Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Apr 1923-Apr 1924)

Page Twelve CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST I | What Is a $1.50 Picture? By JOHN E. EDWARDS Director of Publicity, W. W. Hodkinson Corporation. we day of the $1.50 motion picture as a regular commodity is still so far distant that present day exhibitors and movie patrons need have but little worry as regards them. Since the birth of the motion picture industry, approximately a decade ago, there have been but a comparatively small number of screen features that really have merited the charging of so-called legitimate theatre prices of admission, $2 and $1.50, which latter figure now seems to be the accepted scale for what producers frequently see fit to call their super productions. As a matter of fact, there have been a number of more or less elaborate and expensive productions foisted upon an unsuspecting public at the advanced price of admission, that “have no more merited the extra levy than would some of the mediocre program pictures of the early days of the industry. “In the humble opinion of the writer, and this opinion has, to a large measure been borne out by box office facts, there has only been one really legitimate $2 motion picture and that was David Wark Griffith’s masterpiece of all time, “The Birth of a Nation.’ This stupendous production was the first of its typ«, and the only motion picture which ‘ever really merited a $2 admission fee. Three pictures of more recent vintage might legitimately be said to have properly belonged in the $1.50 class. They are ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,’ ‘Way Down East,’ and ‘The Covered Wagon,’ with the latter production open to argument, in spite of its tremendous success in various sections of the world. “Outside of a few of the really greater cities, such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and say one or two others, there seems to be no great field for pictures at $1.50, no matter how great their merit. While it is true that 2 number of productions have managed to attract box office revenue at these increased admission prices, it is questionable if the practice is meeting with desirable. results when attempted in the smaller cities and towns. | _ “The question has been asked if it is deemed advisable to exhibit motion pictures at the $1.50 admission price in Canada, where the showing is confined to a single or special theatre. REGOGBIG Pictures Read The Digest The answer would seem to be that while it is possible an unusual’ feature attraction might draw a certain amount of business at that figure, the chances are that excepting in sporadic cases, the net return would not warrant the risk. “The presentation of these so-called super features at greatly increased prices of admission, as a usual thing have a decided reaction on the motion picture business generally. Patrons of the silent drama have accustomed themselves, in large measure, to paying a certain price, depending upon the theatre they are accustomed to attend, for their entertainment, and most of them resent the attempt to ‘boost’ prices for initial showings in a town, especially when they realize fil! well that it will be only a question of time before they will be given the opportunity of witnessing the same identical production at regular box office prices. “Of course, in the case of something that is really out of the ordinary channels; where a vast. sum of money has been expended to, bring about a feature picture of the unusual, and where it is given a lavish presentation, with special orchestral accompaniment, prologue, and etc., there may be, and probably is, justi’ fication in the higher admission scale. But these pictures are few and far between. “Mr. W. W. Hodkinson, pioneer film magnate, and the largest independent distributor of motion picture on the western continent, if not the world, has taken a determined stand on the question of excessive prices for pictures, contending that instead of boosting prices, existing conditions in the screen world seem to warrant a decrease, judging from the present standard of feature productions. He recently said: ““T believe that any move intended to generally increase the admission prices of motion picture theatres at the present time will result in failure. Motion pictures are having difficulty enough maintaining attendances at the present admission scale, and it is my belief that increased quality in production is necessary in order to maintain even the present price.’ és . Mr. Hodkinson takes .the stand that the combined industry ‘can probably furnish enough pictures of real ly special quality to support, in each large community, a house charging regular theatrical prices of admission, but it would take the combined efforts of the industry, with the open hand extended to new producers, to encourage additional worthy things from new sources to get an adequate supply of really superior things to carry through such a policy. — “The Hodkinson organization does not subscribe to the idea of the $1.50 picture, not because it does not admit that a comparatively few feature pictures might be worth the higher admission price, but because it believes that a standard admission is conducive to the best results of the motion picture industry as a whole.” Barbara La Marr _ First National Star Barabara La Marr is to be a First National star. A contract has been signed whereby Miss La Marr will be presented in a series of pictures by Sawyer-Lubin, to be produced by Associated Pictures Corporation under the supervision of Arthur H. Sawyer. Barbara La Marr has earned her right to stardom after a meteoric career during which she has risen to be one of the foremost leading women now on the screen. Her work in the principle feminine role im George Fitzmaurice’s “The Eternal City” is considered one of the contributory causes to the success of this — independently produced picture of .Samuel Goldwyn. Among her other recent pictures are “Quincy Adams Sawyer,” “Strangers of, the Night’ and “Trifling Women.” At present she is appearing in “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.” 7 | It has been definitely decided, according to Associated Pictures Corporation, that Clarence Badger will direct Miss.La Marr in her first production for, First National release. The La Marr pictures will be produced at the new west coast studios of S-L Productions and early in 1924 Miss La Marr will make her debut as a First National star in her first picture. | “Let Not Han Put Asunder Advertising Pages.