Variety (Dec 1929)

10 VARIETY PI C T U RES Wednesday, December 4, 1929 Stock Market Goes Up (Continued from page 7) •11. ' It was done in a few scat- tered sales at 12. The shrinHage Of market values for the common Btock and the bonds of this com- pany probably is as wide as any- thing in the list. • Fox Stands Off Attack By long odds the dramatic and trading high light of the week was the performance on Monday o£ Fox Fox "A" stock and Wai'ner Bros, common turned oVer together some- ■what under 200,000 shares on the, dayi amounting to_ nearly one- twelfth of the entire market. Both opened down, slid back sharply in the f:econd hour and then came back with a brng, particularly. Fox, which was traded in in the unprece- dented total, of 119,500 shares, in the Monday. 5-hour session. The War- ner, total was above 60^,000. AVall Street and. Broadway had both heard feverish, tales of Fox be- ing ba;iked in theatre deals, even be- fore the Attorney General sued that company and Warners under the Olayton Act, demahding they divest themselves of Lqew's in-the Fox case and First Xatioual' apd Stanley In. the other.. Everybody Interested ;. in the amusements was on hand,to see the Monday, opening. .Fox opened on a block at 53%, net.olt more than 3 from thei <slbse. of the prevfoua Wed- nesday, For the.flflior prpfesslcmals "that was all they wanted to knb\v*" "Word spread' In the way it does in the, Street' that ; Fox midwestern deals had been balked and there was a' deluge of offering's that grad- ually hammered the stock down to B0»^.' The minute the stock broke Bl, going below, on a "double bot- tom." the chart players add%d their weight to' the burden of short sell- ing. Fox steadied and climbed back ,to 51 oh support from Insidej-s who had tried in ; vain to hojd It to Its bottom of .Nov. 13» but. couldn't quite make it. Late in ^ the third hour the tide turned, vigorous bidding for stock by insiders who had been promptly acquainted with the fact that Fox had corhpleted. his arrangement-for deals, rusheu Into -the-, breach. In half an hour the stock was back above 55. Beat raiders interpi'eted the lipturn- as a .bluff at'the. start, but when support -began to bid. for lots of 2,000 at fractions up, the pro- fessional shorts turned from the ag- gressive to th6 defensive and added thei^ urgent cd'vering operation^ to the inside buying. Stock closed at B4%, net off about 2%. but up near- ly 4 from" th6'day's low', after one of the bitterest market engage- ments of the last-month. w:ith hon- ors going to the long side. Loew's Quick Reversal For the Mondsty - session the amusement stocks held the center of the stage. Fox's low" opening was fbllo^'ed by a small lot of Loew's'at the remarkable price of 41* Very little stock changed hands-at that price. libng before the fortunes of Fox turned, .there, was aggressive bidding for Loew, probably on the assumption that if the government Buit forced stock out of Fox's hands company would return to the Loew management, and the company, which Is earning $8 a share net, would be back on its own feet Vin hampered by government suits and tn -splendid position to show im proved earnings for the current year, for which as. much as $10 a Bhare is predicted. New buying was based on much the same considerations that In epired the longs who accumulated Loew's In the middle and upper 50's before the October break. If Fox kept It, the consolidation of the various Fox enterprises would al most inevitably compel Foix.to make an attractive bflfer to remaining Loew holders. If the company went back to the old management con trol, the position was even better, for its earnings and cash position are admirable. Pressure on Warners Partly because it also Is involved in a government suit and pai'tly in sympathy with the decline In Fox, AVarner Bros, was under the sever- est kind of pressure until the re- versal around 1:30. : It started at 41% and; climbed nearly to. 43,-clos- ing at 42 for a fractional, loss on the da;y. Ther'e. were evidences., of churning Warners around, for pur- poses of accumulation at sucH low prices for a stock that is making |6 and paying $4. Apparently • the downward move represented the standing aside of spOnsoirs Instead of deliberate bear operations. ^ Fact that Tvheri the others under pres- sure cm'erjged triumphant tliere .was no great covering In Warners ■ in evidence of this, • Par Gotfs Its Way During all the flurry., of Monday, Pai'amount, leader of thb group, seemed t<> be ;unt.ouched: -Except for the light niaririn distress selling: .in • the October break,, the.fortunes of Paraniount have never beien seri- ously: threatened. Its 'present bot- tom appears to be just under 4d and it Is • believed important' standing orders lie' Just under that Jevel. On thfe worst of Monday's attack on the amusements, Par*s low was 48% and it closed at 50%, a net gain and practically the only theatre stock In the groupi that finished abpve Its previous final. i Wiall. street is beginning to think the Idea of a stock split up.'wIU not be carried through by iPar. Original- ly the plan was to Increase author- ized capital from 3^000,000 to 15,000,- 000 shares, but this was principally for. the purpose of acciuiring Wari- ner Bros. Any Idea of a merger .here departed -with 'the October ireak and the subsequent decline after the rebound. . The government suits against Fox and Warners completed the present abandonment of such a move.. Since the purpose no lortger exists, the street has. come to think the recapitalization' plan will liliewise be suspended. Stockholders meet next Tuesday (Dec. 10) to vote on the plan. Par has said nothing^ of a''change of front; but tjiie market has turned to the idea .that it will be forgotten, al- though there is hb reason-why such moye should not be undertaken; since a split involves no call.for hew money or the sale ol sto.ck* Drive Helps Failure ot. Monday's bear drive against the theatre, sfecks; a drive by which' they hoped to unsettle the whole Ifdt, had done, a good deal to perk up the' long side gtehetally, Soms ..shrewd, observers h ..think, that instead of a sharp break .be- tween how and Christmas,'faased'on tax selling among other things, that the worst to be expected Is a sagging market. The logic: of this position rests on the ioelief that a good deal of tax selling already has been done. The optlmlstlQ view takes it that repurchase by sellers" 'who already have eptablished a loss for tax purposes, will do a '^ood deal to offset new stiles to stand off' th^ tax collector. . . The stock taken for support dur- ing Oct. 29 and again on 'NfuV. 13 by the New York banking pool" has not been liquidated. The National'.City Bank's', statemient "to this seffect Is taken as. authentic. ,• But this pow- erful pool.Is quite capable Of carry- ing Its holdings until an appropriate time, even If that time doesn't come for a year. Point Is .lt will not. un- load until the market is in ra posl- tloin to absorb stock' without a strain. Much of the standard stocks, like Steel, Which was taken Irt huge blocks at 205, Is still far below the level of the. pool support purchase (Steel closed Monday at 160^^, net off ■%.) . Market now has turned from these technical considerations to take a close look at the state , of general business as the cue to the future. Returns are In for Octo- ber rail profits .which shojv a dis tinct decline, but It will not be until the November reports from this and other sources such as steel mills and auto sales rooms and fac- '^Manufacturing, laughs with clfsver antics and an old 'fiddle, and keep- ing . the audience howling 'viith a snappy new line of chatter^ The boy's clever—you'll have to hand it to him." r -T^. C ^ir., jho Denver Post. torles begin to come in that any real measure can be taken of the state of trade. . . Pro's to Siell oh Bulges It Is: fairly certain that floor pro- fessiohals will sell on loulges-. for ^ost of the rest of the year, but this isn't as adverse as it might seem* for such shorting for a quick turn hais'the merit that it "cushions" the decline. On recessions the shorts cover and this dra'wingr In of short lines gives support, ItMs pos- sible that in a few spots there is liquidation istill to be accbndpllsiied. Last week's decline of 1137,000,000 in. the broker loan account indicates something of th6 kind, evidence of the closing out of old-bull pool ac- count-and the taking up of stock by investors and investment trusts. Shuberts* Hew Low There may still be a few "slQk" spots In the list, but gradually they are getting to something like a hot torn, discounting the worst that can lappen. For Instance^ Shiibert stock las 'showin no ' evidence of gettingr but of the .•dumps. It made new low of 12, botii on Wednesday of' last wreek iaind repeated tllkt- flgtlte Mon dAy. The 6% Shubtert bonds have dbhe not much bettefi going Monday to'53 ot>''sd against the previous low for all time of 62%. Position of RKO is confused, There Is a do'wntown talk of "new sponsorship," • but: marketwlse_ the stock does almds'f nothing, moving fractionally above and below 17, volume smaller and price range very harrow. One tipping service touts it a.s "one of the best speculatLve stocks in the group." Broadway doesn't know' of any new sponsor ship. Stock's best asset on tiie up- side is the possIbiUty of big cor- poration support somewhere indefi- nitely in the backgrou.nd. Badio Is as ■ much of' a puzzle Stock's partisans point to the block of International Tel. & Tel. and the big block of RKO it holds, which *VARIET¥' X Gift L_ .A>5ubscription^to^iVar:ietyi^^is-always-an-a ^present, but dspeclaily at the holiday time. Sent to any part of the world. FOR YEAR, $10 FOREIGN (Outside U. S. A.), $11 NacyV Bamboo Parade; WIv Not Show Biz? R. ' H. Macy & ' Co. each Thanksgiving sends a fantasti-. cal parade .down Broadway, in the afternoon. The store ad- -vertlses it in the morning pa- pers and it attracts, as large a crowd ias could turn out along the Broadway route, 'without losing a Thanksgiving dinner. Last Thursday wa,s no ex- . ception in the Maty schedule. But the parade was more fan- tastical than even With hard- ly more than one float, a marked change from previous years, the display held inflated balloons tii^ined into all kinds of grotesque figures and shapes. One arrangement, suggesting, a caterpillar, was almost a block ,long.: . Another had Inflated, balloons In picturesque asgolri;^-. meht, rising as high as secondl- story windows. The parade required oyer 30. minutes to pass a glve|n Btflnt, It denoted much attehtlotx and a disregard for proper expense for the effect. The .advertise- ments annonnclng it had stated the gas Inflating of the bal- loons was a patented pirocess and . there woiild b© no danger of explosion^ . Hits Showmen The ingenuity oC^ this Macy; parade struck forcibly m'ore than one showman who watched It. Such a parade,as Ms^cy's In the sho'W business could " be sent around an entire chain as a ballyhoo attraotion. It Woij^ attract the entire town, regardless 'of its size. Macy's parade, better than any circus, had nvhite uniformed "help" (canvassmen) marching along- side the several balloons to prevent straying or getting out of line. The white suits caused the hands to look like chefs. As exploitation, Macy's could And nothing better for a pub- lic display. And this lay de- partment' store evidenced it • apprecIatedL that by the way It did everything concerned with it. - No. e;KalnpIe could better be put forward "for"the exploitia.-- tlon the show business always , is in-^need ot, everywhere; than' this department store's" . ac-• knowledgment of its value. Of course, exploitation Isn't always a street parade, but ex- _pioltation is ^always a parade of sbmething that wlll p'rombte Its subject. Show business has long lived on publicity—It can thrive on exploitation. Hollywood Chatter One-Eyed Connolly Is playing 4 buck private In "All Quiet" for U. Eddie Dowling will Christmas on Broadway. vNoel Coward spent a week her«u en route to the Orient. . King Vldor will trek to Times Squiare for the. holldajrs. ' Embassy Club "opens Dec. 12, Mayfair's opposition. . Lloyd Bacon will lay off mega.: phoning for a month to motor north. El Brendel working on new coU lapaihie barrel to eliminate, carrying charges In shipping empties. John. Ford cops the "Photoplay" gold niedal for "Four Sons," Fox picture. Corresponding halves of . the ' morning grapefruit soon for Luther Reed and Jocelyn Lee. ' \: \ - Mary Nolan, out of the hospltjii, •, but will not be In shooting shape for at least a month. Frank Mayo has a stack of Northwest Mounted stories. Look'- ing for.a producer.- C. B. DeMIUe just celebrated, hla i6th anniversary as a picture cliriec- .• -tor. ■ ■ Fox didn't make "Happy Days'*- m Gfrandeur because Walter Catlett refused to have his nose reduced. Reverse English, for Roach's ""VVe FaW Down." In England is is known as.- "We Slip Up." Molly O'Day .Is utilizing a. new ^ diet. Said to be rnore effective than the l8-day thing. Top nbvielty of _ the -vi'eek was a, iegit backer ■ who posted 10 grari^ with Equity one month before his; show Is due to open. Kiosks . dotting the downtown streets for holiday atmosphere re* semble those In Paris. The purpode'. ^s different. Al Boasberg .'vi'ill play the radio announcer in t-Take It Big," M-<3i Lee Tracey did a similar service for Fox In "Salute," AH production at First National stopped for five minutes as a tribute . to the late Shephard Camp, killed" at thl» rtudio during the 'filming of si recent scene. Howard Hughes hired another air- fleldi in the San Fernando valley in., (Continued on pa)se 45) ' ' , some day may be saleable, and which cost Radio nothing. Of the two opposing views the chart men's appears to be the more timid. They say the bmens are for a lower jrice. Certainly they are not taking the aggressive short side of Radio at levels around. 34. Biimmary for -week'endlr^ November 27 (three days): STOCK EXCHANGE Gales. T<sue and rate, 600 American Seat. (2) « 2,800. Consol. .Film (2).. l.COQ Conqol. Film pfd. (2).......... e.OOO• Eastman Kodak' (8)....... 6*000 Xi06W * (3) . 600 Do ptef. (C>/&) . ■ 300 Keith pref, (7). ....V. 120,700 R-K-O* eOilOO Fqx CJaes a (4).. S,200 Madison Square Garden (2)..... «00 Met-G,-M pref. (1,80). 161,300 RCA '■ 83,S0O PammduntrFam-Lasky (3). ' 6.C00 Pathe Exchange 1,700 Pathe Class A 3,200 Shubert (0).\ . 100 Oiph. CIr. pf. (8).;......,.,;,,. 128i700 WaYner Bros. <4) 900 Do p>ef. (2.20).. CURB 2,700 Col. Plots..................w..'.. 27,'60(f.'Fox Theatres,.... ,, 3,400 Gen. Thrs. v.t.c................ .... Xjosw rts. 1.400 Par-F-L w.l 15,800 Sonora Prod.. BONDS $11,000 Keith Os, '46............. ...... 30,000 Loew Os, '41 0,000 Do ex ■war 20,000 Patho. 79, "37.. 70,000 Par-Fam-Iiasky Ca, '47 0,000 Shubert Os, '42, , Warner Bros. OHs. '2.S ISSUES IN OTHER MARK All Quoted for Monday Over the Counter New York High. 15% 20% 182% 40^fe 00 80% 18 631 18 23% 35% 50% 4% 8% 10 63 45% ; 40% 12% 34 20 80 105 07 r>3 08% 54 ETS Low. 21% 15% 20% 113% 45 88% 80 10% -56 12% .23 ■ 32% . 48% 4% 7% 12 68 41Vi 3T^i 23 10% 32 24%. 1% 70% 104 00 .10 06% 52% Lrtst.' 21% 15% 20% 106 46% 00 80 17 56% 13 .23% 33% ■ 7% 12% 58 . 42% 37% 26% 11% 32% 15 24% •1% 80 104 07 50% 08% 53% Xet Chge. . - Vi + % —5 -3% +3% -3% —1 ,-C% +l"." —2% -1 % - % 4^ -2Ti -3% +3% + % - % -1% + % +1 +1'% Balec 10 Boston LOfW'B M tRoAch, Los inc.... Angeles 8% 10 8% S't 10 10. IN PRIZES. 3 WAYS, TO BOOST DEC. MAT. BIZ Joe . .Plunkett, ■ R-K-O theatre operating-head, has -worked.- out-a new set of prizes totaling $150 for December to go. three ways foif managers showing the best improve- ment .pCmatinee.,busInes.s. First prize J75, second $50, third .$25. • ■ , In deciding the contest, R-K-0 ■ believes the incentive of the prizes, will result In the building up of mat. business during the onO month in the year when sliopping is at Its height for the Ghlstmas and New Year'g holidays. •November contest with prizes same amounts .and winners to be-', ;soon decided for" the three , best' exploitation Ideas applicable to the . entire circuit. January,f according to plans, will usher In a similar contest, with.i prizes standing. Try 9 P. M. Concerts to Boost 2d Mon. Nite Shows Minneapolis, Dec. 3. In an effort to boost-business on. the second Monday night shows, the Minnesota (Publlx) is offering a half-hour concert by its 40-pIeco Orchestra starting at 0 p. m. Pror; gram consists. mainly of request numbers, patrons being invited from the screen to advise the manage- ment of selections desired. . Idea was heavily plugged in the musical sections of the dailies and even drew reviews from the muslo critics on the occasion of Its In- ception. Business reported as above Monday night average on the first try^ , Members of the musicians' union are enthusiastic over the feature. HOME ^dWN BOY MAKES GOOD Portland, Me., Deo. 3. Half the city of "Westbrook at- tended the opening of Rudy Vallee'3 "Vagabond Lover" (Radio) at Keith's here Saturday.. Mayor declared a half holiday and 100 autos, filled with city officials and prominent local business men paraded the five miles to Portland. "Westbrook Is Vallee's home town.