Variety (May 1930)

- >■ — #Ednesdajr, Ma/ia; 1930 P I C T U R E S VARIETY 11 nfiiiority Holders of F. P.-Caii. m I Talking^Coort to Stop Pars Buy Toronto, May 20. \siiareholders of Famous Players ranadlan are to take legal steps to BtoD Adolph Zukor and I. W. KlUam, as voting trustees, frorn accepting the offer of Paramount-Famous- Lasky from taking over the Can. circuit on a five Par to four F-P. ''^M^nor shareholders have brought charges of breach of trusf in favor- Ine the passing over of the control of F. P. Can to U. S. Interests. They eay it is preposterous. A couple of the minority feel that the deal is O. K. "We're. Para- mount's best customer, and It would do them ham to send us punk pic- tures." he declared, "Most of us here know as little about running a show as my right shoe." Action was decided on at a spe- cial meeting of minority sharehold- ers late last week. Arthur W. Roe- buck, opposing tlie merger, stated to tl.j gathering that he held non- binding proxies from.700 sharehold- er': representing 100,000 shares, or practically one-third of the total stock. He pointed out that J. J. Fitzgib- bou was given a dinner in feoston in honor of his promotion to director- general of Parampnht\'PublIx in Canada. "There' tsj, no. .'Publlx in Canadia." Roe"buch'' 'says .heatedly, "yet these people are so certain that the thing will go through that the boa-constructor plans to enjoy hitn- eelf before swullbwing' the Canadian investors. "It is preposterous, and. as. a Ca- nadian citizen, proud of ttiy nation-' ality, I resent it." Ray Was There There was a howl because the offer of British Gaumont to take qver the stock at $75 and another from a Canadian group of ^60 had not been discussed. - ,: Ray Lewis, the trade, paper editor, said she wag at the meeting where the proposition was killed. "It would have amused you," she said, ►"how great men can He so poorly. There were 50 men in the room, and every one had a lawyer. There must have been something funny there if they all needed ti lawyer to keep them out of Jail." There was a squawk because the Canadians were asked to turn their fltock over on M4y 25, a Sunday. Shares couldn't be turned over on the 24th, because it' is a Can. pa- triotic holiday in honor . of Queen Victoria. . ,; ^ ■ There were plenty, more howls, thew they decided to hire legal coun- sel and try to stop the dettl. They formed a separate group to do this, and are charging $5 each. Try and stop this deal, the others say. TORONTO CENSORS GO BY CUTTING STREAKS • Toronto, May 20. Once more howls are being made because the local motion picture censors are chopping so-called In- nocents shots from choice movies. "Hello Sister" wasn't welcomed by the cutting squad. Several elim- inations ordered. One was a shot in a church where a minister an- nounces the hymn to be sung by the congregation. They went, pretty easy with "Anna Christie" and' in several cases seem to be more broad mind- ed. Local board plenty easier than many In the U. S, ' During the last year 7,003,435 feet were reviewed, or 2,155 sub- jects. Right now th^y have 42 under consideration which will have to be cut before O.K'd. FOX HOUSE- OT^GAN, "OynarT\o" Editeci on Coast;. Han- dled by Ferri Hollywood, May 20. Roger Ferrl, out here to hand!-.'! the Fox convention, will hencefortli edit the Fox house organ, "Dyna- mo," from the studio instead of in the ea."?t. Three weekly editions, one for Canada and foreign countries, one for branch managers, and third for theatres. Not known what effect this will have on existing Fbx "West Coast organ, FOX'S ORDER OF 40 GRANDEUR CAMERAS Mich. Exhibs in Fnvor of Closing Neighborhooders Over Summer ASRAMSON CAN'T SUE FOX THEATRES AS CO DE. SCREEN WRITERS WILL ' CURB THEIR AGENTS Pettijoim Doeso't Like Ads That May Attract Hollywood. May 20. ; Charley Pettijohn of the Hays of- fice addressed a Wanipas meeting at the Hotel Roosevelt Monday night and slammed motion picture adver- tising.. "I haven't seen, an ad .In months." he declared, "without a leg f>T a dollar sign. I'm no preach- er but it's darned poor business." Most copy was juvenile and 'of a type worthy of old fashioned bur- lesque. It did not reflect the growth of pictures as a dignified art. ; P;ettijohn was primarily on the 6oast to cut down maximum pro- tection in theatre, zoning and has lopped off I'^O days on coast pro- tection between first and last runs, making It now around 200 days for a picture to. g:et Its load. He visits Chicago on his way back to accomplish a similar readjust- ment on picture clearances. Sioux City's Censors* Sioux City, la.. May 20. Municipal censorship of motion pictures in this city was Inaugu- rated this week when the city coun- cil adopted a resolution creating a board of review. Mayor W. D. Hayes appointed nine .representa- tives of the Women's Club and nine men to the group of 18 which will Uave. power to order deletions in any film. Heretofore the Women's Club has been acting in a censor capacity, but Without authority. Hollywood,' May 20. Screen writers are drawini up a standard contract to eliminate abuses of agents. It Is charged that agents after getting them tied up, sit ba,ck. doing nothing and col- lecting fat commissions for jobs ths ■writers obtained for themselves. New clause in the proposed con- tract would void It if agent failed to provide work for the writer wiWin 90 days. directors of the Screen Writers' Guild, affiliated with the Authors' League of America, will meet May 27, to take up this and other matters. Columbia's Christie Duo Hollywood, May 20. Having announced 18 pictures on its new program and with twenty 01- its features to play the R-K-O houses, Columbia will make up the o fterencfe by buying two full length "ims from the Christies. First of these will be the dialog version of "Charley's Aunt." No ae.<Waion on the second to date. imOW DOUBLING Ilollywoqd, May 20. ; i^'an Lino-w doubles in "Just Ima- I'ne..: Playing both Boko and Loko. ;jUPPort has Al Brendel, Marjorle vNAite and Prank Albertson. f;^. . ^' music and produc- 5°'' Fox by DeSylva, Brown & ^.^^^"'^^iction starts In "about ten R-K-O's Special Counsel Maurice Goodman.- formerly gen- eral counsel for R-K-O (Keith's), has been retained in his private practice as consulting counsel In such R-K-O theatre deals as the or- ganization may enter into. Upon Goodman's retirement from the R-K-O spot Ben Kahane be- came general counsel and so re- mains. Placed with Syracuse Firm in 70 mm. Width Asiatic's Receiver Hollywood, May 20. Asiatic Explorations, Inc.. thrown into receivership on complaint of a Mrs. Whitcomb, who claimed she put up $23,000. Mortgages on pictures was her security but she alleges the pic- tures disappeared. Title After 7 Mos. Hollywood, May 20. After seven months' hunt for a title. United Artists has decided to name Irving Berlin's picture "Reach- ing for the Moon." Bebe Daniels, borrowed from Radio, will be starred. Production starts June 10. Chas. JBoss Sailing; Charles Ross is sailing for Europe May 2. During that time the RCA Photo- phone head, who will be ab:<ent .seven wcek.«. will clos<; deals for in- stallations in Fpain. Italy and France. Syracuse, N. Y., May 20. While the motion picture industry presumably is marking time in the matter of wide-film fdr. one or two years for two . niajor reasons—the estimated cost of the change over, running well into the millions, and second, the disagreement as to size —Fox Is quietly preparing to force the issue with Introduction of Grandeur, its 70 mm film. In the recently completed plant of the J. M. Wall Machine Company In this city^ the largest in the United States devoted to the making of professional motion picture cameras, craftsmen are concentrating on a Fox order for 40 Grandeur cameras. While no date is specified for the completion of the order, the came- ras are to be supplied "as soon as possible." The local company thus far has supplied Fox with four Grandeur field cameras and twice that number of studio cameras. Engineers at the Wall Co. plant says that, regardless of any experi- mentation which rival producers may sponsor, 70 mm is the logical size for wide-film. There are defi- nite projection advantages claimed. With 70mm there Is more room at thi side to hold the film taut as it passes through, a guarantee against buckling. Again, 70mm permits a larger sound track, which in turn permits overtones and undertones not possible with the 35mm film. To trim the sound track to fit the 65 or 67%mm width would cost some of these overtones and under- tones, so essential for perfect and clear sound. The Wall Co., which first turned to cameras four years ago when Fox-Case submitted a machine which the manufacturers could not make noiseless, has designed and made all Movietone and Metrotone cameras, and likewise is responsible for the^Grandeur. Two-Style Camera A new model has just been com- (PlfcCed, but Is yet to be turned over to the studio. It is in two styles, one for 35mm and the other for Grandeur. The camera represents a distinct advance. It is entirely self- contained, with the motor in the case^ Plant estimates that each camera represents 5.000 hours of shop work. Pathe Auditions San Francisco, May 20. Laura Hope Crews opened the first of a series of auditions for new film talent for Pathe here last week. Miss Crew.s interviewed .several dozen young men and wom- en, seeking new talent. During the stay here about a dozen girl.-j from tlie social regi.ster made iapplication for a chance to do their stuff. FOX'S ART GALLERIES Hollywood. May ^0. Alltnan Art GalhTle?, in the studio dii^trict, on Sunset boult-- vard, was taken over this month by Fox I'ilm Corp., bin will coii'ijrip period property and unri.i'i'' fm-nl- ture rr.-ntals to any -Uiflli). D. Sllveia, who Im.-* . b.-i^'i. ri-i ^i! afifnt .It the Fox st-i'lio. j- rii ui.i.;fr of thf Er'ill'»ri'»s. IT<> ■~-ti-. .-f'\~ < }■'. C''">n'"'y!..'.ir. w-io 'v>-'.>iT:{i--l cast. Attempt to drag In Fox Metro- politan Theatres on an impleader and have the corporation examined before trial flopped when the N. T. Supreme Court said nix to the plea of Isaac Abi*amson. who charges that he was bulled into a deal whereby he* sold his interest in cer- tain upstate New York theatres to Ben Leo and others just before Fox took over the houses. Abi'amson is suing Ben Leo, Al- bert Strauss, Jack E. Ungerford and Loon Kaufnnan. The five wore In- terested in the Rhebem Theatre Corp.; Portchester Theatre Realty Co.; and the State Theatre Realty Co. Abramson owned about 25% of the stock in each. ' He claims that he was pulled in on a deal when Ben Leo and the others stated there were negotia- tions set for Fox Metropolitan to take over the three realty holdings. A few days before the deal was to be closed, he was advised it was ott and sold out to Ben Leo. It was about three days after the sale of his Interest that Fox took over the houses and Abramson claims ha was stuck up on the deal. Abramson asks for $150,000 dam- ages and alleges Fox Metropolitan was a party. Court found his claims so far as they concerned the cir- cuit groundless and refused his mo- tion to examine before trial. Saul Rogers is attorney for Fox. Pettijohn in Hollywood, Gives Academy a Promise Hollywood, May 20. Films Boards of Trade will co- operate with the Academy of M. P. Arts and Sciences in putting into effect standards of practice Ijeneflt- ing the theatre. This promise was made by' Charles C. Pettijohn, gen- eral counsel of the Hays organiza- tions, at the joint meeting of the Producers' branch and the Techni- cians' branch of the Academy last Wednesday. . Pettijohn declared he was greatly impressed by the work In non-com- petitive research .already accom- plished by the producers-technicians joint committee. . First subject for ^Im board co- operation will be standard inspec- tion practice for release prints. Recommendations are being drawn up. Activities of the committee working on this subject were re- ported at the joint branch meeting by F. M. Sammis of RCA. In sur- veying the situation in release print laboratories on both coasts the com- mittee found there was no standard inspection, that In many cases the sound track was inadequately In- spected, and that dirt on the sound track was a major cause of unfavor- able criticism of sound reproduction, There were 150 producers and technical department heads at the meeting, which was intended to give these Academy branches a compre- hensive outline of their research committee's activities. ^Measurements that resulted in acoustic classification of set mate- rials were described by K. F. Mor- gan. An analysis of the relation of screen illumination to release print density was made by R. H. McCul- lough. S. J. Twining- ' announced that .specifications to standardize release print make up will soon be ready. A final report outlining methods by which noise may be eliminated from arc lamps was presented by L. E. Clark. Conclusions on tests of camera .silencing devices were presented by H. G. Knox, who stated that a vir- tually silfrnt camera will soon be developed. Detroit. May 20. A mooting has just been held o£ the Michigan Theatre Owners' Assn.- to decide on a summer policy of operation or whether to close the theatres for the torrid spell. One of the largest attendanire.i ever to turn out gave a total of 135 exhibitors represented. With conditions 30% worse than the worst recollection of any pres- ent a crisis was admittedly at hand. Many were the tentative solutions. About 50 present were strongly in favor of closing all neighborhood theatres for the summer montlus with week-end showings. Included in this group were about 15 oper- ators of houses over 1,000 seating capacity. Other solutions were the proposi- tion of asking the exchange man- agers of voluntary reductions of film rental up.to 50% in cases where this reduction was justified. Another- adjustment that will be gone into at a meeting with the Operators Union representatives Is" the downward reduction of the' union operators scale for the sum- , mcr months to assist in enabling the houses to stay open for the sum-, mer. If the exhibitors fail to get suf-' ficieht satisfaction from the local- exchange managers, a committed,' will go to J^ew York and put th^ situation before the sales managers of the various producers. Other evidences of the situation, here are the closing of all R-K-O local' houses Including the Temple.- Oriental, Vaude. and Uptown. Also closing are the Kopplns' seven houses, all seating over 1,000. German Director Buys Old Arorican Films ' To Use as ^'Outfines" Hollywood, May 20. ' Arriving here to buy up old Amer- ican films to use as carbon copies for Germc^n pictures, Joe Mai, Ger-. man director and producer, will bloW: back to the continent with a lot of, prints. His intentions are to use< these prints Strictly as outlines. Formerly associated with UFA,' Mai is now producing on his own. 3d Week of Canadian Trial Ou.'iwa, C.in., May 20. The third week of the hearing bofoi'o the Exchequer Court pf C'nnada. Ottawa, of the DeForo.st .siili ,i;^-<lriMf F(imo'.i3 Playri-Cana- •liit. fiiv .illc^<'il infriMj;f.'iiif'nt of ;i.'in.'nr. ric^iif- or. tilkfp "•|Uil)ti!'»nl .'. 1- .Ik- -D'.-iI iC'.MIIII'-tl'.- I)'.- I-OIIII- MEmO OFFERS FOX UPTOWN N. Y. STUDIO Metro's New York (Cosmopolitan). studio remains Idle with the plan, for a three-way tenancy by Univer- sal. Tec-Art and Metro cold. This plan originated with Metro, It had John W. Butler and Dave Sarecky.' formerly of the Paramount New York studio, mentioned as' the operators of the property. It Is now reported that Metro has . suggested to Fox the advantages of the Metro eastern facilities. Fox's contemplated re-entry of the short subject field under Courtland Smith's supervision brings up the question. Strict regulations prevailing since the Pathe fire is understood to > stand in the way of utilization of the Fox 10th Avenue studio for ac- tive production. 9 Warner '30 Talkers Repeat Silent Themes In addition to signing Joe Frisco to make his first feature length picture, talker version of "The Gorilla," the Warner Brothers have purchased rights to "Sunny" for Marilyn Miller. Walter Huston has also been added to the roster, being set for starring role in Balzac's "For the Honor of thp Family." Incidentally, nine of the 35 fei- turcs which Fir.st National has for the new program include nine themes which have apjjourod in .silent ver^ion.s as late as two years ago. '(•'..• '!>•. i-;..i, .1 .- I. .\|. Iv.n •.•\'. O- •'i j-C. "Variety*' For Summer .JI NK, .Jl'I.y and .tU(.V.iT $2 Addreis "Variety," New York