Film Index (Jan-Dec 1909)

THE FILM INDEX 3 ABOUT YOUR FILM SERVICE List of Licensed Exchanges With eighteen reels of the finest pictures in the world coming out each week with the regularity of clockwork, there is not much chance for the licensed exhibitor to kick about the quality of service he gets. It is only a question of how much he is willing to pay. The exhibitor who is willing to pay the price for "first-run" service can get it; or, if he is not particular and does not want to spend much money for service, every licensed exchange will accommodate him down to a certain figure below which it would not be safe, as a matter of business, for any exhibitor or exchange man to go. Exhibitors who try to save too much on the expense of service make a serious mistake. The condition of the film has a lot to do with the kind of show you give. Poor film will not give good results, no matter how good the subject may be; so it is best not to try to use the cheapest service that can be obtained, for even with a licensed exchange, it is not likely to be as good as it ought to be. Exchange men try to keep their film in good condition and do not give out film that has reached the "junk" state; but even then, pictures that have been in use for sometime are apt to show the effects of wear and tear, and are quickly recognized as being "old" by experienced audiences. The Film Index is not going to quote a schedule of prices for service. It would be impossible to formulate a schedule that would apply to every section of the country. There are sections where it is possible to charge and obtain a rate that would look extravagant anywhere else. Then, again, trade conditions in other sections have forced the rates down lower that they ought to be. The Film Service Association tried to enforce a uniform schedule fcr the entire country and failed signally. It is doubtful if the question will ever be settled tc the satisfaction of everyone. But the man who knows best what he can afford to pay is the exhibitor and the best rule for him to pursue is to pay as much as his business will stand, because the better the show the bigger will be the receipts in the long run. It is a good rule to buy the best always. That rule will apply to film service as well as to the selection of a suit of clothes. Good clothes will wear longer than poor clothes. The picture theatre manager who gives good pictures will find that his reputation and that of his house will be better and stronger with his patrons than will be the reputation of the house where "junk service" is the rule, and he will be in business long after the "junkman" has closed. As a general proposition it is cheaper to pay .$100 per week for service that it is to pay but $50. You will attract a better class of patrons and more of them, and possibly be able to charge 10c, where you would draw fewer patrons at Tic with the $50 service. The way to figure the cost of service is not to calculate what you have to spend for it, but to estimate how much it will get for you. Cheap service leaves you nothing to talk about, but it speaks only too loudly for itself. Good service gives you something to talk about and helps you do the talking. There's the difference in a nutshell. It takes 1,000 admissions at 10c to pay for the hundred-dollar service, and you may have to hustle to get the first thousand; but the service will hold them for you while you are going after the second thousand. A cheap service at half the price, for which you charge but 5c, will require 1,000 admissions to cover. You may get the first thousand a little easier because there are more nickels than dimes in circulation; but the cheap service will not hold them and you will have to hustle harder than ever to get the next thousand; you'll break your neck getting the third, and break your bank-roll if you stick to the game long enough. So, inscead of trying to see how far down you can screw your service cost, just try screwing it up to the highest point possible in keeping with your business opportunities, leaving always a fair margin of profit for yourself. Don't try to take all out and put nothing in. Another good policy to pursue is to stick to one exchange so long as they give you a fair business deal. That does not mean that you .should stand for a "booking clerk's" graft or any other dishonest deal that may be handed to you by some crook who happens to be working for the firm; but as long aa you get what you think you ought to have, or as near to that as can reasonably be expected, stick. The old customer who knows the w.iys of the firm will get along better than the follow who shops around. Don't leave it all to I he exchange man, either, The Film Index keeps you posted regarding the subjects issued by the licensed manufacturers. Study them carefully and try to suit your audiences. Especially valuable will you find the list of the last four weeks licensed productions of page 15 of this issue. Look it over every week and try to get what you want. When the exchange man learMs that you have some notion of making out a good programme he will prepare for you and try tc give you what you want. Of course, this is based upon the supposition that you are paying a fair price for your service and one that entitles you to have something to say in the selection of your pictures. If you will study your audiences you will soon disco-ve." th" class of pictures that will please them most. It is also a good plan to note about how frequently individual patrons attend your house. Tins will help you to decide whether you ought to change your programme two or three times a week. It is not likely that you will have the same people in your house oftener than twice in the same week. There are a few exceptions; those who come every night and more who come every other night; but these taken together do not form a very considerable proportion of the total. One thing is certain you will not have to make daily changes. Every other day ought to be the limit. The opinion has been frequently expressed that if there were fewer changes there would be better service. It is a matter that the exhibitor might give some thought. The right solution would save him some money and not hurt his service. A word about the exchanges. Not since the picture business began to require exchange men has there been in that line a more reputable set of business men than are in charge of the licensed exchanges to-day. You don't hear them saying much about their affairs; many of them never advertise in the trade papers. None of them indulge in extravagant statements about their ability to give the exhibitor something for nothing, or promise him things that they cannot deliver. There is no word of deception or false pretense printed in their advertisements. Neither do they devote valuable space to inferences that they are the only honest exchange men on earth, and that all others are robbers. As a whole, the licensed exchange men really constitute a roll of honor, and for the information of all exhibitors The Film Index publishes the list in full. Not that you do not know them all, but "lest you forget" some of them. Birmingham Film Supply Company, 2008% Third avenue, Birmingham, Ala. Theatre Film Supply Company, 2104 First avenue, Birmingham, Ala. Mitchell Film Exchange, 120% Main street, Little Rock, Ark. Clune Film Exchange, 727 South Main street, Los Angeles, Cal. Kay-Tee Film Exchange, 224 Pacific Electric Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal. Talley's Film Exchange, 554 South Broadway, Los Angeles, Cal. Miles Bros., Inc., 7D0 Turn street, San Francisco, Cal. Novelty Moving Picture Company, 418 Turk street, San Francisco, Cal. Theatre Film Service Company, 7G Second street, San Francisco, Cal. Turner & Dahnken, 136 Eddy street, San Francisco, Cal. Colorado Film Exchange Company, 320 Charles Bldg., Denver, Colo. Denver Film Exchange, 713 Lincoln Bldg., Denver, Colo. Kleine Optical Company, 302 Boston Bldg., Denver, Colo. American Film Service, 180 Madison street, Chicago. Calumet Film Exchange, Masonic Temple, Chicago. H. & H. Company, Monadnock Bldg., Chicago. Kleine Optical Company, 52 State street, Chicago. George K. Spoor & Co., 02 North Clark street, Chicago. Standard Film Exchange, 79 Dearborn street, Chicago. Theatre Film Service, 85 Dearborn street, Chicago. H. Liebor Company, 24 West Washington street, Indianapolis, Ind. Iowa Film Service, 220 Commercial Bldg., Des Moines. Ia. Pittsburg Calcium Light & Film Company, 421 Walnut street, Des Moines, Ia. O. T. Crawford Film Exchange Company, Hopkins Theatre, Louisville, Ky. Imported Film & Supply Company, 70S Union street, New Orleans. La. Miles Bros.. 412 East Ballimore street, Baltimore. Pearce & Scheck, 223 North Calvert street, Baltimore. Md. Howard Moving Picture Company, 50 1 Washington street, Boston, Mass. Kleine Optical Company, 057 Washington street, Boston, Mass. Miles Bros., Inc., Washington and Dover strict s. Boston, Mass. National F:lm Company, 71 Griswold street, Detroit, Mich. Vaudette Film Exchange Company, 103 Monroe street, Grand Rapids, Mich. _ Twin City Calcium Light & Stereopticon Company, 709 Hennepin avenue, Minneapolis, Minn. Western Film Exchange, 201 Miner's Bank Bldg., Joplin, Mo. Yale Film Renting Company, G22 Main street, Kansas City, Mo. O. T. Crawford Film Exchange Company, Gayety Theatre Bldg., St. Louis, Mo. Western Film Exchange, 949 Century Bldg., St. Louis, Mo. Montana Film Exchange, 41 North Main street, Butte, Mont. Pittsburg Calcium Light & Film Company, 1318 Farnam street, Omaha, Neb. Buffalo Film Exchange, 272 Washington street, Buffalo, N. Y. Actograph Company, 50 Union square, New York. American Vitagraph Company, 110 Nassau street. New York. Greater New York Film Rental, 11G E. Fourteenth street, New York. Imperial Film Exchange, 44 West Twenty-eighth street, New York. Kleine Optical Company, 19 East Twenty-first street, New York. Miles Bros., Inc., 259 Sixth avenue. New York. People's Film Exchange, 126 University place, New York. P. L. Waters, 41 East Twenty-first street, NewYork. Alfred Weiss Film Exchange, 219 Sixth avenue, New York. Pittsburg Calcium Light & Film Company, 501503 Central Bldg., Rochester, N. Y. Moving Picture Service Company, of Syracuse, 427 South Salina street, Syracuse, N. Y. Actcgraph Company, 22 Third street, Trov. X. Y. Imperial Film Exchange, 299 River street, Troy N. Y. Theatre Film Supply Company, 202 South Tryon street, Charlotte, N. C. Lubin Film Service, 140 West Fifth street, Cincinnati, O. Pittsburg Calcium Light & Film Company. 132 East Fourth street, Cincinnati, O. Southern Film Exchange, 148 West Fifth street. Cincinnati, O. Lake Shore Film & Supply Company, 314 Superior avenue, N. E., Cleveland, O. United Film Exchange, 414 Superior avenue, X. W., Cleveland, O. Ohio Film Service, 20 East Broad street, Columbus, O. Kent F(ilm Service, 218 Nicholas Bldg., (Toledo. O. Superior Film Supply Companv. 325 Huron street, Toledo. O. Monarch Film Exchange, 11 North Robinson street, Oklahoma City, Okla. Edison Display Company, 165% Fourth street. Portland, Ore. Morton Film Exchange, 107 Sixth street. Portland, Ore. C. A. Calehuff, Fourth and Green streets. Philadelphia, Pa. Electric Theatre Supply Company. 47 North Tenth street, Philadelphia, Pa. Lubin Film Service, 21 South Eighth street, Philadelphia, Pa. Swaab Film Service, 338 Spruce street. Philadelphia. Pa. Columbia Film Exchange. 414 Ferguson Bldg., Pittsburg, Pa. Duquesne Amusement Supplv Company, Bakewell Bldg.. Pittsburg. Pa. Pennsylvania Film Exchange, 403 Lewis Bldg.. Pittsburg, Pa. Pittsburg Calcium Light & Film Company. 121 Fourth avenue, Pittsburg. Pa. Pittsburg Calcium Light & Film Company. 108 South Main street, Wilkcs-Barre, Pa. Mitchell Film Exchange, Memphis. Tenn. Alamo Film Exchange. 405 Main street, Dallas. Tex. J. D. Wheelan. 339 Main street. Dallas, Tex. Alamo Film Exchange, 5<)9 Travis street, Houston, Tex. Progressive Motion Picture Companv. 408 Eccles Bldg.. Ogden, Utah. Trent & Wilson, 63 East Third street. Salt Lake City. Utah. Lubin Film Service, Paul-dale Greenwood Bldg.. Norfolk. Va. Spokane Film Exchange. Pantagea Theatre Bldg.. Spokane, Wash. Edison Display Company. 221 Madison street. Seattle, Wash. Morton Film Exchange. 214 Shaffer Bldg.. Seattle, Wash Imperial Film Exchange, 434 Ninth street. N. \\\. Washington. D. C. Western Film Exchange. 307 Orand avenue. Milwaukee. Wis.