Variety (Mar 1928)

VARIETY PIC T U R E S Wednesday/ March 21, 1928 (Continued from page 5) toeddlng the cast. Also It was tho llrBt . screen appearance of JuUa Paye, who has iippeared in evei-y picture DeMlUe since dirocitcd. it cost 1116,426 and,gros!jed |340,60'1 With the United States in the World War early In. 1913, JDeMlIle dropped back tp producing, pictures •under $100,000. The first one -was "The Devil Stone." It cost $67,413, and "got $296.,03.3. . After that/ he jhade six pictures which cost from $43,858 to $73,922. . The cheapest ©he was the second edition of "The Bquaw Man" and it returned $283*- 826. Most expensive was "Don't Change Your Husband,'' which drew $292,394. This latter one was niade January, 1919, with the war over.- This picture was the fore runner of ■ the bathroom, llngere and fur series of productions and was the first appearance In drama of Gloria Swanson. In the list of pictures made by DeMille up to that time was "The Whispering Chorus.'* It ha<3 an artistic touch throughout apd the producing organlzatibh was peeved that he had spent $72,499 to make it They claimed he would never get this picture over and that If they got production, cost- out it would bo a miracle. 'In the cast were Ray- mond Hatton and Kathlyn Will lams, who then meant: something on the screen. It also gave Noah Beerv a *hance to play a "bit. When the coin began rolling Into the exchanges things were more < encouraging and th3 final count showed ?242il09. It satisfied the Pamo'is-Lasky crowd that the pub lie liked the artistla DcMille pro ductlons. On top of turning out the artistic achievement DeMille did an about face and ma<^e a spectacular opus in "Old Wives for NeWi" That, cost $66,241 and grossed $286;504. It was. the first of the divorce series and brought to the fore Florence Yidor, and .to the light Helen Je- rome Eddy and Wanda iHawlcy That M^ss Swanson meant some jthlng caused . DeMille to use her again in . "For Better or Worse," first of the pictures he made after the war lo' hit over $73,500.:. This one cost $111,260 and brought back .1256.072. . Ist Million Gross . Then the studio niob went frantic when DeMill6 made "Male and . Female." . He spent $168,619 on 11 $jid .the studio ofllcials claimed he was trying to bankrupt the com- pany.. This picture recruited Bebe Daniels from the Roach lot and gave Wesley Barry a small role. Returns to the exchanges totaled $1,256,226. It was DeMille's firsi picture to get over the $1,000,000 ^ross. De , Mine came right back with •^hy Change Tour Wife" ..with Bebe Daniels, Gloria. Swanson and Thomas Meighan. It cost $129,349 and took in $1,016,245. Then De- Mille made another for $168,338, "Something to Think About," after] which he jumped to $338,752 by ^ making "Forbidden Fruit.'' In that l| one Agnes Ayres hopped to the P fore and became a star. It was a ^ remake of ""The Golden Chance" and grossed $848,121. Then the director made one $160,- 000 cheaper In "The Affairs of ' "Anatol.''' It cost $m;68"0" and was the first of the big all-star pic- tures with 14 stellar players, gross- ing $1,191,245.37. ■ After that DeMille made "Pool's Paradise," With Conrad Nagel, Dorothy Dalton,. Jacqueline X.ogan arid Mildred VHarri.?. Salaries . of players had hegim to jump in leaps and bounds, as this was . Maixih, 1922, and the picture cost $291,367. It brought back $900,057. When "Fools Paradise" was re- leased, his . next one, "Saturday Night," was also released the same month. It had Leatrloo Joy to offoi- as a noAv .star. Cost $2-J4,e3.^. and on uorount of boing rehui.'jed at th»v same time as hla other one, <mly rah. up a gross of $753,803. "Went Wild" at $384,000 P\)llowi)iK Its making, DeMille took a rest until September of that year, when he "went wild," as the studio people-expressed themselves, and spent $3*4,111 on "Manslaugh- ter." Meif,'hari scored. Tbis grea,test success in It. and Miss Joy came; right alonpeidc of him as . a. star, as the picture gi-ossed $1,202,130. Next came "Adam's Rib," which cost $408,432' and brought back $880,535, which Batlsfied the pro- ducers; as they did not expect an amount of that size from this pai-- ticular picture. >rext came DeMille's biggest pic- ture, taking him into the $1,475,836 production class, "The Ten Com- mandments.",-: It brought out Rod La Rocque. , Proved to be the big- gest box-ortlc6 hit of the Industry; as up to date it has grossed over $6.000j000. Qn this picture DeMille drew a salary and was aJso given a, percentage of the . gross, Jt was the first time, the company cut him In on the Intake of the" pictures besides his salary. » Following this one DeMille made three more for F-P-K The first was "triumph," with Xa Ro^eque and Miss Joy. It was a "cheater'^ for him, as it cost $266,012 and got $672,908. Then "Feet of Clay." with Vera Reynolds and La Rocque, ran the production sheet to $350,636 and returned $892,374. And the final one for F-PrL, "The Golden Bed," cost $437,900 and brought in until Jan. 1, last, $805,387. Stiir continu- ing to sell. This one is playing re- peat dates In foreign countries. With P. p. C. Towai-d the end of 1925, DeMille, on his own and associated with P. i). C, moved his base to Culver City. There he made "The Road to Yesterday." It cost $477,479. After that he started on ""The Volga Boat- man," which ran up a cost of $497,- 366. Next came the most expensive picture of all arid his last completed one, "The King of Kings." It needed over a year to make; and when the final production sheets were brought forth the entire cost airiounted to $2,265,000, • At present he is working on VThe Godless Girl," which will probably run to a $750,000 cost. Besides making these pictures fdi P. D. C, DeMille found other tasks on hand for that releasing organlza tion when it tied up with Pathe. The.Pathe 27-28 program allowed him a budget of $3,925,000, exclusive of "The Godless Girl." . Of his quota, 15 pictures have been finished at a total cost of $2,892,648, with five,yet to come, .m estimated cost of all to Detroit Betters With Good Gross Breaks MISS ANNIE PASTd society belie of Okeechobee, Pla,., says "Ain't he cute?" HARRY ROSE "The Broad-way Jester," Paramoun touring.. Wisconsin, Milwaukee, this (March 17) be $3,863,30$, or two per cent, below the budget allowance. The costs on those picture already finished for Pathe-DeMille release is are follows: . • "Fighting Eagle" .......... ''Angels of Broadway".;.. "Dress Parade" ; "The Wise Wife".......... Forbidden Woman" . ^.... "Wreck of the Hesperus".. "Gallagher" •. The Rush Hour"....*..... "Girl In the Pullman" "My Friend From India"., "The Blue Danube"....... The Leopard Lady"....;. "Chicago" The Skyscraper" . "Midnight Madness" • • • • • $297,000 172,000 220,000 155,000 219,000 217,000 107,602 154,000 159,000 90,648 273.000 209,000 300.000 191,000 124,000 Total ............. $2<^92,648 On these pictures the , average cost was $192,843.. It is said that the only guaranteed revenue which the Pathe-DeMille organization has for tliese program pictures is through the Keith-Orpheurti houses and their associates, which brings a,round $60,000 a picture. ■ Balance of the gross Is calculated upon'from outside bookings and the foreign market, where the DeMille name carries prestige. . ' DeMjIle's Salary According to reports, DeMille himself draws a saalry of $7,500 a week. He receives $100,000 ,for each picture he directs personally, in ad- dition ajs a bonus, and .$25,000 bonus for each pilcture which he personally supervises. • During the past year he hai3, only supervlsed^.three him- self, which included "Chicago," on which he did most of the directing. Detroit, March 20. Weather unst'Ltlt^d. Slight upward iriuid last week. Break in weather )w'lpod; . "My Best Girl" liad a fair opener I at tho II. A., though not equalling thp first weeks of cither of Its prede- iM^srtors. Plckford film showed little tendency to draw- the young people I aiid suffered in consequence. Another to deviate from precedent wa.s "Beau Sabretir," In first week 1 at the Adams. This "Beau.' a goou film but not In; a class with "Geste," on draw or as a picture. . ■'The Patent I.ieather, Kid" re- mained k. o. for a second week at the Madison and Is getting a play in spite bf . fhe rebound nature of its pop run In Grand Circus park. Con- siderable edge taken off by the pre- vious two-a-day engagement at the old Miles, but the. "Kid" still packs an obvious punch.. The big Michigan, having "Burn Ing Daylight" on the screen and staging the usual Publix unit, im- proved a bit and Is now nearing the normal niiark of $40,000. Rise natural with little credit to the picture. General opinion here that Sills is washed up In Detroit: ' Rose-Marie" (film), at the Cap- itol,, ran day and date with "Rose- Marie!' (legit) at the Shubert De- troit, and the celluloid vers*on copped the honors, however slight It Is possible the presence of the ehow in town helped plug the weaker screen piece. Estimates for Last Week Adams (I^Unsky)—"Beau Sabreur" (Par) (1,700; 50-75). Sequel not up to standard of "Beau (ieste." but capable of straightlng Jor two weeks, maybe three; no better .than fair money at first week's $16,000 pace Capitol (Kunsky) — "Rose-Marie" (M-G) (3,^48; 60-75). ^"ilm trimmed opposing legit version to lift house out of slump; while not large, $1,300 Jump to $24,300 encouraging Madison (Kunsky) — "P a t e n t Leather Kid" (F. N.) (2d week) (1,- 976; •60-65-75).. Dropped three gs alter so-so opener, but going along I at profitable rate and sticking for another week at least; second local run here, but house getting as rnuch as with many firsts Michigan (Kunsky-Publix)— "Burning i^aylight" (F. N.) (4,100; 60-75). House approaching normal stride; pictuire no sensiation last week and a^setback for Milton Sills in this village; >38,200. CHAPLIN^S $75,000 VERDICT Misconstruction of Contract Be- tween Comedian and 1st Nat'l Charlie Chaplin waH awarded $75,1,00 ■ by a jury before Judge Valontcs last w'eek in his suit against First National for.foreign i-oyaltles OH distribution of "The Kid;" ; From : 1920 to : 1925 .• • crhaplhi olaiined he had received no royal- ties and set this amount at; $56,000 with aooruing interest charges. "The Kid" was disti'ibuted abroad by William Vogel, under an ar- rangement with First National, whereby he was to receive -25 per- cent. .First National then deducted 30- percent of the balance. Chaplin's claims, as prea6nt<fd by Nathan Burkan, attorney, were that he was to get 70' percent of the total foreign dlistrlbutloh revenue, regardless of First National con- tracts. The case was expialriied a.s mis- construction of contract, Chaplin believing he was lo allow 30 per cent for distribution and First Na- tional believ ing it ■. was to receiye 30 per cent; after paying., off all charges. Warner Quota Plans Herman Starr, Warner. Bros, ex-^ ecutlve, is on the "He de. France" bound for England, where he will confer with Arthur Clavering, In charge of affairs for the company In England, about a series of pic- tures to be made in England next season. This is in line with arrangements being made by all the Americaii pro- ducers to meet—the—now—film—<iu£ ' rpquiremonts. Dupont's *Rouge' Opening London, Marcli 20. E. A. Dupont'a "Moulin Rouge" comes into the Tivol! this Thursday, following .."The Student Prince." Dupont's next will. ' ? "Piccadilly." It mainly has a continental cist and goes Into production In three weeks. Following "Moulin. Rouge" at. tho Tlvoll Will be 'fMlster Wu" and "Baby Mine," both-M-G-M pictures. DeMILLE'S COMPLETE LIST PRODUCTION. COST. "The Squaw Man" ^15,000.00 The Virginian". 17,208.00 (Ap). iSROSS. I 9 • • • • t • « e • • 4 12,233.37 14,221.99 16,988.00 15,109.00 28,359.00 10,811.00 What's His Name". "Man from Home". "Rose of the Rancho". "Girl of Golden West" ''Warrens of Virginia". WI Id - Goose Chflse". ...o***.— — "The Captive". i 12,153.00 "The Unafraid". . 14,226.00 The A ra b" 18,327.00 "Chimmie Fadden"............................ 10,504.00 "Kindling" ... . 18,574.00 > • « • • « • «*.* I >e-e»e»*o»e< Wampas Mex Trip Off Los Angei*--!:!, Marcli 20. The Wampas failed to .stage their trip and party to Mexican, Mexico, over the weok^«nd. It has indnll- nitely postpoiied ,tlio jaunt, "^'l^very^yliar,^ foll'o^Mni?-^ pas ball, the picture press ag«Mi'L.s throw a party with the organiza- tion standing for'all traveling and hotel expenses. When very few of the members showed interest in the Mexican trip, tho boy^ called it off arid will ti-y to find .'5ome other form ci amusenient. appealing to the members more strongly. These Invasions to Mexico gon- «rally deplete the Wampas trea.'^ury «ach year some $4,000 to $5,000. "Maria Rosa". "Carnien" ... "Temptation" "Chimmie Fadden Out West" The Cheat".... "Golden Chance" "Trail of the Lonesome Pine". "Heart of Nora Flynn". "Dream Girl"........... "Joan the Woman".,..- "Romance of Redwoods "Little Americart"...;.. "Woman God Forgot".. "Devil Stone".. .... ."Whispering Chorus"... "Old Wives for New". We Can't Have Everything".. 61,267.00 Till I Come Back to You" 52,646.00 .Squaw Man" '(No. 2) "Don't Change YoUr Husband" "For Better or Worse"........ '"Male and Female". "Why Change Your-Wife'? "Something to Think About".. =?ir:onb idden.:;EEui.t:U.. Affairs of Anatol".. iaft«e*«oe««e'e< i-a * ^ • • • A 'aft' 23,429.00 22,472.00 15,096.00 17,311.00 18,710.00 22,249.00 21,998.00 13,523.00 302,976.00 34,831.00 166,449.00 115,420.00 67,413.00 72,499.00 66,241.00 < • t • 0 • < "Fool's Paradise"...... "Saturday Night"..... "Manslaughter" ....... "Adam's Rib",........ "Ten Comnriandments". 43,858.00 73i922.00 111,260.00 168,619.28 129,349.31. 168,338.00 339j^752.00 176,530:08 291,367.00 224,635.00 384,111.13 408i432.00 1,475,836.00 . . ....... I ....»«........*< "Trrumph" ff^^JS-S "Feet of Clay"..,.... • "Goldeh Bed". .. 437,900.00. "Road to Yesterday". * 477,479.00 "Volga Boatman" '„ "King of Kings"..,.. ,....2,265,000.00 $111,518.85 61,560.00 62,090.00 . 87,028.00 102,224,00 85.728,00 60,630.00 56,074.00 63,944.00 68,526.00 68,526.00 66,036.00 102,767.00 147,599.00 102,457.00 73,036.00 137364.00 83,504.00 77,944.00 87,738.00 66,724.00 605,730.00 424,718 00 444,236.00 340,504.00 296,031.58 242,109.00 286,504.00 207,890.00 183,834.00 283,526.00 292,394.00 256,072.00 1,256,226.99 1,016,245.87 915,848.51 848,121.00 906j957:OO 753,803.00 1,202,130.00 880,585.00 5,000,000.00 672,908.00 892,374.00 805,387.00 Oriental (Miles)r^"Woman Against the World" (F. B. O.) (2,900; 2C-90). Regular Pan show and Oriental's usual mediocre film fare; slightly above average at $13,000. State (Kunsky)—"If I Were Sin- gle" (W. B.) (3,000; 25-75). Bob Albright, local fav and in Kiinsky family by marriage,, in Loew bill and plugged; little attention for film portion, and less for theatre, considering $10,000. .United Artists (U, A.)—"My Beat Girl" (U. A.) (2,000; 60-65). First week's $17,000 not in. accord with former. Plckford ability; rumored hou.se contemiplates stage stuff to combat surrounding theatres; straight, films, unless exceptional or supers, considered at disadvantage; "Sorrel and Son'- booked to follow with advance stiiff out. Ufa's "Modern DuBarry" The first Ufa picture for Brill . distribution will . be "A . Modem DuBarry," starring Marie Cordia. It is the story of a girl's rise from shop girl to queen. 'XTJMdX" epNTROVERSY Tlffany-Stahl iexecutives have presented claims to United Artists against the production of "Lumox," Fannie Hurst novel. Jos. M. Schenck announced he bad the rights to "Lumox," either paid for or on option. Tlffany-Stahl claiiii they were offered the picture rights to the book recently and were given time in which to decide on buying the rights. Washington (Fox) — "Sunrise Movietone (Fox) (6th week) (1.778; 35-50-65). About time for master- ful film to blow; neared bottom limit at $4,500 Last week. Washing- ton not believed to have lost in any of six weeks, so "Sunrise" can go on indefinitely if desired. ST. LOUIS NOT BIG POLLY MOEAN'S CONTRACT , . Los Angeles, March 20. Polly Moran, M-^-M prize come- dienne, has been signed for another I year under a stock contract. Immediately after the dear was closed, Polly was cast In a dog pic- ture being made by the company; (Drawing Rop^ 1,000,000) St. Louis, March 20 "The Circus" lias lost none of Chaplin's comedy traits, seema a strong contender for first place of all the. little comedian's past filnis Estimates for Last W.eek Ambassador (Skburas) (3,000; 35-65)-^"Frehch Dressing,".Parisian comedy of marital difficulties. On stage, Ed Lowry celebrated anothei birthday and bade adieu for two weeks before leaving for California to fulfill.a Vit.aphone contract. $32, 500. Missouri (Skouran) (3,800; 35-65) -^"Tillie'.s Punctured Romance," 1928 version of one of the screen's first big comedy attractions. Marie Dressier starred In this picture whpu movies were young. Now W. C. Fields, Chester Conklin and Louise i'^azenda featured. $17,600. Grand Central (Skouras) (1,700: 50-7G)—"Old San Fj-anoiijco" (W, B.) Vita pi'oduotion, second week, 'aTid'^Vlca/^"^^--^^^"^^ Loew's State (3,300; 25-35-65)-- "The Circus." Bay Mayer, m, c. Teddy Joyce's sunccs.sor, still hold- ing forth without special notice. $21,000, St. Louis (4,280; 35-66)—"A Blonde for a Night," impossible Parisian comedy. Lestra LaMonte topped vaude. Orpheum (2,200; 16-25-35-50-65) —"The Tragedy of Youth." Trlsle | Friganza headed vaude. COMEDY PRISON FILM Los Angeles, March 20. Frank Capra will direct George K. Arthur and K arl Dane . in •Brotherly Love," story of prison life, with' Arthur doing the convict and' Dane is playing a warden. Production, will begin May 1. Dembow-Zukor Stopover Los Angeles, March 20. . Sam l)embow, vice-president of Publix, and Eugene Zukor spent several days in Hollywood last week prior to returning to the east. N Y. to L. A. Elinor Glyn. Otto Kahn. Rudolf KOmmor. Beverly Nichol.s. Sir William Wisenvin James Jl BU.sh. . Ivy L. Lee. Fritz Tidden. .. Eugene (ijastle. Ben Lyon. Margaret Marin. " johlv efomWi^n^'""^" "'"^ John G. Robinson. L. A. TO N. Y. Anne Nichols. J. R. Bray. William' de Llgneinaii' W. Ray Johnston. Katherine Hillikev, H. H. Caldwell. Henry Ginsberg.