Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1923 - Mar 1924)

March 8, 1924 EXHIBITORS HERALD 47 SHORT SUBJECTS Laments Lack Of Comedies On Broadway Grace Kingsley, motion picture editor of the "Los Angeles Daily Times," writes in a recent issue: "Aniid the sonorous and solemn clamor about superfeatures, what has become of the humble two-reel comedy, the vulgar rib-ticklers of yore? I see them advertised as in the making, but unless it be Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton or some other trade-mark comedian appearing, you never view comedies on Broadway. And the famous ones have all gone in for five-reelers, because, otherwise, even they get no attention. "Yet I've seen some gags in Jack White's Mermaid Comedies as funny as in any of the great ones' opera. You have to wander into some theatre on Main street to chance a glimpse of the old-time fooleries." If the comment be based upon unfaulty observation, Los Angeles' justly famous first line exhibitors run untrue to form. From their playhouses has emanated much that has become standard showmanship. Reactionary treatment of the short subject, at a time when exhibitor thought generally is concerned with the development and promotion of minor length interests, is especially regrettable, not to say surprising, from this source. Radio Tie-Up Used Again Kinograms, recently beneficiary of a tie-up with Radio Broadcasting Station WJAZ described in this column, announces further co-operation along similar lines. Kinograms has photographed, through co-operation of the Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company, the process of making the vacuum tube. Westinghouse Stations KDKA, KYW and WBZ, at Pittsburgh, Chicago and Cambridge, Mass., respectively, will broadcast this information to their listeners, together with the names of theatres in their respective territories where the newsreel may be seen. Athletes and Actors Athletics level participants. What a man says he can do or thinks he can do matters very little in the field of sports. What he actually does, against the keenest of competition, determines his status, with the result that athletes find their places and maintain them. Thus we have distance men, sprint men, hurdlers, pole vaulters, and each "does his stuff" without trying to do the other's. Actors are not essentially different, but seem to believe they are. While a runner who can do 100 yards in 10 seconds busies himself in trying to better that mark, an actor who can "burn up the league" in one or two reels immediately surveys with envious eye the major distances and, unless prevented, devotes his efforts at the earliest possible moment to that field. All of which is not unnatural, even as it is not unnatural for the runner to try himself over the various distances in order that he may learn his especial capabilities, but the runner sacrifices nothing in the test, whereas the actor usually cuts himself free of the short subject field before trying the feature footage and seldom comes back. If there is any reason why an actor furnishing a steady supply of good short subjects cannot make his five reel experiments without interrupting that supply, it has not been disclosed. Incidentally, such a course certainly would enhance the chances of success attendant upon the publication of the experimental feature in a degree obtainable in no other way. When judgment, fair play and exploitation go thus hand in hand it is difficult to fathom the customary performance. Newspictures Neglected In the newspicture synopses given on this page this week at least half a dozen headlines merit mention in theatre advertising. If one of these is mentioned the week will be an exceptional one. No theatre copy is so rare as that advancing the interests of the newspicture. And no product is so rich in advertising capital. NEWSPICTURES FOX NEWS No. 41: With U. S. Army Fliers to Central America — Denbv Resigns — Indoor Tank Crew Tr;uns— Visit Phoenix Indian School — American Lumber Fleet Arrives in Tokio — Reviews Ft. Bliss Troops — Winter and Summer Sports Hand in Hand in Colorado — Oldest Auto Still Running^lSO Foot Leap Wins Ski Tournament. Fox News No. 42: Carp Overcrowd Lake Minnetonka — Sinclair Home From Europe — Vast Herds Graze in West — With Circus in Winter Quarters — Escape Rent in Florida Houseboats — With Fleet in Winter Practice — U. S. Cavalry Drills — Alpine Resort Fairyland^Dynamite Opens Channel From Cotee River to Gulf of Mexico. INTERNATIONAL NEWS No. 17: Mexican Revolt Crushed — Dtnby Resigiis — Airmen Start Globe-Circling Flight — Bury Siamese Prince Mid Splendor — All Holland on Skates — Marines Capture Island in Mimic Warfare — Territorial Specials. INTERNATIONAL NEWS No. 18: Winter Severe Over Nation — Self-Hoisting Steeplejack Device Tested on Eiffel Tower — Society Notables at Palm Beach — Sinclair Home to Testify — Coolidge Appoints Oil Investigators — Italy Moves I'nknown Hero — Japanese Crown Prince Wed — Carp Swarm Lake Minnetonka — Egyptian Independents Celebrate Political Victory — Ice Boats Set New Records — Armv in Mimic Warfare. KINOGRAMS No! 2330: Denby Resigns Xanie Oil Investigators — Fliers Start Around World— War Trophies Perple.>c U. S. — Fight Drifts on Alaskan Trails — Dawes in Germany— Train Sailors for Merchant Marine — Mary and Doug in New York — Set New Ski Record — Ed Wynn in Antics. KINOGRAMS No. 2331: Reveal Method of Making Radio Vacuum Tubes — New York Buried in Slush — Sinclair Home to Testify — Greeks Celebrate Olden Rite — Interview Anti-Saloon League Head — Demonstrate New Gas Masks — Gold Star Mothers Ask France Trip — Motorcycles Tow Ski Riders — Tom Taggert to West Indies — Visit McKinley's Tomb — Visit Boys' Winter Camp at Montreal. PATHE NEWS No. 14: Sanitarium Publishes Health Rules— Gritfis Home at Hamilton. O. — Dempsey At New Orleans Races — Cross Sahara in Record Time — Denby Resigns — Fliers Off on World Flight — New Captain Inspects Shanandoah — New Auto Trophy 7 Feet High — Honor Heroes at Riga — U. S. S. Colorado Completes First Cruize — Territorial Specials. PATHE NEWS No. 15: Gold Star Mothers Ask Trip to France — Fight Battle of Flowers at Cannes — Train Sailors for Merchant Marine — House Passes Gamer Tax Bill — America Aids German Kiddies — "Stay at Home," Says^ Hobo King — San Antonio Has "Siamese Twins" — Sells Papers Week Days; Preaches Sundays — Hawaiian ■ Craters Active — Territorial Specials.