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Show tar UJust Movie Lure k March Comeback Bing's Song By Virginia Vale PERHAPS you, the public, hadn't realized it, but you have been staying away from the movies in such stupendous stupen-dous numbers that the motion picture industry is about to spend $1,000,000 to lure you back into the theaters again. Producers, distributors and theater thea-ter men will put up the money. And you will get $250,000 ot it, my friends. There will be a contest. At present, although the rules have not yet been decided on, it seems likely that this contest will be in the form of a questionnaire based on pictures released between now and October 31. Booklets containing rules will be issued only at theater box-offices. Each contestant will have to answer SO questions about 30 different pictures pic-tures in order to qualify. Half of that $1,000,000 will be spent on advertising in newspapers and magazines. Fredric March is going to try, try again and if he fails this time, no doubt he'll keep on trying to make a come-back on the stage. Last year he and his wife, Florence Eldridge, backed a play that was produced in New York, you'll recall, FREDRIC MARCH and it failed not because of their performances, but just because it wasn't an awfully good play. If they can find a play that they like, they'll do it again, come autumn. In the meantime, he's storing stor-ing up more of what it takes to produce plays by working in Hal Roach's "There Goes My Heart." It looks as if Myron Selznick had started something that may result in our having better pictures. He has formed a partnership with various va-rious prominent actors, writer? and directors as the best theatrical agent in Hollywood he knew all of them to make pictures, with a share of the pictures' profits taking the place of salary. Ernst Lubitsch Productions, Inc., is the first of these producing units. Under this arrangement, a picture will have to be good or else! The Stroud twins traveled a long and winding road, so far as their career was concerned, before they reached those Sunday evening! broadcasts where they share honors with Charlie McCarthy. They began be-gan as acrobats with a circus; ran away from home to do it Then they went into vaudeville, and switched to dancing. They toured this country, then Australia, New Zealand and the South Seas before returning to Broadway, and switched their act again, this time to the sort of thing you hear them doing on the air. Here's something new under the sun. Practically all of the big publishers pub-lishers of popular lll3IL music want a ' certain song, and J can't have it. The j song is "Hail KMH," the theme-song introduction intro-duction to those dialogues between be-tween Bing Crosby Cros-by and Ken Carpenter. Car-penter. It was written especially especial-ly for the broadcasts, broad-casts, and that's that even if it has become such a Bing Crosby hit that the song publishers are itching to get it into general circulation. circu-lation. ODDS AND ENDS Their friends are ttiU hoping that Joan Crawford and Franchol Ton may patch up their marriage; at present, though not likely, it teems possible .-. . At least, Joan toys she doesn't plan a divorce, ever Ben Bernie and Kay Kyter have been invited la lecture before the New York University Radio Workshop . . . Wall Disney has bought SS acres of land near Hollywood and trill build e tl 000,000 studio there thanks to , Mickey Mouse, Snow White and ethers j . . Al Jolson and Edward G. Robin- j ion will be back on the air September j 20 meanwhile Al is indulging hit po lion for teeing fast horset run fast . . . Eddie Cantor's next picture will e "Afr. Average Man." C Western Newspaper union. |