Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917)

IEXHI B I TORS • HERALD] I Today m Pictures J A Heart to Heart Resume' of What's 1 What in the Film Business and Why iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiniiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii By John R. Freuler IF ONE were to take the recent eruption of interviews, statements, letters, and other expressions in the trade press at all seriously, it would be necessary to feel highly alarmed about the present and future of the film industry. A great many very drastic remedies, a vast number of prescriptions, a lot of "expert" advice, is being offered for conditions in the motion picture industry. I did not know it was that sick. I do not now think it is. In fact, the film industry is a lot better off than this sudden uprising of the doctors would imply. Every once in a while somebody who has the impression he is in the film business goes and takes a look at his ledgers and finds things in red figures. Right away he decides the world is upside down and that the film industry is wrong side out, headed for ruin on high gear. Like as not, he rings for a couple of stenographers and frames up a "piece for the papers." It relieves his feelings, produces a headline, and gives some of his associates who happen to have financial colic a chance to do some more writing and talking. All of which is quite as natural to the film trade as spring freshets in the Missouri river. The film business is not headed for perdition. In fact, the film business is doing fairly well. Unwise Investors Enter Field There are a number of things the matter just now and there always will be. There always will be a certain percentage of unwise investors who will put their money into the hands of the unfit for film projects. There probably always will be a certain percentage of exhibitors who will encourage anything which is held up with extravagant promises as the newest "last word in pictures, the super-extraordinary." Promotions based on these factors will always have unhappy periods, but that will not spell ruin for the picture business any more than now. So they of the film trade may talk of wastes, of mergers, of the star system, of the multiplicity of distributing systems, of the extravagances of advertising campaigns, of this and of that, but all this talk can have extremely little to do with the courses of nature The film business is working out its own salvation and it will continue to do so until the end of time. When the wind blows, hold on to your hat. "What About Star System?" Probably the most popular question about the motion picture business, from the trade and the consumers of photoplays alike, is: "What about the star system? Will it keep up?" That this question should be so universally raised is the natural outcome of the so-called star system itself. The public thinks of photoplays entirely in terms of stars, and the exhibitors, manufacturers and distributors can only reflect in some manner the attitudes, expressions and opinions of the public. And right there I think you have the answer — to quote myself as my favorite author and authority — "The public thinks of photoplays entirely in terms of stars." The "star system" is, in my opinion, entirely natural, inev JOHN R. FREULER itable and desirable. I am sure that it will survive as one of the biggest elements in successful photoplay production and distribution. I might go into the question at great length from the point of view of the photoplay alone, but perhaps 1 can arrive at more convincing evidence by stepping out into two other closely allied fields of enterprise, the speaking stage and the publishing business. Stars in All Lines The history of the drama is written in the biography of stars. Not star actors alone, but star producers, star dramatists, star playwrights. The publishing business is also a star business. In the publishing field we have star authors, star publishers, star illustrators, and even star bookbinders. And also star fiction characters. In both of these parallels I mean by "star" the focal personality on which the goods are sold, the personality which is the dominant factor of the production. In the field of drama, we can point readily to many easy examples of the star personality, as, for example. Maude Adams. Her drawing power is influenced in but slight proportion by the character of the vehicle in which she appears. The people go to see Maude Adams, just as in earlier days they flocked to see Charlotte Cushman, Edwin Booth, Sol Smith Russell, and as they now go to see Sarah Bernhardt. As examples of other expressions of star personality in the dramatic field, we find certain productions have gone out on the market to sell mainly on such names as Belasco or Charles Frohman, exemplifying the star producer. Also, we have plays which go forth with the star dramatist as their chief selling factor, and I might cite examples all the way from William Shakespeare to Lord Dunsany and J. M. Barrie. Cites Popular Fiction Characters In the publishing field, we can point to innumerable examples to prove our star contention. Books and magazines are sold on the names of authors, as, for instance, Tarkington, Chambers, . Lewis, etc., of the star authors. Sometimes they are sold on the stardom of characters created by the author and which grow to overshadow the fame of their makers — I have in mind, for example, ]. Rufus Wallingford, whom, I will wager, is at least as well known as Mr. George Randolf Chester, his creator. Potash and Perlmutter are better known than Mr. Montague Glass, who made them what they are today. The public looks, however, for "another Wallingford story" or for "another Potash and Perlmutter story," not for the new Glass story or the new Chester story. Which proves the character is the star. Not a few published productions depend for their success on the names of the men who draw the covers and illustrations, and thus we have the star illustrators of high price, like Howard Chandler Christy or James Montgomery Flagg or John McCutcheon or the late Howard Pyle. Since the photoplay passed the novelty stage, when pictures which moved constituted an attraction, or, in other 27