Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

24 Motion P i c t u r c N ew s N o v e m b e r 8 , 1 9 3 0 THERE'S a new king occupying the film throne these days and his name is economy. The headliners who have been fighting for these many years for the throne spot have suddenlydiverted their individual energies to the new white-haired boy, and take it from this Insider, the crowned head has plenty of devoted subjects. The wisdom of it all might be questioned. You might even rant against it, if you're one of those wise boys who see how foolish the spectacle is, but, like it or not, economy is wielding the sceptre. The big national chains are the latest to bend the knee before the monarch. Slashes have been made and more — far more — are on the wing. Not only have orders gone out to reduce the overhead on stationery and stamps. Ushers are about to feel the keen edge of economy's axe and, the rumblings go, managers. The Conference Gag The circuits have been doing some conferring, it seems, and the decision, whether arrived at individually or collectively, is to cut — and cut until it hurts. The proverbial bad times are blamed. Pictures don't seem to be clicking as they used to, although theatre operators will tell vou that business is slowly dragging itself out of the mire on to more solid ground. The circuit heads are really in a tough spot. Their theatres are not pulling in the money expected of them, yet negative costs still roam through the clouds. That means that their companies are holding a sieve with uncomfortably large holes at either end. In Reverse Putting it another way : No matter what Hollywood does and regardless of what the Coast may spend on pictures, it's up to the theatre department and the sales division to pull their companies through. New York is pretty much disgusted with Hollywood, has INSIDERS' been for years, but probably never more so than at this very moment. Take the attitude of one of the big chain operators who unburdened himself to a group of sympathetic listeners the other night. His story ran something like this, the ideas being his and the words this Insider's: "We stay up all night, breaking our backs and our brains in an effort to slash expense. And we succeed. To the extent of $100,000 a month insofar as our own circuit is concerned. That's $1,200.000 a year, a lot of money no matter how you look at it. "What happens to that effort? The studio — I'm speaking of our own now — goes haywire on a couple of pictures, steps all over its budget and before you can look around, the savings effected in theatre operation are snuffed out. "Imagine this, if you can. I was on the lot not so long ago. Hundreds of extras were waiting for their cue. The director was waiting for his leading man. Eventually he appeared. The director looked him over and then went crazy. " 'You've got the wrong decoration to go with that sword. Have it fixed. Italian soldiers didn't wear that sort of doo-dad during the war.' "So back to the dressing room went the lead, had the adjustment made and reappeared. Again it was wrong. More frothings from the director. Then the director threw up his hands, said something or other about his inspiration having evaporated and dismissed the entire troupe until the next morning. "I don't know what that burlesque Things THE INSIDERS Wonder About WHEN will the biggest merger of 'em all be closed and who are the companies implicated? What studio head on the Coast dropped everything to phone New York who the blazes had been talking, ten minutes after his copy of Empee News walked in on him? How did a certain company secure control of another? Through what sort of questionable manipulation? And will the government do anything about it? How long the backbiting campaign against the Warners will ride unchecked before something is done to stop it? Which company it was that paid an unknown amount to an engineer, unknown in the trade, to lamp the lowdown on a revolutionary invention still locked behind laboratory doors? Who circulated reports Wheeler and Woolsey were to quit Radio and why? Isn't it a fact that a large organization has just about reached the end of its financial tether and that its bankers are reluctant to supply additional kale? costs us but it was tragic enough to add approximately $5,000 to the cost of the picture. When the production was completed, I sat through it twice searching like hell for that scene, and I don't think a shot even appeared." By this time, the circuit head was so apopleptic, he couldn't continue. He had. however, gone far enough. The Hollywood Folly Stories of the face on the cutting room floor are legion. Everybody knows them from the presidents of big organizations clear down the line. When the profits roll on, however, the inclination is to let well enough alone, the Hollywood maelstrom being what it is. But when theatre business topples as costs continue rising, it becomes generally recognized that something has to be done about it. And something will. The bankers are asking some questions and a number of industry folks are becoming embarassed. This industry can't get along without Wall Street today and, therefore, whether it would have it that way or not, when the minions of the narrow canyon insist upon action, it follows action will be forthcoming. The laugh in the whole situation is the picayune manner which that action is assuming. Stenographers and office help are being fired. Where not actually discharged, they face cuts in salaries. Theatre managers, one of the lifebloods of the business, confront the same condition. Yet Hollywood — aloof, alone and beyond control — rides on an eternal crest of the waves. If it weren't so maddening, it would be funny. "Von's" Sideline Josef Von Sternberg doesn't limit his activities to wielding a megaphone but he also serves as manager and counselor for Marlene Dietrich, German player whom he "discovered" in Berlin. Miss Dietrich is at present working on "Dishonored" which Von Sternberg is also directing. All production stills and publicity photographs of this talker are okayed by Von Sternberg before they are released. The director goes over all the pictures and chooses those he thinks suitable. The Windy City Queries Why that certain theatre organization in>i>ted upon improperly listing its officers and did such a bald-faced job that the Chicago Association of Commerce