Variety (April 1919)

MOVING picture s f^^mM Government's Testimony Completed. W. H. Productions Attorney Asks For Dismissal of Complaint. Matter Referred To Commission. Defense May Be Entered Later. COMMISSION CLOSES CASE IN REISSUE INVESTIGATION The case of the Federal Trade Com- mission against Joseph Simmonds, do- ing business as the W. H. Productions, 'Inc., was closed as far as the com- mission's side was concerned at the last hearing, which was held in the Post-Office Building last week. v At that time Simmonds was not pres- ent, but his attorney, W. M. Seligs- berg, of Seligsberg, Lewis & Strouse, represented him, and stated that he was out of the city. The attorney asked at the same time that his client be given sufficient time to present a defense to the case in the event that the commission did not grant his motion to dismiss it on the grounds that the attorneys for the commission failed to uphold the complaint. Examiner John R. Dowlan, before whom the testimony was taken, stated the matter would be placed before 'he commission, and in the event the motion for a dismissal was denied the respondent would be informed suffi- ciently in advance by the commission of a resumption of the hearings, and that until such time the matter would stand adjourned. The initial hearing took place Feb. 26 in the United States Court No. 2. Gaylord R. Hawkins represented the commission and Mr. Seligsberg for Simmonds. There were also present William Grossman and Frederick Hem- ley, both of House, Grossman & Vor- haus, who were called by the commis- sion. During the hearings Mr. Seligs- berg sought frequently to impress the examiner that the hearing before the trade commission was brought about by House, Grossman & Vorhaus simply as a fishing expedition so that the testimony which was obtained might be used in a suit pending against the W. H. Productions, Inc., the Western Import Co. and the New York Motion Picture Co., brought by this firm of attorneys in behalf of the Otis Litho- graph Co. At that hearing, with Simomnds as the witness, it was brought out that he was doing business under the name of the W. H. Productions, Inc., and that he was obtaining the pictures which he was reissuing from the West- em Import Co., which in turn obtained them from the New York Motion Pic- ture Co. The latter company owned the negatives of the pictures and leased them to the Western Import Co. The officers in both corporations were similar persons in certain in- stances. Hyman Winick, one of the officers of the Western Import Co., is the brother-in-law of Simmonds, and the latter gave that as his reason for doing business under the W. H. title, stating ( that he had taken the initials of his ' brother-in-law and transposed them. The Western Import Co. was to re- ceive a stated sum for the use of each negative loaned for the purpose of having prints made, and it was also to receive SO per cent, of the profits of the W. H. Productions, Inc., busi- ness. In trying to obtain a line on exactly what Mr. Simmonds knew of the pic- ture business tire questioning in part by Mr. Hawkins brought out the following information, the question being whether or not Mr. Simomnds was aware that pictures were made in Los Angeles: "The only way I ever know that is by reading the trade papers. If they tell the truth—I don't know whether they tell the truth or not—maybe they are producing pic- tures in California." When questioned as to whether he understood what a star was he stated he did not understand the reason for calling any one in the theatrical or picture business by such a title. It might just as well be moon or any other planet as far as he was con- cerned. But immediately* after that he stated that he -thought William S. Hart ranked about seventh in his esti- mation in drawing value as an attrac- tion. When asked to name those that outranked Mr. Hart in this particular in the order of their popularity he was able to find only three names. They were Chaplin, Pickford and Fairbanks. There was next introduced by the commission's attorney a list of the pictures in which William S. Hart appeared that were turned over to the W. H. Productions, Inc., with their original and the new titles that were given them when they were reissued. The list is as follows: TWO REELER8 Old Titles "Tools of Providence" "Cash Parish's Pal" "Kono Bates, Liar" "A Knight of the Trail" "The Ruse" "Pinto Ben" "Bad Buck of Santa Ynes" "Taking of Luke McVane" "The Roughneck" "The Man from No- where" "Mr. Silent Hasklns" "The Grudge" "Passing of Two-Gun Hicks" "In the Sage Brush Country" "Conversion of Frosty Blake" "Grit" "The Scourge of the Desert" New Titles "Dakota Dan" "Doubled CrosBed" "The Last Card" "A Knight of the Trail" "A Square Deal" "Horns and Hoofs" "The Bad Man" "The Fugitive" "The Gentleman from Bine Gulch" "The Silent Stranger" "The JTarked Deck" "The Haters" "Taming the Four- fluBher" "Mr. Nobody" "The Convert" "Over the Great Divide" Mrs. Thomas H. Ince, William S. Hart and himself. It was at this point that Mr. Seligsberg, representing Simmonds, tried to show that the entire investiga- tion was brought about by House, Grossman & Vorhaus; but Mr. Haw- kins, representing the commission, stated that the Examiner was fully aware how the case was brought to the attention of the commission, which caused Simmonds' attorney's requests for a striking out of certain testimony to be overruled. On the occasion of the hearing which was held March 1 there was admitted as a matter of record an exhibit, which showed that the W. H. Productions, Inc., had sold the rights to the state of Wisconsin to the Wis- consin Film Corporation for "The Bargain," "On the Night Stage" and "The Darkening Trail," and with one print of each' subject, and that they had obtained $1,250 for each of the first two pictures and $1,000 for the last named. Additional prints were to be furnished at 5 cents a foot. Harry S. Shepard, who stated that he was employed by the W. H. Produc- tions as a sort of general assistant to Mr. Simmonds, was next examined, and admitted to having written certain publicity matter and advertising matter which had appeared in the trade papers, which had been previously entered as evidence in the testimony. It was at this hearing that Mr. Seligsberg moved for a dismissal of the case. The complaint in the action was to the effect that the W. H. Productions, Inc., was guilty of unfair competition and of violating the Interstate. Com- merce Law, inasmuch as they were perpetrating a fraud on the public by reissuing certain William S. Hart pic- tures under new titles and not inform- ing the public that they were old pic- tures renamed. . In the testimony given by Mr. Gross- "The Bargain "On the Night Stage" "The Darkening Trail" "A Reformed Outlaw" FIVE REELER8 'The Two-Gun Man In the Bargain" "The Bandit and the Preacher" "The Hell Hound of Alaska" TWO REELERS RE-IB8UED IN SOME TER- RITORIES AS .TWO, IN OTHERS AS FIVE. "Conversion of Frosty "The> Convert" Blake" (2 reels) •'Staking His Life" (5 reels) After the introduction of the list Mr. Hawkins brought out an admission on the part of Simmonds that three addi- tional reels had been made at the Tri- angle studios at Culver City, which were used as a leader to the two-reel production, "The Conversion of Frosty Blake," and after the picture had been reassembled it was issued as a five- reeler under the title of "Staking His Life." Simmonds stated "that the scenario had been prepared by the .Triangle people. This practically concluded the big points of the initial hearing. The next day Simmonds was cross-examined by his own attorney, after which William Grossman took trie stand and gave the information that he .was a member of the corporation known as the William Hart Productions, Inc., and that the whole was owned by Thomas H. Ince, man the fact was brought out that Hart had been in receipt of a large number of complaints from his follow- ing all over the country, calling to his attention the fact that they had been hoaxed into believing that new pic- tures with him as the star were being presented when the old reissues were shown under their new titles. While it is not a matter of the official record of the investigation, the postponement of a defense on the part of the attorneys of Mr. Simmonds is said to be due to the fact that they pleaded that their client had been called abroad because of the illness of his mother and that as she was not expected to live they asked that the final hearings be postponed until sdeh time as he could return. &H SELECTS "HELL ON EARTH." i Select has signed Arthur Guy Empey for a big special feature, to be called "Hell on Earth," which it is stated will be a picture of great timeliness, and present present-day conditions—in no sense a war film. Work will be started immediately and Wilfred North, who directed Em- pey in "Over the Top," will have charge of the production. $800 Weekly for June Elvidge. The Smith-Foley Motion Picture Co. of Toronto, through its attorneys, House, Grossman & Vorhaus, have signed June Elvidge, the World star, for one year at $800 per. Miss Elvidge will make a series of features for the Smith-Foley people. ■;H& JACK CUNNINGHAM Staff Writer Robert Brunton Studios, Lob Angeles Recent Releases for Burr 1«rule, Keenan, Glaum and Kerrigan .•..Mica.-'! P. S. Harrison, In Mo- tion Picture News, March 1st Issue, says of the last WIKIom Russell release: "With <Where the West Begins,' Russell adds another good pioture to the long list of his suc- cesses. The plot is full of aotion and it has been handled well. It holds the interest un- diminished from start to finish." WILLIAM RUSSELL .♦ IN • BRASS i BUTTONS ■ ■ ■' - t By STEPHEN FOX Dlraotea by HENRY KINQ jS*' LADIES will gasp at the way Russell woos and wins the society girl he thought a ladies' maid. MEN will thoroughly en- joy the Hcencs in which Russell, as a New York cop/ bluffs the gunmen of Saw- tooth, Arizona, who had boasted that no sheriff could tame them. EXHIBITORS will proclaim this picture one of the pep- piest they ever screened and make arrangements to repeat It. WILLIAM RUSSELL PRODUCTIONS Distributed by PATHE William RuimII SuocoMM Now Available: "Hobb* in a Hurry" "All the World to Nothing-" "When a Man Rides Alone" "Where the West Hegins" ...-'- ■■ :■■* V*M1