Exhibitors Herald (Jan-Mar 1920)

March 20, 1920 EXHIBITORS HERALD 59 Metro to Inaugurate New Booking System With Cooperation as Basis Rowland Indicates Company Plans to Protect the Smaller Exhibitors from Unjust Competition Rental Terms to be Adjusted Properly Officials of Metro Pictures Corporation announce that they are perfecting plans for a new booking arrangement with motion picture showmen throughout the United States. As soon as the project has been worked out in detail announcement in full will be made. Cooperation between" Metro and the individual exhibitor is declared to be the primary purpose of the plan. Company officials state that it" is intended to protect owners of the smaller theatres from unjust competition, affording even the weakest of them a fair chance for substantial profits and a guarantee of independence, no matter how extensive or influential the great chains or circuits of picture houses may become. Cooperative Basis Under the proposed arrangement. Metro expects to reach every independent exhibitor with its product on a cooperative basis. The actual extent and scope of this cooperation is being considered from every angle, it is said. The guiding heads of the corporation, intimate that terms of rental and facilities for obtaining Metro's special production;, will be adjusted to the complete satisfaction of the exhibitors themselves. In making known Metro's intention to deal with all exhibitors, big and little, on a cooperative basis, the company's president, Richard A. Rowland, characterized as groundless the apprehension said to exist among some of the smaller theatre owners that the entrance of big financial interest into the industry would curtail their livelihood if not force them out of business. No Cause for Alarm ''As I have pointed out before," he said, "there is no cause for alarm on the part of any exhibitor, providing that he is honestly serving his community with the best motion picture compatible with his boxoffice intake. "There is not only room for every exhibitor now in business, but for a great many more. The industry is only in its infancy. Motion pictures are securing a stronger hold on the public interest and a firmer place in the public affections. Notion Is Ridiculous '°Y\ hat reason is there for any man to fear that he and his theatre are going to be swallowed up by financially powerful interests? The notion is ridiculous. In round numbers there are 17.000 theatres in the United States where the work of the motion camera is shown. The largest circuit or chain of picture houses in the country, that of Loew's, Inc., of which Marcus Loew is president, represents in the neighborhood of 200 houses. "Say that the other two or three major circuits are counted in, you have a situation in which 16,500 exhibitors stand in awe of. or are presumed to fear extinction by 500 exhibitors. The so-called 'big interests' are confronted with odds of more than 30 to 1 against the circuit On the face of these figures it should be the circuits rather than the individual exhibitors that cried 'help!" Room for All "There is, as I have said, more than room enough for all. And Metro is making its plans with the welfare of every progressive exhibitor in view. We are turning out productions of a standard that challenges competition. From their very inception our 'fewer and better' specials have taken rank as the foremost boxoffice attractions on the market; pictures of such money-getting power that Metro is gaining new friends everywhere among showmen who demand pictures of highest artistic merit and the quality that brings crowds to their theatres. Buy Greenwich Village Site for New Theatre NEW YORK. — Greenwich Village here soon will have its own photoplay palace. Negotiations have been completed whereby the Sheridan Realty Company has secured on a long term lease from the Rhinelander Real Estate Company, a triangular plot of ground on Sheridan Square. A theatre will be erected on this site. This piece of property has a frontage of 202 feet on West Twelfth street. 152 feet on Seventh avenue and 245 feet on Greenwich avenue. The theatre will have a seating capacity of 2,500 persons, and will be devoted to the presentation of motion picture attractions in conjunction with a musical program. The interior of the theatre will be arranged on the style of the Strand theatre on Broadway. The Sheridan Realty Company is a newly formed corporation headed by Max Spiegel. Sol Brill and William F. Rafferrv. Tie-Up Affected to Exploit Cohn Films Syndicate and Producers of Hall Room Boys Start Nationwide Drive Jack and Harry Cohn, producers of Hall Room Boys comedies, and the Sun and New York Herald syndicate, which controls the cartoon strip, have started a nation-wide campaign to exploit the screen versions in the newspapers of the country. .Wwspapers who take over the strip as a feature are being given the opportunity to become a part in a mutual advertising and publicity tie-up. More than fifty-five newspapers already have contracted for the cartoon series, and each of these will present to millions of readers daily the antics of the famous Hail Roomers, greatly augmenting the value of the screen versions in all communities. The motion pictures are not cartoons. Xeely Edwards portrays Percy Hall Room, and is featured in the series. Hugh Fay is Ferdie, and gives Edwards good support. The syndicate controlling the cartoon strip, which was created and still is drawn by H. A. MacGill, has joined forces with the Cohns to exploit both the pictures and the strip. The latter benefit through a plan created by the Cohns. in getting wide publicity. The plan, it is said, has met with great favor. With "Oh. Baby!" nearly completed, the Cohns feel that the series has become a great success. Davis Takes New Position H. M. Davis has resigned as manager of the Goldwyn Distributing Corporation's Boston branch, and now is acting as special representative for the Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation in the same citv. A GELETT BURGESS STORY SCREENED George Walsh, the Fox star, in "A Manhattan Knight" adapted from Woman" 'Find the