Variety (May 1934)

Tuesd«7t Al*r ^9, 1934 PICTunes VARIETY INSURANCE Lindsay, Peevish Petrel of NRA On Coast, Quits; Runs for Judge SALVO LiOs. Angeles, May'28.: Judge Beii B. Lindsay, stormy ]>etrel of NRA agencies in Southern California, has resigned. aa State Labor Compliance Director, effec- tive Friday (25). Lindsay at the same time an- nounced hla candidacy ^iir Superior Court judge in L. A. cJohty. Resignation was. prompted chiefly by Judge Lindsay's official activities In connection with film code viola- tion complaints , by extras had been balked by order of Divisional Ad- znlnistrator Sol A, Rosenblatt, after Lindsay had started hearings on the' sq<iawks. His. Swan Song "Emulating Clarence Darrow of the Review Board, Judge Lindsay had forwarded through George Creel, State NRA Director, to Washington his awan song in the form of a. 42-page plialnt, charging a thwarting attitude by major stu-r dios, and the Studio Labor Commit- tee and Standing Committee on Extras toward NRA principles and procedures. His resignation pre- ceded the arrival of this document at Washington. Lindsay's battle for jurisdictional precedence in connection with the code squawks of extra players be- gan practically from the day of hid appointment through Creel some four months ago. He undertook hearings of several ecoire cases, but was called oft after a week's taking of testimony. Backed by Dr. Charles H. Cunningham of the local NRA bureau and by hla immediate su- perior, Creel, Lindsay refused to comply with Rosenblatt's order, to turn over the extra cases to Mrs. .Mabel Kinney's standing committee. Constant p^oteats against his frustrated efCorts to functioh in the motion picture code compliance field, although that was but part of his prescribed activities, kept Judge Lindsay's name public He flgrures that the publicity will prove helpful in hia candidacy for superior Judge ship. He may remain as advisor in the resigned spot until a successor, if any,^ be appointed, 0FF-KEYERS$15 Hearing June 12 on Pic Code Amendment Defining 'Employee' Washington, May 28. Film code will be reopened for amendment covering definition of employees on June 12, NRA an nounced Friday (26), but general discussion of pact will not be per- mitted. Following' new policy of reopen- ing' codes, only for certain speci- fled changes, NRA will not throw entire picture, pact into the pot and will refuse to take testimony on 9.^- eorted subjects or accept suggested changes in. any other provisions. Amendment, proposed by' Code Authority, redefines term 'employee' with' intention of making It more' Inclusive-and eliminating possibility Of evasion. Says: 'The term eipployee as used herein shall be deem<dd to refer to and include every perapii employed by any producer, distributor or ex- hibitor as hereinabo've defined and .shall also be deemed to include any and all persona however or by whomsoever compensated, regularly performing their services in motion picture theatres, which services are of a kind usually and- customarily performed by theatre employees dl- r€ctly--compensated=by--.exhlbltpX3.'; OMAHA INDIES REBEL Omaha, May 28. Strong majority of the 300 Indie exhibs in the Omaha territory have filed notice with Code Authority that they will withdraw from en- forcing NRA code provisions, Exhibs, however, are in accord with labor provisions of code and will continue to comply 100% wit'h this section of the regulations. Fox. Singers Not Worth $25 Daily, Code Authority Rules Hollywood, liaiy 28. Reversing, an award Of the Ex- ecutive Board of the Standing Com- mittee for Extras against Fox Film in the matter of payment"for 25 ex- tras. Picture Code Authority has ruled that the bit players should be paid at the rate of $15 per day, compared with the |26 per day award made by the local body. Case covered extras engaged to portray the role of intoxica.ted cab drivers who were required ,to sing in unison, but off-key, in a ^ revelry sequence. C. A. ruled the players came under the group alngera classification in reversing the local decision, WIY DEFENSE' B¥ ROBINSON Washington, May 28. A lukewarm friend of film indus- try raised his head during Congres- sional shooting at NRA and Review Board last week, but industry so far' remains without a really en- thusiastic .defender outside the Blue Eagle camp. Registering a perfunctory defense of the recovery machine rather than any personal convictions, Senate Democratic Leader Robinson, who Is President Roosevelt's official Congressional spokesman, put In a few good'Words for the picture pact and a tepid defense of Rosenblatt in responding to call of duty to an- swer Senator Nye. With admission that he nevdr ex- pected NRA to prove a remarkable sucQesB, Robinson asserted that thousands of exhibs have praised the picture pact. *There Is not one single complaint of an independent or email picture exhibitor closed on account of the code, while thousands telegraph and write to NRA that It has saved them,' Robinson replied to. Nye and Darrow. 'The code aet up grievance boards with very broald powers,' Robinson stated. 'The evils of block booking are not. due to the code. They are due to the copyright laws. The Na- tional Rec'overy Administration, however, obtained 26% relief of the rigors of block-booking contracts.' •The National Recovery Admin- istration has been blamed for the resulta of pateniTaw;s and"copyrlght laws. It has been appealed to to take away from the patentee or the holder of a copyright his benefits under authority of national stat- utes. Quite manifestly that was an impossibility and it la unjust to criticize the'National Recovery Ad-, ministration in that - way.' Exploding shot in the direction of Allied camp, Robinson read to the Senate portions of bulletih put out by H. A. Cole, Texas Allied leader, praiising work of Dallas grievance board In a dispute between one of his members and. a circuit. Quoted Cole's statement that 'Here is the first piece of really good news that the independent- has heard in many years. . . . Do you know what this means to you? If that principle is accepted "in this business, it means that you can go home and sleep at night without the nightmare that a.=jihain^-jeaiL..v.ciMne. and take it away from you. \. . . This is the first ray of 3un.«ihine in the years of the battles of Inde- pendents.' SPOT JOE VALENTINE Hollywood, May 28. Joe Valentine goes to Metro to- day (Monday) as top camera on Student Tour.' Valentino's last camera work was photographing 'Call It Luck,' at Fox. Theatres Alarmed hf In- crease of Insurance Claims for Injuries—-Plenty of Fake and Racketeering •Insurance Demands WOMEN PREDOMINATE Chicago, May 28. Alarming Jump la the number of insurance claims- for alleged in- juries in the theatres has the In- 'dustry staying up nights trying to figure a solution. Various confer- ences ha've been held among theatre managers and Insurance company to seek an answer. B.&K. last week held a general manacrerial get-to- gether with Harry Anderson, N. Y- insurance expert. This was only one of the many sdsslons belngr held throughout this countfT to acquaint managers with the growlrig prob- lem and In ^an attempt to keep the claims from"^ Increaslnff. In many cities ths theatres are certain that a goM manr of the public liability claims by patrons are more or less In the nature of a racket, . Evidence has been pre- sented that In manr. towns there are regular organized Uuraraaoei racket- eering erroupif sniping for Insurance claims from theatres. But other than ths strictly racket side of the picture^ there Is the gen- eral economle depression for the basic cause of ths Jomp In clalma. Lack of ready moniegr has led ordi- narily okay people to hop at any reason or exouss to pry some coin out of the thestrsK^ People who formerly forgot about a stubbed toe now run with load watUngs to the nearest police oomt to ask for everything but this manager's tou- pee. Ths BIfl Thr— Theatre business now belongs -vrlth street ear trsasportatlon and department stores as ths aes Insur- ance claim Indttstrlesii Orders hays gons to an circuit managers throaghovt ts go over their houses with * fins comb to make certain that all possible haz- ards are reduced to a minimum. Which means repsMns; all carpets which might eateh ladieC heels, lighting all daric comers, niaklhg certain that all aisle lights have bright globes, that stairways have iiandralls. in many cases the ex- tra lighting In theatres has brought kickback squawks from the patrons that the bright llghto are annoying and distract attention away from the stage and screen. "But mahagiirt^ to put up with this angle in order to make certain that the daritness Isn't such that It becomes-dangerous. Espe- cially to people on their entrance, whgh they might stumble before becoming accustomed to the dim- ness of the theatre. Most insurance elabus are by women. And inbst of their claims have to do with Slipping, tripping and falling, whieh Is diie mostly to their high heels. Most falls occur going downstairs. Women also have cpmplaints about ripped stock- ings. But the managers are not worried about stocking clalma. That's a 79c item for replacement. F.Dit.'S NRA DICTUM IN NO WISE EFFECTS PIX NRA aides and film spokesmen Monday (28) were unanimous in opinions that President Roosevelt's latest dictum effects the film code in no way. The motion picture industry has an industrial code-and It la in a classification which necessitates all .signers to observe prescribed fair trade practices, as wen as mini- mum wages, minimum hours and collective l)argalnliM|. See General Code Field Day NextM Angles; Fix Ignoring Attackers NYE ROASTS ROSY Calls im Plenty Conceited, In- efficient, Evasive Washington, May ;38. Charges of misrepresentation and evasion were fired at 3di A- Rosen- blatt last: week by Senator Nye of North Dakota one of series of speeches upholding Darrpw board and assailing NRA.. Solon ripped into trade! practice clause defense by Rosy and was particularly In-, censed at Divisional Administrator's 20-page answer to Darrow sugges- tion that a new Blue Eagle exec lie put In charge of film pact. Remarking that Rosy's personal defense comprises one-third of his entire response, Darrow champion told colleagues 'Undoubtedly, as far as the deputy himself Is concerned, the meat of hla whole answer la in the last title inasmuch as It con- tains his extravagant rationaliza- tion In defense of his retainer. It devotes page after page of a gov- ernment report to pure self-adula- tion and defense, of an Injured van- ity which could far better have been exponded by the very.simple state- ment 'i love me'.' Characterizing Rosy report as filled with 'rantlngs and ravings' and frantic defenses based on un- fair statements,' North Dakotan en- dorsed Reviewers' recommended code revisions In toto'. OVERBUY BEEF WINS 46 HI FOREXHIB Chicago, May 28. In the illrat dedalon by the griev- ance board In the matter of over" buying complalnta the board voted In favor of the plalntifC and ordered the defendant to releaae-pictures to the rival theatre Immediately. This was the case of the Anette theatre In Cicero against the Schoenstadt circuit's I*alace. Boa,rd ordered the Palace to re- lease! 4(1 pictures starting with the releases of June 10 and divided as follows; 11 from Fox, 13 from Par- amount, 16 Radio and 7 from Uni- versal. There's further clarification necesaary on this decision ■ follow- ing the entrance of another theatre Into the picture on subsequent runs. One more over-buying case Is on the docket for grievance board de- cision this weelcv That's the com- plaint of the Lake theatre, Michi- gan City, against the Tiyoll In the same town>. Sinclair on Air John F. Sinclair, who got consider- able publicity as a member of the Darrow NRA Review Board when he filed a minority report disagree- ing with the. majority findings. Is going on the air. He will do fli nightly series for WMCA, New York, Will talk on financial matters, Mulls Studio Labor W, Jefferson Davis, local attor- ney, has been appointed by the Code Authority, to the code studio labor committee, as the impartial third member, to serve without pay. This is the committee which has as its other two members, Pat Casey, representing the producers, and E. L. Smith, formerly-pf the musicians' union, representing the employees. While; Independent leaders the code ! with keeping hundreds of smaller exhi business to- day^ both they and major spokes- men are In. agreement for the first time that regardless of Government action the formula niust undergo, a final field day. At least three clauses so far ,have proved stum- bling blocks .for offlclal interpireta- tion. These, and whatever other haziness develops during the sum- nier", must be aired in an open Washington session for clariflca-. tlon. The date will probably be in. September. The reopening of the code, how- ever, will be entirely voluntai^ on the part of the ' Industry, leaders maintain^ Simultaneously they pre- dict that minor Insurgent groups which cooperate with outside bom- bardments, like that of the Dar- row comodlttee and various civic asaoclatlons* attacks on industry praibtlces, will (tulte likely before the end of the summer find them- selves In the discard, rather than the business. in substantiation of this new philosophy of Ignoring and. letting die by their own hand such organ- izations which would blight the In- dustry, wise men of the business point to . the fight which was started In such associations as the Inr dependent Theatre Owners of America In New York last week. A booking combine reported to havei been fostered by Harry Brandt within hla own group—nan insurgent offshoot of the Theatre Owners' Chamber of Commerce, started the flare-up, according to one vercflon. Allied Exhibitors* re- ported effort to float funda for that national outfit's lifelong ambition to produce Its own pictures only served to aggravate the situation. It leaked out of the iheetinef> More Definition On the Imminent Issue of code clarification leaders see where there must be aharjper definitions for such clauses as those relating to non-theatrical field and prior ad- vertising. Although the NRA in Washington over the weekend ren- dered an interpretation for lotteries and premiums there are some codlsts who believe this matter will also (Continued on page 60) Ticket, Coopon, Mnsk Printing Code Awroyed Washington, May 28> Code authorities for ticket and coupon manufacturers and music printing industries were approved last week by NRA. Both lines come under graphic arts code cov- ering all forms of printing. . Ticket and coupon code will be bossed by C. A. Lick, Jr», Fort Smith, Ark.; J. F. Hancock, San Francisco; J. A. Keller, New Tork; Charles Manshel, Newark; H, A. Kelly, Indianapolis: W. K; ;Treschel, Birmingham; B. H. Farr, Cincin-. nati; P. C. Snow, Philadelphia; P. P» Beyer, Chlcdg»; H. M. Loth, Chi- cago; J. S. ArcuH, Chicago; Clifford Elliott, New York, and H. F. Rawll, New York. George Bornstein,"N"ow Yprlt; ""GIT-"" bert J. Clappin, New York; L. Del Guerclo, Now York; Mlchal Ma- hony. New York; ,H. G. Mady. Chi- cago; Morgan O'jferlen, New York; Joseph G. Ranc, New York; Wil- liam T, Small, Boston; Herman J. Strohb, New York; Rudolph Tau- hert, New York; William R. Teller, Jr., New York; William B. Zabel, rMilladPlphiai and Arthur Zlmmer- mon, Cincinnati.