Variety (Dec 1929)

WechMsday/ December 11^ 1989 PICTURES VARIETY 9 PAR. UP. HELPS FILM STOCKS Short of Story Material On Coast; Fredanot Boys Shed Toison Title Hollywood, Dec. 10. . Scarcsity of talkier material haa the producers Elcratchinff their hebds. Matiy admit they are up Kgialnst It, and ° the army of free lance writeri^, who took the slap when sound bowed in, ard snicker- ing up thWi- frayed aleevesi It looks AS if the'author of orlgiiials is go- ing to get a strong , chance to cbme bdck. This especially bears on musicals. Lounge robin of the "Writers' Club lias beieh as merry as a doctor's waiting room. 3ut things are look- ing up. The Hollywood author can once more now g^t past the ofRi^e 'boy, and he's w;elcome in the seen- ■arlo editor's ofiBce. Three .months ego he was poison. Shows opening in New. Tork are Just a weekly reminder, what! the studios c^n expect from, the stage for material,. Aiid when a felay looks favorable there's a rush. , Story deficiency has' been filled lately by digging up old silent pic- tures and re-;shooting In dialog. But the producers admit there's a limit and that it hfis almost been reached. Lab Boys After Filnk Editors to Join Local Hollywood, Deo. 10. 'Film laboratory technicians have o^gfinized as liocal No. 683 of the Ijj,'.^. T. S. E. (stage employes), \^^th Carl Kountz, business man- ■agfer. llkfovemeiit to bring film editors Into the union Is bping. condU'<Qted with niuch secrecy. Meeting to> dis- cuss further organization Is called for next we^, Members of the defunct FUm Editors' CHubr are Interested. RADIO LOADING UP New Projection Room for Wide Angle Film Hollywood, Dec» 10. Radio will build a new theatre on its lot tfit be used exclusively for the showlni; of its wide film. Studio expects to have the building com- pleted by Feb. 1. First over-sized feature Is "Dlx- lana" with equipment on the way from the Spoor^Berg:gren plant. Expansion ■ program calls for the quadrupling of the electrical ap- paratus. Three 32-ton generators, the biggest to dlEiy In the picture business, are en route from General Electric. Two more power houses are to be . built on the lot and two power lines, each caiTylng 33,000 volts, are be- ing laid to connect with local power. Cambria's Shorts Frank Cambria, Publix stage pro- ) • ^V.*^®^ lias started an experimental j series of sound shorts at Para- I tooujit's L. I. studios. Atmospheric and scenic Ideals, with talent em- ployed as in the orchestral produc- tions originally Inaugurated on i^Ublix stages. ' ^'*'st Of these shorts, carrying a Chinese motive, was shot by Cam- bria last week. He will make two others before the first of the year. " okay, they will be continued. U'S JAN. HALF-DOZEN . , Hollywood, Dec. 10. . Universal will put six pictures into work during January. - Group planned Include "Cohens ..|"<L :.Kenys jn^;^g(^land Biorm, one each for Hoot Gibson ana Ken Maynard, "What Men, want and "Land of Song." Evelyn Brent Freelancing Hollywood, Dec. 10. liiVelyn Brent, who leaves Para- mount Dec. 31 after a long aaso- ^ freelance, ■^.■"^ss Brent has already arranged ^Uh Columbia to be starred in tnree pictures. 1st Runs on Broadway (Subject to Change) Week Dec. 13 Capitol—"Hallelujah" (M-G) Colony—"Lucky In. Love" (Pathe) Glpbe-^"Dance Hail" (Radio) Paramount-r-"Glori£ylnff the American Girl" (Par) Roxy—"Christina" (Fox) Strand — "Gold Diggers" (WB) Week bee. ^ Capitol—"Mysterious Island" (M-G) Colony—" S han h o n-s of Broadway" (U) Paramount—"The Kibbitzer" (Par) Roxy—"Hot for Paris" (Fox) Strand—''Girl frpm Wool- worth's" (FN) $2 Runs Dec. 13—"Sky Hawk" (Fox) (Gaiety) Dec. 23—"Devil May Care" (M-G) (Astor) PATHE'S LULL Two Pictures Postponed aind Re- ported Dropping More Staff Hollywood, Dec."* 10. Despite "Paris to Bagdad," an adaptation of "Crashing Through," going into production within two weeks, further activity for the cur- rent year's program at Pathe are uncertain.' "Smart Set Susie," scheduled to Immediately follow "Bagdad," has been Indefinitely postponed. Plans on 'Internatlona-l Revue" are also at a standstill. Possibility of this picture never being made. Understood that the studio will not renew the contracts; expiring Dec. 31, of Ralph Block and Wlllia!m Counselman, producers, and Carl Hovey, scenario editor. PCC Now Delving Into Home Talker Situation Hollywood, Dec. 10. Producers' Credit Corporation, an organization: formed to finance Pov- erty Row Indie production. In the discard since talkers came in, will use its cash to further home talk- ing pictures. Company* of which William Hors- ley Is president, is now backing a group working on a geared repro- duction system , to enable amateurs to Install talkers in their homes, for less than $76. Roach's GO Two-Reelers Hollsovobd, Dec. 10. Hal Roach studios will increase its 1930 output 26 percent Current year's schedule called for 48 tw;o- reelers. Coming year the studio will do. 60 for M-G release, in addi- tion to a series of George Herriman cartoons. New 12 will come from a star or team. The remainder will be the usual Roach features. ♦♦SPOILERS" AGAIN Hollywood, Dec. 10. . Kdwin Carewe and' Joseph P. Kennedy are to jointly produce Rex Beach's "The Spoilers." It will be this story's third appearance in films. _Beach sold his talker rights this w^ek""t"o "tKe' also write the talker adaptation. No decision yet on United Artists or Pathe as distributors. Bill Howard's Melo Hoilywoodi Oec. 10. Wm. K. Howard will direct a melodrama as his next for Fox. It is an original being shaped by Sidney LandsfieM. Fox Backward—Shubert New Low, 11Par in Run-up Before News Came Out, Holds Most of Gain -^Radio Sensational Per- former—New Top , at 46 as Yotinsr Asks for Com- munications M o n o p o 1 y. With Gov't Supervision WARNER DOES WELL Amusements were mixed yester- day, but generally steady !n 9. con- fused market of alternating dips and bulges, apparently represent- ing the operations of the market's sponsors, content io hold current levels for the time being, after the chilling setback of late Monday. High lights among, the arnuse- ments were: Paramount jumped above 56.just before the announcement that there would be no split up of stock/but instead Pres. Zukor would recom- mend a $4 rate instead of current $3 at the Feb. dividend meeting. Radio was a sensational per- former, running lip to a top of close to 48, up based probably on J. H. Meeban's operations while Owen; D. Young, chairman of the Radio Corp: board, was telling a Congress committee the necessity "for an American communications . mo- nopoly, und^r government sponsor- Yesterday's Prices Leading Amusements Sales. • HI»h. Low, 2000 East. Eod.180% 1B3% 41500 Fox 64% 61% 2200 Loew .... 40-74 48% 7000 Par ...... B5V4 B8% ^1000 Pathe A.. 7H 224000 RCA 47% 41% 000 Shub ..... 12% 11% 44000 Warn .... 45% 43% 25300 RKCf 21% 20% Bonds 8000 Pathe .... CO 60 10000 Shub 52% 60 Curb 8900 For 10% »% 600 G«n. Eq.. 33 82 Last. Chgr. 187% — % 62% -2% 40%- % 64 -fl% ■ 7% - % 47% +5% iiy*- % 44% 21%+1 BO +% CO 0% -1V4 83 - % ship If possible—under government ownership if necessary. Shubert went to a new low for all time of 11% on the sale of a block during the afternoon. Warner Bros, showed more pep than m a long time, probably tak- ing on a more cheerful attitude in sympathy with thei activity in Para- mount. Fox continued under pressut-e, easing around 2 o'clock to 52 flat on considerable volume, new low on the nioveiijicnt. RKO prospered with the bfetter fortunes marketwlse of. Radio, hold- ing around 21 with .narrow moves up and down. Pathe New York istudio fire, re- ported promptly on the news ticker, brought selling there, "A" stock dropped to around 7 from above 8. Opening, was slightly off, but ex- cellent in the face of the previous close: day wore through with minor ups and downs and finished with a moderate upturn representing cov- ering of the earlier experimental shorts. Review to Monday Close Something of yesterday's un- certain tendency was rather broadly forecast in the closing half lidur of Monday, when"' Steel, back- bone ' of the run-up, broke under heavy offerings from 189 to 179 and everything in the list, which earlier in the day had broken through old tops easily, followed suit. During the advance/ that started early last week and ran right up to the last hour. Monday, the amusements took only moderate part. In consequence they were not seriously affected when the ovor- You Can't Show That Hollywood, Dec, 10. (Cuta by various censors from coraiedy shorts) Horse falling In steeplechase," unless it gets up. Cow on roller skates. Tacks thrown In path of pursuing lion. " Man using magnet to ex- tract necklace from woman's neck. .^an setting fire to. a saloon* Roulette wheel In action.^ r Cutting electric light and telephone. wires. Man letting gas out of auto tank,-. ' ■ . ; View . of cards In boot In, poker game. Can't call knyone In dialog or by title—a big sap, spare tire, punk, loafer, buihnier; you old fool, she's a boneless her-- ring, this Is. a Scotch kidnap- ping, tough egg, son-of-a-giin.. Dice shooting where mpney Is shown. . Strip. poker games, Dabels . on bottles such as chloroform, ca^stor oiil, dyna- mite, turpeptine, sleeping tabr (lets, beer,, goat gland,^. itch powder, nillk of magnesia,. Nose thumbing by any per- son or animal. exploited leaders In thei Industrial section brodied. The proba,blo rea- son for the conservative behavoir of the group was that It did not harbor any large short Interest that could be run. In, It. Is now nearly threel weeks since I*px broke below 60 and short lines put out above 'that level were too fa;r distant to be ot niiy conseQuehce, having been covered probably on the decline around 50. Bears are| not so strong for the theatre shares anyhow. After the thorough ' shakeout they are prob- ably too. closely held to be comfort- able. Besides at current price and yield the cost of carrying them Is heavy. .. The last two days hav9 deitnon- strated that the same bears are still ready to ;glve the bull side d. battle on all sharp or continued rallies. The climb of last week was impres- sive and obviously In capable hands, but when the bull, leaders: overdid the thing In Steel and in General Electric the workers for the decline were on hand to put uP an argu- ment. &ame condition Is likely to prevail right along. Monday's was the bears' first chailengre, but ^t was a definite and disturbing one. Yesterday, -steady front argued, too, that bull sponsorship Is both expert and courageous. No Par. Split Up Par stockholders' meeting yester- day voted against the split up which until a few days ago was expected to go through. Partisans of Para- mount profess to believe the action was wise. Their argument now Is that spilt ups are bearish, the bulk of outistairidirig shares more than balancing" the advantage of wide distribution, Behavoir. last week of Gen. Electric seemed to be on the side of that argument. , Par hasn't doiie-much by way of propaganda for its stock since the October brealc. Priefndis of the is- sue point out that they are not particularly anxious for a run lip at this time as a matter of strategy. Stock is well supported d.nd can comfortably ride until better feel- ing cohies during the spring. Annual report Is due late In February* stnd on a good showing (Continued on page 21) if You Vbn't Advertise fn You Don't Advertise N.Y. STUDIOS ACTIVE AGAIN New Tork studios ax*e presently more active than at any time since spring.. Amonsr those getting a break are the extras. Paramount is using many of them, Piathe quite a few, Warners ditto, Weiss Art- class employed 60 for several days! last week; and a scattered few find' chores In the occasional shorts, made In the indie plants. Liaunching its ambitious schedule .on:8horts, Paramoiint has madQ one featiu-ing Hennan Timberg, another with a flock of Chinese talent, and a two reeler with Gilda Gray, Wal- ter fenhei'> Alexander Iiovejoy, Ida Burt and'Rosamond Johnson, Dud- ley Murphy, recently a.t the RCA Gramercy studio, directed the lat- ter. . At Pathe . Walter Broods, iHarry Delmar and George LsMaire are producing at Pftthe, with. ArchHeath directing for Deliiaar and Brooks, LeMaire' doing , his own directing. C. B. Maddock and Gordon Bostock, also affiliated with Pathe as "short piro- ducers, Will not be active again until after Jan. 1. AI Shean (Gal- lagher and Shean) made a short there last week, : Two features are currently shoot- ing, "The Big Pond," with Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, George Barbler, Marion Ballou, Andree Corday, Frank Lyon, Nat Pendle- ton. anC Elaine Koch a,t~Paramount: and at "Weiss Artclass, "Our Pleas- ant Sin" Is under way. ' Weiss Bros. Is making the most pretentious production effort of Its career. Irvin Willat, director, and June CoUyer, featured, were brought froni the coast for this picture, which Includes, from legIt, Oharles Trowbridge, Betty Gatd, Sam' Ash, Elolse Taylor. Charles Starrett and the Diplomats, quartet. E, B. Marks Music Co. is providing four songs for the Weiss picture. "Iii Each Other's Arms." "There's Gin in It." "Love's Lullaby" and "Hello, Mar- ffOt." Frank Melford is aissistlng on "Our Pleasant Sin" and at Para- mount Hobart Henley has Bertram Harrison, legit stage director, lor the dialog. Two features are on the future list at Paramount. "Y&ung Ma.i of Manhattan," next, with Charles Ruggles, Richard Arlen, and Claud- ette Colbert. This is to be both directecT and "supervised" by Monta Bell. After that, B, F. Flnemat. Will sipervlse and Victor Schertzinger will direct a Helen Kane starring picture titled "Dangerous Nan Mc- Grew." Robert Presnell Is doing the script on "Young Man of Manhattan." Seek Coast Studio After experimenting with picture production in their 48th street studio. New York, for the past year, the Schlesslngers are reported hav-. ing decided it Inadequate for any- thing but ohprts and commercials. M. A. Schlesslnger Is supposedly now en route to the Coast to locate a studio in which to turn but full lengrth feiatures With the DeForest. recording system. BEHIND SCHEDULE Hollywood, Dec. 10. Five weeks of scheduled shooting time for "One Mad Kiss," Jose Mo- Jlca'6 operetta for Pox, Is up, with approximately two-thirds of the film yet to be shot.. Technical dif- ficulties on sound blamed. Picture must be completed by .Jan...l,..aa-.tlxe^ngerJias^_CQnceri;= datest in the . oast. Cast is officially through, but pay for remaining .scenes will be charged to "retakes." Marcel Silver, directing. Whyatock Goes Tiffany. Hollywood, Dec. 10. Grant Whystock, assistant to Hunt Stromberg at M-G, Jumps to Tiffany as assistant production manager under Phil Coldstone.