Exhibitors Herald (Oct-Dec 1920)

December 25, 1920 EXHIBITORS HERALD 137 Be a Leader With Us Hodkinson Tells Exhibitors IV. W . Hodkinson issued the following statement prior to his departure from New York to make a thorough survey of motion picture conditions in all the important centers of the country. AS A COMPLIMENT to both the home office and field staff of W. W. Hodkinson Corporation I wish to say that they are doing such wonderfully effective work that I feel that I am free to get out and meet our men in the field and to consult with important exhibitors with large investments in individual or strings of theatres who are beginning to wonder where they come out. "I cannot speak for all, but let me say to thase who believe in me that I can assure the future business prosperity and leadership of one progressive exhibitor in each community and, of course, the V W. W. HODKIJiSOS most progressive one will be the first to recognize the Hodkinson organization's product and plan at this time. At a time when retrenchment and panic is general the strength of the Hodkinson organization becomes apparent as we have more independent units at work and ready to deliver superior product in pleasing variety than ever before. What organization can give your theatre a lineup for 1921 that equals ours? "The Spenders" — A Benpjamin B. Hampton production, made from Harry Leon Wilson's novel. "Partners of the Tide" — Irvin Willat's second independent production from the novel by Joseph C. Lincoln. "The Truant Husband" — Rockett Brothers' first picture, from Albert Payson Terhune's story. "East Lynne" — Hugo Ballin's second independent production, one of the greatest stage classics of all time. "The Living Child" (tentative title)— A J. L. Frothingham production. "Keeping Up With Lizzie" — Rockett Brothers' sparkling comedy, made from ' Irving Bacheller's story. "The Other Woman"— A J. L. Frothingham production with extraordinary cast. . "The Light in the Clearing —Irving Bacheller's most famous story, made by the Dial Film Company, and directed by T. Hayes Hunter. "The Man of the Forest" — Another powerful Bacheller novel, produced by Benjamin B. Hampton. "A Certain Rich Man" — William Allen White's famous novel, and a Great Authors, Inc., production. These are just a few — there will be many others of similar calibre. * * * Xow is the opportune time for the exhibitor to get back of the Hodkinson organization 100 per cent and insure his future. Don't make me play you against some one else, but give me the benefit of your support when it will do you the most good. Don't misunderstand me when I say that you need me more than I need you. In March, 1919, I said "* * * Our's is the only organization that will, at the critical moment to you. as exhibitors, have a stream of life blood for your theatre that will swell your profits instead of swallowing them. The only organization that will be able to use the general confusion for the exhibitor and its own interest." The whole industry is waiting for some solution of its exhibitor-producer difficul RALI'H PROCTOR ties. Our plans will be generally followed as fast as others can cut away the dead wood and shape their course. Be a leader with us! The Day of Nationalism in Pictures Is Gone By RALPH PROCTOR On the eve of the introduction of Stoll Corporation pictures to the exhibitors of the United States the executive and sales personnel welcome the opportunity to extend its cordial greetings to the industry at large. All of us in these offices and in the Pathe exchanges throughout the country — and I am sure in saying this I am reflecting their sentiments — are firm in the belief that the coming twelve months will be a period of marked prosperity to producers, distributors and exhibitors. Surely so far as this company is concerned every effort will be exerted to make its first year's business commensurate with what we believe to be the standard of the goods we shall set before the exhibitor and through him before the public. So it is in this pre-holiday period we have been giving less attention to Christmas and New Year activities and naturally concentrating our energies on preparing prints for the scrutiny of keen-eyed showmen. * * * There are indications the coming year will be one in which the exhibitor and his property — the theatre — will be much in the thoughts of the public. Preliminary rumbles forecast an assault by organized and voluble small minorities on a rational Sunday. It is unlikely they will succeed to any appreciable degree. The exhibitor who chooses to give battle to these forces of reaction will find abundant support not only among his immediate patrons, but also throughout his neighborhood. Right here in New York one of the city's most eminent clergymen has publicly deplored the agitation to change the existing order of things regarding Sunday observance. In Washington, where the first attack will be made, following the precedent established in pre-prohibition days, opposition to the movement has developed in most unexpected quarters, and there, too, prominent clergymen are quoted as outspoken antagonists of the blue law proponents. * * * If the writer may be permitted there is one particular thought he would like to leave in the mind of the exhibitor — and that is that the day of nationalism in pictures has gone. In the realm of the screen "there is no East nor West." In the search for fields and pastures new American producers are going abroad in order that the patrons of the photoplay in this country may be given a change of locale, that the great educational factor of the screen may have even broader scope. And surely no one will deny that dramas photographed in other lands have a distinct charm, that they possess what for a better term we describe as educational, meaning that they furnish food for the mind as well as entertainment for the eye. Consequently the Stoll Corporation believes that pictorially it is bringing something new to screen followers in this country. On the dramatic side I am confident exhibitors when they have had a chance to examine the product will agree with the statement that Stoll actors have upheld the best traditions of the stage and screen.