Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1926)

210 Motion Picture N ews lllllillNIIIII llll Laemmle, Through the NEWS, Sends Thanks for Messages of Sympathy CARL LAEMMLE, President of Universal, in a London hospital, following an operation for appendicitis, has received hundreds of cablegrams from people of the industry expressing sympathy and solicitude. Mr. Laemmle is unable to reply to these individually, and this week asked MOTION PICTURE News, through a cable to R. H. Cochrane, to express his sincere appreciation and thankfulness to the host of his friends for their messages. The News is glad to carry Mr. Laemmle's expression and in turn to record the hope of every member of the industry that he will soon be restored to full strength and vigor. W. A. J. A cable dispatch to the United Press from London on Thursday said that Mr. Laemmle underwent a blood transfusion on Monday, which improved his condition and that his progress was entirely satisfactory. Word from the Universal home office later on Thursday stated that his condition had again taken a turn for the worse, but rallied, and that he was again resting easily. of outstanding men in all walks of life, willing t<p turn out on a hot July night to pay tribute to a motion picture director. When I saw 'The Lasl Laugh' I was thrilled at its perfection. It lias always been my ambition to have our organization make such a picture, without subtitles, but we have never succeeded — and it is a great moment for me tonight to have with us here a man who can accomplish what we have dreamed of." Then, turning to face the director, he said: "Dr. Murnau, 1 charge you with the responsibility of making only the very best and finest — the idealistic and the beautiful ■ — and of making for us motion pictures which wili win the approval of all classes, everywhere, and bring new friends to the mot ion pict ure. A tier the applause had died down, Mr. Payne -aid that up to that point the debate seemed to be a draw, but that he personally, being hopelessly material-minded, could not help being a little regretful that in L903, when Mr. Fox' partners were sorry they went in with him, Mr. Fox hadn't let him in. lie then called upon Arthur Brisbane, introducing him as a distinguished realtor who happened to In. an editor. Brisbane declared that the real signifii ance of the motion picture was thai it was a new and tar quicker way of imparting ideas to the mind than clumsy words, and that he was chiefly interested in their educational side. A child could, by means of motion pictures, be taughl as much between the hours of o and li as it now learns during an entire day in school, and be left free to enjoy the sunlighl which it needs between 0 and :;. lie declared. "American picture makers have done but one thing, so Par," he continued. "They have learned how to amuse and entertain very well, but they have not learned how to make people thirds. The Germans have progressed further. They are more interested in sending a man out id' the theatre with a new idea, a bit better understanding of something, than they are in merely diverting him, and that is why, to me, they have progressed further than we have." Charles C. Pettijohn, sneaking for Will H. Hays, then declared that a cordial welcome to Murnau was extended not only by the Fox organization but by all the worker's in the American film industry, who were glad to receive in their midst a master of the craft. The toastmaster then called upon a member of the judiciary, the Hon. Daniel F. Cohalen, whose remarks won instant approval for their sanity and common sense. "Dr. Murnau," he began, "I should like to impress upon you one thing, after listening to these various speakers, and that is I he fact that no one man is qualified to speak for all id' America. You have had several opinions, but to get a fair crosssection of American life you would have to call on every man at this table. ''I am glad to welcome you here to night, because your being here is an evidence that we are returning to sanity and sense. I am coming to believe, as are millions of other Americans, that the World War was not a struggle between autocracy and dci ;racy, but an economic battle between those who 'had' and those who 'wauled.' and that there were millions of plain people on both sides fighting for what they honestly believed to be right and true. "There is a mighty effort at the present time lo brine; about uniformity — to make us all wear the same sort of clothes and think the same opinions. Speaking for the plain, common people. Dr. Murnau, T welcome you here and appeal to you to make the sort of pictures that will help relieve us from that deadly uniformity and standardizat ion." The last speaker of the evening was the guest of honor. Dr. F. W. Murnau. lie rose to his full six feet three, then leaned forward, his hands on the table and his voice low with earnest emotion. After apologizing needlessly for his English, he said: "This is not my first visit to your wonderful New York, but again I feel a powerful stimulus from it. I love my Fatherland— but when I come here I feel the wonderful youth and freshness of your country. T hope, through my work, to appeal to that youth — to reach the heart of America. That is my ambition. If you will pardon me the comparison, I feel that a European in coming here must shift from first gear irrto third. I am going to try to do that, and I hope to create something here that will be worthy of all the wonderful kindness that has been heaped upon me. ' ' Murnau leaves for Los Angeles on Saturday, accompanied by Rochus Gliese, his architect, or art director, to film Sudermann's "A Trip to Tilsit" from a continuity by Dr. Karl Meyer, author of "The Last Laugh." He was also the guest of honor at a luncheon to the press aboard the S. S. Columbus on Friday of last week. Finnish Domestic Industry Aided by Theatre Deal The Suomi Filmi (Finland Film) recently obtained majority control of the Suomen Biografi Osakeyhtic of Selsingfors which operates a chain of 11 theatres of which five are in Helsingfors and six are in other towns of the country, according to a consular report to the Department of Commerce from Helsingfors. The underlying motives for the amalgamation of these two firms are said in Finland to be the promotion of the domestic film industry and the procuring of the best foreign films for exhibition purposes as heretofore. Producers of Industrial Films in Combine A MERGER of the Stanley Advertising Company of Philadelphia, subsidiary of the Stanley Company of America, and in the development of which Jules Mastbaum, president of the latter company, has exDressed great interest, and the Motion Picture Consultants, Inc., of New York, two of the largest organizations engaged in the production of industrial films, was announced this week. The combined organization will be known as the Stanley Advertising Company. The new comoany is headed by A. Pam Blumenthal, who during the past three years has made 26 educational subjects of international scope for use in institutions of learning and other non-theatrical purposes. Blumenthal, who is not yet twenty-five, is one of the youngest chief executives of so large an enterprise. B. K. Blake, formerly president of Motion Picture Consultants, Inc., is vice-president in charge of production, of the new company. Other members of the new corporation include Abe L. Einstein, publ'citv director of the Stanley Comoany of America and William K. Goldenberg, another official of this organizatoin. The company will have two production units in New York and Philadelphia, a thoroughly equipped laboratory and a third traveling unit for use in making scenes in plants and factories throughout the country.