Judge — September 1938 — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Department of Justice will be starting hearings on the movies just about now. Large numbers of expensive lawyers will be arguing whether or not the double feature is a pain in the neck. Thurman P. Arnold will be putting searching questions to people like Mr. Louis B. Mayer, who will shrug their shoulders and say they don’t know what on earth he is talking about. Well, we had always thought the movies were all right, but we have just seen all of last month's movies in the space of a week, and we admit we are shaken. If the Department of Justice can do anything about it, then more power to the Assistant Attorney General and to all his friends. But the Department of Justice will have a harder time with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer and the Warner Brothers than it had with oil. Yesterday we stopped on our way out of a movie house to tell the exhibitor that we hoped South Riding, which is the sort of movie we like, would run for a couple of weeks. “So you liked it, did you?” said the exhibitor blackly. F “Yes, indeed,” we said. “Chacun a son gon?” he said. “Did you say chacun a son goit?” we said. “Why not?” he said. ~ “What did you like about it?” We explained in some |. detail. (South Riding is an English movie about a housing development in Yorkshire, which may not sound very exciting, but you would have been pleased, too, if you had seen all the rotten movies we had in the past week.) “And what did you think about it?” we said. “T haven't seen it,” he said. “I never go to the movies.” “Then what are you ——_—_————————- doing in this business?” An address of prestige where the discrim- inating traveler may relax in an atmosphere of refinement. « Under .the same management as The Drake and The Blackstone in Chicago. A. S. Kirkeby, Managing Director The Town flouse ON WILSHIRE JN LOS ANGELES “I don't know,” he said. “I just drifted into it.” “But how do you know what movies are going to make money?” “T am an artist,” he said. “I do not | keep books.”” “What do you think about the double feature?” we said. This was beginning to turn into an interview. "Chacun a son goit,” he said. “Well, wait till Thurman Arnold gets ahold of you,” we said. “I am against government interfer: ence with business,” he said. “Now look here——” we said. “I pay my men well. Iam an Ameri- can citizen. I want no truck with out- side agitators.” “Who's an outside agitator?” we said, “Thurman Arnold! Who asked him to go round sticking his nose into other people’s business? What's he got against block-booking? I like block-booking.” “What is block-booking?” we said. “Lord knows,” he said. “But if it's good enough for Will Hays, it's good enough for me. And it’s good enough for Will Hays, all right.” “Wait till Thurman Arnold gets ahold of Will Hays,” we said. “The fur will fly,” he said gravely. “I wish I could be there to see it.” “Well, I hope South Riding runs for “It’s the double feature—the cameraman has a date! a couple of weeks,” we said lamely. “So you liked it, did you?" he said. But before he could start that again we went on out. He raised his voice. “Thurman Arnold thinks he knows it all, doesn’t he?” he said. “Will Hays will tear him to pieces. And let him show his face in West 49th Street a Well, it would be nice if Thurman Armold could do something about the double feature, but maybe at that he would be better off if he stuck te alum- inum. They're the Tops Kay Francis, because she was game enough to finish out her Warner con- tract in a chain of class B pictures. Ed Sullivan in Detroit Free Press Paul Muni, because he is more inter- ested in maintaining the level of his per- formances than in getting big dough for bad pictures. Ed Sullivan, same column, same paper, same day. They're the tops, though they sell their souls, They're the tops, if they spurn cheap toles. ... (To be sung—with a slight quaver). comicbooks.com