The Film Daily (1924)

THE ■^m DAILY Wednesday, October 1, 192'l Play Dates {Covthiiied from Page 1) •con' game is being worked * * * When the moves on the checker board work around to the point that the exh.bi or has all of is play dates tied up with the group wlio his play dates tied up ^"h "'^^'?"Pf 'k^ are now willing to throw the dust of big pictures in his eyes at a low price to get time to cash in. And you have only yourself to blame when they cash. The only thing of value a theater owner has today' is play dates. . H,s only hope for business independence .s an over pro duction of product so that he cannot be forced to buy from any one company or group of companies. But there isn't one ou^of a hundred exhibitors who really. sees T And there hasn't been to date a single move on the part of producers who are not !n Ihe inner circle to make the point plain. "That's why the practice of selling large numbers of pictures in blocks is dangerous to the exhibitor. It's not a campaign against a sales poUcy. It is a policy of preservation of business independence. "Only the other day a producer's representative declared that Michigan had always been one of the most 'fert. e fields for block buying in the country. And that not such a compliment either. "The move to corral play dates is not a matter to think about tomorrow. Tomorrow's news may be that a tombstone inscribed 'bankrupt' has been erected over the door of several independents. And they haven't discovered anything that will revive the dead. "Nothing can force such an issue quicker however, than a foolish policy on the part of the independent distributors of getting a couple of good pictures and asking 'Robin Hood' prices for them. The exhibitor will never be sold independent product that way. The independent producer can't aflford to get dizzy just because he gets a picture that looks like a winner. If he docs, it is forcing the exhibitor to do the very thing he can't afford to have him do. Think that the independent too, is working both ends against the middle. "It's something to think about." New Merger Reported (.Continued from Page 1) for pictures become in Williamsburgh that the operation of theaters there at a profit was a liazardous undertaking. Before the formation of the Small-Straseberg Circuit. Small operated the Republic while M. & S. had the the Commodore, Roebling and Gem. When Small and Strasebcrg formed their joint company in October of last year, it threw together the Republic, Marcy and Williamsburgh theaters in Williamsburgh and the State, Sumner and Kismet in other sections of Brooklyn. The battle even then was not evenly matched because M. & S. had two -eally splendid theaters, the Commo•Jore and the Roebling to the one. the Republic, operated by SmallStraseberg. Out of all this, the various local exchanges reaped a ripe harvest. The Small-Straseberg interests now have seven theaters in W^illiamsbrugh: the Commodore, Roebling, Republic, Marcy, Gem, Broadway and Lee. They are in a position to exercise a complete control, especially so, since the M. and S. apposition has been removed. The growth of the Small-Straseberg Circuit has been phenomenal. Man)' older exhibitors in the local territory have openly conjectured about the financial interests in back of them. Two theaters, as noted are being built. One of these at 4th and Dean Sts. has been Ijuilding for about 18 months with the Mac Lean Going Abroad Los Angeles — Douglas Mac Lean is at work on his fourth picture for Associated Exhibitors. It has a Parisian background, scenes for which will be shot in Paris. A.nn Cornwall is Mac Lean's leading woman. Ben Carre sails today on the Paris as art director of the "Mare Nostrum" company. In addition he will do some advance work for the Mac Lean picture. Gentlemen's Estate 'With the Most Artistic Private Theatre in America, Wired for motion picture machine FOR SALE at half its cost. In Llewellyn Park, 14 miles from the city. For illustrated circular apply PAYSON McL. MERRILL CO. 9 E. 44th St. New York City Murray Hill 8300 work held up from time to time, and the other in Maspeth. All told, 27 theaters arc controlled by the company. Seven are in Williamsburgh; in April, the Suozzo theaters in Queens, eight all told, were ?dded to the chain. These were the Arcade, Arena and Steinway in Astoria, the Victoria in Elmhurst and the Hyperion, Victoria, Colonial and Palace in Corona. Others in their string include the Nostrand and two others in the Bedford section, the Borough Hall on lower Fulton St. and the Meserole in Greenpoint, recently acquired from Sol Brill. There has been considerable speculation over the buying power of Small-Straseberg. It has been pretty generally believed that M. and S., Katz and Gross, Steiner and Schwartz and Harry Blinderman are working under some sort of a buying agreement, whereby a division of product is made, agreeable to all concerned. In some quarters, it believed these groups, together w Small-Straseberg ate building up I. buying circuit, designed to coml': Loew. If this is true and if su' an understanding: exists, it \\'f ■ give the combined organizali about 60 theaters to accomodate w pictures. On the other hand, it is asscn that these theaters generally foil Loew and that it is not a questii of fighting Loew but of buying p tures in blocks and therefore, ecc omically. Mastbaum Here Jules E. Mastbaum paid New Y(l< his first regular weekly visit yest day since his return froin Euro Belleville, Md. — Noah Bloomer ., pects to open his new Rex about N 15. The house cost $75,000. \ FINANCE. 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