Moving Picture News (Jul-Oct 1913)

THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS 9 EXHIBITORS WANT QUALITY IN FILMS "Reels, fewer in number, better in quality," will be the battle cry at the Third Annual Convention of Motion Picture Exhibitors, in congress at the First Annual Exposition of the Motion Picture Art, to be held in New Grand Central Palace, New York City, week of July 7, 1913. President M. A. Neff, a warm adherent of a three to four reel program, expects to find strong opposition by exhibitors committed to the theory that it is quantity the public wants, not quality, but from his headquarters in the Imeprial Hotel, the League head is compiling statistics that to his opinion will win many converts. When a program extends beyond four reels, President Neff argues, eyesight is in danger. To thus imperil vision is to destroy the patronage of the future. "Rushing the picture'' begets a haste of mind as well as of body and then — accidents, fire panics! "Sixteen minutes is the proper time in which to run a thousand feet of film," advances President Neff. "That allows sixty-two or sixty-three feet to the minute. Can you imagine what a futile flicker a picture becomes when it is jammed through in eight or nine minutes? "For the protection of the people whose support provides a means of making a living for so many of us, this convention should and I hope will agree upon introducing into every state legislature a law compelling this fewer reel program, also an ordinance prohibiting the running a picture faster than seventy feet or slower than fifty-two feet a minute. "We must discipline exhibitors whose business methods reflect discredit upon the whole body of exhibitors, They must be prevented from bringing blindness to people, whose vision is sacrified to the exhibitor's fear that if he doesn't give a long, and consequently a junk program, that the people will go around the corner to the other fellow's place. "The motion picture manufacturers attending the Convention and Exposition should consider the importance of a shorter program from the point of view of excellence of production. The figures! Seventeen thousand theatres are running six reels every night, a total of 102,000 reels, in a year's time 35,004,000 reels. I ask — where are stories to come from! Apparently illimitable as is the world of literature and fancy, exhaustion is inevitable. Novelty cannot stand the strain. "About 5,000 pictures were produced in the United States in the last year. In five years, with pictures running triumphantly rampant in every walk and run of life, on boats, trains, everywhere, there are likely to be 25,000. "Study of the statistics proves that when an exhibitor runs over three reels he runs junk. Of course, it is human nature for a person to believe that he is getting a bigger money's worth when he sees six pictures than when he sees only three or four. But isn't it possible for them to understand that it is preferable to see a smaller number of superior pictures, run at a rate not vision-wrecking, preserving the dignity and atmosphere of the picture itself? "To race a picture, so to speak, would hardly be noticeable inasmuch as speed of the objects is expected. But I expect to bring before the convention the fact that when they precipitate through the lens dignified subjects, we will say, 'The Fall of Troy,' the motion picture has failed in its mission of representing art, truth and beauty. Can you imagine flying madly through such dignified beauties and massive efifects? It travesties a wonderful thing to have its world-famous characters jumping and hurdling about like manikins. "The motor, most emphatically, is the best way of running a motion picture machine. When properly adjusted danger of accident is at a minimum. When the machine is hand run the picture progresses according to the muscles, tired or energetic, of the operator. Is it advisable to leave the speed of a picture, an important consideration to the whims of a biceps? The motor establishes a fixed speed and adheres to it. 'Strong arm men' are less preferable than machine accuracy.'' Lansing, Mich. — The Theatre Company, Inc., Detroit. Capital, $85,000. GENERAL FILM COMPANY AT THE EXPOSITION The General Film booth will be one of the garden spots of the exposition. The design calls for a reproduction of the view looking up the Hudson River from West Point, and the beauty of that landscape is being transferred to canvas by one of the best known scenic painters in the city. The foreground will show a regulation army tent and army "furniture," set in a verdant bower of natural greens, the whole giving an unusually cool and pleasant effect. The booth will form an artistic background for the prominent picture players who will be in attendance during the week. Monday will be Biograph day and in the evening exhibitors and the public will have an opportunity to meet the players who have been their favorites so long but who until recently existed as unnamed personages. Tuesday is Kalem day and Kalem players will be much in evidence. Wednesday has been set aside for the Vitagraph Company; Thursday for Lubin and Pathe; Friday for Edison and Saturday for the Chicago manufacturers. Essanay, Kleine and Selig. Throughout the week the pick of the products of the licensed manufacturers will be exhibited in the General Film Theatre. Attractive souvenirs will be distributed from day to day. This is the first concerted effort ever made by the General Film interests to round up their players and the best films in which they have appeared, which is in itself a promise that what will be offered at the exposition will be worth going a long way to see. Directly at the top of the stairs on the main floor of the Motion Picture Exposition, Grand Central Palace, the Gaumont Company of Paris, New York and London, will occupy Booth No. 367. During the period of the exposition, a representative of the Gaumont Company will be present at all times to meet the visrting delegates and others who may be interested in Gaumont films and accessories. Frederick E. Mortimer has been elected a delegate from Maine, State Branch No. 29 of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of America, to represent said state at the convention held in New York, July 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. The State of Georgia was permanently and thoroughly organized June 30th, and delegates were elected to the National Convention. M. T. Koch was elected National vice-president, and John Evins was elected president. A full delegation will be in New York to represent the State of Georgia. A big banquet was held at the Kimball House, Atlanta, on Monday night, June 30th, and was given by the Consolidated in honor of the occasion of the State of Georgia being organized. The Georgia exhibitors are coming to New York in force to carry off the convention in 1914, if possible, for Atlanta. WILLIAM WEST The well-known Edison character actor, who played the part of an old negro in "The Abbeville Court House," which was just taken in Georgia. It is a fact that the Southern darkies who gathered around to watch the taking of the picture were dumbfounded by the realistic makeup which Mr. West so cleverly contrives.