Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1917 - Jun 1918)

X H B R H R D "THE WITCH WOMAN." Five-reel drama. Featuring FRANKLYN FARNUM. Produced by World. Author Willard Mack. Director Travers Vale. STORY : Marie Beaupre, a shepherdess, meets Louis La Farge, an artist, who deserts her and the birth and death of her child destroy her memory. She is adopted N by Delaunay, her mind operated upon and her reason restored. She meets Maurice, Louis' twin brother and so like him she mistakes him for Louis. This mistaken identity almost proves the ruination of her happiness, but the death of Louis sets matters aright. Penfield and Bates Start News Service Selexart — Goldwyn Dramas Offer Social Life In Three Phases Rocjeric C. Penfield, formerly editor of Harper's Weekly and for many years connected with the editorial staffs of the New York Evening Mail and the Sun; Wilbur Bates, who was general representative for ' Klaw and Erlanger for nearly ten years, and two other New York newspaper men have organized the "Federal News Service" to furnish special news and pictorial features to a large list of leading" journals throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. Penfield has been elected president of the new company and Mr. Bates has been appointed managing director. A prominent newspaper man will be engaged as editorial director and a staff of special writers and artists will be employed in writing and illustrating the various features which the new organization will exploit. A suite of offices have been leased in the Times Building and the organization of the service is being completed as rapidly as possible. Goldwyn is directing the attention of exhibitors to the unusual diversity of appeal in the group of three Selexart pictures it is distributing. Each story is of a distinct type, each conveys a different message, it is said. All are modern, swift-moving tales of life in three strata of society, the high-born aristocracy, the cutthroat domain of ward politics, and the Alaskan mining camp. "Blue Blood," starring Howard Hickman, the first release of the group, is a daring drama based upon the curse of tainted blood. After the audience has been permitted to see what manner of men were the forbears of Spencer Wellington, scion of wealth and supposedly of ancestry irreproachable, the play shows the insidious workings upon his mentality of a hereditary mental disease which brings wretchedness to the society girl he has married, misery to all with whom he comes in contact, and eventually — and happily — death to him The scenes in this production showing the extremes of abandon to which Spencer Wellington's malady drives him, are said to be more startling than any yet brought to the screen. A score of beautiful girls, all virtual prisoners in a palace of marble and gilt erected on Wellington's estate, are required to amuse their jaded master with dances and wierd rites conceived by his disordered brain. "Honor's Cross," starring Rhea Mitchell, is essentially a story of the great city and the devious ways of those who turn the wheels of commercialized vice to the profit of its exploiters. "Social Ambition," the third of the series, traces the redemption of a luckless man through love. Howard Hickman and Rhea Mitchell are the stars. GEORGE WALSH IN "THE KID IS CLEVER" ARTCRAFT WINS LEGAL BATTLE WITH TRIANGLE U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals Declares Hart and Ince Free to Leave Culver City Plant Artcraft Pictures Corporation gained the decision in the suit brought against that organization by the Triangle Film Corporation in the William S. Hart case. An opinion was handed down by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit last week. This is the third defeat in court of Triangle in its efforts to compel William S. Hart and Thomas H. Ince to remain until their contracts expired. The initial decision won by Artcraft in the matter was given out by Judge Martin T. Manton, in the United States District Court, New York City, last August, when the application of the Triangle Film Corporation for a preliminary injunction restraining the defendant from making or distributing motion pictures featuring Mr. Hart, was refused. Mr. Hart's contract with Triangle called for Thomas H. Ince's supervision of productions in which the star appeared, and when Mr. Ince severed his connections with Triangle the star's contract was no longer binding, which decision was verified by the Court of Appeals last week. In the early part of December, Art craft again won a decision when Supreme Court Judge Goff handed down an opinion which denied the application of the New York Motion Picture Company for an injunction pendente lite, restraining the defendant from distributing the first William S. Hart production, entitled "The Narrow Trail," and vacated the temporary stay granted pending the argument of the injunction. This second suit was a local action and temporarily held up the showing of "The Nar row Trail" at the Rialto Theatre, New York. The final appeal was brought before Circuit Judges Rogers and Hough and District Judge Learned Hand. Elek John Ludvigh represented Artcraft and Alfred S. Barnard Triangle. The decision handed down by the Court of Appeals permits of no further appeal. Norma Talmadge Back From West Coast Trip THE POPULAR FOX STAR IS SUPPORTED BY DORIS PAWN AND THE SCENE DEPICTED FOLLOWS A RESCUE FROM A SUBMARINE BY U. S. SAILORS. (Fox.) 36 Norma Talmadge, the Select star, re turned Sunday from her flying trip to California, during which she made a four day visit to her mother and two sisters, all of whom are at present residing in the west. At Hollywood, Constance Talmadge, also a Select star, has made three productions for her Select Star Series. While west, Miss Talmarge also visited the Fatty Arbuckle studios in Long Beach, where her sister, Natalie Talmadge, is working. Norma Talmadge's return east was the signal for resumption of work on her next Select production, "De Luxe Annie," the screen presentation of ScammoB Lockwood's successful stage play of the present season, which following its New York run, has been on tour of the larger cities. At the Talmadge studios in east 48th street, New York, the filming of the play is now progressing. Miss Talmadge is presented by Joseph M. Schenck.