Variety (Jun 1930)

126 VARIETY EDIT O RI A L Wednesday* June 25» 1930 Trade Mark' Beglptered robllNhrd Weekly by VAftlETX. Ine. SIme Silverman. PreaWent IS4 Woet 46tb Street New York City 8CBBCRIPTION: Annuel »10 Foreign....... Ill Slnnle Coplea " C«.«>t» VOL. XCIX. No. 11 15 YEARS ACO (From TaHety and, Clipper.) Theatre trade was beginning to tire of serial pictures. In one case the Lioew circuit, Impatient at the quality of a chapter story, was con- siderlQg cancellation right in the middle of Its story action. Charles Dillingham took a lease on the New York Hippodrome and pi^mlsed even bigger productions for the following season. The Shu- berts had just relinquished the house. Inside Stuff-Pictures General Film Co., which now con- trolled distribution of Chaplin plc- tnres, Immediately Jacked up prices. Old rate of |16 a day for the first week was raised, to $25 a day for the first two weeks. The Greater N. T. Film Exch. (Fox), which wAs fighting the'"trust" tooth and nail, aerved notice on.Basanay ("trust" ally) that Fox would'insist on hav- ing Chaplin prints to which It was entitled under an old contract. . Aiinouncement was made that Percy Hammond would leave the Chicago "Tribune" to become dra- matic editor of the New York "Tribune," the two "Tribs" being in no way related. : . Pedro de <;ordoba was signed lor pictures by Jesse LAsky. ^ Com'er store In the reibodelled S Victoria (Rialto), New York, was 1'" leased at $32,000- a year. Original lease was -to a drug store chain (United Cigar Store here now). London legitimate managers were in desperate straitd and If the war continued, miich longer. .It was pre- dicted there would be bankruptcies. It Was also evident that the death ot Charle^i Frolunah would change the liondon theatre map. ^ American legitimate managers saw a new menace, l^ey warned their stars that they must not ae cept picture contracts, hibldlng ihat screen appearances injured the prestige of stage luminaries, partic- ularly for the road. (Continued from page 116) of $75,000 was topped in a qiilet campaign from which newspaper pub- licity and professional commission workers were eliminated. Result was that all collections are net for the fund. The actual cost of con- ducting the campaign (exclusive of time contributed by- Individuals^ was .under $1,000, paid by the Association of M, P. Producers. It went mostly for telegrams, with an item of alpout $76 for stamps. No publicity went out on the drive, and a news story in Variety was the only published report that it was in progress. Fred W. Beetson's preliminary step,-in conducting the campaign on a theory of his own, was to send personal letters to 260 of the most prosperous individuals In the picture industry. These were followed by letters to 760 prominent and regularly employed film people. On the opening day 40% of the quota was subscribed. Jealously guarded by leading film publicists, some of them would have it, is the key to the Code and Advertising Honor System which, the Ha'ys Organization released Monday to city editors of the'lahd. ' This Is not another code, essentially, but more an "explanation ,aheet" as to how the rules as publicized shall actually be applied to advertising. In other words, Just the lowdown. ' Prostles on the screen must be prostles on the bill boards. But all of those "caught-ln-the-act" and "plnclilng and feeling'' poses must be substituted. Still the poses must not infer -virginity since that would misrepresent the picture and thus violate the. basic principle of the printed code which is "truth, - honesty and' integrity." This unveils Clause II, which specifies to the reading public that "Nudity with meretricious purpose, and salacious postures, shall not be used. In- cidentally a producer's dictionary defines "meretricious" as "pertaining to or befittinif a harlot." ■ The lowdown on Clause No. 4 Is admitted one of the severest, for some publicity directors. Pictures that get panned by the daily reviewers must stay panned. The old trick of working In astrlcks for re-prlnts and theatre fronts, making the show size up with the sobbers. as the most 100 per cent Broadway thing th^y liave ever seen, is definitely out or—^Hays will spank, . ~ . Mack Sennett would be put out of the business, according to Clause-^S (the printed version). But It isn't that way at all on'^he Inside. So long as cops are ridiculed in a comedy, okay. Slap all the pies in the studio bakery at 'em on the bill boards, the boys are-^informed. If«It's about a cop in a meller, that's different. Cops then must.-all be Whalens. They can't do or go wrong—at least In the advertising.. . "But," lisped the sweet little thing at this point in the explanation, "Supposln' It's In the picture. Then it would be a He It the bill boards made a bad cop on the screen, a hero." Bat" Interrupted the steni story teller, "there will be no more pic- tures of that kind ndade In Hollywood." Clause 7 was a tough one even to explain to the press agents. It was admitted. It reads simply: "Profanity and vulgarity shall be avoided." It couldn't be any longer or istronger, it was related, because then some of the more learned public might have gotten the impression that' the screen once had gone in for a little of both. . Clause 10, dealing with - Prohibition, is another tough one. It reads well as written for the dallies but the fact Is that if there Is drinking on the screen there must be glass lifting on the bil^ boards, posters and in the newspaper'mats. Advertising the guzzling angle, however, should be handled In a different way. A drilnk. It is' conceded in the lowdown, should be made as near dignified in the twsters as a drunk'of the better order, could be. Clause 9 is designed to keep posters from luring student crooks Into dark theatres for a wlse-up on new gagging methods, safe cracking, etc. Respecting the fiag-wavtng feelings of all countries is ^e essence of Clause 6'. Producers have lost plenty in forelern trade through some over-patriotic artist in the past. This must not be repeated. The more fiags a pictiire waves the better It will meet, with tlils covenant. Tiie rest of the clauses, and there are 12 lii all, can be Interpreted from the newspaper version. > 50 YEARS- AGO (From dipper) New York showdom was much excited over publication of the vast plans of P. T. Barnum for a new Bamum's Museum on the site of the old Madison Square Garden. The enterprise was backed by Wil- liam K. Vanderbilt and Involved $3,000,000, an enormous sum. It was proposed to place under one roof a museum, opera house, coliseum public assembly hall, aquarium circus menageries and skating rink Promoters were going to the pub lie for capital and used data sup plied by Barnum, who related that his old American Museum (this about opposite St. Paul's church near the present N. Y. post office) had frequently made as much as $300,000 In a year. He added that the tour of Jenny LInd under his management had taken In $700, 000 In nine months with 10 con certs a month. This data was to Indicate the profit possibilities of the bigger new enterprise and en courage Investment. leases, while in Chlcagd, Detroit,. St LotUs, Coast, etc., Paramount's first runs go Into its own." houses; . ;' \ That Fox had sold. Paramount 48 pictures .was sent over the news ticker in New York's financial district but it had no bearing^pon Fox's quotations. First time -ft strictly trade picture n^atter has been given out as a financial item of motheht. Metro has temporarily shelved "The March of Time," while putting it through a process of re-editlng. This Is the picture for which a number of old time stage stars were brought to the Coa^t from New York, with the studio intending to put It out on this year's schedule. From the way It looks now it may not be shown until next year. The wane of revue type pictures is another reason -why Metro is holding back on this one. Although it's a critic's rave, Pararfkoiint doesn't foresee better than * mediocre business domestically for "Silent Enemy," the picture saga of the North American Indians. Fact of picture being silent, with excep. ' tion of sound effects, and American opposition to anything which might be called educational, are the reasons. However, execs look for the heavy puU .from Europe; Anything about the Indian Is still good b. o. there, and Par's foreign managers who have seen the picture say It is in for coin abroad.,. Small town circuit theatre manager complained that If he ever ran his houses-as they do on-Broadway, the natives . would run him out of town. Says the Broadway houses have no idea of how to handle their theatres; too much front office direction; too much formula and blue- print stuff, and that a house manager Is nothing but a head usher as a result. In a small town the district manager' lets the local manager strut his stuff, with the result the house falls or rises by the local manager's showmanship, so the small towner said. Inside Stuff-Legit Last week's managerial conferences over the divisibility clause in the copyright bill Is but one phase of a long discussion that' has been going on for Biz years. It concerns the same Vestal bill that has been con^' tlnuously In-committee and which is the purpose of t,h6 managers und authors to get on the fiop^ of the House before the session adjouriis; RnL^^ith the idea to .have iHe^ Senate'pass It In the fall. -The managers are somewhat steamed up bvet^ the chance of not being; adjoiitted In the International ^Copyright Vnlon at Berne, Only countries outside the union are tlie TJ. China, Russia and Siara, The Betne ccmference jippears to have been irritated over America's dalliance and passed a resolution that it it did not Join before the end of the year, the U. S. will be excluded. The Vestal bill provides for Joining the other countries and explains why showmen want the measure to be- come A law. Membership in the Berne conference means that plays and books copyrighted here would automatically be copyrighted in other coun- tries. Otherwise all works must be individually filed for copyright- In each foreign country. Another copyright group is kn. ^n as the Rome conference. Managers want no part of that body, since there is a provision stipulating that an author has the right to sue for damages if his .work is changed, even though he grants permission to make changes. Clara Bow's continuous attempts to wash herself up In pictures through such publicity as she has received In the Barry Richman affair and the Texas smeller, If not wholly successful for the lucky girl from Brooklyn, will at'least cost her a hunk of dough from Paramqunt. The Clara Is said to have been named the beneficiary of a bonus of $600,000 at the expiration of the five-year contract Paramount gave her, if she didn't run wild and into such publicity as of late. However, the "It" gal Is reported to have gotten $30f000 on account out of Paramount to square the Texas alienation suit started against her by. the wife of. the Dallas doctor. But when the affair leaped on the front page and Clara helped to give It Impetus, In person In Dallas, Clara counted herself out by the contract's "moralty clause" of the half million, with Paramount saving that amount, minus 'the 30 G's nick. Clara hasn't been keeping track of the grosses later. They have dropped faster than Wall Street, and the Bow's losses at the box of&te apparently bumped those for Richman's U. A. picture also.* Many agreed who saw the "Rltz" talker it was all right, but not enough saw it, which may be undesirable publicity's kick back double. *rhe old Garden had been the etsene of many great athletic events, society functions, and had housed the revival of Moody and Sankey Sarah Bernhardt was about to make' an American tour and the Clipper publishes a report of the teirms under which she would ap pear. She had demanded that the American Impresario deposit $10,000 In .Paris as a preliminary. Upon completion of the deal he was to post an additional $40,000, the $60,- 000 -being to Insure the salaries of the company. It' was estimated that this and other .incidentals •^ould total about $70,000 for the tour. Cutting scales in theatres here and there Isn't as simple as It may sound. Some houses have nearly chopi>ed their prices In half. It's not too common so far. Judgment may be withheld for the box ofllce state- ments. They, as ever, will tell the story. Some things that happen when a scale Is slashed are that the balcony empties while ;the orchestra fills up, those who have gone to the balcony at because of the lower price above instead with the cut go downstairs, or the cut may draw from other houses that class of trade that did not go to the theatre with the higher prices, and If the balcony doesn't hold many people, the Increased orchestra at the cut scale can hardly fill up the gross void left by the upstairs empties. While the cut scale may draw a larger attendance, the gross at the week's end may not grow, if even It does not reachf the previous average under the former scale. Admission to the picture houses did not go up by leaps. The advances were gingerly put on and often with some trepidation. Decreases might be tried in the same way to at least hoAi the built up steady patronage, as a new crowd pushing Into a house drawn by a slashed admission may push the regulars out In time. Of course it's understood the capacity must be capable of standing a cut scale. In the olden days a pop price vaude house tried the cut but forgot at the same time to cut the overhead. For several weeks the house. In a New England city, appeared always In the red. Think ing the opposition had stolen the business, one of the circuit's execs dropped in to investigate. The house was playing to capacity, but at the cut scale its capacity couldn'i meet the overhead. The house man- ager had neglected to mention that in his reports. Paramount-Fox product deal was one-sided, Paramount agreeing to use 48 Fox talkers next season. Last season Par did not use any of the Fox product owing to a disagreement arising in the preliminary negotiations through William Fox.* ' Fox has been a steady user of Paramount features where available to Fox. A Paramount contract with Fox would not have meant a great deal in territory! sinc^ Paramount product Is pretty well sewed up agaln&t Fox in opposition spots and also In Greater New York. 'In New York, Loew and R-K-O have'first and second call for Paramount re- Desplte C. R. Reno's "Ten Nights In a Barroom" company had stranded at. Catskill, N. Y., the troupe is and will continue to glv6 performances of the temperance play during the summer in the resort section.. Reno dectares that while the show failed to draw at Catskill and did not do much business In other Hudson Valley towns. It attracted paying audiences In Schoharie County. Billy Grady, the legit agent, had to buy "Penny Arcade," the stage show, and sell It to Warner Bros., to make them buy James Cagney and Joan Blondell of the cast also. Both are now set with Warners and on the Coast Cagney and Miss Blondell were In the show. Grady bought all iti9 rights and resold the film rights to Warners only on con- dition his proteges go with it Miss Blondell is Ed Blondell's daughter. Amused eavesdroppers at Tony's the night "Garrlck Qaltles" opened listened to an after-theatre round table In which Howard l>ietz and a bunch of- those connected with "The Little Show" put the Guild revue on the pan as an Imitation of their own show. DIetz, et al, seemed to forget that the original "Garrlck Oaltles" pre* dated "The Little Show'; by several seasons. Inside Stuff-Vaude Report of any animosity between President William F. Canavan and the retiring secretcury-treasurer, Richard J. (3reen Is not only denied by Green who says he resigned, but was given special comment by Canavan In a talk before the I. A. convention in Los Angeles. In his convention speech he declared that he was sorry too, that his old friend* Dick Green, was not to be with him again. He stated that some dele- gates had formed the opinion that there was bad feeling between him and Green. This he denied, saying that he and Green were the best of friends and always would be. Green Is shaping his books up so that he can step out of the New York I. A. quarteris June 30. He left Friday with Canavan for Chi to at- tend the testimonial dinner there for Tom Maloy of Chi local No. 110. He expects to come right back for a farewell getaway fropi Broadway before the Fourth. Then he's going back to ChL That the R-K-O office was contemplating a change in its radio hour direction was speculative some time ago but Rosalie Stewart remained as its conductor. James H. Turner, assistant to Hiram Brown In R-K-O, gave the matter his personal attention. A number of things came up that made it Imperative that a change be made. One of the things that also had Its disadvantages was the absence of the complete program form In the evening papers carrying them. N.B.C. office said that R-K-O to get the benefit of that printed program must have it ready a week In advance. The R-K-O hour.on the air on Thursdays was recently cut to a half for the summer and the short time permitted only several old R-K-O air standbys and Milton Schwarzwald's orchestra in selections. In toto the R-K-O broadcast had just about simmered to a poor repre- sentation of the huge circuit. Miss Stewart was receiving $18,000 yearly for the radio labor. Edgar Allen says he has Max Schmellng alone and officially for vaude, that nobody else was authorized to offer him and that Allen did nothing ■until Arthur Buhler, the German's agent's claim between the heavy- weight champ and Joe Jacobs was settled. Buhler holds a contract for Schmellng for everything expiring Oct. 80, 19,30. That contract was bought off Friday (20) and settled by Schmellng-Jacobs leavlng/^a lump sum with the Boxing- Commissioner to insure Buhler's claims. . Allen hopes to place the champ In vaud«.