Year book of motion pictures (1925)

the permanent rebuilding of the cities have been completed. Very little American advertising material is used in Japan for the presentation of American pictures. They use their own posters which arc generally about the size of a twenty-four sheet and these are placed in front of the theaters and are the Japanese artist's conception of some scene from the picture. American press stills and photographs are used very largely for their lobby displays. In India, China and Japan, prints with full English titles are supplied, whereas in Java, prints with DutchEnglish titles on the same frame are used and in the Philippines, Spanish-English titles on the same frame are required. The Speech Man In Japan, the majority of the audience cannot read English so they use a Benshi or speech-man. This speech-man translates the titles as they appear on the screen and, if the story is somewhat involved, he ffives his own interpretation of it and explains to the audience carefully just what is taking place. This helps them to better understand the story. The success of the production often rests with the speech-man. If his translation of the titles is not clear, the audience will often hiss and stand on the chairs showing disapproval of the speech-man's interpretation. In the case of a long picture, they usually have two or three speech-men so that each has a rest. Each speech-man will translate about four reels of film. Some of the leading speech-men are treated by the audience as matinee idols and are often presented by members of the audience with boquets and presents in appreciation of their work. They are well paid and in some cases own their own theaters. In boosting a picture, large bamboo poles with banners are sunk into slots in the street immediately in front of the picture. These bamboo banners give the name of the picture and the star appearing therein and other details of the picture. Every Sunday morning, a number of the theaters stage a parade and these banners are carried around the streets with the theater orchestra in attendance as an aid to advertising the picture. As the Japanese enter the theater, they have to check their shoes and are given slippers as the stairs and seating accomodations are generally carpet covered and in some cases the Japanese sits on cushions especially provided by the theater management. The balance of the upstairs portion is built similar to foreign theaters. When a foreigner goes in, he is compelled to put a pair of cloth overshoes over his regular shoes before he is allowed to enter the theater. IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES AND DOMESTIC EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES From July, 1923, to Oct. 1, 1924 — Totals by Months MOTION-PICTURE FILMS IMPORTS Sensitized — Not exposed Negatives Positives 1923 Linear feet Dollars Linear feet Dollars Linear feet Dollars July 5,438,559 74,365 132,698 40,711 260,629 24,584 August . . . 2,634,198 47,735 173,628 44,641 386,236 19,482 September .. 10,546,015 150,563 113,392 15,941 468,915 64,786 October 6,895,910 99,074 113,141 18,141 426,437 19,514 November . . .. 15,261,981 206,295 117,009 20,861 429,493 22,576 December . . . 14,398,328 185,329 138,017 33,154 427,533 28,250 1924 January .... 20,623,829 248,510 97,695 23,193 429,693 33,000 February . . . 22,827,776 264,261 92,703 15,857 339,584 15,296 March 28,928,574 339,795 336,078 123,125 331,672 27,044 April 12,851,502 180,941 157,766 49,059 326,777 15,474 May 28,204,299 371,585 188,057 35,221 301,825 29,206 Tune .. 13,991,206 185,282 402,522 45,890 393,870 17,876 July 23,115,294 280,643 255,697 31,605 316,638 9,384 August . . . 1 7,309,808 199,365 84,574 14,883 316,164 10,936 September . .. 21,213,903 222,992 164,379 13,719 491,484 16,760 DOMESTIC EXPORTS Sensitized — Not exposed Negatives Positives 1923 Linear feet Dollars Linear feet Dollars Linear feet Dollars July . 6,215,733 155,096 595,365 68,664 9,720,072 393,909 August . . . 1,164,002 31,408 826,457 68,442 12,161,066 461,837 September . . 6,506,593 98,208 512,039 54,286 11,476,991 439,600 October 6,636,786 79,699 474,825 54,318 11,825,509 459,427 November . . 8,065,995 133,051 716,635 193,025 13,706,417 520,895 December ... 4,540,999 109,761 352,540 121,079 10,590,922 396,598 1924 January . . . ... 4,441,655 119,573 576,912 83,665 13,564,915 579,809 February . .. 5,147,429 117,273 579,038 129,350 13,666,608 532,317 March 5,096,888 114,169 517,691 105,476 12,319,019 429,031 April 5,646,453 137,977 600,533 127,681 11,439,721 415,070 May 6,163,268 107,882 551,835 134,437 12.227,026 442,497 Tune ... 5,118,834 113,173 997,765 46,670 10,398,315 412,643 July .. 3,106,049 69,197 720,399 81,727 12,358,517 434,175 August . . . 6,357,739 139,476 1,188,238 244,339 19,636.791 685,140 September . . 5,090,085 100,539 645,694 116,722 16,174,150 525,103 665