Variety (Jun 1928)

10 VARIETY PICTURE GROSSES Wednesday, June 6, 1928 Amu$ement Stocks Rally at Once; Hold Through Money Fox and Warners Dip When Loans Go to 7 P. C- Sellihg Absorbed and Bull Move Resumed The; amusement stocks made a -particularly favora^ble group show- ing Monday when the list skidded badly during the money scare of that day^ the call rate going to ,7 per cent ior the first time in eight yeats. It was evident to any casual onlooker that the cliques were se-^ renely in. conimand. Fox drifted off from its new top, around 92, to 86; lio.ew was off from 74 to 72 and a fraction; while Warner Bros, eased from the peaic of 43 to 39. These l-ecessions were trivial compared to the wide-open breaks elsewhere in the'list.; Pools Confident Teste>-day morning all the the- atre issues opened fractionally off, but nowhere was there any urgent Belling manifest, and when the re- newal, rate of 6^4 per cent came out and the whole market perked up they ' were among the first to re- spond; Practically the whole group rallied to about their forrner leVels. -The striking thing about the mar- ket performance of the amusements during the flurry, was that as prices gradually retreated all fpf them turned quiet. The same thing wa^ true yesterday morning when traders gathered in a highly ner- vous condition;. It seems to be evident that none of. the Iqs^ei3 hais^any large weak long following. Yesterday's open- ing seemed . to make that conclu- sive. If thd-e. had been any; timid long account outatanding it would have gone tft cover at that tinie. if ever. Also tlfe bull pools probably would ba-Ve seized the opportiijiity to shake it off. The view grows that the strong UIY; $11,500 IN WASH; 'showdown; $8,000 '^Ramona" .Could Have Stayed Third Week—Fox, $24,000 —"Singapore" Okay. Washington, June 5. (Estimated White Pop., 450,000) Weather: Fair and Cool Metropolitan had another disap pointment last week with "The Showdown." Gross was down de- spite the holiday. Same star. Ban . croft, is shortly to play another of the downtown houses, which Is causing some concern at that hoiase. Earle had some consolation in the upward trend for "Yellow Lily." „ Billie Dove Is always Worth money here. "Ramona," at the Columbia, easily rated a third week due to a sudden spurt toward the finish but was past . the deadline for holdovers in this percentage house. Fox's summer policy seems to have clicked. Tak- ings were up $4,000 due to the holi day being bigger than Sunday, and that's something here abouts. "Across to. Singapore" held the Palace above $20,000. Wesley Eddy, ni. c, celebrated his. isixth month, which brought additional spa,ce in the dailieia arid uhdoubledly helped Rlalto, even with the holiday, hung around the low figure of the previous week. House has an- nounced a cut scale for the summer at 25-35, effective the current week. Jack Pepper, m. c. of the Earle, is but -of the blll currently on toi) of a big splurge of a new three months', ■ contract. Managomenit staled he is ■ 111. • ■ Estimates for Last Week Columbia (Loew)—^"Harhona" (U. Jl.) (1,232; 35-60), Got $9,000 on second week and could have held a third; Eaple (Stanley-Crandall) — "Yel- Jow Lily" (F. tr.) and stage show (2,244; ,35-50). Healthy upward opliifge; close to $11,500 and almost entirely night business. _Fox (Fox)—"If I Were Single" (W. B.), stage show and Movietone (3,23i2; 35-50-75). Combination got $4,000 jump; estimated $24,000. ■ Met (Stanley-Crandall) — "Show- down" (Par.) (1,5181 35-50). Could almost be termed a flop at $8,000; due-ailowarice^foi-the-holldaj'-eov<?rfi= final Count. Palace (iL<oew)—'Across to Singa- pore" (M-G) and Publlx unit (2,365; 35-50). Novarro always good for this house, plus Eddy's popularity; 120,000 possible. Rialto (U)—"Count of Ten" (U) <1,978; 35-60). Costing Universal plerity because of necessity to Have • first run house In these parts; pic- .ture may bave fun up $4,000. , , cliques ai*e prepared to carry on under this', market situation. "They probably couldn't realize now if they wanted to, :but they .appear to be .content at least to maintain their position, awaiting' more favorable season. Probably the strongest evl- dence;0f the grdup being in power- ful hands Is■ the conspicuous ab- sence of bear drives against any Is- sue along the line. If ever the the- atre stocks were to meet a test of their sponsorship, it would seerii tp' be In th'e Monday clCsing hour. Certainly ho; 'one wanted to short such dividend payers as Lpew and Paramount, Loew, as a matter of fact, was lower last week under no. special pressure thari, it was during the semi-panic of - Monday's final, . hour. Last week It got -close to 71, while Monday's loiv was above 72. The Loew 25 per cent extra In Btock Is payable June 18, and by a fuilng of the Exchange It sells "ex" that day, owing to delay In making certif- icates ready. . ; The. accumulation of, Fox was merely Interrupted. Late last week and on Monday before the crash, it had gotten , to new high levels hear 92. Par ..Is being talked about, based on further talk of potential profits from royalties from Movie- tone, Fox owns a 25 per cent. In- terest In the Fox-Case patents, and Fox Theatres (on the Curb) holds a like Interest! Trading In the lat- ter reached large proportions; This stock, which not long ago sold down to IB, crossed 30 on enormous turnover of 144,000 shares last week. . Talkers Figure The sight-sound side of the War- ner business likewise has attracted a bull following. That stock was In high ground again near 43, top since the spectacular run up of two sunimers ago. The trade now makes the belated concession that this move seems to ha^ ^ some sub- stance behind It, in 'view of the highly favorable financial state- ments that have been coming out. No Une was to be had. on Keith— either the common or preferred. It was right in. the middle of wiat lobked like a sizeable move up Mon- day . when the bad news hit the ticker. From its Monday top of 24, It retreated to 22% yesterday,~ and then rallied to better than 24. Pathe tooic Eimall part in the movement either way, ranging indefinitely be- tween 18% and 19% on. moderate tmrnbver. Dealings In Keith pre ferred, which show people are watchinfi; carefully, were negligible. PAVILLON ROYAL And, truly it Is Royal. You'll ap- preciate that fact when you become acquainted With the hospitality and cuisine of John and Christo, under whose management the PAVILLON ROYAL is so successfully con- ducted. MEYER DAVIS' VANITY FAIR ORCHESTRA is playing its fifth consecutive year at this resort of notables, located at Valley Streiam, Long Island, .New York. HON AND MOUSE" MUFFLES L I DOING mm IN TEN DAYS Only House Holding 'Em Out on Holiday^State and Met, $1,000 Apart Arpund $20,000 Ticker readers are at sea on Paramount.^ After a long . resting spell, It got under way late \ last week, touching Its former top close to 1'32, and ,then slipped to 124 again. Yesterday's low was 127 % '. with a recovery alsout mid-day to 128^. Stock's old partisans still look for it to go higher before pool realizing sets In. Probably the firm- ness of Paramount under Monday's pressure was 'accounted for In part by its- slnklhg . spell of early last week. The same was probably true of Loew. Stanley Halts Out'of town the irecovery of Stan- ^ley was halted abruptly. It got up to 35 from its low of 30 the. week before, but at that, level lost all initiative, with^ daily , turnover be- low 6,000 shares against 20,000 shares during the feverish drop, and subsequent partial re;cov'eryi Stock apparently Is . marking time until something develops in its policies. Brokerage houses .iare all advising caution. It Is recognized that a pitched battle is on betw6en.-spon- sors of the current bull market and the Federal Bank officials who look askance at stock loans absorbing too much of the nation's Credit fa- cilities. Stubborn bull leaders-threat - en resistance to the Reserve Bank mandates and yesterday seemed to be putting ui> a successful front. But In such contests the Reserve Bank hail the edge. It always has had Its way sooner or later. JLt does seem Improbable that stock prices cannot go up vety much In the face of the bank's opposition-:^but they can be made to go down a long way. What they actually will do in either direction la the gairible of the In- dividual. Summary of. business' for week ending June 2: ■ STOCK EXCHANGE HlgU. 45 180 77 . 110% 0214 2414 34 27% 11 131% 23 V6 6£>% 100 40% 10% K»% 33 101 113% 102V4 SUi 101 04% 110 -1928 Bales. Issue and rate. .; High. l.UOO Amerlca.h Scat (3)..;.....,...., 40% 4,300 Eastman Kodak (8). ............ 183% 27,200 Loew 74 11,000 Do. pref. (CW,) 100 . 102,000 Fox Claaa. A (4) 02^ 10,000 KelLh-Albee-Opplieum ,. 23% • « • ■ • * ■ • • « • • 00% io<iy4 00'^ •TiO 08% »1 05% 700 Do. pref. (7) 8,100 Madison Sfjuare Garden (ilii)... 1,300 Motro-Goldwyn pref. (1.89)..... 800 Motion Plot. Capital ........ 4<;iC00 Paramouiit-Fainous-L«L6ky- («>...' 21,400 Path© Exchange. 7,200 Pathe doss A 2,100 Shubert (5).......; 00 Universal 1st pref. (8)... 3.'5,600 Wamer Bros,. Class A... CURB . 2,800 Con.. PUm Ent. 15,000 Do. prof. (2).... l>W,90O Fox TheairPS. .......... BOO GriMlh, D. W................ 100.:Lo6w Deb.i rts.......^!,......... 10,000 TVarner Broslv. : BONDS $5,000 Keith O'S.;..... .4!),000 Ix)ew O's..... 80,000 Do. ex war 20.000 Patho 7's.... 43,000 Paramount-Famous-Lasky 8,000 Phubort 6'8 3f),000 Warner Bros. Ci'R. 87 31% • .»% iaii% 7% 21% . W . 96% 1«% 20% 81 2% 21 .. 83 87% 110 100% 71% 100% 02% 110 liOW. 40 170% 71% 105% 83 30 20% 0% 124 • • 0% 18 . 02 00% . S5% 10% .23% 28 2% 21 20% 00% 100% 00% 70% 100% 01 11774 Last, 40% •182%. 73% 106 00% 23 87 ■ 30% 20% 0% 131 7% ■ 10%. •02 . i)o% 40% .10% 20% 31 2% ■ 21 tt3 00%. 100% 100% 71 100% 01% 110 Net Chfe'e. - % + % + % -1-1%. +2%- e • + % + % - % +5% .- % +"% -1- % ■ +3% + % +2% +1% •+ % " +2% - % ■■ - % + % - % +2 Kx. dhldetul. Bid. .n . 7% 2% 87% Asltcd. 33 35 . 8% •I . 38% ISSUES IN OTHER MARKETS All Quoted fpf Monday Over the Counter New York Quoted In i-Md Hnfl.Aflk#>d .... n.oxy, Clas.s A ('l.oO) ^' Unit du. ,..;... .. . _.... Unit do... . ........ i .J. .... TiK'hiiicolor ...... M .... Kchln^ Cli. The (.T). '..4,..-. «« Philadelphia •1,000 .Slunley Co. oi' AmL'.rlca.. . Chicago, 100 IJalaban & lOilz Los AngeTes 400 Koacl), Inc St. Louis .... i>Uou,i'nd $60,000 Whole Gross Last Wk. of Montreal 1st Runs Montreal, June 5. (Drawririg Population, 600,000) Weather: Week end, wet; later, fair Wet Saturday and Sunday ' put sorriething of a crimp In receipts for the start ot the week and, with the ]^rincess added to the list of flrst- ruii houses, prospects looked glooniy, but they lightened later with better weather. Grand toial of first-run grosses for week was no smash, and $60,000 would easily cover it, this including vaude at two. Better butlook Is ffiven for coming week, with closing down for periods of four to. eight weeks of the Imperial and Gayety (biirlesque), while rumor has it the Palace will, also be dark in a week or two. Princess will be oii.t by end of month or earlier. With first-run movie shows cut to three, of which the Strand "is only an 800-seater while Loew's is part vaude, Capitol should.reap some benefit during next two months. '•Laugh, Clown, Liaugh," at the Capitol put that house easily ali'sart of the heap with a nice gross of $15,000. "King of Kings," starting Sunday at the Princess, fair house first night, but failed to. iniake the grade balance of week, and cijsed its first week to around $10,000 at $1.60 top. In spite of this Manager Charlton is holding It for a second week to give: Montrealers a chance to definitely decide whether they want it or no. It would have been a wow at Easter, but beginning of June people aren't looking for this kind of thing. Clergy here not worked into exploitation of picture to any extent, and this is factor that may possibly have been overlooked. Big press notices failed to bring in crowds. Best picture of week here from arty point of view was "Drums of Love," at .the Palace, but did only fair business a,t $12,500, .$1,500 under previous week. ; Charles Emerson Cook's 15-week musical comedy stock at His Majesty has turned out a big 6uc- ,cess. For the week his gross climbed to close on $10,000 as com- pared with $8,000 opening week. This Is fine for stock musical at $1.50 top In an 1,800-seater house. Estimates for Last Week Capitol (FP) (2,700; 40-60) "Laugh, Clown, Laugh". (M-G-M). Built up only fair opening iijto $15,- 000 gross for week, best gross In last six weeks. Chaney goes well here. Easily best of anything In town. Princess (1,900; 50-$1.50) "King of Kings" (Pathe-DeMille); Fine picture in a class by itself, but either people weren't feeling that way or weather affected, but gross poor at $10i000. Tried second week to see if tide will turn. First, time that a near failure has been given second chance In this city. Palace (FP) (2,700; 40-60) "Drums of Love" (UA). Failed to make hit warranted, only $12,000, fair for house but poor for class of picture., Weekly news reels showing Ken- tucky Derby race and marriage of Nancy Miller and the Indian Rajah brought In nearly as much as the feature. Loew's (FP) (3,200; 45-75) "The Patsy" (M-G-M). Picture would have sold th^ house by itself, j^itlj vaude only middling; $T37r0Xr gross good considering week bad all aroundi what with vireather and opening up of park attractions and outdoor sports. Imperial (K-A) (1,900; 35-80) "Harold Teen" (Par). Another standout picture that had vaude. fair faded off map. Result best gross of year with $10,000. House closes for four weeks. Strand (UA) (800; 30-40) "Sailors Go Wrong" (Fox); "Crimson City," (Warner); "So This Is Love" (Col), and "Thanks for Buggy Ride" (U). Altogether, $3,500. . Neighborhoods: Picking up and looks like good summer season in spite of Children's Bill. RUBIN AT ROXY Pedro Rubin is thfe new ballet master and dance producer at tlie Koxy, New York. Rubin's showing with the current Paramount show prompted the Roxy "coirlrjfct ■ib'auccc'ed"!^^ off, the Roxy's tanzmci.stcr, who has suffei-od another norvoiig collapse and Who sails from Canada today (Wednesday) on a recuperative trip. Jerry Cargilj left the Lyons and Lyon.s booking agency this week and will shortly go in business for himself. Los Angeles, June 5; (Drawing Population, 1,450,000) (Weather: Fair and Cool) No encouragement as regards im- provement of business. All houses, with bne exceptlon, have been tak- ing it. Wai-nerg in Hollywood has them all winging in turning trade away nightly. Reason is "Lion and the Mouse," first, talker on the screen. First 10 day.'J-showed a total of $38,000. This, terrific business has torn big gaps "into the Chinese and Egyptian. It was. figured that Decoration day mtght mean something to the picture houses, but the spenders iput reverse English On. their rolls that day and nearly all the legits did capacity on their two shoAVg. ^ Fourth week of "Trail of '98" was only fair and due to the fact that peVeral large convention parties wer-e used. The other t.iivo-a-dajr picture house, Carthay Circle, alV most faded from view with "Street Angel'* in 'its next to final week. Second week for ''Street' of Sin," at the Million Dollar, was also far from encouraging. : Loew's State had "Something Al- ways Happens," but so far as film was concerned nothing happened. Will King, gi'eat local favorite, got house above the $15,000 mark. Met- ropolitan had the Beery-Hatton combo In "The Big Killing," just another flopper for this house.' United Artists got the first down- town showing of "Gaucho" with Lupe Vclez In proloig. After run- ning Out in Hollywood for about three months, picture got a good break downtoiyn for $16,000. . Boulevard has new m. c. In B. Max Bradlleld and the youth brushed things up a bit. Bradfield had a tough one to carry on the screen, "Love Me and the World Is Mine." Coming Into the Crlterlp.n, which seems to have dropped by the way- side, VRaider Eiiiden". did all right on its week stay. Picture developed word of mouth. Estimates for Last Week Grauman's Chinese (U. A.)— "Trail of '98" (M-G) (1,958; 50- $1,50) (4th week). Couldn't get started and will npt be held long enough to get the advantage of the bulk of. tourists' trade,, which starts the end of June; $16,000; Carthay Circle (Miller-W. C.)— "Street Angel"; (Fox) (1,500; 50- $1.50) (7th week). Just about hung On In next to final week; holiday no help at $6,000i Boulevard (W. 0.)—"Love Me and the World Is Mine" (U) (2,164; 26-50). Picture meant nothing at all; Max Bradfield, new m. c, caught on and with trick exploita- tion stunts nearly. $6,000. Criterion (W. C.)r-"Ralder Em- den" (Col.) (1,600;! 15-40). With house in passe class, foreign film got gi-eat returns at $3,400. Egyptian (U. A.-W. C.)—"Ra- mona" (U. A.) (1,800; 25-75). Pic- ture helped here, but the Warner Bros, opposition has cut in stropg- ly; around $7,800.. Loew's State . (W. C.-Loew)— "Something Always Happens" (Par) (2,240; 25-99). LUcky to have Will King on stage; $21,000 and film light on draw. Metropolitan (Pub-W. C.)—"The Biff Killing" (Pai') (3,595; 25-75). Beery-ttatton off in draw; less than $20,000^:heavy red here. Million Dollar (Pub.-W. C.)—' "Street of Sin" (Par) .(2,20'{); 25-75). House almost at end of career as first run, so $8,000 figuted very good for secorid week. ; United Artists (U. A.)—"Gaucho" (U. A.) (2,100; 25-$1.10). Did ex- ceptionally, well after : long Hollyr wood run;. $16,000. Warner Bros.—"Lion and the Mouse" : and Vita (W. B.) (■2,7fi2; 26-76). Had edge on town; turned them away .nights and first full week $26,800; first three days sec- ond- week $1.1,200; looks as though eight weeks easy for this one. ST. CLAIR'S "MURDER CASE'' Los Angeles, June 5. When Mai St. Clair returns to the Paramount lot next month he will direct "The Canary Murder Ca.se," featuring William Powell. Florence Rycrson, scen.ari.st. Is now enroute to New York to dis- -cuss--the.-stor-y=-treatmen t--^'i th ^the^ author, S. S.-Van Dine. Fox-Howard's Term ^ Los Angeles, June 5. Fox has signed William K. How- ard to a. five-year contract to di- rect for them. He Is now megaphoning "The Ri.v.er Pirate."