Variety (Aug 1927)

Wadnetday, Augiut 3. 1827 PICTURES VARIETY THEATRES POOLING NOW liW LINE OF "WESTERN" STARS MAYCOMEALONGONCOAST Tom Mix and Buck Jone* May Leave Fox—F. B. O. May Switch Tom Tyler Into Thomson's Place— Hoot Gibson Wants Much Money • Los Angeles, Aug. 2. An entirely new line-up of west- ern star company afnUations is due to take place during the next few months, according to present indica- : tlons in coast producing circles. Comment at present centers around the future plans of Tom Mix, who has still a few months to go on his contract with Fox. It i.s reputed I hat Mix has been offered as high as $5,000 a day to appr^ar with one of the big circuses. This amount includes the overhead of a band of cowboys and live.<?tock that Mix would have to furnish with ills own services. Even if Mix toured iHm, k circua. he would still have pteiity of time to work In four or flve pictures during the winter 'months. Buck Jones, also under contract to Fox, and reputed to how be drawing around t4,000 weekly, has lately been discontented with hia producing contnict, according to re- liable Information from the Fox Stiidiea, contract «iio ewlres wtthltt alTew Kioiitha, frith preient Indications that tiM itar and pro- ducer will not CM together for an extension. The Mix an4 Jmm* WMtems have ll.a'V) leaders on the V6x program lor a number of years, but logical reasoning brings forth the comment that there Is a limit to the salary ttmn eaa >• paid ,t» VMrtara stars •hd stltl hreak even on the gross of the pictures. With the automatic elimination of first run prices for the westerns, a releasing organiza- tion must be eonteiitt with plltnc up the txoaa amon^ the combination and small town theatres. It takes plenty of the aviT.agc bookings to get from under a high negative cost of a western, no matter who the star If Fox does n.,t renew with both of its present western stars, the company will pick out a couple of beginners at «m«R aalariaa and de- velop them. Film executives during the past few years have M en the phenomenal rise to box office value of unknown westerns. Some becamo popular ■with the small time circuits In less than one year after starting west- ern aeries. None started at much more than a few hundred a week. UniviirMtt; t'nivers.al will probably also do some rciiligning ot wrstirn .stars during the next six monthij. Hoot Otbson has a contract which expires in October. It Is said that his sal- ary demands will be so high that the prodncor will not meet them. Uni- versals second favorite among the live-reel cowboys Is Fred Humes, but some trouble was encountered when a eonilnuatlon of his contract came up l.ist month, and the com- pany decided not to continue with htm. At present, Universal Is trying to bring forward Fred Oilman, who is now ni.-ikiiig ,1 series of live-reelers, and Ted Wells, a likely candidate for popularity, who Is now making two-reel westerns. F. n. O. {,;-U that T.iMi Tylor is r'^ady to st. p into the pl.icc vacated by the switch ot Fred Thompson to Paramount. It Is known that the negative cost of the Tyler westerns Is only L'l) |„T .■. nt of the Thomp- son s, I-. H. () i,, Introducing another western series with Hob Steele, which will probably replace Tyler as the junior series, now that T.vW he<w4» the Cimpanv s we(«»^»v bets. First National will continue the Ken Maynard series. originally signed for Ave years, and I'athe seem,i set with two series of west- erns with Rill Cody and Buddy Roosevelt, which run Into nominal negative costs. !•! on Cash Basis Chicago, Aug. 2. Clyde Echardt, manager of Fox's Chicago ofUce, has re- ceived tlie latest In complimen- tary passes to an opening. It came In the shape of a card with 16c. pasted to it. It read: "Good for one adniissi<.)n to the IJandolph theatre." Frank Levine, manager of the Randolph, pivbably ItKured that nobody cares to see a show alone, and because of that, every 16 cents sent out would bring a 15-cent compan- ion b.ack. E ONLY IN A Y OUT? SUrt Reported Made Be- tween Loew'a and Publlx in Opposition Cities— Pools on Coast Attracted Attention Dept. of Justice —Chain .Men Believe Pooling Ultimately Im- perative — Pooling of Operation Also ONE-HANDED MPNS INDE DISTRIBS RUNNING 40 TO 60% AHEAD IN SALES High Mark of Last Year Left Far Behind—Larger Field to Sell To—Slowness of Sales by Big Dis- triks Another Aiding Factor ORIGINALS ARE BADLY WANTED BY PRODUCERS More Original Stories for Pictures Coming Season ThMi I^Md for 10 Yrs. Los Angeles, Aug. I. Original stories for screen plays are in big demand by producers. Writers wiio are capable of deliver- ing original material based on an Idea or title are commanding top prices at present at the studios. There will be a greater percent- age of original screen stories used this new season than at any time during the past 10 years. Producers are finding It Impossible to obtain a sufTlcient supply of books and plays that contain any s<'mblance of picture values, and tlie diminish- ing supply of plays and novels available does not begin to meet the demands of the production schedules. The success of many original screen stories during the past year has shown producers that this type of story contains more box ofhoe value than a number of .ulaiit.nions of plays released during the same period. • ' It has been found by flim execu- tives that originals do not cost any- where near the rights to plays and books, and the expense of ad.apta- tion of the latter Is generally as great as the total cost of the orig- inal with adaptation and continuity added. The comedy vogue, now at it.s height, has stampeded the produc- ers into signing practically all of the available comedy scenarists to contracts to write originals from ideas or titles. Locatkm Site Economy Los Angeles, Aug. 2. Along with the economy move now enveloping the IloIJj'Wood stu- dios, the F.ebe I ianiel^'comp-any. en- gaged in niming "She's a Sheik," location at Uuadaloupe, eliminating the necessity for construction of a new location site. The company will shoot "exte- riors" there for several weeks. Un- der the old order of thing* an en- tirely "new" location site probably would have been demanded. Loew's and Publix ara reported pooling their theatre holdings in all cities whero both are opsrat- ing- This project appears to have been concurrent with the announced in- tention of bctli circuits to jointly book their presentation houses for next season, B>V'nB a stage attrac- tion a routii sf f fs fcm iy W or more weeks. It developed that the pooling un- derstanding had been reached when a Variety reporter Inquired of one of the circuit's executives how they would handle star stage attractions under the jolnt-lwoked route where there were de luxe houses of each circuit In the same city. Pooling Is not uncommon In the show business but has been operat- ing In a desultory manner hereto- fore. With chain operators decid- ing pooling Is requisite to their business and the successful con- duct of competing theatres. It Is anticipated tliat that is the rtart of a general pooling throughout the land that will lead to many changes of policies, besides placing the reins of operation In a single hand as another economical man- euver and also at the same time permit the pool to eliminate from the picture theatre lists. West Coast Pooling The most notable pooling ot re- cent months and one which at- tracted the atti'ntlon of the De- partment of Justice was that ar- ranged through Harold li. Franklin ot the West Coast Theatres (cir- cuit), Nick Schonck of lyoew's and Sam Katz ot i'liblix. Through this pooling the Loew and Publix the- atres In Los Angeles and San rranclsco were pooled and placed under Franklin's direction, but with the reservation th.'it eitlicr Loeii^s or Publix may withdraw from the pool at any Uma. This has beeit mentioned as one ot the smartest pools ever put over In the show business—if It works (Continued on page 16) Now Working Steady Los Angeles, Aug. 2. Pred T. -Walker, former evangelist and at one time as- sociated with liilly Sunday, la now make-up man with the Fred Thomson unit at Para- mount. $25 EACH FOR SCREEN TESTS AND POLICE HELPLESS Toronto, Auf, 2. Ontario Provincial PoUc« are In- \ ostiKJitiiiff a picture producing company loratofl on the sh'jrpa of Lakp * tnt .Ti io. 20 lni\r^ wst of Tor-.nto. Tlie fonipany st;irt"(l amhitiounly with a flock <»f uh.-.1 propt>rti*'3 and advertised for extras. ThounandH were told th<-y couM makf> arrange- ments for a s< nx n test and if satia- faelory wouM be .si;,'ned. As an afterthoujjht the sucK^th were told the screen l**st would co.st JIT), "ft^r m if'Ti ll." MoHt of thern f'-ll, l»ijt diilti't even see their like- nMMs in the i»roj''Ction room, I*iU«r they were advised that they were not the proper type A few H^iuawked and the pr'^he w.'iS on. At the moment, however, poliec can find nothing; to han^ on th« picture men, who still cUUm to have productions In the offlnff. and the advertisement* for. extras Continue BREAKING DIET BROUGHT DEAIU TO JUNE MATHIS Disregarded Doctor's Or- der—Ate Heavily Before Going to Theatre June Matbia, writer, dropped dead at the 4Sth Street theatre last Tuesday night as the result of heart disease brought about through sud- denly Increaaed blood pressure caused by a break in diet. MIse Mathia hod been on a diet tor sis months, continuing (he treatment while In New Tork on a visit. Several people heard her at- tending physicl.ans warn her to ab- stain from certain foods and re- member her dieting orders. It la reported that prior to at- tending the evening showing of "The Siiuall" Mls.'f IMathi.s felt In fine ron- dillon and di5'r<-^;arded all rules by having a he.avy meal, ImludinK salads with miscellaneous dress- ings. Mi.^s Math is, who was soniewhat heavy f((r her lieii^lit. had l>een re- peateiily warned that if her blood pressure rose higher It might prove fatal. She has had heart trouble since slie was nine >-ears old, but the sarlilen rb-'tn^e froiri liniiteil nourishment to an unrestrained meal la believed to have precipi- tated her death. The exact nature <,{ the medical diet ordered f'jr tlie He-eased is not known, ljut It Is under.stood tli;it an abstinence from raw vegetable salads and heavy foods of various kinds was neeess.ary. It is not lle.iijtlit ijrob.ible that the excitement caused by a scene in "The Squall'' was In any manner responsible for the film writer's death, since Miss Mathis viewed most theatrle.il performances from a professional an^le and would not suffer any appreciable reaction- Miss Mathls first received pojiu- lar r*'Coirnition with her adapta- tion of 'The I-'our ilorsernen of tlie Apocalypse" and her simultaneous "discovery" of Itudolph Valentino. She is survived by her husband. Sylvano IS.iIlionl. whom she married in 19L'4, .and .Mrs. Kmlly Hawks, Jir.ili'l rnot her. Griffith's Six Abroad I.OS Angeles, Aug, 2. Raymond Llrlfflth, Just nnisherl Independent lilm distribiit<>r.i are from 40 to 60 per cent, ahead ot sales grasses, figuring on signed contracts, compared with the same' period last year. Film Booking Of- tiers, with the gales end under the guidance of L«e Marcus, is reported leading this field. Tiffany and Co- lunibia are known to be selllnK way beyond last year's quota, prob- ably GO per cent. more. Les.ser llKhts, such .as l.imi.as attd Kayart, .also linuro in the percentage in- crease. Ln-st year the Independents reached a hlph mark for their sales lind profits. The impression was that the 'peak had been reached. This year all previous records are broken. One independent producing or- ganization is rv'cclving from $150,- UUO to (200,000 weekly In signed contracts, with the season's total practically certain to roach over $3,000,000. Two Independent producers, with combined corporate value estimated- at under $5,000,000, are practically set for a net of more than 26 per cent. o( the total invested capital. A number ot territories hav* been closed up for Independent pro- ducers with the construction of chain theatres and absorptions, mergers or other connectloiM by In- dependent nrst run houses with producer-ezhtbltors, so that the large increase in volume of busi- ness Is In a considerable measure due to the tremendous numlMr ot' new houses now buying. The Independents not only bene- fit through the falling off, for the present, in the sales of some of the larffe national producer.s, but find a larger Held to sell to this year. It is estimated that there are from 2,000 to 3,000 new prospects In th* exhibiting racket, Ther(? are still a few Independent producers without releasing connec- tions at large. Some were crushed when the chain system began to funciliin and have since been able to staKc .-, comeback. National dis- tributors will not undertake to sell these pictures on account ot poor quality in most eases. Kven when accepted for dlHtribution these in- dependents cannot be certain of sales because tht\ picture may be slile tf'acti-d on account of .a similar production set for national plugging by the same distributors. SNOW, EXPLORER, DOES .San Kc'inciscQ. Aug, 2. A victim ot tropical fever con- tracted several years ago in Africa where he went to make the famous "Snow's Afrle.'in Hunt Pictures." Henry A ,Sieiw, explorer and big Kame hunter, died in Oakland, Cal,, July 28. Snow was born In Santa, Crux, t'al., 57 years a^o. A «]'e:ii ii,ne,t|..n of wild ani- mals, which Snow had t)een earing tor, together with many specimens ot the hunt, will be housed In a permanent building In Oakland, as a monument to the explorer. Featuring Arthur f'.eorse K. Arthur Is to be fea- tured in "Mixed Marriage." the next Lew Cody-Aileen I'rlngle produc- tion for Metro-tioldwyn-Mayer. Wil l i I ' j i jinuuiit, has uigntJ tract with an Kngllsh concern to do six pictures in Bngland startinK in Se-pteniber, The contract gives fJrHIIih :i weekly salary and a cut in H e prolItB, Ho is assembling a staff to BO over with him. COSTUME O R MIR priont'rTioNs KX l'/,f)(TATU>.V8 PIlK.SKNTATIONi ■coaxu/>AS''L!