Variety (Jan 1940)

S6 PICTURES Thirlyfourlh VARIETY A nni rerm ry Wednesday, January 3, 1940 INFORMATION PLEASE By Helen© Samuel •Hello, hello, informalion depart-: not chock the bucsI perfonally. fs- menf This is Hotchkiss, habcr- ptcially since he coi.ld do so easily daVhers. Can you tell i.s the theatre , Well, il seems that the .temperament , Schenectady that The Blue Wall'!of the famed one d.d not allow for ^cens tomorrow? We made .some too pressing questions. .Anyhow, he social shirts for the juve lead. Drew j knew we could yive him the con:ect Pa.slell. which we gotta deliver be- dope, fore curtain lime, but we don't know.; On another occasion where . . .' "Miss, we have a bet, the boys and ] in the office. Who would you siiy has the most sex appeal .on the .screen, Hcdy Lamarr, or that new girl. Oomph Sheridan? .. . .'■ '•Era Magazine' calling. We want comparative stati.slics, quoting actual flKures, showing the increa.se or de cic.i.se of gross intake at the Aineri can Academy. since, its opening J 9.30 being a.sked bv the president of a girls' social ciub for n li.sl of favorite perfumes u.scd by a number of outstanding legit stars, siie proceeded to read off an imposing list before we could stop her. Another phone call came from a hero-worshipping jeune fille who was sure we could arrange a per- .sonal'interview with her adored one, II a visiting celebrity. It was.a pretty hard lime convincing her that it just Just Another Anni Hollywood. Jan. 1. Twenty-sixth anniversary of Iht start of Ihe first feature film made here, 'The Squaw Man,' pa.s.sed with only n brief notice and no celebration in Hollywood. PIcluie rolled Dec. 29, 1913, as a Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Co. production, with Cecil B. De- Millc as director general, Sam- uel Goldwyn as chairman of the board and Dustin Farnuni head- ing the cast. CLEAR DECKS FOR U.S. TRIAL Negro and Yiddish Film Boom By Herb Golden Lady, I hate to bother you, but my I couldn't be done iiiii 1 havpii'i heard from her in a ' A doctor once called us for ad- . i n i ■ go I. J naveni neaia nuiu m=> ' ' ' : „ni,«,,„u ,„v,..f h/. ocl<oM fnr vunc ment and major coun.sel was filed in Ion" lime She s a dancer, a very , vice, although what he asked lor was A siipulalion between the Govern- goOd dancer. And I'm sure she's ' the informative data department. He got a big ajrl in some Broadway had been solicited by an out-of-town .show.. Maybe you know where she ' educational film c-ompany to lend hi? "is7 ..." j voice and necessary commentary lo •Darl'jng, be a sweet child and tell n film which was to be distributed mc where I can gel a complete lisljnmong medical schools throughout of Grade-A theatrical pre.ss agents. I ihe country. Before committing him- Ypu know, the kind thai would'nt yeif lo the chore he wanted Vahiety's pass up a swell bet like yours rating of the company and its gen- Inily ..." eral academic standing. Would have 'Please give me .some data on Glam- 'ijccn interesting lo know what even- our-Glamour, Inc., talent agency.; inaiiy happened, but he absolutely I've been recommended lo them and ; refused to give us any facts unless 1 want to know if they're reputable [ ^^sured him we were direcl- and responsible. For a down pay- jy ^y^^g be of assistance, ment can they get me on lop as Ihey i Queries are put lo us in . person, claim?...-.' I over an inces.santiy ringing telephone ■My child is far far move la'enifid i ;,nd through the mali.s. No matter ' what, we simply golla have some answer which is where, we suppose, the trouble begins, but never ends. : However, why, oh why. on a tele- I phone, must there often be a rou- and nfiuch much cleverer than Shir- ley Temple; Sweetheart, hum a little .song for the lady Hinton & Hinlon on the wire. Per- haps you can give us the where- • which Columbia objected to, ns pictuics being made to create a answers lo the other 50 must also be .steady market. And wllhout a steady abouts of our client, Adeline Squigg. I j.^^ preface before the actual ques stage actress? Her case comes up all ^ , ,„;„„ ,„=,:ief>ii iim< court in two days, after having been on the calendar for more than a year, but she's no longer located at the ad- dre.s.^ we have fbr her . . .' 'We understand that movies are also to be made in New York now. tion? A bandying of wasteful lime and words. Why can't the question jusl be asked, right out? Foreign Jive Interrogations in Iwo fields offer the greatest opportunity to get N. V. federal court last week ex- tending Ihe lime of the U. S. to object to any of the film companies interrogatories to Jan. 15. Questions have been filed by all majors except Universal, that company is due in this week. The Government plans, and has so stipulated, that it will answer ail questions by March 1. All major companies an.swer.s- lo "(he Govei n- men; questions must be in by Feb. 15. except those of Columbia, and in this case, since Columbia was the only company lo object to the inter- rogatories, a hearing will be held on Jan. 19, at which time a judge will flecide if Columbia must answer. This refers lo the nine questioii.s only Upturn of interest during the past year in Negro and Viddish film pro- duction—although only the average number of such piclutes was turned out—portends a banner 12 months ahead for the tensing of this type product. Intensified gandering at (he possi- bilities for profits i" producing lhe.se films of strictly limited appeal re- sulLs, at least partially, from the large number of houses which opened Iheir doors lo them during the year. With bingo and dishes either out- lawed or not the lure they once were, exhibitors floundering for a hypo have discdvered that Yiddish and all-Negro cast pix. spotted into proper houses can magnetize con- siderable U. S. coinage through the grill.. Both Yiddish and Negro films have forged ahead on the exhibition side during the year, while the nvuiiber produced stands still. Thais due mainly to financing diflicuHios. Reg- ular banking .sources are unwilling, in most coses, to put up coin be- caiise of the vague . nature of the Negro films. Most of ihc.ve are in the south, although New York's Har- lem alone has 17. Producers' share of the gross runs all the way fiom $12,000 to 160,000 (very exccplional) averaging about $15,000. About three-quarters of exhibs buy the film on fiat rental, the rest oii per., centage, with the distributor.v gel- ting 25% of the take. First run in Harlem will cost the cxhib about $1,000 for a good pic, while top southern spots pay around $.S00. Average is considerably liiwer, liow-^ ever, many flat leiilaKs bein.n $g or $7. Two bigge.st groscis of all-time were 'Harlem Is Heaven.' with Bill Robinson, and 'Siren of thu Tropics,' with Josephine Baker. Fornu-r was made four years ago and the latter eight years ago. but coin ij jtin trickling in from lhein. Averace Cost, $10,000 lo Sl.l.OOl Cost of making the average Negro pic is $10,000 to $1.5,000, but plenty hav? been known lo be produced at $3,500. Recently - released Henry Armstrong starrer, 'Keep Punching." s said to have cost about )2U.000, market and because most of the pro- | but is expected to be an exccpltonal ducers are of the .shoe-string variety who don't fit into orthodox patterns as borrowers. As a result, producers must either finance themselves, re- sulting in a cheapie l.vpe of product, or find personal friends or business-, men lo advance funds. This lack of financial stability cre- ates a vicioiis cycle which holds back such production despite the poloii- tialities for profits offered. It pre- vents a sufTicicnl number of good in by February. The U. S. expects lo shoot the works, giving every bit of information it has on hand, so that no po.ssibic delay of the May i starl- ing dale for trial can be brought forth. Paul Williams, prosecutor of the action, arrives in N. Y. the latter part o( this week to consult with major company counsel. and I am an expert bookkeeper and I .stuck. . Those concerning the myriad stenographer; also a competent and bands or orchestras from one coast experienced actress and model. 1, to the other, whether it be swing know I can fit the bill. Won't you',or string, jive or symphonic, or just plea.se give me a direct contact? ..." I the plain garden variety, there'll al- "Schuyler Van Parsons, the pro-: ways be some new combo, no mat- ducer, just arrived In town. Do you ter how hard we try, one never has think if I sent a script directly lo hi.s heard of. hotel he would give it some alien- Those pertaining to foreign pro- tion? By the vi-ay, where is he stop- ductions are the other problem, if pins? . . .' 'Marcia Amber makes her televi- sion debut on Sunday next. Will she wear a low cut gown or street clothes? . . .' 'Which advertising agency is the easiest to crack in applying for a radio job? . . .* 'Did you eyer. hear of Johnny Swing's Swingeroos, an orche.stra which last appeared in comedy team we mean. Early in the evening, not so long ago. one after the other, eight local daily papers wailed on the wire to ob(ain per- sonal data on an actress who had captured the temporary fancy of a dictator. Incidents such as the.se are not rare and help form the pattern of our erratic existence. Occasionally we refer queries lo .specialized organizations, only to be told. "But we were referred lo you market, money can t be obtained to j Ernest Steiss consistently make good films. Income Producers' income on the pix from New York runs from $0,000 for the quickies lo . $21,000 for the excep- tional. Average is about $16,000. New circuit hopes lo push this up to about $H5.000. Tops for the country is about $55,000, with $:<8.000 the aver.ige. In addition to tliis. foreign exhibition before the war was bring- ing in an average of about $15,000. which has been cut in half now. Considerable part of the foreign take lost was from Poland and France, particularly the former, which was the largest single market. England. Belgium, Hojlaiul and the Baltic states al.so provide income which has been hit. Good remaining markets in'clude South Africa. South and Central America (Argentina. Uruguay and Brazil, particularly > grosser. More than a single week is never spent in turning out the average sepia film. About 12 pic- lui'es a year are made, about half in New York and half in Hollywood. Important prodMcers include Mil- lion Dollar Productions, which re- loa.se through Sack Amu.semeiil Co.; Oscar Michaux, a Negro who relea.ses independently, und live -ulhers who relea.se through International Road Slio\ys, Inc., major Negro distrib. Latter group includes Jubilee Pic- I lures, George Handol Productions, Prodiiclions, Argus Bert C;6klberg-Porl, Texas? . ■This is Benton of the pening 1 {-'I'-'^'h^'^a^'e oV'ra'dio'"skit- Flash. Is It true, that there s a rift ! „„, ,h,t ,ii between Gcraldine Powers and Mar- tin Slancing? Who are her altor- only becau.se of lille.s. While our files are extensive enough, linguistic de- mands in spelling or translation can .set one way off the track. Here^s a good example of what ;:p Wzi^ci!l::i;^^s'^:^e^ P"" -^-^'y ^° Honywood p-odud, Yiddish ning, just as we were about lo make .^ ^„ ^^^j^ ^^^^ ^^^^ thing else was not asked in the first place. To be confronted with a request another attempt to leave for the I day. Across the wire floated an un- Bijou, I certain foreign title, a more un- \ certain classification—either picture. by them What gels us down loo is when ' and Canada, info desired is not asked all at once. ' Much slower in playing out than ',1 look up data only to have lo go back : product continues lo bring in income ' ' for some seven years after initial release. Most comes in. however. ncys? ... "This is the Blankely-Blank News Service. We'd like lo . . .' and .so it goes on. It's doubtful if we ever had lo formally e.slablish an information bu- reau. It probably created itself through sheer pressure. It just seems to have narrowed itself down to any- thing and everything,, directly or in- directly, pertaining to the show busi- ness. Anything and everything de- pends entirely on the individual point of view. The other day an exacting little I they knew not what, except that all . possible information was demanded. : We literally hunted, but to no avail during the first year, with the re- mainder a tedious but important about something that appeared in the ' dribble. paper, of which we know nothing, is ! Top number of Yiddish films made the No. 1 bogey. That must ever be! I in past years has been five. AveV But when asked about a one-line I age cost is about $25,000, although , squib that appeared months back in 1 plenty are turned out for le.ss. However, the tail end of the title | vabibtv, that's-something else again. 1 Cheapies get through at as low as tantalized u.s, and while later it was j we had a rather trying experience $8,000 and are shot in five days, relatively unimportant .t struck | ^^^.^ q^,. was compaialively Better quality producers take two ; some chord of recognitum that re- ^,g^^ endeavoring to be and » half to three weeks for camera competent, diligent and ladylike. A I work and have spent up lo $.50,000. .simple query came over the phone, j ^^'^ '« far from the rule, lo which we responded with quiet 1 Principal producers now include efficiency; However, apparently we ! Roman Rebush. who operates tinder were not heard, or understood, so we ' the name Credo Pictures: Ira Green repealed our.selves. After the fifth | and Jo.seph Landy, Elite Pictures; Jo- time,'we forgot our surroundings and | seph Green. Sphinx Pictures; Joe our voice. 'Seiden and Henry Lynn. There have The range of inquirie.s—from, es- • been numerous other producers who .sentially, a .show biz trade paper—ijump in to make one pic but run is ever a point of wonderment. They j into difficulty and drop out. Most I fused to be downed. To the tune of a trolley car^s grinding wheels. , noisy traffic and accompanying lights I of the Gay While Way. homeward- - bound, we suddenly had a flash of remembrance. For the record, the , title of the play contained three words, the first of which our ques- . tioneer neglected, and the .second he 'distorted by error in spelling. Thus, lady"phone'cl l7 find'oGrihe Tengihy asain. all was w^ that ended well, cast and other daU of a particular I . t-h^K'nt Up on Columnl.sis radio program. . I Interesting always is the demand After a completely exhau.sling re- for. addresses of .spots mentioned in sponse to all her querie.s, the topper various columns of the daily pa- was, 'When are the closing hours of Pe"""' We have discovered that this Klein's 14lh street dress emporium.', °ccurs not so much because of any The comeback to our slight verbal; P"'"'"^"'^'' delinquency on the part amazement wa.s, 'Well. I thought j the dailies, but rather because the yMiiupT could know and then I would ', Query has to be made directly and save myself another call.' What, No Sore Winnabs? Another time a guy asked us, in season, detailed questions about Bel- ! sornehow they just never seehn to • be there—while we're always around. ; Another thing loo. A good por- . lion of our public is the information departments of so many other jjub- mont Park; exact opening date and licalions that we couldn't enumerate hour, number of days, trains, bu.ses.: them all if we would nags running, etc. When we asked | Coincidence of a kind al.so keeps why a call wasn t made directly, we ' „g on the qui vive. An artist came were told that it ;was loo much jn one day. Said he had to illu.slrale (rouble to get the number while, the new' 'Lawallza' dance for a slory everyone knew ours offhand. Be- but didn^t know where to go for a sides which, of cour.se, we were well- demonstration. He no sooner walked informed on the subject anyway—or out of the door when the phone rang should be^he observed. ; with a similar request in slightly dil- The publicity department of a ' ferent-form. The party wanted,lo be swanky hostelry wanted to know if , taught the step, one of their guests, a renowned film Two networks once called us a1- slar, had come to this cjty for the most simultaneously seeking (he purpose of entering the legitimate. whereabouts of the same comedy fold. We had nothing about it but'team. We don't know the- outcome, rather curiously inq.nirc<l why he did . 'cause they're slill sotlo-voct, Iht embrace such things as male or female fa.shion reviews, cosmetic shows, furniture, art, china and sil- ver exhibitions, interior decoration in general: advice on prospective purcha.ses from . liquor to finis cdi-i several lions; counsel on .sartorial raiment and the choice of technical or edu- cational books, ranging from photog- raphy lo ordinary bookkeeping; most of the films are made in the ea.st, with a few turned out in Holly- wood. Star .system has not been devel- oped to any extent, but there are faves. including Moishe Oysher, Molly Picon and Maurice Schwartz. Hypo to Negro Pix One of the principal hypos (o Pictures Inc. Even more than in the Jewish field, there are producers who step in. and try a single Negro produc- tion, only to find it unproHtable. One of the principal points in suc- cess or failure is said to be the knowledge o( what the Negro audi- ences regard as tabu. Absolutely verbolen is the portrayal of Negnies in bandana handkerchiefs or as be- lievers in voodoo and spirits. Col- ored audiences like lo .see themselves treated in the same manner as white folks. Al.so out is any nii.xing of Negroes and whites in a film. Pic-; lure costing $100,000 was made iii England wilh Paul Robeson and an otherwise okay cast. It gro.ssed vir- tually nothing among Negro .-audi- ences in this country. No Neero Pic Stars There has definitely in the V'>fi been no such thing as a regular Ne- gro -star in the films. Per.son if a star in one picture and has a walk-on part in the next. Big Negio name.«, such as Bill Robin.son, Duke Elling- ton and Louis Armstrong. w(in't work in all-Negro productions, ^ince they occasionally get into major Hollywood productions. Foreign field for the colored films consists mainly, at the present, of Cuba, the West Indies, Bermuda and Bahamas, whjch have about fiOO houses. Once in a great while, the films get playdales in England. An attempt is being made now to ex- plore the South American market and Spanish subtitles- have beui added to several pix for export down there. One of the mo.st popular fealmes in Negro houses during the p;ist Iwo years has been a blackface vrrsion of 'The March of Time.' Pruductd monthly by International Road.>-ho«f. it is labeled, 'The Ne^io Marcht.-i On' and shows shots nl Negro Elks' conventions and other fralcrnal Ki.lh- erings and whatever else in iht line of newsreei stuff can be occasionally bought on the q.t. from c.-imevaintn for the major newsrecls, which have no use for this material. Runs hb('Ut a reel and a half in length. desirable re.slaurants lo dine, dance, i Negro film production in the past or ogle celebrities. I year has been the . opening of bal- More personally, we are regularly conies in southern theatres to NcgrO offered commissions for purchase of! trade. Formerly all Negroes patro- lickels that are practically unavail-| hized segregated houses, and there able because of sellout.s, or for the | was plenty of profit for ops of these use of our influence In getting re-1 spots in showing regular pictures views or items publi.shed. We've with white casts. However, since it been asked lo .substitute for dates has become possible for Negroes to that cannot, be located or never! attend while, houses, owners of the Negro spots find that the specialized product gives them an addi- tional .selling point. In addition, in the .south a practice has been grow- ing in one-house towns of running occasional special showings of Negro films at the conclusion of-- the day's regular program.. Catering to United States' 12.000. 000 cullud folks are approximately 500 theatres which, show the all showed up; to share a pair of tickets so that the second one may not go to waste; to be ii.sed as reference for a job, or endlessly solicited for jobs; promised the rnpon it We can .satis- factorily answer countless and al- most impossible questions. By now, 1 suppose, we're even known by de- tectives and cops within the precinct. Heck, we're innocent, but. we do tome in contact with- all kinds. Dailies' Flaying Of 'Nazi' Spurs B.O. Mt. Vernon. Iiul., Jim. 1. .feditois of three rag.s. the local American Legion and Boy .Scouts got plenty steamed up over 'Nazi Spy' tWB), booked by Lou Davis into his theatre here, and the combo efforLsrfesuUed in sock bi'z. Screen- ing got editorials and plenty other cuffo space in the dailies and (»p weeklies. Editors emphasi,te(l local 'must-see' es patriotic duty. Editorials were quoted in Iheatrt^s ads and out front. Before pic hit screen for each performance. Legion and Ameri.can flags, flanking scittn- were spotlighted. Boy Scout.s, win' tramped inla house, stood and J-i'^^ oath of allegiance lo the flag.