Exhibitors Herald (Sep-Dec 1924)

70 EXHIBITORS HERALD November 22, 1924 Fazenda has the only feminine role in the attraction, while Buster Collier plays the leading male role. Century ARTHUR TRIMBLE, 5 year old actor, has been selected to play the title role in the Buster Brown comedies which Century will make. . . . Wanda Wiley has just signed a five year contract with Julius Stern, president of Century, who believes that the young comedienne is “destined to be one of the best box office bets of the year.” “Up in the Air” will be the, first of the new series starring Miss Wiley. . . . Stella Doyle is Buddy Messinger’s new leading woman in “Sailing.” Pareimount JAMES CRUZE this month placed in production “The Goose Hangs High,” a stage play by Lewis Beach. In the cast are Constance Bennett, Esther Ralston, Myrtle Stedman, William Otis, Eddy Peel, Jr., Gertrude Claire and James H. Marcus. Walter Woods and Anthony Coldeway made the adaptation. . . . Jack Cunningham’s adaptation of the Ethel M. Dell novel, “The Top of the World,” has been completed under George Melford’s direction. James Kirkwood, Anna Q. Nilsson, Raymond Hatton and Sheldon Lewis are seen in the cast. XXX ROBERT CAIN is the latest addition to the cast of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Golden Bed,” which was adapted by Jeanie Macpherson from the Wallace Irwin novel. Rod La Rocque, Vera Reynolds, Lillian Rich, Warner Baxter and Robert Edeson are also in the cast. In recognition of her splendid work in Zane Grey’s “The Code of the West,” Constance Bennett has been signed to a long term contract by Paramount. United Artists 500 TEACHERS attended a preview of D. W. Griffith’s “America” at Frank L. Newman’s Royal theatre, Kansas City, Mo., despite the fact that the special showing was held at 8:30 a. m. . . . Students at the Lathrop Trade School in Kansas City constructed a model of Fort Sacrifice from stills supplied by the Royal during the run of “America.” The fact was given publicity in the local press. . . . Stills from “America,” be cause of their literary and historical value, were distributed among the fourteen branches of the Kansas City library. They will be used for display and reference work. Selznick SIX COMEDIES, the first productions of the two series starring Jimmy Aubrey and Stan Laurel, have been completed for Standard Cinema Corporation for distribution through Selznick. The new Laurel subjects are “Detained,” “A Mandarin Mixup” and “Monsieur Don’t Care.” Aubrey’s pictures are “The Cave Inn Sheik,” “Polly Voo” and “A Helping Hand.” . . . Herman C. Raymaker is now directing the Aubrey comedies. Principal Pictures TEST RUNS are proving the popularity of Harold Bell Wright’s “The Mine with the Iron Door,” according to Irving M. Lesser, vice president of Principal. In practically every instance, he says, the receipts on “When a Man’s a Man” have been exceeded. Crowds filled the Warfield at San Francisco, the Capitol at Des Moines, the Garden at Davenport, and in Tucson, Ariz., home of the author, all records were broken. Lon Marcus, Victory theatre. Salt Lake City, has booked the picture, as have the Howard at Atlanta and the Modern and Beacon theatre, Boston. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer TULLY MARSHALL and Josephine Crowell have joined the cast of “The Merry Widow.” It was announced last week that John Gilbert had been selected to play the lead opposite Mae Murray. “Janice Meredith,” the Cosmopolitan attraction starring Marion Davis, has been characterized by the National Catholic Welfare Bulletin as “the type of picture that America needs in the indifferent days to make her citizens appreciative of the courage and sacrifice of those who fought and died that America might survive.” XXX REGINALD BARKER has selected Frank Keenan, Claire Windsor and Lloyd Hughes to head the cast of “Dixie,” the Gerald Beaumont story. Others in the cast are Otis Harlan, John Sainpolis, Joseph Morrison, Otto Hoffman, Edward Martindel, Ruth King, William Quirk, James Quinn, Loyal Underwood and Bert Lindley. . . . The management of the Egyptian theatre. Long Beach, Cal, wired the home office of M-G-jM that Buster Keaton’s “The Navigator,” broke all Sunday' records witli indications for a new record for the week, XXX REX INGRAM, after a conference in Paris with Blasco Ibanez, author of “Mare Nostrum,” which Ingram will produce, departed for Nice to inspect studio conditions. . . . Irene Morra has ar rived on the Coast with a print of Jackie Coogan’s newest attraction, “The Rag Alan.” She will work with Eddie Cline, the director, in cutting and editing the piece. . . . “The Bandolero,” the Tom Terris attraction, was accorded enthusiastic praise by New York daily newspaper writers. . . . William Russell will have an important role in “The Summons,” which Robert Vignola will direct. B. P. Schulberg CLARA BOW has been selected by B. P. Schulberg for the leading feminine role in “Capital Punishment,” which was written for the screen by the producer. Schulberg, before entering production, had extensive experience in preparing adaptations. Among his early works was the first “Tess of the Storm Country.” . . . John Goodrich has completed the script for “The Triflers,” which will be Gasnier’s next attraction. Pathe PATHE’S LATEST Hal Roach feature length attraction, “The Battling Orioles,” with Glenn Tryon and Blanche Mehaffey heading the cast, started an engagement at the Cameo theatre. New York, on November 1. . . . The Pathe re lease based on the famous “death ray,” invented by H. Grindell-Matthews, played the Rialto theatre. New York, the week of November 2. XXX “OUR GANG” comedies are growing in favor daily. Bruce Fowler, managing director of McVickers, Chicago, says that “these comedies have developed into real box office attractions and we find it of value to advertise this product in our newspaper ads.” . , . More than 400 women of every description stormed the Pathe plant at Fort Lee, following the publication of an advertisement for “a new type of girl to be gradually trained into a serial featured player.” Jans Productions H. F. JANS, h ead of Jans Productions, Inc., is confident that he will close all territories on “Playthings of Desire,” his initial feature, in record time. Several territories already have been closed, among them being Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Washington and West Virginia to Ben Amsterdam, and New York, Northern New Jersey and Illinois to Renown Pictures. Two or three offers from every territory have been received, according to Mr. Jans. The Jans plan is to sell his product outright to the independent exchanges. Points to Progress Made in Laboratory Branch of Industry Commenting on a Review of the Motion Picture Industry recently published by the National Bank of Commerce ; one of the country’s great financial institutions, which emphasized the steadily growing stability of the industry particularly from a banking standpoint, Louis James San, president of Louis James San the Consolidated Film Industries, Inc., of New York and Los Angeles, stated that the same progress away from the haphazard methods and organizations of the early days, has also taken place in the developing and printing branch of the industry, which today has become a highly specialized business in itself. “I am a decided optomist about the industry,” says San. “The period of mushroom speculative growth has practically passed and standardization along the broad principles that underlie other great American industries like steel, tobacco, or automobiles is the tendency of the present. “The proof of business stability is the attitude of the banker, — the most conservative element in business, who began by nibbling gingerly and suspiciously and has ended by placing motion pictures on his daily menu as a part of his steady diet. “The field of motion picture developing and printing has kept step in the march toward industrial stability. The formation of the Consolidated Film Industries, Inc., on April of this year was a milestone in laboratory progress. The consolidation of these laboratories — the Craftsmen Laboratory, the Erbograph company and the Republican Laboratory in the East, and the Standard laboratory, one of the finest on the West Coast has provided hitherto unequalled facilities for the production of uniformly high quality negatives and prints. “The exact methods of machine accuracy have been substituted for the hit or miss procedure of the pioneer film developers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in research work to perfect methods and create automatic machinery and laboratory conditions that insure a perfection to the output that producers, distributors, and exhibitors are universally depending upon. “Sound financing methods are just as essential to the developing and printing branch of the industry as technical perfection and well rounded service.”