Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 6 MOVIE AGE Exhibitors Asked To Make Trade Conference A Success M. P. T. O. Will Act As Proxy For Exhibitors Who Cannot Afford To Send Two Representatives Exhibitors are called on to exert ev¬ ery possible effort to secure adequate representation at the forthcoming trade conference October 10, in a letter sent to members by President R. F. Woodhull and Secretary M. J. O’Toole. Heads of all the large producing and distributing companies personally will represent their respective organizations, it is declared. Two exhibitors will be selected by exhibitor members of arbi¬ tration boards. This practice will be carried out in each of the 32 film zones in accordance with instructions sent from Washington. The letter to exhibitor members of the M. P. T. 0. requested that represen¬ tatives selected be of the highest type — men capable of comprehending the many diversified problems. The letter further stated: “This hearing is not in the nature of a prosecution or an investigation of our business. It means definitely that the United States government has asked the leaders of all branches of the business to assemble at a given time, discuss our trade practices and the place of pro¬ cedures which may be agreed are un¬ necessary and unfair.” The M. P. T. O. will be glad to repre¬ sent any of those zones which cannot afford to send two representatives. Any of the districts desiring the Association to act as its proxy should send a letter giving definite instructions giving sug¬ gestions which the exhibitors may care to make upon any trade practices. Paramount Has 6 Films In Work, 10 in Preparation Camera shutters are clicking night and day at the Paramount studio at Hol¬ lywood and the electrical crews are run¬ ning three shifts under a surge of pro¬ duction activity that follows a period of comparative quietude. Six pictures are under way and ten are scheduled for immediate start. Sev¬ en are now in the cutting rooms for fi¬ nal edition. Eight stars are now working: Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton in “Now We’re in the Air”; Bebe Daniels in “She’s a Sheik”; Esther Ralston in “The Spotlight”; Florence Vidor in “Honey¬ moon Hate”; Richard Dix in “The Gay Defender”; and W. C. Fields and Ches¬ ter Conklin in “The Side Show.” Nicholas M. Schenck Elected President of Loew’s As Expected As was expected, Nicholas M. Schenck has been elected to the position of pres¬ ident of Loew’s, Inc., left vacant by the recent death of Marcus Loew. Arthur M. Loew, son of the late president, was made first vice-president. The board of directors elected David Bernstein and Arthur M. Loew as mem¬ bers of the executive committee of which Mr. Schenck and William H. Childs are already members. David Warfield re¬ mains an alternate member. J. Robert Rubin was elected to fill the vacancy on the board caused by the death of Marcus Loew. Lane to Make Comedy Without Leading Lady Lupino Lane, Educational comedy star, is doing something different in his new two-reel starring production. He will make a comedy without a leading woman. As a matter of fact, the come¬ dian is his own “leading lady” in this laughmaker. He is showing his versa¬ tility by playing both roles. Even the villain, his brother, Wallace Lupino, ap¬ pears throughout the comedy in skirts. But lest it be feared that there are no feminine beauties in this next Lupino Lane fun film, the comic divulges the news that he has twenty of the prettiest girls in comedies in the supporting cast. Winners of various beauty pageants in and about Los Angeles comprise the squad of sun-kissed darlings. They are used in a bathing beauty parade se¬ quence and in scenes taken in a girls’ school. Tiffany Completes Three Features for 1927-28 Tiffany Productions has completed three of the 24 feature pictures to be delivered for 1927-1928. Prints of these pictures are now at the various Tiffany exchanges and will be released shortly. The titles of these three pictures are “The Girl From Gay Paree,” a farce comedy; “Women’s Wares,” and “Once and Forever”, featuring Patsy Ruth Miller. Hearings on Repeal Of the Admission Tax Set for November 10 Washington, D. C. — Hearings on the repeal of the admission tax will be held by the House Ways and Means Commit¬ tee November 10. Persons desiring to be heard should apply to the clerk of the committee at least one day prior to the date of the hearing, stating the length of time de¬ sired. Briefs may be submitted in lieu of, or in addition to, oral testimony. The schedule of the committee calls for a general hearing October 31 and November 2; individual income tax, November 3; board of tax appeals and general administrative features, Novem¬ ber 4 and 5; excise and stamp taxes, November 7; estate tax, November 8 and 9 and miscellaneous taxes Novemb¬ er 10. In view of the fact that no particular date was set for admission taxes, it is presumed they will be considered with other miscellaneous levies. “Alias Lone Wolf” Op ens At Hippodrome, N. Y. “Alias the Lone Wolf” Columbia’s second production of the 1927-28 seas¬ on, had its first Metropolitan showing at the Hippodrome, where it began a week’s run on September 19. “Alias the Lone Wolf,” which was based on the Louis Joseph Vance novel of the same name, stars Bert Lytell, the originator of “The Lone Wolf” and the star of “The Lone Wolf Returns,” Columbia’s outstanding production of the past season. Block Joins DeMille as An Associate Producer Ralph Block, formerly dramatic critic of the New York Tribune, and more re¬ cently with Paramount-Famous-Lasky as Editor-in-Chief, has resigned from the Paramount Company and has joined Ce¬ cil B. DeMille as an associate producer. Mr. Block has already moved into his new offices at the DeMille Studio and will produce several pictures on the cur¬ rent DeMille program for Pathe release. He has had eight years’ experience in the motion picture business, in sales, advertising and production. The Biograph Theatre in London, said to be the first English theatre to receive a license to show pictures, is being enlarged to seat 1,000. It is one of the first theatres opened by the American Biograph Company’s houses which were opened in 1908.