Exhibitors Herald (Jan-Mar 1920)

EXHIBITORS HERALD "The Luck of the Irish" Breaks Records at Grauman's Broadway Publication Date of Allan Dwan's Latest Feature for Realart Will be Advanced One Month Owing to Exhibitor Demand Unheralded by publicity and with hardly a line of advance notice, "The Luck of the Irish," Allan Dwan's new picture romance slipped quietly into Grauman's million-dollar Broadway theatre in Los Angeles and has literally smashed across a screen victory in a pre-release showing. Sid Grauman, in hailing the Realart feature as a "triumph for the cinema art," was echoed by reviewers of the Western city, and by audiences who packed the big house and caused the well known exhibitor to say in a telegraphic message to John S. Woody: "I don't think any theatre in this country is big enough to hold them." Wires Story of Success Sid Grauman announced in his advertising that he was glad to direct the national premier of the Mayflower production. A week later, a wiser and wealthier man, he wrote the following message to General Manager Woody of Realart: "Just finished engagament of 'The Luck of the Irish.' This production, first as a box office attraction, is enormous. I don't think any theatre in this country is big enough to hold them. Second, it has every quality to please, not only the classes, but the masses, and this in i.tself, I think, is a triumph for Allan Dwan. The exhibitor that books 'The Luck of the Irish' can congratulate himself as soon as the ink is drv on the contract.— SID GRAUMAN." ' Mr. Grauman photographed the unprecedented crowds, as a record of the biggest week at his theatre. Had Reserved Announcement Realart has made no previous announcement regarding "The Luck of the Irish," according to a statement from President Morris Kohn, because it is not the policy of the company to commit itself regarding pictures until after they have been put to practical test. "This .is the plan we have followed in the past," says Mr. Kohn, "and even now we would say nothing regarding the Grauman showing of 'The Luck of the Irish' except for the fact the news has traveled so widely and the consequent requests for information have been so persistent that we have had no alternative. Our idea was to turn the picture over to an exhibitor and let him put it on without exploitation assistance, in exactly the way he puts on other productions. The result of the test was to demonstrate to us just what sort of picture Mr. Dwan had made. "And now the production has run away from us — has done so much greater business than would ordinarily have been expected under the circumstances— has created so much comment m the trade — that we have been forced to announce its release fully a month earlier than we had intended." Advance Publication Date According to John S. Woody, Realart's general manager, the Realart plan is to let other folks do Realart's boosting. "Exhibitors who read our advertising," he explains, "long ago realized that we are not partial to the use of adjectives. We have said what we honestly believed could be said about our pictures and have stopped there. We certainly do not enthuse over productions until we have seen them, and it happens in the case of 'The Luck of the Irish' that Mr. Grauman's Los Angeles audiences saw the picture in its completed form even before Realart officials had viewed it here in New York. In passing it along to the exhibitors of the country, we feel that our recommendation of the production has truly substantial backing. At any rate, we do not believe any exhibitor ever has more highly praised a picture than Mr. Grauman has praised 'The Luck of the Irish.' Our only regret is that we could not keep the good news secret for about three weeks. The necessity for making the release a month earlier than had been planned has somewhat upset our calculations, but if exhibitors want the picture badly enough to demand it at once, we are going to do our best to accommodate them. 'The Luck of the Irish' will be ready for release February 23d." Hope Hampton Wins Praise of Kosloff in "A Modern Salome*' One of the most interesting episodes of "A Modern Salome," in which Hope Hampton makes her screen debut, and which will be distributed through Metro, represents the court of King Herodias of ancient times. It is the incident where the notorious Salome does her famous Dance of Enticement, at the end of which the king offers her whatever she desires as a present, and she asks for the head of John the Baptist. Theodore Kosloff, the famous Russian Ballet dancer, whose work has been seen on the stage and on the screen, was in charge of the ballet which supported the star in this dance, and in fact staged this entire episode. When rehearsing the ballet, Kosloff commenced to instruct Miss Hampton in the steps she should do for this number, but was so struck by her natural grace that he asked her to go through the dance as she conceived it without any suggestion from him. She ran through a series of steps and movements, and Kosloff immediately decided that she needed no further instruction from him, but assembled his supporting ballet and told Director Perret to "shoot" the scene, since the star was all ready for it. Bearing in mind the fact that Hope Hampton has never had any terpsichorean training, and that she has never even seen anybody else perform this dance, the fact that the young star won such high praise from a man like Kosloff is very noteworthy.