Moving Picture World (May - Jun 1918)

May 11. 191b nil Mo\ IV. I'U I l RJE WORLD an important part. She is .1 perfect type of the outdoor rical girl and in the Hayakawa Productions shit will Be afforded ample opportunities to display her accomplishments along athletic lines. Exhibitors Drop Into Town. Mrs. Pemprase, of the Star theater in Elsinore, was one of tin visitors in town this week, as well as Mr. Cooper, who was formerly manager of the Columbia theater in Phoenix, hut who is opening up on Riverside Park, in Phoenix, on May 15. Mr. Cooper is buying equipment for this theater ami arranging for service. Miss Crogg of Bakersfield Looks In. Miss Sylvia (irogg. the sister oi Charles Crogg, of Grogg's theater, the Hippodrome theater and the Opera House in Bakersfield, is in town on a short visit, and has visited several of the moving picture studios. Miss Grogg is secretary of the Charles Grogg Amusement Co. She reports business conditions in Bakersfield very good. MacPherson Joins Photographic Division. \ssistant Director Harry F. MacPherson, of the Diando studios, has enlisted in the photographic division of the Aviation Corps, and Robert Grey, until lately connected with the William H. Clifford Photoplay Company, will take his place. Reichenbach Gets Away from Los Angeles. Harry Reichenbach has returned to New York after a visit to the studio of the National Film Corporation in Hollywood, where he was taken into the firm and appointed manager of this company's interests in the east and abroad. Mr. Reichenbach will sail for Europe in September. Ethel Clayton Signs Paramount Contract ETHEL CLAYTON has signed a contract to make a series of productions to be distributed as Paramount Pictures. Miss Clayton, commencing earl}' in June, will begin work at one of the West Coast studios of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, and although the title of her first picture has not been announced at this time it is stated she will appear under the direction of William C. De Mille. Miss Clayton can readily be termed a pioneer film player. When Henry B. Harris was in the height o f h i s dramatic t'r i u m p h Ethel Clayton was creating her first impression as a dramatic actress in "The Lion and the Mouse." Miss Clayton ap p e a r e d in the first three reel production, "When the Earth Tremble d." It was ^^ made by the Lubin ^^^^^^ company and is still ^^ being widely shown in ^^ South America and ^L Japan. ■■^A. Mi>s Clayton ap peared in sixteen features during the three years with Lubin, the more important ones of which include "The Lion and the Mouse," "The Gamblers," "The House Next Door," "The Fortune Hunter" and "The Wolf." However, the two plays which served to bring out Miss Clayton were "The Great Divide" and "Dollars and the Woman," the latter having been directed by her late husband, Joseph Kaufman. William A. Brady engaged Miss Clayton for the leading role in his stage play of "The Brute," but Miss Clayton preferred the silent to the spoken drama and returned to motion pictures. Her work under the Paramount banner will be along the lines of emotional domestic stories. Ethel Clayton. VITAGRAPH TO PRODUCE "LOVE WATCHES." The Vitagraph Company has negotiated with Charles Frohman the screen rights' to "Love WTatches," the stage play in which Billie Burke played the stellar role, and will shortly convert it into a vehicle for Corinne Griffith. The play will be produced under the direction of William P. S. Earle. Sherry Resigns Paramount Position Retires as Purchasing Agent, but Retains Financial Interest in Company — Continues in Film Business. W 11. l.l \.\i L, SHERRY, one of the original Famous Players franchise owners and the lust man in the United States to purchase the rights to the Jes e L Lasky productions and who recently assumed charge of the Paramount purchasing department, has resigned from that position and his executive positions with the Paramount Corporation and will now, temporarily, at least, devote his time and enterprise to his other interests. Mr. Sherry will retain his financial in1 eresl i n Paramount, which is said to be a large one. William I.. S lit r r y began film operations shortly after the formation of the Famous Players and was the first purchaser of that concern's output. He opened an exchange at 126 West Forty-sixth street and immediate1 y began exploitation of his products. Dur . ing the first few months of Famous Players Mr. Sherry showed h i s grasp on the rental end of the business by establishing a rental price and dignity of distribution which soon earned for him the respect of various producers. When the Lasky company was formed, although other buyers bid higher than Mr. Sherry, he secured the output by reason of his remarkable handling of other big features. Mr. Sherry was one of the original organizers and vice president of Paramount, and when the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation absorbed the exchanges he became one of the largest stockholders and a director in the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which office he still retains. Mr. Sherry will continue to handle "Joan the Woman" from his new offices. He made a record in the outright purchase of this feature, and it is understood that he is in the market for other film plays of important character. Mr. Sherry's leavetaking, from the Paramount was one of mutual arrangement and his going does not mar his great respect and friendly feeling for his associates in that organization. Mr. Sherry intends to remain in the film business, but in what capacity and in what channel he does not wish to state. He has a number of high-class propositions at his refusal and will issue a statement of his intentions within a few weeks. Temporarily he will be located at Room 501, Godfrevr Building. William L. Sherry. "STOLEN ORDERS" GOES TO BROADWAY HOUSE. William A. Brady will present at the Casino theater for two weeks, beginning Thursday, May 2, his new motion picture drama, "Stolen Orders." The subject is a picturization of the famous Drury Lane melodrama, "Sealed Orders," which was originally produced in London at the Drury Lane theater shortly before the outbreak of the present war. It has been running there off and on ever since, having been revived oftener than any other play of its type either at the Drury Lane theater or any of the other London playhouses. It was afterwards produced in this country at the Manhattan Opera House by Messrs. Brady, Comstock, Gest and Shubert, by arrangement with Arthur Collins. It deals with German spy propaganda for which we were not prepared at that time, but have since learned, to our cost, to regard this situation seriously. "Stolen Orders" is prophetic in its story. "THE TWO SOUL WOMAN" GOES TO BROADWAY. "The Two Soul Woman," with Priscilla Dean plaving in the dual role, opened at the Broadway Theater, New York, on Sunday, April 28,