Variety (Jan 1930)

rh Germany Stalls on _OWednesday, January 15, 1930 Film Contingent Under New Trade Barrier Treaty “Washington, Jan. 14 Taussian “ELMER GANTRY” New. ‘and expected. German ‘film | contingent. is being. held up pending. action by. “Poland and. Czechoslo \-yakfa om the Geneva Convention, -. whith convention, if ratified by all} . signing countries,: ‘will do. away with ". commercial trade. barriers. | -. at Reporting. by cable to the Com. " merce’ Department, . Douglas Miller, -assistant trade’ -commissioner, Ber-. ‘Jin, ‘advises that should. the. two “mations fail. to ratify. the treaty : ‘Germany | will-put into effect a new. contingent. : ‘Poland and ‘Czechoslo;wakia. must ratify. by May. 31° or ‘Germany: automatically © cancels. its . adherence to the treaty. v “Conditional Plan. Because ‘of pressure: being brought. “upon. the German government it is 2 ‘expected. that the provisions of the new. arrangement . will be announced :on February 1, Actually going into effect, however, on July 1 and then. ™ dependent _ upon the action of. the “other. “two -nations| on the treaty, Bays. ‘Miller. ‘Miller adds that an informal talk with’ ‘the German film commissioner brought ‘forth the information that. : . tke ‘TEW: regulations’ would. -practt-. -.ealty, mean ‘a continuation of . the . present status ‘for'’one year... No “substantial change is contemplated, , however, in that portion of: quota allotted ag export premiums. *. “Miller is not optimistic that even “deh the’ ratification by Poland and. ‘Czechoslovakia’ Germany. will ‘drop. ‘the contingent idea,” He sees Yt, then, switchéd to the‘ question ‘of a domestic cultural matter through tthe ‘ministry of interior or educa. -tion.so that curtailing of foreign films..may be continued, on other . grounds. . Miller interprets the Government as. believing the present regulations i ‘offer the best solution. “Foreign Language Batis | tht Hollywood Dubbing Holly wood, Jan. 14. Passing of: laws in Italy and Spain, plus similar proposed. action by: ‘Cuba and Mexico, forbidding the “showing of foreign language ‘pic' tures, has halted the dubbing of _,Beveral musicals.out here, Latest .to.be denied the foreign] “It’s a Great: Life.” market: is M-G’s . Plan was to have the songs sung in ‘English, with Spanish spoken just “dn. ‘the: final sequence. . _ COLUMBIA’S VERSION plane German, French and Spanish “fatal Transcriptions ~ “ ao ‘“iJack Cohn, vice-pr-sident of Columbia,.who went abroad with the {dea of selling silent product, has returned to declare it’s no use thinking of silents for over there. Columbia's “Flight” will be -its first dialog film for European showing, ‘with all original lines remaining in|} ‘the production plus titles superim-posed for German, Spanish and ‘French consumption. ‘ ; “With options on. three French | stories tobe -doné in MBnglish, . French, and German, Cohn goes to |: thr Coast within a week to discuss -foreign production angles. Pictures ‘on the regular Columbia program, * originally to be produced in Eng +fish’ only, may ‘also be made in two or thrce’ foreign versions, oe “ — “Accident —No Frame Paris, Jan, 1,Jeanne .Helbling, French picture ‘actress, due to. star shortly. in the ~ filmization ‘of Roland ‘Dorgele’s “ novel, “Partir,” was found -unconsclous' in the early ‘hours of : the “morning in her apartment, due to}. Sa leak in a gas pipe. © . “h3he thing looking either as at~ “€émpted. suicide or a publicity stunt _ Really was a Plain accident. Francoeur, in: Paris, are being wired. fcatures' to follow. Louis’ P. Verande, )Helay, of the Opera, Saint-Granter, AntiReligious Films the “Vogue in Russia—Several Opened Xmas ° ‘Moscow, ‘Dec: 31. ‘One Russian film company ts working on.a scenario of Sinclair “Lewls’s . “Elmer Gantry” and will doubtless squeeze out every drop of. anti-religious propaganda the. book holds. — Celluloid | attacks © on leaven have been the vogue in ‘Russia. recently. In fact,’ several anti-religious: films opened. ‘simultaneously in the capital on ‘Christmas Day. JOINVILLE BECOMING FRANCES HOLLYWOOD), : “Paris, Jan. B.* Joinville; Paris suburb, ‘Is fast bécoming the center of French picture production. In the old. Sapene studios, ‘sound equipped. and. under the manage {ment of Natan (PatheNatan), three French talkers are being produced. On Gaumont equipment. at this studio’ Abe! Gance is making “La Fin du Monde” with himself as the star; on. RCA wire Marcel: Lherbier is filming “L’Enfant de I'Amour,” with Jean Angelo and Jacques Catelain,. and Jean ‘de Limur. is. directing Adolphe Menjou and Alice Cocea, of French musical comedy -fame, . in “Mon Gosse de Pere.” Incidentally, the’ Pathe-Natan studios: of Rue Aigo: inJoinville, the Reservoir studios, now known as the Kane plant, will begin to turn out French shorts this month with full-length Disttibution is to be. arrdnged by Paramount ‘in Lurope; and Pathe in the States, Fer, these“ one and’ tworeelers: impresario, 1s gathering talent fron) both Frencn vaudeville and legit, such as Fanny Tr.ki, Bach, Koval, Suzy. Prim and Jearne Saint‘Bonnet. French. Makers Cautious. ‘Paris, Jan. 14, French sound and talk production is at a standstill, except for the operations of a, few daring producers who are anxious to set dialog films into-release, : _ Majority prefer to stand aside for the. moment in order’ to ‘observe .what real results. native dialog’ pic | tures achieve. Ramaphone’s Trio ' The Hague, Jan.6. Nederlandsche. Bioscooptrust (N ._BT) has. wired its Olympla at Nij-. megen and the Corso, Amsterdam, with Ramaphone, an Americah independent wiring equipment made by Radio Motion Picture Corp. Henri A. Lube is head of this company and is personally making the installations, “Amsterdam, Jan. 4. Tuschinsky's in Amsterdam and Rotterdam both have W. FE. equipment, but the picture exhibitor is letting the contract of his 1,800 seat Roxy here to. Ramaphone. et China Likes Talkers Washington, Jan. 14, talkers, Novelty of all dialog, de spite being in English, is attracting’ Plenty of business, says a report to. the picture division of the commerce department, ; China officials have their own ideas on censoring. and are setting up standards that must be adhered to. . This -is particularly true in the. ‘municipality of Greater Shanghai. | ; Outlying theatres’ are beginning to > Bet installations, , ste = 1900 crowns. ‘to be rescinded. ‘In order to render. shareholder, Dr. Richard. von Kock’ of Berlin, in conjunction with.one | Cheaper Tonefilm Device “Prague, Dec, 27. Owner of the Olmuttz Electro and Radio Company, Masak, in conjunction with his engineer, Masarek; has constructed a tonefilm which he claims. is 20 times cheaper than the. American apparatus at Present, in use. ; The Olmuetz machine’ can be furnished for 34,000 crowns, while the foreign apparatus costs over. 700, Fox Buy Mixes Up B-G Contract A or Danish Wire : Copénhagen, Jan, 2, Law courts have pronounced sentence -in .an important’ sound ‘Alm case over here concerning the .wire equipment in British Gaumont theatreg.. In 1926 the Electrical | Phono Film, Co. was formed for the exploitation | of sound film patents. ‘belonging . to the: Danish inventors, Petersen and ‘Poulsen. This company later. made.] a contract with British Gaumont, was to the effect that ‘B-G and its 300-odd cinemas were only to.use the Danish sound and talking film apparatus. Inreturn, the English company obtained the rights. to exploit the: Danish invention in ‘England. wo After that Fox ‘opened negotiations for the purchase of British Gaumont. Successful: completion of these, . negotiations. ‘ : consequently. made it necessary that. the clause |. binding British Gaumont to use only Petersen‘Poulsen’ wire would have this clause null-and void, the-Gaumont firm bought the controlling in-: terest in the. Danish company and. afterward called a general .meeting, where it was decided to cancel the clause. in -question. ‘This decision caused consternation among -shareholders in Electrical ‘Phono Film in Denmark and .Germany. ".A.German. of the inventors, Petersen, then filed” suit in .the . Danis courts. against the comipany,. disputing the. ‘|right. of the general meeting to re-. scind the contract with Gaumont. ‘In ' pronouncing . judgment, the Danish court says that the clause. must be considered of fundamental Electrical Phono Film and that ‘the Danish law governing limited companies would make its cancellation: by a general meeting illegal. © It is probable that the dissatisfied shareholders : will use this. judgment jas’a basis: for continuing the case in an. English court, Electrical. Phono ts’ ‘doing great business in Sweden. Firm has com‘Eleted the installation. of Petersen and Poulsen equipment in 20 cinemas. Popularity of this Danish system ls increased by its cheapness. Radio’ 8 British Trio. Ony three pictures are on Radio's British schedule to be handled over there by. Basil Dean, English pro‘ducer, What American performers, ductions is not disclosed by ‘ocal executives. J. I.: Schnitzer,. who {ssued a statement on the hook-up, ‘| refused to be interviewed ~ for de ‘tails. . Statement “concedes ‘that Dean contributions will be-mostly com ‘|-posed of casts. China is falling into Hne on the At the same time technical aid, approval of. stories and’ selection of staff will be up to LeBaron, Radio production head, Coast German: ‘Showing San Francisco, Jan. 14. clit Work is. to give the first: Coast showing next week of. the German vyersion of Universal's “Broadway” ata midnight. show at the. Orpheum. -It will be in the nature of a pre-" view for several local German 80 ; cleties, sepia “Blumenthal Decorated. nee “Paris, Jan. 2.° “Young. Dick Blumenthal, ‘assistant -¥6 Mel Shaurer here .at: the Para.. mount. Paris headquarters, has been '.' decorated. by the Ligue Aeronau‘dque de Trance, for his air-minded _. services. Whey arose from. Par's. pictures, *Wings" and “Legion of-the Condemined. ” /ALLNIGHT: GRIND ‘OKAY Paris, Jan. 5. Paramount theatre, which played continuously New Year's. Eve, did a steady business, _ About 150 people were turned ‘away every half hour from two to| six a, m. as the people emerged from night clubs and restaurants, = “Appendix Surrender ‘Before returning to the. Orient toresume as M-G-M’s general representative, Frank V. Chamberlain went to the Manhattan Hospital, ‘New York, .to ‘surrender his | appendix. As soon as he's mended Chamberlain goes to, and then. Balla from San Francisco. the most important. clause of which | Pa importance for every shareholder in‘ jf any, will take part in these pro|. = = me ‘FOREIGN FILM NEWS ‘VARIETY As Many French Wire Cos. as Here: HOWE’S: JAP. TALKERS Cameraman Forme Own Company— ‘Tom: White as Partner ‘Los Angeles, Jan, 14, James: Wong. Howe, only Chinese ‘cameraman’ out. here, .has organized his .own* producing company. He. .will "make a series of all Japanese talkers, local and. Frisco theatres. Howe is a-former cameraman for. -| Paramount, where he. ‘photographed. all of the Victor Fleming and Her-. bert Brenon. productions. ° ‘Associated with him in this" venture is Tom. White, indie producer and. former Paramount exec.: ” Pictures: will be made. at. White's ‘studio in Monrovia. Hollywood Recording System,’ disks owned by ‘White, will be used.. Pictures will play in cities where. there tsa large Japanese population, the rights for | Japan already having been ‘sold to fe: syndicate there... | -Howeé also intends making a series tor Chinese "se consumption. — . British Film F ield| By. F rank ‘Tilley London, Jan. 2. _A chap. calling himself Arthur Barrett is getting by with a gag, in the sticks... Travels a talker called “Motherless” with portable equipment.. Set consists. of mike, amplifier, loudspeaker. and the. silent: film.’ ‘An assistant sits. in the booth, watches ‘the film and. does the talking into the mike, ‘synchronizing the sound ‘and doubling the. voices. well enough for the houses played.. So far only one. audience has ‘Gotten: wise. _ ; Percentage False Returns : Since the talkers ‘brought percentage. bookings as the general. rule there. has been -spasmodic trouble over. theatre returns, ‘Around three months ago distributors tried 'to get by. with a plan. for. having their own checkers in the: payboxea,, but the ‘ Exhibitors’ Assocfation laughed the idea out. Several ‘percentage distribsgot]. wise to the fact that they were ba ‘and. got after things. Universal found one case and called the exhibitor in for a conference, This exhibitor, Jacob Rothstein, fs director’ of Super Cinema (Canning Town) Ltd. a company owning theatre of that name, also of Poplar Pavilion, Ltd., and Poplar Hippodrome, Ltd., two other companies owning those houses. Man named Musselwhite is secretary and general manager of all three companies. Rothstein said he had no knowledge that distribs were being cheated on thelr percenta e, but Mussel-. white became the goat and said it on his own. . Shortages discovered amounted to five. cases from. the Super Cinema, four. from the Poplar Pavilion, and three from. the Hippodrome, the. victims) and..amounts being: ‘Super Paramount $390;. Warner, $253; M-G-M;. $240; Gaumont,’ $182:. Ideal--Co., $168; Poplar Pavilion, Fox, $404; Warner, $192; First Na‘tional, $167; Wi & tT. Co.;-$35; Pop-+ lar Hippodrome,. Warner, — $626; First National, $163; Fox, $162. Rothstein has paid. ‘these and has -agreed to. have automatic ticket machineg installed, also to give distributors’ representatives access to the three houses’ at any time. A jsum equal to. the total. of the ad mitted defalcations has also .been paid.to the Trade Benevolent Fund, legal and: accountancy costs being charged to the theatres in addition. Distributors, through their . so-elety;-say= -this=settlement--will-not: which may arisé.. And there seem to be some coming from the: North ‘Midlands, where one of the Amertcan distributors has . discovered a shortage. As the. percentage _playing . of talkers is on thé. wane Tow, exnibs are wise. to the fact there's enough ‘(Continued on Page BT) ‘| America,,. using.“ native actors from} algo ‘| Sonor-Film; ing .short. changed in, some’ places, | wag his. idea and he carried it out]. ‘be followed in any other cases] Claim US. Distrihs Over-Phugging W. E . Paris, Jan. 5... There : are” as many indie sound equipments. here’ ‘as were. ‘in Amere. fica when. ‘sound .wasin its. early stages. of development.’ And as in they will reduce themselves down to a handful, although, niore so. than in the States, the price factor isa stron sly. ‘determining. in. fluence. If,.an exhib. knows’ that Synchros oe phone (disk) | “‘sélls at 20,000-francs, — 0), that’s: what ‘interests him | most. Survox (disk) at 25,000 ‘to ,40,000 frances ($1,000 to $1, 600) is an-. other cheap ‘one. .Syntok goes for . $3,000 for film. and $2,000. for. disk;. Sonovision,. disk, $1,400 to $1, 600; Melovox, both disk and: film,. $1,600 to $2,000; Gaumont's Idealsonore, $4,000: to $6,000. “Other =: makes are’ _Lutaphone, $8,000; Ramaphone, $3, 500; ‘Western — Electric, price depending on type of : equipment, ranges to. $20, 000 and $24,000}. .Thomson-Houston Co's ° Thomson-Tona, at $2,800, asking for~ 25 percent down and 1,000 franca ($40) a month... ThomsonHouston. ‘handles “RCA . Photophone;". Synchronista; LN-Ay Synchro-France, ‘Indie wire’ men argue here that American: distributors, . Af they ‘do ~ not approve of a theatre’s equips. ‘ment, will not rent its pictures. The '|continental: sound makers take..the. “ ‘position. of who: is. the judge, the os distributor or the public? If tha . latter, by-hooting or razzing, should — demonstrate against. poor reproduc. ]tion, there can be no.question: about the wisdom of.the distribs’ position. It has also been said that W. BB and ‘Gaumont were ‘supposedly -. working. in. accord, | or on some sort of a tie-up.” This ‘Clifford Smith, W..E, executive head, denies to Vae riety: heye. Smith explained. such @ misimpression came through the. Moulin Rouge wiring. This houseé. is -using.a Gaumont projector, but. otnerwise is W. E. equipped. From this’ fact sprang the rumor of | a working. arrangement between’ the. two firms, according to Smith. -Some of the independent. wire ‘|manufacturers. cry. that exhibitora — are being influenced to install W. EB,” on the allegations. that ERPI’s proiuct is not only superior, but that it may prove a factor.in securing. the. ies ‘of. the. choleer. ‘sound . ‘ples ; ures, FIRE’ REGULATIONS Paria ‘Theatre Owners. Worrying “That Lax Days May Be Over : Paris; Jan; 6. Theatre c owners: are much’ worrled © over the -Glen Cinema fire, which © ‘caused 70 children tobe burnt or trampled to death: in’ Paisley, ‘near Glasgow, Scotland... Fire laws here are far from: being as strict as in. the States, and are quite loosely ob-served, often being -winked at, os Some managers go 80 far. as to have some equipment installed con-* trary to all regulations, such equip. _ ment being hidden on. inspection i: day. Should fire inspections become . | ‘more severe, quite a. lot ofchanges | might be required ‘in either stage , or r seating accommodations, 2, ' oe ars Spain's $ Will Rogers: ' Madrid, Dee; 28, Federico Garcia. Sanchiz, Spanish | author . and writer, has created new style of theatrical entertain:ment. called Charlas Lirleas.(Lyre : ‘ical-Chats), and which he has ‘been giving at theatres throughout Spain, His’ performances thus far have been. very popular and a financial success for their creator. .Garcla Sanchiz's performances ‘consist of. stage lectures upon al.. most every conceivable topic of in«terest, including descriptive in-< terpretations of.every phase of Spain and her people, + comments upon interesting current events as reported in the newspapers,. some-. what after ‘tho. manner of. will Rogers. Big Orchestra i in Small House Jestgeel ate ara e rae ~Berlin;-Dec:“80S A 33plece orohestra in a. house _. seating 600 is at the Ufa Palast — here, where Metro’s “White Shae. dows” is showing. .. Tobis’ litigation. against Western Electric forces this soundfilm to be shown silent, as. with every other ‘American sound-synchronized pro« duction where W. LE. equipment fig a See aa ak EE yuresg..