Variety (Dec 1934)

VAttiETf r I C T II B E S Tuesdfty, December 18» 1934 Crdihff Baiikers Wantti^ Creditor .bankers ot Paran^oiint are Interested principally In getting Jback their: inveatment coin. They, are williiher—and. plahnlng—tb leave jthe company operation to showmen, But; It Is. :one thing to 'Want to do jBomething aind another thing to ac ' cbnipllsh It. "Whether the banlcers and creidltOrs achieve this aim Is to T ■ The bahkier crowd .'wants to " de 'Vise some feasible method of con trolling the company's purse strings against possible repetition'.of prior years'. extravagances of the com- ■pahy. V /they would like, to frame .thi3,,ahgle of, tlielr conhectlpn with the company in .a, manner and -method that will' be reksonable but yet jiot Stilting upQn. Par opera' 'Some;Creditor eleinents se^m to think that the best method by whilch .such an- aim could be accomplished Is to spot one ot^ more additlphal pperatlng hiMids on the new board, . besides-.. Adplphv ■ Zukbr, already . hamedy.; The .hankers, however, are . reported; fearing a ruse iu this: re?: \ spect. They perceive an attempt tP .force a mcinagement .bloc Into -the . board big enough tq constitute, with ' afiilllatlons, a wxtrklng- control of the ' new board. . Such a nipve has been mentlonPd as concerning Chicago: interests in Parampunt; , Attorney Xieo Spitz, formerly on the company payroll, . has' been mentioned as pivotal flgiire and Barney Balaban and jphn D. 1 Hertz, . now : of I^eHman Bros., hiave been talked of In - tlils Con-' ; hectlph. _ The Hertz, pari has been . denied. ;Ah additional name men- ttpned . has been that of Lawrence Stern, Chicago investment bahker. Charles McCuUoch, another* Chicago Jbanker, already. Is named to the lie'w ■•board. V, -- ■ This grPup by aifHllatlpn and coii^ \ tact is stated to be friendly '. to the present management, it Is flgUred, however, that while I^uUor may eye such a move benignly,. Zu.kor at 'the proper time would strike away from ■■' It If'.needed./.• Tbus^g-ampu^tls.;^^ - starid: as originally figured. The • thtee . temporary board' members : will bp replaced by! representa.tIveB yPt ei^lstlhg^ large creditor groups; ■/The three temporary, board mem- bers; are; Walter Cokell, Au$tln ::Kepugh and-Max Howell. Howeir . Is a v.p. of Chemical: Bank. : • Bi»t the ne'W board may deislghate a shpwmtin to act with Zukor as insidle . company supervisor and .counsellpr to the :new directorate. I^ahkers have a descrIptlP"h of the man in h)In.d but have npi( revealed . who he may be. Briefly they spieak ..:Qf- ai Uxan. with;.: a ...l>ackgr6und- of Bucces^ful . experience in the film . hiialnfls s—and—who-peiasei aties, ■ addl- tlonaUy, - ;.flnanclal ability. That iflnanclal ability:angle Is stressed by ■thevbankerff •when.talklng ahput Par. To -ptf 'Tony Adverse' and 'Capt. -Blpod%r-Also Mbettsori^ for Par ^ - - i r^ -HpllywbQd,^JDi£0^i^^ Aithough Reliance 'PlPtures (Ed- die Small-Harry M. Goetz); first sponsored . Robert .Dbnat in U, S. pictures via 'Count pf Monte Crlsto/ jack Warner, scoope^l Gpetz .by a few liours in signing the English mftn tp a lone tp i rrn WR pn o t. Deal was cpnsumhiated almost on the satiie: day that. Qoetz arrived in Xon-. don, having gone abroad for the ex- press p:urp6se of efrectlng a hew ideal with Donat for 'Beiau Bruni- mel.*. Warner closed by phone from Hollywood. : ^ ^ • ■ Donat's first for WB will be "Cap- tain Blopd,' Rafael: Sabatlnl story; from the novel of the siame name. It's a remake, first produced silent by Vltapraph ln!i924.: • WB . okayed Dbnat's next assigni- inent to. be - a . Paramount dicker, 'Return of Peter Ibettson.^ A^^ tliat ODbhai 'Will, probably dP the title role of 'Anthony: Adverse,' his Secphd WB asslghmont. , . Goetz returns' today (Tuesday) from Europe after beins.away three ■\Wek3 scQutirig f6r'' atbrieia and talent.; ■ ..■•: . :'■ . WIESENTHAUS BATH Jr, Laemmie's Fprmep Aide Biankr :; ; rupt--<>weiii ^,000 ; Satnuel H< Wlesenthal, former aide and cbmpanloh to Carl Laemmle, Jr., • at the llhlversal studio in Hollywood, now identify ing: ■himself.: as a : 'clerk . (unem ployed),' and with an east side resi dence at 440 East Sixth street. New TPrk; has filed a voluntary petition In harikruptcy. ' : • _ : • The former Universal Cltiy (Calif;) eoiployee lists liabilities of $27,160 including a $6^800 item to tJ'niversal Pictures CPrp,, .(5,600 due Carl Ijaibmrole, Sr.; iand $3,260' due I^emmle, jr. No; assets. NICK W ■Chicago,'Dep.•• 17.. : Juist a little censor difflculty in town last week, first censor .hicker- Ing around here in a long time. Twp pictures 'W'hlch were hpld up for a time were 'Painted Veil' and 'Gay Bride,' both Metro flickers. :'VeU' : ciame through unscathed iand with. it white ticket, but 'Gay Bt'lde' had to give up one sceno be- forb getting the final bkay. Two Warner pictures ara. still In the doghouse and hope Just about given up for them:''Dr. Monica' and 'Sldb Street' ■ . WB Patents ReVo! Stage to Cu^ Elchers Holl ywood, bee. iT". In order to forestall possible theft of production numbers in their muslcaJs, Warners, through' Busby Berkeley, his patented the fevolv^ ing, i'tUtlhg and elevating ^tagb used to photograph Berkeley's geometric miislcai rbutlnes.."i Berkeley- patented the stage, asJ signed the rights to the studio, Muni Seeking , Hollywobd; Dec. 17, • Paul Muni left Saturday (15) via a . Panama boat trip" tb New Tork , accompanied by Mrs.' Muhl, Player is expected to report back tp Warners ^early in Feibruary, but studio «xecs have 'assured him ex- tension of leave If i»e finds a suit- able . play •■ for- Broadway. WB Starts 2 oame Uay Hollywood, Dec. 17. Production, graph .at . Warners takes a new up-.slaht this week when "King pf the RItz' and Tlor- entine Dagger' get a twin launch- ing Thursday (20), •RItz,' with William Gargan and Ann Dvorak in tops, Is directed by William McGann. Robert Florey megs 'Florentine Dagjger,' which features Margaret Lindsay and Donald Woods. ! Scared? • Mayfair Prpductions, a New ' York Indle; flUner, has a fea- ture completed tltlied 'Calling All Cars.' When Liew Brown's legli mu- sical 'Calling All Stars' opened, at the Hollywood theatre pn Broad'way last week and didn't get tpo pleasant k newspaper reception, company beg an thlnkfng up a new title. ToU.S.niJan.;G-B liondon, Dec. 17. Jeffrey Berherd has adjusted his differences with the Gaumont-Brit Ish directorate' and is ' saill^ fbr the U, S. again on Jan, 9. He will again come over 'with Mark Ostrer. Uncertain yet whether he will re- malo. In New. York in charge of the American bfilcra, , as originally planned, or not. < : .Ostrer plans to be a very active head of the company. Understood that Bha;keup is; impending which will change the status in the com- pany of Isidbr. Ostrer,' president; C. M. Woolf, managing director and Michael Balcon, studio' managed Understood that Xaldoir Ostrer ^lll take grPater interest-on the produc tlbh e;iid. ' ^ ^ Decision Vs. Fox-GTE Suit N. T. Supreme Court Justice Rosennian yesterda,y (Monday) took imder advisement ia motion by de- fense counsel to dismiss the suit of James Cleary, Fanny Lurie and Gustavo Oppenheimer against cer- tain «filcers, ex-ofilcers and former directors and bankers of Fox Film and ; General Theatres Equipment. It Is expected, that Judge Rosenman will make his decision known to- morrow (Wednesday). The suit has been cn trial for more than a week. It was filed over a year ago. Oppenheimer is an in- tervening plaintiff and Fox Film also.. Is a nominal plaintiff. ageUnst itself and others. ThePretlcany. the suit alms . to get an accounting from defendants for an estimated $140,000,000, which was .stated tb have been in'volved directly or otherwise in: the maze of financing around Fox Film and GTE after Harley li,-Clarke entered that pic- ture with Chase Bank and Halsejl' Stuart, ■■ Murray Dodge, former officer of Chase Securities, and leading igure In the Fox company financing dur- In g th e Cla rke. W I ggln r e g -lmer^waa- In the stand during the >past week Most of the rest of the plaintiffs case was presented-via depositions. Attorneys Donnelly and Flerman of Olvany, Eisner & Donnelly, arb counsel for the plaintiffs. . There are around a dozen or more counsel representing the defendants aggre- gately or Individually. William Fox, Matthew C. Brush, Harley Clarke, William F. Ingold, W; S. Hammbns, ■ Charles B. Stuart, Samuel Fordyce, firnest Nlver and Halsey, Stuart company are among defendants. JEFF HcCABTET'S BACK Jefe McCarthy will be n^if nf ihc New York Hays office a few days. He's baking out a back which I won't unbend. ; : U.S. Gov t Census on Amusements B32 the Low Year-Grosses Tbn $27S,000,0i FAR, FAR AWAY : Elizabeth Allah, Divoroinfl O'Byren London Aflent Hollywood, Dec. 17. Breach between Elizabeth Allan Metro contractee; and" William O'Bryeni her London agent-Uus band, is as wide as the distance between California and England, according .to divorce : suit she filed here.:"' ■,. -: ... Actress stated that separation, due to his business keeping him on one : side of the AtlantU: and her work keeping her .on: the other, makes it impossible for'them to ad- Just their lives. PIX WILL CO-OP WSshlhgtbn, Disc 17. Film Industry will co-operate to the limit with Government author! tiea In iiatlonc^ moyemient tp stamp out crime, Carl E. Mllllken, secre tary of MPPDA, asserted last week at Attorney General Cummlngs' anti-crime conference. Urging formation of «, national crime . research institute to direct the offensive, Milliken gave five spe plfic . pledges of filna support and emphasized previous efforts to con^ tribute to the prevention of crime The Hays spokesman,: however, de- clined to subscribe to any theory that PoUyanna pictures should be exclusive Hollywpod prpduct and Insisted that producers are entitled, within limitations, to portray life realistically. • Team McLaglen^Lowe For Whodunit Hecipe' Hollyveood, Dec. 17. Fox has optioned Edmund Lowe and Victor McLagleh' for.: 'Recipe for Murder,' which Eugehb Fordb" will direct. Sol Wurtzel produces. Pair • currently at the studio on the remake of 'East River.' MCNrtPi>fit,H7(fi,257 Metro's net profit was $4,702,267 f o r the - y e ai - e nded Auautil 81, 1&347 Amortization of negative and posi- tive costs, $26,786,662. Deprecia- tion, ■ $484,lt»9;" federal : "taxes/ $437,403. DEITRICH'S REIAPSE Theodore C. Dietrich, of Cosmo- politan- Pictures' New. York staff, has suffered a relapse following his recent session wrlth pheumonla and Is confined to hi6 home. ' ^: Medicos say It will be a 'week be- fore he Is able to be about again. DELMAE TABN FOB SOPEINS Hollywood, Dec. 17. ■ y - lna De . lTnar Is "wr i ting , a h o r i s - lhal, 'Hands Across the Sea,' which Samuel Goldwyn will produce with Miriam Hopkins featured. eson Internal Revenue Bureau statistics on Income of amusement- enterprises for the calendar year 1932: [Money figures in thousands of dollars] .: - , ' , , ■ .. ( R eturns Showing net income—— - . :■ Industrial groups AmuBements: Theatres—Lesltlmate, vaudeville, etc.... Motion picture producers................ Motion picture theatres.........,.....;, Other amusements—Clrcuseq,^'Sgol( iln^Us, race tracIcB, pleasure resorts, etc Total amusements ■ Total'. ■ number Num- Oross . Net of returns ber; income, , Income SM 78 0,740 1,307 218 iy4* 14,849 1,145 2,062 687 180,374 18,083 5,214 8,630 eat 20,180 1,444 Net :. loss .f or •pi'lor year • 280. 181 267 .: ' 247 Income " tax 147 13.% 1.814 101 Seturns : . showing no net income . : Number ; of returns ■ ■ahow- . '- . ing no. Income ., '" ■ ■ data— ■ • ■ Inactive Num- Qross Corpora- ber Income Deficit tlons 341 ZJ.CM 22,000 161 170,444) 81,844 1,090 : 825,110 7'3,018. 8.803 92,783 24,437 117 23 80 770 : 1,281. 224,643 ; . 17,679 916 2,257 6,860 622,010 130,300 909 / ] Washington, Dec^ 17^ Gross receipts of the amusement industry nose-dived more than $276,000,000 in 1932, with the total income of ..fllin producers pltingihg $260,000,000. - : V ; Painting stark picture of ravages of . depression, Internal Revenue Bureau todny showed that the ag- gregate gross of all forms of amuse* ment enterprises in 1932 amounted to $846,663,000, the smallest flguio Recorded since the boom days of the late 20's. Total wkS $278,289,000 ili^- der previous year's level.' • • : ■ ■ AniUyBls of , the. revenue, tepbi^ts disPlosedi that film .exhibitors were the', only type of -amusement pVo- prletbrs "Whose gross' inouhted;^dUlr^ lii^ 1932, and that'Met ^earnings 'i>7 the" tew 'corporatiohs ' -which ije- nialned in the hltCtk slumped ' in tivery category. ... ' • • '' ' . Only one-seventh of .all coi'Fora- tlons In the amusement fl^ld en- joyed net Ihcome during 1932 4n4 the nmouht of f»rofits, $17,679,(106, was down $18,171,000 below the pria- cedirig yeair. The deflbit alccumulat'ed by the remaining six-sevenths of the industry reached thie staggering total of $160,809,000 and was $89.- 647,000 greater than in 1931. '' - Income' taxes paid l>y amusenxtfnt cbrporatlons'aimpunted to $2,257,<>00i a slump of $1,239,000 below the pre- vious year. Only legit' and va^'de house . corporations paid larger sums to Federal- Government sup- port. Salient disclosures of the recap- itulation 'were: 1. Only 78 of 636 legit and va'utde theatre, 44 of 218 fllni producer, Mid 687 of 2,662 exhibitor corporations ; reported net income in 1932. 2. number of amusement cprpb^a-. . tlons reporting net income •was''i,- 810 less than in 1931. 3. Gross receipts of exhibitor cor- porations, . only group to show an Increase, rose $20,688,000 to a total of. $6fl6,490.000. : , 4. Net income of producers wbm l-?0th of the 1929 flgUrP; of film ex- hibitors was less than bne-thlrd of _1?3.0 peak.-• . ■ ' ■-' ■ ' ' . ■• ' ■ The report disclosed that while 218 producers had gross' receipts of $190,796,000, the liet income repre- sented by the profits Of 44 corpora- tions reached only $1,146,000, as compared with ia record net of $50,- 23i8-,0()0 iii the year the-Wall Street bubble burst.. The remaining pro- ducer^.registered a .loss of $31,344,- 000, which was $19,97it;O0 more than the 1931 red Ink figure. Leait, Vaud^ Pik The deficit registered by legit and vaude house owners was $22,069,000,. an increase of $14,477,000,. and the loss of film house owners was $7i3,-. 019.000. an Increase of $21:68 2:00.6: The number of producers witlv net income was 10 less, than In 1^31, jwhlle4he-number;pf-exhibitors "vy licr- enJoyed profits was cut In half, only 687 reporting taxable earnings' -as against 1,167 In 1931. The humtier of legit and vaude, hpuse bwhefa'' subject' to taxation, slumped even deeper, total dropping from 182 to 78. Despite the increase In gross re- ceipts of exhibitor corporations, the net earnings of this branch of the film industry slid from $26,006,000 In 1031 to $13,683;00O in 1932, a drop of $12,322,000. The earnings of pro- ducers with taxable income fell off- $1,563,000, and of legit and vaude operators went down $91,000. Differentiating: between prpii tablo; and losing operations in kll branches of amusement field, 1,251 corporations had a net of $17,579,- 000, while 6,380,000 corporations had an aggregate deficit pf $150,809,000. The grosses by branches were: legit and vaude operators, $37,404,- 000; exhibitors, $605,490,000; pro- ducers. $190,796,000, and others, $112,963,000. ion Lands at Par . Hollywood,. Dec. 17, Jack 'Votlon, one-time managerjof Sel2nlck-.Toyce's London office,, has , Dcen appointed assistant to E. Lloyd Sheldon, Par producer. , \ ; He succeeds Robert Sparks, re- - signed, to join Goldwyn as a produc- tion assistant. ■..:^v . ^- V