Variety (Sep 1933)

VARIETY P I C¥ UB E $ l^needay, September 26, 1933 Amusement Stocks Fool 'Em All By Holding Against General Down Drift; Loew's Even Shows Gain By .A\ Greason Amusement were' rather IBpotty In. yesterday'$ dull market. Loew's as leader of the er9up ciame to ihe cloise •with a. trifling gain, While some of the bthjers tftglstered losses equally trivial, notably vWar- hers which ended the dfiy an eighth telbw the Saturday close. Film shiires '^eld! better, gen- "What had. taken ptsLce over 'the week-eiid appkr<^htly wets that the cliques working in these issues had determined:;'that, inflation; or np lii- . .flaitioh, the autumn Bltuation - rounding the picture shjares was wpJpth sotne -sprt .of a Aertionstv&r tion, it fbr ,,otiier ' r6asoii than to give them at front foi? some fu- .ture .pampaigti. The rest of the market was ex- . trernejy dull and reaLctiphary. tP the extent, that the gains of Friday aiid Siaturday ..were about, c^incelled. Volume was sntair :- ;*^ to around 1,300,000 shares .against the "Friday turnover of 3,300,000. Probably the outstanding detail of, trading in theatre stopks was that iii no case did they break through, last week's lows,- while In the general body pf equities there were violations of critical levels/here and . there. . Eastman .Kodak: was- rather Pbn- ; (Continued on page 23) Sunday Rims Win 2-1 In Atlaiita Priniaries Atlanta, Sept. 25; ' Sunday films .-and baseball won a two-to-one -victory; in tlie local prl-: mairies last weeii. State blue laws still stand, in the way, but the cijy council, feels that the Atlanta triumpii; gives it th^ first .round, in .its fight fPr. Sunday amtisementsi. Par Not Risking City ilant Gives 1lary«st' Direct U Farm Belt m SETUP AND HGRS. ATim^HOQSE^ Hollywood, Sept. 26. Following chknges haye been made Mn' Fox .'West ' C^past .. man- agerial Eippts and'theatre setuipar: .ins Orvtarfo, 'Calif., .Granada was Closed iSept. 17 when the bankrupt West Coast, Jr.,, circuit and the owners agreed to lease cancellation. Ontaria Theatre Corp., has effected ain - pperating. agreement with the Califprnia whereby the two houses will be jointly operated, on BO-BO basis under management of J. W. Andei^son; At. San Bernardino, Cal., the California went dark indefinitely Sept. 16. At the. West Gpast, Ger aid T. Gallagher was made man- ager Sept. 17, replacing Carl Mil- ler, not yet reassigned. In Berkeley, Cal., the Canipus re- opened Sept, 16 with £. C. Gates managing. Oh the same date Dave Richards took over management pf the U. C. replacing Gated. Roscoe F. K-ernan is managing the reopened Bainbow at Great Falls, Mont. Seeking to ayold the loss of exr tendeid l>laydatihg In. the fann belt for''Golden Hkrvest' ln. case the big cities • gave It . the snub^ Parairipunt^ shipped special prints on picture to Kansas. City, Des Moines., Minv heapolis, Omaha and Portland, Ore!;, for screening to exhibs In the ifarm. areas..- , Result, iaocording to advices to the Par h. o. distribution departs, ment, is that exhibs out where, the wheat . waves and the tail com grows iire booking :t for double time or more. • Par Invited the largest list of exhibs tP the K. C, brinch to see the picture in adyahce of release. Yesterday's Prices ' Net Sales; HtRli.IiOw.:(iABt ebse. 100 Aip. Seat. 3% 3% 8% + »A 200 Col. Pic. 23 23 23 600 Con. P. pf, IP \ . 0 JO + % 1,200 Eaet. Kod, 80?; 80 80% —% 200.Fox A.... 10% 16 10 8,800 Loew'B ... 82V4. 80% 82Mi + % 100 M-O-M . .. 21 21 21 +% 2.800 PnriP cfB. 1%: 1% 1% 600 Pathe .... 1% 1% 1% 14.400 RCA .n..** 8 ; 7% 7% — 000 .Rico ..v.. 8^4 8 *, „ 6.100 B;. i... 7% 7% 7>^.e ^ BONDS 18.000.Gen. Thr... 5. . 4% |f. ■6;000 Keith ..... 40% •*«% 46% + % 4,000 LoeWs. i... 84% 84% . .84% + % 1,000 J»ar-F-L .. .30% 80% 80% +1;- 1 OOO Par.Pul» , . 30% . 80%, 80% + \ 12.000 W. B..... 40 40%-46 +1 " CURB. BOO Teth ...., 7% 7% 7% , .800 TranB-D ... 2% , 2% . .2%^- % ' PRODUCE; EXCHANQE . 800 Pat-P l\i 1% . 1% UBSON COMING BACK WITH THEATRE CHAIN Inside Stuff-Pictures .Ike Ifibsbn is stepping. put foipa fast comeback Into shPw bu$ln^ss.- He's rounding up hlis former stiaff SLtid picking lip a string bf theatres in Ohip and Indiana. Already has. lined up' theatres in Cincinnati, -paytbn, Columbus and' Indianapolis. In several spPts he Is aligned with the! Switbw TBros. pit Lipulsville on the operation end. TALENT AGiBNCY HOQEtl^ jack Curtis and Lyons & Xiypns, BatchbloF vand CargiUc are working, put 6,- filni. taieiit -dcalrT-etirtia-^ik- Allen .. already handles all pf iL^Ij people, fpr vaude. Jaclt« Curtis .will probxtbly extend thls^p Include coa^t representa- tion'^or. thie Lyons agency which ■formerly .had Its own Hollywood branch.' ■ More .baclc and forth talk on double bills ha,B the Indies cpmpla.inin9 because of the reissuing Pf old-pictures by majpr comt)anies. Indieet Ji?int.2tQ.^e_ reissuing: in anaw will flood the market with - cheap pictures .if double blUs are permltteiSf Piathe's announcement that it would bring out a number, of old nega^ tives and XJriivei'sars revival of 'Tiie King of Jazz', have irod the Indieai "They say the reiissues are worse for . the .bPx office tiian cheap, indl^ pictures, and if there .weren't double bills, the reissues would get fevBl" bPpkings. Qod Briefly rewritten extfactfi from 'Daily Variety/'published daily except SuridayiB and holidays in Hollywood apari from the regular Weekly 'Variety/ News .from the Daili in. Los Angeles wilt be found in that tustomiary departrniienlt. PAR AND COL ANCHOR TdMGlNSCRffiEHTE Hollywood, Sept. 25. , !Paramo\iht and Coluinbia have joined Metro in a tacit oppbsition to the Screen Writers' Guild. While Metro's plan of protectlbn tP fiigii key. writers Pn straight y^dx cpntracts; Paramount and. Co- lumbia are eliminating all term cpntracts/. to scenarists in. order to keep theii? writing'Stalf-s liquid and easy to replace in case, of trouble. InjunEpic Feature length filni based oh the American Indian , is being planned, bjr Lcohie Knicdler .Productions, a new cphcei'n, ,with an a,ll-nativ.e cast._ . . ' "7;"T^SyxriS^dshy wlirpKotog,'Henwar Rbdalclewicz assistant director, but no megger chosen yet. Supposed to start into prpdtiction Oct. 15 vvlth a schedule cq,lllng for eight months of worlc on the film. John Collier, IT. S. Conimissibrter of Indian Affairs, has made avail- able to the producers material ncce.isary to make It alij authentic epi Louiis B. Mayer' comes ont flat- footed against the Screen Writers' Guild. Warners has put a ban on loan- ing out people tp other studios. Jiack Warner order .hits actors, di- rectors, writers. Receiver pjits Tec-Art under the mallet Monday (25) to wind up af- fairis of defunct corporation. MG, by rushing production, will deliver all but two Pf the 48 fea- tures and four specials sold for 1932-33; Heirs of Anna E. Mayhew seek to recover $18,000 deeded Aimee Scra- pie McPherson Hutton because she believed Aimee could heal her ill- nesses. James Cagney. set to do a lot of crooning on the' CBS-Warners 'Footllght Paradb' hour next Tues. (2C). nl&ht. Fighting price ciittlng, Indies of Southern Calif., protested deal be- tween L. " A. Railway and trio of downtpwn houises on a ride-admish scrip tie-up. ' Warren William and JeSan Muir get top spots ;ih War ners 'Be dslde.' Warners want Riith Etting to play with Al Jblson in 'Wohderbar.' Writers' Club will give a dinner tomorrow (Tuee.) to Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. Forum theatre (Warners), after six nipnths of liingle bills, revert- ing to double features to meet com- petlsh. With 46.-day clearance the Chinese, run up, 'Oolddlggeris of 1933' ot)ens Thursday (28) fot flrist pop. price showing here at Warners Hollywood and Downtown. Arlen and Kohler, writers of •Stormy weather,' protested using song's name as new title for 'Cap- tain Jericho' and Paramount is nPw •looking for another handle. . Jack Brower; WBrFN western district manager, flew to N. Y. Sat urday (23) oh product deals. Columbia pickedup option of Roy WllHain- Neil, director: Irene Dunne east last Friday (22) and Arthur Landrtu, agent, ies east Tuesday (26). Landau will stay .thEeejy&eks.=^.=^.=^=^ —■ ,— ^^^.^.-..^ Joel Sayre joins iSam Goldwyn to work on script of 'Barbary Coast,' next for Anna Steh; .Harry M. 0-octz, president of Ro- .iiancb, and Joe Moskowitz, flew east Saturday (23) night. Gladys Lehman Jfi • bh 'Death Takes a Holiday' script at Para^ mount. ' Harry Cpttroll, still man, given a contract by Paramount.. Orders have been issued from the HeaFst ranch tp kill the gush stories on Jean Harlow, and her new hubby, Hal Rpsson. James Parrot't, who had been wprklhg on the 'Duck Soup' script, is: off. theTrParamPunt payroll; Director John Waters tobk a Metro technical crew <east. Thursday to return by bus to get jseiqiuences for 'Transcontinental Bus.' David Miller, cutter, and Troy Orr, P;a., biave completed 'Guate mala,' first of a shPrt series. Sheila; Terry goes to Warners for 'Convention City' after doing the legit, 'Louder, Please.' Lenlta Lane, N; Y. actress, gets her initial filni pi^rt In Fox's 'Olsen's Night Out.'' Radio wants Douglas' Fairbanks, Jr., In London, to return here for one picture.. •Nigel Briice, English comedian, given a; contract by Fox. First job is .in Jesse Lasky's puppet pic Grape Moore and Metro, are talk ing a deal for two pictures. First would be with Chevalier in 'Merry Widow.' Una Merkel and Maureen b'Sul livan had o ptions lifted ..at Metro; Consolidated jF'ilm Industrie^ Is suing Audible P'ictureia and Joseph H. Welter, Sr.; for |2,773 ,for as .iserted lab work..; Phil Berg 1b latest agent: to. move his office frPncr Hollywood to Bev erly Hills. David Burton will direct .'Let's Fall ill.Love,' musIcaJ^ fpr Columibla, Assofciated Theatre .prolJuctlonSi ■Inc., Jg, title of new: production com- pany which has. taken over Tiffany studio. Karen Morley, still fiidlsj^osed since the birth, of her baby^ loses out on the femme lead in Para mount's 'Come on Marines.* Radio would like its signature, oh a contract purchasin* 'Her Excel lentjy'the Governor' from Nlria WIl- cpx Putnam. .Benjamin F. Glit^zer Is ciiarged In Municipal court with an indebted ness of $1,273 for stock deals. ■ I. E. Chadwick has si)otted LU yan Taahrtian sind Eistelle Taylor in the twb principal femme parts In ^Wlnci Wpm_in^nd^^pnf^^^l,l^,!^ ' "^Wrniamljiinkln headed for Louis lana to submit Warners' story," 'The Kingflsh,' to Huey Long. Universal Is calling off deals for outside product and intends to make a majority pf its prp&ram itself, Most recent deal shelved is that with '??ig.. Algiers for two^ A. M. Botsford .back, from New York. ^ ; Jnck Nol.son moves from Senneft's to Metropolitan to start series of ehOrts« Metroes''Eskimo' which was previewed at San. DIp^o last , week carrie<| jan explivnatory subtitle that all player^ in the cast were natiyeis of th^ Arctic. Sttidlp also refused to give ahy cast credit^ blftiming the playeig were ndtlves. All principals; were taken north from Hollywood^, and while they weri| more br less unkno wn; they .' had had screen experience. . Ray Wise, the E^lmo lead. Id an unusual mixture of blppd; beings haOj Eskimo and half jewl)^^ Before acting ihei was a ca[mer^tman. He played lead In an Edward Small's production. J^emme leA4 Is Lulii Wong)^ a sister of Ahnist May Wong, and Is experienced In pix. Two mbuntedl ppllcemen are Joe Spwers and Edward Deei:irigr bPth with picture anif stagp experience. The ppllce inspector Is W. S. Van Dyke, director oft the pic. Hpw play deals .for pictures are sometimes made is ajiways'-a funnj; story. Most recent, case is Pf a prominent' Broadway prbducer who wafl| offered $i2,60;6 for a play a year ago. Immediately after production^ H^ turned the offer down' He got no subsequent gppd offers and several weeks ago Warners asjced him whether he'd like $10,000 for the plas^ He said he 'veotild. Wttrhers then had a spell of change of heart ah4" came back with a $7,660 offeh Prpducer said he'd rather btirn the script^: W;ai'ner8 proposed an $8.6Q6 stLle. Producer sniffed a couple of days ah<i . was just about to giVe in wheiii '^ATarnet's phoned again. It vras a. diif<4 ferent executive;;he Vanted the.stor^ certain star anid diidn't knbw^ about. tiie negotiations.' 'He otCeHced $10,600. Sale Was corisummateiai quickly. Ed Sulliyan^s 'Mr. roadway', travelog of the Broa,dway niteries, andl sponsored by Brbadway-HPllyTVood Productions, ^^^^^ 'News* columrm' ist and jphtiny Walker, directoip-a,ctQ^ flnanplally Interested. Film cps^. $68,000. grPss, •including a. $28,000 obipatlpn fbr a. melierette which was. taken- pyer frpm 'a studio noan and 'iKpfpprated into the; 'Mr. Broadway^ featuire,-'.' ' • ' ' . Cast more or less -opbrated pn-uie-cuff in view of the jo.Urhalisjtici ftngle.; : Some of. the names billed niySr . showed .at the Mayfair/New; Yorlc, where It was flrcft sliown. A Harlem seqxience .'which;'was totallsr; omitted^ .the. nite life tour enjdlng a:t the jCehtral Park Casino instead of in.Harlem. There Is talk of cutting out the meller angle and reinstat.in9. the Harlem stuff , in the. fel^&sb print to rouncl out the runnlnig time. Prop-.man ctisually shpwing a director-'wrlter a script, being readiest for an indie production blew up .an attempted story purloining, when ..th<| . director recognized tile scenario as his own, written several years preN; viously for another studio.' Checkup showed that the indie comparts)' had made an honest purchase pf the two-tinied yarn at. $260.- Offending; writer had merely substituted his own name on the label pasted, oyer ttig original author's on . the script. Producer recovered purchase price, frottl the purlPirier, paid the Priginal ownbr an additlpnal $100 for the rlghtf^ That dljsmantled. dup Warhers has i>eeh using in Us advertising wiH come undeir instltutibnal copy, .according' to WB. iii tent. It: will be'rcK' called that, the uridraped boy .land girl <flrst flashed as watching 'GoI<||; Diggers' during the - suinmer*d. intense beat; Last, 'we.eft they reappearet^ . depicted ais returning to isee "FoPtlight Parade.'. ll . , Charlie Eliifeld; Warners'-ad head, has made-an ag\eemertt .with th^' team whereby iielther will pose, dressed or undressed, for any othei^ picture company, for flve ye4rs. Loew'^ State,, on Broadway, Is in such good position for choice of .fliriu( with .the Warner, Metro and Paramount prolrrams at its dlspPsal, thaij it!s aolng considerable sloughing and. shopting. Most surprising Was ti, slough of its own picture, 'Broadw?ty to Hollywood'. ^Film was to. go ttitt following the Capitol, and paper was out on it, but theatre managemeiit suddenly decided picture wasn't strong enough so. shbv^d It aside. It'jt go straight to split-week habes.. Sam .H. Harris is reported as breaking- with Sam Katz over latter^ inability to get started pn 'Of Thee I Sing' ■with the Four Marx Brps^ a" planned a year ago,, when the play was hot for picture production^ It is now regarded as out of date. Harris felt he could have sold 'Ofl Thee I Song,' but at the time preferred to string with Katz in the face oC lalter's then extensl'vp plans for fllm-making. Southern Califoxnia Independent exhlbitors-VPted-seven to orte against double' bills and against giveaways and pther inducements by a largiaij proportion. . Ballot was to guide Ben N. Berinstein, president of the Iiidd^ pendent Theatre Owners of Southern Calif prnia, who is attending cod«| conferences, included in the. giveaway category were service passetE^ two-for-pnes, scrip books, couljpns, premiums,, drawings and lotteries. George Palmer Putnafci, Paramoiint's ^stqry edUpr, to, ficii*.. ropfe '^Pnie" weeTcs bacTC btf ^^^^^^ 'oT absence without explaining ^^hat his mission was. Due back.in New York.today (Tuesday). Inside rumoij is that his idea 'was to take up. on option he's holding oxi New .York diB4 trib'iltiort of a brand Pf champagne when, and If. .The Sbl A* Rpsenblatt-Nathaii Burkan connection, a popular ImpreM sipn, is| inlnimizbd by those whp know the NRA Deputy AdministratiOtf handlltig the .fllni code'. Rosenblatt^s NRA stahdine is pr.edieated pn jA- long friendship with Gfeheral Hugh 6. Johnson, long antedating hldj' Burkan law office affiliations. :It has been explained officially that Alex Reoch canie lnto RKO. witti the approval of Harold Franklin, to liandle commercial real Estate onljil for the coinpany. .Tha RCA peoplei anxious.to Arid a spot for RepcU where his ability coUld be used to best, advantage, flxed the RKO . spot for hiin. Parampunt's new import from England is named Frances. Peani( There's a previous Frances Deane in pictures but using thp name Franco^ Dee, on the Radio payroll currently.. N. v. to L. A. Sol Lesser. Frank C. "Vincent. ^Sain^SchwarTzmahT A. M. Bptsford. Bill Pine. L. A. to N. Y. Arthur Ungar. Irene - Dunne. Arthur. Landau. Harry. M. Goetz. Joe Moskowitz. Rodney Bush. D'ABCy'S PIC COMEBACK j Holly wood, Sept. 26.;, •; iloy • D^A^cy_^etu^n tp^the sbre'eft' ltfi6F'"Two"'years'^"ab'$b'n^ Express', for Pox. > ■ 'HTTIiE MAN' SOLD TO U •Little Man, What Now?', best seller' by Hans Falladai has been purchased by U for an tmnamcd' amount. It goes into production as sooii as a suitable adaptation can be oIh tained.