Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917)

Published Weekly by EXHIBITORS HERALD CO. at 203 South Dearborn Street, Chicago Tel.. Harrison 7355 ® MARTIN J. QUIGLEY . Editor NEW YORK OFFICE ID 1480 Broadway Tel.. Bryant 5111 James Beecroft. Manager Subscription Price $1.00 Yearly Member Audit Bureau of Circulations All editorial copy and correspondence, and advertising copy should be addressed to the Chicago Office. 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 Volt V DECEMBER 15, 1917 Number 25 Screen Influence HP HE motion picture trade is answering with * commendable enthusiasm the government's call for assistance in directing public opinion along the proper patriotic channels. This is a work that is its own reward, but in addition it is giving to this artindustry a sense of its potential power as a director and moulder of public thought and opinion. It is remarkable that at the outset of the war the government authorities at Washington, particularly the President, seemed to have a far more clear and more definite idea of the potential influence on public thought of the motion picture than the men who daily are responsible for the existence of the motion picture in the United States. This recognition coming from without should give the trade a better understanding of the vital influence of motion pictures on the individual and the nation, and this fact inevitably carries with it a great responsibility that the influence of motion pictures should be wisely and sanely directed for without intelligent and unselfish control and direction the influence of the screen can be as powerful for harm as it can be for good. u The Merger, Again NUSUAL business conditions now existing have again called into discussion the subject of the amalgamation and consolidation of various producing and distributing activities with a view to the elimination of the gigantic waste occasioned by the ruthless competition between producers and distributors. Without question the unsettled conditions existing in certain quarters in the motion picture trade are tending toward a merger which will reduce production and distribution costs and cut down the volume of production. Such a condition has transpired in other industries that have rapidly grown to enormous sizes and it is very reasonable to expect that a consolidation of some size will one day visit the film industry. But the example of the United States Steel Corporation, so frequently referred to in connection with the long-awaited film merger, is not likely to be followed even approximately. The film business has an irreconcilable nature all its own and a conbination even approaching the comparative extent of the steel combine is founded more in fancy than in fact. * ♦ • Attention, Cameramen! THE EXHIBITORS HERALD is in receipt of a communication from Major Kendall Banning, Signal Corps, U. S. R., indicating the need which exists for experienced photographers and laboratory workers in the photographic division of the signal corps. The work for which the photographic division is responsible is of greatest importance and because of its technical nature the government must look largely to the motion picture trade for experts in the particular line. There is a call for camera men. laboratory experts and photo-physicists and it is to be sincerely hoped that men in the trade who possess the necessary qualifications will immediately 11