Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

62 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 2. time there is a merger in the film business, new companies spring up and recreate the same bad business. I think a better suggestion is a national fight for more money from the public. The theaters at present are giving their patrons better pictures, better music, better surroundings, better everything— but the advance in admission prices has been ridiculously low. In Russia, I am informed, the picture theaters charge as high as a dollar. In Germany, in England and in many other countries the admission prices are anywhere from two to four times as much as the average American admission price. I know that many will say "It can't be done. You don't know the public. My territory is different. I've tried and couldn't put it over." Necessity Demands Action My answer is that it must be done; that I do know the public as well as any man in the business; that your territory is not any different from other territories in principle; and that if you've tried and failed, you'll have to keep on trying until you put it over. One theater such as the Rialto or Strand in New York pays its stockholders more cash dividends than a world-wide producing and distributing corporation such as the Universal. This would be funny if it were not so serious. Imagine it! A tremendous organization, with offices in every part of the civilized world, with seventy exchanges in America alone, employing thousands of people, releasing between one and two million feet of positive reels of pictures every week; an organization with an almost unbelievably huge income, is operating on such a close margin that it cannot pay as much in dividends as one single lone theater! No Dividends in Sight I feel .that we are entitled to a big share of the profits in this business, but we don't get it. I feel that with our tremendous efforts we are justified in expecting to pay dividends to the Universal stockholders, provided we continue to keep our quality up at all times. .But as I said before we have not paid dividends for a year, and I don't see any chance of paying any, unless we get more money for our goods. And we can't hope to get more until the exhibitors get more from the people. While I have no right to speak for any other concern than the Universal, I feel convinced that the same condition which I have described applies to nearly every producing concern in the business to a greater or less degree. We have all kept a stiff upper lip and made a monumental bluff at boundless prosperity. By a foolish silence, and a **-* ■' iMlMWl 1 A t . — m Is V i Eric Campbell , biggest man in moving pictures, who was killed in an automobile accident in Los Angeles, is shown here in the final scene of the last Charlie Chaplin picture in which he appeared, "The Adventurer." cowardly fear we have permitted the whole world to believe that all of us were coining money as in a mint. Ripening for Receiver I seriously and solemnly venture the prediction that all of us — the producers, the distributors and the exhibitors — will become ripe for the receiver unless all of us get more money from the only source it is possible to get it from — the public. The fate of the moving picture business has been in the hands of the producers in past years. But today it is in the hands of the exhibitors. If they get more money so they can pay more money for their goods, we can all pull through. If they don't arouse themselves to this imperative necessity, we can all get ready for the damndest crash that ever resounded in any industry in the land. I am not squealing. I am not misrepresenting. I am publishing some plain truths which should have been published long ago. I have always been an optimist in this business. And the picture of conditions which I have painted is not a pessimistic one. On the contrary, conditions are, if anything, a whole lot worse than I have said. Disaster and Death Near Today the moving picture industry is closer to disaster and death than it has been in the past ten years. It needs and must have an operation that will either kill or cure completely. Raising all admission prices is the operation that will either kill something that is already very sick, or else put it on its feet. We've got practically nothing to lose and everything to gain. Let's operate! And let's handle it without gloves! Don't tell the people that the war taxes are the only cause of your advanced prices. They are only one of many causes. Tell them the plain truth — that with expenses increased all along the line as well as new taxes, you've got to get more or quit. Then they can't accuse you of profiteering on the war tax or anything else. It isn't a pleasant job. No operation ever is. But it is a life saver, and it's the only possible one on hand. Big Year Ahead for Harold Lockwood The year of 1918 promises to be a busy one and, with ordinary good fortune, an extremely successful one for Harold Lockwood, Metro star. Ambitious plans have been mapped out to cover Mr. Lockwood's activities during this period. The photoplay rights to a number of books by prominent authors have been acquired and will be adapted into vehicles for the star production during 1918. Extreme care has been exercised in the choice of these stories. Scores of novels, plays, and original scenarios were read and it is believed that the final selections will meet with the enthusiastic approval of exhibitor and public alike. The works chosen will be produced on a big scale. The dual director system under which Mr. Lockwood is now working allows the producers plenty of scope to carry out this part of the program. The length of time used by one director in directing a picture is allotted the alternate director to make his preparations for the subsequent subject. Under this system each director has ample time to make the necessary arrangements for the many technical requirements of these stories. Peggy Hyland a Fox Star • Peggy Hyland, the little English actress who has become famous in 'the United States within two years in motion pictures, has become a William Fox star. Miss Hyland is to head another company producing the one-aweek, 52-a-year Special Features. Groves Joins Navy Fred Groves, who appeared in the Goldwyn release of "The Manx-Man," has joined the British navy.