Variety (October 1909)

12 VARISTY »» WHERE IS THE BOARD? r Wheu the Motion Picture Patent* Co. 4vas formed one ot its boasted strong points was the betterment of the film busi- ness through the verdicts of a proposed "Board of Censors." For a time this Hoard met and passed upon every film ready for release, but from the character of films lately upon the market it would seem that they are on vacation or have entirely lapsed. Pictures of crimes in various kinds have l>een running on the screens without re- straint, but it has remained for the im- ported article to cap the climax. In the regular releases for Sept. 22, Caumont brought out a film under the cap tion of "The Legend of the Lighthouse. The fundamental idea of the subject is based on ghoulishness, an old hag robbing the bodies of dead people washed ashore by a storm at sea. She even wades into the water knee-deep to gather in the body of a victim which the tide is slow in bringing in. There have been many ideas worked out in motion photographs, but vandals and ghouls have never appeared until the house of Gaumont sought thus to keep pace with some of its associates in the protected Patents company. It would not require a very large com- mittee of "censore" to indicate that this film is not a very desirable subject for display before assemblages of women and children; and a grown man of healthy mind will not find much "entertainment" therein. COLONIAL UNDER FIRE. Discussion is said to be going on among the Motion Picture Patents Co. officials as to whether the license of Percy G. Will- iams' Colonial Theatre (New York) to use Patents Co. releases shall be revoked. The possibility of revocation arises out of Mr. Williams' use last week of a mov- ing picture film showing the reception given to Dr. F. A. Cook, the Arctic ex- plorer, upon his arrival in Denmark. The film is an independent product, the output of the Great Northern Rim Co., of Copen- hagen, Denmark. The Williams houses play under a Pat- ents Co. license and are supplied with material by Wiliam Rock of the American Yitagraph Co. It is understood that Mr. Williams, or some one of his staff, repre- sented to the picture people that the Dr. Cook reel had been imported by him. How the matter will finally be settled is beyond the forecasting of the best in- formed among the New York picture people, but that there will be a good deal of trouble stirred up about it is the gen- eral belief. OPERATOR ELECTROCUTED. Philadelphia, Sept. 30. Royal A. Wccraer, the operator of a moving picture machine in an exhibition place on Frankfort Avenue, Camden, was electrocuted a few days ago while pre- paring his apparatus for a show. Weemer had followed his vocation for two years and was accounted an expert. He entered the machine booth alone. A few minutes later employe*, of the place heard him fall. He wat •found unconscious. An am- bulance hurried with him to St. Mary's Hospital, where two doctors worked over him for two hours, but he died without regaining consciousness. PICTURE NEWS CHICAGO'S CENSORING SCHEME. It is claimed by no less an authority on the subject than William H. Swanson, sec- retary of the Executive Committee of the National Independent Moving Picture Al- liance, that Chicago has the best system of censoring moving picture films and the best censor at the head of it of any city in America. Eleven months ago Sergeant Charles E. O'Donnell, of the Chicago Po- lice Department, was placed in charge of the four hundred and more moving pic- ture places of the Windy City. From the outset he established a liberal-minded policy and worked out a perfect system of inspection and censorship of films. Before a subject is allowed to be ex- hibited it must first be submitted to the police censor. If it is passed a permit is issued for the entire picture and if a certain part is ordered cut out a notation is made on the face of the permit. A com- plete record is kept of the title, the date inspected and the action taken. Violations are punishable by confiscation of the film, fine or imprisonment. Renting agencies have been making a practice of restoring to a film any section which has been or- dered cut out by the Chicago censor, ship- ping the full length to out of town cus- tomers. Urged by Mr. Swanson and thoroughly in accord with the plan himself, Censor O'Donnell will put in immediate operation a scheme which will do away with this practice of restoring censored films to their original condition. The parts ordered out of a film will be confiscated and destroyed and the film will thus be in condition to exhibit whenever it is returned to Chi- cago, without the necessity of another inspection. By the new plan every exhibitor re- ceiving his supplies from a Chicago agency will have a strictly censored film to ex- hibit to his patrons. Likewise when in process of its travels a film comes back to Chicago the rental agency will not be compelled to take out a section which has been censored and then put back /or out of town use. If the Patents Company would get their board of censors busy on some like sys- tem, the business of exhibiting films wouki be improved in the east as well as it has been benefited in the west. But the Pat- ents board is slumbering. STOCK COMPANY FAMILIAR. Chicago, Sept. 30. There may be some advantages in re- taining the same people in a stock com- pany which portrays the incidents of mov- ing picture films. Certainly there is a disadvantage when a picture house shows half a dozen films from the same fac- tory at one show. At two or three houses in Chicago re- cently a number of Biograph films have been shown. The woman, who is killed in one picture is a soubrette in the next. Women cannot change their facial appear- ance easily so the objection would be urged more on their part than on the part of the men, although a certain fat comedian with the Biograph is growing well known. PICKING UP EXHIBITORS. Chicago, Sept. 30. The independents are securing addition* to their forces. Manager Denton, of the Columbia Theatre at Memphis, Tenn., re- cently discontinued licensed service and will secure his film from the Dixie Film Company at New Orleans. L. II. Purcell, proprietor of the Exhibit theatre at Lan- caster, O., has changed to the independent service and deals with the Michigan Film and Supply Company, Detroit. NEW INDEPENDENTS. Chicago, Sept. 30. .Many new applications have been re- ceived by the National Independent Mov- ing Picture Alliance since the convention held at the La Salle Hotel. Among those accepted for membership are: The Powers Company, of New York, which will shortly place films on the mar- ket; the Philadelphia Projection Company, and the Scott Film Service Company, of Dallas, Tex. The initiation fee is $100 now, but be- comes $260 after Nov. 1. PHOENIX TAKING PEOPLE. Chicago, Sept. 30. Francis Powers, late of the Essanay, is now producing manager at the Phoe- nix studio in Chicago. Harry Farnum, late of the Selig plant, is stage manager for the Phoenix people. The studio in the Criterion Theatre is well fitted up and some excellent pictures are being made. SUNDAY CRUSADiNG AGAIN. Newark, N. J., Sept. 30. The police of this city rushed into ac- tivity last Sunday. A raiding party closed up seventeen moving picture establish- ments and arrested the proprietor in all cases. They were paroled. The regular theatres playing "Sunday concerts" were not molested. TO LICENSE OPERATORS. Cincinnati, Sept. 30. The Committee on Laws of the Board of Aldermen is examining a city ordinance recently passed under which it will be necessary for all operators of moving pic- ture machines to undergo examination be- fore a committee before they are allowed to ply their trade. The committee will consist of the Building Commissioner, the City Electrician and a journeyman op- erator, to be appointed annually. Applicants for license will be examined by this board. Operators who are en- gaged in the trade, before Oct. 1 are ex- empt from the examination. DON'T MIND FINE. Montreal, Sept. 30. There is some agitation over increasing the fine for disobedience of the Sunday law by moving picture managers. At present the penalty is $100. The authori- ties say the picture men show on the Sab- bath, paying the fine Monday with equanimity as the receipts for the several shows Sunday run to $600 or $800, which would be totally lost otherwise. KILLING OFF STORK SHOWS. Oreater New York's quota of "atoio shows" is fast diminishing, and this de- crease can be charged.directly to the pre* ence of theatres in the moving picture (tame. Chicago is able to hold its show ing because none of the theatres in that, city has been able to build up a profitable clientele whenever pictures have been tried. This fact is due largely to the question of location, as none of the Chicago houses which have tried pictures have been in a favorable position on the theatrical map. In New York, however, it is entirely dif- ferent as the theatres which have been^ turned over to motion pictures are sit W listed ideally for that trade. One exhib- itor, who knows. New York by heart, es- timates that of the 600 stores (high-water mark in the local field) there are not over 100 now running with any considerable balance of profit. There are 160 others conducted by men who utilize their entire family in running the place and grind out a weekly profit of $40 to $00 as a result of the combined efforts of the group. Ths remaining 300 store shows have been put out of business by the six theatres which have gone into the picture business as a permanent thing. New York, though, Is the only city of any size where this con- dition obtains and it is thought that there will be still further decreases in the store show field, as a result of the overwhelm- ing opposition the theatres are put- ting up. FILM EXCHANGE BLOWS UP. Pittsburg, Sept. 30. The Columbia Film Exchange blew up on Monday, and with the explosion, the Robertson Building, in which the Ex- change was located, was nearly wrecked. Many people were injured, though no one fatally. Flying glass and a panic among the many tenants of the structure caused the most harm. Loss is estimated at $200,000. Upon a shipping clerk entering the vault of the Exchange and turning on the elec- tric light, a spark flew onto a film. The clerk banged the door shut, running through the halls with an alarm. The vault, 3x6 feet, exploded immediately. The Columbia Co. was a property of the Pittsburg Calcium light Ob., of Pittsburg. The same concern only a month or two ago lost considerable stock in a similar accident in its Cincinnati branch. The Pittsburg Calcium Co. is rated as one of the best credits in the trade. Out of its Cincinnati trouble its most serious con- sequence was the difficulty in securing „ new quarters, many landlords refusing*,) leases on the score of advanced insurance rates. TALLY ONE FOR INDEPENDENTS. The "opposition" picked up a bit last week When it put over the first North Pole film of the season. On the ship which brought Dr. Cook to America were several reels of films made in Denmark for the Great Northern of Copenhagen. Special arrangements were made with the Collector of the Port to release the ma- terial and on Tuesday evening the first picture was shown. It reflects scenes attendant upon Dr. Cook's reception in Copenhagen, upon his first return to civilization.