Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1936)

January II, 1936 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 19 $3,070,000 SPENT IN 1935 FOR 614 FEATURE STORIES Originals Constitute More Than Half of Purchases by 41 Producers; Books Second; Only 73 Plays Bought in the Year Forty-one producing companies in 1935 purchased 614 stories for feature production, investing approximately $3,070,000, based on the generally accepted average expenditure of $5,000 each. Costs, however, actually ran as high as $100,000 and $125,000 for "hit" stage plays. Original stories lost no ground in 1935 as the principal source of material, those purchases amounting to 52 per cent of the total made, there having been 312 original manuscripts acquired, as against 229 published books (including a scattering of magazine stories), representing 37 per cent of the total, and only 73 plays, equaling 1 1 per cent. The purchases were made for immediate production, both to complete 1934-35 schedules and, for the most part, for 1935-36. However, several dozen properties were, as usual, placed "on the shelf" for future use, adding thereby to the millions of dollars' worth of story material on hand in the vaults of studios. The average monthly story purchase was 51, ranging from the all-time low of 14 in October, to the record-breaking high of 100 in April, and comparing as follows : Month Originals Books Plays Total 26 14 7 47 February 21 17 3 41 March 28 15 5 48 April 43 44 13 100 May 23 19 9 51 June 24 19 7 50 July 41 12 10 63 August 21 7 4 32 September 34 53(a) 4 91 7 2 14 22 12(b) 5 39 December 22 12(c) 4 38 TOTALS FOR THE YEAR 312 229(d) 73 614 a) Including 4 published magazine stories. b) Including I published magazine story. c) Including 2 published magazine stories. d) Including 7 published magazine stories. There was unusually spirited bidding during the year among the principal producers for the best books, outstanding plays and originals and magazine stories with good potential value to the releasing schedules of affiliated distribution divisions. Too, the ambitions of virtually all producers to continue under the new order to produce stories of high standing, from a literary standpoint and otherwise, were noticeably reflected in the high quality of many dozens of the properties purchased. There was hardly a book or play or manu script of merit that lent itself to filming that was not taken by one or another of Hollywood's producers for conversion into motion pictures. December closed the year with only ordinary activity in the story market, 38 purchases having been consummated by 12 producers, as follows : Maga December Orig zine Dec. Purchasers inals Stories Books Plays Totals Columbia 3 3 Goldwyn (U.A.) 2 I I 4 Lesser (Fox) ... I I MGM I 5 I 7 Paramount 3 3 Reliance (U.A.) . . . I I Radio 2 I 3 Selznick (U.A.). I I Universal I I I 3 Wanger (Para.) I I I 14 Warners 6 I 7 Zeldman I . . I DECEMBER TOTALS 22 2 10 4 38 Outstanding among December acquisitions was "Winterset," the long-running Maxwell Anderson play, which went to Radio. "Hurricane," a book by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, authors of MGM's successful "Mutiny on the Bounty," was bought by Samuel Goldwyn for United Artists release. Mr. Goldwyn also bought Rachel Crothers' play, "Perfectly Good Women." Paramount decided to film Robert Louis Stevenson's "Suicide Club" stories. December purchases, with authors' names and all other available credits, were as follows : Absolute Quiet, book, by George F. Worts, purchased by MGM. Bright Star, play, by Philip Barry, purchased by MGM, for production by Irving Thal berg. Counterfeit Lady, original, by Ed Olmstead, purchased by Columbia. For the Service, original, by Isador Bernstein, purchased by Universal, for Buck Jones ; direction bv Ray Taylor. Hard to Handle, original, by Richard Macauley, purchased by Paramount, for Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray. Hearts Divided, original, by Rida Johnson Young, purchased by Warner (Cosmopolitan Productions), for Marion Davies, Dick Powell, Charles Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton ; direction by Frank Borzage ; screen play by Casey Robinson; (formerly called 'Glorious") . Hell and Texas, original, by Edward Chodorov and Jane Murfin, purchased by Samuel Goldwyn Productions (United Artists) as a possible vehicle for Joel McCrea. History Is Made at Night, original, by Gene Towne and Graham Baker, purchased by Walter Wanger (Paramount), for Charles Boyer. Hurricane, book, by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, purchased by Samuel Goldwyn Productions (United Artists). I Married a Doctor, original, purchased by Warner, for Pat O'Brien and Josephine Hutchinson; direction by Archie Mayo. See Unusually Spirited Bidding for Material Raise Prices in Some Cases from An Average of $5,000 to $100,000 Indestructible Mrs. Talbot, original, by P. J. Wolfson, purchased by Radio, for Ann Harding and Herbert Marshall ; production by Edward Kaufman, direction by Stephen Roberts. International Team, Argosy magazine story, by Fred VanWyck Mason, purchased by Universal, for Jack Holt. (Published as "The Enemy's Goal"). It All Came True, book and Cosmopolitan story, by Louis Bromfield, purchased by Warner, as a possible vehicle for Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Journey to Mars, original, by John Colton and James Creelman, with the scientific collaboration of W. H. Christie and the Mt. Wilson Observation, purchased by Paramount, which will produce it in full color. Man With the Black Hat, original, by Dashiell Hammett, purchased by Warner, for Bette Davis and Warren William ; direction by William Dieterle, screen play by Brown Holmes. Masterpiece Murders, original, by Thomson Burtis, purchased by Columbia. More the Merrier, play, by Jack Robbins, purchased by Walter Wanger (Paramount). Murder Under the Stars, original, by Albert J. Cohen and Robert T. Shannon, purchased by MGM; production by Lucien Hubbard, adaptation by Florence Ryerson. Night in Glengyle, book, by John Ferguson, purchased by MGM. No Hero, book, by John P. Marquand, purchased by MGM. Nowhere, original, purchased by Warner, for Ross Alexander and Beverly Roberts; direction by William Clemens. William S. Hart Original O'Malley of the Mounted, original, by William S. Hart, purchased by Sol Lesser Productions (Twentieth Century-Fox), for George O'Brien ; direction by David Howard, screen play by Dan Jarrett and Frank Howard Clark. Perfectly Good Women, play, by Rachel Crothers, purchased by Samuel Goldwyn Productions (United Artists), for Miriam Hopkins, Billie Burke and David Niven. Pitcairn Island, book, sequel to "Mutiny on the Bounty," by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, purchased by MGM. Pony Boy, original, by Harry Selby, purchased by Samuel Goldwyn Productions (United Artists), for Eddie Cantor. Public Must Eat, original, by Dore Schary, purchased by Paramount ; production by A. M. Botsford, and supervision by Jack Cunningham. Action Stories Predominate Queer Money, original, purchased by Columbia, for production by B. P. Schulberg. Reno in the Fall, book, by Grace Norton, purchased by Universal for Jane Wyatt. Right to Kill, original, by Stephen Marbett, purchased by B. F. Zeidman Productions. Robber Barons, book, by Matthew Josephson, purchased by Reliance Pictures (United (Continued on page 22, column 2)