Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1924-Mar 1925)

February 21, 1925 EXHIBITORS HERALD 35 And here’s the printed on page 24. Horizontal 1. Enviable. 2. Guard. 3. Gnu. 4. O'Hara. 5. Grit. 6. Cook. 7. Donkey. 9. C. Z. 11. Ye. 13. Abhor. 15. Reo. 17. An. 18. Dd. 21. Lye. 23. Chord. 25. Ea. 27. Doll. answer to puzzle Vertical 1. Eggs. 4. Oozy. 6. Cord. 7. D. C. 8. Vaughn. 10. Taylor. 29. Nun. 31. Ir — . 33. Admire. 35. Lads. 37. End. 38. Bar. 39. Be. 40. Echo. 41. Ho. *^Old Time Movie^^ Is Booked for Showing at Midwest Theatres The “Old Time Movie Show,” which has made a hit wherever it has played in the East, in Canada and in England, has been booked for presentation over the Balaban Katz Midwest Circuit through Illinois, according to an announcement by Erwin Edwards Amusement Company, which controls the show. Mr. Edwards states that a Chicago office of his concern will be opened to handle bookings for this territory. S. Keeley, prominent in distribution circles, will be in charge. The “Old Time Movie Show” has hung up many records throughout the country. Laemmle Picks Chaney and Philbin for Radio (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Feb. 10.— Lon Chaney will be the central figure in the first transcontinental radio experiment ever tried by Universal. He will be stationed on the lot at Hollywood where he will talk into an instrument, answering questions that are asked him by wire. His statements will be made February 14 following the theatre hour. Assisting the Universal company will be the General Electric company, the Postal Telegraph company and the Freed-Eisemann radio company. Mary Philbin will also broadcast. $1,000,000 Bonfire Held to Observe Vitagraph Birthday President Smith Relates How, Through Ahsentmindedness, He Lost in Negotiations to Sign Mary Picltford at a Salary of $10,000 a Week (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Feb. 10. — A million-dollar bonfire was held at the Vitagraph studios in Brooklyn yesterday which was an echo of the advent of Benjamin B. Hampton, a former magazine publisher, into motion pictures, and a cancelled contract with Mary Pickford at a salary of $1,000 a day or $365,000 a year. The announcement of the payment of this bond issue by Vitagraph follows on the heels of the withdrawal of the company from the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc., of which Will H. Hays is the head. Gives Reason for Its Withdrawal from Hays Group Vitagraph in its withdrawal announced that it was not satisfied with the efforts of this organization to bring about justice for the independent producers and the public. The celebration was held at the studios of President Albert E. Smith and his associates in Vitagraph, John B. Rock, A. Victor Smith and members of the Vitagraph sales force, in commemoration of the twenty-eighth anniversary of the formation of Vitagraph by Albert E. Smith, I. Stuart Blackton and the late William T. Rock, father of John B. Rock. When he had burned the million dollars in cancelled bonds. President Smith threw light on one of those amazing deals wherein Wall Street financiers had tried to gain control of Vitagraph with a contract for the services of Mary Pickford as the bait. Proposes $50,000,000 Capital In 1916 Mr. Hampton proposed a financial scheme to Mr. Smith which involved a $50,000,000 capitalization for Vitagraph. Mr. Hampton named his financial backers, who were prominent men in Wall Street, and showed Mr. Smith a copy of a contract entered into between Mary Pickford and Hampton and his group of bankers by which Pickford was to appear for a year in their productions and which carried an option on her services for two years thereafter. Her salary was placed at $7,000 a week. Vitagraph accepted the management of Miss Pickford, at that time the biggest money draw in pictures. When the tentative plans for the new corporation were signed and agreed to Mr. Smith carried out his word and expanded production activities, literally burning up a million dollars in undertaking extensive contracts with directors and stars. A short time later, out of the clear sky, came the notification by Mr. Hampton to Mr. Smith that the financial group had cancelled their contract with Miss Pickford. The reason for this has not been disclosed to this day. Mr. Smith then began negotiations with Miss Pickford for her to come under his management and increased the offer in salary to $10,000 a week. This was the first half million-dollar salary ever offered a motion picture star. Why Mary Didn’t Sign At that time Lottie Pickford was the proud mother of a baby girl and a boy had arrived in Mr. Smith’s family. Mrs. Smith and Lottie Pickford were friends and each took pardonable pride in telling the other about the pranks of the two babies. When Mr. Smith and Mary Pickford met to discuss the new contract Mary asked, before the contract was signed, “When am I to see that new boy of yours?” to which Mr. Smith absentmindedly replied, “Just as soon as we finish our business.” Then said Mary, “I shall never see him.” Mary Pickford left and the president of Vitagraph and the most famous girl star never met again. On the heels of this, and already saddled with a $1,000,000 bond issue which Vitagraph had assumed in order to expand to carry on the expected capitalization of $50,000,000, Ben Hampton and his group of financiers withdrew and Vitagraph was left holding the bag. One Man Killed, Negatives Destroyed in Explosion and Fire at Laboratory (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, February 10. — One man was killed, twenty or more persons burned or hurt, and a number of motion picture negatives were destroyed last Saturday morning when Evans National Film Laboratories at Fort Lee were destroyed by fire and explosion. The man who was killed was Salvatore Joy, a worker in the laboratory. Among the injured is Mark Dittenfass, one of the owners of the laboratory, who was severely burned. The vaults withstood the flames but it is feared some of the negatives stored in them were injured by the heat. Among the negatives known to have been destroyed were “The Red Wolf,” a John Russell Lowell picture just completed; “The Fast Pace,” an Arrow release; “Floodgates,” also a John Russell Lowell picture, released last fall, and the current issue of Kinograms. Tommy Evans, president of the company, says the loss in plant and equipment will total $490,000. Despite destruction of the negative of Kinograms, Educational’s News Weekly, which was being printed, Kinograms Publishing Company was able to give its subscribers uninterrupted service. First reports of the Are reached the offices of Kinograms at 8:30 a. m. By 1:30 p. m. an entirely new negative had been selected, titled and assembled and printing was under way. Kinograms also had nearly a million feet of raw stock stored in the laboratory.