Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

206 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. VI, No. 5. be consummated without an entire change in the system of marketing. Only lately a body of exhibitors has protested again even the occasional specially priced films which some manufacturers have released. So after all, perhaps we are tilting at a windmill in protesting against the flat rate ; for we have nothing better to suggest — which is a poor sort of criticism. But we believe the day will come — not soon, certainly, but in say ten or a dozen years — when films will be sold on their merits as other things are sold. And the rental price will, of course, depend on the sale price instead of on the age, so an exhibitor will be able to run a high grade program of new films, or a low grade program of new films, or a high grade program of old films, or a low grade program of old films, according to his finances and the tolerance of his patronage. Today the man or company of the very largest resources can run no better a show than the comparatively small exhibitor — which is socialistically good principle, but commercially bad. THE POSTER PROPOSITION. 'THE poster proposition is a severe tax on the motion J picture industry. Does it fill a real need or is it only an imaginary necessity ? A study of the patrons of a moving picture theater to determine whether the poster is an effective means of interesting possible patrons will develop some peculiar facts. To stand outside a popular house, count the people who read the posters, ascertain what percentage of readers enter, what the total daily patronge is and what percent of readers are curiosity seekers of the type that watch a street fakir with no intention of buying his product, will quickly demonstrate whether posters are requisite advertising mediums or not. Theoretically, since the moving picture house aspires to fill the need for a low-priced legitimate amusement on a par with the higher priced theaters showing drama, no moving picture house should have gorgeous flamboyant posters on exhibition. Circus and side-show enterprises — here today and gone tomorrow — make good use of the poster, but is a moving picture theater on a par with such amusements or something higher? We know they are higher. Many films which are shown in the regular five-cent theaters cost all of five thousand dollars to produce and this sum is nearly half the cost of production for an average legitimate drama which charges one or two dollars admission. Even pantomime shows of the better class get a dollar or two per seat. Consequently the nickel show, the "poor man's opera," is on a par with the higher grade theaters. No legitimate theater showing good comedy or drama has its front decorated with posters. Possibly there are photographs of the leading actors or actresses, or a few still pictures of striking parts of the action, but nothing which savors of sensational publicity. Why, then, should the moving picture house be cursed with this extra tax on the exhibitor and nuisance to the film maker? There is no profit in posters, except it be to the poster manufacturer. The film makers consider them a nuisance, the film exchanges a bother and the exhibitor an extra -tax on his pocket-book; and what actual benefit are they? Of the patrons of a moving picture theater, ninety per cent never read the posters in front. Their minds are made up to go long before they see the theater. Five per cent are floating or transient patrons, heedless of what film is on at the present. And of the other five percent who did read the posters the management would be better off without them. For, unless the film actually portrays the scene on the poster, this last element consider themselves cheated in some way. And what the theater man doesn't realize is that he is chasing away a really good class of patrons by his sensational methods. A great many people who gladly pay Lyman Howe fifty or seventy-five cents to see exactly the same kind of film that is ordinarily projected in the moving picture theater for a nickel would never patronize a moving picture theater. Why? Because of the atmosphere the nickel theater creates by reason of its circusy or carnival methods. The American public is an amusement and not a sensation seeking one. Not alone are posters out of place; but why should loud-voiced hawkers of mediocre candies be allowed to paw over an audience for the petty profits resulting therefrom ? Wouldn't it be more remunerative to have a stand of good candies in the lobby or adjacent to it? In short, wouldn't it be cheaper to cater to a steadier respectable patronage? NEW YORK'S NEW ORDINANCE. NEW YORK'S special commission, which Mayor Gaynor appointed to prepare a picture ordinance, has reported. A public hearing was held by the commission November 4. We have not enough space at our disposal to reprint the entire ordinance as it was proposed ; and much of it, of course, is not particularly new. Some agitation was made by a representative of the Woman's Municipal League for an official censorship, as the National Board of Censors, as acting at present, has no official authority. The several societies which professed to have amendments to offer were invited to submit their suggestions in writing, and these are still to be considered before the ordinance takes permanent form ; so we will be content at this time to call attention to sub-sections F, G, H and I, which have some unique features : SUB-SECTION "v". /.— Lighting— Every portion of a motion picture theater, including exits, courts and corridors, devoted to the uses of accommodation of the public, shall be so lighted during all exhibitions and until the entire audience has left the premises, that a person with normal eyesight should be able to read the Snellen standard test type 40 at a distance of twenty feet and type 30 at a distance of ten feet; normal eyesight meaning ability to read type 20 at a distance of twenty feet in daylight. Cards showing types 20, 30 and 40 shall be displayed on all four walls, together with a copy of this paragraph of the ordinance. U. — Heating — When the temperature of the outdoor air is below 60 degrees Fahr. the air in the theater, while an audience is present, shall be maintained at a temperature of not lower than 62 degrees Fahr. or higher than 70 degrees Fahr In heating motion picture theaters, no gas stoves, oil stoves or other apparatus throwing the products of combustion into the air of the theater, shall be used. III. — Ventilation — Motion picture theaters having less than two hundred cubic feet of air space for each person, or motion picture theaters in which the outside window and door area is less than one-eighth of the floor area, shall be provided with artificial means of ventilation which shall supply during the time the audience is present, at least five hundred cubic feet of fresh air per hour for each person. Motion picture theaters having more than two hundred cubic feet of air space for each person, or which have outside windows and doors, the area of which is equal to at least one-eighth of the floor area, shall be provided with artificial means of ventilation, which shall be_ in operation when the outside temperature requires the windows to be kept closed, and which shall supply during the time the