Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

MOTGWHy INCORPORATED WITH WHICH IS THE NICKELODEON Vol. XIX CHICAGO, MARCH 2, 1918 No. 9 Cut Out the Sobs, Exhibitors Say THEATRE MEN ADDRESS PRODUCERS THROUGH MOTOGRAPHY CUT OUT SADNESS AND GIVE US GLADNESS. This is the message of the exhibitors to the producers. Appreciating the change in the taste of the motion picture public, Motography last week sent out a letter to theatre men asking them to outline their views as a guide to the producers, and from their response it is certain that managers the country over do not want so many "sob" stories, but comedies and comedy dramas instead. H. M. Crandall, owner of a string of big houses in Washington, D. C., writes : "In my opinion, based on box office receipts, the days of the so-called vampire picture are gone. "It has always been a mystery to me as to why the manufacturers don't know exactly what the public wants. Let's stop for a minute on this and think who are generally the most popular stars in America — Mary Pickford, Marguerite Clark, Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Chaplin. These stars are popular year in and year out and everybody knows about the cabilre of pictures they make, also their box office value. "There are of course a few exceptions to this rule who are in a class by themselves in their particular lines — William S. Hart, Clara Kimball Young, Norma Talmadge, Alice Brady and others whose work is generally recognized as much as the above stars. "There are also stars who flash for a few months and are gone, but the public's taste seems to be going towards the lighter shows — but as variety is necessary, let them be clean and well handled. "Along this line let me suggest, however, that business in many cases is as the exhibitor makes it. The producer is only one end of the picture business — an exhibitor can often 'put over' a fair picture and he can also kill a wonderful one. Therefore the exhibitor must get his business at least 80 per cent perfect before he can find trouble with others, and when he does get this percentage he will find there is no trouble with others, for he will not pick shows that do not suit his particular audience." S. A. Moran of the Arcade Theatre, Ann Arbor, Mich., writes : "What kind of pictures does the public want at this time? One thing is certain. It does not want a lot of the pictures which are being made in these strenuous war times. "In this city comedy-dramas and society dramas with now and then a good mystery plot and wholesome comedies take best among theatre patrons. People certainly do not want so many depressing, tragic stories when the whole world is one great tragedy. People go to the movies to gain a little respite from the awful gloom that hangs over the world. For this reason the majority of people do not want war stories and attempts at patriotic stories. "A good patriotic subject now and then takes all right, but too much of it would indicate that the producers have an idea that people generally are not as patriotic as they should be when in fact the people as a whole are patriotic to the core. I think, therefore, the producers are prone to overdo the patriotic stunt. "Ann Arbor people have been especially well pleased with such pictures as Madge Kennedy in 'Baby Mine' and 'Nearly Married,' Constance Talmadge in 'Scandal' and 'The Honeymoon,' Mabel Normand in 'Dodging a Million,' Mae Marsh in 'The Cinderella Man,' Harold Lockwood in 'Pidgin Island' and 'The Haunted Pajamas,' Bushman and Bayne in 'Red, White and Blue Blood,' and breezy, 'peppy' stories such as those in which George Walsh plays. "It goes without saying that people do not care to see comedy-dramas all the time, but I believe that generally they want light, entertaining features instead of the sad and depressing kind. There is too much of that sort of thing in the world already." George A. Bleich of George A. Bleich Amusement Enterprises, Owensboro, Ky., controlling the Empress Theatre, a picture house, and the Grand Theatre, a "regular" house, writes : "I wish to register as in favor of the lighter plays, those of the bright and cheery kind in these days when everyone's mind cannot be other than on the great war daily. "It is not meant that comedy is wanted altogether, but if there ever was a time when gloomy and depressing subjects should be taboo it is now. And the producers should quit injecting the war into everything. Let the news weeklies and actual films from the war fields take care of this. "The national slogan for the picture houses should be: 'Amusement, Cheery Amusement.' And when amusement is said it doesn't mean tragedy, sobs and