstanding Paramount shares. Taking Mr. Cohen's prediction, together with unofficial expressions, it appears that the plan will be completed by December 1, which could result in a reorganization by January 1. Mr. Cohen, interviewed at Albuquerque, New Mexico, on his way back to the studio, confirmed the general belief that there will be no important executive changes. I5oth Mr. Cohen and the management itself publicly denounced publication in Hollywood of reports that a complete upheaval of the executive production force was imminent. Sales Drive Starts January 1 In the distribution division, salesmen and branch managers, bookers and division and district officials were preparing for a three months special sales campaign starting January 1, with $10,000 to be awarded. All employees of the winning exchanges will share. The United States district court for the southern district of New York will rule November 21 on a recommendation filed Tuesday by special master John E. Joyce, that applications of Paramount counsel, trustees and others for services and allowances in the amount of $720,000 be reduced to $350,000, and so paid. Application of Root, Clark, Buckner and Ballantine for an allowance of $350,000 was reduced to $225,000. The firm is counsel to the trustees. Application of trustees Charles Hilles, Eugene Leake and Charles Richardson was reduced from $300,000 to $97,000. Mr. Joyce recommended reduction to $97,000 because he believes the bankruptcy law restricting trustee allowances to 2 per cent of all monies paid out by them on behalf of the bankrupt estate should prevail in this instance. Other reductions recommended by Mr. Joyce were : application of Price Waterhouse and Company, accountants, reduced from $15,228 to $10,000; application of Rosenberg, Goldmark and Colin, counsel for Paramount Publix, cut from $7,500 to $3,500; application of Barrow, Wade. Guthrie and Company, special accountants for the trustees, pared from $21,870 to $10,000. Mr. Joyce recommended numerous additional smaller allowances for services and disbursements between April, 1933, at the end of the equity receivership, and June 16, 1934, when Paramount became a debtor corporation for reorganization under the new bankruptcy law. The management and the trustees were progressing with reorganization of the Olympic Theatres circuit in New England, which may be completed in a week. An agreement on E. V. Richards' reorganized Saenger theatres was reached Wednesday, clearing the way for immediate reorganization of that circuit. The revised plan, after terms of the agreement have been inserted, will be filed in New York for federal court approval. Mr. Richards' stock ownership in the new company will be reduced, it is understood. The scheduled hearing in New York federal court on Wednesday in the Paramount trustee suit against the socalled $13,200,000 creditor banking group was postponed to November 21. A settlement of the bank claims has been reached but cannot be made effective until the reorganization plan is completed. Meanwhile the trustees retain their cause of action. STORY SALES (Week Ending November 10th) SOURCE OF MATERIAL TOTAL ORIG FOR COMPANY INAL BOOK PLAY WEEK Chesterfield . . 2 2 Columbia .... 2 2 Fox 2 2 King-Ajax .... 4 4 London (U.A.) 2 1 1 4 Metro 5 3 2 10 Mindenburg 1 1 Paramount 2 1 3 Reliance! U.A.) 1 1 Warners .... 1 1 TOTALS FOR THE WEEK . 19 8 3 30 TOTALS SINCE SEPTEMBER 1 81 71 17 169 Beauty's Daughter, book, by Kathleen Norris, purchased by Fox for production by Sol Wurtzel and to feature Claire Trevor, with Sonya Levien adapting. Blonde Trouble, original, by Robert Eden, purchased by King-Ajax. Brave Live On, original, by Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements, purchased by Metro for Rosamund Pinchot, with production assigned to David Selznick. Captain Nicholas, book, by Hugh Walpole, purchased by Metro, with David Selznick assigned to production. Distaff Side, play, by John Van Druten, purchased by Metro. Drums, book, by F. Britten Austin, purchased by Paramount. Drum Beats, original, by Robert Andrews, purchased by Paramount as a possible vehicle for Joe Morrison. Flame Within, original, by Edmund Goulding, purchased by Metro, Goulding to direct. Forgotten Girl, original, by Wilson Collison, purchased by Metro, to be produced by Phil Goldstone. Ghost Walks, original, by Charles Belden, purchased by Chesterfield for John Miljan and June Collyer, Frank Strayer directing. Gunga Din, book, by Rudyard Kipling, purchased by Reliance (United Artists). King's Highway, original, by Conrad Seller, purchased by B. V. Mindenburg for John Alden. Little Colonel, book, by Annie Fellows John ston, purchased by Fox for Shirley Temple, with production in charge of B. G. DeSylva, direction in charge of Irving Cummings and William Conselman assigned to adapt. Loot, original, by Robert Eden, purchased by King-Ajax. AfAN-PROOF, original, by Harold Shumate, purchased by Columbia. Mary Read, play, by James Bridie, purchased by London Films (United Artists). Money Man, original, by Dashiell Hammett, purchased by Warners. My Son Is Yours, original, by Charles Belden, purchased by Chesterfield, with Charles Lament assigned to direct. Nijinsky, book, by Romola Nijinsky, purchased by London Films (United Artists). One Too Many, original, by Harry McCoy and Robert MacGowan, purchased by Columbia, for Leon Errol. Public Enemy No. 2, play, by Edgar Selwyn and William Le Baron, purchased by Metro. Reign of King George V, original, by V/inston Churchill, purchased by London Films (United Artists). Renegade, original, by Ewing Scott, purchased by Paramount. Shadow of Doubt, book, by Arthur Somers Roche, purchased by Metro. Spoiled, original, by Willis Goldbeck, purchased by Metro for Jean Harlow. Twenty Dollars a Week, original, by Robert Eden, purchased by King-Ajax. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, book, by Jules Verne, purchased by Metro. Town-Talk, original, by Laurence Stallings and Dale Van Every, purchased by Metro. Untitled, original, by Frederick Lonsdale, purchased by London Films (United Artists). Working Wives, original, by Anne Gardner, purchased by King-Ajax. Screen Guild To Get Own Charter Further study of the publicly announced proposal of the Screen Actors Guild of Hollywood to join Actors Equity Association resulted Tuesday in both groups agreeing to place the Guild with the Associated Actors and Artists of America, as a chartered unit, rather than make it a direct affiliate of Equity. The move was made suddenly following a series of conferences at Equity headquarters in New York participated in by President Frank Gillmore and other Equity officials and Kenneth Thomson, Guild secretary, and Lawrence Beilenson, counsel. The original plan calling for establishment of the Guild as the film branch of Equity, Thomson and Beilenson left Thursday to submit the new plan to Guild members. Equity's council voted not to oppose the Guild's application to join Associated Actors and Artists, which, when accepted, will give the Guild autonomy in the motion picture field. AAAA is the international organization of all actors, exercising jurisdiction over the entire field for the American Federation of Labor. Issuance of a charter to the Screen Guild would place it on a par in the AFL with Equity, although both the Guild and Equity would be tied in through an arrangement whereby any stage player engaged for motion picture work would first be required to join the Guild, and any screen player engaged for the stage would have to take out membership in Equity. Also, in the event of a strike in either branch, the players belonging to one group would not be available for work in the division on strike.