The Film Daily (1919)

Sunday, January 5, 1919 Tai'M AILY as a producer and distributor. Il is inevitable that he should, from his policies. It was not inevitable nor is it now inevitable; in fact it is suicidal, from his best interests. If only he had been contented with his fair share of the business. Ypparently he wants it all. Evidently nobody can have anything in the game but through him. If that is his aim, he will have to lib ALL. I !•' 111". CAN. 1 advise him to read the Billboard editorial of Dec. 141I1. It will tell him the truth of the field he proposes entering TODAY. Tomorrow if this field is clutched by a trust the heavy hand of government taxation and regulation will fall upon it. making the mess a truly beautiful one. lie is right about specializing. So is Hlodkinson. Producers should not exhibit. Exhibitors should not produce. But. three years ago, Zukor decided the opposite. He produced, distributed, and through his connections, exhibited. Evidently he thought the exhibitor blind. If they hadn't woken up then, they would have found themselves without any source of films NQW. T refer now to the big houses, the First National houses for instance The nontrust producers were either bulled into harmlessness or in a league to work with the trust. It was apparent that the trust had no real opposition as its competitors could be lead into any blind alley at will. It was a cinch that if the exhibitor (who is not such a fool as he looks) was to be anything but a serf he must ACT. HE DID ACT. HE CAN ACT FURTHER IF NEED BE. Let's make no mistake, the showman has faults but they are not the lack of daring enterprise, or initiative. It's a poor bet to bet he can't do a thing. Not Getting Fair Treatment. The exhibitor wants the same treatment as any other retailer. Not too much to ask of fairminded producing concerns, is it? He is not yetting it. Does Mr. Zukor deny that he has misreated the exhibitor, that his concern has been unfair, arbitrary, dictatorial and very, very greedy and disloyal? If he does in good faith he is sadly ignorant of the actual workings of his concern in its relations with the exhibitor. But the trust has something so much worse than the exhibitor to fear that I wonder it bothers about the big exhibitor at all in the face of its mence. I refer to men like Monte Katterjohn who realizes that monopoly means the death of art and the enslavement of the artist. T refer to stars like Mary Pickford who has sense enough to quit when she is told to her face that every effort will be made to limit her compensation. I want Mary to get the coin. As things stand, she, Doug, and Patty are not getting what they earn. They have been used. They have been the means of holding back the game from its inevitable development. We have had to book junk to get REAL STARS. The junk days are over. The exhibitor or Producer-Exhibitor who, next fall, books junk (the fact that he makes the junk himself won't help him) to get a cer tain star, will perish in competition next winter The man who makes film will have to look sharp, he will have little time to manage theaters, lest he lose his all that he has, in his effort to get the hog's share, which he will never get. The star that sticks to the old bunk will find his or her self out -stripped by the star that re solves to make his or her own destiny. The time is here when films, stars and producers must stand on their own feet. The new has outgrown the old. Let the old think twice of the route it will travel. Its a Great Game. I think Mr. Zukor is unduly worried. If he makes good films and sells them fairly, his con cern will make rriore net profit than ever and stand on a more solid footing. If First National is foolish in taking Mary, etc., they will auto matically go broke, so why worry? Anyway it was the pure grace of God that somebody didn't take her away from both First National and Mr. Zukor and he wasn't an exhibitor either, so why worry? It's a great game. An exporter has just come into it, for instance. The way to success still lies before Mr. Zukor's organization which if it gets its brain off the monopoly obsession can make fine films. The way is to make them and sell them. If they are the goods they won't lack a market. If they are not the goods. God help the man who tries to make a market for them by building theaters in the era of overbuilding we are about to enter, when big houses will be as numerous as the old store shows and when all are apt to come crashing down twentyfour months from now. If the old line Bourbons combine to enter the exhibiting field then will come the best chance in the worlu for fresh capital to enter the producing field turning the flank of the "skin 'em or die boys." The Bourbons in convention assembled (with their dupes) have flatly told the great stars thai if they control the market the stars will be cut heavily in their just compensation. The big stars must and do realize that it will be their death warrant when they sign to work for such a combination. They have sense enough to realize that a giant market lies ready to hand. No sane exhibitor can believe that a cut in the really big stars' remuneration, will help him. They are sold to him on the basis of all the traffic will