Variety (Oct 1937)

vAnmr PrCTVRES TTediie&dlayV October 6, 1937 ONLY 4 HLM CASES FACE U. S. SUPREME COURT NEH WEEK; FWC OUTSTANDING *Ec8ta»y' Appeal—DeMilU's Tax Review a Key Case in Revenue Dept. Issues—Electrics to High- est Court—Indianapolis Action Washington, Oct. 5, Only four cases affecting the film Industry were included among the more than 400 petitions which faced the U. S. Supreme Court when it re- convened Monday (4), following summer recess. Action on some is expected next week, when jurists begin announcing what appeals they will grant. Aside from a renearemg plea In th« controversy over reopening of the Fox iVeit Coa«t bankruptcy pro- ceeSing, the sole matters growing out ot ,the picture business are more or leif^ incon$eq\ientl«l and without major iMue». First time In ieveral yearii at least one proposition of widespread Importance to the indus- try has not been on the calendar. Probably the most Important prb- , ceedlng In which Supreme Court re- view is sought is the attack upon the power of N. Y. (state) authorjl' ties tp require licenses fpr exhlbi' tions within the Empire State. Issue arises from controversy over screen- ing of 'Ecstasy/ imported film over which hullabaloo was raised two years ago. Contending the N, Y. statute in- vades Federal jurisdiction, counsel for Eureka Productions, Inc. (Sam Cummins) ia appealing from the de- cision of the 17. S. district court for Southern New' York refusing to order Gov. Herbert H. Lehman and other state authorities to permit ex- . hibitioh of the sex picture to go for- ward. Court tossed out an injuncr tion suit designed to prevent further 'interference with the scheduled un- reeling after customs siuthorities had allowed Importation of the picture. Tax troubles of Cecil B. DeMllle are involved In an appeal by In» ternal Revenue Commissioner Guy T. Helverlng from prior decisions holding the film director innocent of tax evasion. Review is sought of the four-year-old tifit Involving accumu- lated surplus of DeMUle Produc- tions, Inc., one of the cases which served, as ammunition Iqv New Dealers in recent Congressional ■TATDMBNT OF THB OWNERSniP. MANAOEMBNT, C I R C U 1< A T T ON, ETCm EEQUIRIDD by THB ACT OF CONOREBB, OF MAROK 3. WiX 0{ VRrletv, publUh^a weekly Kt Ntv Torlc, N. T., for October l. iflST. Stat* ot Now TorU, County of New Torlc. SI. B«for« m«, «• Notary Publlo in and for the Stdto and County aforesaid, peraos- ally appeared Harold Erlchs, who, buv- inc bteo duly sworn, Mcordlns to law. deposes and sayo that he la the business manager of Variety, and that the fol- lowing lit, to the best of hU IcnowledKO and belief, a ' true statement of the ownership, manasement, etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown In the- above oaptioo, required by the Aot of March 8. )U«18. embodied In Section 697, Postal Laws and Reffulations, prlnirl on the reverse of thin form, to wit: 1.' That the nantea and. addreesec nf the publisher, editor, inao4Klnf: editor, ana business manager, are: Publisher—Variety, Inc., 1S4 West 4Cib street. New York city. Bdltor->Bldne Silverman. 1)4 West 4Ath ■treet, New York ally. Managing Edltor'^None, Business Manager—Harold Erlcbe. 164 W. 46th street, New Torlt city. t. That, the owners are; Variety, Inc. 1B4 West 46th street. New Vorlt city. Sldne Silverman, 1S4 West. 4(Jth Htroot, New York City, Estate of Rime Sliver- man, 164 West 40th street, Now VorU city. 3. That the knpwn bondholJera. mort. gagoes and other security holderii awn- ing or holding 1 per cent, or more n( total amount of bonds, mortgnlieE' or other seouritlee, are; None, 4. That the two paragraph!; nex( above, giving the names oi' the owiti^t-.s. etoukhuldere and security holders, .ir iiny. contnin not only the list of siockhnlil" era and security holders as tboy apuear upon the books of the eonipany, but also, in cases where the ato'ckholdei or security holder oppears upon the boolu ot the company ns trustee or In any other fiduciary relation, the niune of iHi> person or corporation for whom suiii trustee 1b aotlng. is given, also ihot iiii' said two paragraphs oontuin gtQn>meni« embraoing altlunt's fuP knowioilKe iitnl belief ns to the circumstances nnil cun- dltlons under which etocUhoidcre nnd security holders who do not appear iipui the books of the company as tru»leo^ hold stock an(} securillcs in a ciipUcUy ether than that of a bona flde owner, and this afllant has ho reason to be- lieve that any other person, assoclHtlon or corporation has any interest, dlreci or Indirect. In the saUi etoclc, bnndn nr other securities than as so stHiert by him. 6. That the average number of copich of eaoh Issue of this publlciuion aoUI or distributed, throuRh the mails or other- wise, to jinld .subBcrlboru ilurInK ilic months preceding the date almwn :ihnv'i> la , (This infor;natlon Is ronu]rt>(l from dally publications only.) Harold Erichn, Business .M.ih:iK«r Sworn to and subucribed. bcruro me this {!'4th day of Seplembei', l'J;i7. Nathan Newmnn, Notary I'lililli- (My commission axpirea March 30, 19!lll.) headline hunt for tax dodgers. The Board of Tax Appeals originally tiirned down the Government's claim for' huge deficiency payments and the 9th (Pacific) Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reverse on the ground it had rio authority .to upset the Board's findings of. fact. AnU-Trust Other picture litigation is the anti- trust suit brbu^t by Indianapolis Amusement Co. against six distribu- tors, cha'rginil conspiracy, and con- troversy over licensing rights to sound equipinent involved in the patent pooling arrangement which terminated the radio trust case sev' erajl years back. Indirectly raising the inonoi>oly. question, the Indianapolis' suif in-' volves . Metro-Ciroldwyn-Mayer Dis- tributing Corp,, Universal Film Ept- changes, .United Artists, 20th Cen- tury-Fox, Vitagrapb, iind Educa^^ tional exchanges. Direct question put before tl^e .highest, coiurt is the exhibitor's motion to dismiss a suit brought by the distribs to compel (Continued on page 58) HOODINI'S WIDOW AS LEAD IN ROYERIMME Hollywood, Oct. 5. Mrs. Harry Houdinl, widow^of the magician, plays the title part in 'Mme. Houdinl Speaks,' wl>ich Fan- chon Royer will produce at the Conn Stiidioii starting Oct. H, Frank O'Connor scripted" and Will" direct, with Dr> Edward Saint, Mme. Houdini's.manager, playing bimseM. Other News of Pix Interest UA-Korda-Deutsch Ape U. S. ....,,.», ♦...Page 15 Bill Fields' radio future. .Page 29 Badio czar a la Will Hays .Page 30' Radio reports of Eddie Cantor-Deanna Durbin; Kate Smith show (Bankhead, Fonda); Jack Oakie's College; Kostala- netz-X C. Thomas; Joe Penner; PhU Baker-Patsy Kelly; 'Her Cardboard Lover' (Power-Sullavan); Grover Jones' radio script with Bosalind Bussell-James Stewart; Jack Cohn-Jack Warner.. • »» Pages 32-33 Robblni-Metro music setup i ♦.♦.....Page 45 Pix panned at F.T.C* hearings on songplugs. Page 46 'Star Wagon' reviewed (Meredlth-Gish) ....Page 58 H wood Sdl Het Op Over Mm^^^ Wffl Take Rap on Pix Anyway? Stockholders Want Balaban to Testify Oil Zukdr's Contract A suit brought by Paramount stockholders agtttnst the new Salary contract entered into in April, 1937, with Adolph 2ukor, production chief, attorneys for Ella Hylm and other plaintiffs will ask N. Y. Supreme Court Justice William T. Collins to day (Wed.) tx an order directing Barney Balaban, Par president, to appear for examination before trial. The stockholdisra are seeking an In- junction to. restrain Balaban and other officers and directors of the picture corporation from carrying out the Zukor contract, which they voted at an executive meeting last April. The stockholders want Balaban to explain the details of the executive meeting which awarded Zukor a sal- ary of $3,000 a week, plus a bonus of l^k% on net profits up to $2,- 500,000, and 5% on earnings above that amount. They also want the records and minutes of the hearing produced in court of all meetings relating to Zukor contracts. MUSIC HALL'S RKO, COL AND UA DEALS Radio City Music Hall, N. Y., has a term deal with RKO; has just completed a three-year selective ar- rangement with. Columbia, and very probably will sign up for first choice with United Artists as. main source of feature supply for the 1937-38 season and beyond. Under the RKO contract the Hall guarantees to pick up a specified number of features each season, while with Col the house makes no commitment. Agree- ment is that Col give the Hall first shot at any pictures it produces. Pending any definite arrangement with UA, the -Hall has signed for three more from this distributor which it will play in the near future, 'Stand-In,' 'Sawyer' and 'Nothing Sacred.' Jules Levy, RKO sales chief, has returned from Detroit and Cleveland after closing a contract on the 1037- 38 season's product with the Butter- field circuit in Michigan and lesser independents in the Cleveland terri- tory. The Butterfield deal insures outlet for RKO pictures in a total of 96 theatres in Michigan. KATE SMITH ASONGH^ Hollywood, Oct, 5. Roy Wilson, of Wilson, Powell & Hay ward, moved in thlp we^k from New York to talk certain radio deals with producers willing to follow Metro's example. Wilson's firm* has Kate Smith and M-G has been talking for months about a successor for Marie Dressier and wondering if a singing ajttrac- tion like Kate Smith could be the answer* Trouble is that Kate Smith has a $12,500 price on her and Metro isn't prepared to. meet that. Wilson also has Tommy Riggs, singer on the Rudy Vallee hour, but he's ea"61er to spot as he's out here with the Vallee imit anyway. Ask Ing $1,500. Wilson, with Mrs. Wilson, plans to head east in three weeks, L. A, to N. Y. Lionel Barrymore> Joseph S. BelL Judy Canova. . , Lou Clayton. Carl Dreher. Chris Dunphy. Francis E. Faragoh. Felix Ferry. Tamara Geva. Mack-Gordon. Harold Hackett - Jascha Helfetz, ,. Joe Hubbell. Johnny Hyde. - Horace Jackson. - . Suzanne Kaaren..> <■ Gregory La Cava. Herbert Marsliall. Douglas Mont^<^ery. Robert Montgomery;!;?*" Paul Muni. Jane Murfin. Lee Patrick. Harry Revel. Winston Ross. James Saphier. Dore Schary. Sammy Selgle. Irene M. Selznick. Rosalie Stewart. Genevieve Tobin. Florence Vidor. Florence Wagner. FINALLY BEHAVING " Hollywood, Oct. 5. "The Lady Misbehaves', goes be- fore the camera at Republic tomor- row (Wed,) after many delays, with Albert Levoy producing and Lloyd (Jorrigan directing. Marcia Mae . Jones, 14-year-old moppet, draws a featured role. N. Y. 1:6 L. A. Danielle Darrieux. Arthur W. Eddy. S. Charles Einfeld. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Essie Gerson. Monroe Greenthal. Sonja Henie. Burnet Hershey. Wolfe Kaufman. Hal Kemp. Harry Malzllch. Sam Marx. W. Cresswell O'Reilly. J. M. Rubens. George J. Schaefer. L. K. Sidney. Hannen SWaffer. Best Selint Pix Scortt 'VarsUy Shew* (WB). (Mercer-WbUlnfc.) • 'Artiste and Medels' (Par). (Koehler-YounK-Arleu.I.ftne.Holv loxider-BoMn.) " . , •Voffues' (UA). (Brown-Fain; Loesser-iSherwln.) •Can't Have Everythinr* (20th). (Gordon-Revel.) • - ' <Mr. Dodd Takes the Air' (WB), (Warren-Dubtn.) 'Double or Nothine* (Par). (Coslow-Slegel; Johnston-Burke; Lane-Freed.) Another Technical Setback in Bill Fox Bankruptcy Hearings Philadelphia, Oct. 5. The U. S. circuit court yesterday (Monday) refused to consider mo- tlor^s to dismiss the appeals of Mrs. WiUlam Fox and Fox's bookkeeper. Herbert Leltstein, from a district court order that they were in con- tempt of .court' for refusing to testify in Fox's bankruptcy proceedings in Atlantic City. The motions, made by the former producer's creditors, weire held over until the circuit coiurt can have a full hearing. Walter Han- stein, creditor attorney, in petition- ing the bench to dismiss the appeals, maintained they had no standing, as Judge John Boyd Avis, of Camden (N. J.) federal court, although he adjudged Mrs. Fox and Leitstein guilty of contempt, had imposed ho sentence on them. He said the de- cisions were, therefore, merely 'in- terlocutory • The contempt citation resulted from the time Mrs. Fox and Leitstein were called before Bankruptcy Ref-' eree Robert E. Steedle, of Atlantic City, to testify concerning financial transactions of Foic. They declined to answer questions, and after a hearing before Judge Avis were cited. He gave them an opportunity, however, to go before the referee again and give the desired info. In stead, they took appeals to the clr cuit court, maintaining that Judge Avis was in error in his contempt order. ARRIVALS Fernando. Germani, Ramon Novar- ro, Elizabeth Rethberg, Ezio Pinza, Marcel Dupre, Jessie Ernst, Mr. and Mrs. Hans Clemens, Grete S. Stueck- gold, Serge Jaroff, John F. Majeski, Mr, and Mrs. Lawrence Bosworth, Oscar Schwar, Mr. and Mrs. Nat Liebeskind,-Sir Campbell Stuart, J. SAILINGS Oct. 13 (London to New York) Alexander Korda, Murray Silver stone (Queen Mary). Oct. 6 (London to New York) Adolph Zukor, Annabella (Norman- die). Oct. 7 (New York to London) Jack C. Barnstyn (He de France). Oct. 6 (Loridon to New York) John Abbott, Eddie Day, Derrick. De Marney (Aqultania). Oct. 6 (New York, to London) Lionel Barrymore (Queen Mary). Oct. 3 (Los Angeles to New York) Paul Muni (Santa Paula). Oct. 2 (New York to Caracas) Dr. Domingo Narvaez (Statendam). Octi 1 (New York to London) Charles Boyer, Germaine Aussey, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Warner, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Cohn, Pierre Sandrini Gilbert Miller, Ralph Heinzen, •irhomas Kernan (Normandic). Oct. 6 (New York to London) Lionel Barrymore, James R. Angell (Queen Mary). B, Priestly, David Niven, Gina Malo, June Clyde, Mr. and Mrs. Jfean Le Seyeux, Rene Maison, Jack Strachey, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Maschwitz, Leon Greanin, Mr. and Mrs. Clay land T. Morgan, Paul W. Kesten, Lewis Tit- terton, Bernard Nedell, Olive Blake- ley, Jooss Ballet. Hollywood, Oct. 5. ' If only publicity ttiat's bad is no publici^ at all, visit of Premier Benito Mussolini's son, Vittorio, to Hollywood at this time may be rated as velvet Otherwise it rates the low gross ol all time; Town is seethfaig over the young warrior's visit, and even those who were invited to Hal Roach's party,' which merged young Vittorio's 2ist birthday and Roach's 21st wedding anny, .were sore at tiie producer for putting them on the spot. Statement of Roach's that V. M.'s visit has no political significance and that lad was in town because of 40 Italian productions a year 38 were flops, didn't even mollify his fellow- producers. Borne of these went to the party, but they didn't conceal that they thought the whole, setup was a terrible mistake. Fact that Walter Wanger had it in his lap a year ago and backed out when Warners, who were to go in with him, took exception to certain utterances of H Duce at the time, should have been enough of a tip for the rest of 1heBo,^some of these producers argued. Flops WUl Be Flepi Others said that what made mat- ters worse was that young Mussolini couldn't possibly know what it's all about la a visit of three weeks, and certainly not by confining himself to the Roach studio, a circus and a couple of parties. Fortified by such meagre knowledge, these producers argued, he will go back to Rome and turn in 39 flops instead of 38 and. Hollywood will be blamed for all of It. Still others who get Jittery about almost anything these days felt that they had enough trouble keeping the waters of labor calm without having to explain that a young fascist's visit had no' more signifi- cance than Aldous Huxley's. These relented the printing of their names as guests, especially when thej^ learned that correspon- dents were now pasting the list in a convenient place as a sort of black- list. Even among the talent end, who could be figured as likely to suffer if they stuck their heads out, there was so much resentment against the young Musso's visit that they de- cided to take out a full-page ad pro- testing his presence. Stars were promised no names would be pub- lished unless there were at least 100 names. In one day the list went so far over that they decided there were too many names to publish any at all. What the Hollywood literati re- sented most was a page of pyro- mania young Mussolini published in 'Voli Sulle Ambe' ('Wings Over Ambe') in which he justifies the bombing of Abyssinian towns on the grounds that he had been denied the sight of big fires as a child, and justifies modern war as the 'most beautiful and complete of all sports.' Zukor Due Back Mid-Oct. Postponing his departure from abroad where he has been surveying the production outlook in England as well as contacting sales and t)ie- atre operating representatives, Adolph Zukor now will not return to the States until around the mid- dle of the month. At first he had set his date of arrival in New York as Oct. 4. Zukor and Mrs. Zukor will now sail from the other side on Oct. 6. On getting back to New York the chairman of the board will stay in the east a week or so before re- turning to the Coast.