The Moving Picture Weekly (1920-1921)

22 ■THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY Attends Utica Convention as tke Representative of oov. AlW E. Smith Mr/: Henry Mo/kowitz jy|RS. HENRY MOSKOWITZ, who recently announced her affiliation with the Educational Department of the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, attended the New York State Motion Picture Exhibitors Convention at Utica as the representative of Governor Alfi'ed E. Smith. As secretary of the State Reconstruction Commission, and as a member of the State Labor Board, Mrs. Moskowitz came in contact with the motion picture industry, but the Utica convention gave her the opportunity of seeing the exhibitors at close range. In her report to Governor Smith she calls the New York exhibitors "responsible, conscientious men." "Knowing that I was deeply interested in motion pictures — sufficiently so as to associate my future with the industry — and having on his conscience a regret that he could not attend in person, Governor Smith asked me to attend the convention of the New York State League of Motion Picture Exhibitors in Utica as his representative," said Mrs. Moskowitz in an intei-view yesterday. "I was very glad of this opportunity to view this branch of the industry at close range as I have just come into it, and I had known the exhibitor heretofore at long range only, and as a social worker interested in community amusement problems. "In the early days when we first discovered that there was such a thing as commercialized amusement, and that motion pictures then just beginning to be shown were likely to prove an important factor in this field, no such group of exhibitors as I found in Utica existed. In those days it was a branch of the industry that people thought 'anybody could run.' It had no problems then other than finding a vacant store, putting in a few seats, covering every possible space where light might enter %vith something as black as you could find, opening the doors letting in the neighborhood, collecting the nickels and fighting the 'uplifters.' "I found in Utica a group of responsible men, conscious of their duties in the community and eager to fulfill them. I found men with a real conception that they form the last trench line between the producer and the public, and enthusiastic to give to that public the best that they could find in the field. "Every business has its peculiar problems, and where the social worker has been inclined to look upon the motion picture exhibitor as nothing but a money making man, I wish that a hundred of them could have attended the convention and could have been able to see the seriousness with which they considered whether the time was ripe and whether they could conscientiously ask the Legislature to permit them to have children in their houses, and whether they were able to afford the children the kind of protection to which they think them entitled. "I have seen many conventions, and convention psychology is something that is apparent from the moment you enter the door. This convention had enthusiasm written all over it, every individual participating, and the group as a whole was enthusiastic. They were sure they were being served to the utmost of their capacity by their officers; they were conscious of the dignity of their work and they were more than anxious to be an upstanding, progressive business group in the community." LAEMMLE'S AMBASSADOR TO THE EASTERN WORLD. {Continued from page 6) a certain film," says James V. Bryson, of the Universal exchange, "but this time, believe me, it takes real nerve, and plenty of it when you have a boat ticket in your pocket and look at the map and see that it takes you to the other side of the world. And that is just the feeling that's over me now. When I go anywhere I generally wait until I'm there before I commence to talk about it, but this time when I find myself with a ticket and a passport in my pocket and going to a place I've no chance to talk back from, I'm simply forced to say good-by, and go. Often I've wondered how a man ready to be hung must feel when it comes to say goodby to the world forever. With me I'm not exactly saying that but I am saying good-by to those who to me are near and dear, and that's to the men and women in the moving-picture business in this territory, those whom I have dealt \vith and those whom I haven't. "It has been the loyal support and the^ business that the exhibitors of this territory have given me that has made my good luck possible, and I appreciate and cherish those thoughts more than anything else on earth outside of my wife, and can you blame me? No matter whether you have been my customer or not, you are in the business and it's the business as a whole that has made me and given me the job. "And to you, my friends, whether you live in a big to\Kn or a small one, whether you are the owner of one or a dozen houses, if you are the operator or the janitor, and to my competitors, I say good-by for now. God bless you now and always, and many thanks for all that you have helped me do, and helping me being recognized by the 'boss' and getting a better job. Drop me a line way out there in Sydney, Australia, and I'll tell you a lot about what's on the other side of the globe."