Variety (Sep 1935)

^edbe^daff September ll* 1935 PiCT E S VARIETY IT'S UNDERSEATING Senator Reed's Sisters Death PostDones St Louis Trial to Oct. 1 St. liouls, Sept. Because of the absence of former TJ,, 8. Sienator James A. Reed chief 09unsel for Warner ros. and afflUr ates, who is attending the funeral of hla sister, Mary E. Reed^ in Portland, Ore., the U. S. injunction case trial, set for today (Tuesday), In- tJr-S;^,JudB(a.JGi.eorE.e_E. -Moore's court, was continued until Oct. 1. Continuance was ordered after the JiidEre announced that all costs of summoning witnesses again, a sum Involving between $4,000 and $5,000, must be borne by the defendant companies, Order was Issued over the stfenuotis objections of Russell Hardy, Special Assistant U. S. Attorney-Generali who pbinted out to the court that there was sutfl- cient counsel here to start the case; Hardy said the case probably would require Ave days to try, but Sam Jeffries, of the defense staff, insisted that four or five weeks would be necessary, pointing out that the Government had 40 wit- nesses to call. During the hearing today, it de- veloped that the Government has not presented as yet a bill of par- ticulars in the indictment case against nine picture companies and affiliates. The case is set for Sept. 30. Hardy said that this bill will He handed to the defense counsel toniorrow (Wednesday). ■ Present line-up now calls for the criiAinal case to begin on Sept. 30, with the injunction case; coming up the fpllpwlng day. Court room , today was filled with picture company executives and legal lights, with the likelihood that the injunction, action probably would have gone to bat except for Sen. Red's absence. Charges that lessees and others (Continued on page 31 LYNCH AS LIAISON ON PAR THEATRE OP. In future S. A. Lynch, who headed the theatre reorganization advisory committee for the Par trustees under bankruptcy and re- organization, will devote his time and attention to matters bearing on theatre administration as an ad- Visor to John E. Otterson. Under the setup, Y. Frank Freeman, who wag with Lynch for years in the south, will be in active operating charge. He was Informed during the past week by Otterson that he. ■Will man operation. Freeman is v.p. of Famous The- atres Corp., the principal theatre holding; subsidiary of Par which was given birth wheji Publlx Enter- prises, previous largest holding com- pany, was discharged from bank- ruptcy. At that time Famous bought close to 300 P.E. theatre properties on liquidation, with .com- pany finally taking in all other Par theatre holdings. George J.. Schaefer holds the title of president of Famous but. as with all principal subsidiaries in Par,, the y.p. has carried actual operating duties. In past, Adolph Zukor has held title of president over producing, distribut- ing and other branches, the v.p.'s being actually in charge. Par Gold on 'Garibaldi' :• Hollywood, Sept. 10. * Paramount has shelved 'Gacl- baldl,' .story of the Italian po'et- soldier. Studio fears the political a^nglc.. ERM'S 4,000TH INSTALLATION , Erpi equipment ifi now in 4,000 theatres' throughout the world. Figure was brought to an even four grahd on signing of a contract to Install a new theatre in Ran- c'ogua, Chile. 'Beethoven' Goes as Special at Warners Hollywood, Sept. 10, Warners will make 'The Life of Beethoven' as one of Its heavy budget pictures for the coming sea- son; William Dleterle wHl direct, and Erich Wolfgang Korrigbld. Vl- iennese composer, brought but here to arrange the Mendielssohn score for .'Ikfidgummer Night's Dream,' will arrange for the musical se- quences. Writers not yet assigned. BRISKIN QUITS m. HAS 3 BIDS Hollywood, Sept. lO. Sam Brlskln- is out as general manager at Cdluhibla Pictures Oct. IB.. 'Though his resignation was tendered and accepted early last Week, the Colunibia general man- ager and Harry Cohn, prexy, got together toward end of the week to try and adjust the situation which caused the withdrawal of Qriskln. Company had offered Brlskln a lO-year deal in two five-year sec- tions which provided for $3,000 a week first five years and $3,600 a week second five years. Besides, Bi^skln was to get a batch of stock as a bonus. , It was on the problem of the stock delivery that the deal was called off by Brlskln. Toward end of last week it was figured that the proposition could be worked out, but after two days conferring it. was decided .by both parties to call quits Oct. 15. Briskln,. though . he has tiot de- cided on his. future plans, has had an offer from Radio Pictures to do a . minimum of io pictures yearly, also one from Metro, besides figur- ing that he might go in on his own and produce independently with distribution possibly through United Artists. However, he will not decide on his future connections for another week at least. Upon completing his task at Columbia, where he has been for 14 years working his way up from a bookkeeper In the New York ofhce, Brlskia will take a va- cation until the end of the year. With Sam Brlskln going but, Harry Cohn is taking over th^ pro- duction reins and elevating Bobby -North to a general- executive posi- tion besides handling his own pro- duction unit. North, In addition to his own pictures, will supervise the making of a large quantity of com- pany product by other producers. William P^rlberg, casting direc- tor, l.s being elevated to the post of. assistant to Cohn, with his pfllce adjacent that of the Columbian chieftain. Perlberg continues su- pervision of casting office. Sheehans in Paris Paris, Sept. Winfieid Sheehan and his bride, the former Maria Je.rltza, are stop- ping here, preliminary to. a honey- moon tour of France and Mrs. Shee- han's native Austria.- They'll land In London In about a ,mOrith, and Sheehan expects to return to America in Oct. and re- sume picture producing In Nov. WILL HAYS EAST Hollywood, Sept. 10. Will Hays departed today (Tues- day) for New York after spending two months on the Coast, He will sift the Jesse Lasky com- plaint against Metro in signing Ernestine Schumann-Helnk when he gets east. FEW miTIIEII THItlTOOMMf Recovery the Reason—-Build- ing Halted, Certain Sec- tors Now Feel Dfearth of Theatre Cajpacities FARMERS UP O.verseatlng, a condition, which annoyed the. industry for the last three or four years, is rapidly being supplanted by an under-seated problem in picture houses as 1935 draws near a dose. Thiis Is truer in sOme sectors than others, "(vhlle some communities manifest an accute desire for further theatre building, the trade, in general hopes that this optimistic manifestation will reflect itself In admission scaled being brought upi Severe price- cutting in recent years still has the general average quite a bit below par. Surveys made by representative trade organizations in key cities in the last four or five months shows that tlie ratio of seats to theatre- attending population has grown from about 1 to 6 up to approxi- mately 1 to 8. Which is taken to mean that; compared with two or three years ago, nearly twice as many people are paying their way into virtually the same houses. The result is that theatres which played to 50% and 76% of capacity three and four years ago, now arei dust- ing oft the SRO sign. This under-seating situation is at- tributed to the followlhg: (1) Absence of any general the- atre construction program In the last four or five years. (2) More prosperous times. (3) Doubling of farming popula- tion's income In the last two years. (4) Pick-up in Industrial activity. (5) Providing cash for those on relief. Since the first of the year, the number of open and operating pic- ture theatres has been steadily in- creasing, but this as well as the building of new theatres has not kept pace with the growth of pa- trons having money for admittance coupons. Return to rriore normal times, with more people having additional money to spend, has been noted for more than a year. Revival of busi- ness Is best seen in Improved earn- ings statements of bir Industrial companies and the increased pace of representative trade indices. The Farm Belt Great portion of this resumption of business is traced to betterment of the farmers. Annual income of tho farming population • has been Virtually doubled in about two years' time. Beneficial effect this has had on box office is best comprehended when it is realized that half of the nation's populace is represented, by the farmer class. With the farmer having consid- erably more to expend this spending Is reflected not. only in territory and business adjacent to the farm belt, .but all through the Industrial world. Fact that those on relief now are being paid cash Instead of belpg granted food, clothing and lodging Is putting more money into Circu- lation, with, the theatres getting e proportionate share of this coin. Detroit is coming to be recognized as one of the most underseated com- munities. Wave of "more prosperou.s times was felt in the center of auto- mobile production, which has been In the fore of the recovery move- ment. Korda s London Films to Produce Six Pix as Partner with United Artists Husk' Waits on Names Old Film for Archives Hollywood, Sept. 10. Over .2,000,000 feet of old film, the celluloid history of Hollywood, has been taken back to the archive!? of the Museum of Modern Art Film Library In New York by John Abbott. General manager of the library .spent, several months collecting the material. Hollywood, Sept. 10. Start of Radio's 'Husk* Is being held up due to casting difficulties with the studio being iinable to find stroni^ names for tiie leads and fea- tured parts. So far only Preston Foster '-has been cast. Margaret Callahan has been pencllied in as the femme lead. James. Flood, who will direct, has been on the lot marking time for the past month. NW CAN'T m ANY THEATRE FOR SALE Minneapolis, Sept. 10. Exchanges here I'eport that for the first time since 1929 there are ho theatres for sale in the terri- tory. Improved business and a very favorable outlook for the fall and winter, due to the generally better trade conditions. Increasing employ- ment and greater farm buying power are causing exhibitors to hold on to their houses and actually have been a factor In the construction and reopening of more than 25 addi- tional theatres during the past year. R. H. Wagner, who recently sold his Capitol and Royal theatres, Sioux Falls, S. D., to the Eddie Ruben circuit, states that he has scoured tho territory in vain in an effort to piirchasie a theatrie. He says he has been unable to find a single one for sale. METRO GIVES BENNY PIC |iaO,000 BUILDUP Hollywood, Sept. 10. Metro has decided to spend an- other $100,000 on added sequenceis for Jack Benny's second starring picture ifor that company, 'Let Freedom Ring.' Execs Vgenerated enthusiasm for the picture at a sneak preview out of town' last week and figured the added expen- diture would swing the feature into higher nerccntage brackets when released. New sequences and the finish are being worked out by Chuck Rcisncr and Lew Lipton. Relsner handled tho picture as producer-director and Lipton collaborated with Byron Morgan on the original and script. .Benny is driving back froni Se- attle, and the added sequences are expected to get under way next week. Week-to-Week Supers Hollywood, Sept. 10. Douglas MacLcan and Charles R, Rogers arc working on a week to week baaU as P.:ramouht producers. Contracts expired last month. LEE MAilCUS DUE IN N. Y. Hollywood, Sept. 10. Lee Marcus, Radio producer, planes to New York Sept. 21 for a threc--day visit with his niother to celebrate her birthday. On his. return, Marcus starts pro- duction of the next Whceler-Wool- .s(iy pic, 'The Wild West.' L. B. MAYER BEDDED Hollywood, Sept. 10. Louis I). Mayer cpnlractcd a nasal InfGctton at the ctro picnic Sun- day (8), which cau.sed doctora to order him to bed for:a codph; of days. Hollywood, Sept. 10. * With London Films now a partner ~ in United Artists, and the Forting- toh group heavily interested In ' Paramount, English money Is flrnily Intrenched in motion pictures. In- flux of British coin in pictures has been rare since a Glasgow syndicate financed F.B.O. Alexander Korda and Sir Connop Guthrie—latter In addition to being an LF director is also representing Prudential Insurance of England, >vhO financed London Films—closed the U.A. partnership deal last week. London Films bought one unit of U.A., still leaves a single unit in the company unsubscribed. Other unit holders are - Goldwyn, Mary Pick- ford, Chaplin and Fairbanks. According to the deal, London Films will produce six features for U.A. Both companies will Inter- change players and directors. Doug- las Fairbanks will produce oiie In Erigland for LF, but will not appear in the picture. Mary PIckford and Jiesse Lasky will do likewise. LF will send Merle Oberon to U.A. for additional pictures and will prob- ably split Its two picture deal with Charles Laugh ton with Its Ameri- can afCillate, LF will construct a new studio at Denham, 26 miles outside of Lon- don. It will also build a laboratory and a Technicolor plant. New, stu- dio will cost around 11,600,000. Following the closing of the deal on Saturday (7), Nathan Burkan, who handled the legal end, Mrs. Burkan and Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Silverstone left for New York by train. Korda, Sir Cohnop and Etlenne Pailos, also an LF offlclal, leave by plane tomorrow (Wed.). Discussions for the .establishing of a British film organization patterned along the lines of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were held by Alexander Korda last week with leaders of the Academy here.- Korda was tendered an Informal dinner by the directors' branch of the Academy during his trip ta the coast last week,:and said that many members of the British film colony were Interested In establishing an Academy In England, Korda, Sir Guthrie and Pailos, of London Fll sail Sept. 19 for London. Otterson's Academic And Trade Quiz on Paramount Personnel John E. Otterson wants to know the academic background as well as the picture experience of men arid women In Paramount. Personnel must detail this, information for him on orders of department heads, who In turn: have received orders from the Par president. When anyone is taken Into Par, It Is customary to make out an; ap- plication blank, giving the usual details as to education, experience, etc, iS'lgurcd that Otterson wants a, more detailed record as t'o vaut ex' perienco. WURTZEl CIVEN NEW TERMER AT 20TH-F0X , Hollywood, Sept. 10. Although his present contract^stllj has a yoar to go,, 20th-Fox has handed Sol Wurtzel a long-term pact that becOnics operative upon expiration of tho old. one. THALBEEG STILL EAST Hollywood, a.epit. 10. Irving Thalbcrg is duO to remain oast another week. Tlie studio planed him a rough cut of the| Marx Bro.s, picture,' 'Night at th«» Opera.' o further work on the picture until' authorized by him.