Variety (Sep 1935)

Wednesday* Septeinber 18, 1935 PICT E S VARIETV 21 FUTURE OF DUALS IN U. S First Ron Situation m N. Y. Paramount 20th Century- Warn(^ J9r<?»i ' Metro RaitlO" '~~ Columbia linivereal' United Artists (d) Republic Gaumont- NO. OF FILMS (a) 60 66 62 60 -"4B- 40 36 20. 36 17 Loew RKO; Metropolitan (b) RKQ; Metropolitan (b) Loew ■HKOy KIetroponUn"Tb) Loew RKO; Metropolitan; Loew Loew Loew;. RKO (e) RKO (c) Total (a) Figures do not Include westerns. (b) Metropolitan Is the successor company to Fox Met. Skouras and the Randforce people divide this operation. Skouras operates three houses, Academy, Crotona and Park Plaza, diay-and-date with RKO houses. Randforce .operates three houses, Savoy,-Stone and Embassy, in Brooklyn, day-and-date with RKO houses. These Skouras: and Randforce houses are the only Metropolitan Circuit theatres enjoying first-run, as RKO. (c) Loew and RKO split between them the Universal program. (d) Alexander Korda.l^ scheduled to make six of the 20 U. A. Alms. (e) Loew anid RKO split between them the Republic program. Also, Fabian theatres have Republic film for two downtown spota In Brooklyn, the Strand and the Fox. B&K Pushing Key Houses Up a Week In Move for Additional Clearance I BE lii BimE Tigkting Fire with Fire Is Major Circuits* Idea in Forcing Dualism—Hope to Bring Back Singles After Indies Feel Brunt of Big Chains' Double Billing 75% DUALS Chicago, Sept. 17. After trying to talk the ex- changes, into allowing them an ex- tra week of clearance between the 30c top houses In the C week of pre-release and the 25c houses in the first week of general release, Balaban & Katz has decided to put the extra week of clea,rance into effect without the consent of the distributors.. B. & K. has been ask- ing that the first week of general release be shoved back from the present nine weeks' clearance after the loop run to the 10th week after loop run. Instead of shoving the general release back one week B. & K. will move its own 'C week houses up one week closer to 'B' week releases, thus adding a full seven days to the clearance be- tween 'C ind first week. As It now stands the release system places 'C week , and .first week right next to each other, which means that a house In first week may. open a pic- ture on Sunday despite the fact it has Just closed its 'C week run on Saturday (the day previous). In Chicago all 'weeks of release' ^tart as of a Sunday. Balaban & Katz Is understood to be ready to put this new protection schedule into effect on Nov. 1 and has mentioned to several exchange managers that starting Nov.- 1 it will book its pictures on the; basis of. an advai^ce'd ■ !C' week release. Many in. the business figure it may work out in such a way that B. & K. in moving its *C' week houses will merely pull all the other subsequent houses right along With them, all the other subsequent houses eventually moylng up one week on the release schedule. The key B. & K. houses are thus figured likely to suffer most in the end with their standard protection pe- riod being clipped a full week. Out in 'Waukee Milwaukee, Sept. 17. Milwaukee theater men are now convinced that bank nights and similar iattractU.is are out. Several having been fined for alleged viola- tion of the lottery laws, Bert Nathan of the Hollywood, appealed ills fine and denianded a Jury trial. A Jury of seven men and five womien heard the case and with, only a few minutes deliberation found Nathan guilty. £tank nights stopped at once i all houses, fol- lowing the Jury's v irdict. HOLD 1, SEEK iUlOTHER IN TORONTO SnCKUP Toronto, Sept. 17. S(iquel to the armed hold-up of Samuel Firestone, owner of the Astor and Lyndhurst, as he was about to place $641 in the wall-safe In his home when a masked thief arose from behind a chesterfield in the living-room, John Wlneberg is under arrest here" and Murray Weiss is being sought by police on a charge of armed robbery. It 'is alleged the latter was the actual gunman, Wlneberg. was apprehented after spectators in the subsequent chase noted the license number of the getaway car. He denied ownership of the car when questioned by po- lice, but was found to be carrying duplicate keys of Firestone's two, theatres and could not offer a sat- isfactory explanation. The money was found In the abandoned car^ Picketers Fined Lincoln, Sept. 17. First use of the recently leglsiated anti-picketing law in Nebraska by William Youngclaus, of Grand Is- land, Neb., ended in a victory for the plaintiff when four operators were socked $10 and costs In Hall county court afteir conviction on un- lawful loitering and Interference with biz at the Empreiss theatre. Trouble started ^ heii Youngclaus' biz was slipping and he' asked' his unl6n operator to take a cut, which was refused by the local and the man was discharged. Picketing and pamphleteering resulted and Young- claus went to court. Those fined were Richard Bomgartner, Harry SIssle, William Cutter and Floyd CurwoDd. New Circuit Starts Syracuse, N. Y., Sept 17. Pointing toward a duplication of the circuit built up in New England by Phil Smith, his brother, George E^ Smith, veteran Syracuse exhibi- tor, has launched Smith Chain Theatres, Jnc., here. New company, capitalized at $150,000, succeeds the Northern Circuit Corp. In which Smith Tvas interested with Robert Case. Smith Chain starts with four theatres, three in Syracuse and the fourth in Lowyille. Local theatres are "Harvard "Happy Hour and Novelty, Harvard was opened 10 years ago by Phil Smith, but since that time has been variously operated. Case personally handling the Harvard, is general manager; Bert,' Larkln, booker; Harry C. Copeland- the new corporation's secretary. Future of dual programs : in the United States probably will be de- termined to a sweeping extent by the outcome of the present duo- feature battle between major cir- cuits and independent exhibitors In the Greater New York city area. It's no trade secret that big cir- cuit operators are fully cognizant of exact results to be obtalned from duallng pictures, but it's a case of meeting fire with fire. With the metropolitan area surfeited with double programs currently, inde- pendent circuit operators and ex- hilstors are being given their own medicine, according to the majors. Leading trade organization spokes- men anticipate that the warfare will be halted only when the Indies demand that steps be taken, to end the practice of duallng. What Is expected to happen is that ultlmatei ly there will be a rkurn to single features. ' i Hays office has adopted a strlcjOy hands-off policy. One reason ftot this is that there Is a pronounced division of opinion among the or- ganization membership. Hays wants no part of bringing about any agreement as to number of pictures a theatre can play. With Motion Picture Produders & Distributors Association steering a middle course, belief among Hays leaders is that dualers will be .halted only when independent ex- hibitors realize h!?iw It is hitting their -business. Of the total number of picture theatres in this country, approxi- mately 75% are. using double'bills at one time, or the other during the week. Of this number more than half of them are exclusive dual- feature houses, With approximately 40% of the picture houses usng double bills entirely, recent figures show that it will not be long before nearly 50% have eliminated a single feature policy altogether. Its Effects Mijor circuits anticipate that bulk of Independent exhibitors will find themselves relegated to the position of subsequents for the sim- ple reason that the majors will re- quire and buy up all first-run pro- duction. Few indies can compete, even with a price slMh, against more elaborate theatres of larger circuits, with every house playing a dual bill. Thirdly, there Is evi- dent desire on part of major cir- cuIters to play double bills five to seven days in many sipots, thereby nlUking. every two-picture combo dry Of subsequent box office poten- tialities. Fourthly, me monotony of dual programs already la tending to drive many patrons to large downtown theatres having single features and short subject maiterlal, and away from smaller midtown dualers and neighborhoods. Major circuits in playing a double policy will need virtually ail avail- able first-run product, leaving only seconds and unimportant firsts for their opposition. Such a course seemingly cannot be averted be- cause larger circuits will not be overbuying'but purchasing only the features to handle requirements. While some independent circuit houses and other exhibs may profit sightly durliig the time big circuit theatres are prolonging an engage- rfient of a dual bookliig, these Game two features will have greatly dN minlshed gross possibilities when they, hit the subsequents. Situation Is expected to develop whereby. Independents will be play- ing at approximately the same ad- Intensive New Theatre Bldg. in Chi; Lou Marks, BM, f B JIS Expanding .Audition ..Giveaway-. New tie-up with radio is of- fered by 'an Bast 125th street, N. Y., plx house, the Harlem Grand. Promises free radio auditions on two nights per W e e k between 8:30-10:30 o'clock. Management has an ar- ranigement with a radio pro- gram agency. Coast Exhibs See ReUef from Gft Nights in Cal. Law Los Angeles, Sept. Emergency bill passed by the re- cent California legislature to regu- late unfair competition 1$ seen by exhibitors as a possible kayo to film house giveaways and other rackets.' Law, if held to be consti- tutional, . would pave Way for a per- manent injunction against such practices and for relief and dam- ages to any aggrieved theatre. Measure, although specifically exempting 'motion pictures,' does riot refer to theatres and careful observers here believe it can be construed to cover bank night and other forms of giveaways. Law makes it illegal to 'give, of- fer to give or advertise the intent to give away any article or product or. service or ouiput of a service trade, for purpose of In- juring competition and destroying competition.' Penalty of $100 to $1,000 or im- prisonment is provided. Statute, If violated three times by. any Iridl- vlduai, firm or organisation, makes it mandatory upon the attorney general to bring proceedings to for- feit charter of the offender, or to secure a permanent injunction against further transacting of busi- ness in the state. Disloyal Juicers Fined Hollywood, Sept. 17. Six members of Local 40, Inte'r- natlonal Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, were fined $100 each on disloyalty charges. Several who failed to put In appearance were as- sessed $25. Leaders in the move to demand recognition of the Wagner act In opposition to the wishes of AFL will get their hearing this week. mission fee but days and week after the bigger circuit houses. With no particular incentive for patrons to wait lintil the dual combination plays a smaller and less preteri* tlous theatre. It is not difficult to visualize Just the situation In which the indies may seen find them- selves. Desh'e of certain portion of( the amusement public to avoid double programs Is pictured as actually forcing patronage to the top de.luxe houses. Here again, the independ- entfj are exiiected to feel the pres- sure because this patronage goes to the ace houses of different major operators.' 'i Independents in Chicago agreed against duallng among themselves and with the Balaban & Katz cir- cuit. This Chicago policy has per- mitted Independent circuits to get a certain portion of the first-run product while B. & K. also garnered Its share. By negotiating a full program purchase of Wat'ner films, the RKO theatres now have an expectancy of 209 new films'for thC: current sea- son, held to be su/nclent to fulfil) all of the product needs of the KKO houses in this territory. Loew has a complement of 20fi nf>iv films, T-,<)f\v has 63 theafrox . In 'gi'oatPr Now York. City, and ui<;0 has 42 houses. This town has developed Into the hot spot oif the country for exhibi- tors looking for expansion alrld for men isceking an entry-into show biz by way of pleture exhibition. After more than six years of absolute dol- drums as far as new theatres are concerned, this territory is. now tiie scene of a renewed theatre building drive. Louis Miarks, formerly one ot th two Marks Bros, who owned the two big local nabe houses, Marijro and Granada, Is erecting a new theatre ostensibly for his son, though there Is every likelihood he will haye» plenty to say about the operation of this house. This will bring Marks back into the local film picture after an absence of six years, caused by, Publix-B. & K.'s purchase of the Marks theatres. Balaban & Katz is behind the new theatre to be built ori the northwest side at Belmont arid Central. This Is the first B. & K. move for new theatreis in years. On the, south west, Warner Bros, has Just opened Its new straight irtcture Beverly, which Is figured as the start of serious theatre acquisition in Chicago. Ess- anes&, which has builts Its circuit through take-over deals rather than doing its own building. Is now in the building end of the business since the circuit has made a deal with Loew to take over and Operate the new Oak Park house which is now going up in that suburb. All of these building operation^ are regarded as merely the start of a real theatre-building camp».*gn for this territory which is expected to get under way with th© start of 1936. OPS. WALK OUT; INME BRONX HOUSE SHUTS Dispute between the New York stage hands union. Local No. 1, and the Freeman theatre in the Bronx led to closing of the house Friday (13) when the Iridle operator of the house found it Impossible to get subp. This followed close on the peace parleys between Allied and Local 306, leaving the Freeman in the position of being unable to turn to Allied ops when 306 were, called. The operators walked but of the booth In-sympathy with No', 1, which could riot agree with the theatre on maintenance men, the -wfalkout re- sulting over question of $32, Walk occurred at 10 p.m. Thurs- day night (12), with theatre having to make refunds to a reported audi- ence of 1,800 "people. Missouri^ St. L., Goes 2d Run; Can't Get Product St. Louis, Sept. 17. Starting Oct, 4, the Missouri, one of four l^a.nchon & Marco theatres here, will become a second-run house because of tho; InablHty of 'management to book first runs.after that date. The new Grand Central, another Fi&M., has been dark 53 of the past 61 weeks for the same reason, . Revivals were tried at the Grand Central last spring with fair success until a split with stagehands caused the house to shutten Harry Arthur, of F.&M,, who came here as a witness for the Govern- ment in the anti-trust suit against Warner Bros, and others, made the announcement on the Ml-qsouri's coming policy prior to his departure yesterday (Monday). BUD HUNT'S COAST 0.0. Philadelphia, Sept. 17. W. D. 'Bud' Hunt (Hunt Enter- prises, In active charge of firm's chain of film theatre^ through Jer- sey and soiitlieastern Pennsylvania) .Ifnves witli IsHus ntxt Thursday (C6> for six wpf'lcs' motor trip to Hollywood to doublc-O the studios.