Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917)

Published Weekly by EXHIBITORS HERALD CO. at 203 South Dearborn Street. Chicago Tel.. Harrison 7355 (1 MARTIN J. QUIGLEY . Editor NEW YORK OFFICE ■ 1480 Broadway Tel.. Bryant 5 1 1 1 James Beecroft. Manager Subscription All editorial copy and correspondence, ar Price $1 d advertising ^^>« 00 Yearly Member Audit B copy should be addressed to the Chicago Office. ureau of Circulations Forms close at 6 p. m. on Monday of each week ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT CHICAGO. ILL.. UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3. 1879 Volume V DECEMBER 1, 1917 Number 23 Join the Association ! ! ! NEARLY three thousand motion picture exhibitors in the United States and Canada have announced allegiance to the American Exhibitors Association. There has never existed a greater necessity for a real organization of exhibitors banded together for their common welfare. And there has never existed an organization which promises to accomplish more for exhibitors than the American Exhibitors Association. As indicated by the large number of exhibitors who already have joined the American Exhibitors Association, this organization is grounded on policies which will inevitably promote the best interests of exhibitors. For the first time in the history of exhibitors' organization it is a case of all the cards on the table and right side up ! The exhibitors who have already rallied to the support of the American Exhibitors Association are to be congratulated. They have adopted the proper course of enrolling in an association which is constructed along lines that will inevitably enable the organization to wield a powerful hand in shaping the destinies of the American exhibitor. But three thousand exhibitors are not enough: The old league, simply because it was an exhibitors' organization and wholly without reference to anything that it ever had accomplished for the exhibitor, at one time attained a membership of over five thousand. The American Exhibitors Association is no longer an experiment ; the figures announced last week in New York by the directors are an eloquent testimonial to the reception which has been accorded this organization throughout the country. Since its inception in Chicago last July, the American Exhibitors Association has rolled up a membership that greatly exceeds the present status of the Ochs' league. This is conclusive proof of the demand on the part of the exhibitors for an organization such as the A. E. A. The exhibitors of the United States and Canada MUST have an organization, one conducted for the common welfare and not for the selfish purposes of a few. Without a compact organization there can be nothing accomplished along the line of a readjustment of the objectionable features of the admission tax. Unless opposed by a purposeful and virile organization, any distributing company in the United States can impose on the shoulders of exhibitors any burden it sees fit. Take the case of the Paramount combination : This company announced a new booking policy under the false guise of "open booking." The Paramount company, not content with the million dollars of exhibitors* 13