Variety (May 1936)

i*; 1936 By MIKE Wear stocks climbed higher In yester- day's Cruffi:^ trading Mfith aimisip'- jmeni sSctpr' • coiiilng In - for full sftare of. attention. Seyeral amuse- ment issues boasted^lns of a point and greater. • Columbia Pictures ctfs. rallied 1 % points I' Keith jpfd. cl Imbed 2 points to. 90; Paramount 2d p£d. lifted ..same amount to 69%; and Loew commoh pushed forwiard more than a-pplnt to .47>^:, .Another strong feature vfiia 2Qth Cent-Fox p£d. which, adyahced neaMy. 2 points, to 33%.' Company's cotnmon firmed up to .24. Technicolor' was up nearly a/joint, .^trength also was 8ho\vn Taiy "Warner Bros, dom- Ttidn, "BKO, Paithe, iall RCA issues, ConsoIMated Film. coinino& and pre- ferred and .Par' fii'at preferred. Eastman Kodak .was. up'"2 joints., ParamouhiC Plctut'eis 6s soared -2 Jjolhts tp . 88>/5 While RKO debeii- tui!es ■advanced same-amount to (jl^neral .Theatre liens were up 1%. ^K^th, i)6nds gained a point while' ..iibew 3^^s tlnd Warner Broi?. obli-' ga,tI6ns Were higher. ... After ■further weakness Jh- the forfepa^t of the weeki the " stock market managed to rally in the clos- ing sessions ah<t' hold iuahy gains. ■Extent of t^e decline wis plaihly In - dlcafed ' by . 'the : manner^ In which ' anlusements - .$old, .off. Amusement Grbup ,dipped to 39%, lowesjt ppini encountei'ed .thls ye^, as itteasuted -Jtjy. _ th6. ^yilrages for. 12 rejpreseht^-.' tivift stbcks; ' ' ' " Frorti ■'^tKis loW level,' th© roiup exe^ut-^d. a. smaTrt; aboutrface -to' i'clljfltxb-Blightly ttelQW 40%. Closing point'.was,40%, which made a loss of 0.448 of ,a point for this Qroup, i^ncpuraging factor was that the volume was down markedly, along with the averages. jDrlye dgalnst high stock, prices "produced'a finish .crop of hew 1^36 ibws in |he anSuseDrtent' list; 'Ten stocks and Hpne.'bond w.ere in this . cat^gbryi -.. Stocks :• to sell down to new. lowSf . and . their low <iu6tationSi ..iiiplude:;Amdricaii^eating,, at' 18; ^^Columbia pictjares ^tfat 31% i /.jgonsoydated piiin.,'ftt"i%i,pfa. of , .same...at 16%;. Eastman i{;pdak, , at * itfe; '■ Ofen^ral '*Jlfe6ti-ic, at 34%; .Ka- dia Cbi»p" ;pbmmt5n,' at Raiaio <Ciontini|«dr>3ni page 41) Yesterday's Prices COO aoo e.200 3,000 2,000 200 3,400 7,000. 100 1,000 4,000 400 7,300 700 100, 10,000 3,000 0,000 104,000 2,000 24,000 Con. ^-ilirii -4% East. K...102 den. El... 37^ Loew .... 47% Paramount. 8% Do 2a pf 60% Pathe 0% RCA ion Radio B.. f>i% Baa let pt 71 RKOi ...... «Vi 20th-Po>c 24 w. B...;..ip% %URB Tech. : 27v6 Trans-li .. 3% BO.NDS Gt^n. Th...24i/& I<;eJth ..,..03 Loew .\..,m% Paramount 8ff RICO i...., 05 W. B..,.. 08 as ■.Sir/44-1%:. 161 101 +2 30Vi 30V* . :40% 47%+l>i 8% , 8% ■60% . 00% .+2 .«% 0 + % 10^ 10V4 + % 04% 04% 4-..% 70% 70% + % «%+% " + % + .% 6 23% 24 0% 10 27 27% 4-%' 3% ?%. ! •24 '24M!+1%: 02% 08 +1 flO'4 06%+ .%• 87 88H+2 64 05 +2^ 02 02 + *6 L. A. to Ni Y. Bfarry Goldberg. John. Boles.. R6x; Cole. Rpwiand A.' Sylvia Sidney. XiOuIs .Sobbl. Shelia 0raham«. ; Irene Dunne.. Paul Kelly. •Will H. Hays. .:(3e,orgb Hickeyt '^iCJiai'tdn Lyncli./ )■ a^l^f J^,.r,^waTi)5on» ' Irving Berlin. .. Arthur , S. Lyons. . ^^d^Braun; --^;- - ' v: Rbb|rt >Edmpn^ jph!e$. / Fred Keating." * 'pave IViiller. Gene.Towne. A. H;:Hackd:,; Charles'Vanda. Ken Prpgley. ;Eas{Qi|i l^f^zes at , . ' \ /' . ikpilywobd, Mi^i 6. Af^et* wPrjiing fPr two days tbying to strafehten out script handeji hlia by sfudioi; Breeisy Bason wallced at Repul^dlc from ■ directorial a«(8ign- ment on 'Wings of the Wasteland,' John Wayne starrer. j Eason went of^ the payroll of his own volition.. when.-nptifled .by ^ol Selgei, studip isupervisbr, .that.:; he vyiould have-tb 9hpot from, the bi^ig- inal script. 'GOD COUNTRY' REMAKE BY WB IN TECHNICOLOR m C.onglder^^Jfle ^It in the tC^de ..^Jresa last t^gflk ov^if'thej;40t|^)5{nniver Hollywood, May 6. ' Assignment to direct Warnerd' all Technlcoibr.talker remake of .'God's Country and t^e ,Woman,' Jamjes dilver Curwbod novel, goes to Wil- liam Keighley,;. Pi^iire. .was prl$l- naily produced by Vitagraph ,20 years ago. New Version will have Bette Pavis and - George Brent' in top .spots. Peter Milne, Norman . ReiUy Ralpe and Charles Belden jpreparlpg Screen play. ■■■ . ... Hoilywppd,. May 5. *MaX „0^;einei; ,,haa' signed a . joint; jcontjrac^ ■with ScilznickrlnteKinaUbnaX^ ahd.'PlQiiiger^ as .minsicaV director!. . He' swing? . 0V4if 'from ^tadlo. Mai7 Pickforcl Settles 1 Suit, Scores in Another Tlie 1260,000 action brought against Mary-Plckfotd three years ago by ■ a' former-, manager, Edwafd Hepi- mer; fpir breach of contract was $ettled. ouf.-of . rrcourt, -it became known Friday (1) when- a-stipula>; tipn; calling off the sUit was entered' by attorneys for both sides with the clerk of the U. S; District Court, N. Ti' Terms of the Settlement not made, public. .v^- . Hehimer had charged Miss Pick-' fofid with ^lot living-ttp to an agree- ment-jmade ..while, she, was the wjife '.of> Owen rMpore that be Avas to; re- cetve peBcentage' of., her earning^ ... iMlsa. Plckfbrd wag ^partial victor ;.iln. a-'se.cond..sultvagaIhst..iier in the' Federal CpurtV Judge Murrayi Hiil- be^jt granting, a..motion' to dismiss two. of fpurvcauaefiJn the $250,000 suit for. li.bel bifouBht,.'by. j! Ray- mond. I CprnfiU,; aji. pEgaH:-salesmah. An .,a.rtiQle. .pu1;)lished...ln,..January,• 1J34, in,, the Bostpa. Advertiser■ is. .cited. Her, attorney moved. dit»miBB the entire action, l?ut Judge Hulbert only granted the motion relating to the alleged oral libel. .Tiial ;Qf the alleged libel.contained in the hows- paper article la expected to be held later this month. ■ KyskindV U Deal Hollywood, May J. MorrJe,,Rysklnd, who has' been scrii)j;j(njp;?aijy;^^^ it' tjni- v^rsil, "is negotiating a producer's contract with the .studio. .< Peal, • ii'epPrlted: In the signing stage, calls for writing and produc- ing. GROOmNG JANE WYATT Hollywood, May 5. ,Universai--has acquired the screen rights, to 'Class Prophecy,' McCall jnag story by Lenore Griffln, aa a Jinne Wyatt starrer. N. Y. TO L. A. Xpm D. Gppi^ii^ane.. Peter, ttbrre...: f. .B^rthold .Viertei» I ArthurOprdpnl. :Herman,.'Bemie» Ed Perkins. Eastern Agents talking Of Hollywood Offices Herman. Bernie Is opening a Coast agency .In HollywPod. The brother of Be'h ijernie has been .vItj tually commuting between; tibth cpasts .aligning talent for .Bernle's American Can air show, along with oth^r . deals. ' .Arti>ur Gordon!, former musical comedy juvenllej , latterly^ lii the brokerage,,husiness, came back to show biz. with his Tassumptibn of , the Hollywood' branch management. Gor<[.o.nl accompanies Bernie to the Coast. ' Lou Jrwlh \6 another N.Y. agent iplapnlng a. Coast oflftce.. Had been heretpfpre operai;ing direct^ .when .making the. .Etjael .M-erman. .deal?. Zap. Freedman has left tbe .irwin office to-'become,'g.m, of .Gus- Ed—- wards' .Stip-Window' .on. Broadway; i^6ok^d<.byv^erman Bernie..I^br^tiie .Anierican ■ Can..Vi(Ben Berjiie);.. shpw as gu^at.< stars are,,^^brton^ipbwney for last i^ght (5.)-ii^-i^nny i^^s, 12; Bobe, .P^n|els and Ben .tiypn from .the Cpas.t. ..X9; Beybriy Rpberts, 26. sary b|!, the :9how|ng Pj( the ^V^ftascope, Invented; Iby Jotih Artna^irhproved by.:C. Frances ,;.JbnkifiB, an'df,sponsored! 1.by jTjiomaa, A. .Edftoij. firat 8ho\ying of the device Was at' Koster & Rial's April 23, 1896. Hbwever,. a couple of years earlier saw the liatham's Eidploscppe dis- played In a downtown N. T, store room, but the Lathams chiefly special- ized in pii'lzeflghts. and. th^rq. w6.a little; to iibhpw in.! between Wig fights In tb^.laU^^'.itarl of I89ii;^1§e.i1i^ shoWil'at the Eden Musefe;'bat little pr^'ss woi-k-was done for tliis deVlce, and the Kbister & Blal showing took on the importance of a premiere. In June, 1896, B. F. Keith arranged with the Ed^n Musee to relinquish it!s.exclusive contract and took machines for his fpUr theatres in Boston Prpvldieitice, New Tork (tJnlph Sq.) and Philadelphia.. He had been bfCered. the rights tp the out-of-town spots shprtly after, the Musee made its first 8hb)ving, but declined .to contract until he could get all .four' franchises, When this had been dohe Koster. & Rial, >irho had dropped the machine froih their music hall, put it back,; "The Biograph came in in Septentber of that yeax', showing, in .New York at the Hjammersteiu piymplavdater the New York theatr.e), and featured. plctures of William McKinley, then a presidential candidate^ M^^^nley planned, his famous 'front porch* campaign, «nd a hart dozen clips-Were all th?, rest of the country got in the way p£ personal appearances.. ^Pictures were shown in England and. France be^^ore they were seen here, and it was the pressure of 1 his phonograph agisnts, Raff ,& Qammon, for something with which tp-fight'the,Lumiere and Paul macliines^ which led to the sponsbrship. by Edisoii of the Arqiat device.; Otherwise it's- a'perfectly good anniversary, 1;' #" . I . . .' Sole immediate business relations currently between Hal .Home and RKO Radio id-his agency^ Blackdtone .Advertising, representing sbl Leaser's Principal Pictures whicH has a new distributing arr,ahgement with RKO, The other ^tfflllatioh is an bid friendship between Hprne and Leo Spitz, the new RKQ liresldent, which, has' given rise to reports of Home's connectlbn with the company in inibliclty and advertising. Home, last director of pub and ad for Unite.d Artists, bought into the Blackstone Agency upon resigning, H|ome made it a point .<tp explain to Si Barrett McCormlck, the' RKO publicity 'and advertising director, that it's seemingly a mistake for another freelance ad man to lunch -^ocially, in public, with a film ■ cpmi>any-president, that being the'only excuse, presumably, for the' report. TVliile Coiuni'bia Picture$' eamingia for the six months ended Dec. 29 last held close to those .reported, for .slnnilar period in preceding year. Wall Street wlU'nPt be surprised if the/March 'quarfer net profit is dis- appointing. The two previous qUartex's showed earnings of '$^2.74 . per share against $3.26 for tlie' six months ended'in December, 1934. Bulk of decline , in per share'earnings was attributed' tp increase In number of outstanding shares. . . Pesp'ite expectation of' comparatively pbor report for threfe moiitiis Ending March 29, the street iq . looking fpr a pickup in the subsequent quarter because of two features'that arq counted on *to gross heavily natipnally. ' * ''■ Cpui't actlbiis; counter-suit's and conflicting statements by various rela- tives, which in .fricent Weeks have surrounded the'.ifilm career of-Freddie Bartholomew.'have b^en a thorn in the side'bf . the Hays'organizailoh. HaysIantf Yealifee "that Officially' I^^^ no aftalr- of theirs but'-l^iew the present'squab'bl^ over this youthful stac'.-a^'detrimental to the-industry a^whole!'-f ; ^ M^-t- ' ; .■■> ; . ' Degpite' eS^'Ideht annpyance'oVer clambr "that has arisen as a result of fight f6'r''6hitd*8'eustody. Hays' oiflce will take no actipn. Believe that situation ^n' be most-eff*?ctively handled by producer to whom Bartholo- mew is Under contract. ' ■ '■ i' WarnersV Share About $4bd,0(K)--RICD and Par Abeiit $250^000 It has.cost 'Warners approximate- ly an e.stimated $.400,000 to fight the tiiree attempts of the :Government in that situatiph to Inflict penalties not pnljr bn'^V^rners but.,-alsd RICO arid .'"Raramo'uit • i^ii^' certain • ^indi- Vidtfal^.' Fanclidri & MarPb's^law- 's*eftfe,>fs^lthe *5pst.'^ held; to "nave-tafceli ^hi^r.*"asslgnmeh'ts • on contingency, "^so that only the de- .fendants and the Government In- curred heavy expense. ' The..'Government is .figured to h^ye spent an tiStimated $15Q,p00- In it?., three legal attempts-to penalize the .defendants, on behalf of F. A.M., While, RKO arid Paramount ari^ the ^niiinerous individual defendants, ag- gregately, .may iiave., incurred an expense, of .arojun*? ■$250,.Q00. the litigating cost? have,. j-.cloE«i.:.tp v^jl^OOp.OOO fpr everybody concerned, in the aggire- gat'e. ^'■"■ .". ■'■ ; ' :^ mr cm .. .Hp\V(ev^i% . Eanchpn & . ■ Ma^co, whiciii haf5 borne only .the . minimum of legal expense and trial costs in these three Government suits in which they were the underlying complainants, incurs a possible $l,qO0,00O obligation In acquiring St. i;jOuli3 domination. This would include the 10-year payments of the .^345,000, sum to be paid by F. & M. for the Warner the- atre i)roperXy equities.. Additlbnally, F. & M, Is held to have. Incurred, operating losses In St. Louis in the, past two years aggregating up- wards of $250,000. This Is additional to F. & M.'s estimated original in- vestment in St. XiO.uls, amounting, to around $400,000. Fanchon & Marco borrowed cer- tain of the funds'* with which it en- tered the St. Louis theatre.area. There may be an underlying connection between the Govern- ment's suits and that state court suit filed not so long ago agairist the same compahy defendants by the Attbrriey General of, Missouri In St. Lou'Iis. "This state court suit la ex- pected tp bO' abandoned in connec- tion' pr. as a result of the settle? riient of the restraint of trade suits of the Government. .: When Fanchon & Marco first ap- proached Washngtbn aobut starting a criminal Or equity suit- in St. Louis, .the TDepartment of Justice is held to have rebuffed, the grPup, Sk'ou'i'as' Bros; are personal guar-,- antors oh millions of bonds'on 'cer- tain of" the P, & M. operated prop- erties In St. Louis. St. Louis Amus. Co. is in receivership and SkoUras Bros. Bnterpi'lises owns 52^ of this company. :Hays Also In-C'ri It Wili ilays, besides iSpt Rosenblatt,, is also held to have' had a :fi'nger Iri the. settlement and to have .steered the si'tiiation. Sothe. time ago Sidney R. .Kent, president ,of 20th Centtary-rFox. agreed to' serve as arbitrator,* bnt the idea exploded, Warners' arid f;. & M; each charging the other caused the breakui). Warners has been most '.insistent In de.siring a figbt to a finish so that the iiurrled settlement is one of those conjectural rriattcris in' the trade, especially in view of the fact that the defendants Were victorious in the crlmlrial suit in St. Louis and could claim victory in the Govern- ment's fl.i'st equity suit in St. Lpuls. from- wliich the Government with- drew, after trlai had been pro- tracted. Feeling has been that the Government stood slight chance of victory irt its third effort, in NeW York. ■ The high litigating- expense., in- curred is given as having been a principal reason for Warners suc- cumbing to settlement. The iri^tltutlng- of a State Court suit by the Missouri Attorney Gen- eral, iri St. Louis, also may ■ have had a' disappointing effect on the de-> fendantfl. - info-around-«ollywood-6t»idibir-t3-that-Adolf. Hi is pertu.rbed~pver tenor of speeches delivered at diriner to Prince zu Jjowenstejin of Bavaria lU: film colony a. week ago, 'and that .ban,. agWnHjAnierjLcan^ ^n*° Germany may^^bp. ordered |bt; retaliation. Uridefcpveir' woy4: that has irtSapiied varifeyS' ij^ts' iii-th^^ haft been, given transcript of .the speeches' arid that vd;i'astic action, .may: be expected, Major producing-disir;>|j,utipg jp*^^ are\ little, disturbed, as Dundee present derman setiup. prohibiting money being; taken out of cpiintry, American films-are ggjuiig little OF.^nothing as ts»« '■ Coast radio, producer went, for a flash job off a used car lot,, dolled it up and put it out for rental to film studios.^ - Biz not so forte yntil major plant took b,us for a few days at $30 a day. Later when producer called at. studin f.pr. hfis car he w.as ,t6ld it Would be another 10 .days before they ivvould be .through with it., D.eveloped that set wa.s-built in too close piroximity to grie. housing thp rented-car. thatlt would ;be necessary to dismantle n^w. set before car could be moved; That was okeh with pro- ducer,..nett4ns ^iiim $300, ..which Was what he paid for the four-wheeler. -Palm Springs pi*operty owners, and many of < the film colony who fre- quent the California desert resort, are alarmed as to-what may happen If the government should, fail- tp renew leases ixeld by Indians on 3,500 acres; surrpunding the resort^ >v;hich • expire next month afteir .25 years. Feared that if leases are- not re-newed it will precipitate a. lapd rush of . undesirables to the t^ritory which would affect exclusivpnesfr; of resort and depreciate .property values. Because of an odd mixup-in Metro bookings which it is deplared, how- ever, was not Intentipnal,-'.Absolute Quiet' -was'jerked from ,the Rialto, N. Y., Sunday vnlght (3) after , three days. Arthur .Mayer,, .operating the Sialto, learned the'picture-was. current at the Met, Brooklyn, i on. a. dual bill, and had been booked", into-several other twiriners concurrently with his rim,' Mayer put iri '"rhree on .a; Trail'.(Par) and revived the 'Life of Pemjpsey' short Monday mopning - (4). Spotted in a picture after iiavlng tough time, getting Work; in past two years, actor..heid up unit for several- days on-location by, insistihg di- rector's conception of actor's part was all wrong,; When producer heard of the controversy he called the actor in from location, told him to obey the director's iristructions pr take a walk for hiriiself. Actor returned to location greatly chastened. Final specifications for new 2,000-ft, reel to -be adopted by industry after Aug. 1 have been issued by Academy research couricil. Reel meas- ures 14% Inches in diameter Svith a four-inch hub. Original specification called' for 15 inches With five-inch hub. Change was made following nationwide survey with reasoning that' projection machines could better handle smaller spooL Unexcbanged. Radio Preferif'ed. B stock may be exchanged for new first preferred and common nnder the corporation's recap plan up to and In* eluding May'22, according to action of directors of RCA last week. Originally expiration date was set as of May Iv Corporation at sarrte time announced, that thus far 89% of Radio B. stock had been presented for exchange, as of April 30. Hollywood: pre§s agent took quite a dressing down from prominent nim star for being unable to plant story of his life In Sate^epost, Player reported suffering a slick mag complex. Gene Autry is attempting to secure adjustment from Republic on bnl- aiice of five years still to go on seven-year pact. Western star feels tn (Continued on. page 29)