The Exhibitor (Nov 1938-May 1939)

14 ME E T AL KATZ • A1 is THE EXHIBITOR touring field representative. He is especially delegated by us to contact you, to make certain you are taking advantage of the various services offered you by Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc. • Long ago, we realized that a successful motion picture trade journal must be more than a publication which is mailed to its readers regularly. It must keep in touch with its many readers and the territory it serves by PERSONAL CONTACT. • With the best local coverage in its territory, with its many correspondents, THE EXHIBITOR is keeping faith with its readers. • But to make this contact even more intimate, we have designated A1 Katz as its field representative, to meet you, to pick up news stories and pictures, to discuss your problems with you, to see how else we can be of service. • One of these days he will be dropping in to see you. Give him a moment or so. His one purpose is to serve you. • WATCH FOR HIM. SPECIAL FEATURES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR An Editor-Exhibitor Speaks Cherry Valley, New York. Gentlemen: Perhaps you can bring this to the attention of your readers. It represents an editorial opinion on the movies in the realm of education. Sincerely, F. LeVere Winne, Cherry Valley Theatre. (Editorial Note — What follows represents the expression of editor-exhibitor Winne. Not only is he the editor of the town weekly but he is also operator of the town’s theatre.) THE MOVING PICTURE AS AN EDUCATOR Francis Lee, Editor of the Oneonta Star, in writing of the educational advantages and possibilities of the moving picture, and the use of moving pictures iiJ our school classrooms, said: "People inclined to belittle the quality of the Hollywood movie product — which really is better than many realize — should be delighted to know how great a part the screen plays in the realm of education.” Editor Lee quotes Professor Hogben of the University of London, who has said: "It is commonplace to say that the cinema has placed new powers in the hands of the educationalist, but few have really grasped what its new powers are. So far, the cinema has largely been canvassed as a way to stimulate interest or conveying in a more vivid and palatable form information which is less attractive through the medium of print. What we still have to realize is that it can explain many things which many people can never understand at all, if they have to rely upon the printed word.” The graphic picture makes a far more lasting impression upon the mind than the printed word. Everyone agrees to that. A child can read a story, memorize it so that he may tell it almost word for word as the author wrote it. But true comprehension, full realization of the story comes only through seeing it enacted on the stage or through the medium of pictures. For years past, we have had the benefit of pictures — illustrations in our textbooks and in our newspapers. A more extensive use has been made of pictures as the inventive and creative genius of man has made this method of pictorial reproduction within the reach of everyone. The popularity of the picture increased until today every child old enough to press a lever, is making permanent records through the medium of the low-priced camera. Now we find more and more colleges, universities and not too few schools using moving pictures in science and art departments, and adding them to many other departments as subjects are found suited for teaching in all classes. They are using these instructional films, and no less entertaining films, because they believe education of the student is increased to the highest degree by their use. The moving pictures will be remembered far beyond the rules of syntax and a great deal longer than dates and descriptions relative to building of the Roman Empire. Editor Lee and Professor Hogben have expressed the great need of motion pictures in our classrooms. Hundreds of others in public life have done the same, but there is one important factor in their argument favoring motion pictures as an educational medium they have overlooked. How many people realize the time and money expended by producers of moving picture productions to make them correct to the minutest detail. Take, for example the making of a picture like "Marie Antoinette,” "The Life of Louis Pasteur,” or "Wells Fargo.” For weeks, for months, men are pouring over books, traveling to foreign countries, digging out of the pages of history, spending thousands in research, that every scene, every costume, every article that appears on the screen, will be an exact reproduction of the original. Even characters must bear a close resemblance to the character of the one who enacted the drama in real life. No historian in the land would have the resources or the time to search out the data equal to that often unearthed only by the script writer of a photoplay. This alone is worth unestimable value to the people of America and of the world. When educators and heads of educational institutions appreciate this fact, they will appreciate the true worth of the motion picture. The child of today, who attends the theatre and sees the world events pass before his eyes through wonderful medium of newsreels, will forever be a student of world history. He needs not to ponder over details of the description of the incident of the "Bombing of the Panay,” which almost brought the United States and Japan to a breaking point — he saw it in pictures. Motion pictures taken of the actual bombing. And better still. Twenty-five years from now or a hundred years for that matter, these pictures will be available to his and his children’s children. Not only is the motion picture doing a great job for us today, but it is doing something far greater for posterity. It is building a huge text-book in motion pictures of the activities of the past. And further than that. Don’t let us pass without giving thought to sound in motion pictures. Consider what it would mean to us to sit in a theatre or a classroom and see and hear Abraham Lincoln deliver his address at Gettysburg. Or to see and hear Theodore Roosevelt giving his commands as his troops went up San Juan Hill. Can’t you imagine what the children of the year 2040 will realize from seeing and hearing the events of today. Can there be any greater medium of instruction, than the moving and sound pictures? BOOK REVIEWS Dynasty CHARLES LAUGHTON AND 7, by Elsa Lauchester. xvi 269 />. , with introduction by Charles Laughton. Illustrated. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. 193 8. Of interest to all in the motion picture business, of interest especially to those who are about to play Paramount’s "The Beachcomber,” is "Charles Laughton and I,” a biography of the distinguished English actor, at the same time an auto-biography of his brilliant wife, Elsa Lanchester. Such an association as is here represented is reminiscent of the case of George and Florence Arliss, and the book is indeed a worthy companion to Arliss’ "Up from Bloomsbury Street.” To tell more of a delightfully told real-life story would be somewhat to detract from the pleasures of anticipation, but to indicate that included is the human side of "Frankie and Johnnie,” "The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” "Trelawney of the Wells,” "Liliom,” "Alibi,” "French Leave,” "On the Spot,” "Payment Deferred,” "If I Had a Million,” "The Devil and the Deep,” "The Island of Lost Souls,” "Measure for Measure,” "Cherry Orchard,” "Love for Love,” "The Bride of Frankenstein,” "Ruggles of Red Gap,” "Mutiny on the Bounty,” "Daydreams,” "Les Miserables,” "Rembrandt,” "The Beachcomber” — to name but a few of the stage, screen plays in which the two, separately, together, have appeared with such signal success — only makes for added zest in acquiring, reading "Charles Laughton and I.” January 25, 19 19