Evening star., 1927-04-03

- deal in the photoplay theater
scheme of things took place
i last week. when William Fox
purchased the controlling interest IN
the new Roxy Thcater in New York.
Fox, who started his motion picture
career in Brooklyn p years ago by
the purchase OF tiny theater for
$1,000, has long been anxious for a
New York theater, and his latest step
gives him the largest house in the
metropolis. The deal, which is said
10 involve $l5000000. places Fox in
control OF the Roxy Circuit, Inc,
which is to build up circuit houses
in the principal cities OF the world
Under the terms of the sale 5. l..
Rothafel (Roxy) is to be the manag-
ing director of all of the theaters.
and this will place him in control
Of the new Fox theater i'll Wash
ington. which will be located in the
new National Press Club Building
at Fourteenth and T streets north
west.
The Roxy firm has under construc-
ton, in New York, two new the
aters, the Roxy Mansion, 1000
SNdl IlOuSNs Oit ISNIi'S hOfi "a NN'NtN'
and the Midtown Theater. with 1000
seats, at Seventy-ffth street and
Broadway. The recently opened
Roxy Theater has 600 seats and is
the largest theater of its kind. The
construction work was done accord
ing to the plans of Herbert Lubin
and his associates, and they made
the deal with Fox. The $l5,000Oo0
reported to have been paid by Fox
does not give him complete owner
ship of the Roxy chain, but only the
controlling interest.
William Fox has long regarded
Roxy as genius in the theatrical
line, and when he was assured Of
the services OF the manager. he
made his first step toward acquiring
the new chain of picture houses. Ac
cording to his own statement, "he
was waiting to see who would have
the courage TO build such a theater
as the Roxy, with the greatest seat
ing capacity"
X * x
WILL II. HAYS. big boss OF the
w photoplay. suggests another
amendment to the Constitution. He
wants the famous document to guar
antee freedom of the screen, as it
speaks for freedom of the press.
TO release the product of ones
brain says Boss Hays in The Re-
view of Reviews, only after it has
been strained through the sieve of
4 censor and has received his inn
primatur is a encouragement and
an affront to conscientious men,
x x y *
THERE is a trend toward shorter
L pictures, and it is brought to
the front at this time by Richard A.
Rowland OF First National He
states that the greater number Of
new photoplays will be limited to
5000 feet, but as a matter of fact.
the bulk of them are already limited
TO that footage. There are many
pictures that should be cut to 5000
and 1000 feet, operations which may
be performed as first aid to the
photoplays themselves. The aver
age movie fan would rather see
good, fast-moving 4.000-foot picture
than the same story told in a ramb
ling manner The length OF the film
deserves just the footage required
no more and no less. The exhibitor
does not especially care for the long
pictures; his program is better one
when it is made up of several sub
ject& He will not complain when
shorter pictures appear. And lit
tie attention might be paid the cash
customer.
-
DIFFICULTIES with Spain, which
~ were one of the closing acts of
the last century. are brought to the
screen in The Rough Riders" a pic
ture which opened recently in New
York. The production is expected
to take its place among the long
runners" in the neighborhood of
Broadway. Noah Beery is one of
the stars of the picture and, with
George Bancroft, character actor,
he walks off with top honors.
One of the odd features OF The
Rough Riders" is that the part of
Col. Theodore Roosevelt is played
by Frank Hopper, a book agent of
Los Angeles-and. strange to say,
Hopper is unlike most book agents,
being of modest. retiring DISPOSE
ton. These qualities do not seem
to fit in with the character of Col
Roosevelt, either, but Hopper re-
sembled the former President to
such an extent that he was hired for
the job. The producers simply
could not pass him up, although
they took big job on their hands
when thew started TO build IN the