Variety (Jan 1935)

VARIETY PICT ES Tuesday, Jahimrsr 1, 1935 Rbgei's, prevlouflly , regarded • as i Bpotty . box-offlce, proving almost laureflre "with] 'Handy Andy' and Vudge PrleBtV then, Myrna Loy, counted > Juat another nice support^ playfer, galloped to the fore In no; uncertain strides' and Is counted' iipon ifor 183B as iai;' potent factor. Claudettb ;C61bcrt And Carole Lombard'ialsd can be figured in this -dkectUuy.wlth.Miaa,CflUwu-Llhe top moneyVgctter . of .the trio the, past, yean ^^0i'acb^^ M a one pic- ture cprneback,'Ohe Night of iiove', Tanks fmportantly, and Joe Penner rates even ori; his single try at Piara- ■ • mount;- Fred; Astalre, a promise In 'Fly- ing Down to Rio*; has. clicked as a \ light cpmedian on top of his danc- ing/ while Claude Rains/wcrultcd from": the; theatre by Universal, has shown pvomlse on the year, as flld Robert .T^or at;, imported for 'Count of Monte Crlsto'. ■ Other than these, however, there were ho otheiv. boxofflee phenoms which' excited the public to a deluge, of fan .i-iail:ahd> raves.' ■ Not forgetting that 1934 took a number of strong screen figures be- yond the horizon, T,he loss of Marie Dressier ^was a .heavy blow to the < flliri business at large a,)id especially ■ for Metro. — , ^ ; Tha D trector s v —^ •based on the- following data," with the company for whOm they made the pictures designated: W. S. YanDyke at .Metro la the Jjeddihg (Continued from pa^;© 1) tide In favor .of Will Rbgers throughout tH« coijhtry. Previously he had only been etronig, in western a,nd provincial sections of the coun- try, Also his foreign.' popularity crept lip a little, esijoclajly In Eng- lishr«peateiheVc'^ni^';1^8r V there remains., ..room ,fi?j. :^ l!,'Pl'T.9y;®r; ment on this'phase. - / ^ . " . 'Dinner At Eight.', with ■ ita all-- star cast, started with a. bang late, in '33 and held big in thie hinter- land as ^ well as the keys Into '34. 'It .Happened . Qno Night' was a Svow, from iho 'start .and - had. dof.; luriiibla possessed the booking .line- up .of other ; major ■.cbmpanlesi through: the^atre affljl^itlpns; this one would have, been at.We top of 'thB heip of big- groasers. 'The Bowery" also proved a big b, o. magnet, If a bit .shy in some keys, wlti»- the draw coming through the names of Wallace Beery,' George: Raft and; Jackie 'Cobper in. ther cai9t> - L>ate iii the 'year came a few dynamic pictures such as 'One Night of Love,' 'Gay Ijlvbrcee,' Thin Man* and 'Baby Take a Bow' which would have counted strongly fbr .1934 had their :. Bt^^ earlier. Sorhe of . these wbuld. push l^°To the bscRirinnird a' couple at irUe f°fe~tts5"~bacRlirbtiiira^ Rafrngsr^for^thV^lrectpi'S-T^ class. The/year seented to unreel many better than average pictures which clicked neatly without reaching b; o;-ace-of-the-year-on-a baslfl- of- | icecgpa a., .Am ong ^t^ ^ 'Manhattan Melodrama,"Thln Man,' Blnff Crosby and "-hlrler .Temple •Hideout" and ^ 'Forsaking All mms. Nortna^^hearert 'Rip "Plde Others.' Even, discotirtting the . last arid 'Barretts,' also 'Sa4lle McKee' rarted, because of lateheas cf re- and 'Chained, with Joan Ciraw' leise, the other three are puffliclent ford.. Then there waa 'Count of to send him out front. ; Mounte Crlsto,' 'House of Roth- ^-Prank Gapra, looked-upbn^as-the-pfilU^ !mlracle man at. Columbia, got a the 'SO's.^^^^^^ .^^^^^^ whirlwind istart with 'It Happened I No Star BunehlrtB One. Night? and finished .the,, year, with 'Broadway Bill.' Norman Taurog, at PiarambUnt, iiad a, consistent trio, which put him On the pinnacle at his plant In the coin getting division. His pictures were''We're Not Dresaing,' r fltffsi Wlggs' :and 'College' Rhythm.V LlOyd- Bacon is the .Warjner topper on 'WondeTbar/ 'Here Comes the Navy,' and 'Six Day, Bike Race'. (Joe ij. Brown). " ^^George' t!ukor"ro"deisibnirf ronrhls .1933 start with 'Little Women' (Radio) and; 'Dinner at Eight' (Metro), both being In the he^vy take class.' ■ •/ ; Victor Schertzlnger rings In with r hl8T^;bmoback--pic—?Orie -Night-bf- Love' (Col), a. terrific date stayer In houses, plus!"Beloved' (U); which —grossed .• nicely, - though not - spec, tacularly; Others iri.the Money ;; There were other corking: box office meggers who ehowed well for their (iompies. such as John Stahl -:(^-)^wl;tlx-'0nly-^ester.day^and4lmi-rl tatlon of Life Clarence Brown (M-G) with •Sadie Mb'Kee' and 'Chained'; John Ford had 'Lost Patrol' (Radio), and 'World Moves . On' (Fox), latter a strong foreign grosser, and. .'Judge Priest' (Fox);, Richard Boleslaw- skv CM-GV ha.fl a good coin quartet There was not the concentration of stars In one picture during 1934 aa. was noticeable the year. before. This may have been due to the fact that producers found that it did not meet, w^th consilstent.' favor at the boxofflce. Herding talent Into parts which didn't fit was no help, a,lso,' and many of those who were so strong at the boxofflce during had dwindled' from: marquee glamour,. " .■' ■ " ■'. " ' ■ ' ■ . A definite proportion of name people stuck to thi freelance field, some of whom could be counted on for performance, but - ho unusual boxofflce talent shifted around from co mpany: . to .company during the year. THere are "close 'to 160' of these people working in this way, figuring on >the basis o.f._flnanclal return rather than seeking contracts and boxofflce glory. Many In this braicket are close to six figures in earnings and outnumber the, studio contract feature people In earning PARAMOUNT "TMae wesr"'~:~ BING CROSBY " GARY COOPER MARLENE DIETRICH GEORGE RAFT CLAUOETTE COLBERT W. C. FIELDS FREDRIC MARCH SYLVIA SIDNEY BEN BERNIE RICHARD ARLEN LEE TRACY RANDOLPH iSCOTT GEORGE BANCROFT DOROTHEA WIECK FEATUEED ; Carole Lombard Jack Oakle ..; Burns-Allen kitty Carlisle Cary Grant . Charles Russles Mary Bbland Joe Penner; "' ChArle* LauahtoH ^---LahnyT Ross-^t- . sir Quy Btanding Helen Maek Baby Leroy Ellssa Landl Wheeler and Woolsey far out- shadowed the other two stars, on this Ustr-Ann «ardlng a,hid Rich- ard. Dix, who -had been put In the program class by the company and Miss Harding didn't have an [ex actly happy 12 months. ' Radlct's ..featured, aggregation was led by Irene Dunne . with Fred Astalre, new, hitting a high maxk on 'Gay Divorcee,' Also coming up with him^was. Ginger -Rogers, who had been considered Just a contract player prior to the current . year. Francis Lederer, ah import, did bet- ter 6ft the lot than on with 'Pursuit of, Happiness' ajid\ Paramount. Also showing well here were' Thelma^ Todd, .figured more as a short reeler draw In the past than as a major length player, ahd Tom Brown. Metro ' \ T^ :^. / Metro bad Norma Shearer creep to the top this year. She was ab- sent from the 1933 slate, but with the termination of the Dressier- Beery team she ; was- a dnch to carry payOfC honors for .this com- pany. Wallace Beery, on his own, ranks second, with joan Crawford, w h o h el d i th e d ei i c e spot thei pre- l»oweT77.:i _ .._ j • Case of Shirley Temple No question that the biggest sensation of the year was Shirley Temple, whom Fox had picked up and thrust Into 'Stand Up . and Cheer', and then found it had a gold bond. Studio afterward" loaned the tot to Paramount for 'Little Miss in :'Men In White,' 'Operator 13,' •Painted Veil' and 'FUjltive Lovers'; . Wesley- Ruggles (Par) was .no slouch in this division with Tm No -- -^A-ngel;'::-'Bolero''Htnd- 'Shoot " the Works';- - Mark Sandrlch (Radio) came through wJth a long shot in . 'Gay Divorcee' and brought In a fair money getter In the Wheeler and Woolsey 'Hips, Hips, Hooray' (Radio) Thornton Freeland delivered •Flying Down to Rio' (Radio) and co-directed '.White's Scandals' (Fox), which grossed well outside of the keys, Leo McCarey had 'Belle of the Nineties' (Par) and 'Six of a Kind' (Pnr), wlillo Mpryyj] TioKay nnd Marker,' and 'Now and Forever', and also pu; her Into 'Baby Take a Bow and the recently released . 'Bright Byes'. If the child keeps up' the I pace this year she will to. the draw of Win Rogers, and-Janet Gay nor for Fox With the trend, being a bit In the direction of the kiddies, due; per I haps, to the church campaign, d bunch of youngsters crept onto the screen, but none showed nearly as strong as the Temple lasa. AnUmbcr of companies are trying to groom this Juvenile aggregation to boxofflce. strength for 1935. Warners has Mickey McGiiire and Universal 'Baby Jane' Quigley. Metro has htag ged Cora S u e Collins, anotliCT . ■., Fran e ee 'D r«ke~~- Carl Brlss.on Mary Belahd. ' Wm. Frawlty Lynn Overman Alison Sktpworth : Henry -Wilcexen —EvelynrVenable—— Toby Wing - . Kent .Taylor ^ Pauline Lord Roscoe Karns.: > Gertrude Michael ' '. Herhert Marshall Joe Mbrrlton Ann Sheridan Ray Milland Gail Patrick .Katharine DeMUle^^. George Biarbier Grace Bradley . Kathleen Burke • Larry Crabbe Edward Craven Dean Jagger Fred MacMurray vloua year, now third. Clarke Gable climbed strongly In this firm's star group, and. It the ambitious plans the company have for him- In 1935 materialize, he flhoulAJtejLJWuple of points aheiBid Of his present rating. William irearr^lth r'Ciaudette~eolbbrt-;a^ W. C. Fields perking up In good style and proving, potential money grabbers 'fbrthe^coflipany^^^^^ Raft was short of what was ex pected of him with Marlene Die- trich missing out from the top class, too. Foreign market really held her up as -regaFds-boxofflce.- Inrthe-star group, as a-whole, Paramount had Iplenty In the so-so class, .but not causing, the company Par's feature aggre. by Carole Lombard an proved very strong .in vi an edge In this respect son with other majbir sses. headed Oakle nd had jmpari- ucers Al- Joe other ^tently nlon mlss- outslde of Warners. Bu len, Ben Bbrnle, Kitty C Penner, Charles Latighton players were a heli> in com acceptable pictures;- Local is -that- -Frances Drake - is whom Par hasn't fully developed. Radio Radio, didn't have so much to offer as to stars for 1934 but turned out some good pictures. Katharine Hepburn hit the bill here, while RADIO rather poor one'In 'Cat a;hd the PicI-, die'» ■ ;.■ Myrna <£i6y Is way out front of theatre's featured division with Lionel Barrymbre, who bad been somewhat submerged during the year BO far as outstanding produc- tions were concerned, ■.trallingi ^(^n Robson was a magnet, mostly through her loanout pictures at Columbia. ; Maureen b'iSulllvun rept ahead as did .JLean. Barker, a newcomer whom the company no\v Is going tb stari Jimmie Durtuitt', suffering from not so forte material, was more or loss pushed around but showed up well in 'Joe Palooka' on a loanout to Reliance.. . ■ ■ Universal The big ace .at , Universal was Margaret Sullavan In the star field, with Edmund Lowe, a fi;ee lance bul-used4n- a number of pictures by this company, running quite a bit behind. Outside of the Colbert-Wil- liams combination for 'imitation of METRO NORMA SHEARER -WALLACE BEERY- - JOAN CRAWFORD CLARK GABLE » WM. POWELL GRETA QARBO MARION DAVIE8 JEAN HARLOW JACKIE COOPER ROBERT MONTGOMERY MAURICE-CHEVALIER JEANETTE MaeDONALD RAMON NOVARRO HELEN-HAYES CONSTANCE BENNETT PEATUBEB iviyrna .Ley ■■ Lionel Barrymore May Robson - -'Maureen~0'Sulllvan Jimmy Durante , Leo Carrillo " ■^\~~'."^a'dge ■'EyjRe ~:~ Charles Butteirworth ■ Jean Parker Lewis Stone v. Stuart Erwin -Otto-Krugei^ ^ean-'Hersholt- Ted Healy Franehot Tone Una Merkel Robert Young Johnny Weissmuller Louise Fazenda Isabel Jewell KatKerine. Alexander Elizabeth Allen Frank Morgan .. . Karen. Morley _Nat Pendleton ' TivlaryVCariisTe Mady. Christians Ruth Channing Nelson Eddy C. Henry Gordon Mickey Rooney Rosalind Russell ' Robert Taylor Virginia Bruce Muriel Evans '. Preston Footer , 'Lucille Watson Betty Furneaa UNIVERSAL Stars MARGARET SULLAVAN EDMUND LOWE COLBERT-WILLIAM BUCK JbNES- KEN MAYNARD-- CHESTER MORRIS BORIS KARLOFF SALLY ElLER8 FFiATTTBED Patil Lukaii . Gloria Stuart; Russ Colombo Claude Rains Onslow Stevens Beta Lugesi ; —Roger-Ptyeis- Henry Armetta : Dougiasa^Mantgemecy_ Andy Devi no Henry Hull Frank Lawton Cesar. Romero Binnle Barnes Heather Angel .. ' Sterling Holloway : June Clay worth - .-Franoia L. Sullivan _ Irene Ware Baby Jane, diiigley , - -^Valerie Hcbtoh ■ --- . Phyllis Brooks \ Ann Darling Noah Beery, Jr.' • . Irene Biller Wm. Roberts Life,' the others In the star classi- ficatlon;_here wfre^.ra as to audience response.'""; ~ ■ ' "' " U's featured aggregation, outsido of Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains-sand Onslow Stevens, meant'lltUe. ' ' Columbia Columbia, which has few stars, or other players, under long term con* tract, had the outside team of Gable- Colbert heading the list, and Grace Moore, a new , acquisition, crowd- ILUMBIA ■ - ■ Stars - V QABLE-COLBERT-'- - GRACE MOOAE MAY ROBSON JACK HOLT CAROLE LOMBARD JOHN BARRYMORE TIM McCOY COLLEEN MOORE PEATUBED Fay Wray ; Nancy Carroll Walter Connoly - \ .• Ralph Bellamy . Leslie Howard Marion Nixon ' Elisia La ndi Al Green, with a gfroup at Warriers, can; ciiaik up wins for their bosses, -t007 Infant standout. Slight Star Development Many, of the pictures named above may not have been big win-, ; ners by themselves, but grouped with ■ the director's sock money getters, they push these directors for honorable mention; - : B. O; Pictures Grosses are .still not what they once were, but the leading films as previously named did much to make / the boys forget the many ghastly figures of 1933. Taking these features In twin shows, on a Coast, check-up, that although 'Little Women' was a late •33 release. It played more' than 90% of. Its dates In 1934. I'm No Angel,' on the other hand, was sold heavily- prior to release^'Oh the record of 'She Done Him Wrong' ■ ■ahli": cdi'rled" tfi^^^^ not on repeat dates as did its pre- decessor. 'Judge . Priest,' which came through l&st summer, seemed to h^ve definitely turned a fltrong in developing talent during I53*,~ the; studios were far behind any other ycap. Seemed as though pro- [ ducers .or directors wouldn't, tike chances on new blood' (an old habit); I and boosted their own talent from the contract ranks. They wanted to depend on the so-called surefires and appeared to have crossed up themselves in many cases. Paramount; Mae West, though, the topper for the Paramount organization on the year, did not bi'lng as much bacon , liome tot the company as she did the year before. Opinion out here Is I that Miss West must get away from her present type* of picture. Blng Crosby, who : graduated Into the star group the previous, year, la strong-and appears to-be working his. way up. He may find a top I rung during 1936. Gary Cooper showed; In better 'shape at the b.o. than the previous ars KATHARINE HEPBURN "TWHtECER^OOlISl ANN HARDING RICHARD DIX FEATUHEP Irene Dunne Joel McCrea Ginger Rogers .\ Thelma Todd Tom Brown Fred Aataire : Francis Lederer John Beal Erik Rhodes Virginia Reld Betty Grable Helen Westley Shorts Edgar Kennedy . ^Chick Chandler ' Pibrenee Lake Tom Kennedy Jeannle Roberts , Russell Hardie Barbara Kent :l-:CeceLiai-Rar-ken-^ Shirley Robs .;; Henry Stephenson Louise ;Henry: Henry-Wadsworfh Harvey Stephens Irene Harvey . Ruth Gordon Powell was a gireat help to M-G^ be Inig tied with Myrna Loy as a b.o combination. Garbo, unfortunately, though still strong In the foreign market, did hot provide the draft expected pf her. Jean Harlow was of some value in the star group and over- shadowed Robert Montgomery, w.ho had been figured dynamite on the year. Down toward the bottom slipped Helen Hayes, Ramon No varro and Constance Bennett. Jea- nette MacDonald and Cheyalier are hard to classify, as Miss MaoDon aid had, prior to 'Merry Widow', a Jean Arthur .; Ann Sothern . Arline Judge • R ichard Cromwell Johnny Mack Brown Robert Armstrong Evalyn Knapp Shirley Grey Victor McLaglen John Gilbert Neil Hamilton Frank Craven - . Lillian Bond George Breakston ing the leaders.- May Rdbsbrii alsb. in loan . division, is , third. This studio's standby star. Jack Holt, figures next with John Barrymore helping with one picture, ^20th. Cen- tury.' • In the featured class Fay Wray, though a free lance, was the topper with Nancy Carroll ahd Walter Con-