Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1921)

14 MOVING PICTURE AGE January, 1921 dorsed pictures. The committee may give the entertainments under its own auspices in a church, school, theorganizations or theater managers. No picture is used which has not received the endorsement of the League. The number of members of this committee depends upon the number and character of the matinees. Chaperons should be provided to care for children who come unattended. No chaperon should be appointed for a group of more than 20 children. B. A Membership Committee secures members for the League and subscribers to the bulletin. The community is divided into sections, either geographically or socially, or both. Members of this committee address schools, churches, clubs and public meetings on the subject of better motion pictures, thus assisting the League in its educational campaign. There should be a large number of enthusiastic members of this committee who constantly keep the need of better movies before the people by use of the press, by public speaking, and by securing the interest of individuals. This committee is cautioned not to resort to bombastic methods for opposing the bad, but to adopt the more constructive method of giving powerful support to the good pictures. Objectionable pictures will cease for lack of support and proper advertising, with an energetic committee at work. The "Trade" Cannot Become Members of the League The signed membership cards and subscription blanks are sent to the headquarters of the League. All checks are made payable to the national treasurer. No one may join who is financially connected with the motion picture industry. The bulletins are supplied to the motion picture trade at cost. Local branch dues of $10 a year cover five membership dues — those of the Chairman of the Local Branch, and the Chairmen of the four committees herein mentioned. Bulletins will be mailed to each of these five members. C. A Publicity Committee secures publicity for endorsed films in local papers. School papers, church bulletins, club magazines and newspapers, should print the lists of films recommended by the League. The publicity committee sends to the national headquarters of the League, the name, address, and amount of circulation of each paper consenting to co-operate in this way. Each publication is invited to make a contribution to the League for this service. A special rate of $1 a year is made to school papers. The Board of Education bears this expense. D. A Reviewing Committee of three members or more, reports to the executive offices on all pictures seen in local theaters, which are considered suitable for the lists of the League. The reviewing board in New York City sees practically all pictures before they are released, yet the League desires reports from local committees in order that the standards may be kept truly representative of the entire country. These reports are discussed at the regular meetings of the reviewing board and are considered by the committee which assemble the cumulative list at the end of the year. Individual committees working alone can make little impression. It is only by combined effort that strength and efficiency can be secured. Make your local branch truly representative by inviting into its membership a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Rotary Club, the Women's Club, the ParentTeacher Association, etc. ; also clergymen, and the library and school officials. Send to the headquarters of the League the names and addresses of the followingofficers of the Branch : Chairman, Chairman of Membership Committee, Chairman of Matinee Committee, Chairman of Reviewing Committee and Chairman of Publicity Committee. Join your efforts to those of this National Organization and help secure for all, the benefits you wish to secure for your own community. Urban Industries Have New Home RECENT announcement was made by Charles Urban of the purchase of a magnificent piece of property at Irvington-on-Hudson for the future home of the Urban Motion Picture Industries, Inc., and the Kineto Company o f America, Inc., to be called Urban Institute. The Urban Motion Picture Industries, Incorporated, will have to do with the manufacturing and marketing of the Spirograph projectors and discs ; also the Kinekrom, which is the name of the new Urban-Joy color process, the successor to the old Kinemacolor. The Kineto Company of America is the publishing organization of Mr. Urban's educational pictures ; the Movie Chats, the Kineto Review, the Science Series, the World Travel Series and all the other series of one-reel pictures which will eventually form "The Living Book of Knowledge," world encyclopedia in motion picture form. The Movie Chats and Science Series have obtained a wide distribution in the higher-class theaters. The Kineto Review will be placed in general distribution shortly and so will the other releases as fast as they can be edited. The projects that are included under the Urban Motion Picture Industries, the Spirograph and the Kinekrom, have needed more preparation than the Kineto Projects and in them is to be found the reason for this expansion. The Spirograph is an eleven pound home and school projecting machine and a picture record, much like any talking machine record. The film is flat, 10}/2 inches in diameter, has its pictures arranged in spiral shape and is the equivalent of 104 feet of film. It is entirely free of any fire danger ; the light may remain on the film indefinitely even though the film is not in motion. The device is meant for the home, the school room, the industrial plant, the traveling salesman and for all fields of commercial and non-theatrical pursuit. The Kinekrom is the color process. Many critics and directors have seen these color pictures and all of them have said "perfect." It is likely that both the Spirograph and the Kinekrom will be in production within six months. Mr. Urban intends to make Urban Institute a mecca for educators all over the world. Visual education is already a great big force but it is only beginning despite its existing bigness. Urban Institute is going to be a home for the educators and the artists of the motion picture world ; it will be a place to bring and get ideas. Charles Urban has purchased this old home of the Cosmopolitan Magazine to house the Urban Motion Picture Industries, Inc., and the Kineto Company of America, Inc.