Variety (Dec 1929)

Wednesday, December 25, 1929 PICTURES VARIETY 23 News of the Dailies (Continued from page 16) Marlon Barrer, Jane Dunlap, Eva Hoffman, Margaret Jone^, Pat Lee, Gwendolyn Witter, Elizabeth a?urner, Blllle Reynolds, Connie Sweet and Anna Lehr. AH dan- cers. Superior Court Judge iCralg granted a temporary injunction against the disposition of an apart- ment house owned by Lola Weber, scenarist. Mips Weber claims that when she brought the! property its supposed value was $550,000. She later discovered . tha^ it was Worth $300,000. Vernon Eddy filed a $31,000 dam- age suit in Superior Court against Mildred Mernie, pictures. Eddy al- leges he received seven broken ribs when hit by an auto driven by Miss Mernie. Davey I^e can continue playing vaude for the next four months by virtue of a Superior Court ruling. Original contract had been set to end Jan. .1. New contract con- cludes in April. Superior Court Judge Gould granted Iva Parkes, .known .on the stage as Iva Kuhn, a divorce from George Parkes^ artist, after she testified that he refused to support her. here, now in Jail, had evidence but blocked prosecution of the murderer of William Desmond Taylor, picture director, l^illed In 1922, the District Attorney, Buron FItts, stated that such evidence is now in. his hands and that with the forging of one more link to the chain he will re- open the case and ask for an indict- ment. Sounds locally like governorship propaganda for Fitta. Richardson claimed that he had ppsltive. evidence while he was gov- ernor of the murderer of the direc- tor and that he obtained it from a prisoner In Folsom,. who was an eyewitness to the crime, "I went to Los Angeles with my information and presented it to the Grand Jury," he said; "but I was told that it was useless as Keyes would hot prose- cute." V According to the former governor he had the Informer pai'oled fi:*oni prison because he feared that those behind the slaying of Taylor would have the man In prison killed. The last he heard, he stated, was that the former prisoner was in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Thelma McDonough told Superior Court Judge Schauer that all she wanted was a divorce from Joseph McDonough; director. In spite of the fact that he earns' $1,000 weekly. "Five minutes of. married life with him was enough," she stated, at a hearing preliminary . to a divorce trial to be held later. Helen Lee Worthing, former show girl, walked out, turned iaround and walked right back into the domicile of her colored husband. Dr. Eugene C. Nelson. The couple were mar- ried about three yeai's ago. Re- cently another woman stepped In. It was first agreed that Mrs. Nel- son take $1,000 in cash and $250 a ..month for two j-ears and Other in- cidentals as a property settlement. Reconciliatioa followed. Burr Mcintosh,- stage and screen. Is in the Glendale Sanitarium, suf- fering from arthritis. Superior Court Judge Hanby postponed uiitil Jan. 2 the suit for separate, maintenance" brought by Mrs. Olive Farnum. against William Farnum, stage and screen, bo that Mrs. Isabella Major,, the "other woman" In the case, could get here to defend herself. Mrs. Major is now in New. York. Edward A. Kavanaugh and his wife, Mary,' were found guilty of theft in connection With the rob- bing of the United Artist theatre safe last August, when $12,000 was taken.'. They will be sentenced Dec. 30. Superior' Court Judge Mahon rcr fused to grant Mrs. Hazel Foster a divorce from Louis Foster, direc tpr.. Mrs. Foster asked for the dl vorce because her husband cursed her after she had ."straightened up" his desk. Following a statement made In San Francisco by former Governor Friend W.. Richardson that Asa Keyes, former Distriftt Attorney BIT WHICH ALL Sf ME EMfERfAINMENT IS JUDGED. CHICAGO Brunswick recording, company has acquired the rights of| the. Vitavox Company, holding patents covering the recording of sound on film and Its reproduction from '.film. Deal involves small amount and the pat- ents appear to have possibilities. Charged with receiving stolen goods, Michael A. Corsi, former manager of the Club Lido here, was held last week under $6,000 bond. This city caught in a blizzard, with 30 hours of continuous snow- fall, resulting In 14 inches of Snow, tying up traffic and closing schools. On the 19th it marked the llth sun- less day for the city, a record. Sam Margot, said to be the larg- est dope peddler in the midwest, was sentenced to 2V2 years in the federal prison last week. Tyrone Powers left the Fritz Lelber Shakespearean company after five weeks. Powers stated he left because of lack of opportunity to play leading roles. Jose Iturbl, Spanish pianist, got hi-hat and refused to co-appear with Clarie Dux, soprano, Dec. 26, at the Blackstone. The senor In- sisted that he could not endure "the conflict of another personality on the same progi-ana." The senor did the same thing at Washington when he cancelled an engagement to appear with Mme. Maria Ols- zewska at the Mayflower hotel. coisT mm STANDARD FHH MAGNIFe ON WDK SCREEN . Chicago, Dec. 24. The opening on Xmaa Day of the new Essaness northside house, the Pantheon, will bring to Chi its first wide film spot. House projector does not use the wide negative, but enlarges from the regulation 36mm film through the use of a specliail magnifying lens. Essaness intends to show all its pictures on the wide screen, and will open with "Broadway" (U). Virginia Bruce and Lloyd Whlt- lock to "Young Eagles" (Par). Cecil Cunningham, British mimic, to "Old Timers' Revue" (M-G). Sam Raphaelson here under, con- tract to write and direct for Radio. H. B. Warner, Judith Vosselli and Crauford Kent in "The Agony Col- umn" (WBX with Roy Del Ruth di- recting, Knut Erlckson with Harry Lang- don In "Mrs. Dugan's Boarding House" (Roach short). Michael Vavltch added "King of Jazz" (U). Emily Fitzrqy added to John Mc- Cormack picture, Fox. Hamilton McFadden to direct "The Mad Singer," Fox. Owen Davis Sr. noW engaged in writing book for the new "Fox Fol- lies of 1930." Johnny Walker, Paul Hurst and George Cooper to "Cyclone HIckey," Tiffany. Wallace Beery to "On the Set," M-G, ' Sylvia Thalberg and Frank Butler teamed to write originals for M-G- Frederic March to "Women Love Brutes " Par. Betty Compson, "His Woman," FN. Alice Weaver to "On the Set," M-G. Carol Tevis and Mary Carlisle to "Songwriter," M-G. Option on Nina May's contract exercised by M-G. Richard Carle with Buster Keaton "On the Set," M-G. Conrad Seidermann and William Bechtel in German version of "Sun Kissed" (M-G) for parts played In the American version by Richard Carle and Lloyd Ingraham, Gus Edwards and Howard John son writing "Candy Land," short tofCee shop reviie, for M-G. Luclen Littlefleld goes to Fox after engagement with Col, Howard Eastebrook to write orig- inals at Fox. ■ —A7-Er-Thomas-aaded-M-=G-ace nario department. Kenneth Thompson to "The Songwriter" (M-G). Winifred Dunn to Tiffany to adapt original, tentatively "Off Shore," by A. P. Younger. Z. A. Epstein has been appointed manager of the Strand, New York, to succeed Forrest H. Macomber, Herbert Copelun succeeds Epstein as manager of the Str.md, Brooklyn. t Town of 598 Wired Minneapolis, Dec. 24. Western Electric claims to have wired the smallest house In the smallest town. Town is Moha, N.D^, with a population of but 598. Theatre la the Grand,, seating 250. W. B. has also wired two theatres In Fair- mont, Minn,, a. settlement of less than 1,600. In all the company states It has recent- ly made more than 40 instal- lations in towns of 6,000 and under in the northwest. Always Enough Sure-Seat Backers To Replace Disillusioned Chumps Patbe After Stadio; Temporarily Downtown Pathe is reported negotlatfhg for lease of the old Edlson-Biograph studio on . 180th ' street, Bronx. Studio is in possession of aii Inde- pendent group. . It is not In use at present and. riot equipped .for sound-.. Eastern short subject production staff of Pathe, Inactive since the fire, resumes Dec. 30 at RCA's Gramercy Studio, downtown New York, with Walter Brooks' musical two-reeler, "The Beauty Spot^" starting off. George ^ LeMalrck' fol- lows Jan. 2 with '"How's the Bride?" Arch Heath is assigned to produce a third. ; . ^' Nothing further la aet, although Harry Delmar's "Miniature Revue,'' in production when the fire broke uptown, may be completed at Gramercy. John Reinhard Is manager of new Publix Community theatre, Miami, to open Christmas Day. Always some folks with a little dough outside the show world, anxious to get in in a high brow way. They will figure the arty theatre the easiest Initiation and the surest way to fatten the bank roll, along with entertaining the A^i^erican in- tellectual. . When they shall have learned, the lesson, as miany of them have, there will be Just as many more, to fill the eaps. That's one of the reasons why the sure-seater, hybrid of regular and non-theatrical policies, will always be on the fringe of legit business. Nearer during the past year than any other has it threatened to lap over. ■ 'Some of the poorer indie ex- hibs, made desperate through high cost of sound, have given the . arty angle consideration. A lot of this Is liable to materialize during 1930 if many of the boys are able to hold out. Up In Westchester right now sev- eral of the regulars are thinking of turning theatre queer. There are hundreds of theatres throughout the country, especially in the better suburbia, which have the necessary physique and only need the dressing In forel^ silent pictures to make the change 100% and the free cof- fee, cigs and sexy ushers. They must be a,dded to the overhead. Keeping check of arty statistics Is like an amateur trying to fol- low the big . board. They pop up and go out like matches In some Instances, while in others they just take one belt on the b.o. after the other but hang on, seemingly for nothing more than the kick they get out of watching the few hand- fulls of customers dally. Also, keep- ing up that atmosphere. No Guarahtee' .. Last January it looked as though the arti^ were getting down to business. . Ufa announced plans for a system of 60, nationally. But the schedule., never went through^ It fell through when the W&ll Street crowd Interested demanded Ufa be responsible for the dividends. Then the Berlin ofllce kicked the traces. The past year' also witnessed the' i;>.asslng of the' Grand Old Man of Arties, at least in the big way he was maintaining for a time and threatening to expand. Mike Miii diln took It one-two-three on the Carnegie, S5th, two In Brooklyn and a couple elsewhere until he is back at scratch with the Fifth Avenue. Mike'll probably re-blosSom. The Newark proposition is tied up with his name, and 'tis said there are other angels who are winging around. All is not cake and coffee on the film rental side of the arty. The Carnegie, for Instance, recently paid $700 for , Unlversal's "Last Com- mand." And that swell sure-seater, formerly the Kahn place for danc- ing, has ah overhead abbut as high as they come. Incidentally, . John Brown has the Carnegie, which was formerly one of Mihdlin's bits of art work. Brown used to be associated with young Otto and one of the first things he did was to get rid of Mike. Since then he's had a gross of managing directors. '■ Out of Red C5th Street was in the red for 25 grand in '28, but will show a net of $5,000 for .'29. That house has got one of the best arty minds at the helm, Joe Flelsler. Recently, 'tis reported, he expended 90 bucks renting different; shorts on animal and insect battles and clustered them; together for a feature that brought $800 above the b. o. needs for a week. Top rental paid by 65th with its 250 seats was an alleged $1,284.86 for the Metro Importation, "Spies'^ that for just a week. It Is further maintained, however, that the house not only went clear on It but also was able to salt aWay three centu- ries. It Is estimated by arty experts that the feature rental averages around $300 for the house of a,8 ntiany seats. Advertising for the locals has proven a big commodity. Little Carnegie, especially* has taken ad- vantage of this, taking as much as $400 worth of space in the dallies In a week but in return getting its stuff reviewed In the same columns with the big Broadway product. So.und hasn't hurt arty biz any. It's been bad anyway, most of them concede. Day or night usually re- veals Considerable pralrlei. The darkest of sure-seat ventures was tried In Harjem and la reported to have come to a sorry passing. The natives refused to go for an In- tellectual: screen diet. Foreign-, mades that.-came nearest hitting In the singing: academy fegion wef» tried and everything, but the Afra- merlcans testified by their numbert that the 100% American film menu Is what they want. When it CQmea to the pictures, folks near, the river demand pitchers what am. Season's Greetings