Exhibitors Daily Review (Jul-Dec 1928)

Exhibitors DAILY REVIEW, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1928 DAIt¥*RSVIEW Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Published Daily Except Sunday ARTHUR JAMES, Editor W. R. WILKERSON. Publisher Abraham Bernstein, Managing Editor; Herman J. Schleier, Business Manager. Executive and Editorial Offices, 21 West 43rd Street, Suite 409, New York. Telephone Bryant 1489. Address all communications to Executive Offices. Subscription Rates including postage Paid, per year United States and Canada, $10; orcign, $15; single copies, 5 cents. Remit by check, money order, currency or postage. Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1926, at the post office of New York, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Published and copyright by Picture Publishers, Inc. Printed by Cline Printing Corporation, New York City. Most of our New York City subscribers are furnished their papers by carriers, in order that they will get a more prompt service than that given by mail. Subscribers will oblige by noti» fying us about any lapse in service. Joe Blair, West Coast Representative, 1255 Taramind Avenue, Los Angeles (Phone Hemp* stead 1514). London Office and Correspondent: Samuel Harris, "The Cinema", 80-82 Wardour Street, London, W. 1. Canadian Office: Canadian Moving Picture 'Digest, Z59 bpaUina Ave., Toronto, Canada. MAIN STREET by GORDON TRENT Mrs. Cecil B. DeMille, in one of her infrequent excursions into the public prints, comes forward with the news that DeMille's prveious stage experience will be invaluable in his first M-G-M picture which will be a talkie . . . She will make a good press agent . . . December will be Henri Ellman Month in Chicago when the Columbia Film Exchange will go after the greatest business in their history . . . Louis Laemmle, brother of Carl Laemmle is installing sound apparatus in his Alcyon Theatre, Highland Park, 111. . . . Jack Johnson, ex-pugilist is "knocking 'em dead" in Boston movie houses, using in his stage act motion pictures of his ring battles ... Ed Ryan, Jr., personal secretary of Col. W. S. Butterfield is on a 6-week vacation in Europe and will spend the holidays with his mother in N. Y. . . . Boxy is sitting for his portrait by the noted Roumanian painter, Elie Cristo-Loveanu, which will be exhibited at the Gainsborough Galleries soon . . . Adolph Ztiknr accompanied by Mrs. Zukor and Mrs. Mildred Zukor Loew and two Zukor grandchildren are en route to Hollywood for a pleasure tour ... At the Motion Picture Club some one suggested what would happen in case Mr. Fox decided not to take up his buying contracts for the New York independent houses. The answer was — there would be a lot of funerals around town . . . Jiminie Grainger has been missing from his office for a couple of days. One of those golf colds . . . Since Marty Van Pragg is sitting behind the big desk, one notices he wears a high polish on his shoes, a carnation in his lapel and plenty of "stay-comb" on his hair . . . Oscar Price must have sold the foreign rights on his Dick Talmadge pictures, he was smiling at every one he met yesterday . . . Some afternoon around four o'clock there is going to be a sudden death on the handball court at the Motion Picture Club. To hear Sam Rothafel and Charlie Swartz argue about a point you would think a murder was being committed. "What's Right with the Movies" (Twenty-second of a Series by Industry's Leaders) By CECIL B. DeMILLE Pres. Association M. P. Producers The successful general is he who fights on the offensive; who pushes the attack into the enemy's territory. The defensive fighter gets nowhere. Arthur James rightly has called to our attention the fact that we have been too timorous in our attitude towards our art-industry. Instead of answering questions fired by those who seek to find fault; we should be making positive affirmations. The motion picture needs no apologist; it could use a Ulysses S. Grant! In discussing "What's Right with the Movies?" we will get at the answer best by discussing the general average of pictures today as against ten years ago. To ascertain this just take a night off and screen the best picture of 1928; and the worst of that year; the best film made in 1928, and the worst from all standards of taste and quality which has been made this year. Such a comparison will amaz,e you. Why the best of 1918 would be counted only as second rate today! And the worst of 1928 looms up almost as a super-special alongside the inferior production of ten years ago. We have come to maturity in pictures. We have shed juvenile experiments and juvenile bad taste. We who make pictures look upon our job as a responsibility which demands every atom of our best and most considered judgment. Even if the producers did not feel a deep moral obligation towards this most powerful of expressive mediums; we could not under any circumstances return to the "border line" type of story which occasionally was attempted in earlier years of the industry. That kind of story, the type which has a "double meaning", one of them unwholesome, cannot be made today. First of all it will never pass the severe tests set by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America; second, it can't make money because it attracts only a limited audience. As pictures cost a fortune to produce and distribute, it is obvious that bad pictures are very bad business. This has all been said before but it bears reiteration. "What's Right with the Movies?" When any expressive medium shows the growth in moral and intellectual stature and average made by motion pictures in the last decade — certainly that medium needs no apologist. Individual criticism directed at individual scenes in individual pictures falls back against the proof and evidence of this great growth. Individual attack we will always have with us — and individual attack never means anything except one man's opinion. When unified public opinion can find anything to criticize in the movements of the average of motion picture quality, Film producers and exhibitors will have cause to worry, but not until then. Buys "Trial Marriage" Charles Goetz, president of State Cinema, announced his organization had purchased the worlds rights on the production "Trial Marriage". Corliss Palmer and Jack Richardson are featured in the cast. Pascoe Biophone Rep. Alfred Weiss, President of the Biophone Corporation has just announced the appointment of Mr. C. P. Pascoe as General Representative in the territory of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. ANNAPOLIS' PROLOG Bert Glennon Shoots Special Musical Film in N. Y. As a Photophone prologue to "Annapolis," Pathe has produced a lively musical comedy presentation reel at the Sound Studios in New York with the McCarthy Sisters, formerly of George White's "Scandals" heading the array of talent which includes the Hastings Twins, of the "Scandals," Morton and Mayo, Nell Jewel, Dolores Weekes, six specialty tap dancers and a Francis Weld~>n troupe of twenty-four dancing girls. Bert Glennon directed this novel reel which offers all the entertainment of a stage production such as is featured in the big Broadway houses. Solo and ensemble, song and dance numbers make it a tabloid musical comedy. Josiah Zuro, musical director of Pathe sound pictures led the orchestra and Francis Weldon directed the dances. Clark Robinson designed the setting. The costumes were inspired, of course, by those worn by officers and midshipmen at Annapolis. Throughout the music and dances are nautical, making the prologue blend perfectly both in sound and theme with the "Annapolis" feature which is offered with Photophoned sound and musical accompaniment. Harry Thomas Heads N. Y. Film Trade Board Harry Thomas, President of First Division Pictures, has been chosen President of the N. Y. Film Board of Trade, replacing David Rosengarten, who resigned because of the fact that Commonwealth Film Exrhange has been acquired by First Division and he therefore ceases to be a manager of an exchange. The Board expressed regret at Rosengarten's resignation and conveyed their appreciation of the services he had tendered the Board. Thomas has been a member of the organization since its inception holding the office of Vice-President, and is one of the most popular members of the Board. <Q Ships" Picked For Hoover Show The Navy Department on Saturday gave a rush order to Captain Harold Auten, representative of the New Era Films, Ltd., for a print of "Q Ships" to be placed immediately on board the battleship "Utah" at Brooklyn Navy Yard for the use of Mr. H. Hoover, during his forthcoming "Goodwill" cruise to South American waters. The "Utah" left Brooklyn Monday for South America. Aubert Gets Soviet PARIS — A contract has been signed between Herr Zohrer, representative of Derussa in Berlin, whereby M. Louis Aubert secures the French rights for all films of Soviet production. ^= fc "The Center of Motion Picture Society' If you want to see Who's Who in the motion picture industry, dine at THE PARK CENTRAL GRILL Open for lunch, dinner and supper DINE AND DANCE To the tunes of BEN POLLACK and his PARK CENTRAL ORCHESTRA PACr CENTRAL FIFTY-FIFTH STREET AT 7th AVENUE NEW YORK CITY 52/