Variety (Sep 1932)

^Tuesday, September 6, 1932 PICTURES VARIETY CLEARANCE DEMANDS Stocks at New Peak Over Labor Day Promise a New Burst of Fireworks Chart form at the week-end save promise of a new phase of the ad- vance aa the week opens today <Tues) after three-day holiday. Mar- ket went into a new peak for the juovement Saturday, with Loew, amusement leader. In new high ter- ritory not only for the current ad- vance but for the year at 37. ' General movement came on vol- toe, particularly in the burst of activity at the start of the session. Peak was confirmed by all the aver- ages, and at the close the index, 78.83 In the Dow Jones compilation, "was a trifling fraction front the top for the year; made last March. Saturday's bullish demonstration, ktt course, was staged to mark the coming of Labor Day, tradionaliy the point at which summer dullness ends and the promise of autumn business revival Is supposed to be- come manifest. That the market was able to put on a bullish ehoiv on the eve of a three-day holiday was a reversal of the state of mind ipf the past three, years, when the approach of a closed market was a signal for 7 caution in commitments, the inference being heretofore that in the interval bad news might break. Up to the last week the rising jnarket had been based frankly upon pure hopes. Gradually in the last few weeks there have been develop- ments that carried some statistical support to mero forecast. Improve- ment In scrap steel prices was one, this being highly esteemed In the Street as an index of Improving business. Another was last week's figures on carloadings, up more than 19,000 and the first definitely bright spot in the. railroad picture for many months. Steel production on «t rising scale is In preparation and there was a gain In electric power production. Copper prices rose slightly and many commodity prices were higher. These movements In lvalue , arc seasonal, and It remains jto be seen whether the autumn state of business will actually sustain the rise in security prices that already lias discounted a great deal of progress. Fox Gives Way Some kind of a late summer up- turn in stocks Is almost automatic ias traders annually seek to express their forecasts in market prices. l*ast year there was a moderate in- crease in. the averages running into learly September, the usual specula- tive effort to get aboard early In ipase the autumn business, revival turns out well. Last year It didn't make, good, and the result was a Hew depression low on Oct. 6, inark- ( Continued on page 40) U's Substitution Joker Clause Out of Contracts Clause in the Universal contract leaving it to a board of arbitration ti decide on what pictures are to be regarded as substitution, has been dropped. This company, the only one having such a clause, was recently severely criticized by independents, notably Allied, for' trylng to enforce it. Plan had been to decide on what are substitutions by a board of three, one representing the exhibi- tor, another the distributor and a third to be agreed upon by both sides. ArthurUnions' Settlement on Voight Joins Goldwyn Hollywood, Sept 5. Hubert Voight succeeds Lynn farnol as press agent for Sam Gold- wyn on the Coast. Farhoi washes up with Goldwyn Sept. 24,'starting east on that date for a new Paramount berth. Voight was recently affiliated with (Columbia at that company's studio. Crawford's Legal Spot Hollywood, Sept. 6. William Crawford, one-time bead bf. Fox studio's legal department, is back in that spot. He replaces John J=L Tracy, resigned. Crawford has recently been in the production department. LAUREL-HAEDY HOME Hollywood, Sept. 5. Laurel and Hardy arrived here today (Monday) from their Eu- ropean trip. Pair brought back a script which they concocted in Paris for their pext two-reeler. y Taxes Up, Revenue Down f The Hague, Aug. 26. Returns for amusement tax in Rotterdam for the first balf of 1932 are $175,280, against $201,527 for frame period in 1931, reduction of .126,247. These returns include cinema, legit, concerts, football matches and (Circuses. More than half of it comes from the movie business. New Haven, Sept. S Through the co-operative efforts of th*i national officers of the IA.TSE, all chains operating wher ever Poll houses are located, also indie operators, will benefit from the agreement reached between the Harry Arthur theatres and stage and booth operators, although none of these figured in the strike which was fought by Arthur alone. Terms agreed upon with Arthur will be ex tended to other houses. These are the most liberal terms ever granted by the ttfeatre crafts anywhere. In certain instances .it amounts to a 75% concession in labor costs.: Minimum is around 25%. Strike between the Harry Arthur theatres and the stage and booth operators has been on since April 29, lasting 19 weeks, and affected houses here and in Hartford, Water bury and Bridgeport,' Conn., and Springfield and Worcester, Mass. Individual agreements were ef fected on a fiat rate basis in differ ent cities according to the number of Arthur houses in the towns men tioned. During the strike Arthur signed up for booth operation with the Brotherhood of Motion Picture Op erators. Contract was on a two weeks'' notice basis which has al- ready been given. Settlement paves the way for re- opening bf stage shows in a num- ber of Arthur New England houses Bridgeport and Worcester resume F. & M. units Friday <9) with Hart ford due to follow. College theatre, here, opens with vaude Sept. 12. For the first time in tne history of union affiliation with the theatre biz, the crafts have agreed to eliminated all overtime provisions, of every nature and description. Ad- ditionally, Arthur : theatres have been privileged, under the new agreements signed Sept. 1, to select its own. hands. Hitherto the busi- ness managers of the unions placed the men. The average salary settled upon runs to $60 weekly, but does not mean that the manpower will be reduced perceptibly since, under the flat rate agreement, the unions can spread that rate over any number of men the unions wish to desig- nate.. The new agreement's run to May 1, 1934. Hitherto all union con- tracts expired Sept. 1. ON ELAPSED TIME Proposed New Setup Elimi- nates Zoning Based on Fixed Admission — Fox and WB-FN Close with Circuit; Accept Drastic Proposal Giving Indies a Few 'Breaks' METRO-PAR BALK Lachman's Tie-Up London, Sept. 5. Harry Lachman is back in Lon-* don from Paris and will probably become a Gaumont British director. Since leaving British Interna- tional last year Lachman lias made a number of talkers for Paramount. Los Angeles, Sept. 5. Oemanding- zoning protection based exclusively on elapsed time, regardless of admission price charged, Fox,-West Coast has closed with Fox Films and Warner-First National for new product. The agreement jii many instances will give indie first and .subsequent runs earlier 'breaks' than. has. been pos- sible under major booking deals in former years. Metro and Paramount, however, have rejected the circuit's clearance proposals, necessitating new deals, which are now being worked out. In the product buys for 1932-33, from Fox Films and WB-FN, F-WC will have first run in' every zone where it has houses. Irrespective of box office tariff. Protection over second run has been reduced to 14 days, excepting in some instances where circumstances are such as to necessitate a clearance of from 21 to 28 days.' Lower admission houses will ben- efit from the new agreement, for under it, clearance time for theatres with as low as 15c. and 20c. admis- sion have been set ahead consider- ably. •■- Last year houses changing the minimum admission [played product approximately 140 days after close of the downtown first runs. With the ""new setup the lower scale grinds can play 98 days after downtown closings. Reduced Rental Feared Rejection of the F-WC clearance proposals by Metro and Par, is based on the distrlbs' contention that downtown first runs, such as Loew's State and the Criterion, here, will be made worthless as show houses with the elimination of admission 'breaks.' They advance the argument that theatre patron- age, knowing that all pictures will be shown at subsequent runs from within 30 to 60 days, will pass up the acers. This, they hold, would reduce rentals based on percentage, and would work generally to their disadvantage in subsequent run sell- ing deals. WB-FN and Fox have reached an accord with the coast circuit, whereby in each zone the distribs will negotiate deals for subsequent runs, often starting with the third showing of a picture, with accounts considered. on the basis of. revenue and stability of purchasers. Tlvis (Continued on page 34) N. Y. Iadie Houses Quit 306 for Empire and Set Up Miration Bsard with Union Scott 'Mesa' Star ; 2nd Par Produced Western Hollywood, Sept. 5. Randolph Scott will be starred in Paramount's remake of the Zahe Grey story, Wild Horse Mesa.' Thi3 will .be the second of the studio's own produced westerns since execs decided not to use indie product for this type of film. Henry Hathaway will direct and Harold Schumate adapt. N. Y. INDIES STALLING ON BUYING; IN SPOT? The independents around New York are delaying their film buying this season, many of them from re- ports feeling they are in a spot through Loew's having sewed up CO additional features this year. This, it is contended, has had the effect- of placing the indies in the position of either digging deep for film or voluntarily going third run where now second. In exchange circles, where it Is admitted the indies arc not burrylng to buy, there is no prediction as to what will be the outcome except that plenty will probably have to wait longer for pictures as a result of Loew's taking a lot of product after RKO. Earlier in the season a complaint was raised In some leading indie chain quarters over an effort of Loew's to obtain a long-term fran- chise on all Universal product in the Greater New York area. That deal was suddenly dropped, RKO con tinulng with U first run under a selective contract. 110 Return to Work On Disney Cartoons Hollywood, Sept. 5. Full personnel of 110 returns to the Walt Disney studio immediately to begin production on Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons for the new season. Program, which Roy Disney states is budgeted at $643,000, will Include 10 sound cartoons in color. Thesa shorts will be released through both Columbia and United Artists. United Artists is preparing an in- ternational publicity blast on the 'Mickey Mouse' shorts Oct. 1. Idea is that the date will be called Mickey Mouse's fourth anniversary and exploitation will be so arranged. Jack Fuld has been added to the U.A. publicity staff to take over the campaign as a special assignment. First court of arbitration between a union and exhibitors'is realized Jd the new deal between 220 indepen- dent theatres in Greater New York and the Empire projectionists union. The break with the Kaplan organi- zation, local 306, is final since 95 of the theatres formerly manned by 306 swung over to Empire the past week on a five-year agreement Among the circuits which had ne- gotiated with 306 up to Aug. 31, when contracts expired, and are now under long termers for Empire op- erators are Ochs, Sherman, Silver- man, Casey-Wheeler and a host of Individually operated indie theatres. The Schwartz chain broke with Kaplan the previous week, while some time before then the Rachmil and Landow chains, entered the pact with Empire. Arbitration Group Under the arbitration set-up a board of five, presided oyer by Charles. O'Reilly, head of the The- atre Owners Chamber of Commerce, will rule upon every. complaint. Complainant and defendant will each have two places on the board, TOCC goes on record, through. O'Reilly, as having no interest In Empire other than to see that its members get a just deal. They would have stayed with 306, O'Reilly maintains, had that union been less autocratic. Loss to Kaplan through the shift of indies to Empire means about 400 projectionists. It is conceded by. both sides. The Kaplan organiza- tion, however, is not content with the fact that the Indies have signed Empire contracts. They hold that there is still a chance for them to regain their booth strength in the New York indie field. Meantime, both unions continua to picket each other's theatres. Em- pire is estimated to have as many pickets as 306. Kaplan unit is Bet during this week to open another series of ■'war houses.' It is increasing Its news- paper and bill poster campaign, at the samo time. Although briefs are to be sub- mltted to the New York Supreme Court, today (Tuesday) on 306'a application, through subsidiary out- door theatre corporations, to com- pel major and independent produc- ers to supply^it with pictures, Kap- lanites continue to maintain that they will be able to obtain sufficient foreign product to carry on these free showings indefinitely. WB s 100% Control in Philly S€€n Philadelphia, Sept. 5. Town goes 100% Warners' outside of few minor Spots controlled by the Skouras-Par combine, when War- ners take over the Fox theatre this week. .: > How Warners plan to operate the Fox along with WB's other big de luxers here isn't known. Owing to Labor Day holiday weekend, the WB and Fox officials couldn't be reached for any comment. Broadway opinion bf the Philly report anent Warner's taking over the' Fox theatre In the Quaker City sees in this takeover the forerunner of other Fox-Warner negotiations in the east, middle west and the Coast, with the Skouras Brothers fronting as principals for Fox. These negotiations include a deal for a dozen Warner films to go into the Roxy, on Broadway. Also, for Skouras, as operators of Fox;West Coast, to take over the Warner the- atre spots on the Coast with the single exception of Warner's Holly- wood, which WB may retain as its own show spot for WB premieres. The middle west deal between Skouras and WB cajls for certain Warner spots around Milwaukee go- ing to Fox's Midwesco. Details aren't known nor houses concerned, although indications point to the entire matter being set although not yet signed. TRYING TO PATCH UP PUBLLX-DUBINSKV RIFT Efforts are being made to avoid dissolution of the Publix-Dubinsky partnership in a "group of 14 the- atres in the Kansas City zone. There has been friction In this sit- uation for some time with the Du- binskys locally in charge. Austin Keough, heading Para- mount legal forces, has returned from Kansas City and Ed Dubinsky may come on to New York shortly for further conferences. The I'nblix-Dublnsky partnership was effected a year ago. 'Maedchen' at $1.50 'Maedchen In Uniform,' German talker, is:set for two-a-day showing: at the Criterion, New York, start- ing Sept. 12, at $1.50 top. It's the first time a German talk- er has been roadshowed on.Broad- way with the exception of a three- week booking of 'Maedel von de* Reeperbahn' at the Central two- years ago at $1 top. John Krimsky owns the American . rights on the picture.