Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

November -"■» . 1 930 Motion Picture News 27 Dr. Public Holds Industry Pulse; Will Dish Out Merger Finances WhenHealthy "Queer People" Out Hollywood— Howard Hughes will not produce "Queer People" as intended, because he could not get a director to megaphone it. Accordingly, he has passed up the option held on the novel which attacked Hollywood generally. Opinion was that he had purchased the novel outright, but this was in error. Fox W. C. Chain 5% from Peak, Sheehan Asserts Seattle — Fox West Coast Theatres is within 5 per cent of its peak month, Howard Sheehan, vice-president of the circuit, declared here while on a tour of the houses under his jurisdiction. He added that $200,000 will be spent during the next few months reconditioning several houses in the Northwest. "We are within five per cent of our peak month now," he said, "which means business is normal. Within thirty days, the 493 Fox West Coast theatres serving the area between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast will have reached the highest peak we have ever attained." Among the improvements to be made in this territory, in addition to the complete renovating and redecorating of the Coliseum that is now in progress, Sheehan announced the installation of Grandeur screens in the Fox Fifth Avenue here and the Fox Broadway in Tacoma. Other Fox West Coast theatres throughout the state will also have improved screens and projection apparatus as a part of the reconditioning program. Smith Sells Play Benjamin Vernon Smith, Coast writer, has sold stage rights to A Simple Soul" to be given a New York production immediately. The play was produced by the Writers' Club in Hollywood in one act and later published in the Hollywood Book of Players by Kenyon Nicholson. Thomas to Make Series Lowell Thomas' monologue in the Paramount Pictorial is the first of a series of talks he will make explaining travel pictures in the new magazine reel. Banky-La Rocque on Stage Omaha — Vilma Banky and Rod La Rocque are booked here in person in "Cherries are Ripe" for two performances on December 6. The production is under the auspices of the Omaha Drama League. Changes to Thursday Omaha — Beginning Thanksgiving Day, the World moved its opening day from Friday to Thursday. Napoleonic Dreams of Big Boys Crimped By Small Timers With Gold in Sox Reflecting the public indifference to stock participation as a direct result of heavy bear raids which have been barraging stock markets throughout the United States, indications are that any mergers planned for the picture business will have to bide their time until investors are ready to take the locks off their pocket books. This condition in the financial quarters is not peculiar to the film industry, but has widespread application to the business world at large. Many consolidations in various fields have been held up as a result. As an indication of the difficulty underwriters are experiencing in floating new issues are the figures for the first ten months of 1930 which show that public financing was more than $1,000,000,000 under the same period of 1929. A compilation published in the New York Times indicates that total financing, including bonds, notes and stocks in the amusement field, totaled $128,175,000 for the first ten months of the year, as against a total of $43,265,000 for 1929. The increase, substantial as it is, is regarded in banking circle as indicative of the rising esteem in which the amusement field is regarded. This, however, is not regarded necessarily as a marker for the future. From January 1 to October 18, approximately 69 important mergers were consummated in the United States. Interesting to note in connection with the 69 completed amalgamations is the fact that total assets of the companies embraced were considerably lower than those of the organizations which went through merger throes in 1929. A widely discussed question in banking circles is whether or not the merger trend will again develop with the next bull market, whenever it comes. Cautious observers either profess not to know or refuse to venture opinions. It is a fact, however, that what eventually may prove to be the biggest merger in the picture history is being delayed by market conditions and is being talked about again as cold fact a year from today, the intervening time being considered necessary to put it over with the investing public. Hey! Lissen! The A. M. P. A. meeting Thursday, Dec. 4, promises a fulsome dish of interesting and euphonious dialectic for its members, when Arthur Hopkins, playwright, and Robert E. Sherwood voice their observations on matters pertaining to the stage and screen. Incidentally, words like "euphonious" and "dialectic" are no business of ours, but since Prexy Simmons says they'll take place, they probably will. Life is like that. Booming The purchasing agent of a big producing firm, smiling as he walked along Broadway, was stopped by a friend. "Why the joy?" he was asked. "I just discovered that the amount of red ink purchased this month has dropped 10 per cent, below last month." Too Much Blah In Adv. Plugs, Says Stevenson Straight advertising pictures are the bunk, and companies which plan to force material of this type upon the patrons of their chain theatres are headed for a stiff reprimand by theatregoers, according to Edward F. Stevenson, president of Visugraphic Pictures, who told a Motion Picture News reporter that "advertising films such as screen broadcasts, and others of that ilk, are comparable to radio advertising in their unprofitable relation to the advertiser." "The advertiser does not get his money's worth," stated Stevenson, "because advertising titles in films and advertising names on the radio are quickly forgotten. In advertising films, as in radio, the audience remembers only the entertainment part of the program and will associate this entertainment with the product advertised only if there is not too much mention of the product. "Theatres want advertising pictures if they are produced properly and contain entertainment value. A picture may advertise some product very definitely and yet be acceptable on its merits as an entertaining film. The advertising in the picture must be concealed subtly behind dramatic action, unusual scenic sequences, outstanding personalities. Blatant advertising, expressed on film, has no place in the theatre and such a picture simply wastes the investment of the advertiser and arouses unpleasant reaction in the audience. "Producers who can cloak the advertising message in the colorful garb of theatrical entertainment have no difficulty in placing these films in theatres, particularly where these films offer unusual exploitation possibilities," Stevenson said. "Forgot to Pay All Income Tax" — Melford Los Angeles — Bad memory was the plea of Director George Melford in declaring to Federal Judge James that he "forgot" to pay all his income tax in 1924 and 1925. He was given a 90 day stay in which to pay off his $200 fine, which with tax and penalties bring the total to $10,780. He is paving it in instalments.