The Moving picture world (December 1920)

MOVING PICTURE WORLD December 18, 1920 Eugene Roth Is Absolutely Right CALIFORNIA : IMPERIAL : GRANADA and PORTOLA THEATRES Eugene H. Roth J. A. Partington Associate Directors San Francisco, Cal. December 3, 1920 Mr. Arthur James, Editor-in-Chief, Moving Picture World, 516 Fifth Ave., New York. My dear Mr. James: Mr. Partington and myself always read, with a great deal of pleasure, your editorials as well as the contents of your publication. I want to particularly congratulate you on the editorial on page 449 of your issue of November 27th, entitled, "Prostituting the Screen." It is indeed a very worthy article and one that should be read and seriously considered by every progressive exhibitor throughout the world. We should be very thankful that we are connected with and interested in such a wonderful industry as moving pictures. It should be the aim of the producer to produce the best pictures, and it should be the aim of the exhibitor to exhibit good pictures and clean entertainment, and I fully concur with the sentiment contained in the article that advertising slides or advertising of any nature on our screens is truly prostituting the screen. The public have given their very generous support to the moving picture industry because it has proven entertainment; we surely cannot ask them to pay the admission price for entertainment and rob them of what we have sold them by showing advertisements of any nature on the screen. I believe that that article should be repeated in your magazine at least half a dozen times a year, because it takes some exhibitors that many treatments to cure them of a disease. I could not allow this to go by without registering our keen appreciation of the splendid thought back of the article. Yours very truly, CALIFORNIA THEATRE, EUGENE H. ROTH, J. A. PARTINGTON, Associate Directors. Sam Spedon Dies (Continued from page 837) for many years as a publicity writer. It is given to few men to enjoy a finer service than that rendered me by Spedon. He was intelligent, loyal, faithful, enthusiastic, devoted to our work and seeking ever to make his service a constructive one. That he helped the motion picture industry in a very genuine way many know. In our years together, I saw how big he was in spirit, how broad in vision, how fine he was in every activity in which he engaged. His genial personality, his fine character and his enthusiastic interest in his work made him beloved by all of us at the Vitagraph studios, as well as by all with whom he came in contact. In fact, to know Sam Spedon was to love him. His friends were legion. He will be as sincerely mourned by thousands of people as he is by me. Few men have been more faithful to' their ideals in serving the motion picture industry and have labored harder in that service than Sam Spedon. His death is a definite loss to the industry. Smith's Appreciation Albert E. Smith, president of Vitagraph, said: "My acquaintance with Sam Spedon covered a number of years and it was with deep regret that I learned of his passing. He had been identified with Vitagraph from its earliest years. Sam was a real figure in the film world and it was but natural that he should have died in harness. He was a man whom I consider it a privilege to have known." Williams' A ppreciation J. D. Williams, manager of Associated First National, said: "In the death of Mr. Spedon, the industry has lost one of its most loyal and enthusiastic members. His faith in it was unbounded, and his allegiance to it knew no limit." A. M. P. A. Tribute Paul Lazarus, president of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers, said : "I know that all the members of the advertising and publicity fraternity of the motion picture industry will feel a personal loss in the death of Sam Spedon. Sam was one of the first members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers back in the days when he was publicity man for Vitagraph, and although his later affiliation with Moving Picture World necessitated his withdrawal from active membership in the A. M. P. A., we were always glad to have him come to our monthly open meetings. You will remember that last Thursday Sam was present. "I doubt if any individual in the mo tion picture business could claim as many real friends among his fellow workers as Sam Spedon claimed, and to all of us who were happy to be his friends his death means a real loss." Many Resolutions for Progress of Industry Adopted in California (By Wire to Moving Picture World) THE California zone of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America closed a two-days convention in Los Angeles on December 8. Seymour Tally, manager of Tally's Theatre, was chairman of the convention and Glenn Harper, >ecretary of the local theatre owners' association, was secretary. C. C. Griffin, vice-president of the national body, attended in an official capacity. The meeting was attended by members from all large cities and towns of California and Arizona. Twenty-five hundred dollars, the branch association's quota to the fund being raised by the national association, was collected. Resolutions indorsing the activities of Sydney Cohen as president of the national organization and the action of the national convention at Cleveland, were adopted. Many resolutions looking to the betterment of the industry were presented. Disapproval of contract breaking stars and directors was expressed in a resolution addressed to producers and exhibitors. Other resolutions requested that exhibitors decline to run pictures submitted by corporations which demand full payment of contract price at time of contracting; that producers exercise censorship on subtitles with a view of reducing errors in grammar and spelling ; that the convention go on record as against the practice of showing films on the percentage basis ; that the exhibitors composing the association are opposed to advance payments being required by distributors for a greater time than seven days before the opening date; that contracts with exchanges of a uniform nature that will tend to eliminate confusion and friction, be urged ; that public censorship be disapproved as against the best interests of the industry. Taxation, film rentals and many other problems were considered, and the question of securing legislation favorable to the best interests of the exhibitor was discussed. Saunders to Tour (Continued from page 841) alive with the spirit of the greatest of the industry's publications, whose great slogan is helpfulness and whose motto is First in Character First in Influence First in Circulation. We commend Mr. Saunders to your best attention. He's very much alive even though he's modest. He knows his business. He talks fair and square talk and he'll meet his people and his problems with cordiality and a justified enthusiasm.