Variety (Nov 1936)

24 VARiETY Ife^tsdaj, November 18, 1936 Akodw^ Allied Nowlp. Mull What to Do linW Enpre Reaching accord oil aldsorptipn of Allied Operators by Local 3i06, which is affiliated with the American Fed- eration of Labor, Mayor F/ H. LaGuardia> special,, cpininissibn pn the dreater : New york booth - uation is preparing tO ; consider the status of th^ Empire State iinipn and whether or not this o^r^anizatidn shbuld also be broiight into the; 306 fold. Thie commission hadr planned meeting in the office of Howard S. Cullmah at the Roxy, one of its' members, on Friday (13), but dcr elded on a postponement in order to . give the sitviatipn more study. While St coioference with Einipi^e officials and represieiiitatrves of the. ttiea- fre chains iemploylng Empire pro- jeictionists may be called for later in the wtselt, u|) to yesterday (Tuesday) la date had not been set. ~ The Empire union,; operating tinder ■i'N. Y. states charter, something that isn't bbtaiiiable any more fpllowiiig repeal of tlie chartering laws, pre-, ceded Allied into the independent field and for a time was engaged in ft severe war with Local 306 for control of liooths* This riv^ty wais amicably isettled a^d with Empire confining^ itself almost entirely, to iBrobklyii, it has not been aa soiirte pf /tepuM* in the^ 1^ : :In the opiiiion of informed union menV th6 imii^ ^ sider so far as absorption of Empire i$ concerned, is whiether pr not the '.ujnemplo;jfe<a iUst; i^^^ 306 will be in- - CKase4 1^ by admittance of liil Em)p men. llMs! union is claimed io have around. 450 members, of whitjh only .^bout ISO are etnpldyed at pr^eht Alilied. is claimed to Jbave around 275 dien, 6^ only ;arp.uh(|.a;4ozsn and 'tHfes^ 'iwihg men At the present time, 306 . has an. vciiieittployed .roll of ' approxi- mately 300 andi every nbw and then^ :with, the. ciiy . :having . resumed licenses to op^i 306 is bombarded by groups running tp as high as 40 a day whb are seeking mlemb^ tl^t .Arganizatipn^ Hpllywppd, Npv;; Alex Warshanrsky, vet Pa^is paihter, holding preview of this year's canvaseis at Stanley Rose's galleiry on Hpllywppd Boulevard, suggested to itpse that it might te a gopd idea to get out searchlights ahd aU the studio preview props. 'Better not,' said Rose, 'theyll think.it's only another open air. market, and stiay^ away in droves.* ifactory either to the e>chib or dis^ tribiitor. ,. . Highly dubious if Metro would [corporate a specific clause in con- tracts on top . pictures prbhibitmg their showing on dual bill, rriuch as it might be desired, as long as .the decision of thie U, R Circuit Cpurt of Appeals in Philadelphia stands or , is being appealed ; to higher courts. Opinion of blest company minds is I that iuch inclusion in exhibitor con- tracts would be legally fallacious. The conciliation plan proposed; by More Sunshine Sacramento, Nov. 17. GrouPj of Cioiifomians is readying a^ daylight saying bill for the legiislature iii January, Plan is to change the time April 26 until Siept 27, AT Flaks After Baho xne. conciiiauon Fi«u* i'»v»^-''r_.._. w. v «m I (Pt . ""r " MPTOA is exiMscted to be supported Cd||rM COIIlto SIlQWS Fair. . by Metro and other companies if I tVl VWHH^ vwmtwr u"^:^''| _ majori^ of the majors favor it.and such caii be set up without conflict- ihg with anjd^trust laws. Paris, Nov. 9. Trbhcii execs, .the Paris "37 Expo, want to ihake the (pinein oiie of the biggeist attractions of the code, but the effect of this was en- tirely nullified in another article; ihtw WAsklacten yicwt It Washington, Nov. Recreation of Government super- vision pver industry and business through the medium- of Federal (Continued from page 5) Kchire Tides ttf Get Year's trial- liondon, Nov. Cp-bper^tibn of the iiays bffice Iii the U. S. is sought by the Film Pro- ducers* droup of the Tederation of British Industries ill a plan to reg- Built right under the Ei Baltimore, Nov. 17.. 1 Hall will have all local houses Flaks Bros., operators of several beaten for sheer butside Negro nabe houses, are dickering fbr j gi(|e, whole hi^ry of the film in- the Palace, now: darki with ide^pf Lj^j^ tions arb concluded, it wiU be first pix what they are will be traced time that a theatre with a largely the early choppy days to the colored patronage, :i»as ^vof b^j^ j^^^^^ja color pr^ iticated outside Baltos black belt **** ■^. . SS^.OoSSaterrwhich formerly Relief or three - dimensional re- played burlesque, - * " heart of Ueurchbs, fabrication of fl^ Baltb's downtown. ■ devdopliag, printhag and projeclirig—; liast week the Flaks Bros, made everything pertaining to cinema— overtures for the Auditorium, iiidie | wiU W presented in complete iash- legit theatre operated by Leonard B. McLaughlin, but bid yras turned down. ion. To make ^ haU an igger b.o, attraction, the Gbmmissaires eh- Ucensing rather than another code; isteir aU mo- system is rogarded as likely in politi- tion picture titles, with a view to cal quarters. iiniile Pi 'sident Roosevelt and Ad- ministration officiaiis.'u«- described.l as still anxiotis tb bring abput more | istringent control of working cbn- ing conditions and tirade, practices, prbspect is that the New Deal will | not essEky a revival of the Natipnal industrial Recpyeiy idea, instead, ! briin trusters and legal experts aro groping fpr a different technic which will avoid any brushes with the U. S. Supren«e Court and obviate the ( need for getting th pebple tp iratify c Constitutional Amendment A number of alternative theories I eliminating all future clashbs^ Here the Kinematograj* Renters „— Board of Censors are tb be aske4 to I P"»P«^ ^ Flakses want to get into cbmpetish visage cbaxing Italy to allow the with vaudiaimer Royal; colored nabe Venice annual Aim competition to site operated by Stiefel Bros^ who Uake'place lierc jtist that once have similar ventures in PhUly and Washington; Flakses, for * years , «ununer. At that time plan was to assist. With scheme scheduled to I ijuij^ « ,ww house With; policy to b^ open a teial period of 12 months L^mlHt shows, arid an oW hreweVy from Jan. 1* with titles regfeterable site Was bought and cleared fpr the from Dec. 1. Jprbject .before much iwnsfructa^^ Regulations as agreed at sessions I was done, Flafcses gave up ide^ and of tho PBJ. have beeii circulated tp [ are noW offering Ipcatipri fpr. sale, all prpducer members, with follpwf ing points as. inajbr principles bf operation: I^lan will operate through a TiUes Cbmniittee, v^th every member Of | and suggestions , are imder examiha- l ^he droup nominating one represent tibn. with most seribus study being [ utive; made of the Federal incorporation registers will be opbnbd, plan advanced Jast year by Senator titled Priority List and Reserve List, i ------ "^i^ .- smaller coni- p-I^Aoney of Wyoming .md backed^^^^^ blT the JtoneMdiiK Federation of Ubmit iSrtitles^p^^ t»^^iffiv?«u^^i^M^ Labor. Means,of strengthenmg the for record on b^^^^ Priority 1«»eLteiSiS?ii?^^^ ^ (Continued from page >1) soiding any pictures into Italy; Some fear expressed, on some swes with cut-thrbat cbmpetitibn and violators pf fbir. trade practices. As a bbnsequerice, ' the new NRA cbdie and bdnunistrative machinery jpreinises to be bne With "plenty of teeth i it,* It will .have the same objectives, .as the old,, undoubtedly, biit the approach ^ill be tottdly dif < ferent. Mistakes ; made Under the original Code Administration prob ably will be, avoided in, the new. The old NRA act, declared uncon- stitutional^ has expired, which wiir necessitate, new legislation by Con- gress wheii it; coriveneis next -Janu- ary;; because thbre is little likelihood that the «rieW Blue Eagle administra- tion will be hurriedly enactej^ like the old, it probably will not be per- fected for 12 to 18 months. If a con- stitutional amendmbnt is necessary, the new NRA. will riot be ready for operation possibly fbr a year and, a half. Tbe Old Flaws General feelhig in the iridustry is that , the oId \Code Administration (NRA) Was working for the common good of all in the bufsiness. although details bf its operation bogged down near the ClOsirig.^days. The defbcts of enforcetneht were so apparent that leaders were' sieriously corisl<iering the advisability of revising it for the fibn business, when it was declared unconstitutional. Principal flaws devblpped, it is be lieved, because most of. the codes were hastily drawn and badly shaped. With the picture industry many of them represented a series oi I compromises that were often confus ;irii^ arid : Sometimes contradictory when plabed in vbperatipri. Local ^ J)pards_ia».rb .entrusted with admi istering and. interpreting . the code . proVisioris. They did what they could but the; t¥isk was: ticklish, at best, especially bn zbriing arid clear- ance matters;. Many of the mbst damaging trade prbbleriis were practically ignored. Typi(i£il was the treatment of .doubler .featuring. Ruling Was that therb Was hb butstariding opinion among eichibitors and distributors, and so no starid was taken under thb NRA. Nbii-thbaitr'ibdt ebiApetish was spe-^: cJflcally liaiicUed :ia bne clause of the CMahpney bill and . niaklng it Supreme Court-prbof are sbught by legal sharp-shboters. Ilie hunch that President R,bbse velt Will urge Congress to db somC' thing about clbser Federal policing of both industry bnd labor is hbld in all quarters. With the. White Hpuse mum on the siibjebt, thei'e has been no attempt to th<<iw cold water on suggestions that Corigress take an other Whirl at the problem. While many industrialists, as well ais labor unions, aro laying plans for a drive in the. national legislature this winter. Just whbt is; in the AcUninistra tibn*s: mind is expected; to coriie out next month ait the second annual conference of the Presidents Coun cil on industrial progress.. This group, cbriiiprising riiostly smiQl bust ness representatives anti .A.F.L; mbgu^f has ..been summoned , for Dec. 10-11, with invitations going to Hal Roadi Bv^ets & jpfltanacals At |50(MMK) Per Each Hollywood, Nov. 17. tiral Rbabh will iriake six special Almusicals, to be prbduced at cost of not less than $500,000 each for the curient ^ Metro program, producer I anriburiced f oUbW!lrig. his ^tutri here after six weeks of conference In New York; First of the Roaclt musicals to go into production la . *Pick a Star,* coriiedy revue including .all of pro- ducer's top. talent , it's ah [ Sedgwick productibri,: Sedgwick also directing. Cast includes Jack Haley, Laurel arid Hardy, .Mischa Aubr, Patsy , . « gethet without hesitation. List Will include all new or original * befpre Hays arrived in Italy titibs not previbusly in use, either jj^^^ jj^j^^j^ cDridi-J cepyright or no longer Mpyright, or ; « ^ « . t unpublished. Reserve List wiU m-| Ariierican flhn folks an alternative Kelly, Lyda Robeirti, Rosina, Law- mbney plan. Under the new laws reri presented "" bb^ut six weeks agb, Tom Dugan* RusseU Hicks, Spencer which caused the U; S. walkout bn Italy", American Aimers were per- mitted tP take 25% of their money elude ail others. 'HORRIFIC FILMS' Charters,; the Beau Brumniels arid John Hyairis; LMden'v New Idea Is N4>i to AdmH of Italy if they used the other Kids to FrankenstelD -.FIx 175% for prbductiOri within the .country. Undet a still newer plan| liOndon,. Nov. 8. Americans dbn't have to go into prb- Loridon County Council, which Auction in Rome, but in that case.the I sets the standard fpr local authori- entire l66% of theiir mpniey must be | ties thrbughouV the cpimtry, has laid frozen there. Neithbr plan is accept- down a condition for motiipn picture | ai)ie to Airierican fllmdbm. Geo. White at Par? theatres that kids urider 16 must not be admitted when 'horrific pictures' are shown. Ban comes into force Jan. 1. 'Horrific fflms* are spine-chillers, which are- put into such classifica- tion by the Board of FiUh Censors Previous „ J X J -A- 1 or by local authorities. all lines and, every trade association L^^jg compelled theatres to show ^2ri!^?i'^''^«i^*i, ♦ -1, < V notices declaring such film unsuit Whether film mdustry will take' part reriiains to be seen. Last year little interest was shown in the efforts of Maj. George L. Berry, co- ordinator fpr industrial cooperation, to build new foundations for another N.RAu, but it is believed now, in the light of changed cbnditions and sen- timents, picture people will be dis- posed to sit on the side-lines even if unwilling to participate. able for Idds. New regulation will exclude juveniles completely. Bar also extends to trailers. Soph^s Show (Continued from page 1) MPTOA Angle (Continued from, page 5) ward, nor Is there ahy thought of dropping them biecause of the pos- sible return pf some NRA set-up. Metre's Stance. While Metrp has not outlined its official reply to the Motion Picture Theatre Gwriers* 10-point" program bf trade practice reform, it is uri and received cordial respbnses wish- ing success for the undertaking. Sir Oswald. has given the Coliseum fpr a midnight show Dec. 10, and there would seem to be little doubt about the ref usal bf any Airier- ican artists who are here on that night The only difficulty seems to be tp keep the British artists off the stage on, that evening, as they are enthiisiastie about the idea and such stars as .Leslie Henson have offered to. sell programs, carriage doors, etc. The organizing committee elected derstood that the company soon will Gordon Selfridge as chairman, with make pronouncement in which iria- Louis Sterling as vice-chairmari. jority of points wUl be agreed on. I The latter is holding himself re- Ml Rogers, M-G sales chief, who sponsible for all prelimiriary ex- returned from trlpj^^^^ contributed a $500_tele-' Monday (16), stated so fair an answer | vision receiving set to be utilized in to MPTOA has nbt been formulated. A spokesman for Metro ppinted out that the company already is us- ing the 10% caricellation clause and always has opposed double features. Score charge matter has yet to be settled since the company thus far has iricoiporated this in assessments to exhibitbr. Understood that the attitude of M-G on; short form con- tract fs much the same as Univer-* sal's-^which is simply that a too abbreviated form is not legally sat- any way tp secure fiinds. Gordori Selfridge donated a window of his big department store iri Oxford Street tp be used for advertising. The American ambassador arid the Lord Mayor of Lpndori are cooper ating and the services bf all promi nent Aniericans here are being requi' sitioned. Tickets will be sold at $15, and boxes disposed of by tender. Lew Leslie will stage the show. Holly wbod, Nov. Harry Rosenthal. negotiating with Jesse Lasky for a spot in 'Radi City Revels* which Lasky is produc- ing for RKO. George White is han- dling the matter for Rosenthal. White is also looking around, and is reported having Paramount in- terested in a \ «1.' Ufa Grabs Zarah Leander ieerli > Nov; 8. UFA has signed Zarah , Swedish actress, for a number of Another point seriously annoying U, S. filmers is that there has been no official communication from the Italian government; everything has been vbrbal or partially transmitted. Thtis, the various companies were individually apprised of. coriditions and told that 'this is the new law.* But every effort on anybne's part, be it the Hays office, the U. S. Dept. of Comriierce or any individual film company, get a distinct and ^^^^^ full quotation of the law in writing, I has met with an official shoulder- jjjgg Learider is currently playing shrug. to success in Vienna in a Ralph Haphazard ApprlnIs Benatzky operetta. Alexander Korda In this haphazard way Metro wa? gg„t her an offer for London, but informed that its iriiports for next Ujj,^ spot first year are limited to six pictures,' while Columbia was told ' may bring in 11 pictures.. Paramount has been limited, it was tbld, to only five films for the comirig year, , while Fox-20th and United Artists have been personally apprised they may bririg in nine films each and War- ners eight. There is rio reason given by anyone for the method of this apportlonmerit or reasori therefore. . American' filmdoiri can figure only that the Italian goverhmerit figures, SYI) HOBLER, LTD. London, Nov. 8. Sydney Horter, prolific writer of ppp thrillers, has turned himself into a company, registered in the. name of Sydney Horier's Books and Pic- tures, Ltd. Company's object is to acquire and exploit his wbrk, and. is regis- tered with ital of $50,000, which by favoring certain coriipanies asMncludes an issue of 8,000 founder against oithers, to get the film ranks I shares; squabbling arid thiis break dbwn solid resistance. What. is keeping the American companies solidly together on this, however (outside their general sol- idarity on matters of foreign policy) is that there is no ruling officially on this^_as ori any other matter, and they feai:~tliat~ any" miriute~th^ "cdri STORY BUYS Hollywood, Harry SegalVs 'Super leuth purchased by Radib. Warner Bros. Eriglish office pur- chased 'Love's Journey' from Maurice KliseTl "arid Mal~MeiTitt- ditions or terms riiight be changed, iKusell was returning from London at will of the Duce, and they (the | when^ cable caught him at Chicago. Ui S. companies) be caught farther ' ' . , ^....^ out on the limb. And the fact that Columbib is given an edge over Piar- amount, and Metrp isn't parririg Co- lumbia because Coluiribia's foreign head, Joe Seidelman, is an old hand Deal closed at Burbank Studios. N. T. CAITEBIOirS 2B EUN Criterion, N. Y., goes second run . Wednesday (25) when . pl.iyjng at foreign film trade, doesn't mean a 'Charge of Light Brigade' behind the thing. One realizes that next year Strand which closes it Tuesday (24), perhaps Republic or Grand National Operied as a first run, house last may be given the edge in Itely over week played a WB reissue, 'One Columbia. I Way Passage.*