Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1939)

26 MOTION PICTURE HERALD January 7, 1939 STORY PURCHASES DROP (.Continued from preceding page) Last add — Story Purchases MacMurray and Robert Preston in the leading roles. Graft With Straws, original by Joel Y. Dane, purchased by Universal. Happy Ending, original by Patterson McNutt, purchased by Paramount. Help, Murder, Police, based on an original story idea by Harlan Thompson, Paramount producer, screenplay to be written by Robertson White and produced by Thompson for Paramount. Invisible Stripes, original by Warden Lewis E. Lawes of Sing Sing and Jonathan Finn, purchased by Warner Brothers for James Cagney and John Garfield. Jenny Lind, original by Hand Rameau, purchased by Universal. Keeping Company, original by Herman Mankiewicz, purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kol Nidre, The Song Of The Ghetto, original by Ludwig Landy, purchased by Collective Film Producers, Inc., for a Yiddish production starring Moishe Oysher. Lives Of A Texas Ranger, original by Malcolm Boylan, purchased by Paramount. "Human Encyclopedia" Oliver Quade, the "human encyclopedia" character; 11 magazine stories by Frank Gruber, purchased by Paramount for Lynne Overman, as follows : "Brass Knuckles," "Death at the Main," "Murder on the Midway," "Ask Me Another," "Pictures of Death," "Trailer Town," "Death on Eagle's Crag," "Rain the Killer," "Dog Show Murder," "Forced Landing" and "Death Sits Down." Phantom Guns, original by Ed Halperin, purchased by Victory Pictures. Prince of Pilsen, The, musical comedy by Frank Fixley and Gustav Luders, purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Second Shot, original by Garret Fort, purchased by RKO. Sweepstakes, original by Charles Martin, purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from Universal. Louis D. Lighton will produce. They Can't Hang Me, original by James Ronald, purchased by Universal. Thunder Afloat, original by Ralph Wheelwright and Commander Harvey Haislip, purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Wallace Beery. Trail's End, original by Charles Tedford ; a sequel to "Heart of the North," purchased by Warner Brothers. Twenty Little Working Girls, original by Val Burton and Bradford Ropes, purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Wife Under Contract, original by Andrew Stone, purchased by Paramount for Ray Milland and Frances Dee. Mr. Stone will act as producer-director on the picturization of his story. Wings Over The Desert, original by Harold Buckley, purchased by Metro-GoldwynMayer. Woman Gone Wrong, A, original by Dalton Trumbo, purchased by Grand National Pictures. Process Committee Meets To Approve Final Draft Members of the Academy Research Council's Process Projection Equipment Committee met in Hollywood Wednesday to approve the final draft of recommendations covering the standardization of equipment used in process and special effect work in the studios. Dufaycolor in American Hands As of the first of this year, control of Dufaycolor, Inc., color-film concern, has passed from English to American hands, with exclusively American management taking over the operation of the company, according to a statement issued by Pierpont M. Hamilton, president of the new company, Dufaycolor Company, Inc., which has offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York. Dufaycolor film was developed in England and introduced in this country under English auspices. In 1937, Mr. Hamilton had visited DufayChromex, Ltd., in London, to discuss plans for the development and distribution of Dufaycolor film in the western hemisphere and was invited to assume management of their American company. Experience in the marketing and processing of Dufaycolor film in the United States, according to Mr. Hamilton, confirmed his impression that there existed a vast market for a low cost film which made it possible to take color photographs in any camera. He accordingly completed arrangements with the English company whereby ownership and control of Dufaycolor in the U. S. passed into American hands. The new management, in addition to supplying color film for both amateur and professional use, contemplates making Dufaycolor immediately available to the motion picture industry. In this field Dufaycolor film makes it possible, it is claimed, to take pictures in full color, using present standard equipment, the studio shooting the picture with a single strip of negative in its own cameras and doing its own processing and printing, making it possible to see "rushes" as quickly as in black and white. Music Hall Host to 6,000 At New York Fair Rally New York City's Radio City Music Hall was host to 6,000 people Sunday morning at a ceremony in connection with the opening on April 30 of the New York World's Fair. Guest speakers Mayor LaGuardia and Dorothy Thompson, writer for the New York Herald-Tribune, emphasized the importance of adhering to democracy. The rally was entitled "The Dawn of a New Day." Other speakers were former Judge John J. Burns, of the Superior Court of Massachusetts; William Church Osborn, president of the Temple of Religion at the Fair; and Grover A. Whalen, president of the Fair. Bishop Stephen J. Donahue, administrator of the New York archdiocese, pronounced the invocation ; and Dr. David de Sola Pool, president of the Synagogue Council of America, the benediction. Music was supplied by a Local 802, American Federation of Musicians, symphony orchestra, conducted by Erno Rapee and Gennaro Papi ; The Paulist Choristers ; the Schola Cantorum ; and Giovanni Martinelli, of the Metropolitan Opera Company. Decisions Vary On Ticket Code In the first legal test of the ticket pricefixing code enforced by the League of New York Theatres, which has been an object of heated dispute since becoming effective September 1st, one judge granted a temporary injunction restraining the League from enforcing the code, and another granted an order which held the restraining order in abeyance until Friday. The Acme Theatre Ticket Office, not a signatory of the code, instituted the action on Saturday, New Year's Eve, which resulted in the granting of the injunction by New York Supreme Court Justice William Harman Black, who retired from the bench due to age that same day. Shortly afterward, Presiding Justice Francis Martin of the Appellate Division issued the order holding the other in abeyance, this being done before brokers had a chance to raise prices of tickets for New Years Eve and week-end performances above the producer-fixed minimum premiums of 75 cents over the listed price for orchestra seats and 50 cents for balcony seats. According to certain brokers, the sale of New Year's Eve tickets had become largely an "academic" one, since the hit shows had been sold out in any event; but in the affidavit submitted to Justice Martin by Milton Weinberger, counsel for the League, it was claimed that the public would be assessed an additional estimated $1,000,000 if the injunction were permitted to stand. Attached to the affidavit was a $4.40 ticket bought from a non-signatory broker for $8.80, as symbolic of the large mark-ups which were possible. Luncheon and Party Tendered Milton Bren Milton Bren, producer of the Hal Roach film "Topper Takes a Trip," which opened at the Radio City Music Hall last Thursday, was given a luncheon on the same day by Maurice Silverstone, operating head of United Artists, at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. Mr. Bren had come east from the coast for the opening of the film. Guests at the luncheon included : George Skouras Charles Moskowitz John O'Connor Clayton Bond John Nolan Fred Myers Leonard Schlessinger Leon Netter Jean Picker Jules Brulatour Spyros Skouras John Powers Martin Quigley Terry Ramsaye Sam Shain Herb Miller Chick Lewis Red Kann Oscar Doob Richardson Wood Later in the afternoon Mr. Van Schmus gave a cocktail party in honor of Mr. Bren. Among the guests were William Boehnel, Loretta King, Eileen Creelman, Patricia Ziegfeld, J. J. Milstein, Gus Eyssell, Mike Vogel, William Ornstein, Abraham Bernstein, Emanuel Silverstone, Cal Swanson and Marion Rogers. (Picture in Pictorial Section). Mr. and Mrs. Bren plan to stay in New York for about two weeks and then take a trip. Ray Bowen Claier Maxwell Jack Harrower Chester Bahn Jack Alicoate Myer Beck Noel Busch Jack Schlaifer Harry Gold Paul Lazarus Harry Buckley Monroe Greenthal Ben Washer W. G. Van Schmus Lynn Farnol Thomas Walker Frank N. Seltzer Howard Mapes Bert M. Steam