Variety (Oct 1938)

20 VARIETY PKTORES WednesJaf, October 26, 19311 'Boys Town' Screening for Educi Groiqis, Keynote for Revision of Quekc s Annoying Ban on IQds By MOBI KBUSHEN Montreal, Oct. 25. Special preview of 'Boys Town' (Oct. 20) arranged by Famous Play- ^ers-Canadian Corp. for representa- tives of church, welfare and educa- tional organizations started off a gen- eral drive for revision'of the Quebec Film Act which currently forbids ad- mission of children to motion picture theatres. The movement has powerful spon- sorship and promises well*even if there are concurrently reports that prominent e^Iesiastics not only frown on any attempt to let children into theatres but are even pressing for a Sunday closing law for pic- ture houses, as in the Province of Ontario. Following the screening of 'Boys Town' Hon. T. J. Coonan, provincial Minif^er without Portfolio in" the Duplessis Cabinet, stated that, the public should tell the Government at Quebec what should be done with regard to permitting children under 16 to enter picture houses. Cooiian said he was convinced that films could be of great help for edu- cational purposes aqd indicated he wouM personally support, a more libeical imlicy in' dealing with the j>rbblem iitthe coming session of the l<egistotnre. This- provincial cabinet ininister''s'' champioQSbip of the move- inent for admitting diildren iato pic- ture houses indicates, in a convincing manner, that it is also the attitude of the Government and of Premier Duplessis. — With (he Provincial Government scheduled to huddle shottly, Coonan praet^cally told the church and wel- fare circles to organize a public movement in order to impress Pre- miere Duplessis with thie popular will in the matter. Ttom this it may' easily be figured thalt Premier Du- plessis wo'uld welconie such pressure becattse it would, give hiip an excuse for changing a law. with which he undoubtedly has but little sympathy. A public demonstration of this sort would also serve to offset church pressure. ' Press Backing It Local dailies are backing the' drive tor an amendment to the law, throw- ing open news and editorial columns for copy designed to. get puUic sup port for the movement to let chil- dren into theatres. The Quebec film statute is an arbi trary ruling, cooked in haste,, without regard to censoi^p. It was speedily hatched many years ago fol- lowing a theatre fire in which scores of children were btimed to death. In- stead of blaming lax enforcement Of fire laws, the theatres have since been obliged to take the rap by. the Government. Newspaper comment In general Is to the effect that the law is due for revision, with modern fireproof thea- tres to be .considered in the framing of any new laws. Latest drive for amendement to the old film statute is the' strongest GO far and is given additional impetus through the. recent consolidation of Famous Players-Canadian here. With practically all first run houses pooled in the N. L. Nathanson organization and the United Amusement neigh- borhood chain also tied in, FJ».-Can Is in position to accomplish more in the way of lobbying than previously. Also, the Nathanson stake is now so huge that it warrants concentrated and unremitting effort. Favorable settlement of the film statute would coQvert red ink into black in almost -every independent and chain house in Montreal opera ting at a loss. Action for revision of the film act was taken last year also. Premier Duplessis then indicated he might consider the matter favorably.- Special permission was granted for the showing of 'Snow White* to chil- dren. But there was no organized public movement to support the ex- .hibitoirs last year 'such as is being organized at the moment. Last year prominent church men also stepped in and urged Premier Duplessis not to amend the law. Church circles last year also asked for a Sunday closing law. Duplessis granted neitiier the Sunday closing nor the -amendment asked for by the theatre men. tndications are that the current newspaper campaign, backed by PITT VARIETY SRO; OTHER CLUBS EECT Pittsburgh, Oct. 25. Annual Variety Club banquet on Sunday (30), biggest event of year here lor showmen, has been a sellr out for last couple of months and will attract at. least 100 biggies from out of town, including Will Hays. Most of the visitors will come in couple of days ahead of affair in order to take in Pitt-Fordham game on Saturday. Norman Frescolt will be toastmas- ter for sixth time and flock of name acts coming on from New York for the two-hour entertainmtent. Affair will honor outgoing chief barker, John McGreevey, and his successor, Ira Cohn. Khilly'a Officers Philadelphia, Oct. 25. William J. Clark, president of the State Motor Truck Association, sec- retary and treasurer of Horlacher Delivery Service, was unanimously chosen Chief Barker of the Variety Club, at the first meeting of the newly elected board of directors. Ted Schlanger, Stanley-Warner exec, is first assistant chief barker; William H. Lee, theatre architect, second as- sistant chief barker^ and AI Davis, 20th-Fox,. secretary. Earle W. Swei- gert; Philadelphia mani^er for Para- mount, reappointed chairman of the membership committee for 1939, with Ben Fertel, exhibitor, retaining chairmanship of the house commit- tee for another year. Newly elected board of directors composed of Clark, Schlanger, Lee, Davis, Sweigert and L&wen Pizor, president of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners; David E. Weshner of S-W, Waiiam Wolff, Al Fischer and Leo Posel, exhibs; David Supo- witz, theatre architect; -E. M. Oro- witz, film writer; James P. Clark, president, Horlacher Film Service; present chief barker Jack Beresin, and ex-chief Barker Ben Amsterdam of Atlantic Theatres of New Jersey. Cleveland, Oct 25. Howard Both, Paramount booker, was elected commander of the Va riety Post No. 313 of the local Amer lean Legion, succeeding Harry .Gold stein. Paramount district- manager here. John Himmelein appointed fiirst vice-commahder; Holbrook C. Bis- sell, second v.c; Nat Barach, finan- cial officer; Dr. A. Bubis, adjutant; Jack Sogg,- first sergeant-at-arms, and Louis Swee as second; Aaron Wayne, chaplsdn. Club also voted to move its headquarters from the Variety Club to the Arena. CoL Settle Suit RKO Reorg. (Continued from page 2) Infringement suit brought by Val- entine Davies, playwright, against Columbia Pictures Corp. of Califor- nia and Tom Van Dycke, scenarist, over the picture, 'Alibi for Murder,* was discontinued and settled last week, according to a stipulation filed in N. Y. federal court. Terms of set- tlement were not revealed. Action was for an injunction and accounting of profits, Davies^alleging that most Of the script of the picture had been thefted from his play, 'The Fly in the Oinment.' Cantor Denies Hollywood, Oct. 25. Eddie ^ Cantor filed a denial of plagiarism charges in a $.1,000,000 damage suit brought against him by Andreas F. Michael over the produc- tion of 'Ali Baba Goes to Town,' 20th-Fox, also named in the suit, filed a denial several weeks agb. ecutive committee of the company; He is reported as having been fa- vored for that post for some time. In addition to representation of other groups figuring in the KKO reorganization such as AUas, .Leh- men Bros,, RCA, and other down- town or creditor interests, the di- rectorate is expected to include Ned E. Depinet, v.p. in charge of distribu- tion; William Mallard, v.p, and gen- eral coimsel; and W, H. Clark, treas- urer of the company. Major-General James G. Harbord, Lunsford P, Yan- dell and William Hamilton, inembers of .the old board, also will probably be reelected. ^ Schaefer took over Leo Spitz's offices at RKO Monday mornii% (24) after being elected to pres- idency of RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., Keith-Albee-Orpheum and B. F. Keith Corp., principal subsidiaries of the parent RKO company. Pres- idency of RKO was deferred pend- ing final hearing on the reorganiza- tion yesterday (Tues.) before Judge William Bondy, and now bound over for another month. Giving up his of- fice but' remaining with RKQ in an advisory capacity. Spitz left for Chi- cago Monday (24) preparatory to returning to active law practice there at an early date. He will' be available for RKO, meantime, .in a special legal advisory capacity on ^special matters.' Spitz h Adcock, of which the re- tiring RKO president is a partner, is a well-established Chicago law firm serving large accounts, among them Balaban & Katz. Six years ago Spitz was prompted to come into Paramount on theatre decentraliza- tion, real estate matters, lease re- ductions, etc, after Sam Katz had been asked to take temporary charge of production at the studio at a critical time. Among other things. Spitz succeeded in saving Par much money through rewriting of leases, reduction in rents and other obliga- tions,' rent adjustments and rent abatements. After completing his special task in Par, Spitz returned to Chicago, only to be again enlisted three years ago to guide RKO over the danger- ous shoals it faced during reor- ganization. He was urged by down- town groups, notably Lehman Sros., to come into RKO. JoAn D. Hertz, director of Lehman Bros., is a close 'personal friend of the Chi- cago attorney. In addition to the strong bricking for Schaefer for the presidency of RKO from the many various banker and creditor groups in RKO, not the least of them the Rockefeller interest, he.has long been aii^dds-on favor- ite in Spitz's book. Just as Spitz left, a remarkably fine record in Paramount and leaves an equally illustriouis record in RKO, so doies Schaefer have a background that points him out for his new and, to date, largest post in the / industry. Coming up in the Paramount sales ranks to the post of eastern division sales manager iirtder S. R. Kent, he became general manager of the com- pany during,77B and at one time, it is understood, was being con- sidered for the presidency there. Schaefer went to United Artists about two-and-a-half years ago and on le&ving that company Oct 14, sales of the 1938-39 product was rim- ning. about 25% ahead of the pre- vious year at the same time. The prior season (1937-38), Schaefer's first with UA, was the largest in sales in the history of the company,' according to claims. On appointment of Schaefer to the presidency of RKO, this becomes the second company now headed by a distribution leader, the other be- ing 20th Century-Fox, of which Kent is president. On sales man- power, RKO represents the strong- est of fiber with Schaefer as pres- ident; Ned E. Depinei, v.p. directly in charge of all sales; Phil Reisman, in charge of foreign distribution, and Jules Levy, under Depinet as general sales manager, plus E. L, McEvoy and Cresson E. Smith, divi- sion sales managers, who have been in the field many years in executive capacities. steam from numerous welfare or- ganizations in conjunction with pub- lic clamor, may get results. Following organizations were rep- resented at the filming of 'Boys Town': Loyola College, Montreal Catholic School Commission, Asso- ciation Canadienne de la Jeunesse Catholique, Canadian Catholic Youth Union, Catholic Women's League, BICKFOED DETRAINS Hollywood, Oct. 25. J. Carroll Naish takes the part of the gambler in Paramount's 'Union Pacific,' replacing Charles Bickford, Bickford checked in at Metro for a role in 'Stand Up and Fight,' agree- ing to do another picture for Par- amount later on. Chain Store Legislation Seen As Threat to Theatres and the B.O. MORE % REVISIONS IN PHILLY SELUNG Philadelphia, Oct. 25. Following reports from exhibs last week that United Artists had eased up considerably in its originally-an- nounced policy of all pix on percent- age, those who have been making deals with Universal during the past week declare also that they have been igetting better terms than what were originally held out Universal's policy ..was eight films at 35%, eight at .30%... and eight at 25% or jS^t .rentiSiI., Exhibs .say-now that thebe has be«tf sTl-ecliBSsification for those who put "up a battle and more films are bein^ offered at lower levies or'on flat rental. It Was learned last week that UA buying was going so slowly that ex- change backed down from its ada- mant all-per(ientage stand and slipped in deals for flat sums. ScUesH^ Cartoons h Commercial Heaps Chicago, Oct. 25, Commercial tieups for the char- acters ini the Leon Schlesinger car- toons are being arranged by Irving ■Heinemann, who is now on a trip to Chicago and New York to contact commercial firms on such deals. Have deals on for four main char- acters. Porky, Petunia, Eknef and Daffy Duck, with Heinemann par- ticubrly stressing fact that these characters aare being plugged in the largest cartoon series in the indus- try, with Schlesinger releasing 42 cartoons annually. Hollywood, Oct. 25. Leon Schlesinger is well ahead of his 1938-39 production schedule, with eight cartoons already shipped and 26 in some phase of work. His entire Warners quota for the year is 42. W. S. Hart's $500,000 UA Suit to Trial Once More Retrial of the $500,000 breach of contract suit brought by William S, Hart, former silent star, and his sis- ter, Mary, against--United Artists, Inc, was begun Monday (24) before Y...,Supreme! Court .Justice Ber- nard Shientag and a jury. Joseph M. Schenk, former head of .UA, is ex- pected to appear as a defense wit- n^s as he did in the first triaL Hart and his sister claim UA failed to properly exploit and exhibit the first picture the plaintiff attempted to produce on his own hook under UA auspices. Hart also acted the lead in the film, 'Tumbleweeds.' The Harts' chief beef is that UA block-booked the picture with a dog flicker, thereby reducing its b.o. The defense claims the picture was a flop and one of the reasons, according to testimony at the first trial, was due to Hart's- insistence that he portray the leads which part required an actor more .youthful than the plain- tiff. The jury in the first action awarded Hart a verdict of $85,000. UA obtained a reversal and a new trial on appeal. TESTIHG BEONG EIDER Iva Del Jacobs, slim blonde cow- girl from Merfiman, Neb., will be tested in Hollywood by RKO, Bronc rider is currently appearing in the rodeo at Madison Square Garden, N, Y. She was on the Coast before, having doubled and stunted in half a dozen -films. However, she was scouted at the Grarden. Before reporting at the stu- dio. Miss Jacobs will compete in the Little Rock rodeo, which follows the Boston Garden date. TITLE CHANGES Hollywood, Oct. 25. Final tag for 'North of Texas' at Columbia is 'Rio Grande.'- Columbia switched from 'Spy Ring' to 'International Spy.' Release title for Columbia's 'Not for Glory? is 'Outside the Law,' 'Plane 66* is- the latest tag for Uni- versal's 'Sky Police,' 'The Girl without a Country' at Grand National is re-titled 'Exiled.' Metro switched 'Spring Dance' to 'Spring Madness.' Chain store legislation, which may be enlarged in scope to include circuit theatre operations, is the lat- est and biggest threat on the legis- lative horizon that the industry ifaces in the forthcoming Congressional ses- sion and state legislature meetings next Jahuary. Senator Patman, who had a chain store measure up in the last session vt Congress, is coming back again with a revised biU. It will be recalled that originally he drew up his chain store bill to include theatres but when Patman introduced the measure it excluded picture houses. Main idea of the legislation as now understood is to make a new license tax so excessive for chain store establishments that it eventually probably would drive them out of business since only nom- inal license tax wonM be charged the single store operator. Aside from the possibility that cir- cuits, whether affiliated or independ- ent, would be included under the scope of this national law or state measure, high officials in the trade ■see ih the measure a threat to their theatre operations. One executive this week estimated that the elimina- tion of chain stores would mean the same as a 10% cut in salaries to average workers served by chain establishments since that miich is described as the saving for house- wives tradiing with chains. Mdse. Vendors I'hen, too, there may be an at- tempt to brring tiieatres under the cham store classification in instances where it is found that the manage- ' ment actually is operating stands selling not only ice cream, pop, lemOhade, peanuts and souvenirs but other aitielcs of merchandise. In any such fi^t to.ten% this type of theatre operatiMi .under the Patman statute, exhibitors do not count much on newspaper support because of re« cent fights waged by editors associa- tions on> prevalence of screen adver- tising in cinemas. That the chain store legislation is viewed as a threat is seen in the re- port that one picture -executive cir-' cularized various affiliated theatre heads with the recent Atlantic 8e Pacific paid ad clipping against at- tacks oh chain stores. Louisiana state already has a chain store law, taxing being based on the number of stores operated in tha U. S. by the chain outfit. Massa- chusetts also has been threatening with a chain store .law and other states probably will be heard from at the 193d ses^ons. tf the presently proposed drastic chain store legislation goes through as a national law, eveiTthough the- atre circuits are not classed as chain operations, film ofRcials fear that the economic effect at the box office will be bad> Not. only will the elimination of chain stores mean' less money available for the b.o., but a recent estimate showed that about 350,000. chain store workers would be thrown out of work if the chains shutter. Placing that number of people on relief also is expected to show up in the national scale -of things through additional taxes for relief funds. STUDIO OTN'mACTS Hollywood, Oct. 25. Czt\ Switzer inked new actor ticket at Metro. Jacqueline Wells signed by Colum- bia for three pictures, . Metro hianded Harry Bucquet a new director pact. Warners contracted Wolfgang Reinhardt as writer. Hal Roach lifted Norbert Brodine's cameraman option. 20th-Fox handed Nancy Kelly a new player ticket. Monogram extended its player deal with Boris Karlofl from fouf to eight pictures. RKO signed J. M, Kerrigan to two-picture player deal. Warners renewed Gloria Dickson's player ticket. Toscha Seidel sighed to pact by Metro. Metro renewed Gus Kahn's con- tract. STORY BUYS Hollywood, Oct, 25. Gladys - Hurlbut sold her yarn, 'Lovers' IVleeting,' to Universal. Paramount - purchased .'Madame Boubert of Cannes,' a French, play by David Lefrem. Thelma Strabel sold her story, 'Shining Armor,' to Paramount