The Film Daily (1922)

7/ie BRADSTREET of FILMDOM Authority rol. XXII No. 51 Tuesday, November 21, 1922 Price 5 Cents Norca Starts C. Cropper, General Manager, May Name Own Exchanges R. C. Cropper yesterday announced le formation of a new distributing ompany, Norca Pictures, Inc., of fhich he is vice-president and general manager. Norca will distribute a minimum A one feature a month through the xchanges of Norca Pictures, Inc., or iffiliated exchanges. These features trill. all be adaptations of published r produced material with advertisng value, well known books or plays. The first release "Just a Mother," )roduced under the supervision of Mlyn B. Carrick. It is an adaptation )f the novel "Mrs. Thompson," by W. B. Maxwell. "Our organization is now practically complete," said Cropper. "We Slave been acquiring product for several months until we have now acquired sufficient features to assure a release of one a month, and we Iplan to increase the number of releases to two subjects a month in the near future. "Several months' work has been spent in organizing exchanges. Physical distribution will be through exchanges operated or controlled by Norca Pictures, Inc. In some territories, tie-ups have been effected with leading independent exchanges by which our product will be handled by subsidiary companies. In other 1 territories we are opening our own exj changes." Hays in Philadelphia (Si.ecial to THE 1-1 LM DAILY) Philadelphia — Will H. Hays yesterday addressed the Philadelphia Forum and before a large and important audience again made many of the points previously delivered with regard to the Producers and Distributors organization. Of political censorship he said: "I am against political censorship, of course, because political censorship will not do what is hoped for it in the last analysis. Noiv and then some one might ask: 'If the motion picture producers really mean to make better pictures, why do they object to political censorship?' The chief answer to this question was written when human nature was formed ; at least that part of human nature which is doing business under the stars and stripes, and that answer consists chiefly of one word — Liberty. « * ♦ "Now there is one place and one place only where any evils in motion pictures can be eliminated and the good and great advantages retained, and that is at the point where and the time when the pictures are made, by the men who make them. And it can be done then and there, make no mistake about that. There is no zone of twilight in the matter, right is right and wrong is wrong, and men know right from wrong." "A Preferred Picture with splendid audience appeal and an out-and-out showman feature," says Roger Ferri in the Moving Picture World of "Thorns and Orange Blossoms." B. P. Schulberg has made another boxoffice picture for the Al Lichtman Corp. — Advt. Lloyd Coming East (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Hollywood — Frank Lloyd has left for New York where he will meet the Talmadge party and proceed later to Auburn prison for first scenes of "Within the Law," starring Norma. Estabrook Leaves F. B. O. Howard Estabrook, well known in the industry and who has recently been identified in an executive capacity with the Film Booking Offices has resigned. It is understood that he will have an important post with one of the leading producing organizations in the East. A. B. C. Sees Fight Leading members of the A. B. C. — the New York booking combination — say that the Loew circuit has booked a reissue of Mary Pickford in "Going Straight" which they say is ten years old, and which they say is a definite fight against them to offset their purchase of "Tess," the latest Pickford release. A. B. C. folk say that Loew intends to advertise, including billboards, the old Pickford picture as strong as if it were a new release. Universal has also sold the Valentino-Carmel Meyers reissue "All Night" to the Fox circuit. Abrams Off Again Hiram Abrams, who returned Saturdav from Chicago, left yesterday for the Middle West. "Notoriety" Before T. O. C. C. \Vill Nigli's "Notoriety" will be screened at the .\stor today for the T. O. C. C. members before the weekly meeting. Ben Schwartz of the .\pollo exchange is in charge of the showing. Kilner Here F. W. Kilner of Kilner's Exclusive Films, Ltd., of London, is in town making his headquarters with the E.xport & Import Film Co.. Inc. He is interested in obtaining pictures from organizations without a market in the Lhiited Kingdom, Europe, and the English colonies. Kilner's are much interested in short subjects. Lesser's Distribution Ideas (Special to THE FILM DAILY) Hollywood — Sol Lesser is quoted in the Hollywood News, relative to his previously noted combination: "Irving Lesser will have the management of our New York office with 20 men under him, to handle distribution, in case we do not release our product through First National, as I hope we will." Unusual Suggestion Producers Should Unite to Make "Hamlet" With John Barrymore Says Thomas A definite suggestion through which the Producing Manager's Association and the important producers of pictures could cooperate, with the view of materially aiding stage as well as the screen, was offered by Augustus Thomas at the Friars' dinner, Sunday night at the Astor. Referring to the death of Frank Bacon, and regretting the fact that Bacon's famous characterization of "Lightnin' " had not been screened, Thomas said that Bacon's death should be an admonition to Hays and the producers. He regretted the loss of this great stage characterization to millions of people in this country. He suggested that John Barrymore's "Hamlet" was worthy . of being screened immediately for the purpose of showing to millions of Americans "in every tank-town," what a great performance this was. He said this should be done by the industry, and not by any one producer, and that in this, not only Arthur Hopkins, but the entire Producing Managers' Association should cooperate. The Friars' dinner to Hays, Landis and Thomas proved a tremendous success. Will Rogers, who intro(Continued on Page 2) Barrymore — Hamlet General Opinion is that Production Suggested by Augustus Thomas Would Run into Censor Troubles and Apathy of Public to Tragedies When the suggestion was taken up with such producers as could be reached yesterday, the resulting answers fell naturally into three major divisions. Many producers felt that censor standards would bar this classic from the screen. Others felt that no version of "Hamlet" would draw any considerable patronage. In support of this contention they pointed out that Asta Nielsen's "Hamlet" had not been shown to any extent. Several felt that "Hamlet" with John Barrymore would be regarded simply as a Barrymore production and would do business on the name of Barrymore, not on its merits, and more in spite of having been written by Shakespeare than because of any reverence for this author. (Continued on page 3) I