The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Sep-Oct 1922)

6 THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. October 7, 1922. ALDERMAN TROUNSON AND THE WILD MEN. President of C.E.A.’s Slashing Attack on Proposed | S a result of the loudly-heralded ‘‘ Get Together es New Association. Trade Council, now in the course of formation by the meeting, which was such a complete fiasco on C.H.A., K.R.S., and K.M.A,, not at any time an easy Friday week, we have received the following mani festo from Alderman Trounson, president of the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association. It is somewhat interesting to note the circumstances under which this document came to be sent out to members of the C.E.A. Prior to the meeting an agreement had been reached whereby the promoters of the scheme for a new association had agreed, after consultation with Alderman Trounson, that no resolution was to be passed other than to appoint a deputation to the C.E.A. for the purpose of laying the scheme before them for their approval or ofherwise. In the event of this mode of: procedure being repudiated — at the meeting, Mr. Troun~ son, we understand, on behalf of the C.E.A:, had prepared a manifesto, which we Terms of Agreement Between Promoters of New Association and C.E.A. President, Prior to Friday's Meeting of Last Week We understand from the 0.E.A. that prior to the meeting on Friday week the following agreement had been reached by the promoters of the new association and Alderman Trounson : AGREEMENT between F. E. Adams, J. W. Barber, G. Smith, and E. Trounson. At the meeting called for Sir William Jury’s Theatre, to-morrow (Friday), no resolution to be passed other than to appoint a deputation to the 0.E.A. for the purpose of laying the scheme before the O.B.A. for their approval or otherwise. ‘In the meantime manifesto of officers of the O.E.A. to be withheld. Failure to carry out this Agreement to be followed by immediate issue of manifesto to members of the C.E.A. September 28, 1922. Apparently, at the meeting the Agreement was broken, hence the President's attack to-day. tusk, proviiles all that i is necessary for the trade, and that is being achieved. ‘A new organisation merely provides a ‘permanent arena of dissension, and a rallying ground for the captious, disgruntled, and impossible people who are found in every class of business. Its composition condemns it to eventual failure, but it is capable of creating a wrong impression in the minds of public and Gecvernment officials. The C.E.A. has been built up by years of unpaid labour on the part of men whose sole aim has been to create machinery for the benefit of the trade. They have had _ only one motive, to do that which will be the greater gain for the greatest number, not for special groups or for individuals. The C.E.A. was never in a more healthy condition than jit is today. sub-join, which would not have been sent out had the terms of the agreement been carried out in their entirety: Alderman Trounson’s Manifesto. I am constrained after consultation with my brother officers to address this letter to the branches of the Association. It concerns the attempt now being made by a few persons in London to inaugurate a new trade association; to be designated the British Cinematograph Association. By investigation I have ascertained that there is a modest indisposition upon the part of those chiefly, if not wholly, concerned with the inception of the idea to claim paternity for it. From a so-called ‘‘ Get Together ’’ meeting, convened by Mr. Sam Harris, of ‘‘ The Cinema,”’ a committee emerged. According to Mr. F. E. Adams, a member of the committee of this new association, it is to include exhibitors, renters, manufacturers, printers, operators, musicians, managers, and, no doubt, doormen, although they are not specifically mentioned, and it is to bring them all together into a harmonious whole, notwithstanding all their diverse interests and incompatibilities. In my own opinion the project is Utopian and uncalled for. Union of the three great sections of the trade in the Google More new members are being enrolled than in any other period. of its history, demonstrating unmistakably that the confidence of the exhibitor in the Association is undiminished, notwithstanding the articles in the Press, intended to be damaging, and the speeches of wild men. My knowledge of these facts is gained not by sitting in an office chair in London, but by personally visiting different parts of the country. Organisations set up for legitimate benefits of the trade, performing necessary functions, are welcomed, as witness the Trade Council, and the C.E.A. will still carry on as an exhibitors’ association for the advancement of one interests of its members, and, what is more important, for their protection. Never was the latter more necessary than at present. I am proud of the General Council as constituted today, which is no more, nor less, than the branches represented by their delegates. Nothing could be more democratic, and whatever merits or demerits are to be credited to the branches, I am determined, so long as I hold your confidence, in spite of all attempts at disintegration, to maintain the constitution which the branches have devised, and to urge the Council to greater achievements. It is for the branches to know what is happening and to make plans accordingly. E. Trounson, President.