Exhibitors Herald (Apr-Jun 1920)

34 EXHIBIT ORS HERALD June 5, 1920 Cleveland Is Mecca for Entire Picture Industry izing themselves into a powerful national body. They are not afraid of a fight in the open with the interests arrayed against them. "In fact, they are ready for a light. The exploiting interests evidently do not want to fight us in the open. Neither their objects nor their methods can stand the light of publicity. A vigorous exhibitors' organization means an end of all the illegitimate drives for the exhibitors' money; it means an end to the invasion of the exhibiting field by the producer; it means an end of extortion by way of deposits; it means an end to the craftily matured percentage plan^: it means an end to the million dollars of graft the producers are collecting from improper advertising on our screens. "... The call to the Cleveland convention at the Hotel Winton comes from independent exhibitors prominent in organization work in thirty-two states. They decided upon Cleveland as the place, and the 8th to the 11th of June after careful deliberation for the time of their big meeting. They will gather at the Hotel Winton." William Brandt Offers To Act As An Intermediary William Rrandt, president of the Theatre Owners' Chamber of Commerce of New York, is one of several men who have volunteered their services in an effort to adjust threatened differences between the two organizations. In a letter to Sig Samuels, secretary of the I. M. P. E. A., and to Sam Bullock, secretary of the M. P. T. O. A., he suggests that the M. P. T. O. A. appoint a commmittce of seventeen to n.eet with the executive committee of the I. M. P. E. A. at New York June 3 and 4, in an effort to settle disputed questions so that one and not two conventions will be called to order Tuesday. June 8. "This is in line with my policy that this industry should have a 100 per cent national organization, instead of several national exhibitor bodies," declares Brandt. "With that thought in mind, I consider it a pleasure and an honor to extend an invitation through your committee to become the guests of the Theatre Owners' Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon to be held at Hotel Astor on June 4 at 1 p. m. Should you signify your intention to accept tiiis invitation on behalf of your committee, I will be pleased to arrange hotel accommodations." There is a possibility that his invitation will bring the factions together, as the committee of seventeen of the Independent Motion Picture Exhibitors of America will be in New York June 3 and 4, and many of the leaders of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America had arranged to be in New York on the same dates. J. D. Williams Urges Harmony in Effort J. D. Williams, manager of the First National Exhibitors Circuit, Inc., who at the recent Chicago convention pledged his personal aid to the exhibitors in organizing to fight the producer exhibitor, issued a statement this week warning the exhibitors of the difficulties which face them and urging them to overcome petty differences to accomplish the result they seek. "On to Cleveland! It is in every issue of the trade journals," the statement opens, "Exhibitors met on a recent Southern trip were saying it. Producers and distributor's are echoing it. Visiting theatre owners, in New York from several territories, talk enthusiastically about the next big chance to mould a national league of exhibitors, representatives of every section, free from petty policies, nation-broad in scope and determined in its course of defense for individual interests. "Similar attempts in the past make it a big order to fill, and a great undertaking for the exhibitors whose unusual initiative and business acumen give it an impelling force. It is a purpose beset with dangers and difficulties, surrounded by countless pitfalls, but with possibilities of such magnitude if it succeeds that it is worthy of every ounce of support, encouragement and counsel that can come to it from any quarter. It is doubtful if any group of independent exhibitors, or any individual theatre owners, passively or intensively interested in the outcome of Cleveland, realize so keenly what tests of mutual confidence, of personal integrity, of individual loyalty and steadfast resistance to insidious, destructive influences, are certain to follow and attack the ambitions of the national league to be solidified at Cleveland as the exhibitors who. three years ago, joined hands in a national cooperative ami defensive structure which was, and is. fundamentally identical to the composite unit soon to be created. Their theatre interests were threatened then with dangers equally as great as the independent exhibitor menaces upon which the Clevc ipwiiiGiimitimiaiHiiwmnniW!^^ I Steps Taken To J Bring Harmony [ Sydney S. Cohen issues state 1 ment declaring fight on pro § | ducer-exhibitor is the great j j question before exhibitor at I Cleveland, which gives both I conventions a single, dominat | | ing purpose. William Brandt, president of ! j the Theatre Owners Chamber I | of Commerce of New York, | | starts movement to bring lead j | ers of Independent Motion Pic j I ture Exhibitors of America and j | of Motion Picture Theatre § 1 Owners of America together in § j New York June 3 and 4. j J. D. Williams, manager of § | First National Exhibitors' Cir | | cuit, Inc., issues appeal for har | | mony, reviewing difficulties of § [ organizing the Circuit three j | years ago and warning against | | letting petty differences inter | | fere with the one great purpose. | ^^itiiiiiiiitirni[iiiTiiitnitiiiiiTiTrriitriTTiiiTiirTniiiiiTiTMiiM(iiiiiiiiiiriiriiiriT)TiiFiMrf iTTiriiifiiitiiiijiiiutiiiiiKi^ land assembly will unite and act. So they got together and organized First National Exhibitors' Circuit. Cites Experience of First National "This is neither a brief nor a plaudit for that cooperative body. Instead, I shall set forth the essential features which have made it succeed as a national unit of exhibitors, knowing that in such a recital of facts heretofore unheralded there are practical points of guidance for the exhibitors who will gather in Ohio for a purpose that is similar in many respects. "First, the exhibitors who merged their respective desires for relief from oppressive conditions, began with a definite, well established plan. They confined themselves to the big, important phase of the menacing conditions they confronted, and they applied themselves strictly to determining the best and quickest means for eliminating them. "When it became known that a number of exhibitors had formed a cooperative organization the majority opinion throughout the industry was one of scoffing and ridicule. 'It won't last.' 'They'll wind up in a scandal.' Who ever heard of exhibitors with the ability to work together for long?' and other and more discouraging comments were the tributes paid. The members were taunted individually. Professional tale bearers lost no opportunity to relate, every time they encountered a member alone, stories of alleged questionable methods and ulterior motives harbored by one or more of the other members. "Similar experiences will befall the exhibitors selected to administer the nffairs of a national league. The solution, for the future, as in the past, if the same. Pay no attention whatever to gossip, rumor or vague insinuations affecting the loyalty, integrity and sincerity of any league official. Stick together and resent such tactics as vehemently as you would attack them if they affected an intimate personal friend. Be prepared for gossip and malicious attacks. There are many individuals who will malign anything and everything in which they have no voice, and in which, properly, they have no interest. Stick together as though you were glued during the post-convention epidemic of vicious chatter, and one of the first great periods of doubt and discouragement will be weathered successfully. Use Care in Naming of All Officers "Care, discretion and mature consid-' eration should precede the selection of executives for a national league. To them is entrusted the problem of leadership, direction and progress. Once a majority vote has delegated authority of this kind, the only practical and safe policy is for every member to cast his allegiance one hundred per cent to the elected officials, without regard to previous inclinations. First National members have never wavered, for an instant, in thorough and encouraging support of the executives they have chosen. Every exhibitor in that cooperative group has been staunch and unshakable in personal allegiance. "Even with this unanimous aid. the