Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

36 EXHIBIT (3 RS HERALD January 14, 1922 Urge Bookings on Independent Films Week of Feb. 1 8 Report 3,500 Exhibitors Endorse Screen Guild's Campaign To Establish Direct Relations With Theatre THEATRE owners of America are urged by the Independent Screen Artists Guild to set aside the week of February 18 for the simultaneous presentation of the latest productions of independent stars and producers. The Guild was organized recently by prominent independent stars, producers and directors, its members comprising only those who have their own studios or studio organizations. IN organizing the Guild, which is headed by Charlie Chaplin and Norma Talmadge, the independent producers, stars and directors, according to the aims and purposes expressed, hope to establish direct relations between the Los Angeles studios and the theatres to the exclusion of middlemen costs. This movement, Guild members state, will enable producers to put more money into better pictures and thus benefit the public at the box office. At the organization meeting in Guild hall at the Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles, the following were present: Producers: Joseph M. Schenck, Thomas H. Ince, Mack Sennett, J. L. Frothingham, Allen Holubar. J. Parker Read Jr.. Maurice Toumeur, Jack Coogan Sr., Marshall Neilan. R. A. Walsh. Louis B. Mayer, John M. Stahl, Col. William N. Selig, Sol Lesser, Al and Charles Christie, Sam Rork. Richard Walton Tully. King Vidor, B. P. Schulberg. H. O. Davis and Gus Ingliss. Stars: Norma and Constance Talmadge. Charles Chaplin, Katlierine MacDonald, Anita Stewart, Dorothy Phillips, Jackie Coogan, Buster Kcaton. Miriam Cooper. Florence Vidor, Carter De Haven. Flora Parker De Haven, Colleen Moore, Mabel Normand, Marcia Manon and Phyllis Haver. Directors: James Young, Sidney Franklin and Hobart Henley. Some of the other prominent invited guests were Al Lichtman. Mrs. Margaret Talmadge, Natalie Talmadge Keaton, Rudolph Cameron. Jack Morrcll. M. C. Levee. John McCormick, E. V. Richards, Julian Saenger, Lou Anger, Motley H. Flint, vice-president of the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank, and J. D. Williams. Thirty-five hundred exhibitors associated with Associated First National, have endorsed the Guild, it is said. * * * By establishing direct contact with the theatre, the Guild believes that the threatening cheapening of the quality of photoplays through the forced lowering of production costs can be obviated, while at the same time the public will benefit by better entertainment at reasonable admission prices. A proclamation adopted by the Guild says : "Let all be apprised that it shall be the sincere endeavor of the Independent Screen Artists Guild to make bigger and better photoplays during the coming twelve months and to aspire in all we do to surpass that which we already have done to the end that our public shall benefit thereby. "As evidence of the desire of the Independent Screen Artists Guild to give of its best the members therefore do propose to the independent theatres an American national co-operative exhibition of the Guild's finest motion pictures." Transferred to Coast (Special to Exhibitors Herald) LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4.— Maurice O'Hare has been transferred from New York to the Coast to become comptroller of Universal City. At the home office of Universal he was one of the heads of the accounting department. Circle Cashier Foils Short Change Artist Puts Detective on Trail and Man Returns $10 Bill as He Flees Theatre (Special to Exhibitors Herald) INDIANAPOLIS, IND., Jan. 4.— Miss Pearl Hamilton, cashier of the Circle theatre, checkmated a short change artist who attempted to cheat her out of $10. As a result of her work the theatre is ahead $2. A man handed her a $20 bill for a ticket. Miss Hamilton gave the man a $10 bill and the remainder of his money in small bills and change. By some trick, she relates, the man produced a $2 bill in place of the $10 bill and told her she had short changed him. Miss Hamilton gave him another $10 bill in exchange for the $2 and told the theatre detective to watch the man. The stranger entered the theatre and then started immediately to leave. The detective gave chase and as the fleeing man passed the cashier's window he threw the $10 at Miss Hamilton thus leaving the theatre treasury $2 to the good. Orpheum Cashier Is Robbed of $2,000 (Special to Exhibitors Herald) FT. WAYNE, IND., Jan. 4.— Mrs. Julia Bauer, cashier of the Orpheum theatre here, was robbed of $2,000 by two bandits who seized the money from a desk in the theatre office. While the robbers were putting the money into a grip, Dominique Ferlini, a musician, entered the room. When he refused to put up his hands he was knocked unconscious. The robbers escaped. Blank Theatre Damaged (Special to Exhibitors Herald) DAVENPORT, IA., Jan. 4.— The Casino theatre at 213 West Third street, an A. H. Blank house, was damaged to the extent of $10,000 by an early mornins fire. INDEPENDENT SCREEN ARTISTS GUILD is formed at a meeting and banquet held at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, December 15. The screen celebrities who participated (left) are: (Standing) Marcia Manon, Florence Vidor, Mrs. Carter DeHaven. Miriam Cooper, Colleen Moore; (seated at table) Anita Stewart, Norma Talmadge, Katherine MacDonald and Dorothy Phillips. Seated, at the table in the picture at right, are Col. Wm. N. Selig, Buster Keaton, Thomas H. Ince, Jackie Coogan, Charles Chaplin, Allen Holubar, Sol Lesser and Maurice Tourneur. Standing (left to right), Lou Anger, J. Parker Reed, Jr., James Young, Jack Coogan, Richard Walton Tully, Carter DeHaven, King Vidor, (back of De Haven) H. O. Davis. J. D. Williams, J. L. Frothingham, Rudolph Cameron, (rear) Joseph M. Schenck, Louis B. Mayer, Marshall Neilan, Ben Schulberg, R. A. Walsh and Hobart Henley.