Variety (Aug 1938)

yARIETT PICTURES Wednesday, August 3, 1938 'Ask 3d Arbiter to Adjudicate hdie Prod. Demand for Slash Of Extras', Day Players Wages AMECHE SNAPS BACK In Parli After Helbnd OpcraUon— May Tarry Abroad I Hollywood, Aug. 2. Following the announcement that Independent producers would de- mand, lower w;age scales ior: extras and day . players, major studio ex- ecutives and Screen Actors . Guild agreed to ask the American Arbitra-; tion Association to designate the third meniber of a board to arbitrate amendments to. the actors' present basic minimum contract. This ac- tion was taken after Murray Kinr nell, arbitrator for the Guild, and B. B. Kahane, producer representative, were unable to agree on a third member. Third ..arbitrator will be named within week and' actual sessions are expected to get under way by Aug. 15. AH of the majors and most of the indies have- selected Kahane as their rispresentative. First .matters to be taken up are demands , qf the SAG for an eight-hour day and re- vision of wage scales for players re- ceiving up to $500 week. Indies have also disclosed they will ask for a l<josehing of restric- tions on locatib;! spots, both inside •nd outside the 300-mile radius irom Los Angeles; Guild wage scales are not reqijired outside the 300-mile limit, but extras. at many of the favorite location. places beyond the limit, have been'organized and are tow insisting on Guild prices. At the time Guild shop contracts Brere signed, many of the indies pro- tested they could not' continue to produce westerns, etc., and pay the icales. The SAG turned down re- luests for wage modifications, claim- kig many of the producers were not Baying living wages and insisting ley would have to up their budgets Uid get more for their product. : Bow-Outs Balk Cohclllatiph. Move by. leaders ih the SAG to Iron out tilt between members of the junior Council, has been further complicated by reisignation of Duke R. Lee. ;Latter is third member to quit within recent weeks. Two of others, Warren Dearborn and Eddie Davis, haVe withdrawn their resig- nations,, however. Council voted .to accept those of Clayton Jones, Rich- ard Bitgood, Eric Alden, Harry Strang,. Dispute started shortly after the annual election over differences among: council members oyer poli cies of the Junior Guild. Six officers who quit in a body stated they were retiring because they found it im- possible to get through any con- structive measures that \yOuld bene Bt the entire membership, i Campaign oi certain extras ' to force payment of wages higher than those provided in. . producer-SAG liasic minimum contract has resulted III the filing of a protest by major studios. Attorneys were called into the huddle and for s<bme time there iWas talk of a breach of contract ac tion against the Guild. Matter was ironed out, however, when Kenneth Thomson; executive secretary of SAG,. insisted that 75 colored actors who were demanding (11 a day at Metro, after having ac eepted the call on a $8.25/ check complete their work at the latter rate of pay. Players claimed they were required to do the. maximum of work on a minimum check, and that the accustomed pay was $11 Order directing that hearing open Aug. 22 on petition of the Screen Di rectors Guild for certification as bar gaining represientative for the direc torsi unit managers and assistant di rectors has^ been issued by Dr, towne .Nylander, regional director Df the National . Labor Relations Board! Hearing was moved ahead from Aug, IG because a trial exam Incr was not available. The SAG has announced that an alternate will be named to serve on the board .of directors during the absence of William Wellman, who leaves this month for extended va cation. Wellman tendered his resig nation^ biit his associates insisted that he retain the post. Writers Open Forum New deal policy of the Screen Writers Guild was. inaugurated Inst night (Monday), When a meeting of executive board was thrown open to general membership. Rank and file was permitted to bring up any sub jects for discussion, and where the board thought any were sufficiently important they were placed on the (Continued on page 42) VON STERNBERG TO MG AFTER U DEAL CHILLS Paris, Aug. 2. Don Anieche has just arrived for a few days, quickly recovered from an emergency appendectomy .in Utrecht, Holland, where he" was stricken a 'fortnight ago while on vacation. '20th-Fox star has been urgpd by company officials.to iex- tend his holiday and' go. to the Riviera to recuperate. It was Ameche's first time over, and he was Stricken; in Holland, eh route from I<6ndon to Paris. ' Hollywood, Aug. 2. Josef von Sternberg has signed a, director .C0ntract;al Metro. First as- signment will likely be a picture starring Hedy Lamarr, for whom studio is pilaiuiing a heavy glamour biiildup. . Von Sternberg was on a deal with Universai to direct 'Rio,' but J. dheever Cowdin chilled it' due to coin stipulation by director, lie was to get $75,000, which later was clipped to $60,000, but was held still too 'high by Cowdi RKO HEATS UP PROD. 16 BOH Hollywobd, Aug, 2. New shooting schedule, designed to keep production at peak for sev- eral months, goes into effect at RKO this week. Plant has 31 writers at work, five pictures before the cain eras and 11 more diie to start in August and iSeptember, 'Mad Miss Mantbn' resumed, work yesterday (Mon.) after a halt, due to Barbara Stanwyck's illness. An untitled doctors yarn gets the gun iSaturday (6). * , Other starting dates on the re vised schedule are: 'Annabel Takes Tour,' Aug.- 15; 'The Law West of Tombstone," Aug. 20; 'Miss X.' Aug. 24; 'Picardy Max,' Aug. 27; Trailer Romance,' Sept. 5; George O'Brien western, Sept. 15; 'Pacific Liner, Sept, 15; 'Memory of Love,' Sept 15; 'Sorority House," Sept. 16; 'Sing Sister,' Sept. 23. First Selznick-Lubitsch Prodaction Will Have Dolly Haas as Topper Hollywood, Aug. 2 Dolly Haas,. German abtress im ported more than a year ago by Columbia, gets- the top role in 'The Shop Around the Corner,? Ernst Lubitsch's first picture as an inde- pendent producer in partnership with Myron Selznick. Production starts in three months. 'Actress achieved stardom in Ger many, moved to England when Hit- ler rose to power, and attracted American attention by her work in Broken Blossoms.' She has been idle since signing with Columbia. Samson Rapihaelson is working on the screen play for 'Shop,' a Hun- garian stage play by Nicholas Laszlo, 400 Pic Subjects To Be Shown At '39 World's Fair Charity Hits $3S,000 Homer in Tilt Between Leadii^ Men, Comedians Greatest number of picture sub- jects ever put together for a single spot will be shown at the New York World's Faii: next year. Estimate made at exposition headquarters re- veals that there will bi, nearly 400 films , and that the exposition itself will sponsor about 300. Picture in- dustry it.'-elf, however, thus far has announced no participation as an en- tire business other, thar turning out Cavalcade of America' for presen- tation in the government's $3,000,000 exhibit. Typical of the part which motion pictures will play in various exhibits is the fact that France will have a SOO-seat theatre inside that country's official building, where documentary, historical and other films .will be shown. Five smaller projection rooms also will be included, to illustrate activities of French colonies. Three hundred:.elected short sub- jects on health topics', scientific mat- ters and educational subjects will be shown 14 hours daiV in a specially constructed theatre at thf fair site This program will also include a. fea- ture produced by means of a grant from the Carnegie Foundation in N. Y., with Pare Lorentz now prepar. ing the script. It <'ill depict the story of a typical American city,, il listrating Various types of shelter used from colonial daji to the pres- ent, with production by Americin Documentary. Films, Inc; Details for two other feature- length pictures, to be made on the exposition grounds with the fair as a setting, have, not beer. set. In the Children's World section of the fair artists will be shown at work on animated cartoons. Industrial ex hibits also will emplo: films to 11 lustrate the progress made in vari- ous commercial fiields. One or more newsreeel theatres have been mentioned in fair plans but definite sites or operators have ye', to be selected. LEGIT MOPPETS WILL TEAM UP FOR RKO Lorna Lynn, three. and one-half year old tot who. appeared in the recent revival of 'A Doll's House' (RutH Gordon) on Broadway, has been placed under contract by RKO, as has Peter Holden, the youngster who is. playing in 'On Borrowed Time,' Longacre, N. Y. They -will be teamed in a feature film, work upon which may not be- gin until late in the fall. Young Holden is under a run of the play contract to Dwight Deere Wiman for the Time' engagement, but the arrangement ends when the show goes on tour. 10 ROLLING ON WARNER LOT Hollywood, Aug..' . With 10. feature productions before the camerasby Friday (5), Warners will attain a new high mark for the current year.' 'Dawn Patrol' goes in- to work Friday, with,'Going Places' getting the' Starting gun tomorrow (3).. :■■ . Currently .shooting are 'Angels With Dirty Faces,' 'Ciirtain Call,' Torchy Gets Her Man/ 'The Sisters,' Brother Rat,' 'Wings of the Navy,' Heart of the Norih,' 'Declaration of. Independence.' . Runyon's Metro Stint Includes Sports Series Hollywood, Aug. 2. Damon Runyon is due at Metro next .week to write originals, tnark- ing his first studio job. After completing yarns he will make a series of sport shorts at same plant. Taking time but from his film job to continue turning out daily column for Hearst service; Edna Cantor-McHugh, Jr., Marrying Soon on Coast Hollywood, Aug. 2, Jimmy McHugh, Jr., son of the songwriter, and Edna Cantor, one of the five Eddie Cantoi- daughters, will be married in Santa Barbara by a judge alrnost immediately after the return of h'er parents from their Eu- ropean vacation. Cantors; are remaining in ITew York until the en'' of this Week. French Co-op. Paris, July 25 The French cinema is getting set to have a top' spot in the French exhibition at the New York World's Fair next year. Governor-General Olivier, French commissaire-general to the big show, has promised all the aid he can give to furnish the oomph. The French pavilion, according to Olivier, will house a cinema of 500 seats, which would be used for the projection of documentary .and tour ist; films. "They will be carefully chosen and will represent France's best films of short meterage. For each of the five colonies—Mo rocco, Algeria, Tunis, French Equa iorial and Indo-China—it's planned to have small booths, which. will hold iabout 10, where short travelog on the different cblonies will be shown. For each colony there will be five or six shorts, to run from three to eight minutes. DURBIN'S TUNE TUTOR AWARDED i COMMISH HENiE .EETuama Sonja Henie is due in from Europe next Thursday (11). ' She has been abroad for several months vacationing. Los Angeles, Aug. 2 Olive White, music teacher, is eii' titled to one-third of any commis sions collected from her former pupil,, Deanna Durbin, . under ruling by Superior judge Carl A Stutzman. J'ack Sherrill, agent for Miss Dur bin, was ordered to give an account- ing of her. earnings, estimated inore than $200,000 in the past months, with Miss White slated get about $7,000. Moppet Kelly's Pater Balks Pact, No Like Trust-Funding Coin - Hollywood, Aug. 2. New contract for Tommy Kelly 13, Bronx moppet who leaped to prominence in the role of Tom Saw yer, is hanging fire because . his father, Thomas Aloysius Kelly, re- fuses to approve the recent court ruling that, halt a child actor's earn- ings must l>e placed in a. trust, flind until his majority . Re-written contract, as of July. 1, raises the boy's salary from $150 to $300 a week and provides for suc- cessive increases for seven years, up to $2,500 a week. It also calls for a bonus of $3,000 for the first com pleted picture, and $4,000 extra at the completion of each first picture in the successive periods of the cph' tract Father, a policeman on the S-I lot, flatly refiised his parental consent. Superior Judge Emmett Wilson, who made the ruling -after the Jackie Coogan case, set the Kelly matter aside to await a conference of law- yers on both sides. Young Kelly is currently on loan to Sol Lesser for the name role in Teck's Bad Boy at the Circus.' The loan-out contract is not. affected by the court ruling. Fields to Star in Own 'Honest Man' for U Hollywood, Aug. 2. "W. C. Fields signed^ contract'vtrith Universal today (Tuesday) to make one pictyre, 'You Can't CKieat an Hone.«t Man,' which he also wrote. • Production gets under-way around Sept. 15. - Hollywood, Aug. 2. Baseball, comedy and' charily frolicked hand-in-hand before a ca- pacity crowd of 22^000, at Wrigley Field on Saturday (30) and contrib- uted about $35,000 toward the erec- tion of a free clinic for Mount Sinar, Hospital. - Technically .It was a ball game be- tween the Comedians and Leading- Men of Hollywood. The boys for- got about baseball shortly after Mary Pickford tossed out the first ball. Gag followed gag until the third in- ning when the three umpires were chased off the field and the three Ritz brothers took up the job, ar- rayed in bathing siiits and assisted by seven dwarfs. Joe E. Brown,' captain . of the Comedians, showed lip with a spavi and did not play. To. show that, his heart was in the right place he took command of the loud speaker and announced the batters as they stepped to the plate, which was a man's size job, -with half the male inhabitants of the film colony horn- ing into the'game-at one time oi an^ other. Dick Powell, captain of the Lead- ing Men, led oil with a single and tried to steal second but was shot by somebody on the Comedians' bench. At least, there was a pistol shot, and Powell was carried off the field, in- jecting a touch of mystery into the comedy. Milton Berle, patroling left field for the Comedians in a cop's hel- met, stole a .three-bagger with one hand. The Comedians dropped to theit knees and salaamed in. Berie's direction, but the Leading Men claimed it was a mistake. The game wound, up with the score something to something, but nobody ' could agree. Statistics were sent to. the higher mathematicians at the "University of Southern California to , be untangled. Opening lineups were: Leading Men—Dick Powell. 2d; Jackie Coogan, lb; Preston Foster, cf; Stanley Morner, rf;\Warren Wil- liam, If; John Boles, 3b; Kane Rich- mond, ss; ChWk Phalen, c; Walter Abels, p. Comedians—Nat Peiidleton, lb; Buster Keaton, 2b; Jack Smart, 3b; Benpy Baker, If; Wally Vernon, ss; Milton Berle, If; Hugh Herbert, rf; Mike Frankovich; c; 'Vince Barnett, . Before the ganrie. Bill Robinson, running backward, beat Keye Luke, running forward, in a 75-yard, dash.' A team of four runners, composed of Coogan, Bill Gargan, S. Morner and Glenn Morris, ran around the bases four times while George Brown, Olympic walking champ, -walked around twice. Morris-won by a nose. Fans were camped outside the. park as early as 10 a. m. and had a field day getting autographs. Ponuner Ends Quest On Coast for Talent Hollywood, Aug. 2. Eric Ponimer has ended his talent quest and hauled east Sunday (31). Will sail for London from N. Y. late this week. He, discussed talent with Myron Selznick and others for work this winter in Mayfair productions abroad. Blondell Resumes At WB in Newspaper Pic Hollywood, Aug. 2 Joan Blondell, who recently took time out for maternity, rettirns to the screen at Warner's, in a tale of newspaper life, 'Unfit to Print.' Pat O'Brien will share the top bracket. LADY IN WHITE Hollywood, Aug. 2. 'Student Nurse' has. been set by Warners as first starrer for Ann Sheridan. Margaret Lindsay, Marie .Wilson and Ro'sella Towne top sup porting cast. ' Picture goes into!production Aug, 19. Fast 'Service' Hollywood, Aug. 2. Shortest production schedule on a Marx Brothers piqture was achieved by director William Seiter, who brought in 'Room Service' at RKO in 30 days. ' Contributing to speed w.is the shooting based on one story, and not the customary series of gags shot oft tho cuff. . Brickec Exits WB Hollywood, Aug. 2. George Bricker checks out at Warners as soon as he completes the script for the Kay Francis aviation starrer, 'Women in the Wind.' In three and a half years on the Warner lot, Bricker has. scripted 24 pictures. , He joins another rnRjT studio Sept 1.