Variety (Oct 1927)

PICTURES Wednesday, October 5, 1927 TOURISTS LEAVING COAST FELT BY PICTURES; LAST WEEK LIGHT Stage Names Held Grosses Up—"King of Kings" Going Out Oct. 30—Metropolitan at $22,000, $1,000 Above State Los Angeles, Oct, 4. (Drawing Pop. 1,350,000) With summer tourists finding their tickets ready to expire tlio tNnlus from this section of the state lor the east has been unusu- ally heavy an,I the first run picture house* are beginning to feel the ■lump. Not a single one showed anything near what should have been healthy business. Metropolitan with an in- novation for the week had the poor- est Intake since June. It used a 75-piore symphonic orchestra under ill© direction of Rube Wolff as a iiovelty stage attraction. The mu- sic was excellent and commended by those who listened, but thero waft not enough interest in this form of entertainment to warrant H being repeated again here in the near future. Also a handicap for the house wan tlio screen feature, "The Woman on Trial," starring Pola Negri. This one could not get to first base at all. I^oew's State ran neck and neck with the Met and had only two- Thirds tiie holding room of the hig- her house. The screen attraction was Geo. FItzmaurice's "Rose of the Golden West," with the stage having Cliff Nazarro heading a Kanehon and Marco prolog. Trade, here, however, was about $5,000 be- , low the week before. Gene Dennis, "Kansas Wonder Olrl." was shifted out to the Kg> ptian. There that young woman bad a heavy handicap to overcame in the Bebe Daniel's screen attrac- tion, "Swim, Girl, Swim," which did not seem to even Interest the flappers. Trade at the Egyptian was heavy, heavy on the fern the specie. Miss Dennis gave a special morning matinee for the ladles from 16 to 70 and they liked it on her final day. Her appearance meant a Jump of around $2;000 in the receipts over the previous week. That a stage name means some- thing in a neighborhood house was shown on the initial week of Gene Morgan as master of ceremonies at the Uptown. Morgan has a town wide following and they flocked there to get a "load" of his stuff, in drove. "The Bush Leaguer," star- ring Monte Blue, was on the screen and got a great break by seeing the total roll well beyond $8,000. "King of Kings" going below the •top for the second week in suc- cession drew the blue envelope at the Chinese and exits there on Oct. SO. Sid Grauman milked this pic- ture for all it had and on the run will show nice profit for himself and producer. With "Seventh Heaven" scheduled to stop at the Carthay Circle on Oct. S, the late comers sort of helped matters along, but did not keep house much out of the red. "Ben-Hur" in second week at Million Dollar got along at a fair gnlt only. "Norma Talmadge in "Camilla" second week at Criterion did surprisingly well and looks as though the picture can hold forth here for at least another three weeks. Boulevard opened Friday as a first run house, having Abe Lyman and his Rrutiswlck orchestra on stage, witli "Slightly Used'' (War- ners) as stage attraction. They boosted the scale from 60 to 65 and 75 cents and from the way Abo started to draw looks as though they will not mind the boost. He mined them away at both shows on the opining night, and had every picture star who means anything on hand to welcome him back home. Estimates for Last Week Grauman'a Chinese (U. A.)— "King of Kings" (P. D. ft) (1.959; BO-I1.S0). Shot bolt here and on Ust four weeks. Hard struggle to get around $13,000. Carthay Circle (Fred Miller) — "7th Heaven" (Fox) (1,500; 60- $1.50). Stragglers sort of managed to save things in final rush to see tills Frank Borxage production, with Intake around $10,500. Metropolitan (Publix) — "The Woman on Trial" (Par) (8.595; 15- 65). Pola Negri did not score with credit, if any. Small draw going to Rube Wolf and his symphony or- chestra. Skirted around $22,000. Loew's Sstat* (W. C.-Loew)— "•Rose of Golden West" (F. N.) (1,- 200; 25-$l). George Fttzmaurice has big local following; and. with business generally off downtown houses here, did nicely in getting better than $21,000. Million Dollar (Publix)—"Ben - Hut" (M-G-M) (2.200 ; 25-85). For week "Ben-Hur" did not sure up to expectations, with FIGHT FILM GAVE STRAND, MIL, $12,000 Ran All Week—Dented B. 0. Trade-Wise, $19,000, Hurt- ing Orph's Palace, $17,000 Milwaukee, Oct. 4. Six straight days of rain sent theatre owners here Into the dumps last week. The pictures as regards drawing power were split about fifty-fifty. The Davidson, with "Old Iron- sides"; Alliainbra, with "Beau Geste." second week; Wisconsin, with "Romance," and Garden, with • Old San Francisco," had the cream. Merrill and Strand were weak from a picture standpoint, having "Love of Mike" and "White Pants Willie" for tlie beacons. With rain starting every night Just about the time that the crowds left for downtown, the managers wrung their hands in dismay. Wis- FIGHT FILM IN TORONTO GETS $2,200 AT GRIND "7th Heaven" Does $7,000 as Road Show in Regent on Exploitation cousin probably got. the best break the first three days, due to Navarro's draw and Dave Schooler's stage show. Vita at the Garden, with "Old San Francisco," did not stack up as high as was hoped, but it did well enough to warrant a second week. Alhambra struggled through a second week of 'Beau Geste" to. a 1 1 fair play, while fairly good houses were enticed to ihc Davidson, where the $1.50 sign was hung up. Strand, with "White Pants Willie," was headed for the wrong side when the Deinpsey-Tunney fight films were shoved in at the Tuesday afternoon program and saved the house. That film gave the Strand more money than it has had in many a week. Merrill had to struggle on. Estimate* for Last Week Alhambra (U.) "Beau Geste" (Par.) (3.000; 25-50). Second week hurt bv rain; grossed slightly better than $16,000. Garden (Brln.) "Old San Fran- cisco" (War.) (1,100; 25-50-75). Matinee evidently off as house charges 50c. against 35c. and 25c. of others on Rialto. Vita helping, but picture was big draw In itself. Topped $10,000. Davidson (Brown) "Old Ironsides" (Par.) (1,800; 50-$l-$1.50). Fair first week and picture holds over. Over $16,000. Majestic (Orpheum) "Great Mail Robbery" (Gotham) (1,800; 10-25-40) Bouse not clicking as it should. Voude also. About $6,600. Merrill (Saxe) "Love of Mike" CF. N.) (1,2-00; 23-50). Poor business not in line with usual. Dropped to $5.U00. Miller (Saxe) "Perfect Sap" (F. N.) (1,600; 25-40). Last week of vaude and picture grind policy. House now in stage band policy. Hardly reached $4,900. Palace (Orpheum) "Bush'Leaguer' (War.) (2.400; 26-50-75). Vaude with film as filler. House still feel- ing Wisconsin's opposition; $17,000. Wisconsin (Saxe) "Romance" (M- G) (3,500; 35-50-60). Stage band policy and Navarro's draw with feme helped house weather storms of week. $19,000. Strand (Saxe) "White Pants Willie' (F. N.) (1,200; 25-50). Off to bad .start, business leaped way ahead Tuesday, and after, when fight films shot In and cleaned close to $12,000 (Drawing Population 700,000) Toronto, Oct. 1. The real feature was "Seventh Heaven." Not because the Fox super drew the biggest gross, but because Mgr. Victor got $7,000 for the Golden play in a 1,084-seator with a short campaign. The fea- ture clicked true and looks good for four weeks around $7,000, to be followed by "Sunrise." Victor had a lot of ministers view this picture. They all gave It a rave and the published praise drew them in. The old Strand, dark 18 months since Mutual Burlesque died here, sprung into life when a coulo of sport promoters got their hooks on the pictures of tho Tunney-Dcmpsey muss as Chi. They did about $2,200 at a half dollar flat rate, grinding the picture through from 10 in the morning until midnight. Pantages went above the average with "Hard Boiled Haggarty." Mil- ton Sills has always had a big fol- lowing here, although his last few efforts have been panned. The reg- ulars came for this one and liked it. Jack Arthur built a fair stage show around Universal's "Cat and Canary." The picturo held to $9,300, which is O. K. Started out weak, but built. Two English acts featured the stage show. Loew's, as usual, led the town. This week it was "The Road to Ro- mance," getting $14,000." Perhaps its the fact that Loew has led everything in this town for years, week after week, that is taking Manager Jules Bernstein to a big- ger Job with Loew in New York. He left Wednesday to handle three picture houses in Baltimore for two months. After that he invades the big town. Johnny McManus is named successor. The change from a Monday to Saturday opening didn't help Tom Daley much at the Tlvoll. "Swim, Girl, Swim" was a routine picture. Daley continues to. give the best short programs, particularly news stuff, in the town. Incidentally, three papers and one magazine have this week slapped a few back- handers at newsreel chiefs for ignoring Canada. The swing back to standard time helped all the neighborhoods, al- though houses on the main stem seemed to see little difference. The all-Canadian picture, "Destiny," at Massey Hall, went in the red. Estimate* for Last Week Loaw'a (2,300; 30-60), "Road to Romance" (M-G-M). Novarro pic- ture led the town, with help of a good stage show, despite race week and good outdoor weather. Worth holdover, but against house policy. Just over $1,400. Uptown (F. P.-Canada) (2,965: 30-60), "Cat and Canary" (U). Got away to a weak start, but pulled up neatly in the stretch; $9,300. good. Regent (Fox) (1,084; 50-$1.50), "Seventh Heaven" (Fox). Road- show clicked to a $7,000 opening week, which is good on a short campaign at this house. Censors nearly Jammed the works. They got picture late and refused to see It after hours. Would have delayed opening. Manager got busy and fixed things. There were no cuts. Pantages (Eastern F. P.) (3,450; 30-60), "Hard Boiled Haggarty" (F. N.). About $10,400 for the Sills picture. Above average. Bit of a sameness about last few shows here. Hip (Shea-F. P.) (2.600; 25-50), "The Country Doctor" (F. B. O.). Held below $7,500. Fans seemed to know what they were going to see before looking at It. Tivoli (F. P.-Canada) (1,400; 25- 60), "Swim, Girl, Swim." Trudy Kderle didn't mean a thing. Around $3,000. Not too bad. Some of the neighborhoods beat this. DIX'S $27,000 GOT GRANADA FIRST Jumps House $10,000— "C. & C," $11,000 Indications it will come out after third week. Around $13,600. Criterion (W. C.)—"Camllle" (F. N.) (1.600; 25-75). Trade very good here for this Norma Talmadge pic- ture in second week. $12,100. Uptown <W. C.) — "The Bush Leaguer" (Warners) (1,750; 25-75). Gene Morgan big bet here on open- ing week, with Monte Blue picture getting great break as result. Around $8,400. *_ Egyptian <U. A.)—"Swim, Olrl, Swim," (Par) (1.800; 25-06). Gene Dennis, on stage, responsible for better than 50 per cent of draw, with Bebe Daniels picture nil, ns her fol- lowing of flappers noticeably absent. $9,500. Broadway Palace (Orpheum)— "Ten Modern Commandments" (Par) (I 600: 2S-75» House seems against anything. Last week only ' ,500, Costello-Reagan Wed First When East Los Angeles, Oct. 4. Los Angeles newspapers were puzzled when Helen Costello and Jack Reagan got their license to wed In California. The California law requires three days to elapse between the license and the mar- riage. The marriage was very sudden, it developed that no license to wed was obtained in California as the couple had a civil marriage cere- mony performed three months ago, while Miss Costello was in the east with her mother, sister, Dolores. The wedding held at the Beverly Hills Catholic church was simply a religious one, held to please the folks of the groom. San Francisco. Oct. 4. (Drawing Population, 615,000) Picture house business still off, though Granada took a spurt to lead the town. Season of San Fran- cisco Grand Opera Company gen- erally credited with hurting films, but screen features may have been responsible for ordinary intakes. "Ben-Hur" held up in second of three weeks' date at California- Manager Spier circularized min- isters and response was unusually good. Granada Jumped about ten grand over the preceding week with Rich- ard Dix chiefly responsible. War- field did not show any great ac- tivity but figured that "Rose of the Golden West," being a story of pio- neer California days, would help. At the St. Francis "Cat and Canary" clicked nicely and returned a profit for all concerned. Intake at the Imperial would seem to indicate now policy has not yet been properly planted in minds of theatregoers. House has been showing small profit, however, since new de* luxe lxilicy instituted and last week, while not big, satisfac tory. Pantages had another big week (second) with "What Price Glory." House resumes regular vaude policy current for few weeks, then shoots with "Seventh Heaven' for a two weeks' stay. Estimates For Last Week Granada—"Shanghai Bound' (Par.) (2,785; 35-50-65-90). Reg- ulars liked this one, and with a strong Fanchon-Marco presenta- tion, was sure tire; figured $27,000. Warfield—" Rose of the Golden West" (F. N.) (2,660; 35-50-65-90) Have to give Frank DeVoe (in 3rd week here) a little credit for intake as feature nothing to brag about; at around $22,000, house more than held Its own. California—"Ben-Hur" (M.-G.) (2,200 ; 35-65-90). Second week at pop prices bigger than initial week at road show prices last season $17,500 and one week to go. 8t. Francis—"Cat and Canary' (U.) (1,375; 35-65-90). Good mys tery picture put on with showman- ship; spelled steady lines at box office; second week's $11,000 very good. Imperial—"The Fighting Eagle' (P. D. C.) (1,400; 26-40-60). Last week off about $1,000 to $6,600, but kept house in profit class; Hermie King and band gaining popularity. AVERAGE IN DENVER; COLORADOJJEST, $7,500 Denver, Oct. 4. (Drawing Pop 400,000) Box office not exceptionally strong last week. Business around aver ago with no one getting big breaks. Colorado, Victory and Aladdin grind hoUscs, topped the week. Suburban theatres report good eve- ning trade—and there are plenty of them. Estimates for Last Week Aladdin (lnde) (1,500; 35-60-75) "Dearie" (Warners). Irene Rich did better in this than expected. Weekly Vita prologs alone are good for quite a bit of interest, regardless of pictures. About $6,500. America (U) (1,500; 20-30-40) "Back to God's Country" (U) brought in about $4,600. Rence Adoree also got some publicizing across street at Victory in "The Big Parade.' Colorado (lnde) (2,450; 30-40-50) —"Hard Boiled Haggerty" (F.N.) fared better than average here, hav- ing had two weeks' advertising on billboards. New publicity man at theatre made mistake and got 24- sheets out week before regular time. They were left up. Ill wind blew in at least extra grand. Around $7,500. Stage band and vaude single. Denham (lnde stock) (1,835; 25-$l)—"Rain" (on stage). Well produced, lifted Denham gross over past few weeks, bringing it to $7,200. Empress (Bridge musical stock) (1,860; 15-30-50) — "Haunted Spooks" silly affair. "Mother" (FBO). Business had no reason to be sensational; around $5,200. Orpheum (vaude) (1,600; 16-50- $1)—Entire vaude bill pretty good; $10,000. Rialto (Publix) (1,050; 25-40-50) —"After Midnight'' (Par). Business as usual at $6,000. Stage band. Victory (Publix) (1,140; 30-50- 76)—"Big Parade" (M-G-M). Sec- ond week at pop prices still found lively response. Evening biz strong. Around * JANNINGS-GILBERT TIED UP PROV. DESPIiE HEAT $9,000 for "Flesh" at Majestic —Albee Around $8 000 and Strand, $7,500 Providence, Oct. 4. (Drawing Population, 300,000) Two pictures made themselves felt here last week, but otherwise, biz was nothing to shout about. Warm weather furnished a tough break for the box-offlces. The Way of All Flesh.- at tha Majestic, was a sensation. Sup. porting the picture was Vitaphona. A second film to go over was •Twelve Miles Out," at the Victory. Gilbert's name meant little lew than Jennings'. For the first threo days tha Rialto, second-run bouse, nosed into the running with "Mr. Wu," though this Chaney picture was run at the Victory two months ago. The rest of the week was quiet. The Columbus underwent a change of name, and is now known as tha Uptown. Biz fell oft, with nothing in the line of screen attractions to draw. The two Fay vaude-film houses had nice billings. At tho Carlton. Ezra Buzzington's rube band turned out one of the most pleasing nov- elty groups at this theatre in soma time. Weather kept the Strand down, though "Alias the Lone Wolf was liked by tho customers. Thomas Meighan fell down on "We're All Gamblers," which didn't mean much at the box-ofilce as a sec- ond feature. This house held slightly above par on the week. Estimate* for Last Week Uptown (Ind.) (1,600; 10-26), "Drums of tlie Desert." (Par) and Rolled Stockings" (Par) on S. B. M.; "Time to Love" (Par) and "Dance Magic" (F. N.) on T. W. T. F. Last four days 'way off after fair start; $1,700. Fay'* (Fay) (2,000; 15-60), "Not for Publication" (F. B. O.) and vaude. Fair week at $5,000. Carlton (Fay) (1,474; 15-50), Life of Riley" (F. N.) and Ezra Buzzington's band. Good combo for this house, and $4,000. Victory (K-A) (1.950; 15-40), "Twelve Miles Out" (M-G). Drew well throughout week; "The Little Adventuress" (P. D. C.) supported. Strand (Ind.) (2,200; 15-60), "Alias the Lone Wolf" (Col.), liked; "We're All Gamblers" (Par) not much of a draw; slightly better than fair week; $7,500. Rialto (Fay) (1,448; 10-25), M. T. W., "Mr. Wu" (M-G) and "Hey, Hey, Cowboy" (U), drew well to start week; T. F. with "Sea Tiger" (F. N.) and "Simple Sis" (W. B.). S. S. with "Outlaws of Red River" (Fox) and "Running Wild" (Par); $1,400. Majestic (Fay) (2,500; 15-40), "The Way of All Flesh" (Par). A wow from start to finish; Vita- phone supported; about $9,000. Albee (K-A) (2.500; 15-76). "Col- leen" (F.ox). Overshadowed by miniature revue which replaced usual five acts; batter than usual vaude programs; over $8,000. 2D WK NEW SHOW IN MONTREAL, $16,500 Capitol Continues Stage Band Policy—Fight Film Put Im- perial on Map. $9,500 Montreal, Oct. 4. (Drawing Pop., 600.000) Howard Conover, manager of the Imperial, put over some clever work with tlie fight pictures when he ad- vertised a special filming every aft- ornoon at 5:30, lasting about half an hour at a low admission price, ca- tering to fight fans just out of offices. He crammed the house every day at the slack time and boosted grosses to an unusual figure. Capitol entered its second week of condensed vaude in front of band with continued success, while its picture played capacity Sunday and held up well rest of week. Manager George Rotsky, at the Palace, hold- ing over "Camilla" for second week. His Majesty's was dark and the Princess offers no special opposi- tion with a fortnight of French plays. Estimates for Last Week Capitol (2,700; 60-85)—"12 Miles Out" (M-G-M). Picture and "new idea" vaude good combination. $16,- 500. Big. Palace (2.700; 65-86)—"Camille" (F. N.). Held over for second week. $13,500. Loew'* (3,200; 45-75)— "Framed.' (F. N ). Good for Milton Sills, pop- ular here. $12,000. Imperial (1,900: 35-85)— "Three's a Crowd" (F. N.). Good, snappy laugh-nvaker. With fight film this house well on map last week. $9,500. Strand (800; 30-40)—"Soft Cush- ions" (Par.); "Naughty Nanette (F. B. O.); "For Ladles Only (Col.); "Tumbling River" (Fox),