Variety (Mar 1936)

Wednesday, March 25, 1936 P I C ¥ VARIETY No Shuteye While LA.'s Jitney Keeps'Em Shootin'; 5c By GEORGE McCALL ..Los Angeles,- March. 24, Porcapolis tlie .theatre .'s Main which .compares favorably, wtf h tlie other, side of the tracks in ,. an y American city. Joe is a show- ' , only four years removed from .: k #ie Atlas Dairy Lunch.. The Athens caters to the lower strata, operates ' 24 hours daily, charges 5c. for two' ' western-features, and thereby hangs Joe's showmanship.. When interviewed, Joe. admitted he played nothing but westerns, but that he didn't really like horse operas. Joe readily admits he has never been in the wide open spaces and thinks, or cares little of horses. In fact, joe., seconded by Charlie, •his Chinese doorman and janitor, ■ adds that he doesn't like pictures 'at ail. His operation of the theatre is just one of those things necessary to Supply the simple heeds of his everyday life. . Joe's monosyllabic versation was illuminating.: After admitting th'at his soul had never burned with- in hi . yearning for boots and sad- dles, he was- ask~d about his and hts.. customers' preference for the more decorative of the screen's per- sonalities, such as Garbp,-.-Di&ti4ehr Crawford arid others of their set. Joe said that for a nickel the cus- tomers of the Athens .had no pref- • erencej they "took what*, he gave them, ^Mystery surrounded" his attitude. He was a strong silent Grecian .figure, planted in front of his box- ; where he also made a few dimes on the side by selling candy bars. Suddenly he became alert, his ears pointed like Cavalcade at the barrier. Through the doors of the theatre came the sound of shpts^ The cowboys were shooting it out with the horse thieves. Joe smiled. A few moments later the hpuse broke and a few' bleary-eyed cus- tomers emerged into the daylight, blinking in the afternoon sun. 'See?' asked Joe. 'See* what?' 'Them guys.' he replied. 'They came in here, to sleep. Wit' Garbo and Crawford, they can sleep, but with Buck Jones and Tim McCoy and them fellahs, who go 'bang bang' with their guns, they can't Bleep. The noise wakes them up ana I get a turnover. That's show- manship.' FILM EXCHANGE UNION STILL PARLEYING WB 'nable. to make any headway with Warner Bros, after meetings for the film Exchange Employees Union vrere arranged by an emissary of the U. S. Department of Labor. Com- missioner Charles J. Post is en- deavoring to reopen an avenue for negotiations with WB. Meantime, the FEE' is driving hard against Republic, with all nouses exhibiting this company's Product being picketed. Starting yesterday (Tuesday) when 'Leaven- worth Case' went into most of the ivKO houses in Greater New York lor three days, PEE started picket- ing. Starting tomorrow (Thurs.) it is scheduled to picket another Loew house, the 175th St., which brings in ■Jimmy Valentine,- also a Repub re- lease. Pickets appeared in front of Harry Brandt's Globe for the first ™f Saturday (21) when 'Leather- on • ave La ntod' opened there, vtner mdies are also being picketed. J)uHn S the past week Republic uc e an nffoy t0 thc union u , t .,.. I ? U lmt ' <« the 11 men who walked <h- oC that company's X. Y. branch. for n/.^V 1 . 8 ' 0 daIm(?a 11 >™sdns Wh "i! t f t u kl, J R back l ^ of the men. off!. •, th I ° m < «-»™p<I clown this ti-jiu ,i Ieador * are willin to nrbi- hdJ,, - 0 m,,lt ^-with Republic in ° 1K 1,1 a semeinen Head Man Hollywood, March 24. use his wife is a legal minor, and an orphan, George Chandler, Metro actor, will have to either adopt her or be made her legal guardian be-- fore Department of Motor Vehicles will renew her auto driver's license. Requirement arose -when Mrs. Chandler attempted to get her 1936 permit; RKO EXTENDING Chicago, March 24. Midwest distribution meeting was held in town last week by the RKO Pictures chieftains under the guid- ance of Jules Levy and Ned De- pinet. Midwest head, Walter Bran- son, assembled all branch managers and the two field men in the divi- sion for the get-together. Meeting discussed spring crop of flickers, liquidation of current con- tracts, play-dates and general RKO picture .biz in this territory. Of most importance to the RKO situation in the midwest is the new hlghi in contracts and commitments among the four important circuits, taking in Balaban & Katz, Est saitess, Great States and Midwesco, which-has boosted RKO picture dis- tribution in this territory terrific- ally. This zooming spread of RKO contracts into situations where they had formerly been completely locked out is admittedly due to the inter- cession of Leo Spitz, and the ap- pointment of Sam rlskin on the Coast. Theatre Men Burn At Knoxville s Air Shows at 10 to 25c Knoxville, March 24. Theatre managers here have squawked plenty to city officials for allowing WNOX to use a munici- pal market hall in heart of down-: town" section for daily hillbilly broadcast. Kicks were loudest when station slapped a 5c gate on the show. They are louder now, with sta- tion having a 10-25c admission to barn dantie opera put on the air from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. each Saturday night. Spot tagged WXOX parnival, and is staged in the market hall audi- torium with cast of 85 and eight- piece. band. Acts include Jo Jp, station monkey, and a trick dog. Theatre men say the broadcasts are hurting biz. Station says it pays $100 monthly rental on hall In addition to regular amusement li- cense fee of $51.50 every three months to city, county and stale. City officials say nothing. M. C. is Horace Hunnicutt. for- merly with NBC at Washington and now handling radio publicity for Scripps-Howard paper here. Loew's B'klyn 'Bank' Tjoew's is putting on a $1,000 bank night to cover 19 of its houses in Brooklyn, with coupons handed out each day from FYiday (-7) up to. the night of tlie drawing, April 2L\ This Is the period, given over by the circuit to ils 'spring festival,' a campaign on spring releases. Loew's recently dropped hank night and screeno in its Bronx houses. the Rata 'Associated Press* of Newsreels to Pro Central Costs—Would Automatically Insure Eco- nomic Bolstering for All Five Newsreels UNION'S ANGLE " Move to consolidate operations of flv.e major newsreels in past week went off on a new tack, with only one news weekly expressing opposi- tion to proposed solution of eco- nomic difficulties. Latest proposed working agreement would incor- porate the setting up of some form of an Associated Press for the. newsreels. Such a term has been designated because virtually the same routine and sharing of costs as now em- ployed by the A. P. wotld be fol- lowed; Proposal is to. establish either a subsidiary operating com- pany or a bureau to be used by the five neWsreel companies, with the bureau or subsid company acting as a-clearing-house for. news shots On all national events. Whether a bureau would be es- tablished or a separate company servicing the five companies, funda- mentally the same operating plan would be instituted.. This calls for assigning of a newsreel crew of three or four for each eyent of nation-wide import. After news event has been shot all negatives would be available to editors of various newsreel companies for in- dividual use. Cost of running the bureau would be pro-rated among the five member-companies. Should some other working agreement be decided on, such as assigning a dif- ferent Camera crew from one of the five companies in turn, this would automatically distribute the cover- age costs. Such a plan would at the same time make available the.single covering to all five companies. Big Economies The vast economy to be obtained is seen when it is realized what elaborate steps are taken by news-;, reel boys every time the President leaves Washington. Whenever the nation's chief executive, goes travel- ing, there are 15 represshtatives of the different news weeklies who go along. With some sort of an A. P. newsreel set-up, his migrations could be handled efficiently by a crew of three. With national news covered (Continued on page 30) A. P. IDEA > • . — . Allied Again Flirting with Group Buying Plan, but Looks Like No Dice I H'wood Miracle Hollywood, March 24. Jean Madden, newcomer at; Warners, gets her first part in 'Stage Struck,' without under- going name change or make- over by remake mob. Warbler was given usual .scrutiny and catechism and found to be okay as to nose," mouth, eyebrows, h < and all. IN LOOP Chicago, March 24. Bit by bit the loop houses are working back to the former, peak box-office scales of the pre-depres- sion er Experimental and tenta- tive, price boosts at straight picture and vaudefllm houses with excep- tionally strong' attractions naVe proven successful from- every.stand- point. Public has shown .no adverse reaction to the price tilt, where the pictures and stage shows have been of strong quality. Loop generally is angling for a retu; n to a price- top of 75c at the first run houses, other than in the notably bargain spots of the State- Lake and Oriental. Originally opened at.a .55c peak admission, the Balaban & katz Apollo and Garrick have successively boosted their rates to C5c and then to 75c. Gar- rick hiked the rate to 65c, on 'Mag- nificent Obsession' and corralled a mighty gross. Last week the Apollo topped that figure when it went to 75c on Saturday and Sunday for 'Pasteur (WB). This places the Apollo on the same level at the ace Chicago. United Artists ran at 75c top for 'Modern Times' and that picture wll. continue at six-bits on its holdover at the Garrick. Evea the Oriental and State-Lake are looking for some angle to get their prices above 40c top. State- Lake has a 35c top on week-nights and 40c op week-ends, but would like to boost this to 40c all through the week.-' Is waiting until the Oriental goes to 45c or 50c before making the move, however. Exhibs Fear Possibly Increased Overhead When Ops. Merge Unions Notable progress is reported in the proposed merger of Local 306 (New York Operators), Allied Op- erators and Empire State, with an agreement following numerous con- ferences regarded as close at hand. George E. Browne, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, who has given his approval to the merger, may lend a hand" in reaching merger accord. The I.A. is vitally interested in the matter since it would Mike to see New York organized: Three unions up to now have caused a disorgan- ized and complicated state. One of the most important prob- lems to ho worked out prior to ef- fecting the 30C-AHied-Empii'O. mer- ger is some provision for the loiv-i- Iprm enntrne.ls many Gi'eater New York exhibitors have with Allied Operators. This contract, original- ly written for 10 years and binding both ways, has about seven years to go. The theatre owners an* de- clared f.avoring the merger, but will j*nol: approve scrapping of I His AI- ll"d vonlfact with new seahui *nd conditions to be Imposed at the will of the combined unions when merg- ing into 306. While they declare that increases may be worked out here and there, where most deserv- ing, but that on the whole their un- expired' Allied contracts will have to be considered. The 306 policy of two men In n booth at the same time as against one is another matter that ex- hibitors are watching with interest. Kxpectation in their ranks is that once the merger is effected tlie. com- bination of the unions will make an effort to put more m^n to work by increasing the number necessary in booths. The exhihs will want to be assured on this point before the;, make any concessions on their Al- lied agreein'Mils. The IJi'-t) demand for wn. mnnb'-r oT men in boolhs is ex- plained as the rc'isnn for the or- ganization of Kmpire and Allied, with imni< , di.' , .le support from Inde- pendent theatre men. Ix'eaus-e i!ie>,' 'unions did not in>i--t on I'm- sun-- demands as utMJ. rch 24. two' years''" Allied locally is once more starting to put out feelers for the possible resump- tion of a general buying circuit for the bulk purchase of pictures. Aaron Saperstein, chief of the or-, ganizatlori, is understood contacting every indie exhibitor in this city for; possible association with the buying group despite the fact that two years ago all cooperative buying circuits were Wiped out by the re- fusal 'of the distributors to. sell product to unaffiliated groups. Allied is starting,: reports of an 80-theatre circuit, which, if it went through; would make it the most powerful buying group in the.mid- west. Exchanges,. queried on 'this possi ility,.all.have the same state-' nient: they, individually, will not sell pictures to such a group. Distributors le'arned:their strengt two years ago when they licked.the buying groups on this plan, .and it is unlikely that the exchanges! .will change their minds at this time, since a buying circuit for the indie houa.es would mean at least a 15% reduction in rental.prices. Court Allied off and oh jias threatened to go to the courts to force,the ex- changes to sell product to the buy* ing organization, .and there., is a., good likelihood that if the buying group is-again formed and the dis- tributors again reject negotiations with the group, that the. buying cir- cuit will appeal to the courts. Exchanges, have steadfastly stated that they will sell to circuits only when those houses are-' under the same management, and tli they won't"dp business with a group which is formed solely for the pur- pose of group bartering. For Allied it means a resumption of a battle which it.has been dis- cussing in its meeting. rooms for the past two years, Allied has been pretty quiet'in town for the past year, and this buying circuit angle. Is the evident crux of a new battle which will again bring the indie exhibitor organization into tli limelight. Exchanges have okayed booking circuits as a convenience, and today there are three fairly important groups for. organized independent booking: the Allied group with some 15 houses, Lou Reinheimer with 10 houses, and Jack Rose with five. Indie exhibitors are talking boycotting exchanges which will re- fuse to .sell to indie buying groups, and.' with the distributors -showing a united front, the indications are for a genuine knockr'em-down-and- drag-'em-out battle in this territory by the start of the new film selling season. Distributor, arc being careful to keep out of any official meetings, but they are all of the same mind on this buying circuit question. DISNEY STAFF COMBS EAST FOR ANIMATORS Hollywood, March 2 Unable to line up suitable ani- mators on Coast, Bon Graham and George Drake of Walt Disney ear- toon animation art department, an Garter Ludlow, business rnanagt-s-, are currently In Xew York to can- vass drawing talent. Trio plans to remain east for two months, hoping to cull 10 to 50 ani- mators from among 4..Via appli- cants. EINFEID WEST. FOR A WEEK j ("ha: lie K.mfeld leave, tomorrow ' fThiirs.) by plane to huddle o ' pi" n'lMCl. V\ i'l b" nest less than a week, 1 Ulld'-r pi:'