Variety (Jan 1929)

56 VARIETY EDIT OR I A L Wednesday, January 9, 1929 Trade MarK ReKiKtered PnbUshed Weekly by VARIKTT, Inc. Slme SUvemian. President 1C4 West 4.6th Street New York Cjty ■ ■ eUBSCKIf'TION: Annual.......$10 : Foreign....^.;.$U eihirio CopleB.......i,.;.....i....26 Cenia. Vol. XCIII. No. 13: 15 YEARS AGO {From Variety and Cliin}er) Big news of the week was the supposed disintegration of the Gen- eral Film Co, The weeltly sheets of releases did not carry any re- leases from Biograph, and the re-, port spread that Bio had quit the trust and VitagTaph and others were about to -withdraw. All this was denied by G. F. officials, but the. tru.st had alwa,y9 been so evaslvei their statement^ were di.scounted. p. W. Griffith had left Biograph •for Mutual and shortly'after, lead- ing: players made the same ex- change. Among therii' were Blanche S.weet, Lillian Glsh, Donald Cri.sp, Chrlisty Cabanrie, Owfen Moore, Mae Marsh, James Klrkwood, Henry Walthall, Earl Fox .and Antonio Moreno. . B. F. Keith was reported critically 111 on his Florldia estate at Miami. W.ith the new year shoAvmen turned their attention to the Im- mediate prospects. It was believed things would get better because they couldn't possibly be any worse. This applied to all branches except the pictures, which were prospering. Sound-Pro and Con-50-50? Taking the talking picture situation as the country appears to be taking it, the consensus for and. af,'.'iin.';t looks like 50-50. But If you ■deduct tiio.se who are not for talkin^r pictui-cs on a general theory, mostly derived -through not attending iiicture shows, the net might be 66/35, with the larger percentage on the y<*R end. This applies t(5 the picture hou.K(> j)atron; nothing to do with .the trade, fo'r thf public will render ttiP final decision on the talkers. . . That film fa.tis all over are, dividing on. the .subject of talkers there 1.4 no doubt. JJi.scussibns may be houird almost, any where. Lotters are commpricing to roach the picture editors of periodicals. It's likely but a matter of a .short while that.an open talkfest through the papers tVIII develop. If that docs happen, let's hope the picture editors vvill allow it -to arise naturally, without faking any letters or faking replies. • It seems as though this division of opinlo'n is going to create a unitiue cphditioji for ilie picture theatre. If there Is a 5.0-50 split oh the value of a silent or talking picture, or even more or less, that leaves it a cer- ta;inty some , uncsUmated number of people, who may be regular or in-, termittent. picture goer.9. will only patronize the character of picture they prefer. . It may leave the theatre man iii the dilemma of realizing that If he shows a .sotmd film, the non-sounders won't come that week, and so with the house playing a silent picture. That a possibility of a public divld- Jng. itself so :sharply may give the theatre man .a brand new probleih hot so easily, .solved, at this outlook. In cities whore all the de luxe or best hou.ses are wired, a choice will have to be niade as to how the whole trade may be retained by any iibuse, while there is a, chance tha!t even a wired house will have to go all silent to capture the silent trade. Exhibitors had better watch this phasCi If there is light or lightei* than usual business, instead of blam- ing it upon the flu, first try to locate if the former audience has divided, Should It "occur, however, it would, be ah excellent reason for wired houses to pool where all of the town is wired, in order to-get all . of the.business possible in all houses. Rex Beach, Jack London and Ru- pert Hughes headed a combination cf Action authors to combat the habit of salaried scenario writers stealing material from old copy- righted stories. They made a sin- gle exception In Mutual, which had dealt fairly with the authors, buy- In.g rights directly from thom and paying fair sums. Europe is happily relieved of this condition- and likewise oT the entire sound proposition. While cost, etc.; have an important bearing on Europe wiring, the situation there is vastly different from this oho at home! The sound picture hopped into the'American trade just when the picture houses needed stimulation. Anything that could have stimu- lated the rather sluggish business of a year ago ori this side would have been welcomed. Sound did It. What sound is going to do is beside that now; a year ago or a little later sound picked up the business all over, whether wired or not, through the remarkable quantity of publicity given It everywhere. Mutual claimed to have the first woman director at W:ork in its stu- dio. She was Mayme Kelso, former vaudeville performer. 50 YEARS AGO (From Clipper ) Edwin Booth, In reply to the Clipper's invitation to write comi- mont. upon current plays, replied in part: "My knowledge of the mod- ern, drama is so meagre that I never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play without previously ascertaining its character.'' Booth went on to suggest - that modern plays might need a public •stage ccji]sur, but ho doubted the judgment of such ah official. Finally his solution to objectionable stage material was a censorhrip by actors, ; whose self respect "desire to pt-bteot their prote.sslon might, he thought, stand as a bar to undesir- able plays. G<ioi:ge, Guyon undertook a freak athletic task, agreeing on penalty of iosltig ?i250 to travel, tarthcr. ln 52 hours in . fair heel-and-tpe than a ihorse in the s.-ime elapsed Lime. Condition wa.s that the hoise could walk, trot or be led. . The spectacle of 1,200 people gathered in a place of amusement at the "unsea.sonal" hour of 1 u. m afoused. the wonder of the Clipper, The event was the . six-day go^as- you-please walking match at Gil more'a ■ Garden, New York, where Dan O'Leary was leading Potcr Campana. Herein, perhaps, was tlie beginning of all-night attendance at siieh contests, surviving Jn the arr=iTTghT""scsHlCT^ bike grind. Europe needs no stimulation for it.s picture theatre other than the plc;- tures themselves. Europe is not yet screen-weary. Besides throughout Europe the native made picture, good indifferent or bad, is at least giv- ing the.home trade an Impetus, through curiosity If nothing else for com- parison of the foreign made with the American picture. That's but the tithe of another angle to the currently intricate and complicated matter of the foreign picture trade.. House managers if they want to stir rind keep up Interest in pictures, whether noisy or still, might issue a, questionalre to patrons, seriously worded, asking for opinions, pro or cbn on the talker and silent. It should' also be sent to the mailing list. If nothing more, it inlght illum- inate the theatre on its own problem! .• It wouldn't be a bad stunt either to read some of the replies from' the stage. They might prove interest- ing, and what is more to the point, influential in swaying general opinion. Random Remarks By Nellie ReveU Arrived at the Fred Stone home at Forest HlUs the other <3ay in time to meet him returning from a ramble round the block. Outside of a few compound fractures, Fred Is in almost as good shape as he was When ho played the Incomparable Topsiy in Dick Sutton's circue .35 years ago. Judging from his looks and good spirits, Fred's going to be back on the stage sooner even than his best friends dared hope. He can go' up and down stairs now with the aid of his crutches. hside Stuff—Pictures Radio-kGlth-Orpheuln, coiribined with Victor ahd. a dominant inlluence in tli« show business from the duPont ray? stock to proposed entertain- ment. In the homes via television, with. the control of musical /arrange- menta, wiring equipment, artl^t9, musicians, recording plants, patents and theatres, i.s foi'cing consideration of ftirther consolidations among th© remaining producer-distributor chains, for both theatres and production. Against the threat of electrical domination, especially Imminent be- cause of the use of material held , by those companies, the major picture companies are finding It necessary to establish at least a tiemporary understanding among themselves which way lead to close relations if furtlier pressure is felt. . The iinpresision among, eastern picture-executives ik. that the nuhiber^ o.f major picture companies; will narrow down before the end of the year, unless unforeseen conditions arise, with probably two or three com- panies iieadisd by showmen remaining In competition . with the electrics. Reports are that the squeeze Is on and being felt by the picture men, resulting in discussions which have given rise to recent rumors of fur- ther amalgamations. United Artists, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Fox, First National and Warner. Bros, are mentioned In this relation. The latter two companies practlc.aily opMiratihg under the same direction narrows the field still further. The trend toward close cohsolldation in the industry is followiiig eco*- nomic dictatlo.h for large modern theatres which take towns and cities in one sweep from the independents as soon as completed. There is also the saving in distribution, involving millions anriually, which will bring p-dded profits to the combined' companies, when merged. : Atop roof of a three story .structure, directly facing the windmva of Arch. M. Bowles (Div.. JVIgr. West Coast theatres. Northern California division), in San Franci.sco, is an electric insurance sign, in wliieh the two Aiiddle letters of the word "Life"' are made to fiash in red after, the : whole sign has appeared in white. Granada theatre, recently divorced from Woat Coast operatlo"n, made a deal to use the painted board portion below the electric sign, advertising "There's new Life. Big Shows. V.'ilue.s" at the Granada. The laugh com^s when the big red "IF" [lashes On.. For opening .Aveek (New Tear's), at American, San Jose, the Leonard J, Anquish Players (repertoire) ■ distrlbiited 5,000 passes, goOd lor any performance during the week. No exception was made for the Sxmday and holiday performances with result attraction plaiyed to near ouyacity but with hardly any veal kale In the box. Sound experts are. confronted with a new and difficult proV>lcm in tilling an order for sound effects which will also ring true in pictorial qualities of zephyrs, stiff .winds, gales and a couple of cyclones. . Heretofore the-method of creating these effects wa.s simply the upera- tion of yarious sized wind machines. But since the micihrophone is sus- coptlble to motors, a noiseless air disturber must now be invcntt .1. Nogotiatlbns are still being carried on by Fox for purchase of the Schine circuit. Official reports are thai; the deal is not being held up over any disagreement in price but that the option on a percentage of the Schine "circuit, held by Universal Is unavailable to Fox unless willing to contract for the purchase of the entire Universal output. Universal has an agreenient with-Schine which it would want con- tinued in the event of any sale. Purchase of the Sclilne houses by Fox would not be profitable, from accounts, imless houses are left free to b:uok tiio chLi.re Fox output and fill in balance of the play .dati>.=! fr'ortx other producers. There's been some conjecture about the will of the late Tom Ryan. He managGd to disprove the belief that actors do'n't save money, for he left what Down-easters call a tidy little sum. He made a small bequest to his partner,. Hazel Harrington. It amounts to about what she'd have gotten for three months' salary, luid thoy beeii routed (which tliey were),.... "The I'est of the income "ofTtire l^stTlTC"e^T5 "to Tom's--b^ lifetime :and it will be divided after that among nieces.'and nepliews; A nephe\y is executor of the e.stiite, without bond. Saranac's very blue these days—^because of the death of Silvio Heln. He spent the last three years there and his optimi.sm and good Cheer were a real boon to' the people around lilin. . Now's a good time to send that letter to your friends up there. My old boss,. John Cort, erstwhile theatrical produ^rr left show busi- ness flat and why not,-seeing that show business left him flat'more than once? He Walked out on it, or, rather, rode out, in a parlor car^ to Wash- ington, where he has embarked in the hotel business. Never a retiring manager, he's switched to managing the Lee House there. Joe Laurie, Jr., Is going to immortalize the Friar dinners in a book- He has stenographic records of all thg ,club's Official feeds as far back as the days wiien Rennold Woplf was toastmaster. It ought to be a very interesting volume, . More food, of course, for the columnists. Tho Gllniore's Garden .^-pectacle had a rival In Brooklyn at the .same moment.. This was Mme. Ander.sori, English woman, who wa.s eniraged in the endurance exhibition of walking 2,7.00 quarter miles in 2,700 con.secutivc quarter-hours. Clipper reports that the Madame was a bet- tor attraction than the Gllitiore bunion gladiators. She wing popu- las songs as sbo walked. If you happened to see a woman running like what Sherman said war is, somewhere in. the vicinity of Paramount Studios on Long Island, recently, you probably bunked into the lady that met Florence Moore in movie malce-up. Florence, as the story was told me, was ready to ^m^^k^^a fiinny^short.^J^ the cameramen weren't. Tired of waiting, she slipped biitrbf a"Wri'VehTehr;d6orWiTy"r^^^ to get back, however, she found that door and every other one In sight locked tight. Prowling around anxiously, .she ran into a woman and asked her If .she knew anything about the open-door policy around there, But the female, gazing at Florence in her ghoulish gteon film-paint, and vintage ISCO furbelows, gasped, "Oh, My God! and backed away from what she evidently thought was an escaped nut. She mu-st have pa.sscd a warning ai'ound, for none tmne near enough poor Florence for her to a.sk a single question and it was a good twenty minutest before she found her way to the camera's eye. Wanderer's Notes Met Valeska Suratt at the opening of Fannie Brice's film. Bessie Wynn at Silvio Helm's funeral. One of the bigger .sa:ies executives of a concern which Is speci.'ilizinc in talking pictures declares that synchronized sound pictures from the distributors standpoint are absolutely dead. He declares a.recerit story in Variety oh! "what talking pictures are uoiiig in various parts of the country" is unfair to the distributor due to the fact that so many of the. exhibitors are taking advantage of the situation by advertising "see and hear," which gives the impression that dialog pictures are being shown, when thoy are presenting only synchronized scores with a limited number of sound efiCects. This selling head declares that not enough talking pictures have been produced to meet the demand of the houses that are wired and that the latter are caahing in as best they can with the synchronized pic- turen. The picture public .won't go to see the latter type and the ex- hibitors have been listing them as stop gaps until, they are able to get pictures which contain dialog. The man says that synchronized pictures cannot be sold on their own merits but that the sale of talking pictures is still far above normal and that the returns on them are much bigger than the average for silents. For eight years Aaron Jones, on behalf of Jones, Linlck & Scliaeffer, has ordered the same half page ad copy In each Anniversary NuniT)er of this paper. Its reading text has never changed, and says: "Jones, Llniek & Sehaeffer Think 'Variety' is the Greatest Trades Paper in the World." \Vhatcvor J., L. & S. may have; thought eight yearsi ago, and perhaps' then submitted the copy as a gesture of dismissal, their continuance with the same ad ji^aHy_^s^ Mr. Jo"nes is content to pay the price to save .someone tliinking up new^"copyT ~ ^^"^ ' -- - But it's nice year in and out to see $260 or so .spent for thai Uind of ah expression. Or Aaron may believe the bull in it is worth the iirice. He's qnito a kldder anyway, and Variety can stiind any kind of kidding at ?260,'.per. The Mary Pickf^ord eonii)any: and United Artists are staging a nation- wide "Coquette" pOR.ulai*ity .contest,, similar.to but on a-larger scale than the "My Best Girl" stunt la.st year. "Twenty-four winning girls will go to Hollywood for a week'as the guests of Mary Plckford. No film tests have been promised to the winners but the winner in each city will make an appearance at her honle theatre when ''Coquette" is shown. "The idea is Vlotor Shapiro's. ■ A terriflic spurt was given to the start of the new Paramount in I'irook- lyn, "N. Y,, about a month ago and it has continued. Business has held up at the house to over $50,000 weekly, with ita second week beating the first. Ben Scrkowich is credited responsible for the heavy send off of the house. He did the special exploitation for the opening, using many ideas all locally aimed and gettiiig reams of press matter. It was tremendous for Brooklyn, with Serkowich bearing do.wn on patronizing home prod- uct/ Its effect-is probably seen iri the reaction, along with Paul Ash. Ash.ha s boeji_the^jn■ c^ jri^th£ Paramount since it opened. That may be a sign he is comniencing^ to~dup^ bridgeway. ... Political rumor around New York has commeneed to link the name of Louis B, Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's production, with an administrative post under Herbert B. Hoover. . In fact, the exact nature of Mayer's anticipated a))p(jlntment i.s named, but can not he ri'i'-ateil since it appears to be. more in the way of a hazard than accni-iite in- formation, as the President-elect is out of the countrj', In.slde circle's credit Mayer for* an appointment, which coincitii-' with the story lately printed In Variety of Mr. Mayer's Intention io retire from active work with M-Q-M or the sho\v business after .March 1, next V