Variety (Sep 1933)

Tnesday, September 19, 1933 EIIITaRI AL VARIETY 43 Trad* Mark Reditered PabUflbcd WcflUy by VABIBTt, lac. Bid BUvwmaiv President SB4 We qt 4<tli Street Wew Toifc CiXt fiDBSCRIFTION Annual ..••••••«$< Foreign.,, ♦... i .IT ^iBgle CoplcB 18 Cente Vol. 112 130 Mo. 2 !lifcboowfiMiir" 15 YEARS AGO {From yARiBTT ontf 'Clipper") When stagehands d e ih an d e d raises, Roy €k>awfbrd of Tppeka,put . in ail alf-woman stage crew. Chicago was In a theatre eluihp and the La Salle tried cutting from 12.50 to a $2 top excepit on Satur- days. John Cort got rid of the last - of Ills coast bouses^ turning his San Francisco theatre over to Homer Curran.. , Al Woods had 17 shows, and only one wais losing. Naval men seized 'His Birth- right' film showing at the Palace oh the ground: it belittled the Navy. Was an alleged sequel to "Mme. Butterfly.' Cincinnati shows had to start at 8 p; ml. Saturday nights to permit the players to make the last, trains. Liater trains had been taken off by U. :S< railroad administration.' Announced tb,e Mars Bros, would forsake vaudeville for musical com edy. To open in 'Street Cinderella' In Grand Rapids. Loew's JiletropoUtan, Brooklyn, opened. Thtsti the ace house of the Loew circuit. State and county fairs were re porting unusually good business. Had been anticipated there would be a falling off, but the other way around. John Phillip Sousa had written a wedding march to replace the Btaiidard Mendelssohn a^d Wagner marches, both Germans.' Forgotten now. hside Stutf-Pictnres For the (Opening, Fox plastered Times Square With street directional signs makini^ it 'Berkeley Square', though the actual lamp post signs were not covered. Only ah inferential connection with the Gaiety the- atre, where the . picture was to play, but it-got over. However^ the Fox press department goes wrong when It states this was the first time the Square has chanfed title 'since the parade of- fashlonable vehicles In that section in 1872 compelled, the city fathers to designate ^e place by its present name.' Designation of the open space between 43rd and 47th street as Times Squar^ was mt^de when the original subway was built about the start of the new <;entury. The New York 'Times' building .had replaced the old Pabst hotel and was trying to match Herald Square, further down-r town. Not much success lintli August Belmont was persutEided to desig- nate the subway station djj Times Square,, and custom presently tbok the title/upstairs. /Up to that time it hiad been: the Ixingacre or Lbngacre Square, not beicause of the parade of fashibnabie vehicles but becaus.e there were several carriage factories around the square. Including: the Brewster works. Liohdon^s tx>hgacre had long been the seat of carriage niaklng^ and the title was copied. Incidentally the lamp posts were covered twice before, ture at the Town Hall and ohe show at the Cohan. Going serlpus-niinded over lengths to which pI<itur<S people will go to exploit an attiractlbni the 'Times' pulled down one of Fox's street post signs on 'Berkeley Square' and placied, a. complaint with- Borough. Presi- dent Iieyy for action. Fox people had pikced replicas of the New York, street comer signs and put them on the lamjpposts around'Times Square to attract Atten- tion. A total of 18 of the. Berkeley Square signs were put up between 42nd and 47tb streets. They were up three .days before forced down. ^he Minneapolis 'Tribune' editorially questions the ability of Will Hays to carry out'the pledge made at the opening of the Industry, code hearing at Was/hlngton 'to maintain right moral s^ndards In the pro- duction of pictures' foif' the reason that there can be no set moral stand- ards. 'Tha,t this Is.a fairly large order for even Mr. Hays to undertake is suggested by the rather obvious truth that almost no two persons agree as tb just what constitute right moral standards for the movies,' says the 'Trlbune^ 'The question naturally arises as to whose standards he is referring^ Are they to be the. standards, which Mr. HaVei considers right, .the standards which would survive the austere Inspection of the Watch aiid Ward isoClety .in Boston, Or the standards; which Broadway would approve? When Mr. Ha.ys says right, does he mean right In the ieyes of grandma:, who might swoon into the aisle at a Mae West picture, or right in the. eyes of granddaughter; who might not filcker a sophls' ticated eyelash ait the iselfsame fllni and be-bored to death by Mary Pickford? 'For making his ambitious pledge. We Suppose Mr. Hays is entitled to nothing but respect and admiration. But we are puzzled, nevertheless, how th^ Industry he represents can guarantee, right moral standards In films to be exhibited in a nation Which has .approximately 120,000.000 separate ideas as to what- those standards should be. It can hard^ be that the movle-makiers, witit 'ihe aid of a morality slide rule, have finally worked out the problem that steeped the world in controversy centuries before Sally Rand, and the movies, and the shirtless male bather on Minneapolis beaches set tongues a-wagging In 1933/ SO YEARS AGO (From 'Clipper') Madison Sq. theatre, operated by the Frohmans, put out 12 touring shows the previous season. Some flopped, BO they had only four for '83-'84. Sol Lesser got three versions of .'Tarzan, the. Fearless* put of a less than-$100,000 production investment oh-which he figures to gross $1,000, 000. and net $250,000. The three versions'are a seven-reel feature with chapter serials thereafter, a; straight serial and a condensed nine-reel version for the foreign market. Lesser originally wanted $75,000 from Metro to buy up his rights in view of the Johnny Weissmuller sequel MG ^s making to the original •Tarzan?, which first established the swimming. champ In films. Metro is said to have countered with a io% of the net profits proposal. Now It is reported Metro would like to buy out Lesser on the foreign dis- tribution for fear of cpmpetish to the forthcoming Metro-Welssmuller picture. Warblers' film deals so far set, priricipally In the east. Include RKO where not In conflict with Warners' own hoUses: Loew's for Greater New York; Richmond, Norfolk, Baltimore, and EvansvlUe, Ind.j the entire Butterficld chain of 74 houses; Mort .Shea's circuit In Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania; Schlne Circuit upstate New York; Famous Players Canadian; Ike Libson for Cihcinnati, Dayton, Indianapolis''a,nv^ Louisville; Publlx-Shea in BulTalo; .Ed Fay for Providence and Rhode Island; Sparks chain of Florida; Balaban & Katz, Chicago, iand numerous individual situations. Inside Strf-Music Brunswick records came into the Warner B'l'os- group as result of initial $9,000,000 music buy. WB gradually turned back some of the music holdings, notably DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, which is back under Bobby Crawford's sole control. Bi^unswick was also ^Ivcsted from WB, with Consplldated Film Labs taking ov6r the record, company and Installihg Jack Knapp and Harry Grey in charge. Consolidated assumed the liabilities and has yet certain payments to make to WB; Fpr this, reason, a entente cprdial still exilsts between Brunswick a.hd the: "Warner film Interests' which may Include certain WB film pepplie gpliig on wax for Brunswicki It. was through this setup originally that ,A1 Jolson laecaino a Bruns- wick recording artist with the sensationally best Selling 'Sontty Boy' now history. Bobby Crawford deems it a bit confusing and, possibly embarrassing; to have him set at Warner i Brosj for possible supervision on screeh musicals, whilo at the same time repprtihg Darryl Zanuck financing his ) publishing company. Crawford is vague ..on the WB. things but positive that the Zanuck angle is nix. Meantime he's readying a Hollywood trip, leaving Rocco Vocco,.the new v:p. and g.m. pf DeSylva, B. &, H, in cha.r|re east. Vocco may become the unwilling Jest of honor of one . of those tin pan alley tributes iti the. form of a dinnen The boys are wciitlhg; for cooler weather. According to Louis Bernstein, of ShapIro>Bernstein, piublishers of the score Of Mae West's picture, 'I'm .No Angel,' of; the three lyrics but. o£ the 'Angel' scpre submitted for advance .C^sorship .tp NBC. one was, rejected completely and the otlidr two ordered cleaned up. Picture's theme number, Tm No Angel,' met with an all-time ban from the het^ wOrk. on the grounds that It reeked with too much^uggestlveness for air: purposed. Two that the Web turned back for sapoliolng were ^o One Love Me Like That Dallas Man' and 'I Want You, I Need You.' Tunes for. this West affair, were written by Ben Ellison, Gladys Dubois and Harvey Brooks. icture producer while attending a party on the west coa,st. became impreissed by a performance of their tunes put on by a pair of writers ahd Inquired of thOth why they faadh't approached his Studio fpr an assignment. Answer given him was that ttie miisle publisher aifillateid with his company had Informed them thai their only chance ot entering this pa:rti0ular lot wouldi be over his (the publisher's) dOad .body. ' •Well,' remarked the producer, 'You may then have to step over a dead body.' ' 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,' a: nonsense ditty, Is being pub- lished by Irving Berlin. Its lifted out Of the Walt Disney a,nlmated short, 'The Three Pigs,' which has become something of a sensation and Is being hailed as the best shOrt of the year. .. Paul Whlteman .gave the tune its. first radio, plug on the Kraft program (14). Song was written by Frank Churchill, an employe of Cartoonist Disney on the Coast. Ann Ronell did some fixing for the published version,. As. a gesture of congratulation on .the expansion of his. Tv B. Harms enterprise, George, and Ira Gershwin iiave turned over, ip .Max Dreyfus for publicatlpn a tune titled 'Tin .Then.' With the release of 'The Cat and the Fiddle' by Metro and 'Music In the Air' by Fox, the same publishing firm will .put put a special picture- edition of the tunes Involved. Inside Stuff-Legit 'Clipper' correspondent hit on a new one for treasurer. Called him the. 'boxbookkeeper.' Agent was advertising for eight ballet dancers offering $30 a week in gold, which was probably a South American date. Charles . L. Davis, was stressing his parade band whlcli uSied instru- ments of solid gold and sterling silr ver and were inlaid with pearls. Carried in gold mounted sealskin cases. Always strong on.fiash. Minstrel show used a stage mar- riage fpr an attraction, announcing the evehing's receipts would be pre- sented the bride. Standard theatre, St. Louis, was opened. Originally a drama house, but eventually one of the notable hurley theatres, where everything went. * 'Clipper' in discussing the future of the new Third Ave. theatre, held that the electric lighting was the chief attraction. First house In N. Y. to be wi»ed Inside, and tlie first to substitute electrician for gas man. Russian theatres, fought, shy of Imperial visits, which had to be an- nounced in advance. Never could ■ tell when a bomb would be tossed af the Czar. Fifth Ave. theatre opened with an entrance on Broadway, but also used that on the 28th street side. Understood that Weber ahd Fields received an additional $10,000 . from Metro-Goldwyn for their bit in 'Broadway to Hollywood'. Happened like this: When Weber and Fields first signatured for the Metro part their contract Called, for top billing for them no matter who else, was in the picture. When picture was ready, however, there wasn't much, excuse for the Weber arid Fields billing and Metro compensated with an extra 1.CG in order to get a release from the top billing cla,use. Picture now has just a glimpse of the Weber and Fields rOutine. Indication'that Sylvia Sidney isn't taking too many chances on her squabble! with Parampunt was giyeh Tliursday Jlf)*^. Sidney was aslied to do a five-rminute radio broadcast on that'day Vp^'c^ York asking whether; it was okay. According to her cohtract compa,ny has -to okay ether" .or stage .appearances, so Miss Sidney, despite the walkout, took no chances of weJikening her cause. Par granted the per- mission, incidentally. Going the competish thing as fa:r as. imaginable Julio Wickenhauser of Ecuador is calling attentibri to himself. Most recent of Wicken- hausei-'s stunts is a big ad in : the local, dailies reading 'This . Is hot a Metro picture, it is not a CSoIdwyn picture. It Is hot a Mayer picture, This is a Paramount picture, and Paramount pictures ^re the best In town.' Universal Is iheetirig some opposition pri its picture 'S. O. S. Iceberg' because of the fact tiiat Ma,jPr Udet, German air ace, is One of the fea- tured persons. Udet in recent visits in Hollywood and Chicago Weht out Of his way to wave the Gernian swastika, creating antagonism. Pic- tures of :the flier wth hiig swastika flag were reprinted In newspapers out- side also, making the dislike more national. Only country in the world that won't go for Mae West or her films is Australia, They think the iady's vulgar down thar and have told Para- 'She Done Him Wrong' arid informed Paramount that it doesn't want any more like it. Mii56 Wc.st's films have broken house records in Lori don and other spots around the world; Pomeone Is smupgling film of- one of the major distributors out of the country arid taking it as far as India lor illegal exhibition. Complaint has beeri made to the Copyrigh.t Protection Bur€,au which is conducting art investigation. According to information to the distrib, its pictures Final dreiss rehearsal of 'MUrder at the Vanities,' the new Earl Car- roll show which opened at the New Amsterdam, N. Y., last Tuesday (12) started at eight o'clock the evening before and ended at 11 a. m* the. day of the premiere. Technical and lighting problems re'sulted In scenes being gone over any number of times, with the entire company oh hand. _ The slim producer seemed less fatigued than anyone, connected with the show. He ran Into a jam jUst before the curtain rose. Shaw and Lee, who had been called in: several days before and were assigned to. bits and numbers, walked. Carroll re-routined the show in the 30 minutes left before curtain time, Carroll's troubles over ttie 'dramatic revue' started early when the sce- nic artists' union demanded $6,000 claimed due on last season's Canities' or no scenery. The claim is stiU pending. The manager first announced he would project the scenes with colored slides, ending up by going to tlie store house and dolling up old-sets. His arrangement with Para- mount called for the show reaching the Broadway boards by Sept. 15, and Carroll beat the deadline by three days. Jim Carroll, his brother, is again manager of 'Vanities.' Norman, other brother, had a post for the piast several years. With the New Amsterdam, Winter Garden and Lyceum lighting up, some familiar treasurers a,re out of hiding—after the toughest year for them because of the number of dark legit houses and the low per- centage of clicks. Sol De Vries is back at. the Garden and Louis Lotlta: Is again at the Amsterdam. Sid Harris will have charge at the Lyceum b.o. with Artie Wright; as8l¥tant. , Bb¥ Mfz and Jiih^my Vifte^^^^ field, Harry Snowden will be treasurer Of the ISTatibnal, while Julius (Blutch). Stpne'is house- riiariiager at the Forrest and Frankle Frayer Is treasurer. Victor Killiah Is. appearing'In 'Heat Lightning^ which opened , at the Booth last week uhder the name of Victor Keller. Temporary name change was the actor's Idea because his part Is sniall and he entered the cast as a couipliment to the producers, Abbptt & Dunning. Kiljian expects to .joih anotiier shpw shpirtly, Several critics detected the trick and mehtlphed- It In the reviewers, others being apparently foOled. ha.ve been shown in: that country, 'Madhouse Movies', uriCredited Paramount short which gOt considerable attention during its three day stay at the Rlalto, New York, a couple, pf weeks back, Wjas Originated, directed and. produced by Fred Waller. lie's the lad Who first invented a trick photograi^hlng machine which Para-; iriourit still uses. He directs 13 Paramount Pictorials a year in .between other assignmentis. ==-^Majoi«=di8tributors=--are=-closely^-Watchirig.-a^^v^^s€FvlGO==.CQm^ buying film presumably for a single theatre and swinging it around an eastern zone to many other houses. Operation seems to be conflned on the bicycling to eastern Pennsylvania. Those behind the bicycling have been traced to New York. Metro .had to change the title of 'Penthouae' for EnglLsh distribution to 'Murder on the Roof. In England 'Penthouse' .doesn't moan the stylish thing at all. It means a broken down,» hopeless shack.