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players frequently appeared in Film Tagst snappy little propaganda films which I made for the Government, rather on the lines of the somewhat ineffective Food Flashes which I made for the later war (it doesn't seem quite safe to say the last war). The long litigation by the Federal Government of America against the Motion Picture Patents Company, the General Film Company and other defendants (Anti-Trust Law) whose beginning in 1909 caused so much trouble at the time, ended in favour of the Government on October 16th, 19 15.
In the same year our manager, C. Parfrey, left us and later joined the Kinematograph Trading Company, and Lewin Fitzhamon also drifted away. Yet 19 15 was described as the beginning of the Hepworth-Pinero boom. Our Barnaby Rudge was trade shown at the Alhambra by the purchasers, the Kine Trading Company, and 'three thousand footers' were described as the rage of England, America and Italy.
One of the first practical suggestions for a trade benevolent fund was mooted but did not bear fruit until later. This is a most important institution because, from its very nature, the film trade is certain to have a large number of 'left-overs' who early become too old to earn their living in the manner to which they were accustomed.
Griffith's very fine Birth of a Nation, which had been so successful at the Scala Theatre, was transferred to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, but it failed to attract large audiences in its new abode. I paid a courtesy visit to Mr. Griffith at his office there, but although there were chairs about he kept me standing all the time I was there with him. But that wasn't very long. His Macbeth, put on at His Majesty's Theatre in June, only remained there a week.
The year 191 7 appears to have been a momentous one for the film industry, for almost immediately we come upon the remark that 'our producers now compare favourably with the Americans,' which I am afraid is one of those thoughts which are fathered so prolifically by wishes. But the Government of the day began to realise the value of the screen and its popular influence, and Colonel Buchan, of the Department of Information, invited the Trade Council to assist in Government propaganda.
This was turning over a new leaf, for the industry had been very much vilified one way and another. Then the National Council of Public Morals held a commission to take evidence for and against the kinema. After a long period it produced a refutation
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