Variety (Jun 1930)

Wednesday. June 18, 1930 PICTURES VARIETY 43 ipe Ex^ Objects to New I E Zoning Plan with Indies h Minority on Connnittee Chlcasoi June 17. Committee called by Charles C. PettUohn to work out a new zoning plan for downstate Illinois, arrived at a tentative plan. With the problems of Cook and Liak« counties, committee was unable to decide upon code. PettUohn adjourned the lueetlng Wednesday (11) and re- iuiriied to New York, but is ex- pected back this week to finish the ■ local code, . V Jules J. Rubens,' of Publix-Great States, proposed the new zoning and . protection code for downstate. Billy Bison, of R-K-O, assisted in draw- ing up the main features of the scheme. This plan was tentatively accepted by the committee, com- IMsed of Eddie Grossman of United Artists exchange, Rubens; and three Independent exhibitors, iKlex. Manta, . R K Alger and Fred' Anderson. Alger emphatically objected to committee's plan as reached,, in let- . ter, printed herewith: The outline, regarding protection ojt larger over smaller- ^ewns, is a one-mile radius shall jSie granted for each 1,000 of 'population of : the larger town. Towns of 3,000 or more shall be . designated as key tenters. A 40-ihile radius shall be the maximum protection. Small toWn adjacent to and within a radius of three miles from larger ' town shall be considered second run. : Within a 10-mlle radius of the key center, 14 days' protection Is given over smaller town; 20-mIle radius. 10 days; -30 miles, seven days; 40 miles, Ave days. This for- mula . based on theatres charging reg.ular top daily admission price of key (;enter. On Admiuton ' For each flye cents of. a lower admission^: price charged by smaller J %oym, one extra day shall be added to days of protection afforded key . center. Where protection over- \ laps from, one key center, it Is . understood the sinaller town shall [ not be permitted to play ahead of ' larger town, . within recognized radius. Second run houses charging same admission price as -first run theatre may play picture 14 days after first run; If charging five cents less than first run, shall play 28 days after first run. If second run has admission price of 30 cents, first run gets 49 days' protection ; period. I Regardless of admission price of i first run spot, second run theatres < charging top price of 25c shall not ) be'required to play pictures later I than 70 days after its first ruif. If ^ second run charges 20c then 91 i days' protection is afforded first I run; If IBc 112 days, and if 10c 133 I ,days. t S.econd run must not advertise |- picture until first run has com- j- pleted presentation. Two-for-one I tickets shall be considered half of regular price. Double or triple i programs shall not be permitted 8. unless all ptctures shall be over one ; year old. , Alger Dissents E. E, Alger, one of the indie vmenifbers, of the committtee, sent |;thls letter after the code had been % tentatively accepted: ^ Relative to the tentative sug- p gestlon presented by Mr. J. J. g Rubens of Publix theatres at «• the committee meeting yester- I day, I wish to state that as a g member of the committee rep- resenting the independent thes6^ tre owners, I am not In favor of the plan for the following reasons: The whole thebry of protec- tion is wrong and is only tol- ^^ted by the independent ex- hibitors on account of being forced on them. The inclusion of all towns . within a 3-mile radius of any town and considering It as a second run is unjust to the the- atres located there, as a penalty or 21 days' protection for each Ave cents reduction In admis- sion price is excessive, and should not be more than seven days' penalty for each five cents ^ lower admission price. u The suggestion of not letting § any theatre rUn a picture ahead §;.i ?' overlapping protection w jrom a larger town would prac- Wcally nullify the whole zoning ^. agreement, as this territory can reach , out fdr a distance of JO miles. A town such as Wncoln, 111., while permitted to snow a picture seven days Somediiiig Expected to Break at Kans.-Mo. Meet Topeka, June 17. An atmosphere of "Hushhush' surrounds preparations for the an- nual meeting of the M. Pl T. O. A of Kansas and Western Missouri to be held here June 24 and 25. None of the officers will talk, but it Is understood "something Is due to break." All managers of the Fox-Mid west, representing 31 towns, have been called in for the conference by E. C. Rhoden, general manager of the circuit. Managers of the Mid land circuit are being urged to bring In all the independents they can from their territory. For the 'steenth time R. R. Biechle, president of the Kansas- Western Missouri, division of the association, is declaring he is not 9, candidate for re-election. Meet Ings of the convention as well as the annual banquet are to -be held In the Kansan Hotel. Attendance of about 300 Is-expected. 100 Humeapolis Indie Houses &pected to Close for the Sammer Minneapolis, June 17. '. With business here sub-normal even for this usually slack season of the year, a record, dumber of the- atres In the territory are folding "for the summer." In - Minneapolis -loop, smallest number of first-run houses in years is operating at present. Pantages closed Thursday "for the summer." R-K-O 7th street bad called it quits the week before. Prediction alopg the rlalto Is-that One and possibly two more loop first-run houses also may.be.dark- ened during the dog days unless trade soon takes a turn for the bet- ter. Through the entire territory and In the Twin City suburbs approxi- mately 100 houses already have closed or have signified their inten- tion of doing so. All of these are independently operated. There have been no admission re- ductions in recent months in the Twin Cities, although the rumor is rife several are pending. In Minne- apolis the Minnesota and the Cen- tury theatres are scaled at 75c. over the entire house after 6.30 p. m. State charges 60c., R-K-O Orpheum 50c., the Lyric 40c., and the Aster, 36c. They are the only first-run theatres here now in operation. The Minnesota and Orpheum alone offer stage entertainment. Raines for Roach Halsey Raines -of the Metro home office leaves July 12 for Culver City via Canada. On the coast he will do special work for Hal Roach, remaining away about a month. Fox Truck Near Denver Denver, June 17. Fox has located a movietone sound truck here with L. E. Orr as cameraman and D. T. Bradshaw, sound recorder. after Springfield, cannot run the picture ahead of Bloomlng- ton. Decatur or Peoria. The committee, with full power to act, must be made up of 9t least 50% of Independent theatre owners, for them to have any power whatever, as the committee appointed is made up of three exhibitors and six op- posing. The tentative agreement as drawn up by the committee yes- terday was the complete plan presented by Mr.' Rubens of Publix, and fully agreed by Mr. PettUohn of the Hays organi- zation. The ideas of the inde- pendent exhibitors were care- fully Ignored. ^- ^- -A'per. How the independent exhibitors will greet Pettljohn on his return has not yet been decided. A more representative dplegation from down.statc is expected- One Way for^ond Dallas, June 17. Minus necessary cash tor sound equip, an exblb at Sanger, Tex., managed to open his Texan by canvassing toy^n with coupon books of ducats. Was first in Texas to try it, with results okay. Idea may be ripe for many more small burgs and fundless exhlbs. EXPLOITATION FOR JULY 4TH WEEK STARTS Loew's has indicated it wants to carry out the Fourth of July week celebration asked for by Vice- President Curtis along the ssune lines as planned by R-K-O. Latter, through Hiram S. Brown, to whom Vice-President Curtis di- rected the appeal for theatre's campaign, has notified all circuits of the importance of carrying , out ex- ploitation to build up importance of the 4th,, but has heard from no others but Loew, figuring most will, as suggested, back campaigns Indi- vidually. R-K-O Is planning, on using a special flag trailer on the Fourth, playing it an entire week In alt the circuit's houses. A bulletin to di- vision and house managers has gone out from R-K-O, suggesting "America Banner Week," "Flag Week" and Patriotic Week" as des- ignations for campaign, with pro- posals made for tie-ups with gov- ernors and mayors, local merchants, American. Legion, D. A. R., Elks, Rotary, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., plus newspapers. Within R-K-O the thoiight Is striking home that through co- operation with Vice-President Curr tis on his request, thiat circuit, as well as others, stand to build busi- ness July 4th week through the nation-wide campalgib R-K-O has asked managers for tear-sheets that can be compiled in a SQrap bopk at! the end' of the drive and sent to Vice-President Curtis. 4 "me' SHORT SERIAL FOR WARNER Four more or less formal "series" are scheduled for - production at Warners Flatbush studio which will, starting July 1, produce the entire, output of Vltaphone Varieties. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Norwbrth will be in six two-reelers' under the general title of "The-Naggers." 'Another series, but with different casts. In each, :,wlll. be groups of celebrities. It . Is Murray Roth's idea to, bring together several rep- resentative critics, playwrights, ath- letes, etc., writing a special story around them. One of these has been produced. Robert L. Ripley's "Believe It or Not" is another series, while the "Snooze Reel" burlesque will con- stitute a fourth. CIRCUIT FOR STOCK AND FILMS TRY-OUT Pittsburgh, June 17. Pictures and dramatic stock will be tried by J. Reeves Espy, general manager of Warners in this division. It will be given a month's try-out shortly at the Palace, Canton, O. Espy has engaged the George Sharp stock. It closed at the Pitt for the summer after a iSO-week en- gagement. Sharp will do coiidensed versions of popular stage plays, each requiring about 46 minutes. The first will be a miniature edition of "This. Thing Called Love." The. plays are to appear three times dally, missing only the sup- per show when a program of shorts will be used together with the reg- ular screen feature. Maureen O'SuIIivan, John Gar- rick, Frank Albertson, El Brendcl. Marjorle White, Mlscha Auer and Hobart Bosworth, "Just Imagine," Fox. WARNERBROS PICTURES, Inc THEIR 25TII ANNIVERSARY NEXT WEDNESDAY (June 25) To Tell the World * ■ .t _f About This Comiiany And Its 51 Subsidiaries "VAmETY'S" ■ V . iai WariiQf* Bros. Out Niext Week With "VARIETY'S^' Usual WepKlir News And Featuf^es Included