Variety (Apr 1928)

PICT U R E S VARIETY BANKERS AND WASHINGTON AT PARAMOUNT /Ist Time Out Since '25—In May 12 Paul Ash will open at the Para- jmount, New York, May 12. In tak- . Ing Ash put or Chicago the Publix plan is'to tour" him 6ver the circuit following' the 12 or 16 weeks he will jBtay at the Broadway house, prooke Johna follows Ash at the "Prlental, Chicago. Johns opens, at the Indiana, In- dianapolis, April 7 for four weeks prior to his Chicago stay, and is succeeded at the Missouri, 5t. Louis, . by Eddie Pa'rdo, the interstate Cir- cuit's. "Conferencler,"; who has been at the Majestic, ballas. Pardo opened in St, Louis last Saturday '(March 31). ' This marks the first tlm,e .Ash. has ■professionally been away from. Chl- ;cagp since he oipened at McVickerls In July, 1925,. following his long stay :Jn San Francisco at the Granada. He moved'^to the Oriental when that thieatre opened in May, 1926, and has been there ever since. The latter house shows a weekly average . 'pt $44,000 since its inaugural. Ash comes into New York alone; leaving the stage band at the Oriental, No definite date In May has been set on his Manhattan 4ebut pending arrangement and schedule of Publix units around Wt time. ARMY'S "TALKERS" ^Experimenting for Training Pur- poses at Fort Behning, Q^, Washington, April 3, A,gjfty is going to test talking- pic- .^ur^^pr training purposes. Try iput Mil "Tje. made at the Infantry Brfio^, Penning, <aa. jbfecl^lpn to make the test follows (Successful iexperiments with motion pictures in training. Special Jllms are to be made with department of- ficials declining to divulge whether they are to make them with their .own equipment or. if one of the i'talk" companies will dC the job, Alice Gentle Lasted But One Week in S. F. San Francisco, April 3. . One week was enough for Alice Gentle and the rock bottohi business she played to last week at the Cap Itol, together with a feature pic ture. Miss Gentle had been booked In for the week with an option on "another. House Is dark again. JJacob FaJ)ian Ymcele?? Jacob Fabian, head of. the Stan ley-Fabian circuit In New Jersey, lunderwent an operation last week that has temporarily left, him voice less;. The operation was the removal of . his larynx,, made necessary through a growth. Langdon Out at F. N. Los Angeles, April 3. Harry Langdon Is through with First National at the conclusion of the picture he.is now working on Pathe is making eyes at'^hini, Langdpn's position with First Na- .tlonal has been probationary iipon delivering box office pictures. $5,000 SALAD Los Angeles, April 3; lit. cost Paramount about $5,000 one Oay last week . because Jnnnings had some lobster salad for lunch. Salad got the better of the actor and he had to take the day off. Luther Mondos, makin.? rotakof on "The Street of Sin," was com polled to (limiss a large squad of ..extras, with JannlnpTs draw;lngpay . despite his idto afternoon. ; 14 Mos. Old Fibn Star The * Stern Bros, have the youngest. baby star^ Mary Mae McKeen, 14 months old. <'Snookums" did not start his film career uhtU 18 nionths of age. •;. Mary Mae la just another , of those blondes, and la "Snook- ums'" sister. Her first production wiir be a comedy entitled "Buster Minds the Baby," the first of a new series of Buster Brown Pictures. . Banky-LaRocque Team It's accepted that Sam Goldwyh will teana up his present star, Vilma Banky, and her husband, Rod LaRocque, Both of the players are In Ne;w York, at the Hotel St. Regis, recently returned from abroad,: LaRocque is still with Pathe, but his contract shortly expires. Fol- lowing the dissolution of the Banky- Ronald Colman combine, it was said Goldwyn intended to sole star Miss Banky, Londoji,^ April 3. LIU Damlta, Austrian actress, formerly with the . Sascha Film Company, of Vienna,, has been en- gaged by Sam Goldwyn. The en- gagement Is supposedly to place the foreign girl opposite Ronald Colman. Report here is that Walter But- ler, English film actor, may be Vil- ma Banky's new partner as he has also been signed by Goldwyn. How- ever, another story over here is that Rod LaRocque will play with Miss Banky and that Goldwyn Is getting plenty ot publicity out of the whole matter. "LILAC TIWE^AT GLOBE Colleen Moore Vacationing—rMcCof' mick East for Juno Premier Los Angeles. April 8. Colleen Moore sails for Honolulu accompanied by her mother and father April 21. Miss Moore will be gone a/bout three weeks. When she returns she will Immediately start w:ork on "Oh Kay" under direction of Mervyn LeRoy. While Miss Moore Is traveling her husband, John McCormlck, will go to New York to make arrange ment» for the premiere of "Lilac Time." This is due to be shown top at the Globe for $2, opening early in June. Fox. now has the house Jimmy Grainger's 5-Yr. Contract with Fox Jimmy Grainger, with a new five-year contract as Fox's general sales manager, leaves Los Angeles tomorrow (Wednesday) for New York. . ^ ■ . ^ Gralhgei^s ne^^^ c6nti€ct IS how In effect. 'O'rair at Chinese? Los Angeles, April .3. "The Circus" started Its final four weeks at Grauman's Chinese on April 2. Picture will have had a run of 14 weeks. Possible successor, May 3, is "Trail of '98." Atmospheric prolog; to be staged by Sid Grauman, is being figured upon If "Trail" conies in. Raquel Meller's 3-Reeler Los Angeles, April S. Pox Is negotiating with Alan Crosland to direct Raquel Meller in a Movietone three-reelcr. It will require the director to go to iiJurope and spend at least two months-therer- - — DIX STICKS TO PAR . Los Angoles, April 3, Paramount has renewed its con tract with Richard Dlx, who leaves April 8 for two weeks In New York. He will return to. start work on "warttilRg- t7T,". 'bscjrrtjail. .itory. DOINNTOKS Observers at Capital of Opinion ! Banking Inter- ests in Pictures Will Dis- courage Court Contests A g a i n s t Government- Politics Heavily in Front at Present-—Fed'l Trade and Dept. Justice Possi- bilities in Connection with Film Industry ROUND TABLE TALK? WRITER PAID $500 TO STEAL 'SHANGHAr PLAY Testimony Before Cal.'s Labor Board-r-Millard Ordered to Pay Ruth Todd Balance Washington, April S. Attorneys close to th« Federal Trade Commission are of the opinion that the commission's proceedings against Paramount to stop block booking'may never actually got into the courts. What is moro, it is said that th« commissioner* them- selves will bo greatly surprisecl if it does. This opinion has been growing for sometime not only among the law fraternity but among those knowing pictures and th* banking association in them. ; This contention Is based on the now celebrated bread cast, which many claim the Department of Jus- tice, could never , have won but which was settled due to the-fact that the bankers, heavily Interested in the bkklng business, informed the heads of that industry that there would be' money to expand but not to spend on a long drawn out suit In the federal courts. That such was. the real, basis behind the bread case settlement seems conceeded Ih practically every quarter. Bankera behind the picture .busi- ness, particularly now in Its almost unheard of expansion, are counted upon to make the same settlement as to funds, Backing this up Is the appeal to the commission .reported last week from counsel foir Paramount to hold oft until Robert Swalne returns from a vacation In Africa. That Bruce Bromley^ counsel, asked for this time in the hope of,, being aible to fix up another "report of com- pliance" Is taken by those dose to the commission as Indicating a de= sire to back away from the suit threatened to enforce the order against block booking. Squaring It has cost Paramount plenty to date for the proceedings before the commission but when the entire Industry becomes Involved, to which indications now point, it Is believed by_ many^_he^^^ will be reached either barring block booking altogether or the commis- sion (which says It won't) hedging somewhat and" letting it stand in some modified form- ■ Not only does the industry face this court action but there is also in the ofTlrig the investigation now being conducted by the Department of Justice. ' Question is being asked why the department la proceeding so slowly. It has the record of the Paramount- Federal Trade proceedings; It has the Brookhart senatorial hearings and now the Chicago strike case where, the ..department itself has taken axjtion seeking to bring'about a criminal conviction for alleged II- (Contlnued on page 20) PHONO MUSIC FORTHEATRE Hrnigson's Return and ' Henry lloriigson, In New York for several wcoka cQnCcrrlng with Uni- vr-rsal oiriclalfl 'and lining up work for thfi'future, Is returning to Uni- vorsal City,, of which he. is U's gen- eral manager. His early return In- dicates that the tTnlversal studios will opon In full blast about April 1^,- -■ Los Angeles, April 3. . In an opinion handed down by Deputy Commissioner Edward Lowy, who Is legal head of the Labor Bu- reau; holding that S. S. Millard, who produced several sex pictures, must pay $330 to Ruth Todd, scen- arist, for work she had done pn a story and continuity for a picture, it was pointed out that the present contract given by a producer to a writer entitled the former to use arbitrary power to reject any work submitted to him, regardless of its value or merit, even though It may be perfect in every respect and the result of hard, strenuous or skillful labor or Services, Commissioner. Lowy In his find- ings says that if a literal interpre- tation would be given to the con- tract, there are provisions which make it inequitable, ahd that they would not be enforceable in a court of law. Lowy states that his de- partment is not inclined to sanction such provisions,, and if a fair and just interpretation can consistently be given which will take away this arbitrary power and protect the writer from any imposition or at- tempt to deprive him of the fruit of his labor, the Labor Department will construe such provisions ac- cordingly. The claim on which this opinion was handed down was filed at the Labor Bureau by Miss Todd on Feb, 23 and based on a written contract dated Dec." 8; This contract, pro vided that. Millard engaged Miss Todd to do work on the picture called "Scarlet Youth," for which she was to receive $500. The con- tract contained the further provision that Miss Todd was to do another picture on a story and. continuity also at the price of $500. The Facts From evidence submitted by both sides In the controversy, Lowy says, he found.the following facts: Millard requested H. L. Fraser to give to Miss Todd the plot of the second story contemplated in said contract, Fraser gave the plot and, haying seen the play called "Shanghar Gesture" and the story and scenario, as written by Miss Todd,-I conclude that it was the intention of Fraser arid Mil- lard .that the plot of the second story should be along the lines of said play. The story as sub- mitted by Miss Todd conforms to the plot of the play, and ■vyhlle I am not qualifled to judge whether or not the work of Miss Todd as submitted by her is skillfully pre- pared, or whether it is near per- fection, I do find that It does con- form to the plot as stated to her by Mr. Fraser. If app tlnulty was prepared by Miss Todd, it was submitted to Fraser by Millard. After a superficial examination some suggestions as to changes, were made. These suggestions were followed and the story was modified accordingly and again submitted to Millard with said changes. Millard again referred the story to Fraser: and without comment Fraser referred the same to Mr. Curran, who was acting as director for Millard and CUrran and a man named Wcst- lund claimed that they rewrote the .story and that a picture based upon their story was later pro- duced and that the picture is now ready for exhibition. The title of the story, however, was changed. The title of the .story as originally given waa to be "The Little l5ig Sin," The picture as produced Is ^^'Flamj^ng^Ortue/: ■ Used Banned Play "The Shanghai r.fc.sture," written by. John Colton and .stago-pni'lufc*! by A. II. WoortH, is a Tlays-liaTiin'd play for film adjiptation. Wliilc flit- story from Lo.<5 Angeles flo"';- not bring that out, the lnt':nt lien- by 3.'.S. Millard app'-ars to,have )>"fri to got over a banned play-as a .siti— Successfully Tried in t*o- peka—Replacing Organ and Trio in Small House Topeka, April 3. Phonograph music electrically picked up, amplified and handled has ohtered Topeka via Orchestra- phone, already the sole source of musical atmosphere at the Gem theatre, second-run house, and where it has proven such a success it is to be substituted for organ and trio at the Cozy (seating 400) and is being considered strongly as a substitute for the Orpheum (seat- ing i;200): , The music Is picked Up from a double, disk table, machine and. car- ried Into the house via loud-speaker system. It requires the services of a flrst-class musician to run it and properly cue the program, but as union musicians are . to be used, the theatre men Ijelleve the local union cannot kick, even though it will mean fewer Jobs here. GERMANS FILMING INDIA ■Lola Kreutzberg in Biombay^-i Bringing Out Best of India Bombay, March 2. " Lola KreutZ'berg, with a company Including director and canie'raman, has arrlyed here to produce two In- dian culture- films of about 6,000 feet each. This German lady Is the first to take films of India In the best light. Miss Kreutzberg has been produc- ing Instructive films of animal, life In Elurope and lately «became dis- tinguished by going alone to Java, Sumatra and. Ball Islands In the East, taking scenes of native life and the mysterious trances and re- ligious dances of the natives. Swansonand FBO , Los Angeles, APr'l 3. It Is reported here that Gloria SwansOn may not make her next picture for United' Artists^- She'^ all settled at the FBO lot under the wing, of Jo.saph M. Kennedy. The latter Is expected to handle all future Swanson financing and Is expected to turn the release over to Pathe. Cost Successful Mayorality Candidate $27^000 to Run Seattle, April 3, It costs a pretty penny to bo ;.electcd_mayor ..in. thjLS. tpw^ statement of . expenses filed by Prank Edwards, former showman. But I'rank had to beat a woman, and as he was new in local politics had to do a lot of advertising. He won with mo,ny votes to spare and becomes Mayor Edwards next June, but the cost to land the job for two yeacs that pays $7,500 per annum was over $27,000. It includes heavy billboard and theatre advertKslng donated by friends; printing, nearly $5,000; ra- dio, $1,735, and office rent, help, etc., $1,800, :. Preclnet workers, etc., make up the balance. sational picture, leaving It to the puljlicity to make the connection. Woods InlondH prufUiclng "Hhang- iiai" a.s a picture in England' and returning It to this country as well .for-^wj(:li_-.di.sti?lb,utlon^ai3.^ma.y^be^o.b-s l;iii'i.'Ll)le, Millard, not under the Hays, or- ,";inization'.M df)rriin;i(i(;(j, Is a maker of ".■<cx" iiicluri's, usually assembled. .Morf . latterly lie l.ui.s gone In : for if'Kular production, seeking such exliildtfon .'^DUri-cs a.s may be avall- .ililc fnr oiUiHit, operating Inde-