Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1917 - Jun 1918)

H B R H R D The Peril of Sunday Closing By John R. Freuler These are days of harrowing suffering and superlative sacrifice, days when the great mass of the people are entitled to get from life every atom of happiness and pleasure, entitled to every moment that will take them from the horror of reality to the realm of even momentary enjoyment. It is a time when any effort to curtail entertainment is out of place. The morale of the people is of utmost importance in the struggle for endurance through which the nation is passing. To deprive them of any of their few chances to enjoy life is to invite calamity within our own borders. The time is particularly and peculiarly inopportune for meddling reformers to be urging upon the legislative bodies of our states and municipalities laws for the Sunday closing of the motion picture theater. The men who legislate for us are carrying a greater responsibility than ever and they can ill afford to tamper with the existing social order. It is unfortunate that we have in many communities people who are so thoroughly saturated with the notion that they must make everybody else live as they themselves live, that the question of Sunday closing of motion picture theaters is forever agitated. The professional meddler, however, must meddle, he always has and always will, but in times like these he ought to be careful what he meddles with. Entitled to Recreation I maintain that the American citizen is as much entitled to his Sunday picture as he is to his Sunday newspaper. The Sunday newspaper is a form of enlightenment and entertainment, more of entertainment than enlightenment. The motion picture is, too, a form of enlightenment and entertainment. Progressive social workers and forward looking churchmen are not in the ranks of the agitators of Sunday closing. The opponents of the Sunday theater are professional reformers. The importance of the motion picture has been demonstrated in many instances in the last few months of the "speeding up" process which has been going on in industries. The big factories devoting their energies to the making of munitions and war supplies have been quick to realize the absolute necessity of entertainment for their workmen, and today in many communities the theaters erected by factories are showing the best films. England and France have gradually increased the hours of labor. The United States, as the pressure becomes greater, will have to increase the hours of labor. As the hours of labor increase the recreation of workmen is of increasing importance. Makes for Better Citizens I am not arguing that the workmen of the United States will resent action depriving them of their Sunday amusement. I am arguing that their efficiency will be impaired, their morale lowered, by the loss of their Sunday recreation. From the standpoint of broad moral benefit, the cleanly conducted motion picture theater, running seven days a week, ranks high as an institution for better citizenship. The most radical of prohibitionists admit that the picture theater has deprived the saloon of its excuse as a social institution, and trained social workers pay high tribute to the motion picture's accomplishments in binding the family closer together. It is time that the professional reformer let the motion picture alone. The motion picture has proved its place in the life of the people. It is no longer an experiment but an institution. It is in many respects as necessary and as valuable as the public press. Any effort to close the motion picture theater on Sunday is an imposition, peculiarly and particularly an imposition in these times. I hope that they relegate, with little ceremony, the agitation to deprive the people of their Sunday amusement. Indiana Goes Dry And Theatres Look For 70,000 Increase Indianapolis — Indianapolis theatre managers are looking forward to a greatly increased theatre patronage when the state goes dry The prohibition law recently enacted by the General Assembly is one of the most stringent in the country and makes the man keeping intoxicating liquors in his home as much a violator as the saloon keeper or brewer. There are approximately 700 saloons in Indianapolis, and as Henry K. Burton, secretary of the Indianapolis Theatre Managers' Association puts it, if they each release only 100 men who having no other place to go, and they patronize the picture, vaudeville and legitimate houses, theatre attendance will increase approximately 70,000 a week. "The natural assumption is," said Mr. Burton, "among theatre managers, that everyone will have more money to spend for amusement." The prohibition law became effective at midnight on April 2. Films for Camps Also for Battleships Steps have been taken to make the pictures chosen for use in the training camps and through the War Camp Motion Picture Committee available also for the battleships of the Navy. P. A. Powers, the chairman, when in Washington recently, was in conference with Secretary Daniels of the Navy Department. As a result, the committee is in a position to supply films to naval vessels whose chaplains desire them in the same manner in which it makes them available for the training camps. The committee having completed its plans for the distribution of pictures to the social welfare agencies in the training camps, has sent to all of the exchanges of the various companies the rates on which the selected pictures are to be issued and the lists of the pictures chosen by the National Board of Review from the product of the various companies represented. These lists cover the period since January 1, 1917. About three-tenths of the product of each of the companies is named as being particularly desirable for the purpose. The response from the exchanges has indicated great enthusiasm for the plan. The exchange managers located in centers covering territory in which there are training camps have had an opportunity to discover the needs of the camps. Apparently they are glad to have a chance to aid in the entertainment of the soldiers. "Eyes of the World" Sold to Texas Corp. The Specialty Film Company, of Dallas, Texas, has closed with the Arrow Film Corporation for the Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma rights to the W. H. Clune production, "The Eyes of the World." The Specialty Film Company recently entered the independent field and plans to inaugurate a number of new ideas in the way of film distribution. W. G. Underwood and L. C. Baxley head the organization. SCENES FROM TWO EBONY COMEDIES LEFT— A HUMOROUS SITUATION FROM "A BLACK SHERLOCK HOLMES" TO BE ISSUED APRIL 15. RICHT— A SCENE FROM "A MILK-FED HERO" WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 6 (EBONY FILM CORP.) 30