The Film Daily (1918)

32 TsitM DAILY Sunday, September 1, 1918 A Small Town Showman Speaks Up (Continued from Page 1) over to the bank, ad libitum, ad finem, and we looked up the home stretch and that bull was just passing under the wire. Manufacturers of bass drums and tin horns owe the film industry a debt of gratitude that they never can re-pay, for they are taking over their entire output without regard to cost. The producer looks over the chorus at a comic opera and plucks the third one from the end in the front row and tells his publicity man to get busy for he's grabbed a "ringer". The publicity man strings up the bass drum and Susan rides into notoriety, looking back with scorn on a salary of $20.00 per and the harder the publicity man hammers the drum the higher Susan's salary soars until a contract for less than $1,000.00 per week would be scoffed at and the producer is advised to see her "Manager," and yet producers wonder why they have to pay such princely salaries. It's a shame they use such tough sheep-skins in drumheads. Producers ought to learn something from one David Wark Griffith, Esq. When he launched "The Birth Of A Nation" he didn't bass drum the "Little Colonel" played by Henry B. Walthall— who to our mind is the cleverest actor on the screen today. — but he centered all his efforts on "The Birth Of A Nation" and those who are familiar with this production know the results. Someone has said, "It's the story that counts", that fellow is about three laps ahead of the bull. We frequently read accounts of some very questionable actions pulled by some of the most prominent stars, and whether true or not, these accounts do not add any very great weight to the box office value of these particular stars in communities that have a regard for decency, the public gets these accounts in spite of the bass drum. Producers of films better wake up and give some consideration to the story, for they are catering to people who think, and when a man gets to thinking he don't pay much attention to the bass drum, it's only those whose wheels stop when the noise quits that care very much for that kind of music. "It's the story that counts." The man who said that ought to be producing pictures for the good of the public. One big company is trying to tie exhibitors up on yearly contracts with a substantial cash payment down, not that they want the exhibitor's money to do business on, but as evidence of "good faith", and any exhibitor who will fall for that system is thinking through a gourd that was caught by the frost. We'll take our hat off to the film companies in one regard,— they will grade 100%. in any mathematical examination on earth— we are not talking about orthography or grammar — for they have got it figured out to a fraction just how much money an exhibitor can take in at the box office and that's all they will require him to pay for the service. Talk about magnanimity, leave it to the exchanges every time and you'll be safe. There are just 3,927 exhibitors scattered over the country who think just as we do about this matter but who are afraid to get out of the brush into the clear. Different here, — we've been exhibiting pictures since 190? and don't owe any film company a red cent and if we had to depend upon our box office receipts for a living we wouldn't live, and our house isn't for sale or rent either, that's the reason why we are telling the truth about the matter, otherwise we'd chase the bull. Our judgment is that producers of pictures will have to clean house and put a little sanity into their productions or the business is doomed. Do you suppose there is a man, woman or child in the country who doesn't remember D. W. Griffith? And why? Simply because he was the man who produced and "directed" "The Birth of a Nation." Let's bass drum the Director a wdiile. Why not give some consideration to the man or woman who is able to write a story that "sticks". "It's the story that counts." Do you get that? "Wid's" says that Uncle Sam wants scenario writers and will pay a salary of $1,600.00 for those selected under competitive examinations. This proves two things, one that Uncle Sam wants brains, and another that people with brains read "\\ id's", but the competitors for this job will find out that Uncle Sam has neither a bass drum nor bull. "It's the story that counts." Better let that soak in. JOHN CURTIS JENKINS. Neligh, Nebraska.