Exhibitor's Trade Review (Sep-Nov 1921)

1384 EXHIBITORS TRADE REVIEW Volume 10. dumber 20. Eugene O'Brien and his leading women. Left to right, they are Sigrid Holmquist, Ruth Dwyer, Nancy Deavor, Winifred Westover Many Stars in A Man s Home" Harry Morey, Kathlyn Williams, Faire Binney, Matt Moore, Grace Valentine and Roland Bottomley Appear in New Selznick Feature "It has become such a habit to advertise an 'all-star cast' in photoplays when there is no star to advertise," says a Selznick statement, "and very frequently nothing like real stars in the players' line-up that close inspection is something these claims can most infrequently stand. A Man's Home is the latest of photoplays to advance an all-star cast, but the Selznick organization puts forward the claim to this importance in the roster of players for this Selznick Special with a 'fare' to anyone who cares to apply the acid test to the individual interpreters of practically every role in this Ralph Ince production. "Anyone with knowledge of pictures will be at once familiar with the names and work of the leaders in A Man's Home cast. Practically every one of them have proved their skill in delineating certain types of roles and Myron Selznick, vicepresident in charge of Selznick production engaged every player with specific consideration of the role they were to play. "Not alone does A Man's Home boast of an all-star cast in verity, but it is the Selznick claim that the players constitute an ideal cast as well. There are six dominating principals in the cast of the Anna Steese Richardson and Edmund Breese story — six people who are starred as individuals and collectively, with a personal following among showgoers wherever there is a screen the world over. Brief reference is appended, without any attempt being made to compile a record of achievement that is completed." Harry Morey, who plays the man — Vitagraph Star of achievements since 1909 playing in The Golden Goal, The Green God, All Man, The Man Who Won, The Darkest Hour, In Honor's Web and other photoplays. Kathlyn Williams, who is the wife — besides a stage career of importance, her screen career has been long and productive of roles that have made her popular. Her appearances in Morosco-Paramount, Artcraft and Paramount issues have made her name familiar and her reputation enviable. Faire Binney plays the daughter. The screen first brought her into prominence when she played in Maurice Tourneur's Sporting Life and Woman; in Republic's The Blue Pearl; in Famous-Players' Here Comes the Bride and with John Barrymore. — Matt Moore plays the daughter's fiancee. Artcraft, Universal's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Neilan's Unpardonable Sin, Reid's Sahara, and his appearances in Regular Fellow, Getting Mary Married and The Dark Star give but a brief index to his screen work. Grace Valentine is the adventuress. Roland Bottomley is the confidence man. Goldwyn's "Theodora" to Show at the Astor Goldwyn has leased the Astor Theatre for a special, limited, pre-release showing of the great Italian spectacle, Theodora, which it has acquired for distribution in America. It will show at the $2 scale of prices. An incidental musical setting has been arranged under the direction of S. L. Rothafel, and will be interpreted by a symphony orchestra. There will also be a chorus of forty voices. Theodora is declared to be the greatest film spectacle ever made. It is founded upon Victorien Sardou's famous and sensational romance, which furnished Sarah Bernhardt with one of her most triumphant roles. F. I. L. M. Acts on the Non-Theatrical Problem The following letter was this week mailed to non-theatrical institutions using motion pictures by the New York F.I.L.M. club: "Gentlemen : "Heretofore some middleman has arranged bookings between the exchanges and the nontheatrieal -exhibitor of films. This practice has been thoroughly unsatisfactory to motion picture exchanges and led to general practice now prevalent for all motion picture exchanges to refrain from doing business with nontheatrical users of motion pictures through the medium of a middleman, but to transact business direct. "This is to advise you that the leading motion picture companies, all of which you find listed hereon, are prepared to transact all their business with you direct. That if it is inconvenient for you to call at the offices of the exchanges, arrangements will be made whereby representatives of all motion picture companies will be pleased to call upon you at a time and place suitable aud convenient to you. "We beg to express to you our assurances that the service which will be rendered to you under this system will be of greater value to you ; that your needs and requirements will receive much more study, and that through such direct contact, more suitable films will be made available for you than were heretofore. "Very truly yours. "F.I.L.M. CLUB "By "I. E. CHADWICK "President." luce's "Mother o' Mine" Sets New Records Mother o' Mine, the Thomas H. Ince melodrama, established new records last week with simultaneous runs in four large cities of the East and Central West, according to a statement issued by its distributors this week. Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Washington and Pittsburgh gave the picture the same enthusiastic reception that it received in New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco upon first presentation a few weeks ago in those cities. During the first week of its distribution through First National exchanges following transfer of the Ince productions, Mother o' Mine played Gift's, Cincinnati, as the opening attraction for the fall season, the Alhambra, Indianapolis, Tom Moore's Rialto at Washington and both the Regent and the Blackstone, Pittsburgh. It proved such a successful attraction at Gift's that it was, early in the week, booked for a second seven days despite a previous booking for that week. The Cincinnati Times-Star says that it "is one of those productions that the publicwill not permit to come and go with only one week's showing, therefore McMahon and Jackson have billed it again. It played to capacity crowds and bids fair to run into record attendance again." John Stahl, who has just completed "The Song of Life" and will soon start on "The Fur Bringers," First National Release