Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1936)

62 MOTION PICTURE HERALD September 12, 1936 NEW SCREEN STORY MATERIAL LISTED (Continued from preceding page) Ryan, dealing with municipal night courts, acquired by Warner. MIGHTY CONROY, original story by H. H. Van Loan, purchased by Carl Laemmle, Jr. MR. MELODY, musical story by Jerry Wald and Sig Herzig, acquired by Warner to star James Melton. MURDER IN THE SUPREME COURT, screen version of Leslie Ford's magazine story, "The Clock Strikes," bought by Imperial Pictures. THE NIGHTINGALE COMES HOME, original by Rupert Hughes, acquired by Columbia to star Grace Moore. NIGHT OF CRIME, novel by Armstrong Livingston, bought by Imperial Pictures. OH, DOCTOR, novel by Harry Leon Wilson, bought by Universal to star Edward Everett Horton. ON THE AVENUE, musical by Irving Berlin, acquired by 20th Century-Fox to star Dick Powell and Alice Faye. Roy Del Ruth will direct. ONCE A DOCTOR, original story by Frank Daugherty and Paul Perez, acquired by First National to star Donald Woods and Richard Purcell, opposite Jean Muir. William Clemens will direct. ONCE OVER LIGHTLY, stage comedy by George Holland, purchased by RKO Radio to star Fred Stone. Robert S is k will produce. ONCE UPON A TIME, novel by Fannie Hurst, bought by MGM. ONE IN A MILLION, original musical by Mark Kelly and Leonard Praskins, acquired by 20th Century-Fox to star Sonja Henie, figure-skating champion. PAIR OF SIXES, play by Edward Peple, acquired by RKO Radio to star the team of BertWheeler and Robert Woolsey. PENROD AND SAM, novel by Booth Tarkington, bought by Warner, to star Billy Mauch. • PERSONAL HISTORY, novel by Vincent Sheean dealing with a war correspondent in Morocco, China and Palestine, acquired by Walter Wanger for release through United Artists. Madeleine Carrol and Fredric March will be starred with Lewis Milestone directing. PILOT X, acquired by Fanchon Royer to star John Carroll and Lona Andre. PINKERTON MAN, original story by John W. Considine, acquired by 20th Century-Fox. PROFESSIONAL ESCORT, original story by Sam Engel, bought by 20th Century-Fox. RACE THE SUN, novel by Dale Collins, bought by MGM. RACKETEERS IN EXILE, original by Harry Sauber, bought by Columbia to star George Bancroft. RAINBOW OVER THE RIVER, acquired by Sol Lesser for release through RKO Radio with Bobby Breen in the leading role. SAN QUENT1N, original story by John Bright and Robert Tasker, bought by Warner to star Pat O'Brien and Ross Alexander. SAPPHIRE, novel dealing with modern New Orleans by Norman Reilly Raine, bought by Paramount to star George Raft. THE SECOND MAN, play by S. N. Behrman which was produced by the New York Theatre Guild, starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, bought by RKO Radio. Robert Sisk will produce. SHOW BUSINESS, original by Lew Lipton and Bartlett Cormack, purchased by Paramount to star Gladys Swarthout, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Cary Grant and Akim Tamiroff. SINGAPORE, original by Paul Burger and David Silverstein, bought by 20th Century-Fox. Sol Wurtzel will produce. SINGING MARINE, musical acquired by Warner to star Dick Powell. SNOW COVERED WAGONS, novel by Julia Cooley Altrocchi, bought by Grand National as the company's first color production. SUMMER LIGHTNING, novel by Allene Corliss, bought by Walter Wanger for release YEAR'S COMPARISON OF STORY PURCHASES Month Originals Books Plays Totals July 41 12 10 63 August 21 7 4 32 September . . 34 53(a) 4 91 October 7 5 2 14 November . . 22 12(b) 5 39 December . . 22 12(c) 4 38 January, 1936 14 18(d) 5 37 February ... 35 38(e) 4 77 March 24 19(f) 2 45 April 107 48(g) 12 157 May 86 74(h) 10 170 June 25 2 1 (?) 5 51 July 20 I2(j) 0 73 August 43 25(k) 5 TOTALS FOR 12 MONTHS 519 389(1) 80 988 (a) Including 4 published magazine stories. (b) Including I published magazine story. (c) Including 2 published magazine stories. (d) Including 4 published magazine stories. (e) Including 12 published magazine stories. (f) including 6 published magazine stories. (g) Including 13 published magazine stories. (h) Including 19 published magazine stories. (i) Including 21 published magazine stories, (j) Including 63 published magazine stories, (k) Including 5 published magazine stories. (I) Including 70 published magazine stories. through United Artists. Joan Bennett will be starred. SWEETHEART OF THE NAVY, original by Dorothy Bennett, acquired by Grand National. TABLECLOTH, story by Patterson McNutt, Gene Fowler, Grover Jones and Nunnally Johnson, soon to be published in the Saturday Evening Post, acquired by Paramount. THIS GUN FOR HIRE, novel by Graham Greene, bought by Paramount to star Akim Tamiroff. The story concerns an assassin hired by international munitions makers to foment wars. THREE COMRADES, novel by Eric Maria Remarque, author of "All Quiet on the Western Front," acquired by MGM. THUNDER OVER THE CITY, original by Robert E. Sherwood, acquired by Columbia to star Edward G. Robinson. TRUTH IS ON THE MARCH, novel by Emile Zola concerning the author's famous fight on behalf of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, bought by Warners. TWENTIETH AMENDMENT, original by Lee Brody, bought by Paramount. Harlan Thompson will produce. UNTITLED ORIGINAL, by John Farrow, Peter Milne and Frank Dougherty, based on the life of the late Hetty Green, financial wizard, acquired by Warner. UNTITLED ORIGINAL, musical by Vincent Youmans, acquired by Paramount. UNTITLED ORIGINAL, by Henri Bernstein, French author and playwright, acquired by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s Criterion Pictures of London. WAIKIKI WEDDING, original by Daniel Evans, bought by Paramount to star Bing Crosby in the picture, which will be done in color. WHAT HOI, novel by Richard Connell, to be published soon by the Saturday Evening Post, acquired by Major Productions to star Gary Cooper. Emanuel Cohen will produce. WILD BRIAN KENT, taken from the novel, "The Recreation of Brian Kent," by Harold Bell Wright, bought by Sol Lesser of Principal Productions to star Ralph Bellamy. Release through 20th CenturyFox. WINGS OF MERCY, original by Alice F. Curtis, bought by RKO Radio. WOMEN ARE WISE, original by Lester llfeld, acquired by Columbia to star Dolores del Rio. THE YEARS ARE SO UNSETTLED, original story taken from Tess Slesinger's book of collected short stories, "Time, The Present," acquired by Paramount to star Olympe Bradna. John Howard and Frances Farmer also listed in the cast. The story concerns a Viennese gamin who intrudes into the love affair of two American tourists. New Censor Board Slated for Havana The Havana censor board is being reorganized and will function, with new personnel, along much the same lines that it did prior to the recent attempt to censor in New York all American produced pictures designed for exhibition in Cuba. The Havana board was to continue to review only those pictures of other than United States origin, under the original plan. A new Cuban decree, published in the Official Gazette, provides for a new censorship board in Havana to be composed of the Secretary of the Interior and five members. One of the members will be named by the Secretary of Education, another by the Mayor of Havana, another by the Cuban Press Association, and the remaining two by the Secretary of the Interior. Members of the board will not be paid a salary. Their decisions will be effective when concurred in by three members. Distribution executives in New York this week, however, said they had not been advised yet whether the new Cuban board would establish a reviewing charge or not. No reviewing charge was made by the former board. Cuba's intention of reorganizing the Havana board was announced some time ago. Bureau of Standards Studying Film Care The United States Bureau of Standards, which has been engaged in studies relative to the protection of records of all kinds, has taken up the subject of preservation of motion picture films with special reference to their storage, preservation and stability as well as to physical and chemical changes resulting from atmospheric conditions. The work has been made possible by a grant of $5,000 from the Carnegie Foundation to the National Research Council and by additional support in the form of $4,500 from the Division of Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the National Archives. Films have been studied by subjecting them to extremes of temperature and moisture and by putting them through humidity and temperature cycles in order to establish ideal storage conditions. A report of the results thus far obtained is being prepared for publication as a bureau paper.