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THE STAR SYSTEM 95
amusement, the better quality of two-reels soon brought about lines of demarcation, and theaters began to be classified by movie patrons and by exhibitors themselves.
As the production of two-reelers was more expensive than the making of two single reels, the rental prices of these better films were advanced considerably beyond the former scale. Many exhibitors — the majority of them — objecting strenuously to the higher rentals, clung to the programs of one-reel and split-reel, and permitted progressive houses to obtain the first showings of two-reelers. This minority of advancing showmen — usually located "downtown" or in neighborhoods where a large population could be drawn upon — made two-reelers the backbone of their program, filling in with shorter subjects. Presently they were attracting to their theaters such an important proportion of patronage that they were able to raise the admittance price from ten cents to fifteen, and here and there to twenty. And, too, they acquired the reputation of showing "first-class" pictures, while, by inference at least, other houses began to be marked as "second class."
Events soon proved that millions of the movie multitude had grown very alert, very quick to appreciate improvement in storytelling and to differentiate sharply in selection of player personalities. By giving their patronage to the theaters that presented first-class pictures, this vanguard in the movie army forced backward exhibitors into accepting two-reelers, and the conservative rulers of General Film, to meet the competition of independents, modified the trust's system far enough to permit the distribution of two-reelers as part of the standard program. However, when audiences and exhibitors demanded three-reelers, General Film refused flatly to permit any farther encroachment on standardization, and three-reelers were not included in the program.
During these gold-rush years of confusion and strife of manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers — years of frenzied compe