Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1916)

P! ALL IS NOT GOLD THAT GLITTERS By ROBERT GRAU 37 N no business or industry which has lured the unwise, and even the intrepid, investor to tempt fate can m o n e y be sunk with greater speed or in g r e a t e r amounts than in the so-called goldladen film industry. Moreover, it is but a truth to state that the great fortunes that have been made by a few of the pioneers were eaimed mostly in those years when Motion Pictures were still regarded as an effective “chaser” with which to create an exodus in those theaters where the very sight of the now magic screen was sufficient to empty the auditorium. Despite the amazing development of the Motion Picture art, which has indeed created one of the world’s greatest and most lucrative industries, one may find even a greater trail of disaster, in almost every branch of operation, than has ever before been recorded for all of the precarious undertakings in the amusement field combined. Nevertheless it is true that men without number, and not a few women, who never could have been tempted to invest money in theatricals, have harkened to the siren call of the camera man with alacrity. For every successful manufacturer of films there have been twenty to fail, leaving behind a trail of debts and unmarketed celluloid, for, be it known, it is one thing to make pictures, but quite another to have them released thru the maze of “exchange” systems, so that they may be revealed to all the people in all parts of the world simultaneously. The “big men” of filmdom today are, with rare exceptions, the same individuals who composed two groups of allied manufacturers (now called “producers”) a decade ago. One group was called the Motion Picture Patents Company, often referred to as “The Picture Trust,” organized in 1908 and composed of the Edison, Vitagraph, Kalem, Lubin, Selig, Melies and Biograph brands of film. This (Forty-nine) company stands today practically the same as at its inception. All of its members “got theirs” long before the tremendous onrush of theatrical men, who were late in recognizing the existence of a new Klondike. BILLIE RITCHIE (UNIVERSAL) The second group of manufacturers also started in 1908 and was composed of a half-dozen “Independents” who fought the Patents Company at every turn and made their impress ultimately so emphatic that there is today little choice between the two groups which, as an entity, represent at least eighty-five per cent, of film productivity. The Independents were to a man unknown in the amusement field a decade ago. In this group were Carl Laemmle, who had been in the clothing business on a small scale ; J. Adam Kessel, Jr., and Charles Baumann, who were the first to screen Western life with cowboys and Indians; David Horsley, who converted a disastrous nickel theater into a film factory and recently sold a part of his holdings to the Universal Film Company for $280,000 in real cash ; Edwin Thanhouser, the only showman in the group, who also was paid a fortune for his interest in the same company which he has just returned to as its head ; Harry T. Aitkin, a successful business man, now head of the Triangle brand of films; Patrick A. Powers, who was really the first to release the picture plays that sounded the death-knell of melodrama in spoken form, and one or two others still allied with the industry. These Independents indulged in a warfare against the Patents Company and among themselves, that has had no parallel in film history. The oldtime pitched battles in the circus field would be in line for Carnegie peace medals compared with the strife in picturedom from 1908 to 1911. But somehow the final outcome resulted in two big corporations now known as the Universal and the Mutual brands of film. It is fair to state here that the Universal is the largest producing concern in the industry, with its growth progressing at an amazing pace. The Universal releases a dozen brands of film, for which there are no less than thirty “stock companies” of photoplayers. The majority of its output is filmed at Universal City, in Hollywood, Cal., but it has four or five big studios in and about New York, including the famous “Imp” plant in which Laemmle started to produce for the screen in the year 1908. The Mutual, like Universal, was the holding company of a group of important producing organizations, such as the New York Motion Picture