Year book of motion pictures (1925)

There is probably no other problem in the industry which more vitally interests both the producer and the theater owner. If conditions in our industry were normal and mutual, I should say that in theory at least playing pictures on percentage impresses one as a sound practice. Unfortunately, conditions in our industry are so distinctly abnormal and lacking in mutuality that percentage playing in pratice is unsound and unfair, and most decidedly detrimental to the best interests of the theater owner. Percentage playing as practiced at present, serves only as a source of information to competing producer-distributor-exhibitor concerns of good locations for new theaters. Where the distributor asks a guarantee plus a percentage from the theater owner, the guaran tee is as much, if not more, than what the rental could ever be under any circumstances. Such a system is not entitled to be called percentage playing. Every theater owner who yields to this sort of temptation (guarantee plus percentage) is helping to dig his own grave. Make it your business to look at more pictures before buying them . Either see them at the exchange or better still have a print shipped to your theater for screening. Then you will know if the picture is what your public wants. In this way you will tend to improve the quality of pictures produced. YOUR CHILD AND THE MOVIES By MARY DAY WINN in The Forecast (America's Leading Photo Magazine) This extremely interesting article, portions of which are reproduced below, should be of import not only to producers and distributors but exhibitors, welfare workers — in fact all connected with the motion picture industry. In part Miss Winn says: An interesting proof of the value of this work (the Hetter Films Committee) to the producer came from a survey made not long ago in eight representative cities, when the box office receipts on several superior films were compared. In the eight cities which had no Better Films Committees, the' worth while pictures ("Hail the Woman,'' "Sentimental Tommy," "Disraeli" and "The Good Provider") drew so few people that they either made no money at all or were a loss to the exhibitor who had rented them. In the eight cities of similar size which had active committees, every one of these films, except one, was a big financial success; that one broke even. These facts speak for themselves. Of course, no matter how much the exhibitor may wish to cooperate, he is almost never absolutely free to choose what pictures he will show; this is because the great majority of theater owners cannot afford to book except in wholesale lots; that is, they will agree, before the pictures are made, to take all the productions of certain companies. They do not want however, pictures emphasizing violence or sex which are lacking in entertainment or artistic value any more than does the discriminating patron, and conscientious exhibitors have even been known to shelve a poor film obtained on contract and substitute another at extra expense. * * * Further proof — if proof were needed — that the right sort of moving pictures inspire both young and old to read, comes from a report published in the Library Journal by Irving H. Hart, Director of the Iowa State Teachers' College Extension Division. He states that the books of fiction published prior to January 1, 1920 which are in great demand at the public libraries are, in order : Three Musketeers Treasure Island Ees Miserables Tom Sawyer Count of Monte Cristo David Copperfield Call of the Wild Ivanhoe Jane Eyre Vanity Fair The titles of ninety others next in demand are also given. "Two predominating influences," says Mr. Hart, "are evident in determining the content of this list ; the 'movies' and required school readings. One librarian says, T regret that our list is such a poor class of literature — dare I use that word at all? — but the public has made the demand. We are thankful that the movies have helped to add the only two really good ones (Three Musketeers and Connecticut Yankee). The movie influence may be seen in the rank of the first five books in the list and in at least seventeen, of the first twenty-nine. It is probable that 'The Three Musketeers" will always continue to be numbered among the books of fiction in greatest demand, but its immediate priority doubtless owes more to the art of Douglas Fairbanks than to that of Alexandre Dumas." * * * Miss Winn then goes into the value of the Children's special matinees, saying: These juvenile matinees seem to have been especially successful in the South Eastern states, where they have been adopted by 17 cities. The exhibitor, in these cases, guarantees a performance with pictures especially suitable for children, and various civic organizations, including the schools and the libraries, support his effort by trying to guarantee the audience, for it is unreasonable to expect any manager to run a children's matinee to empty houses. Attendance at these matinees has ranged from small beginnings to 1,500 weekly in Atlanta, at two theaters combined; 875 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and, most remarkable record of all, 1,200 at the initial matinee in Knoxville, Tenessee, with an overflow of 1,000. The attendance at children's matinees in Albany, New York, where they have been given successfully for ten years under the direction of Mrs. F. W. Clarke of the Albany Mothers' Club is sometimes as high as 3,000. The cost of admission to these juvenile performances is always less than at the adult performances ; often it is practically free of charge ; always there are many free tickets for institutional children, teachers — who act as chaperones — librarians, and so forth. When there is a charge, it is usually five or ten cents; sometimes it is five cents plus a coupon, clipped from a local newspaper. Many ingenious methods have been adopted by the exhibitors and by cooperating organizations to attract the children to these matinees, rather than to the adult ones during the week. For instance, J. P. Harrison, an exhibitor of Waco. Texas, announced an annual "Toy Matinee." Admission was given to this in return for a cast-off toy, a doll, a drum or a book. The toys thus collected were distributed by charitable organizations to the needy children of Waco. Another manager in Columbia, South Carolina, accepted as the price of admission to an Easter performance, a colored egg, to be used in an egg rolling contest after the play. Other methods of interesting the youngsters in these performances have been by the introduction of local talent such as a Dance of the Roses by Costumed School children at the Tivoli Theater in Chattanooga ; the giving away of prizes — rabbits, chickens, dolls, scout knives — the admitting free of boys with kites and girls with dolls, with the giving of prizes for the best of these, and group singing by the cildren under competent leadership. In many places matinees at which educational pictures have been shown are followed up by discussion in the schools, thus linking the screen i<i the school curriculum At the matinees of ITa'-ry Crandall, a large exhibitor of Washington. 45