Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

Last Minute News From Everywhere ALONG PICCADILLY MOVING PICTURE MALE CORSET GONE “We want a big electric sign out in front,” an American told a London theatre man. “But I say, old chap,” was the reply, “won’t that be a bit conspicuous?” WORLD The old-time bar acted like a corset in keeping American men slim, says Conrad Veidt. Prohibition, he opines, will therefore result in a race of roly-poly U.S.’ers. Vol. 84 New York, January 29, 1927 No. 5 Roxy to Use Two Vitaphones; M-G-M Dickering for Rights Regular Presentations to Be Avoided in Massive New Theatre — Several Firms Want Vitaphone By Sumner Smith TWO Vitaphones will be installed in the new Roxy Theatre, New York, due to open during March. It is figured that the installations will cost S. L. Rothafel not much less than $100,000, and he will pay the Vitaphone Corporation a rental of 10 cents a seat weekly. This means a weekly sum of $620. Back of the plan to install Vitaphones, not yet announced, lies, it is said, a plan of “Roxy” to avoid the use of presentations. Probably he will show a feature picture, a news reel, a comedy, a scenic, and the ballet. Vitaphone productions of good musical shows, such as “Pinafore,” “The Pirates of Penzance” and “The Mikado,” will Labor, Will Hays Name Arbitrators In Studio Tangle Caruthers and Berres to Confer in West The two committees representing' the motion picture producers and the labor unions have organized with W. P. Canavan of New York, president of the Theatrical Stage Hands and Motion Picture Operators, as chairman of the labor committee, and Guy W. Currier of Boston, one of the owners of P. B. O., as chairman of the producers’ committee. The labor committee has chosen as its secretary, Frank Caruthers of Los Angeles, who is a member of the Musicians' Union, and formerly for one year its president, and the producers’ committee has elected to a similar position A. J. Berres, of Washington, for many years jecretary of the Metal Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor, and one of the best known men in the Federation. Mr. Berres was during the war the labor member of the Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board. He will move to Hollywood, and together with the other secretary will conduct hearings of grievances and adjust or report to the committees any differences which may arise in the studios, between the managers and the members of unions. Practically all the producers of motion pictures are parties to the agreement under which the committees are acting, and representatives of Famous Players, Metro-Goldwyn, Fox, First National and F. B. O. are on the committee. The labor committee consists of Presidents Weber of the Musicians’, Hedrick of the Painters’, Hutchison of the Carpenters’, Noonan of the Electricians’ and (Continued on next page) Ruhel’s New Post Beno Rubel, 'secretary of the Stern Film Corporation, has been appointed personal assistant to Carl Laemmle, president of tlie Universal. I.nemmlc’s Increasing dnties as head of Universal and his purchase of the big Inee estate in Beverly Hills where he will henceforth spend much of his time, prompted the addition to his personal stalf. Courts Rapped The City of Chicago will wage a vigorous campaign for the enforcement of tire prevention and safety ordinances, announces Corporation Counsel Francis X. Busch. He said there are 206 such cases hanging fire in the municipal courts and that City Prosecutor Samuel Pineus complained too great lenience was being shown theatre owners in the granting of continuances. “Roxy” Buys Third Site The Roxy Circuit, Inc., has bought a plot of 29,000 square feet of ground on the soutli side of Seventy-fifth street, New V ork City, running through to Broadway and Amsterdam avenue, for the site of Roxy’s Midway Theatre, the third unit in the new chain. The building, including a 4,000-seat theatre and a 23-story hotel, will cost about 58,000,000. Herbert Lubin negotiated the deal. A building loan of $3,500,000, secured by a first mortgage, has been made. Publix Seeks Lease? Publix is said to be seeking a lease of the large auditorium in the new Masonic Temple which will be erected in Albany, N. T., this year, occupying an entire block a short distance from the State Capitol. It is said that the auditorium will seat at least 5,000, and that the officials of the order are desirous of leasing it, with a reservation of ten nights for the year. Dr. Stern Operated On Dr. Emmanuel Stern, medical director of the Famous PlayersLasky Corporation, is recovering from an operation at the Harbor Hospital, New York, and expects to leave the hospital in a few days. Nebraska Has Sunday Bill A bill to prohibit Sunday shows has been introduced in the Nebraska Legislature, now in session. A remarkable feature of the Better Films Conference of the National Board of Review at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York, on Thursday was a composite film entitled “Thirty Years of Motion Pictures.” This in turn was featured by a section showing how films are being used in medical education. The advance in the study of diseased organs is due to an invention of Dr. J. F. Montague of the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College Clinic. Tt is a thin metal tube within be featured for forty-five minutes, Each week new details leak out concerning the attempts of various companies to secure Vitaphone privileges. Fox Film has acquired it, as recently announced in Moving Picture World, and now Metro-GoldwynMayer is dickering, with it almost a certainty that a deal will be announced within a short time. Four or five big companies London Cable Moving Picture World Bureau, London January 25. “ Metropolis ,” for which the critics have been anxiously waiting, is to be shown at the Marble Arch Pavilion in February. “Hotel ImperiaV ’ and “The General” have been held over for second weeks. Antonio Moreno was entertained by social celebrities on his arrival. which are placed both the lighting apparatus and a series of lenses resembling a microscope. The camera used is of the type popular with amateur movie fans. The device insures an accurate study of the progress of a disease, or the patient’s recovery from it, by exposing the interior of organs hitherto inaccessible to such study. Dr. Montague predicts that in a few years every medical school in the United States will have the means for illustrating clinical work with films. with the orchestra, sometime ago turned down their chances to obtain Vitaphone privileges because Warner Bros, would not allow them exclusive rights to Vitaphone in certain territories. Now it looks as though these companies are falling in line, and that within a couple of months new Vitaphone franchises will be made public. The deal of several months ago that fell through would have permitted each of these companies to buy about 10 per cent, of Vitaphone stock. They declined participation because, as above stated, they failed to obtain exclusive rights in certain territories from Warner Bros. Lately, It is said, they have sought to obtain participation under the old basis, and have been told that Warner Bros, shouldered the responsibility for Vitaphone and took all the risks in the beginning, and that now Warner Bros, is entitled to control the stock. ( Continued on next page) Support Chaplin A poll on Charlie Chaplin’s domestic dilemma conducted l*y the New York (Graphic (tabloid) showed 904 out of 1,000 favoring the comedian and 923 of 1.000 opposed to any censorship of his films. This is considered extremely significant because the Graphic plays up sensationalism and it was thought that Chaplin would lose in the poll after the Graphic had stressed sensational features of the case. New Device Permits Study of Hidden Diseases With Camera