Variety (Sep 1938)

22 VARIETY PICTURES Wednesday September t 1938 HuDy's Criminal Test on Quizo Games Points to Drive's Movie Quiz' Contest for Legal Support Philadelphia, Sept. 6. Four men were arrested here at Iheir own invitation last week in the first ste-pof a unique test suit on new type theatre games designed to re- place the outlawed bingo and banko. Arrests were made as a criminal action, on advice of high-powered at- torneys consulted by the game pwn- rrs, because a trial and decision can :>e had immediately this way. Civil test could be drawn out for several years. Those pinched were Nat Abelove, manager, and Al Shrier, assistant manager, of the Ritz, and Herb Lewis, owner and manager of the Jewel theatre, and Lou Schleifer, who m.c.'d the game. . Ritz, which was nlaying 'Quizo;' is owned by Dave Barrist, operator of the Quality Premium Co., distrib of the. ; . game, jewel was using 'Hollywood Party,' distribbed by Dennis Game Co. Both houses notified police that they would use the games Tuesday night and give away 10 cash prizes of $2.50 each. Plainclothes men. were assigned to the theatres. They mere- ly looked On to verify that the games actually were played, but made no attempt to ;stop them. Then they put the managers under technical arrest They were, merely toH to appear, in Central Police Court next morning. Magistrate Beifel, at thai time, held them each in $300 bail, they were allowed to sigh their own bond. Thereupon, attorneys David . H. Cohen and Frank Fogel, representing 'Quizo,' and David . Malls, represent- ing 'Hollywood Party,' immediately filed habeas Corpus proceedings to free their clients. Proceedings were heard on Friday by "Judge Gerald F. Flood, who wlil give a decision in a few days. He may rule at once that there was no lottery allowed; and throw the case out, making the games legal, or re- fuse the habeas corpus, thus sending the case to a jury. Argument before Judge Flood was entirely friendly. Prosecuting for the . city was Assistant ■ Solicitor' James Ryan. Ryan, only a few months . ago, declared the games in question legal. His opinion was held unauthorized, however; and with- drawn by his chief. Attorneys used as their principal argument in favor of the gimmicks, the present national' ovie Quiz' con- test in conjunction with 'Motion Pic- tures Are Your Best Entertainment' drive. They maintained that 'Quizo' and 'Hollywood Party' are based on the same principle as the quiz, and if that is legal, this is. They also pointed to the numerous radio quiz games, to which the film games are an exact counterpart. Contests in the Philly newspapers were likewise cited as setting a precedent of legality for the games in point. Demonstrations, were made for Judge Flood of the games being played. He said the principal thing he would determine would be whether they were mainly chance or skill. Bingo and banko and all their rela- tions were ruled out by Judge Harry S. McDevitt in what attorneys for the ?ame companies consider .a fairly airtight decision. New games, how- ever, are forbidden not by court order, but by an arbitrary decision of Mayor S. Davis Wilson. EPSTEIN SUCCEEDING MOORE WITH WB IN N.Y. Zeb' Epstein, ^manager of the Strand, N. Y. for many years, is in active charge of Warners' metro- politan circuit following resignation of B. F. (Dinty) Moore, managing director, and may succeed to Moore's post with the Warner organization. Moore was. transferred from War- ner operations ir St Louis following the F. & M. settlement there o: the Government anti-trust suit to N. Y. about two years ago. He resigned to take over operations of Standard Theatres in the Oklahoma City ter r ritory, which comprises a combina- tion of J. H. Cooper, WB and Para- mount FeldB AGENTS SUE in vs. Rogers^-Hayward Humphrey Bogart Stoky Records Taw' For Disney Feature Hollywood, Sept 6. . Leopold Stokowski has started re- cording 'The Entrance of the Faun,' second of the six musical numbers, to be included in a feature length cartoon at the Walt Disney studio. First of the compositions was The Sorcerer's Apprenti ,' recorded last spring." Other numbers so far selected for the feature are 'Clare De Lune' and The Flight of the Bumble Bee:' Disney is negotiating for 'Bolero' and one other piece. Roach Tags Sutherland For Hardy-Langdon Pic Hollywood, Sept. 6. Edward Sutherland has signed a four-year pact as associate pro- ducer-director at Hal Roach - studio. First job is 'Zenobla's Infidelity,' introducing . Harry' Langdon as Oliver Hardy's new teammate. Los Angeles, Sept. 6. Charles K. Feldman has filed $15,- 000 action ith the State Labor Commission against Howard Emmett Rogers claiming the writer owes commissions on his earnings since April 27, 1934, under a five-year managerial pact. Plaintiff declares Rogers has earned $150,000 during that period. Leland Hayward, agent sued Humphrey Bogart for $42,008. claim- ing .the actor, walked out on a seven- year contract. Agent declares Bogart will earn $420,085. under his pact With Warners, and demands 10%. 'BABY BIRTH' PK IN {350,000 SUIT IN CHI Chicago, Sept 8. Suit charging unfair trade prac- tices has been filed la the federal court here by Maurice. Co landj who has picture tagged 'Life,' against the American Committee on Ma- ternal Welfare arid Special Pictures Corp,, associates in the flicker, irth of a Baby.' Copeland- Is seeking a cease and desist order, an injunction and damages of $350,000 against the two defendants on the allegation that the defendants published misleading ad- vertisements and representations re- garding the birth pictures. Copeland alleges that no injunc- tion has been .issued .against him by any courts and claims that exhibitors are being intimidated against book- ing his picture on threats of legal ac- tion against the theatre. Copeland claims that his:'Life' pre- dates 'Birth of a Baby' by almost a year. fat'! Lab Shuns Red Hollywood, Sept 6. Samuel A. Miller, attorney for In- ternational Cinema, Inc., summoned stockholders to a meeting to work out a plan for continued operation of the lab. Company went into 77b last January and was ordered liqui- dated in April by Federal Court'.. Profitable operation of the labora tory since- April is the. cause of the new move. Court is said to favor it Shyer Settles, Walks Hollywood, Sept. 6. Melville Shyer, associate producer at Progressive Pictures, settled his contract. which still had several months to run. He had produced 'Slander House' and 'Delinquent Parents' and was slated to make 'I Want a Divorce,* which has been postponed In- definitely. False Faces (Continued, from page 7) '38-39 Deals STUDIO CONTRACTS Hollywood, Sept. 6. 20lh-Fox hoisted Wally Vernon's player option. Metro picked up Nat Pendleton's option- Hal Hudson signed to a wrl tract by 20th-Fox. Columbia signed Larry Simms, moppet Metro lifted Reinhold Schunzel's director, option. Walter .Reisch's writer pact re- newed by Metro. Paramount took up Frank Loessev's composer option. Franz Waxman, music scorer at Metro, inked, a new contract. P.-eston Sturgis signed writer- director ticket at Paramount 20th-Fox picked up Chick Chan- dler's player option. Edgcumb Pinchori signed to write six. originals for Coronado Films. Linn Mayberry inked an ei picture deal with Coronado. Warners handed Jane Bryan a new player contract. Buster Keaton signed up with Sol Wurtzel unit at 20th-Fox. (Continued from page 5) ihg placed to a test during 1938-38 in the play ing of Par product, in the Warner houses, has created consider- able interest' in major theatre arid sales quarters. In addition to the known interest of other distributors ir writing similar dealc with WB, with percentage* on pictures broken down in units of 1% against theatre gross performance, all distribution ranks will follow the results of the Par-WB experiment closely. Test may prove forerunner of a complete departure in percentage contracts for the following season Of 1939-40. By that time numerous long-term deals will run out. there having been an unusually large number of two- year franchises last summer (1937) in view of the good economic condi- tions then prevailing. This year the buyers are steering awf.y from deals thr.t would run two year; or longer due to the. gamble involved, and. for other reasons. Dating on . certain .pictures on the ■"38-30 season sent out early has been held Up because of late contract-tak- ing. Encouragement for the negotia- tion of deals now v hich remain to be set has been strongly lent by'sev- eral fresh releases, both of the. old and new season's crop, among them 'Algiers,' 'Letter of Introduction',' 'Alexander,' 'Sirm You Sinners, 'Four Daughters,' 'You Can't Take It With You,' 'Love Finds Andy Hardy.' 'Boy Meets Girt,* 'Crowd Roars' and Tex- ans.' Treeless territory in which the film- ing is: being done is one of the hot test spots in Californi , with the mercury usually hovering 'around 110. Several hundred extras por traying East Indians in G-strings must be sprayed with dark Samoah stuff several . times daily to keep the pigment up to the proper shade. Matter of making up atmosphere people hired in : location sectors is much more difficult than the prob- lem of dolling up Hollywood talent, in that the former, being inexperi enced, cannot, do the ..job themselves. Henry King, directing the 20th-Fox tinter, -Jesse James,' hear Pineville, Mo., has just discovered that fact, and has summoned additional, make up experts from the Westwood lot to handle the 450 townsfolk he has hired to emote in the background. The Dandruff Era Paramount's plans to produce 'Gettysburg' already has. Wally Westmore doing special research work on mustachios and beards. Chief source of information on the subject is Brady's Pictorial History of the Civil War, which reveals more than 50 ways of wearing facial fuzz. Meanwhile, Warriers makeup staff'is studying 19th century Mexi can features preparatory to develop, ing wigs and whiskers arid daubing paint for the cast of .'Juarez.'. Chore is an out-of-the-ordinary one, in that most modern impressions of Mexican characteristics are incorrect. Peon type will definitely not. qualify. Metro's 'Northwest Passage,' an other important color undertaking, making of which has been set back until Spring, is another screen offer ing requiring much preparation .by the makeup crowd. More than 5. 000 scalp locks and other- primitive adornment will be manufactured for the Indians, part of whom will be real and part grease-coated whites. Laboratory experiments are now un der way in an effort to produce, paint that -will match the markings and colors used as. bodily decorations by the redskins of a century ago. EXPLOITATION ■-■ b» u» w. s« t m Good Campaign Paul E. Glase, of the Embassy] Reading, reports on. the campaign for the Greater Films season as plotted and executed by the combined man- agers of Reading theatres, all of whom cooperated fully. It's a good campaign from every angle.. The big day was Sept 2; but the campaign, started, the previous Mon- day, and worked up to the Friday climax. Two 10 page special sections were. promoted, one running Thurs- day and the other Friday.' On Fri- day, there was a band concert and rally in the city park in the evening, with a brief address by the mayor, arid invited speakers from among those- prominent in the industry. During the exercises 1,000 gas bal- loons were released, each carrying a single ticket to the Reading theatres, Following the band concert there -was a community sing, led by the. Penn Wheelmen's chorus. Com- munity sings are not so hot in some spots, but top hole in Reading where the late' George Eisenbrown intro- duced the custom. This ' was fol- lowed by a parade. The Chamber of Commerce sent out 2,500 letters to members, asking their cooperation, and there was a special Movie Sales Day in Which .all merchants offered special bargains and dressed their windows with stills and other, material. The stills were used for an identification contest with 50 ticket prizes.. The-Mer- chants. Bureau loaned the flags and other decorative material- kept on hand for gala occasions, and all crosswalks were stenciled with the urge 'Let's go to the movies.' Ah information booth in charge of an attractive girl was opened on the main street where information could be had on the Movie Quiz and coming, pictures, and the quiz was further promoted by quizzes on the two local radio stations, WEEU and WRAW. They were on the air for 10 an- nouncements daily for the week. The traction, company donated a ban- nered car and gave the: back page of its house/organ to play up, and there was also a special co-op movie sec- tion in the same sheet Newspapers ran special co-op ads in. advance telling the readers to watch for the special sections, and cooperated. fully, with special stories and art As a finisher every em- ployee Was pledged to get 20 friends to join the national Movie Quiz. Cooperating managers were George Peters, Loew.'s Colonial, chairman; C. G. Keeney, Park; Lester Stahlman, Aster; Paul E. Glase, Embassy; Al- vih Hostler, State; Calvin Lieberman. Rajah: Dave ' Brodstein. Orpheum; G. B. Jeffries, Strand: W. H. Smith, Rio and Rex, and Walter Finch. Cap- itol. WB Three Ways . Warners seems to have. Kit upon a new idea in presenting 'its newspaper advertising campaigns to exhibitors. Heretofore the advertisement section of any press book has covered a' va- riety of advertisements from wheih the exhibitor could make his selec- tion. In the: book for 'Four Daugh- ters' three distinct styles of campaign have been laid out. The first section ca'rri mostly type advertising, stemming from the two Jack Warner ads which proved,, so signally successful in launching the picture in New York. [Incidentally, a major aspect of these Jack ' Warner 'personal' ads. was the fact they ■ were spotted up front In the dailies, away from, the amusement section.] Mats of these two are available in the original four-column width and also in three col measure..: These are, supple- mented, by 10 other displays, rang- ing from one to four columns. Sparing and careful use has been made Of illustration, the main idea being to appeal to the better class of theatregoers with type-set argument .The second section offers a set of six ads carrying out the previous, idea, but more strongly, pepped, up with cuts, intended to appeal to the mid- dle class of patrons. The third set comprises eight ads in the regular picture theatre style, intended for the smaller houses where they still sell by illustration. . A novelty is several ads in three- Column width, with one column car- rying national criticism. This sec- tion may be replaced by local com- ment or completely amputated to leave heat two-column ads.. Theatres-Exchanges The Last Word RKO Radio's announcement book this year is what S. Barrett McCdr- mick describes as the de luxe edition of the coming season's announce- ment. Book is. just about the last word in tops for all time in super, ele- gance. It's enclosed in a zipper port- folio of white leatherette with a glass window to permit the title of the book itself to show through. Book is. in red, leatherette covered, with covers about an eighth of an inch. thick. Inside pages are all in color, beautifully printed from good art. By, large and sideways the book is about the most elegant put out since producers first issued an- nual announcements, and will take a lot of beating if it ever is headed. McCormick has been in the game since when, and has done some mighty important stunts, but he has never beaten this attempt nor has anyone else. Double Payoff Hamilton, O. Nat Turberg, manager Paramount, Southio unit, paid off a 'daily double' to local family qualifying for free ducts for most prolific offspring pro- duction. Turberg' offered flock of passes to see 'Love Finds Andy Hardy' to first family, registering with five sons. Next day he made si Har offer to couple with five daughters. Winner took all when he proved that five-male arid five female descendants gathered at the table daily. Canton, O. Ray Scaffer, Palace theatre here, transferred to Mansfield, where he will manage the Park. Troy, N. Y. Jack S. Swartout, manager of American, installed as president- of Warner Club, embracing WB thea- tres in Troy, Schenectady, Albany and vicinity. Schenectady, N. Y. Supreme Court Justice John Alex- ander'approved reduction in assess- ments on Plaza and Proctors Thea- tres. Reduction of $16,000 allowed on Proctor's and $20,000 on Plaza, a total cut of $36,000. Both reductions effected by Mann & Mann, attorneys for the theatres, and Corporation Counsel Arlen T. St. Louis, by agreement. The RKO-Proctbr's Corp. is listed as owner of Proctor's. Assessed for- merly, for a total of $724,500, it is now listed as worth $708,500. The valuation of land left at $103,230, re- duction being made only in assessed value of the building.. Owner of the Plaza is Fabian Operating Co., Inc. The attorneys' agreement brought the total valuation down to $337,100 from $356,100. The value of the land was left unchanged at $59,760. Charlotte, N. C. County. Attorney J. Clyde StancllI has rulel that the proposed con- struction of a $750,000 auditorium- theatre for Charlotte did not depend op the bond issue. He said that the Federal Government, if it accepted the project as self-liquidating, would not require Mecklenburg county to issue bonds but would require a stipulation that all rent, and profits be paid to the government until 55% of the total cost was repaid. After conferring with State Sena- tor James A. Bell, Stancill .said that if the WPA should approve the ap- plication, it. would make an outright grant of 45% of th- cost The project must be self-liquidating in 30 years, though. G.M.S. Press Book 'Motion Pictures', Greatest Year' committee has issued a press book for the use of local promoters of the screen that will prove useful -to most of those engaged in, putting the big idea over. The stories cover all the angles embraced in the campaign'and offer a collection of signed articles that causes the book to resemble a Who's Who. » Stuff, runs from paragraphs to pages, and can supply practically any need of the .local committee. Plenty of good press work with mats ob- tainable from 36 headquarters stra- tegically located. Stories exploit the pictures in general and not those of any one company. Jersey City. With the elevation of Rudolph A. Kuehn, from manager of the Stanley. Jersey City, to distri:t manager of the Hudson County Warner theatres, George Kelly, manager of the Fabian, Hoboken. moves Into Kuehn's vacant slot. Frank: Haller of the Central, J. C. relieves Kelly, and Nat Mutnick, manager of Warners Newark' district switches over to Haller's forriier post. Indianapolis. A request to secure permission to erect a theatre here was filed last week with the Board of Zoning by Beulah Taylor. This is the second attempt to secure permission to build a riabe house since Carl Nicsse opened the Vogue earlier this year. The first , filed by Joe Cantor, operator of the east side Rivoli, was nixed by the board. , Indications are that present appeal will also get the thumbs-down ns neighborhood residents are pnmea to protest Wheeling. W. Vs. Tl.e Court theatre, which, since spring, has been undergoing a re* modeling, job thnt virtually amount- ed 'to its rebuilding, will be re- opened .Sept 2;