Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1924-Mar 1925)

EXHIBITORS HERALD 41 February 28, 1925 Smith Breaks Silence in His Controversy With Will Hays Draws Retort from Kansas Exhibitor Leaders Who Deelare Statement Is Discouraging Owing to Fight in That State for Censorship Repeal (Special to Exhibitors Herald) KANSAS CITY, MO., February 17. — The silence of Albert E. Smith, president of Vitagraph, has been broken. While passing through Kansas City en route to the Coast, he discussed for the first time his break with the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors’ Association, of which Will H. Hays is president. His statement, however, ruffled the exhibitors of this territory who “are so hopeful at this time for the repeal of the Kansas censorship law.” Hints at Deal Now Being Negotiated In his statement to Kansas City newspapers, Mr. Smith said that “before another month there will be news of a Vitagraph tieup which will be interesting, but which cannot be announced yet.” In this connection, a rumor has been cvurrent since Vitagraph’s resignation from the Hays group that the company would, in addition to its own pictures, handle the product of the independents. Schulberg Discloses 14 Subjects Chosen for New Y ear* s Program (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Feb. 17.— Eighteen features will be released on the program recently devised by B. P. Schulberg Productions, according to a statement made by Mr. Schulberg at the close of a conference with his partner, J. G. Bachman, vicepresident and general manager of the company. Novels and stage plays form the bases from which the films will be made. The fourteen which have been already selected are : **Shenandoah,*' tho American stage classic of Civil War Days, by Bronson Howard. ‘^Parisian Love,*' by F. Oakley Crawford. A melodrama. ''Horses and Women," a society drama written for tho screen. "Exclusive Rights," a story of marriage, by Evelyn Campbell. "Lew Tyler’s Wives," the novel of Wallace Irwin, author of "The Golden Bed." "The Aristocrat," by Larry Evans, published in Hearst*s International Magazine, "The Worst Woman," a screen original by Larry Evans. "Open That Door," by Ewart Adamson, a drama of the type of "Bought and Paid For." "The Romance of a Million Dollars," a current fiction hit by Elizabeth Dejeans. "Shopworn," by Patricia Wetherill, a tale of "Bought and Paid For." "Eden’s Fruit," an original screen story of modern society. "Tho Girl Who Wouldn’t Work," by Marie B. Wentworth James^— a best seller in England, soon to bo published here. "Dancing Days," from the story by J. J. Bell. "Tho Other Woman’s Story," by Peggy Gaddis. The correspondent’s side of a sensational divorce case. The first four pictures for fall release will be under way immediately upon the close of this year’s program. Clara Bow, Donald Keith and Alyce Mills have been signed as three of a number of featured players on the Schulberg list. Hays Urges School for Child Players (Continued from page 33) which efforts the association was being aided by the National Vigilance Committee and the better business bureaus of the National Advertising Clubs of the world. The Relief Fund organization will maintain two homes, one in Los Angeles and one in New York. Plans call for the expenditure of $30,000 this year for relief work and close to $500,000 in the next two or three years. Stars, producers and theatre men have pledged large endowments. Officers of the organization are: President, Joseph M. Schenck; vice presidents, Mary Pickford, William S. Hart, Harold Lloyd and Frank Woods; secretary, the Rev. Neal Dodd; treasurer, Victor Clark. The directors are: Douglas Fairbanks, Mae Murray, Charles Chaplin, Wedgewood Nowell, Hal E. Roach, Rupert Hughes, Irving Thalberg, Mitchell Lewis, Rob Wagner, Ewell D. Moore, Charles Christie, W. T. Wyatt, Mark Larkin, Donald Crisp, Robert Fairbanks, Alfred A. Cohn, Cecil B. DeMille, Mary O’Connor, Joseph M. Schenck, Winifred Kingston Farnum, Joseph De Grasse, Glenn Harper and Fred W. Beetson. Paramount Pays $2 (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Feb. 17. — The board of directors of Famous Players-Lasky Corporation declared the regular quarterly dividend of $2 per share on the common stock, payable April 1, 1925, to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 16, 1925. The books will not close. To Kansas City newspapers, Mr. Smith said: “All tinsel on the outside with a white flag above — the kind of people that shake you by the hand and stab you with the other. Mr. Hays draws his salary largely from several big concerns which, of course, he is going to favor. He has tabooed certain risque novels and stories from being filmed but when one of his favorites goes ahead and puts them on the screen, no matter how rotten they are, he keeps mum. Discusses Theatre Sittiation “Then, too, certain practices of the organizations make it practically impossible for the producer who hasn’t a line of theatres in his control to get a showing for his wares. The organization is all camouflage. When we found we couldn’t get a square deal out we went. “When it comes to the time when I have to make pictures that I can’t take my three children to see then I will quit the business. “There is plenty of entertainment in photoplays of ordinary life without throwing in the extraordinary. Young people of today are fed too much by way of the screen of that which is unwholesome. They see too many sophisticated people in sophisticated scenes all of which they cannot digest properly because of their lack of years and experience, and which, of course, provokes a sort of moral dyspepsia. “Before another month there will be news of a Vitagraph tieup, which will be interesting, but which cannot be announced yet.” Biechele Wires Smith Following publication of this interview, R. R. Biechele, president of the M. P. T. O. of Kansas and Missouri, sent this telegram to President Smith : “Your interview given Kansas City newspapers yesterday while passing through this city was, in our opinion, not only uncalled for but very harmful and discouraging to all branches of the industry that are so hopeful at this time for the repeal of the Kansas censorship law.” In commenting upon the statement, C. E. Cook, business manager of the Kansas-Missouri league, said: “Such a statement never could have been made by a man who has the best interests of the industry at heart. Exhibitors of Kansas and Missouri resent such an attack as it was entirely uncalled for and is detrimental to both exhibitors and producers.” Expect Long Run for **Quo Vadis** at the Apollo in New York (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, February 17.— First National’s big Italian spectacle, “Quo Vadis,” one of the most talked of foreign productions to be shown in America, was given its premiere Sunday night at the Apollo theatre, where it is expected to stay for a long run. In the opinion of first nighters “Quo Vadis” is one of the most interesting and most carefully made of the many spectacle pictures which have come from the other side, although from the viewpoint of an American audience, the story does not appear to get in its stride with sufficient speed. Emil Jannings has the part of the detestable Nero. Crime Wave Is a Condition Always With Us, Says Prof. Crandall (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, Feb. 17. — Charges that the "Crime Wave" can be traced directly to motion pictures are contradicted in a statement made by Prof. Ernest L. Crandall, director of Visual Instruction of the city public schools, and president of the Visual Instruction Association of America. "There has always been talk of a crime wave," he said. "We are dealing with a constant condition." Regarding motion pictures, he said, "Our condemnations have always been too broad, have rested on quite too wholesale a basis. A him does not glorify crime because it depicts crime as an incident to its dramatic theme. Is it possible to depict crime and even immorality without demoralizing effects? Of course it is."