Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

April, 1911. MOTOGRAPHY 43 Photoplay Exhibition m England By Maynard Evans Taken from the Boston Transcript. FIVE years ago there were no moving picture theaters in England. Attempts had been made to popularize the cinematograph, but without success. It is less than three years ago that the Pavilion Theater in Picadilly Circus, was thrown open for moving picture matinees, but rarely more than a score of people passed its doors of an afternoon, and the promoters were compelled to pocket their considerable loss and admit defeat. At present there are no less than 2000 cinematograph theaters in England. London alone has upward of 250. I have it on reliable authority that $10,000,000 would not cover the money invested in them. New houses are being constructed as quickly as the methods of English builders will permit ; new companies are being floated day by day; and though some of them fail and go out of business, many are flourishing. One little house near Picadilly Circus, seating less than 300 people, returns a profit of more than $50,000 a year to its fortunate owners. Many others show more than $25,000 on the right side of the ledger after a year's work. In certain sections of London so great is the popularity of this class of entertainment that the cinematograph theaters are built side by side, with barkers in front to boom the merits of the competing shows. It is possible to stand in Leicester square and toss stones in different directions that will alight on the roofs of no fewer than five houses that are turning hundreds away on Sundays, Saturdays and holidays. What is the cause of this remarkable change in attitude on the part of the English public and in the prosperity of the moving picture theatres? In the opinion of those best qualified to say it is due to American films. Moving picture shows in England, as in the United States, are absolutely dependent on the American films, and were the prominent companies of the United States to stop manufacturing or to cut off their supply for the time being the fortunes of the cinematograph theaters would drop with a suddenness that would give heart failure to their many backers. English companies there are, French companies and Italian companies and Norwegian companies almost without number, but, with the exception of one French company, no one of them has the enterprise or is willing to spend the money necessary to turn out pic Lobby of the Cinema House, London tures of the variety and quality demanded by the discriminating public that supports the moving picture theaters. This is borne out by an interview I had with Montague A. Pyke, the managing director of the largest company operating a string of cinematograph theaters in London. Incidentally, Mr Pyke might be; claimed as another triumph for the United States, because although he was born in England, he spent many years in the United States and is typically American in his push and energy and enterprise and enthusiasm. Under the guiding genius of Mr. Pyke, his company runs fifteen of the largest and most successful moving picture houses in London, and plans' are being made to increase this number to fifty. "There is no doubt about it," said Mr. Pyke to me, "the American films are beyond comparison with any others now on the market. They are varied and clear, and the companies go to enormous expense and trouble to dress the actors for the parts and to enact their stories with the proper background of scenery and properties. "But, having said this, I must add that I believe the English public is heartily sick of American pictures. You see, they are so superior to the others that we are compelled to give over almost our whole programme, week after week, to them. In the first place, the English audiences laugh when they see the American actors come on dressed in American style of clothes, with broad shoulders and baggy trousers. In the same way American audiences would laugh to see the actors dressed in the narrow , pointed shoulders and the almost skin-tight trousers worn in this country. Secondly, as was 'to be expected, supplying films to the whole world as they do, the American companies are hard pressed to maintain a sufficient variety in their pictures, and English audiences are becoming tired to death of Indian love stories and dying cowboys. "Quite naturally, they would like to see some good English films. But where are they to be found? Much as we managers dislike to be dependent entirely on American films, we are driven to it because there is nothing else. The English films now on the market are too absurd to be considered, and the French, with one exception, and the Italian, are even