Variety (Dec 1938)

Wednesday* December 7, 1938 pictuhes VAHIETY Washington, Deci 6. The next Congress will take up consideration of a proposal to aniend the Clayton Act, in line with the Goverhnient's interest in monopoly in interstate commerce.. The Federal Trade Commission has completed a surVey ordered by the'last Congress and, as result of its findings, is urging a, change in'the law to prevent corporations ■from buying physical assets of comijeting organijsations. ' I it such .a ch&hge in the law occurs, it will be just one more step; in the GovernmentV drive against alleged, monopolies in fllift industry .'and may effectively tend to prevent further'.acquisition of theatre tributors not. to buy any more .theatre properties without advising the Govenimeni first of ite'iritentlon'. ^ / " . " FTC's suggested amendment to Clayton law would define the limit at which, corporate acquisitions, in size and'i>ower should be halted in. order to-prevent, monopoly and is designed'to makje it'unlawful'for any cotpora^ion, directly or" indirectly. through a holding company or subsidiary, to acquire any of the stock or assets of a competing corr poration, when either is engaged ,in interstate commerce,. It wo.uld 'not apply, where the company, which is the'sub'ject of .the'takeover* controls less tjFian 10% of the total output of any. industry, in which ' the' two corporations ai^e In competition; unless the effect of such ac- quisition may be to restrain competition or tend to create a monopdly. Mannix s Illness Shifts More M^G Duties to Lichtman-Colm-Thatt [XPECTII BIG Hollywood, Dec, 6. Revised Metro .executive-produc- tion setup shifts added responsibility to; Ar Lichtman and Joie Cohn, due to the illness of Eddie. Mannix, nOw in.the Cedars;of Lebanon hospital, and expected to bd confined several weeks. ■ " ' ' '. I New- alignment: was decided' at a meeting Saturday (3) after phone talks with Nicholas M. Schenck in New York; effective Monday (5), with Llchtman, Cohn and' Benny Thau operating as^practical heads of production. Louis B. MayeSr^ of course, .functioning in his usual ex- ecutive' capacity. < Sam Katz.is in executive charge of physical operations oh' the lot, augmenting .duties as supervisor of production units. After his release from the hospital, Mannix is 'taking two months' rest. He.had charge of- various production units and the new plan has Licht- ma^ taking over most his duties. Mayer, also,- is sharing Mannix's executive chores with Thau, latter supervising the work of sever.al.pro- ducers. ' * Griffis May Become Par Board Chairman At Tory's Meeting Appointment of Stanton L. Griffis to chairmanship of Paramount board of directors is expected to occur "before Adolph Zukor, who .-would relinquish the title, leaves for Lon- don after the holidays. If action isn't, taken at today's (Wed.) board meeting, with Zukor in New York to. attend, it may cohie at a special session of the directorate called before Zukor sails for England. A partner , in Hemphill, Noyes & Co.", downtown brokerage firm, and a bigwig in, Madison Sq. Garden Corp., Griffis has held the post of chairman of the executive committee In Par since joining .on the reor- ganization.- Hulburd Out of Hosp Philadelphia, Dec. 6. Merritt Hulburd, who has been prevented by illness from taking over the producer post with Selz- nick-International to which he was signed in October, is ^ut of the Chestnut Hill hospital and recuper- ating at home. Members of his fam- ily said he would have to rest for several weeks and it 'will be some time' before he is able to train to the Coast. Hulburd gave up a.$75,000 job with Sam Goldwyn last year to take-up his old Saturday Evening Post posi- tion at $15,000. Said Hollywood was too nerve-rackirig. Loew Returns Dec. 27 • Arthur M. Loew, foreign depart- ment.! chiefs fori Metro,' oh .a South American inspection tour, is due b^ck intNew York Deci 27. He., will .be accompanied..by his brother^ .David'L.'Loew, who -is va- cationing .with him. PAR AHEAD ON PKMES With nearly one-third of Its total annual product for 1938-39 now com- pleted, but not yet on release> Para- mount is farther ahead of release than ever before in its history. As many as 16 pictures are in the .caii ready toi go out as -wanted. This places Paramount in the position of having gone past the one-third mark, sincfe 58 pictures are prom- ised on the season. Another seven are presently in production. The 16 features in the can includes pictures that will , not go on release until February, Indications are that the company will have its complete total of 58 pictures on the season finished, if all are to be delivered, well in advance of schedule. 'Better PIx,* Freeman's Analysis Hollywood, Dec. 6. Financial future".of Hollywood de- pends on better pictures, according to Y. Frank Freeman, new Para- mount studio exec, who replaced Adolph Zukor. 'Taste of film audi- ences has improved,' Freeman de- clared, 'arid only by turning out high-grade pictures has Hollywood been abl6 to stem the recent tide of box office depression. There must be no backward swing. 'After a number of inferior pic- tures earlier in the year, Hollywood finally snapped out of it and begaii to improve the quality of its'prod- uct. , The result was immediately apparent. November was only 5% below the figures for the same month a year ago, and December gives every indication of topping November's figure. I look for the coming year to be a banner one for thie box office.' Freeman and Zukor held a lengthy huddle before the latter- left for New York (2) to sail for Lon- don shortly to take charge of Par- amount's British interests. One-third of Paramount's nine cur- Eairnings . and Dividends from i^aramount's Thiea" trie Subsidiaries Will Send Parent- Cotapany> Well Over the Top«^Dec]lara- tions Start Next We^k OVER $1,500,000 • Based on expectancy of very sub- stantial dividends irom tiieatre sub- sidiaries, on which action is being taken before the end of the year, the final fourth quarter.of 1938 for Para- mount will go well over the top of previous years, and substantially ex- ceed the net'fbr'^the -last quarter of the priot year (1937), it is predicted. * For somp' time Par has been set^ ting up* di-vidend declaration plans among its many theatre' subsidiary companies. The ' dividends, it is stated, will run over $1-,500,000, with atinouhcemept of declarations to, prdbably'start officially next week. ' Substantially alt -of the' theatre siibsids will be in a positio^ to de- clare dividends before Jart;. 1. -Ui\- derstand that decision' on the divi- dend and am.ount planned, has been reached, in many cases. -While for- the whole year of 1938 the -learnings bf the theatres will not exceed 1937, the final quarter, will be very grati- fying in comparison since there has not been so-much divvying during this year as there-was throughout 1937. \ The dividends are declared by the various theatre companies them- selves. Under, the Par. setup, the bompariy has an interest in. most of the subsidiaries, ordinarily .50% though.rhore in spme cases and less in others. '.Its participiatiori in divi- dends declared is, of course, in line with the interest it controls in the various subsidiaries where such ac- tion is taken. Wholly-owned subsids include the former Oljnnpia New England gijoup of theatres, the northwestern string (Minnesota Amus. Co.) and Balaban &- Katz, which in turn, owns Great States, plus lesser units such as up- State New York; Paramount, N. Y.; Newman, Kansas City, etc. ■ Partners have. been in New York meeting on dividend plans of - late, while in other cases members of the home office who are. on various the- atre subsid. boards, including Leon Netter, Montague Gowthorpe and Leonard Goldenson, attend meetings in other parts of the country. Net- ter is leaving next, week for Dur- ham, N. C, to attend a board meet- ing of the North Carolina Theatres subsid (Kincey-Wilby), at which divvy action may be taken. Gow- thorpe was in Atlanta'the end of Itist week .for similar purposes. The fourth quarter for Par last year was $754,000, while earnings for the whole ; ear were $6,045,103. Wflcox Ends Coast RKO Gmfab; Sailing Hollywood, Dec. 6. Herbert Wilcox wound up a week of confabs with George J. Schafer at RKO Monday (5) and has re- turned east to sail for London. Likely RKO will also release his next Anne Neagle starrer, as it's do- ing with Wilcox's current '60 Glori- ous Years.' rent productions are on location for extended periods. Most important is Cecil B. deMille's 'Union Pacific' open-air troupe, shooting buffalo scenes in Oklahoma. 'The Lady's from Kentucky,' .is lensing on the Leighton Ranch near Oceanside, Cal., and 'I'm from Mis- souri' is working in the San Fer- nando Valley. Zukor in N. Y. for Home-Office Par Parleys; May Sail by Xmas JimmyV Job Hollywood,. Dec. 6. .Coast's chief guessing..contest . now. is what, wilt Sam:-Goldwj^n • do with .his' taew y.p., ?a)t)es ' ttoosevelt." Another . expresses- it; thus: . ' - *It's beiph a great, year for * ,.Goldwyn, He's- had, three,;vice-. presidents (Reeves Espey, Jini ' Mtilvey-and Jimmy Roosevelt) and one • picture, 'Cowboy and the Lady'.' GN-FINE ARTS STILL M Official status of the Grand Na- tidnal' Pictures—Fine Arts Pictures contract isn't set. .Complete. s,llence is being maintained by Franldyn Warner, Earle W. Ifemmons aftd Lloyd Wright,- Grand National trus- tee, since the joint statement by Hammons. and Warner was issued last. week. Wright-who leaves here for Coast on Thursday (8) intimates that a statement may be forthcoming from Hiamriions by 'that time but that up to the present he has been too busy with other matters to be able to go into GN situation. . Informed sources close to Grand. National reveal that rivalry between Warner and Hammons for suprem- acy in company affairs led. to an offer, accompanied by a certlfiet- check from Hammons, to buy off Warner's Fine Arts contract and producing obligation to GN. This offer was later rejected, by Warner and the check returned to Hammons. It is definitely known that contracts calling for liquidation; of Fine Arts commitment to GN have not been signed, which would leave the situa- tion as it was originally, with FA continuing to carry out its schedule of 24-36 pictures for Grand National release. Arriving in the east in good spirl^* M^^day (5) and huddling n^ost, of that , day with'Barney Balaban, pre- paratory to discvisslons with' John. W; liicks^ Jr., 'who gets in Friday: (9), Adolph, iJukor- may sail for Ehg*' land prior ^ to Christnvas. to consider possibilities of fiilih production by Par on that side^ plus theatre expan- sion Iti Britain and on the Conthneiikt.- He .ls .also expected* to- take steps -to > strengthen sales for Par in, the Brit- ish Isles and throughout Europe. Whether Zukor goes over without poi^olip for :Par or .assumes a title to govern during' his stay on 'the ^other side, remains to be determined following Hicks' arrival and confer-* ences in which h6, Zukor and others will figure. . Following' the resigna- tion of John Cecil Graham as man- aging director of operations in Eng-*- land'', and ' on . the - Gohtinent, Hicks assumed the title on his arrival abroad several We6ks. ago but as- sertedly on a' temporary basis, fpr legal, reasons moistly. David Rose» production representative in Eng- land, also gets, in Friday (9). Hicks, who is v.p. of the^ parent, conipany in charge of all foreign operations, is expected to remain in New York indefinitely directing ac- tivities- over the ' Whole world for Par. ' He is. also a member -ot-the board but misses the meeting sched- uled for today (Wed). E. / V. Richards, head of the Saenger. cir- cuit in the south and the only Par theatre partner on the directorate, is in'New York to attend that ses- sion and discuss other business with home office executives. Netter and Israel's Datles Following the transfer of Y. Frank Freeman to the Coast over studio administration and pending appoint- ment of a general manager of the- atre operations for. Par- at the h.O., Leon Netter, who in.ay be named g.m.,- is taking care of vaifious matters formerly clearing through Freeman, -while Arthur Israel, com- pany attorney, is taking ntmierous details of a general naturd Off Bar- ney Balaban's hands. For 10 years with Par, Israel has handled various matters of a legal character for the theatre department, as Well as dis- (Continued on page ^17) GN Washes Up Claims Los Angeles, Dec. 8« Claims totaling $267,421 by First International Pictures, Inc., against Grand National Films, Inc.» were compromised out of court to avoid litigation. Settlement gives FI $5,500 in cash and $27,500 in GN stock. FLOCK OF nUHQlS DUE IN FROM EUROPE FRl Alexander Korda, Douglas Fair- banks, Jr., David Rose, John W. Hicks, Jr., and Gabriel Pascal arrive in New York, Friday (9) from Europe. Hicks and Kose will talk with Adolph Zukor on British production plans of Paramount, Rose having completed a three-months' survey of the quota situation. Both Hicks and Rose will probably accompany Zukor when latter sails to take up his post in England later this month. Pascal is en route to Hollywood to talk with Metro officials on a pro posed series of pictures to be made in Hollywood. Korda ditto for UA, as elsewhere detailed in this issue. ABCHAINBAITD MAT SUB Hollywood, Dec. 6. George . Archainbaud may take over "the direction of *Lady from Kentucky' at Par, during the Illness of Ai Hall. Trade Mafk Reelatered FOUl^DED BT SIME SIT^VBRMAN PobllBlifid Weekly by TABIETY. Idc. Bid Silverman. President . IBi Woat 4Sth Street, NeW York City SUBSCRIPTIPN Annual 110 Foreign..,., $11 Single Coplea . ,26 Cent» Vol. 132 e^g^" No. 13 INDEX , Bill HalUgan 61 Bills 43 Chatter 53 College Rhythm 3P Concert 51 Dance Bands.; .36-3ft Exploitation • — 1& 15 Years Ago.;,,i 40 Film Booking Chart 21 Film Reviews 12-13 Forum House Reviews ,44-'"» Inside—Legit 48 Inside—Music 38 Inside—Pictures 13 Inside Radio 26 International News 11 Joe Lrfurie 6 Legitimate 46-50 (Literati 5*^ Music 36-38 New Acts 42 News from the Dailies 54 Night Clubs ; 39-42 Obituary 54 Outdoors 55 Pictures 2-21 Radio 22-35 Radio—'International 35' Radio Reviews 26 -Radio Showmanship 34' Vaudeville 39-42