Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

34 N. Y. U. Continues Course on Screen An address on "New Trends in the History of the Movies" will be given by Terry Ramsaye, editor of the Motion Picture Herald, as the opening lecture in its course on "The Motion Picture: Its Artistic, Educational and Social Aspects," to be conducted by Associate Professor Frederic M. Thrasher in cooperation with the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures at the New York University School of Education in Washington Square, New York. A similar course was conducted last year. The lecture by Mr. Ramsaye will be given on September 24th. Others to talk for the class which will meet Thursday evenings are : Russell Clark Holslag, member of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers ; Harold Hendee, director of research for RKO Radio Pictures ; George Antheil, composer and musical advisor to producers; John S. Martin, managing editor of the March of Time; Wilton A. Barrett, executive secretary of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures; Jean Benoit-Levy, French director ; Pare Lorentz, director, Documentary Films Section of the Resettlement Administration; Colonel Roy W. Winton, managing director of the Amateur Cinema League ; Max Fleisher, creator of "Popeye the Sailor" ; Louis Nizer, executive secretary of the New York Film Board of Trade ; Howard S. Cullman, trustee and director, Roxy Theatres Corporation; and Iris Barry, curator of the Museum of Modern Art Film Library. British Exhibitors VisitingHollywood Members of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association, British organization, who are visiting America, arrived in Hollywood this week after a train trip from New York which included stops in Chicago and at the Grand Canyon. An elaborate program of entertainment has been arranged for the group by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. Inspection of various studios by the group occupied Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. A motor coach tour of the California coast, scheduled to start on Friday, will take the visitors to Santa Barbara, Del Monte and San Francisco. They will start the return trip from that city August 12th, going directly to Chicago and then to Niagara Falls and Toronto. They expect to be back in New York on August 17th and they will sail on the Normandie. Lazarus to Resume Post at Paramount Jeff Larazus will return to Paramount as head of the story department, it was reported this week. He left the company as head of the story department some time ago in a personnel shakeup and has just returned to Hollywood from a European vacation. The status of Glendon Allvines with the company is still undetermined. MOTION PICTURE HERALD FROM READERS ASKS WHAT HAPPENED TO MPTOA'S POINTS To the Editor of the Herald : What has become of the Moses, Mr. Kuykendall, that was going to show us the promised land ? Substantial cancellation and the ten point program. Evidently this is all washed up, as most of us knew it would be. Well, the producers are asking for it, and at the next session of Congress, they will very likely get it, in a bill, that will be hard to take. From their viewpoint. The Neely bill is gaining momentum, that I know, for I had a visit with our own representative and he advised me that it had a good chance of passing in the next session. 1 don't hold with all the provisions in this bill at all. But if the producers will not listen to reason, what they get will be on their own heads. And frankly I think that this bill will go through flying, and nothing will stop it, not this time. — A. E. Hancock, Columbia Theatre, Columbia City, Ind. ON PIES, TWO-REELERS AND LONGER FEATURES To the Editor of the Herald: It is quite noticeable in the announcements of new short subjects product that most all of the producers are eliminating two-reel comedies from their lineups and seem to be centering their attention on onereelers. This week I inquired of an executive of one of the large producers as to the reason of this, and you can readily imagine my surprise when he informed me that it was hard to make good two-reel subjects of a comedy nature. He further told me that there was a demand for two-reel comedies, and I believe that he is right in that statement. But this week I am playing here at the Capitol a Warner Brothers two-reeler entitled "Keystone Hotel." It features a cast of the old Keystone cops. Young movie patrons don't remember the good old pie throwing days with these cops. However, the comedy in question was made along the same lines, trick photography, pie throwing and all the elements that were placed into the making of the oldtime comedies. The reaction of each and every audience that has seen this subject on our screen this week has been amazing. Young and old have laughed heartily, laughed at this comedy more than any two-reel subject we have ever presented here. And it was quite noticeable that on many of the shows, the audience applauded at the end of the comedy. It seems to me if the producers are going to eliminate two-reelers some thought is going to have to be given as regards to putting more footage in feature pictures. All of which leads down to my own personal thoughts, that good comedies can be made if enough thought is given to them, that the present day audiences still like pie throwing in their comedy bill of fare, and, lastly, that two-reel comedies still have a place on any theatre's program. — Earle M. Holden, Capitol Theatre, Atlanta, Ga. August 8, 1936 IVPA'S Shows Scored by IV nter An attack on the WPA theatre project which is termed "doomdoggling," is made in an article in a current magazine by Harrison Grey Fiske, the playwright. This week ended the first six months of existence for the project and an official resume of its progress has been issued. The release, after listing as successes its production of "Murder in the Cathedral," "Triple A Plowed Under," and the Negro "Macbeth," stresses the fact that a new audience has been brought to the theatre, the patrons of the Portable Theatre Unit. This summer the unit is expected to attract over 2,000,000 people to the plays which are given in parks free of charge. Mr. Fiske, in his article, accuses the project of being Red-colored and of being far below the standard of a commercial theatre which produced, during the last season, such plays as "Saint Joan," "Winterest," "Victoria Regina," "Pride and Prejudice," "Idiot's Delight" and "Boy Meets Girl." Mrs. Hallie Flanagan has obtained an extension of her leave of absence as director of the Experimental Theatre at Vassar College to continue for another year as national director of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre Project, it was learned this week. Mrs. Flanagan's decision to continue as head of the WPA theatre became known following reports from Washington that President Roosevelt will soon approve a $7,000,000 allotment for the project during the coming year. The director has announced several new appointments to the staff" of the project. Howard Miller, regional director in California, has been named as Mrs. Flanagan's special representative in the west; John McGee, regional director in the southeast, has been appointed special representative in the south, and William Stahl, until recently connected with the project's experimental theatre unit, has been made special representative in the east. Exhibitors Meet Again The second meeting of the Theatre Owners Chamber of Commerce and the Independent Theatre Owners Association committees in New York, named recently to work out details for the merging of both exhibitor organizations, was to be held Thursday at the Hotel Astor. Edward Rugoff, chairman of the T. O. C. C. group, and Bernard Barr, head of the I. T. O. A. committee, were to have the cooperating members of their organizations on hand in an effort to work out basic plans for the amalgamation. New Lombard Contract An amicable adjustment of the situation between Paramount and Carol Lombard and a new contract following the current pact which expires January 1 are anticipated by studio officials in Hollywood. The actress is understood to have demanded a release from her current contract or a new one at a higher figure than specified in the option clause of the present agreement. She claims she can earn more freelancing and asks $100,000 per picture.