Educational film magazine; (January-December 1920)

HOW MOVIES LOWER LIVING COST One of the new uses for ejiacatianal films is a practice that has-coVje jiito" vogue with industrial concerns, namely,'" giving the workers worth-while entertainment to make them come to work on time, k is comraonty; acknowledged that the reason for prescnJ- day high prices is, among other things, the lack of adequate production. Workers are being paid 100 per cent, to 400 per cent, more than before the war, and the average workman turns out less than 75 per cent, of what he formerly produced. Part of this decreased production is due to lack of punc- tuality, nor can the employer be too severe about this tardiness lest the workman might take advantage of it. Into this breach the more progressive American manufacturers, including the United States Rubber Company, have in- jected or are planning to inject the motion picture, in order that the workers may be drawn to the plant thirty minutes to an hour before the blowing of the whistle. They are meanwhile shown some worth-while film, and best of all, a good attendance is as- sured, it having been proved in actual practice that the old saying, "You can draw more tlies with molasses than with vinegar," is equally good in this instance, and that more workers show up by reason of the entertainment than they do under threats. Nor is this all that the worth-while edu- cational picture or entertainment feature has to do for the workman. Ever)' student of the subject realizes that each bit of in- formation that is added to the workman's store of knowledge is making that workman more worth while. The more he knows the better is his work, be it in a factory or an office. Therefore, the better the films that are shown to the workman in these com- mercial auditoriums the more certain the prestige of the commercial house; hence, improvement in the product, increase in pro- duction, and gradual lowering of the high cost of living. This might seem to be a far cry 'as a re- sult of using the worth-while motion pic- ture, but any earnest student of the situa- tion will agree that there is more in this idea than appears on the surface. coming to St. Louis for work, got its first run at the Orpheum Theater in that city recSntiy. , ' Considerable local interest has been aroused in the film by reason of the number of prominent men and women in the cast, quite apart from the purpose of assisting in the campaign for $500,000 to house era- ployed women. The scenario of "No Address" and the entire production is a "made in St. Louis" one. It was produced by the publicity com- mittee of the Y. W. C. .\.-Letmar Housing Campaign and tells a graphic story of St. Louis housing conditions. Tlie mayor ap- pears in the cast. AMERICAN FILMS IN BRITAIN Bv Percival Gassett Leede, England American motion picture films are im- ported into Great Britain by film-renting agencies whose headquarters are in London or Manchester. Business in 1918 with the local branches of these companies was good, and supplies were fairly plentiful. There were restrictions on the importation of American and other films, largely on account of the shortage of shipping. The local branches, however, were not directly con- cerned with these restrictions, which did not reduce the supplies to any great extent. In a few instances films were lost on torpedoed ships, but as a rule supplies were fairly regular in 1918. The proportion of American films ex- hibited in Leeds is estimated to be at pres- ent from 80 to 85 per cent of the total num- ber. It is thought, though, that American producers will not be able to maintain this lead for long after conditions have become normal, as British producers will probably secure a large part of the business if their films become more attractive. There was no advance in the prices of films or film hire during 1918 as compared with 1917, although exhibitors hfve increased the prices of seats and also made larger profits by the increased attendance during the war. BRITISH FILM IMPORTS AND EXPORTS Cinematograph films amounting to 78,- 653.751 linear feet, valued at $3,751,502, were imported to the Uniiti BCingdom in 1917. In 1918 film imports fell to 53,650,709 linear feet, valued at $2,615,471. In 1917 the customs duties on these films were $899,903 and the following year were $824,395. On the other hand, the United Kingdom exported to the United States motion picture films amounting to $714,966 in 1917, but the next year the exports dropped to $407,990. Thus the film im- ports into Great Britain, coming almost en- tirely from this country, were nearly seven times greater in valuation than the British film exports to the United States. Condi- tions brought about by the war were re- sponsible for this wide difference, but now the film producing and distributing interests of Britain are planning to offset this dis- parity to some extent by invading the American field. SIX REEL SHOE FILM The national retail shoe dealers' conven- tion was in Boston in January, but the dele- gates made trips tlirough shoe factories in St. Louis hundreds of miles away. The International Shoe Company selected the Rothacker Film Manufacturing Company, of Chicago, to make a six-reel motion picture of the world's largest shoe industry. Watterson R. Rothacker dispatched a di- rector and two cameramen to St. Louis to pack the shoe plants snugly upon the "cellu- loid magic carpet" for transportation to Boston. After the Boston convention the picture was shown to smaller gatherings of dealers over the country, and later a one- reel educational film will be made up from the 6,000 feet. THEY MAKE INDUSTRIAL MOVIES FROM THE SKY ADVERTISING DENVER VIA FILMS A new plan of introducing Denver and Colorado to the thousands of visitors to that city has been evolved by the Denver Manu- facturers' Association in cooperation with other bureaus of the Civic and Commercial Association. This plan is to have motion pictures of Colorado activity shown at the noonday concerts at the auditorium during the summer. The manufacturers', tourists', jobbers', realty, retail merchants', membership and agricultural and live stock bureaus have united to prepare many reels of pictures of Colorado scenery, industry and general com- mercial activity for this purpose. "NO ADDRESS"—A HOUSING FILM The St. Louis film *'No Address," telling the human interest story of how a lonely girl failed lo find any place to live after 'P HE Venard Photographic Co.. of Peoria, 111., is the first industrial motion picture com- ]':\uy to own their aeroplane to make movies from tlie clouds. The machine Is an American-Curtiss tiiplane and is equipped with a small fortune in instruments including special attachment for haii'iling the movie camera and a regulation army camera for film work. The photograph at tin- left is that of C. L. Venard president of the * iTitpany. whi'e at the right is J. W. Becker, the I'l'n'. who had two years experience in the T' S. Army. 21 ll