The Film Daily (1918)

Saturday, November 9, 1918 DAILY Published Dally at 71-73 West 44th St. New York, N. Y. By W1DS FILMS S ,Ki:.M FOLK, Inc. F C. ("WID") GUNNING President and Treasurer T YNDB DENIG, Editor Filtered as second class matter Mav 21 1018, at the post office at New York, N. Y. under rhe Act of March 3, 1879. Tptos (Postage free) United States, Outside of Greater New York, $10.00 one year; t) months, Ifo.OO; 3 months, 3.00. Foreign, $20.00 Subscribers should remit with order. Address all communications to WID'8 DAILY, 71-73 West 44th St., New York, N. Y. Telephone: Vanderbilt 4551 — 2 Advisory Board Hart Receives Acceptances From Many Exhibitors The organization of an Exhibitors' Advisory Board, to co-operate with the Division of Films, Committee on Public Information, is an assured fact. Acceptances of appointment to the Board, by Director Chas. S. Hart, come from all parts of the United States. The purpose of the Exhibitors' Advisory Board, as outlined by Director Hart, is to take up matters in which the exhibitors and the Division of Films are mutually interested, and work out a system of distribution that will be to the interest of all. Those whose acceptance have been received are: C. D. Cooley, Tampa, Fla.; Louis H. Frank, Chicago; Willard C. Patterson, Atlanta; Ernest H. Horstmann, Boston; Alfred S. Black, Rockland, Me.; Mike Shea, Buffalo; I'eter J. Schaefer, Chicago; Chas. Weigel, Cincinnati; Henry H. Lustig, Cleveland; E. M. Mandelbaum, Cleveland; E. H. Hulsey, Dallas, Tex.; Harry Nolan, Denver; Chas. H. Seaman, Grand Rapids; Frank Rcmbusch, Shelbyville, Ind.; F. L. Newman, Kansas City; Glenn Harper, Los Angeles; Geo. Tally, Los Angeles; Chas. H. Branham, Minneapolis; Theo. L. Hayes, St. Paul; Josiah Pcarce, New Orleans; E. B. Richards, New Orleans; S. L. Rothapfel. New York City; H. R. Thomas, Omaha; Lawrence D. Be«r«s, Philadelphia; Mike Comerford, Scranton, Pa.; John D. Keppelman, Reading, Pa.; Harry Davis, Pittsburgh; Jean H. Roth, San Francisco; Sidnev Grauman. Los Angeles; Chas. E. Pcttijohn, New York City; Alfred T. Tanzct, Milwaukee; Sydney S. Cohen, New York City; J. Von Herberg, Seattle; H. B. Varner, Lexington, N. C; Harry M. Crandall, Washington, D. C. ; Jake Wells, Richmond, Va.; G. C. Gildersleeve, Kingston, N. Y.; Geo. J. Schade, Sandusky, O.; C. E. Geoghegan, Chase City, Va.; S. Barrett McCormick, Indianapolis; Henry F. Harring, Brooklyn; Thomas Saxe, Minneapolis; A. L. Stalling, Salt Lake City; John E. W'einig, Cincinnati; John Manheimer, New York City; Jos. Grossman, Cleveland; Thos. Saxe, Milwaukee; Samuel I. Berman, Brooklyn; Chas. S. O'Kelly, New York City; Miss Flossie H. Jones, Waukesha, Wis.; Wm. Reaver, St. Louis; Hector M. E. Pasmezoglu, St. Louis; Thos. Furnace, Duluth. Word From Hill Word has been received from a wellknown exchange man who joined the colors last spring, C. D. Hill, formerly manager of the Indianapolis branch of General Film Company. He is now a private in the 155th Ambulance Company, 114th Sanitary train, American Expeditionary. Writing to W. F. Rodgers, sales manager of General, he reports among other things that he was lost for two days and nights in France. Doris Kenyon, who has just completed "Wild Honey," is awaiting the lifting of the influenza ban to start work on another production. As soon as the ban is lifted Miss Kenyon and her company will leave for Hendersonville, N. C, where exteriors will be made on "Twilight," which will be the next of her De Luxe features. I have a hunch that Little Mary will sign a contract before Montday. Wants Open Booking O-ROW-NAY CIRCUIT Trail, B. C. F. C. Gunning, \\'r'\s Daily, New York City. Dear Sir: An active drive should be made by our trade journals and associations to make it possible tor each small town exhibitor to book on the open plan and not regular service basis. [ speak pointedly towards the Canadian situation. Locally, film is brought in to support approximately four first run houses in our larger cities. Some of this is poor, some good, some excellent, but the small town at the present time is generally made to choose from services and not productions. This is unfair towards both the public and managers in small towns because the volume of business prevents the buying of a certain amount of poor features to get some good ones. In other words, our pay is too small to shelve stuff and consequently a lot of weak features are forced onto our public and patrons deprived of a lot of good ones. As an illustration of this I was forced to pay $63.00 for a two-day appearance of Fairbanks and Pickford because I was not using all their service. We don't expect to get the best ot whf»t -a man has got to sell for the price of the cheapest, neither do we feel it right to pay a rental which would bring a 25-cent entertainment up to 50 cents just because the public had not been forced to witness the remainder of the concern's output. What this country needs right now is commissioners appointed by the government to defend the rights of the public the same as is done with pur railroads and other public utilities. Then perhaps different interests could not unfairly force their trade marks and junk film onto the uninformed public. The moving picture business has been declared an essential industry and has defended that declaration by rushing well in the foreground as one of the important mediums of raising funds to support our war and I feel that it's well in order and high time that the people -supporting this industry (the public) are defended from highway robbers and are not deprived of the industry's best. N. M. TRAFTON.