The Film Daily (1922)

THE iJB^ DAILV Thursday, July 20, 192. / Chance for Capital Big Opportunity for Investment in New Theaters in Central America, Declares J. H. Hoffberg J. H. Hoffl)erg, of Goldwyn's foreign department, who has just returned from a four months' trip through Central America, Panama, Jamaica, Coloml)ia and Venezuela, reports that picture conditions in the countries visited are at least ten years behind the times. "Most of the theaters," he says, '*are frame buildings — fire traps, which would never he allowed in this country. They vary in seating capacity from 150 to 2,000, although some of the open air theaters scat as many as 6,000. Admissions range from five to fifty cents in American money; occasionally, when a big special is shown, they ask as much as a dollar. "There is big opportunity tor new capital in Central America. New theaters are neede<l in even the largest cities ; the business is badly handled, and most of the pictures shown are of poor grade — so poor, in fact, that people of the better classes never attend. The others can't afford to go more than once a week, because fifty cents in gold is about the average daily pay of a working man. "The chief source of supply at present, consists of second hand American and European film. American pictures are much appreciated and no doubt would out distance European pictures as they have done in other Latin countries, except for the fact that it is extremely difficult for the American producer to do business here. The best pictures are shown in Panama, which, on account of its large American population, has made greater strides in its film industry. However, the cutting down of canal operations by the United States government has had a noticeably demoralizing effect on the business. "One of the outstanding problems of the American producer in many of these small countries is the pirating of film. They are within too easy reach of the film hawkers in the States. Night after night programs made up completely of pirated film are shown. The copyright laws of these countries compel the producer to deposit from one to three copies of each picture with the Government within whose boundaries a pirated picture has been sent. The legal fees wouM be enormous in comparison to the value of the territory, and it is not unlikely that the court decision would be delayed for a year or more. The only solution, as I can see it, would be for all the producers to enlist the help of the American Consular service and through them arrive at some agreement with each nf tRese countries. I talked with consular officials in several countries and laid before them the problems of the American producer. They all seemed interested and expressed a readiness to help when called upon." Plan Further Production Mrs. A. B. Maescher and Eugene Evans of the De Luxe Film Co. of Los .A.ngeles are in town with "Night Life in Hollywood." They opened an office at the Hotel Astor. Release on the production has not been determined as yet. It was stated by Mrs. Maescher who is the sole owner of the concern that they will probably continue production on the coast, using the Hollywood Studios, but that no definite plans have as yet been framed. White Serial Launched Warren Krech and Harry Semeler are supporting Pearl White in her new serial, "Plunder." now in production at the Pathe studio under the direction of George B. Seitz. E. Snyder is the cameraman. Mack to Handle Randolph Publicity (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Chicago — Irving Mack will handle the publicity and exploitation for the Randolph, which has been taken over by Universal. Putting It Over Here is how a brother exhibitor put his show over. Send along your ideas. Let the other fellow know how you cleaned tip. An exploitation campaign, Brooklyn-wide in scope, was successfully guided to the port of big receipts by Edward L. Hyman of the Mark Strand and it cost only $18! Tie-ups composing every well situated ice cream shop, shoe store, fur shop, drug store, soft drink stand, sporting goods shop and pet store, on the main thoroughfares of Brooklyn, were achieved. Employed in this direction were window cards 22x9 with a colored picture of an eskimo boy standing at the top, the text coming directly below. One of these read: "My Daddy is Nanook of the North. Ma, he and I are playing in this Pathe Picture at the Brooklyn Mark Strand Theater Beginning Sun-, day. Try a Nanook Sundae right from the icy North cooling and delicious." Many local ice cream proprietors co-operated with the Strand to the extent of concocting a new sundae and calling it a Nanook Sundae. Shops selling sporting goods were induced to make a display of thermos bottles with relatively lettered Strand theater window cards inserted. The same idea was worked with drug stores selling moth bags; electrical shops with electric fans; fur shops with furs; pet shops with "Nanook's pet" etc. Piqua, O. — Exploiting short subjects seems to pay Manager Harry W. Kress of May's Opera House. His publicity man Martin Bauer, through the co-operation of the Dayton and Troy Traction Co., recently brought to life First National's Toonerville Trolley, the Skipper and Aunt Eppie Hogg, on the streets of this town. The oldest and smallest car owned by the line, after being properly bannered, appeared on the streets with Bauer properly outfitted as The Skipper and Wamter Sweet as Aunt Eppie. The Skipper drove the car over the regular routes trav elled by the other cars of the company while attached to the rear was a trailer bearing Aunt Eppie. This unique tie-up is of more than ordinary interest when the fact is taken into consideration that the stunt naturally upset local street car schedules and that both car and trailer had to be somewhat remodeled for the occasion. Hartford, Conn. — With the aid of Tom Meighan, Paramount star. Manager James Clancy of the Capitol was able to sell "The Bachelor Daddy" and at the same time hook in with the most popular of sports, baseball. Clancy sold the idea to the Daily Times to have all the boys on the baseball teams of the many public and parochial schools visit the Capitol Saturday morning for a pre-release showing of "The Bachelor Daddy." The Times in turn sold the idefa through their columns. This was the Times' own party and that all the boys were guests of the paper. Clancy simply donating the theater. The boys met at a given place, formed in platoons and paraded to the theater. After these plans were made Meighan was invited to participate and he replied with a wire of congratulations to the Times, commending it for their interest in local school sports. Meighan also donated a silver loving cup, presented to the team making the neatest appearance in the line of march. Two bands were donated, one by the Times and the other made up of musicians of the theater. To make the marching more musical, the Scouts were tied up for their fife and drum corps. Approximately three thousand or to be exact, 2,831 boys marched in the parade. No advertising of any description was carried by the theater. All the newspaper space was free. Saturday afternoon, the Times carried two 3-coIumn photographs with a full Short Reel Charts All producers and distributors, who have not yet done so, are urged to forward to THE FILM DAILY the following information for inclusion in the Short Reel Edition, out August 6th. Releases from Jan. 1 to Aug. 1, 1922, giving brand or series name, title of individual picture, length in feet, type of picture whether comedy or scenic, star, producer's name and release date. A second tabulation covering 1922-23 releases should contain series of short reels with number of pictures in series, length, star, if any, how released and how often. This applies to short reels only. column story, topped by a 7-colu head on the front page giving the details of the turn-out. This disp was augmented by another colu and a half of news matter and ot photos on an inside page. T Clancy secured nearly 3,000 boosi and aroused all sorts of interest when the picture opened, it playec very big business. Fred E. Walt Paramount exploiter from the } Haven Exchange assisted in framt the campaign. / Agnes Ayres at Rivoli Agnes Ayres m "Borderland," be the Rivoli's feature next week cause "The Bonded Woman" a not be prepared for presentaj than. rKoberts Handling Proposed CW (Special to THE FILM DAILY) ' Los Angeles — Theodore Rob? is chairman pro tem of the o mittee of film folks who are ( sidering the formation of a club t similar to the Lambs' in New Y The club is designed to emb' everyone connected with mo i pictures, whether he be a star or • connected v\'ith the distribution* motion pictures. Mack Sennett Comedies Corp. I moved from Room 302 Capitol 1 ater Bldg., to more commodji quarters in Rooms 402 and 403. A. MIS PRODUCTIONS, IMC. STUDIO FOR RENT Equipped. Bergen Blvd. an Lafayette Ave., Grantwood, ^ J. For particulars write E. K. LINCOLN 110 W. 40th St., N. Y. C. Bryant 5307 FILMACK PRODUCTIOn TRAILER,^ With and Without Scenes Can Now Be Had For 6 C A Foot • TINTING FREE 24 Hour Service Without fear of contradiction ' maintain that our Trailers are ' jest of their kind. Make us prove IRVING MACK & CC 808 S. Wabash, CHICAC