Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917)

X H B R H R D By Fuller Pep Are those grape juice three-cent stamps part of William Jennings Bryan's propaganda for his 1920 presidential campaign? The Price of Three Beers Looks like a split between the exhibs, and the distribs, over that fifteen cents a reel war tax. The darned thing's spreadin'. Betting on the electric signs that go out about eleven o'clock is providing a new diversion for New Yorkers who frequent Reel Row. The game is to pick one that flickers out last. Why He Canceled "Don't send me that 'Barbary Sheep' picture. My patrons don't like animal pictures," writes a Chicago exhibitor to his exchange. "To succeed in acting you must never try to act," declares Sessue Hatyakawa, according to John C. Flinn. Well, some of them are succeeding very well. Is Jack Gardner after Helen Holmes' record? In "The Gift o' Gab" he rides on top of an auto, leaps to a moving street car, jumps to another going in the opposite direction, drops from a viaduct to the top of a freight car, and there beats up a policeman. Metro's December Films "The Square Deceiver," "Alias Mrs. Jessop," is on "The Avenging Trail" of "God's Outlaw," according to this month's Metro schedule. Well, we hope she gets him. It Must Be the Air Out on the West coast there's a wild poet who bursts into song every now and then. Here's his latest. Get that "Ma" rhyming with "car" stuff: Peiruma Maiover as a vampire bid to make A name supreme. But now, alas! they vote her a fake. The news got out she lived at home and quite adored her Ma, And worse, she never smoked at all and never drove a car. It takes more than camouflaging an actor's name to fool the knowing ones. They can spot a bum screen artist a block away, whether his name is Snicklefritz or just plain Jones. A change in his moniker doesn't get him by. "Real heroes act as their own press agents." — Chicago News. If reel heroes acted as badly as press agents as they do on the screen, heaven help the editors. What Do You Make of It? One purveyor of publicity says that his company used 145,000 feet of film in making its last production. Is the P. A. overzealous, or doesn't that half a cent a foot war tax bother them? It doesn't take much to make a story these days. One P. A. writes two pages about a lump of sugar that held up a wonderful photoplay in the making. And yet they say there's a shortage of white paper. No wonder. We only received one highbrow joke this week. This one's about a precocious Kansas kid who couldn't see the policy of using twin beds in a play when everyone is practicing conservation. Ever Notice It? What a striking resemblance there is between Viola Dana and the picture labeled "Mabel Taliaferro" in December 1 M. P. News. Speaking of the plaintive call of the female bowling ball answering its mate, has anyone ever noticed a wild exhib. being led up to sign a "thirty-day deposit in advance" contract? There's real acting for you. Mutuals's Schedule for Dec. 3 Includes "American Maid" A Cub and a Strand Comedy Mutual's schedule for the week of December 3 is led by Miss Edna Goodrich, in "American Maid," which is the fourth of the series of productions in which Miss Goodrich appears for Mutual. It was directed by Albert Capellani, at Mutual's Long Island studios. "American Maid" is the story of a typical American girl, doing "her bit" behind the trenches in France, who falls in love with an American doing "his bit" in the trenches. He is wounded and retired from active service, returns home, discovers the social gulf which separates them, and goes back to the West. Miss Goodrich represents in the picture the ideal of Amer AN AMUSING SCENE FROM "JUST KIDDING," THE MUTUALSTRAND COMEDY STARRING BILLIE RHODES. ican womanhood. Appearing with her are George T. Henery and William B. Davidson. Billie Rhodes plays the role of a little girl in "Just Kidding," the one-reel Strand Mutual comedy scheduled for December 4. She wears a Buster Brown suit, plays with a Teddy bear, and gets her face smeared with blueberry pie. The plot affords many laughable situations and ends in a romance. "Jerry Takes Gas" is the subject of the Cub comedy, published by Mutual, December 5, which shows George Ovey, with suicidal inclinations, and results with a mistaken dose of gasoline. From the first line trenches comes material for Mutual Weekly No. 153, published December 3. It is replete with scenes from the front. Taylor Holmes and Mary McAlister Head December List of Essanay Plays Essanay now has ready for exhibitors its entire December p/ogram and work is well under way on the first pictures of the new year. In the December list are two comedy dramas, "The Small Town Guy," featuring Taylor Holmes, and "Sadie Goes to Heaven," Little Mary McAlister's latest picture, and "The Dream Doll," a novelty picture with "living" dolls. "The Small Town Guy," Mr. Holmes' fourth picture, shows the comedian in a new role, that of a rube, and offers new opportunities for his versatile art. The play is from the novelette, "A Picture of Innocence," from Munsey's magazine, and has a screen time of sixty-five minutes. It is a Perfection picture and will be published December 3 through the George Kleine System. "Sadie Goes to Heaven" also offers new opportunities for six-year-old Mary McAlister. She plays the part of a child of the tenements and is then seen in the home of a rich matron. "Sadie Goes to Heaven" is from the pen of Dana Burnet and was published in Good Housekeeping. It has a screen time of sixty-five minutes and will be published December 24. 30