Exhibitors Herald (Jul-Sep 1922)

64 EXHIBITORS HERALD September 16, 1922 Selznick News Plans Banner Year SELZNICK News expects 1922-23 to be a banner year for its news reel. Added to the already big camera personnel of 392, Selznick News has developed plans to extend its pictorial news gathering activities to isolated regions of Europe. E. B. Schoedsack, supervising cameraman for Europe, has just completed a tour of England, France and Germany, where he completed arrangements for obtaining timely and exclusive news subjects. It is expected that persons of international prominence will attend the world-wide exposition this fall in South America, and Selznick representatives will cover the mammoth economic pageant thoroughly. * * * Perhaps the greatest element which has brought Selznick News to the eyes of 18,000,000 persons weekly in the motion picture theatres in this country, Australia and South America, is the unique titles used. This idea was conceived by David O. Selznick, younger brother of Myron Selznick. in charge of production at the United Studios. These titles simply perpetuate the importance attached to the stories at the time they "broke" on the front pages of metropolitan newspapers. The past year has witnessed many notable scoops, according to the Selznick organization. Prominent among these, the company reports, was the scaling of Mount Rainier by Perryman. Selznick cameraman, and the Pickford-Miller wedding. Selznick News was first on the screen, it is stated, with the railroad catastrophe at Sulphur Springs, Mo., in which thirtyeight were killed and 137 injured. * * * During a year in which the news reels have been particularly active, Selznick News has made enviable strides in establishing itself in the industry. What it has done in the way of covering the big events both in this country and abroad and also in introducing novelties of a highly entertaining nature has had a great deal to do with its success. The things which the reel has avoided notably, those tiresome subjects which in the earlier days were all too common, have so contributed materially to the position in the affections of exhibitors everywhere which the reels now enjoy. picture industry who have learned to analyze everything they read from the standpoint of the photoplay, "Wine," written by William MacHarg, will have particular interest as one of the early Selznick specials. "Wine" was published in the Cosmopolitan Magazine some months ago. The Selznick company was fortunate enough to be able to obtain the right to do it in pictures. Field Force Primed For Big Year (Continued from page 6$) To exhibitors out Omaha way, there's only one Sherman T. ("Steve") O'Brien. Showmen all over the Middle West will tell you that "the big fellow" is just simply a part of that territory, that his ready wit, good humor and his wholesome Irish smile could be just as easily dispensed with as Farnam street in Omaha. Max Milder has been Select's Philadelphia representative from the day they opened for business until now. He'll never be known as anything but a Select trooper. David J. Selznick, who is at the wheel for Select in Pittsburgh, has won a myriad of friends in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia since he took over his executive responsibilities in the "smoky city." Try to find an exhibitor in Dave's domain who won't say he's a regular fellow and a high class business man. James H. Curran, who presides over Portland, Me., for Select is another former salesman who elevated himself from the ranks to a managerial chair by sheer force of personality and application to his work. Floyd Lewis arrived a long time ago. He's been at the head of St. Louis exchange organizations for ten years and has a faculty of coming right back and doing business with the same people over and over again. Floyd has stood the acid test of years without a tarnish. Edward C. Mix, branch manager in Salt Lake City, is playing a return engagement there after having handled Select in Los Angeles for a considerable length of time. Ed stands like the Mormon church in Utah. Ralph B. Quive comes back to his native San Francisco after a lapse of three years. Ralph opened the old Vitagraph Company offices in Frisco and later introduced Realart pictures in that territory. There is no more popular exchangeman anywhere than Ralph. Paul R. Aust of Seattle is one of fhe youngest exchange executives in the business but in his two years and a half with the Realart corporation, he built up a vast following and fine reputation among exhibitors throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Paul has enjoyed phenomenal success as a manager. Louis ("Tiny") Reichert's exhibitor friends, who are a legion all over the country, will be truly glad to learn of his return to Washington territory. "Silent" Phil Selznick and Claude C. Ezell are the "fence riders" of the Select outfit, serving as field representatives of the powers-that-be at the Select home office. Selznick Pictures Presented in Nearly Every Country in World General Foreign Representative Sam E. Morris has been unusually successful in disposing of foreign rights of Selznick Productions. At the present writing there is not a place on the map which is not sold up except a few small countries in South America. During the short space of time he has been abroad Mr. Morris has concluded contracts for the sale of the foreign rights of Selznick and Select pictures in the following countries: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Jugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Albania, and Turkey. These sales, with the exceptions aforementioned, make Selznick pictures 100% sold throughout the world. Selznick Procures Stories by Noted Authors for Production AN impressive feature of the Selznick Pictures Corporation 1922-23 season announcement is the calibre of the authors who will furnish the stories for the forthcoming productions. Any schedule which includes one or more stories from such literary notables as Robert W. Chambers, Sir Anthony Hope, Elinor Glyn and Eugene Walters must necessarily be admitted to have exceptional strength. While Anthony Hope has written many other successful novels and stories he is best known for "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "Rupert of Hentzau." It is the latter story which will be one of the series of specials of the coming year to be produced by Selznick. Robert W. Chambers needs no introduction to the American public. He is an author with a real value at the box office. For years he has been the best circulation builder the popular magazines have had. His appeal to the masses is tremendous. The Chambers story which Selznick will produce is "The Common Law." Eugene Walters is just such another as Robert W. Chambers. His field is the drama and his plays have been among the outstanding successes for years. "The Easiest Way" was the play which brought Mr. Walters the greater part of his distinction. It is this work the Selznick company will include in its 1922-23 program of "Sixteen Only." * * * Everybody knows Elinor Glyn. "Her Unwelcome Lover." adapted from "The Reason Why," will be offered by Selznick during the coming season. For the many followers of the motion