Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Sep 1918)

EXHIBITORS HERALD AND MOTOGRAPHY Sound Principles, Capable Men, Fox Aims In its fourth year as a producing and distributing company, the Fox Film Corporation points to its record of achievement as justification of the aims it affirmed when the corporation was formed. These aims can be summed up in two sentences : Making and selling motion pictures must be conducted on the sound principles which obtain in any other business. The motion picture business cannot live unless exhibitor as well as producer gets a fair share of the profits. Fox has always contended that there is no difference in the making and selling of films and the manufacture and sale of shoes, ships or sealing wax; principles which have obtained in the manufacture of other goods must prevai/ in the manufacture of films. WASTE AND EXTRAVAGANCE BARRED Following this principle, Fox has barred from its organization the get-richquick methods which have proved the undoing of numerous film companies and the criminal extravagance and wastefulness that have given a certain section of the film industry a bad name among business men. Everything in the organization, a Fox statement asserts, is based on efficient and sane handling of product, material and personnel. The corporation has resources that are practically unlimited, but probably the biggest asset is its president, William Fox. A genius for showmanship, Mr. Fox gives to the Fox corporation the benefit of his long and thorough experience in the theatrical business. This experience enables him with marvelous accuracy to forecast the tastes and wants of the public, so that Fox films always, with unerring aim, shoot to the mark of public approval. And something that makes the Fox corporation unique among motion picture producing concerns is that Mr. Fox is an exhibitor himself, and the films he makes must be such that will prove profitable to him in his capacity of theatre owner. The owner of thirty-odd theatres all over the East, Mr. Fox has just recently taken over a theatre in St. Louis, and plans are afoot, it is said, for his acquisition of other playhouses throughout the country. So when the Fox corporation makes a picture Mr. Fox sees to it that the picture is what an exhibitor wants. EXECUTIVES ARE CAPABLE MEN The executives of the Fox Film Corporation arc all men of large affairs and proved ability. Their training is not limited to the film business. In bringing them into this organization Mr. Fox has realized the importance ol having executives who will give the corporation the benefit of training in other lines of endeavor. Winfield R. Sheehan, general manager, is probably one of the most far-seeing, resourceful men in the business todav. WINFIELD R. SHEEHAN Long a newspaper man of varied experience, he also has the added advantage of having been prominent in the affairs of the biggest corporation in the country — the corporation of the City of New York. As secretary to Police Commissioner Waldo, Mr. Sheehan showed a thorough grasp of the intricate problems of city administration, demonstrated that he was a leader of men and a builder, and proved that he had the necessary vision to do big things in a big way. In Herman Robbins, assistant general manager, the corporation has a man who has a thorough knowledge of every angle of the industry, a man of ideas and proved capacity for directing big affairs. MAC BRIDE AN EXAMPLE OF POLICY A shining example of Mr. Fox's policy of surrounding himself with men of affairs is James E. MacBride, assistant to the general manager. Mr. MacBride, who recently joined the organization, resigned as civil service commissioner of New York to become associated with the Fox forces. Although he was drawing a large salary from the city, he received such a flattering offer from Mr. Fox that he felt obliged to accept. He has had a wide experience in advertising and publicity work. He won distinction as the manager of the remarkably successful campaign of John F. Hyland for mavor. The executives of the sales forces have been picked because of their thorough knowledge of exhibitors' wants and ambitions. Most of these men have grown up in the Fox corooration and have won their positions on their merits as salesmen. The district manasjers are Harry F. Camnbell. stationed at Boston: Clyde Eckhardt, at Chicago: George Mann, at Los Angeles, and Paul C. Mooney, at Cleveland. MANAGERS OF BRANCH OFFICES The branch managers are: Sam Dembow, Jr., Atlanta; William Shapiro, Boston; Thomas W. Brady, Buffalo; Harry W. Willard. Chicago; Lester Sturm, Cincinnati; Sidney Abel, Cleveland; E. H. Wachter, Dallas; Robert Churchill, Denver; Field Carmichael. Detroit; C. E. Penrod, Indianapolis; C. \Y. Young, Kansas City; Morgan A. Walsh, Los Angeles; Edward S Flynn, Minneapolis; Allan S. Moritz, New Orleans; Louis Rosenbluh, New York; Sydney Meyers, Omaha; Jack Levy, Philadelphia; Frank C. Burhans, Pittsburgh; Joseph B. Roden, Salt Lake City; W. J. Citron, San Francisco; Albert W. Eden, Seattle; D. M. Thomas, St. Louis; C. F. Senning, Washington, D. C. The Canadian managers are: Maurice West, Montreal; Benjamin Rogers, Toronto, and Joseph Leiberman, St John, N. B. The sales policy is a simple one: Fair and square merchandising based on the principle that the exhibitor lias some rights and that the business cannot live unless everybody con 45