Variety (Nov 1928)

VARIETY Wednesday, November 14, 1928 loop Sticks in Slump-Pad Ash in Weather: Cold, Rain Bv aid. of miclnight show ■ election All Lop houses ^vere able to coun Sp fS^ business for. tlf t^I^^- bosses on the week showed con- fTnuation of the previous ^veek s $44,000 average .NVinter ^leui e. ; ""^ not so forte when brought in b> I?Th<. Rackef on the acroea_ u a Marion Harri^ in Person .p'^.!^;^ . Publix: Stage band. . UaoKet die gi^rf "adv^rusing^^. sT^e ^ ak.n. "Companionate 'on oriental, backed by , .n'-eck. . throw at him.. . "x-inme r>r. thP briKht side was Jriomc , S an all-arou^<^^--^: nhlP line of comment and is Bpt ting double the usual advertisine -"digest of.^all erosses^actyajly Rna comparatively is the ^48.000 taken in by "Singing Fool, fittn week at McVickers. That gives. "Foor- $253,000 for .five weeks sky- blgh above -anything ever ipcally «ccomnlished before. This one has to rn^ve soon to let something else In a tough break. "Plastered n pins" was nice at the Monroe with 15.100, considering co^aiUons. ^ . ^ Second week of "Mother Knows, Belt" at the Roosevelt, dropped IMOO after starting disappoint- :^^^^Estimate3 for Last^<^ek , Chxago (Publix)—"The Racket (Par) "Wonderful Girl" Publix unit ind sound (4,400; 50-75). Picture • based on- Chicago's crime.politics aufance. Marion Harris in Publix unit on stage. Bill couldn't stand the gaff and brought average 544.- 000, despite rating as special week. M'cvfcMrs (Publix) 'Singing . Fool" (W.B.) sound (2,200; 50-75). Paris" (Fox) sound (970; 50). Comedy brought favorable money week with $5ilOO. .No co-opcration from critics. ' * ' . Oriental (Publix)—"Companionate Marriage" (F.N.) sound and Bits of B'way" Publix unit (3,200; 50- 75). Film and Paul Ash. on stage took count at $36,000.; lowest w§ek Ash liaD had oh return, engage: ""o^pheiim • (Warner) ""<l'?,^ Towners" (W.B.) sound (700; 50) Nifty biz here, and excellent com- ment; $12,500; . gave house $4,000 above previous week. Roosevelt (Publix) Mother • Knows Best" (Fox) sound (1.700. 60-75). Started to disappointing $18,000 in pre-election week slump; dropped to $16,000 for second _weck State-Lake (Keith) - "gljow Folka" (Pathe) and vaude (2,200; 60-75). Down around $20,000; Nick Altrock and Al Schacht. clowns from baseball, headlined -vaudc. United Artists (U.A.)--"RovenKe (U.A.) sound (1.702; 50-75). Doloroa Del Rio feature good but hot. im- portant. ..start at- $28,500; . part of general sliimp. "TOILERS'* GOT ^16,000; GOOD FOR MAINSTREET Kansas City. Nov. 13. IClGction wcok another of thpise things for the. tlieatres and the managers are .glad it .is over. The extra elTort and show did not-add nuich to the grosses . . Newman closed fo.ur-week run .with "Singing Fool,." .breaking the house record for length of run and '^''^Jobyana Ralston was featured, on both, the MaiaHtrcot and Pantagrs screens and the cu.stomers of both houses liked.her. . ■•, .■ Pantagcs remains, the only^dowa- town house unwircd, but .It also wui have the talkerS in a.fe\y-weeks;. Estimates for Last Week Mainstreet—"The Toilers" (3,200; 25-50-60). Tiffany-Stahl first sound attempt and good start. Vaude up to standard. Turn-away business Sunday. $16,000. ■ . Loew's Midland—"The Woman Disputed": (4,000; 25-35-50). Norma Tafmadge seemed to have some box office value as business showed a little increase and picture good^ en- tertainment. Three short subjects and the news conipleted screen program. A young woman stand- ing on the piano and singing witn the orchestra, novelty. Her offering would have gone o.ver much better from the stage, but as that, would have constituted an act and re^ quired extra stage hands,, she sang from the top of the piano. Organ was another attempt: at community singing, but never got a murmur. Newman—"Singing Fool" (1,980; 40-60). Fourth, week. $12,000. Pahtages — "Black Butterflies' (2,200; 25-35-50). About poorest picture here for some time, but with strong stage show .and g'ot' by with- out complaints.. $9,700. Royal—'Beggars of Life" (92.0; 35-20). Got breaks from press ?7,000. • Uptown gave "His Private Life'* with stage show aiid Globe had "The Air Circus," 2d week. Columbia's Two Sound Stages in Hollywood Columbia will cbmmonce the con-" struction of two sound stages ir. Hollywood, upon the return there pf Harry . Cohn. After a vacation abroad;: Cohn leaves. Nc>y York to- day (Wednesday) for the west. Columbia,' operating under a Western Electric producing license, has not bo: far laid b.iit its talker program.- That will be later de- cided upon by Joe Brandt, Harry and Jacques Cohn. who run Colum- bia. Jack Cohn Is back in Ne>v York after subbing at the .studios during Harry's absence. Columbia's "Submarine," which had a $2 run at the Embassy, is due to open at the Capitol (Loew's). New York, in December. KEITH CUMBS TO 37; OTHERS IN 'MINOR MOVES: P AR. PAYS $3 Turnovers Enormous in Historic MarlwWRadio Soars to 290—All Amusements Strong, but Dis* tribution May Be Going on Under Cover Bebe Daniels' 52nd Los Angeles, Nov. 13 Bebe Dariiels holds a world's rec ord as ; a starring: player with a major company. She has completed her 52nd picture! with Paramount, 45 having been starring productio'ns. Miss Dianiels came to Paramount in her teens In October, 1919. The first film in which she appeared was "Male and Female." REICHENBACH'S YEAR After working oh a week to week basis, Harry Reichenbach has signed a year's contract af a flat salary with Carl . Laemmle as special ex- ploitatioh man for Universal pic tures and theatres. Reichenbach also has a percent age inducement If his publicity and exploitation can send the Colony, under U. lease, over a certain figure each week. Publix Producers Not Wild Over System The efficient Publjx unit produc tion system is not clicking with the presentation producers who object, to the little envelopes handed , to them with the lists of acts they must work with. Publix is cutting down its feature acts to two and three with lesser people to' fill in, alpng with the usual dancing: troupes. , \ . The producers of times do not see the people they must .routine until actual rehearsal time. Whether, or hot they conform with their unit ideas seems to be the least ..thought of. The bookers buy material with a View to diversity, figuring'that any song and dance specialty ot- comedy noyelty can be dovetailed Into any unit^ ~ , John Murray Anderson Is under- stood windlrig.:up with Publix, although offered a renewal contract, being averse to this hampering or handicap to his presentations.. That Anderson has an. intlniate revue for Broadway production in view foV midwinter entrepreneur- ship is not the sole reason for his lackadaisical concern with Publix units. Anderson could just as well do his occasional Publix presenta. tions and still devote the major por- tion of his time to his forthcom ing show, Just as he devotes con siderable of his time to the Robert Milton-John Murray Anderson school of the Theatre which, too, is now a large enterprise all its own. HARitY COHN RETURNING Back from a vacation in Europe, ruined by illness, Harry Cohn, now okay, will leave New York today or tomorrow (Wednesday) . for the Columbia studios on the coast which he heiads. Jack Cohn, brother, subbing for Harry during his absence, is due back in New York this week. zue:or-sghenck for coast During this week it is expected that Adolph Zukor and Nick Schenck will start for Hollywood, to remain a month or so. Yesterday's mai-ket quieted down somewhat, but still. was at high speed. Most siisniflcant movement was further advance of Keith-Or- pheum to new top of 37. forecasting the iaeglnning of Stock Exchange trading In' the new Radio-Keith- Grpheum tomorrow^ At that the advance . in this stock representis only 4 points from its recent low and in this market a matter of four points is trivial. . Turnover in some of the leading amusements was, enormous. Last week around 250,000 shares of Par amount changed hands on the ticker record for a uet adviance of about 3. Why all this agitated motion with so little chan&e of price level was the thing that puzizled traders. Unless It was a churning around process which^miight cover distri- bution by heavy longs who got in months ago at vastly lower quo^ tatlons. Only a year ago Par was selling at. a price riepresentlng around 37 for the present split-up shares. At the best of yesterday it was at 53. If big insiders were not taking profits, then old longs probably were. Par directors yes- terday declaired a quarterly 75 cents, putting stock on expected $3 basis. In Shubert there was plenty evi- dence of liquid3itlQn. That Issue w;as down to 76 from its recent top off 86. ■ . Warner Surges Up Again On the other hand the Warner is- sue was buoyant, opening yesterday more than a point up at 125% and moving straight up to 132 before it met a setback. Warners must have absorbed a lot of liquidation last week, but It bobbed up ^ith undiminished energy yesterday. Its top for all time is 139. . Loew and Fox seemed to stand apart from the speculative orgy that spread through the whole list, bringing on the first day's turnover of nearly 6.000.000 shares on Mon- day, the biggest day by 700,000 shares the Stock Exchange ever saw.- ■ ', It probably is true as market gos- sip has It, that the sponsors of both stocks are bending their efforts to hold their' Issue to a steady course, avoiding bullish excesses that ul-e likely to have their compleriient in . violent reactions, and concentrating oh a campaign to make their shares discount in a conservative fashion the betterment in company posi- tion as It Is realized. Film Industries Profits AH the Tjookkeeping statistics that came out on anrlusements had a favorable complexion. The Warner statement, showing the bid million dollar deficit turned in a single year into a surplus of nearly as much, of course had long been discounted arid had no effect. , In other directions, however, in-*, come reports were a surprise. Con- solidated Film Industries showed a profit of 67 cents ^for .September quarter, an improvement over sec- ond quarter and over third quarter ^ for last year. This statement had its effect, jumping the common on the Curb from around IB ^to near- ly 20. J Roxy Theatres Corp. directors^ de- Clared the regular, quarterly^ divi- dend on the "A" shares of 87 cents, payable Dec 1 to holders of record Nov. 15. SkouraB for Warners Outside issues were in conflict- ing movements, depending upon in- dividual situation. Skouras St, Louis shares went ahead briskly, moving from 49 to 53 on announce- ment that Warner directors had au- thorized the acquisition of control, eivlng the Missouri chain a domi- nant position in its territory. Bala- ban & Katz showed no power to recover from its sagging course, holding around 80, or dose to its recent bottom. View is' held In many quarters that stock- is mad? to look weak for purpose of ttijcine holdings into the market. Para* mount wants to complete its ownct- ^^Why Stanley should slide in the face of a sharp advance in garner "B" is a complete mystery. Terms of exchange have .b6en definitely set and* there is no surface reason why Stanley should not keep abreast oi Warner on the basis' of the ex- change. Summary for Roxe and Roxy Are Going Into Court Trenton. N.' J.. .Nov. 13. Suit to resjtrain the, Roxy Tlioat.- rlcal Enterprises, Inc.. from using the name Roxe'in connection with a thcatre in Irvington, N. .J.. has been filed in local U. S. District Court by Roxy Theatres Corp. of New York and Sam Rothafcl (Roxy). Recently the name oC the Irving- ton house was changed, to Roxe when 4?othafol protested' against the incorporation of Roxy 'rhoatri- cal Enterprises. The compromise ■was not satisfactory to the New York company, due to the similarity in sound. -According to the hill nied hero the trademark "Roxy" is protected, DarmourV Rest Los Angeles, Nov.-13. Having ^completed .68 , two, reel comedies so far this year, I-irry Darmour has declared a-four weeks shut down of his studio and left for New York for a conference with FBO, his distributors. Darmour has 18 more pictures to make: under his present agreement. He will resume work about Dec. i, using Photophone for sound. week ending Nov. 10: STOCK EXCHANGE .Sales. Issue, and rate. 1,900 American Seat (3).... 7,700 Consol. Film prei. (2) ••• 6,000 Eastman Kodak (8) •• 83,000 lioew (3) 400 Do. pref. ■■(6%)...'; 69,300 Keith "" 1,700 DO. pref. (7) • 64,500 Fox. Clasa^ A (4). • • • • • • • • • •; • • V C,800 Madison .Square Gnracn (/)... 000 Mel.-a.-M. pref. (1.89) 1,300 Motion Picture Cap.... 226 300 ParamoTint-Famous-L-asky (8).. 10,000 Pathe Exchanue ■ 4,500 Pathe Clii.ss A.- 31,200 Shubert (6) '• 0,400 Stanley .:. 780 Universal pref. (8)... 243,300 Warner Bros..-. — • ' 104 Do. . Class A CURB ,s 2,700 Biilabaii & Ivfttz .11,000 Con. FlIm.^Eint .... hS.iOO.' Acoustic " PrOQ;.... , . 4 . V.v. »4,400 . Fox Theatres............v.." 1,200 National Theatre Supply..... 2,800 Loew rtfi. .BONDS $32,000 Keith C's, '46. • 36,000 X«ew 6's, '41 37,000 Do. ex War. • 28,000 Pathe 7'8, '37 . 66,000 Par-FamrLaeky .6*3, '47....... 12.000 Shuljiert C's... • .• • • • Hifjh. 30% 2«% 103 62% 102% 85% 101% 101% . 22% 25% 10 , 53% , . CV2 , 20% . mk , 5C% . 04% . 135. . 135 28% 25 180 60% 101,% 33 100% »5% 22 25% 10 49% 6% 24 72 52 02% 122 122 l.ilSt. 20 26% 103 62% 102'/a 3o% •104% 98% 22% 2f)% 10 5.1 0% 25% 75% 52 0-1 124 124% Net . Chge. • -I- y% +13 +1% 4- Vk + 1% + 3% + 1% + % + y* 81% 18% •20% 20% 0% 23 97 112 101% 80% 100%. 92% 79 1« ■ 18% 28 0% 21 96 .iio% 100% 80 00% 01% 80% 18% ..10,.-. . 20% 9% 22% + 3% + y» + ^ + 3% I 3% ^ 1V4 - 3 -.19£ + % + 2% - 1% -FlMf + % :+ 11A 90 111% 101 80 100% 01% + - IH, 33 35 5% 0 9 36 37 «% 8 ii 170 000 ISSU ES If^I OTH E R MA RK ETS* All Quoted for Monday Over the Counter New York Quoted In Bid and: Asked Roxy, Class. A ($3.C0j... Unit c'.o • ■.••' Unit do • De Forest Phono •• Technicolor •• Los Angeles Roach. Inc.....'. •• 22 St. Louis Skouras ...\. ^ • .4 21 49 22 62 MR. AND MRS. NORMAN PHILLIPS NORMAN PHILLIPS, JR. Have Ju.st completed our first two reel feature, a talking picture made for M-O-M at their Eastern Studio. , r., WO wish to th.ink the Mes..rs. Meyer B. North and Joseph Flaum for arranging our contract with Mr. Ben Thau of M-G-M. Miljan Co-Star _^..=.-_.:_;._^=Lb3^^ng.clea,^AY4.-l John. M.ilja,n will co-star with Willard Mack in M-GrM's first all- lalker, ."Huhted.;'.. v .... Mack wiil dir'cct thfe 'picture; Free Lance on Talkers Los Angeles, Nov. 13. Jean Plannotte, free lance scenar- ist, signed by Fox to write original talker stories, adaptations and con- tlnuillGs. Paris PowWow at ... Paramounf's branch a,nd <l>«tnci S^^S^nagW^start^-^arPOW-^ Monday at the Paramount^ oie* here. Expected to break up Tliura day..- • ■.>., . • • < • • Myrna Kennedy's'Role ' Los Angeles. Nov. 13. Myrna Kennedy, engaged )»' G.-M. for one of the leads in _l i" mite." to be directed by C Mille.