Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

November 29 , 19 3 0 Motion Picture News 45 Spoor Invention Given Test, But Opinions Differ (Continued from preceding page) did not appear until Monday, were favorable, though not of the "rave" variety. Frances Kurner (Mae Tinee) of the Tribune, the most widely read Chicago critic, awarded the feature picture three stars, an "excellent" rating. She gave a separate rating to "Niagara Falls," the short subject, and awarded it four stars, an unusually high rating in her judging scheme and an unprecedented one for a short. It is, in fact, the first time a short has received separate consideration with "star" ratings from t!ricritic. Applaud Novelty Short Audience reaction appeared to follow Miss Kurner's estimate of the two novelty screenings. Frequently, at all performances, audiences burst into spontaneous applause for photographic effects achieved in "Niagara Falls," the short. This is a one-reel camera study of the Falls from various angles, the camera remaining focused and stationary on each of eight angles for an average of 90 seconds each. Applause followed the showing of the novelty, in addition to frequently greeting various of its scenes. No applause occurred during or at the close of the feature, except to indicate impatience over faulty projection. Third dimensional effects are. as was noted in Motion Picture News's first estimate of "Danger Lights," caught at a private screening for RKO executives, more noticeable in panoramic shots than in confined views. Blurring of backgrounds when the camera is focused on moving objects in the foreground is noticeable, though no more so than in pictures filmed on standard equipment. It is merely in this respect, no improvement on standard photography. The sum of its improvements, in this test at least, is comprised of its startling photographic possibilities in the filming of outdoor scenes of natural beauty and in the unquestionable value it lends to unfavorably placed seats anywhere in the theatre. RKO opened the novelty here without unusual exploitation of any kind. As a result, week-end business at the State-Lake Wabash Ave. — South -{Continued from preceding page) Showmanship and Guts Chicago — In an economy move inaugurated recently, Essaness Theatres did away with the Brinks armored car service for transporting cash from box-offices to banks. Cost of the service averaged $12 a theatre per week. Since the change managers have been obliged to carry the mazuma to the banks. The assignment is a forced one and particularly distasteful to the managers, what with this city's gunmen on the constant alert for just such pickings. No mishaps have occurred to date, but many theatre managers here regard the duty as an actual hazard to life and are putting in applications for the Congressional Medal and the Belgian Croix de Guerre every time they return from a bank unscathed. in Max Stahl's sanctum. It's an office that makes a lot of others look like bread-line headquarters. * * * Floyd Brockell's new Du Page at Lombard opened for business. * * * Norma Talmadge and Joe Schenck smiling at Notre Dame gains up at Evanston last week. * * * A. Courshan and Leo Solomon installing sound in the Admiral prior to re-opening it. * * * An epidemic of blondes in the town's night clubs since Jean Harlozve's visit in the city. * * * And speaking of Jean Harlowe — have you gasped too at the crowds on the sidewalk waiting to see "Hell's Angels"? The United Artists theatre hasn't seen the likes of that kind of business in many and many a month. * * * Roosevelt Theatre's marquee is equipped with a horn and amplifier that startles the State Street crozvds with raucous laughter and a sales talk on "The Life of the Party" (W. B.), current there. The sales talk, however, appears a little zveak in comparison with results. * * * A. D. Wayne and Harry Stein visiting old pals here en route to the Coast (from Pittsburgh) to sell an exploitation gag for the W. S. Theatre Premium Co. * * * Wabash Avenue glimpses : Eddie Brichetto taking care of a panhandler. . . . Drayloads of baled cotton a la New Orleans crossing the Rozv from the I. C. freight terminal to the West Side shirt factories. . . . Theatre men laying football and pony bets in that Film Rozv cigar store Amateur hunters unloading northern Wisconsin deer at Wiechmann & Gellert's chop house. Right off the running boards of their cars. . . . New winter coats on exchange men. . . . Padres at St. Mary's giznng the daily handout to Ninth Street pigeons and back-door panhandlers. . . . Two new indoor aolfies up near Adams Street. K A N E was only average. Its box-office possibilities will have to depend now on the interest created by reviews and on word-of-mouth advertising to surpass an average gross for the house. Both George Spoor and John Berggren were in evidence at the theatre opening day and expressed satisfaction with the reception accorded their natural vision process at its first public showing. Foreign Talkers Make Big Money in Chicago Chicago — A Polish version of "The Doctor's Secret" < Paramount) played to tremendous business at the Chopin Theatre, located on Milwaukee Ave., in the heart of Chicago's Little Czecho-Slovakia. Picture's engagement ran over a week, an unprecedented period in the neighborhood. All foreign dialogue pictures are moneymakers in Chicago, with enough of any population, from Arabian to Filipino, to give a house a good break for a couple days, at least. German dialogue, particularly, has done well during Loop bookings here. Italian and Spanish get the breaks in the neighborhoods. Chicago Reforms Its Exploitation; Dignity Is Motif Chicago — Chicago exhibitors, frequently referred to by showmen as the "world's worst exploiteers," are just beginning to resent the description, it appears. More and better theatre advertising of all kinds is now the rule, from the biggest de luxe houses down to and including the smallest neighborhood spots. Program listings in newspapers are more numerous, more readable, and executed with more attention to interest-gaining typography and layouts. Trailers of the better sort are in wider use and their messages are pointed for sales angles. Marquee and other forms of house advertising are becoming more presentable and consequently more interesting. Galleries that have been using slides since the houses were opened are switching to up-to-date trailers that make the sales talks easier to ■ read and remember. One result of the new exploitation slant is to diminish freak and ineffectual tie-ups with meaningless names and little known merchandise. It is also resulting in a marked diminution of "give aways." Houses that have been handing out everything from a bar of soap to a kitchen stove to patrons are now devoting the energy and expense involved to dignified and more effective advertising media, and with better results in every instance. Where one year ago fifty houses were awarding patrons prizes for attending a performance, today not ten of them are continuing the practice. The rest are busy convincing the customers that the program is reason enough for attending the theatre, and the money that was being spent for prizes is now being used to improve the entertainment and the comforts of the house. The swing-around has brought business to some houses that gifts of grand pianos and radios never approximated. Sharick Gets "U" Post Chicago — A. J. (Andy) Sharick replaced Charlie Loewenberg as mid-western director of exploitation for Universal, with headquarters here. Sharick has done Universal publicity for the past ten years. At Liberty Chicago — One hundred and fifty replies were received to an advertisement for a manager for the American Theatre inserted in local papers. Seventy-five per cent of these were from managers in the employ of circuits, seeking an alignment with an independent house, according to George Lomax, owner of the theatre. Fred Mindlin, formerly manager of the downtown Playhouse, got the job, considered one of the most desirable managerial positions in the city. At the Playhouse, Mindlin introduced to Chicago a number of years ago the gag of free coffee and cigarettes, entre acts, and atmospheric lounges. They were a successful fad that have been copied advantageously by numerous of the so-called "intimate" theatres of the city.