Variety (June 1933)

Tuesday, May 30, 1933 P I C T E S VARIETY PAY OFF- W. L'S ONLY WISH (Ml IJyy f^^ Fhi Show Idea For Advertising in Dark Theatres Under discussion In -N6w York Is well formulated plan to create a new film -branch of frea amuse- ment on sponsored advertising baais. Outlets •wfould be presently darkened theatres. These would be relighted under: a plant presented for,' consideration, to one of the ..leading distributing. firniSv The thing has equipment con-: Backers of the plan, In- .flu^ntial . politically, in thei try's capital, have connections With one of the -industry's leading equipment firms. If accepted by the film company in question, the plan would thus have both a him and equipment base on which to. pro- ceied In taking, over darkened "houses; ""— — "~' Lik^ Broadcasting - Altogether, the ..plan is not .-similar to - present . broadcia.sting anr gles, .except that the new advertlis-. ■""Jng ..Idea~w6uld-be-for-^i^ only and on a localized basiis. Main ld<ea would have the filni programs sponsored and paid for by anr i^d- vertiser ."with the public iadihltted fr^e through coupon tickets. . While the eiqiuipihent . angle is as- sureid, the rub comes froni the fact that- the lilm' firm apjproached is likely to. turn down the proposition as. destructive, to the pay as you enter regular operating system.. Liooks like a hazard to present free film institutions. , The idea~6f inducing "one" of the majors to participate is' that with on6 company's i»roduct assured, the theatre outlets to be copped for the purpose could pull through on the sponsored programs with' films which would come additionally through indies. .— - As presented, the film firm ap- prK>ached would be Induced to cre- ate a separate, subsid expressly for the sponsored fred shows. Banker Kahn Asks 18G He Loaned to Furthihan Xos. Angeles, ' An assignee of . O tto H. Xahn has sued Gharl.es . Filrthman in Superior court ..here for |18,50p, an atnouht which the New T^rk banker loaned the writer on. a five year note, in Oct. 1929. -The note was secured, by" a t^ust deed on Santa' Monica propr erty the; defendant owned. On this property there was a $20,- 000 prior mortgage In favor of-the Bebe Daniels Corp. This mortgage was foreclosed in January Itiaving no security for the Kahn note. Educational Back To Shorts Alone; J. E. dtterson for ERPI Makes Pbsitivf! Statement 6n Position of Electric— Only Production Possibil- ity Through Companies' Inability to Pay Bills NO PRODUCING IDEA Jones, Luiick, Scliaeffer Active Again; Loop Heartened by News Chicago, June 2. Acquisition of the local State- Ijake theatre by Jones Liinlck and nBchaeffer pms~ tlraf" firm back" iff flhow business on a scale comparable with its one time prominence in this town. Besides the State-Lake, firm is now operating Orchestra Hall, Woods, Randolph and.Rialto, besides having the first lease on •^McVickers; which.B&K..operate.. Policy, for the State-^Lake .will probably be' pictures and vaudeville, with accent on better than average bills. a.nd the admission scale-to be figured down as low as a margin of profit over the operating costs will permit. Billy Diamond will book the house; which ■ will not open for a; e6uple of weeks under-the present lans. Because of the popularity and high reputati^drt for square dealing of the firm, all of show business in Chibag'o greets the return to active' competitive operation of Jones, Linlck and Schaeffor with genuine . ehthusiasrri. Birinski-Goldwyn Pay Tiff Goes to Academy Hollywood, June 5. ^"pirst pay aisiru^e tcTsffiseiEf^fflHtte^ Academy Emei'gency Committee^s activity .during the recent eight weeks' percentage cut episode is Leo EirinsHi's salary adjustment cliaini against Samuel Goldwyn. Case goes befoce Writers',Adjust- ment committee for " review Tues- day (C) on Birinski's claim that CSoldwyn refused to refund held-out half salary after Academy had de- cided the producer was not. entitled to make the slash. Considerable doubt, surrounds Educational at the moment,' includ' Ing question of whether its financ- ing.'oi| production this season will be as. simple a matter as laLst year when Educat had to go to Con- solidated- Film -Industries JTor. Jwone^ tary aid. ,One thing Is certain, that Educa- tional is through with features and will restore itself to the shorts field exclusively. Jiist how far the. com- pany w-iu go as-a shorts, producer Is not exactly known but that its pfospects for this year are any- thing but bright Is no secret,-from Indicatiohs. Whetiier or not Consolidated Will duitnp' additional money . into Edu- cational: or not hasn't been stated. Consolidated savs its policy is not to divulge any plans so far as Edu- cational are concerned, merely pointing to a form letter, which it has sent independent producers on the: question- of-financing, -; ' This letter, in effect, states that it will be the policy of the lab in- terests to finance 'reliable indepen- dents'.thesanie now. as in the past.^ Who are considered the reliable in-" dies is not mentioned. On coining to Educat's financial aid last, year. Consolidated obtained the printing job oh. Educational product. Last fall it was reported that the Hudson's Bay . Go; and banks inr Vested in Educational were becom- ing ill at eas^ over Educatiohal's condition, but this was denied. Later there was- talk--of a- merger of Ediicat and Cblumbi which, never got very far. FRANKUN MOVING CLOSER TO STDDIO In the co-ordinating of depart-^ menfs at RKO, the first of which combines the vnude and film book- ing divisions as one, Phil Reismart, eventually may also become the company's oftlcial eastern contict on studio talent bobkings .as; welU The ultimate aim of the higherups is to stick Specialized handlers in, ^de r: .Reisma n^, to _jio^ the actual work, with -Reisman nominally~In" charge. All- of vvhleh may or may not have anything to do with the ob- servation that Harold Franklin seems to be moving into studio op- eration, .if not by official position, at least by proxy. If assigned to handle studio talent bookings as well, Reisman will make the third Fivnklln ,attache to enter the RKO studio vaults. to 4o to get rid of us is to |]»ay us. They , ewe us. a lot of money.' With this statemeni; J. . Otter- son, ERPI president, dismissed all intorrogations relative -to -the elec^ trie's positi in the film industry so far as sffiy ismbi1;ion to dominate it is .coiieerined; •W6 are hot lh'film production and" we 4oT>of intend ta be/- he added:^— Whether the electric wilj inad- vertently, be forced into production companleET through, any eventual in- ability of them to meet their sound lnsta,llation debts la another matter. Already ERPI has taken over and is operating Faramount's Astoria, L. I., plant. Interrogeiited about this, Otterson reiterated the electric was not becoming a producer but simply had availed itself of the eastern studio set-up as a service medium and an opportunity to m^e some money. —^ ... ^ : Paramount executives slightly over a y^ar ago gave up the idea of leasing the Astoria lots to indie contpanies because they figured that even, if they got a full house weekly they could not make the property pay; Otterson sees where, under the management ~ of the ielectric. Astoria- should come out in the black. Caith Wanted Concerning current reports that ERPI and the Chase bank are com-' binlhg for control of Lo'ew's, Otter-, son,- reviewing the Fox-rLpew stock position, stated that ERPrs only in- terest in the company is to get it to tender cash for $8,000,000 in notes. Asked whether ERPI now is not adding to its present holdings, Otterson-..not- , only replied in the negative^, but stated that-'BRPI is not interested in adding to its pres- ent Loew holdings. The same is true for Paramount ahH ~ali:""other""iJompffnies -that--o we the electric money, Otteirson allowed It to be understood. Confirmation Ottierson's statement rjBgarding the electriq and the film industry was virtually confirmed in full by the executive head of :pne of-: Westerri^s major cohipany licensees. This. executive, on -Intimate terms Svith tiie electric head almost since the inceptibn of sound, pointed out where ERPI years-ago could have made a. killing starting with iFox. 'Electrical Research; because of Its ppsitlon, has been, on the ground .floor of all industry developments. It has been repeatedly placed in a position Where it could have long ago materialized any plans to hog the business. It Jiad Fox and it h»d. Paramount. I am certain the Lo^w' reports are in the same category.* THALBERG RETURN TO MGMSFT FOR JULY 20 Adding Machmes Losing Out as Controllers of Show Biz; Cuts and Cuts Udn't Save Grosses ROWLAND PRODUCING? Reported May. Become. Indie aker —10; Perhaps Next Season ^Another indiependent producer from majo^^ rahkis looming on; -the i933-'3i horizon is Richard A. Row- land, riscently associated with Fox. While his plans are said to be somiewhat undefined with financing yet to be arrangeti, the number 6f pictures Rowland'figures bn for the c|ohiing season is set at 10. Depend- ihg on more concrete formulation of plans. It niay be more or less. No Over#ooting . Remaining another month at Bad Nauheim, Germany, Irving Thal- berg will not return to the Metro: lot until July 20. Treatment he is taking at the resort has been.bene- ficial and he is following physlr cfahs* suggestions' to remain. . While there he Is working on sev- eral- scripts- which - will go. into work shortly after his return. One Is an original by Charles, Mac Arthur. Hollywood, June 5. A limit of 100,000 feet of film per picture has been imposed by Jesse Xiasky upon his directors as a fixed policy on all future productions. It was adopted as an artistic as well as- commercial economy In sponsoring, this new; policy, Lasky said he .had secured the en- dorsement of Frank Lloyd, William K. 'Howard and other meggers. Lloyd has just turned in 'Belrkeley Square' for. the. Fox producer well under 100,000 feet. Howarj^ con- sunied no more footage' in 'The' Power and the Glory.' Anticipating criticism the sc6re of 'factory methods,' Lasky says the limitation Is not only to save^. money now wasted on exces- sive .shooting,' but also to conserve the talents of all concerned In mak- ing pictures. Force Cohcentrati 'By fitting a definite franiie,' says the Fox producer, 'I believe directors will concentrate upon what Is abso- .liitely " necessary, - and less upon added scenes with which they hojpe to startle executives viewing the rushes. It ■ will also force directors Inta taking- more-Jnter.eat_ Jn_the story while It's being prepared,' Sergei Eisenstein's "Thunder Over Mexico,' was cited as a notable ex- ample of overshooting. Film was in 580,000 feet, or over 90 miles in length, as it reached Hollywood. After the task of cutting it down to practical theatre length had been declared Impossible, Laslty loaned Harry Chahdlee, his story editor, to the producers. Chandlee got it to length only after tOO workihg Jhours, ENGUSH PRODUONG CO. FORMED IN NEW YORK New picture company, with Brit- ish backing " and ■ .executLve lineup,, has been formed. In New York with intentions of going into production pronto. Clainied to be an inde- pendent venture. Company Is calling Itself Star- mark, Inc. It is headed by John Matcham, jacitisher. Floyd.. Rich- ards, another Englishman, is pro- duction manager. Films Will be re- leased through Regent Pictures,, in- "are""aistfib"ontflirP6"ff6miy-^fiOT . Group has talcen a six-month's lease at the Metropolitan Studios In New York with production slated to start June 15. First picture w'ill be 'Unwanted Vehus,' from a Brit- ish, yarn, which will be given an American, brushing 6ver and: dialog be:fore screening. Grover Lee will direct; Intention Is to usife an entirely American cast. Robot control of the film bfz is waning. As Paramount and Fox shake off statistical control of their affairs in; favor of- showmen, the hold the humand adding machines have had on the industry the past ,twp_ years or more-. is declining. 6nly RKO, for the present, and due mostly to its receivership state, is still swayed by such statistician control. : In the majority of cases -these statisticians are. just robot show^ men,, knowing little above what the adding machine spills out or the subtracter cuts down. In most cases they are glorified bookkeepers. In the picture companies they rare called auditors or cpnunitteem^n. They-make , up all kinds of com- mittees, but in every case, every purpose of every comniittee coia- posed of statisticians has but one a.lm-and-that'£H-to cut. - ^ Paramount's ^ break has coma through, bankruptcy. It's paradoxt-" cal when compared to RKO's situ- ation. The setting up of a Par re* organization committee, under tho trustees, and putting, S. A. liyhch in charge demonstrates somethiiiflr about the biz going back to-show- manly hands. It would indicate at. : Par that the creditors of that firm* ; bankers or otherwise have become I wised to the f8u;t that showmen can reorganize the biz and none elser Fox downtown learned that fact after Sidney Kent took charge. Accounflngniheets "metttt'TsothinR"- it grosses keep declining. ^ The statisticians subtracted, and sub^ tracted, to cut costs, but as they subtracted grosses kept falling Just the same. Falling to solve the problem of declining grosses was where the statisticians have met their Waterloo. Not Always Wet They could show & loss exists, but could ,not deylse m^ans of turning that loss into a profit, through the b. o. No matter how much they cut, - the-loss remained. This doesn't mean that the statls- tlqlans were always wet Sometimes they smelled something which showmen knew but wouldn't ad- mit. That's only where' the show- men became statistically minded. And, since the. human multipliers have come into the biz by groups and .hordes, many a showman has lost his perspective, mostly be- cause the^ banker germ struck him. " The angle Tierhg that the"partic- ular shownian aimed to impress the particular bankers with his faith in figures,. also. Not human figures, which is where the showman's in- stinct counts. Case in point Is where one of the leading circuit heads was wont tO} co.mpiiIe figures about vecohoitilSil pierfected urider his' operating sjj^s- tem. Aniong tliese he charged off pVer $5,000,000 as a saving because it rep'resehted so much which the circuit used to spend , additionally on vaude but which he eliminated. "The statisticians caught- this quick, citing ttiat eliminating' vaude and counting the money thus not spent as a saving would be the same as eliminating films altogether and by darkening all houses, .eon- .slder everything saved. At the same timei.it's the exam- ple that Warners, which has steered clear of bankers and statlstcian. control as such, has weathered the depresislon's stormy weather. Other cohipanies like Metro and Columba •speak for themselves. United Art- ists, which never had the book- keeping overjordshlp, is swinging upwards. Who Can Tell? Newark, N, J., June 5. Jiist to prove 'you never can tell,' 'Warrior's Husband' at the Terminal plainly dl-Hplea.sod the audience and was pulled. Meanwhile eight miles away in .Teivsey City the film drew strongly anVI ■\va.s ju.ft f\.s clearly liked. Audi- ence should t>c about the same.