The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-21
FLASHES
CLOSE-UPS
By LENS

From private letter written by
a Hollywood technical worker:
by now you probably know the
disastrous results of our strike {.
However we tried So far cut of
1900 strikers approximately 500 have
been re-employed, F's boss at the
Fox laboratory is being particularly
ugly and SO far has positively refused
to hire any of the key men back
x knew him in the twelve doIlar-a-
week days (which we'll soon all have
AGAIN.. OF course this superintend-
ent wants to make us all sweat, and
he figures he'll punish us for daring
to be naughty and go out on strike.
Our union is badly disorganized
right now, and so when the motion
picture code comes up it looks as
though it will go through without OPP
position. The producers code for
the laboratory is sixteen dollar
minimum and a thirty dollar maxi
mum. Looks as though by these codes
the producers have found a new way
to make profits. :, The cameramen's
code also cuts the wages in half for
the first camera and assistant and
cuts the second camera by two thirds.
It's remarkable what employers are
getting away with under the NRA
and so-called collective bargaining"
Lincoln KRISTEN, editor of Hound
ands Horn magazine and son of one
of the members Of the National Re-
coyery Administrator, was forcibly
elected from the auditorium of the
New School for7nSocial Research
when he took the floor to expose
Thunder Over Mexico" which was
being previewed by an invited audi
ence Bravo. KRISTEN, Jr.
Jules Destree, a seventy-year-old
Belgian, is writing a scenario for q
film on the League Of Nations
1.-THE film. will not be dull states
Destree Not if you're planning
on slapstick comedy, it won't, Jules
. . There is scattered talk about
Hollywood flirting with the idea OF
producing "olfactory films" or smell
lies" . The conrsae who comrnu-
nicates this information says he
Smells a rat" One third of all
features produced in America is
turned out by independent produc-
erS 49, =
There are now >27570 movie the
aires in the Soviet Union 1t
now leads the world in this respect
+. (. 943 features and 986 cultural
films turned out fnc19S2 Leading
the world, here too. =. Sol Lesser,
the infamous, is now turning his at
tention to the production of a film
on Cuba You can find this Shiny
octupus everywhere -. The Chinese
Government has produced a 6o--eel
film -. I guess they just forget tc
edit the thing >.
"B.G.B.": There is not the least
basis in fact for your assertion that
the National Board of Review is
regarded with more or less esteem
by Communists who are interested
in the film" The National Board OF
Review, under the mask of impair
TALLY endorses and recommends
ultra-reactionary films, and it's oc-
casional praise for a Soviet produc-
ton does not fool us in the least
The indiscriminate' labelling of such
an organization as "a one-hundred
per cent fascist organization" is of
course wrong. That the National
Board Of Review Is helping grease
the skids for the eventual fasciza-
ton of Hollywood is a different
matter, of course. Our task is to ex-
pose the role of an organization like
the National Board of Review in its
pretenses as a public benefactor"
and upholder of good taste, whole
someness and art in the film"
Blanket labels alone will not help.
Sending you private letter in re
your queries about the reviewing ap-
paratus Of, that organization.
-
Report that Eisenstein is working
on a film depicting the history of
Russia for the past. 800 years /.
Sol Lesser will NOT edit this one,
I think Movies may be shown
to air passengers A forthcoming
film on nudism reveals the fact that
Ben Franklin advocated the fad :.
I think this kind of propaganda is
meant to convince the unemployed
that standing in breadlines this
winter with but a minimum Of
clothes on their freezing frames is
patriotic act 49,
'The night of ARABIC talk by the
President cuts the industry's receipts
by about million smackers. And
the movies can't do their part in
recovery If they get many hicks like
this" That's the complaint of
leading film trade paper Not
so dumb, our movie-goers /. If they
must get their quota Of hot-air, (and
who can dodge it?) they prefer the
gratis portion
"And If you miss -"The Holiday
of st. Jorgen" at 220 East 14th st.
tonite, I'll never speak to you
again! THE anti-religious