The Film Daily (1918)

Tuesday, September 3, 1918 DAILY Published Every Day in the Year at 71-73 West 44th St.. New York, N. Y. By WID'S FILMS & FILM FOLK, Inc. F. C. ("WID") GUNNING President and Treasurer LYNDE DENIG, Editor Entered at New York Post Office as Secondclass Matter Terms (Postage free) United States, Outside of Greater New York, $10.00 one year; « months, $5.00; 3 months, $3.00. Foreign, $20.00. Subscribers should remit with order. Vd dress all communications to WID'S DAILY, 71-73 West 44th St., New York, N. Y. Telephone: Vanderbilt 4551—2 In Detroit Theatres Majestic Adopts 25-Cent Admission— Labor Day Openings DETROIT.— The Majestic theatre, Detroit, has re-opened, with an admission price of 25 cents for all seats at all times. The Majestic is one of the big theatres of the city. It is rumored that film inspectors, poster workers, and shipping clerks of Detroit have organized. Annette Kellerman in "Queen of the Sea" played one week at the Adams theatre. The Regent and the new Lincoln Square theatres both opened Labor Day. "To Hell With the Kaiser" played at the Lincoln Square. The Detroit Opera house, now a first-run picture theatre, has been renamed. It is now the Campus theatre. The Ford Weekly is distributed in Michigan by the Strand Film Service. There are more than 160 theatres using the Weekly in Michigan. The service is supplied free. Arthur S. Hyman of the Dawn Masterplay Company, has leased the Detroit Opera House, and will show first-run feature pictures. "Hearts of the World," now in its eleventh week, will remain several weeks longer. The Detroit Opera House was formerly the leading legitimate theatre of Detroit. "The Grain of Dust," made by Crest Pictures Corporation, has been sold to Criterion Film Service, of Atlanta, Ga., for the Southern territory. HANDLE LOAN FILMS SEPARATELY Each Company Will Distribute Its Individual Product — Pictures To Go Through Existing Organizations It was announced late last week that as a result of a committee meeting held on Monday, the loan films of the forty-two stars will be distributed by the individual companies and not through the twelve national releasing organizations with the country piece-mealed into a dozen sections. Al Lichtman, of Paramount, was the originator of the first plan. His scheme, however, would necessitate the installation of a series of bookers and clerks in each office that would amount to thousands of dollars in salaries. Then, it was pointed out that whereas an exhibitor paid astipulated amount for first run showings on a certain star, under Lichtman's plan, his opposition would show the loan film of that star free of charge. The change in the distributing plan was expected but the information was withheld until the approval of the Treasury Department had been granted. Walter W. Irwin outlined the new plan which, although it is considered better than the first, will fill only onethird of the booking days. Fourteen thousand theatres at an average of five exhibition days, means seventy thousand showings a week or 280,000 for the drive. This would require 9,000 prints and as there are only three thousand, the exhibitors will naturally suffer. The salient points of the new scheme are as follows: 1. Each company shall distribute through all of its offices in the United States the prints in which its own stars appear. 2. Prints of any subject made by a company or individual not possessing a distributing organization will be handled by any distributing organization selected by such company or individual. 3. Each office of each distributing organization will be held strictly accountable by the home office for booking solid during the four weeks of the drive each print delivered to it. 4. At the conclusion of the drive each branch office of each distributing organization shall immediately forward to its home office the original booking sheets showing the specific theatre and the dates for which each print was on exhibition, as well as the dates for which each print was in transit, such booking sheets to be delivered by you and by you transmitted to the Treasury Department. 5. No charge shall be made directly or indirectly to any exhibitor for the exhibition of any Liberty Loan prints, nor shall the exhibitor be asked to pay express charges either way. 6. Express charges shall be paid by the distributing organization; each exchange shall maintain an accurate record thereon, and at the conclusion of the drive forward the record, supported by vouchers, to the. home office, so that the company may be reimbursed by the Treasury Department. 7. No exhibitor shall be permitted to book one subject for more than one day, nor shall any exhibitor be permitted to obtain a repeat booking for any subject. 8. Uniform instructions shall be sent by the home office of each distributing organization to its respective offices, such instructions to be prepared by your committee, and to be published in the trade papers. 9. The Government is to determine the number of prints to be made from each negative. 10. Each distributing organization shall determine the division of such prints among its respective offices, according to the nature of the territories, and the number of prints required for each. Dudley Ayres With Kenney Dudley Ayres has signed a contract to appear in pictures for the Frank A. Keeney Company for the next two years. He will be Jewel Carmen's leading man and will start on her first picture in that capacity Sept. 9. At that time the studios in East 48th Street will be completed and the initial production will be "Her Family's Honor," by E. Lloyd Sheldon. William J. Scully has been engaged to assist Sidney Olcott in directing Miss Carmen. Jay Packard will be the studio manager for the concern. Catherine Calvert, the other Keeney star, will start work Sept. 25. "Topics" Territory Sold A. E. Siegel has disposed of Southern and Western territory for "Topics of the Day," which is a reel of punchy paragraphs gathered from leading periodicals. Harry M. Crandall has bought rights for Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia. Harry Schwalbe has the rights for eastern Pennsylvania and southern Jersey, and M. H. Kohn of the Northwestern Consolidated Film Corp. for Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.