Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917)

20 EXHIBITORS HERALD PRODUCERS PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION NEWEST STATE RIGHTS CONCERN TO ENTER FIELD Nearly 100 Percent of Producers Are Enrolled to Fight Salacious Pictures and Fly-By-Night Companies, It Is Said The "P. P. A.," which stands for "Producers' Protective Association," is the latest organization to make application for a charter under the laws of New York and which will enter the field of state rights buyers for the betterment of the industry, it is announced. William L. Sherrill, head of the Frohman Amusement Corporation, is the temporary chairman of the new body; M. A. Schlesinger, of the Mayfair Film Corporation, is treasurer, and Jesse O. Goldberg, of the Ogden Pictures Corporation, is secretary pro tern. Nearly 100 per cent of the independent producers of the country have already enrolled, it is said. The purpose of the P. P. A. is to correct many evils which have sprung up in the territorial field. Efforts will be made to eradicate the salacious features from which the state rights buyers are the chief sufferers, by reason of small concerns who make one or two sensational films, reap a rich (.profit therefrom, and then go out of business. They will eliminate the sensational films and establish an exchange, presided over by a competent manager, where all films will be passed upon. Officers Are Named. The temporary directors of the organization are Messrs. Sherrill, Schlesinger, Goldberg, Harry Rapf, president of Rapf Productions, Inc.; Dr. Shallenberger, of Arrow Film Corporation, and Jos. A. Golden, of Triumph Film Corporation. Fourteen concerns have signed as members. Membership is by corporation only, and each is entitled to but one vote. MONSTER EXHIBITORS' MASS MEETING WILL BE HELD IN DETROIT, SEPTEMBER 5-6, BY A. E. A. "THE SPY," A FOX FILM IS HELD UP BY M. FUNKHOUSER Major Funkhouser, Chicago's inimitable motion picture censor, is at it again. This time his mailed fist is aimed at "The Spy," a Fox feature film portraying the machinations of the German government secret agents. The Fox Film Corporation has begun court proceedings to have the picture passed by the over-zealous city censors and compel them to issue a permit for its presentation. Attorney Charles P. Schwartz, representing the Fox Company, speaking of the attempt of the Second Deputy of Police to administer the death penalty to "The Spy" film, said: "Funkhouser is playing Into the hands of the Kaiser boosters in the city hall, and we do not intend to let him get away with it." "Within the Law," another film made from the stage play by Bayard Veillier, is being held up by the Major. It is said the producers will also take this matter into court. Automobile Rides, Smoker, Cabaret and Theater Party Schedule for Theater Owners to Interest Business Men in New Association Detroit, Mich. (Special to "Exhibitor's Herald). — A monster meeting of all the motion picture exhibitors of Michigan and the city of Detroit will be held by the A. E. A. in Detroit, September 5 and 6. The afternoons will be devoted to automobile rides about the city and at night a smoker and cabaret with twelve vaudeville acts. The ladies will be entertained at a theater party. The purpose of the meeting is to interest more exhibitors in the new association and an invitation is extended to every exhibitor in the state. The Detroit local of the A. E. A. now his eighty per cent of the exhibitors of the city and all are working in harmony to make Michigan solid in this organization. Already arrangements are being made for the convention of the A. E. A., to be held in Detroit next July, by King Perry, secretary of the Detroit A. E. A., which promises to be the biggest one ever held in the United States. "BETSY ROSS" FILM WITH ALICE BRADY APPEARS NEXT WEEK Next week the new Alice Brady photoplay, "Betsy Ross," will be published by World Pictures. George Washington and other famous personages of Revolutionary days appear in this picture, which blends important historical events with a strong dramatic story depicting love and heroism. NOBLE FINISHES NEW FILM DRAMA FOR STATE RIGHTS After ten weeks spent in making a special picture which represents his idea of the acme of motion picture production from the standpoint of direction, acting, story and photography, John W. Noble has completed his first important contribution to the state rights buying exchanges. The drama, which concerns a pertinent subject, promises to cause comment by its presentation of a phase of the war little understood by Americans far removed from the trenches. Jules Burnstein, who has sole charge of the business management of Mr. Noble's special feature, promises that it will interest producers and dramatists as much as it does exhibitors and the general public.