Variety (Feb 1938)

WtMlncsday, February 2, 193a PICTURES VARIETY 21 Inside Stul-Pictures Attack on the authenticity of the recent 'Inside Germany' release of the March of Time was carried by yesterday's (Tuesday) N. V. Post. Piece, vas written by Martin Proctor, described as a lifelong riesideht of Ger- many, who has been in America less than three months, fornier news- papernlan in Germany.and also formerly scenario depaftrnent manager of Ufa, now the Nazi-controlled film company. Proctor's sirticle was writr leh at the invitation of Ei-nest L. Meyier and replaced the latler's. column in the issue of: the Post... " .' According to the writer, the March reel is anything but ah expose of 'inside' conditions in Nazi Germany. He calls it a patch job of numerous official Nazi hewsreels, \vith a few scattered shots of Jewish boycott signs. Further declsires lhat almost any portion of the film could have been obtained at the Ufa offices in New Yprki 'The whole thing is pro,-Naziy' Proctor adds. In his introduction to the. Proctor piece, Meyer .:comments on the Warner Bros, recent ban on the reel as 'jpiro-Nazi propaganda,' this being Harry' M. Wai-ner's reason for "the. nix to which Henry R. Luce, "rime-Iiife head, scoffed that it was ridic. , Is This New? , iftollywood, Feb, J,. Miles Mander, .British actor and director, after a layoff that lasted xnihe nionths, got three calls for^ work in one .day. Shock so. unnerved hini he had to be taken to a hospital. Friends attribute his break- down to .under\vork. Because film rights to Reginald De Koven's opera, 'Robin Hood,* are the property of Metro, Warners found it necessairy to stir up a complete new musical score for its 'Adventures of Robin Hood.' Erik Wolfgang Kprngold, picked.to handle the chore, is how en route here from Vienna. Two companies are cooperating on 'Hood' productions, Warners ha.ving agreed to inject the word 'Adventures' in their title, with Metro promising to lay dff pictures based on originarfootlighter for a specified time until: alter release of the Burbahk sttidio's feature. Rewrites keep going on to Metro's 'Marie-Antoinette,' with pic already almost month into production. -Jacques Thery, originally signed to script *La Fayette* for Mervyn LeRoy unit, has been switched to polishing job with Samuel Hoffenstfein on 'Marie;' Is ^e^writing several seqqerices and iiiakihg changes; Julien Duvivier, French director, under six^month $50,000 term at. Metro, with time nearing (Completion .and no assignment yet, has also been called in on 'Marie' polishing. Duvivier Helped' cast some historical characters, and made suggestions oh script/ costumes, sets and other changes. , But French director definitely denies published reports he is . assisting W- S. ..Van Dyke in handling mob scenes, or in any other way is associated with actual production of film, ^^^ith 'La Fayette' postponed, probability ! of Duviyier doing film befori: six-month. expires, is getting slimmer and slimmer.-. Sam Gold v^ryn is reputed to have run up a script cost. of rriore than $123,000 on his new 'Follies,' all of which he threw .overboard When Ben Hecht' came along with an original screenplay that nicked him lor ap- proximately only $14;00.0. Producer started out with Kalniar and Riiby, the duo. drawing down; around $50,000 for th^ir 20-week stint, plus the cost of Alice Duer Miller,-^ho toilied on the femme angle at $2,000 weekly .for six stanzas. Howard J. Green nekt tackled the chore, after which Lillian Hellman was brought in, only to be succeeded by Anita Loos and John Emerson. Then Hecht c^me along ilnd provided all of the script that was shot with, the exception of comedy routines and the Russian scene, which was donated by George S. Kaufman from one of his former stage shows. Clock-punching by. erhployes in the indie.studios on the Coast is'watehed over by the efficiency, boys with the same eagle eye they glue on treasury outgo. When a quickie chieftain countered a fictioneer's bid for ;a job with a proposition to furnish free desk room, typewriter and paper, plus a promise to biiy the finished yarn, if satisfactory, scribbler felt he could at least set his own hours of toil. GUmshoe, however, had other ideas and insisted author live up to regulations by maintaining same daily schedule as salaried lads, which is 8:30: a. m. to 5:30 p. m. . 'It makes no difference whether you are on salary or not,' explained the efficiency expert;' because we cannot afford to establish a bad prece- dent that would upset the morale of the other writers.' Doing well on its .first season (1937-38), with many chains" among its accounts, Monogram will increase its production budget 25% for next year. Reviving Mono this season, W. Ray Johnston set a budget of $2,300,000. A 25%-upping in negative costs would increase it for '38-39 to almost $3,000,000. Mono scheduled 45 pictures this year. Only five of this number remains unfinished, with the compainy already at work lining up the coming sear son's schedule, which will entail a likely program of .48. Mono this year ■old 4,358 accounts Under regular contract, this not counting spot bookings. Gieorge McCall, on his CBS commercial from Hollywood, chided a group of picture and radio stars who failed to appear, as billed, at the benefit performance for Ted Healy's widow. He specifically named two topflight comedians, a comedienne and a picture topp^r-m.c. a male film star iand a trio now doing cinema work. McCali declared that audience members, hav- ing paid as high as $10 for a ticket to the benefit performance, deserved to see oh the stage the advertised stars. He said that many Hpllywoodians were in the habit of permitting their names to be used for affairs at which they did not show. McGall had been air-plugging the Healy benefiter. Explanation for heifty drop in incbmei of Paramount in final quarter of 1937, as heard in financial circles, is that two heavy feature, pictui'^ write- offs, with slow rental returns to date on both, were chiefly responsible. In addition^ the company also felt the slip in general busines.s conditions In last three months. of year. Negative costs written off on 'liigh, jWide and Handsome' and 'Angel' during final quater of past year cam^ close to $3,000,000. Even sustiained earnings from other product failed to tilt the scales sufficiently, to overcome this severe write-off,- . Ligon .lohnson, once, very active.as a theatrical attorney, particularly in iegit, is now a general cppyHght consultarit-Cn factual .data pertaining to titles of all manners of works. Johnson has spent upwards of $200,000 in compiling this index of titles of ajl piays, books, songs,- scenarios, magazine stories, etc., so that any given title may he chronologically extracted and shown to have-been used so many times oh different works. This is the lost frequent informatioh sQught. Ru.ssell Hardy, U.S. Attorney General, of Washington, wounded In a shooting scrape .in Alexandria, Va,, is the. same who prosecuted that anti- trust suit against the film firms in St, Louis, 'That's the monopoly suit which Panchon. & Marco instigated against the majors apd 'resiulted in Warners ^selling out and quitting St. LouiS, under, pressure from the Gov-, ernnieiit,'. William Koehig, Metro studio manager, has o.k.'d plaris for a 240x136 .loot s^ivnd stage to be built for the exclusive use of the special effects department, ..Construction is set to begin within 60 day.s. Included in new stage, which will he the 30th on the company's No, 1 lot, will. be a 90x90 foot watei: tank, with a depth of ten feet, for underwater shots. Karl Krug, columnist fbr Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, took a blast at Stej)i(i Fetchit for sepia actor'? ungraciousness with kid autograph hunters at backstage entrance to Stanley theatre. Krug said Fetchit snubbed youngsters who had waited in'cold for him several hours. . Schwartz Again Heads Cleveland Exhib Ass'n ^Clevieland. Feb, 1, ■ Ernest Schwartz was reapoainted prcz of Cleveland Exhibitors' . Asso- ciation for the fourth time at last week's elections.' .A, E. . Ptak re^ elected v,Pi for fourth term, G, W. Erdman as. secretary for. eleventh term, w.hile M. B. Horwitz became treasurer. Exhibs named for Isoard of ti"us.te?s consisted of J. D. Kalafat. Henry Greenberger, Maurice Berkbwitz. L. G. Baldvirin, P.. E,'. Essick, Frank Gross, Meyer Kaplan and Frank Porozynski, Indies Urge Newspapers to Tabu Sexy Film Ads Akron. O., Feb. 1. The Akron Independent Theatre Owners Association has asked the two newspapers here, the Beacon Journal ^nd . Times Press, to ■ tone down their advertisements, on Sex piictures. Both papers have aigreed to cooperate with the theatres in this respect.- ■Sensational, advertising of certain types oif pictures is. injurious to all types, of pictures,' J. G. Deetjen. secretary of the Akrbn indies said; 'We have found; that it makes the public censorship r .conscious and more than ordinarily selective in their, screen entertainment. This is felt especially in the neighborhood houses , and it is the intent of our organization to tone down the ad- vertising on sex pictures before the public-spirited groups like the . Pa- rent-Teachers Associations do it for us.' F-WC Shakes 'Em Up Los Angeles, Feb, 1. Shakeup in Fox West GOast's man- agerial personnel in Southern Cali- fornia, which has been under way for the last three weeks, is continu- ing, newest switching sending Wil- iard Osborne from the California, San Bernardino, to open the new Kern at Bakersfield, and Bert Han- sen, from the California,. San Diiego, into the San Bernardino house. J, R. Rogers' shifts ftom the Fox Redlands, to the Tower, Pasadena.; Bill Roberts moves from the latter house to the California, San Diego. Herb Goldberg, from Kansas City, takes over the management of the Fox, Rcdlahds; Stan Kriner goes from the Golden Gate, Riiverside, to the Sunkist, Pomona, replacing Larry Gillespie, resigned. Ralph Hathaway, recently boosted from assistant at the L. A. Wilshire to manage the Strand, Pasadena, re- turns to the Beverly Hills acer, with Gene Kohler from that house, step- ping into the Pasadena assignment. No Booth Strike in Mpls. Minneappli.s, Feb. 1. By a narrow margin the local op- erators' union dcfieated a strike res- olution which would have pulled the men out of the booths of all Minne- apolis independent theatres: Their contract expired several weeks ago and they are .demanding salary boosts ranging froni 10-20%. .Exhibitors' declare flatly.;they will hot grant any increase and riegotia- lions, thus far have availed iiotlii Tulsa, Okla!, Feb. 1. . Robert A. Roberts, film operators' business agent, under seiitence : for directing last summer's labor riot here, denied motion'for hew trial, and immediately 'filed notice of appeal. -.' Chi's Transluxcr Chicago, Feb. \. . Translux again seeking site in Chi- cago for. nevi^sreel theatre, Nate Furver, president, and- Leslie Thomp- son, general manager, in Chicago last week looking over po.ssible .spot on Randolph street. If suitable location can't be had in the loop may go to near north side. If any deal is consummated. Mort Singer will be partner in deal hiire. U. S. to Rule on Banko After Its 6-Month Quiz Over Postal Laws Washington, Feb. 1, Final Federal discision on the le- gality of bank night approached last week as Post Office Department at- torneys closed six month investiga- tion. Mails may be closed to Affili- ated Enterprises, Inc., the Dehver firm which holds patent on the pre- mium idea. . , Weeks of quizzing tame to an end Thursday .(27) with argument by lawyers .concerning the legal r'anii- fications.- ; Proceeding was befbre Aissist'ant .Solicitor Calvin W. Has- sell, whose repgrt will be the basi: for .action by Postmaster. General Farley. ■.■ The Government procebding, wiiich is logical follow-up of the ruling that exhibitors cannot send, bankrnight advertisements through the mails., looks probable to put crimps in the promotion plan. Goal : of P,0. at- torneys, is to Dan contracts with ex- hibitors from the letter pouches, forcing the Denver firm to engage in personal negotiations with interested theatre-owners, • While the department 'study is c semi-judicial proceeding,, it -is al- most certain that an order closing, the mails to Affiliated Enterprises will be issued. In recent years; vir- tually every mOve against lotte»»,', has resulted in a ruling that the postal laws and regulations are being fractured, Aln^ost - axiomatic that whenever hearings are hcjd the orations NEW YORK Albany, NuMoiiul rioturff) ..Corporation, New yoiK; motion picture busine.-jM; cai)ltal *tlO(k, >20.000; ?100 par value. IJlroc- \'ovs: A. .lo.seph Handel (nUnff; attorney), .s:iia II. Tlilni, Madeline rasuero, 3(iW. 4-ltli street. New York. Uiitdoor Screen-.\(1. In<>;^ Manhattan; DUtdoor aiivQVtlalns; ' fapltiil Htock, SIO.UOO;' $1U0' par value. . Directors; Nftlion \). Srhoror ■<fllln(r attorney), J.llliau TeU. . KesHle: Welner,. 76 Fifth, avenue. New .York.' (irtiiit. Wlllltim. AnHon, Inc..-Manhattan; motion plfturo. tausinesB". capital utock, ,$:;0.000; JiOO par value. • Directors: Urunt W. Anson. J'.uth AnSon, Mhrffaret M. McCormlck. 100 Tiilrd avenue, New> York,.- Oi'uima AH.<<A<-ln<efl. Tnr„ Manhattan: (hpatriV'iil bu.sin ('..<!»; cuDital stock, 100 .sharps no par v.alue. . DlrectorB:- Rose l.aUer. Ja<'ub Li. Stcl.'irl, Ueraldine Wel.<)$<, p;. 41(h street; Nesv York. , (H. H. llcln- licimer, Kanie nddrc.<if9, tiling attorney.) K. !>, <.', I'rodiK'lio.iiH, Manhattan.; motion pif'tiM'e business; capital . stock, lUO ahare.s. no par value. . Directors: Mario. ]'}. Kehne.v. ltOO Vork avenue;' J. 13ur)?l ('ortthfr; 4 24 E. r):;n(l street, Ncwr Yori<:-,lbhri 'r. Dorah.'33152 Murray Lane, I'lusliinK, Ii. .1. 4>o(lium. Orunil OpFr$» rompany. Inc.; ?few York: tlie;ilrl<-al. bu.slnc.ss; capital slock, liOO sharps, no par value. Dlrcc- lor.s: J. .T.. Vlnfpnt (attorney), ' Julln Vindent. nuLh Kuplnii, 11 W. iihiX street, New York. Made-ln-Amerlrn >'ovpH.v. Corp., Man- hn(t.-i.n: mii.Mlcal Instrument.'); . capital slock, 100 :jhnre.<<, no par value. . DIrec- lor.s: ■ .lark Scluvartz, Tu.st'any hotel; T.-iul Amcrlin. 14 K. UiRhtll Slrpct,' tic.vi York; "\V)lliairt ('. Pourlmun, 630 Tark- .slde jivohiip, JlrooK'l.vn. .. I'OHler IiiHplu.v A«lv<>rtlHlnir, Trie,, .Mon- hatlan; pi-inlin.'!;'nnd publishing business;;' capit-al Hiock, L'OO :ffliarcs, no p.lr value. l.»ii'fti-tor.x.; Nnrie A. .Scher. 808 West Knd avenue.'. Kow' York ; . I^eb Solomon, li.Sfii; Kenm<n-e fl;ioe: Irving M. Octnlck, 8(i!) Hopltlnaon RvunUP, Urooklyn. Al^luiit-h; AiniiHein«nt Corp., Kings; vi-ndlog machlne.s, etc.; caiiitnl stock; 100 sliarp.i,■ no p:ir .y.ilue. I>lrePtora:'- Al .\leyer.s.. 201 l.lndcn bmilVvard; Klorence Khtp, 2019 r.lnden boiilevsu'd; Kred Ilall- paroi' 25 Parade pl.tce. Urobltlyn. Klver Tliriitr« Corp.. Pearl Tllver; the- nii'ical 1)u.<<lnp.<--."i; <';ipli.Tl stock. tlO.OOO; par valup. IJireciors: Herbert I. :ihd Dcrtha Markflcld. 815 (herald avenue, TiionV; .Murray Willcn, f.O Main street, liaslinff.s-.nii.-Hudson. .N. Y. (ViiMOred. JiK'., Manhattan; deal In pIctiirf.M,. lllni.H. opor.is,. hiu.Klpal and liianiatlc. sliowa: rapllal titock, 100 shares, 111) par- viiliio. ■ J^iiiictorsi Invlhg l<'eller- iD.Tn..David T,. l.ann. liarriet Margullert, .-.Ol'. iJni.'uIWfiy. Ncv/ York. . (Kosch,: l.pwl.-* X'.eubcn, . Kaino ' address, lUing allo'rncj M.) nissoluliona: S';i*i«iinl IMVIure Jlieutrea, Inc„ I>e1a- war.f. . .,'..' .NiitionnI Film DLslrlbuMng Co,, Dela- wo I'-;. ■ Jn'Cloyer, Tne,-, .Nrw Yorlc, .Memberships liuliet Ciilld, Ino,, New Yoi-k. :: Change of Capital . . TranN-I.iiV I.eJ!lngtbn Corp., New Torlt; .p!ia.ii;;(;d. from ISU.'OOO, $T par Value, lu l.O'lO s.hurcH, no par value, • Change of Name A B (; ,sjiindHrd MunIc Fnbllcatlon<), Iiic,, New York, .10 A II r. ,\IuhIit ('orp«»rn.- tiiMi, ((!|ii)>.it <fe Gilbert, 10 la. 40th mittlit, llliiii; a(t.oi-n*ys.) ' - CALIFORNIA S.iorampnto, • M Sc M KntcfprUefi; moiloii picture pnidui iny; capital stock, i,000, no par xtiriii'.M; permitted t'o. l.t.Mue four shares. l)irccior.s: U. II. . Mllslcln. S. Mllsteln, II'.. .Mil.sieln and .■ A. Wcllinkoff,. Los . Angf^lcs. JCdu'urd .Smhil . r'rbdurtlonx. Inc.; pic- ture, produvlloii;' capital stock, ;-6,000 shares; no suliscrfptions. .Directors; Sfl.ymour V. Sternberg,. Klslo ; Kerentzy, ISar)>ar.-i,'.Tahc.schuiz, all oX l.os Angeles. Frunklin rr<Hlui'i?,)riii. ' In*;;; motion nictiire producing; caplfar! stock.. 50ft sbarns. Dlnrtor.": U. r.yan, Irving t^olipti and Ij. Kingsltjn. Ned DobHon. Inc., Hollywood; theatrical aRoncy); capital stock,' 5,000 11 shares; lii'i'ifiii led lo l3f:\in .nil. Tiirei'tora: ' I'Ulllp U.'t'tor, V.ouls Nlr.er, Ned Dob.son and >i>>iiiour 1'. Steinberg, (joye.rnmoht "had the noccssary evi- dence in advance, Pl'.olotigcd investi- gation always precedes any formal testimony-taking, and.: charge? are never filed utiloiss the Postal bar- rister.s'arc pretty sure tiicy can make themi stick, . The central is.sue to bo settled is whether the premium scheme of .at- tracting film patronage qbmes under the anti-lottery clauses'of the Postal rules.. Eriimct Thurmon, legal rep- resentative for the Denver firm, con- tended bank night is ia legitiniate ad- vertising m.ed.ium. Tetcr J. Connolly, the P,0. prosecutor, declared there is no skill or merit involved, but that winners are determined solely by chancoi The Law Under section 601 of the . Postal laws, .■ new.spapers, circulars, and pamphlets containing adverlisementa of 'lotteries, gift enterprises or simi- lar schemes olTaring prizes depen- dent in whole or in part upon lot Or chance' are unmailable..- Through this neah,s, the Government has forced cxh'bs to soft-pedal the give- aways. Rclckted portions of the U. S. code and departmental regs ban ma- terials for use in lotteries and other , communications i itendcd to promote games of chance. This is what :the Denver fi^rnri 'f up against. : In- the formal charges, preferred last October, the Post Office directed Affiliated Enterpri.scs to' produce: proof . why the .mails should not .be closed to: - Written ar'd /printed matr ter' relating to the prehiiiim ' stunt! Firm was charrjed with conducting 'a scheme variously described as • bank night, money night, cash nitjht, silver night,'gbld night, and by other titles.' Even'if the .Postal authorities find that the giveaway is a lottery, the Government lacks power to force exhibs to quit handing out dough to patrons in any way they please. An- order banning use. of the mails to send communications . between the Denver promoter.-; and licahsed thea- tre owners would not put exhibs in danger. But if the owners of the idea persist in trying to send propa- ganda, contracts, etc. through the mails, the Feds then might move In with criminal prpceedings. :, Hipp'a Blnffo B, O. NSG Opening . ight pt Bingo, at the Hippodrome, N, Y., drew only about 1.000, but nearly 300 conips had b2cn given out before the aflair started.. Thus, the glorified bingo went into the hole on the opener. Looks likely to build, however, a:j the, comeoni are increased weekly and all kinds of inducements such as an 'early bird prize;' A siries of 10 weekly parties are to be staged in the thea-• tre, which formerly housed spec- tacular attractions', every Thursday. Usual special, games at lac ia crack were introduced with announcer stating, at. several of these, that it was to. be 'the last special game' of the evening. Philadelphia, Fob. 1. Bingo jackpot of $30 was awaidcd posthumously at the Frankford the- atre here last Wednesday nite. When it was announced that Benjamin L/* Yerkes had won, someone walked to the stage and whispered to the manager that Yerkes had died last week. ■ ■' Audience, by unanimou.s applause, voted to; send the pot to his widow. Clarence Batter, manager of State, Columbia, Pa., was arrested last week by County Detective Jacob E. . Weilcr, charged with operating, aa illcgal lbttery. . ; - Arrest, accotding to Weiler, re^ suited from award of |50 in bankd prizes previous night. . ^. Boston, Feb. I. Taking the stand that.'beano' !■ f generally undesirable game but that it should be taxed if allowed to exlii| at all in Massachusetts, Rep. Fred* erick M. iBarnicoat of Hanover ig urging the Legislature of this State t<| give a favorable report oh and the* : adopt his bill for an excise tax oj. gross beano profits. At a public hearing held on ihf question, Berhicoat was- vigorous!;^ opposed by Rep. Fred D, BeatidoL^ of Leominster, who told commlttei that one beano game alone in hli community had contributed ovtk $9,000 to charity and in cltf fe«i. l£)st year.