Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

March 24, 1923 1471 Accessories for 1 ' Safety List of Exploita>ld Lloyd Comedy Last Pathe Announces tion Aids for Harol PATHE has assembled a formidable array of accessories for the exploitation of "Safety Last." The following is a list of die accessories to be made available: A herald done in flaming red. with four sides and with space for exhibitor's imprint ; a selling idea, with a laugh back ot it. A circular window card, also in Naming red, 13 inches in diameter. Also adapted to hang in lobby and on door knobs. Carries photograph of Harold Lloyd, and on the back the slogan: "Laughter First, Safety Last." Arranged to tie up with "Safety First" campaigns throughout the country. Wooden stanchions five feet high to support stanchion cards— tor lobby and sidewalk displays and tie-ups with traffic policemen. Stanchion cards, much like circular window card out of heavier stock to provide firm attachment in slit at top of stanchion. Three-inch circular flaming red throwaway. with small hole for stringing. These will be used in tie-ups with shops that sell various safety articles, as razors, matches, shoes, etc. Red balloon with white imprint of Harold Lloyd's head with slogans. Used as giveaways week before engagement ; blown up and hung in lobby with red window cards; prime attraction for the kids. Handkerchiefs carrying the line : "Dry your tears of laughter when you cry for joy at. Harold Lloyd in 'Safety Last'." Small circular savings bank, carrying out flaming red disc idea, bearing on front the line : "He who saves first, laughs last. Laugh first and last with Harold Lloyd in 'Safety Last.'" On one side is a lithographed head of Lloyd. Half-sheet for sniping, carrying a flaming red ball with slogan and appropriate announcement matter. The 40 by 60 upright oil paintings, each in gold frame and box for shipping, representing Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last" scenes, for lobby use by arrangement with Pathe Branch Exchanges. "Daughters of Rich" Ready Soon Third of Schulberg-Lichtman Series of Companion Films Due April 2 2d HP. SCHULBERG announced • this week that Preferred Pictures will release in the not too far distant future the final of the series of four pictures, " Rich Men's Wives," "Poor Men's Wives," "Daughters of the Rich." and "Daughters of the Poor." Abeut a year ago when Schulberg mapped out his production program for the first twelve months through the Al Lichtman Corporation, he had in mind the making of this series of companion pictures as one of the salient innovations of the Preferred output. These four pictures he planned to make the most pretentious of his first releases if exhibitors were receptive to them. The idea underlying their production was to give the public not only four special features of the highest quality in picture making, but to present to them in an interesting fashion stories setting forth present day problems. Schulberg determined to try out the first series to discover the reactions of the exhibitor and his patrons with the purchase of "Rich Men's Wives" and "Poor Men's Wives" written by Frank Dazey and Agnes Christine Johnston as screen originals. The Schulberg-Lichtman combination was launched with the release of the former to which Gasnier had been assigned as director and a cast including Claire Windsor, House Peters, Gaston Glass, Myrtle Stedman and Rosemary Theby was added. "Rich Men's Wives" is reported to have been enthusiastically received. Exhibitors requested the early release of the second story to follow it up, and Gasnier was commissioned to make it. "Poor Men's Wives." featuring Barbara La Marr, David Butler, Betty Francisco, and Zasu Pitts had its premier recently at the Criterion in New York and is now playing first-runs throughout the country. The success of these first pictures has assured Schulberg of the feasibility of his plan and Gasnier is now busy completing "Daughters of the Rich" based on Edgar Saltus' widely read novel. Gaston Glass, Ruth Clifford, Ethel Shannon, Marjorie Daw and Stuart Holmes are in the cast. "Daughters of the Rich" will be released through Al Lichtman exchanges on April 22d as one of the first eight Preferred Pictures. The fourth of this series, "Daughters of the Poor." will follow later in the season. This will also be a Gasnier production. It will be handled, however, as an entirely different plot just as "Poor Men's Wives" followed "Rich Men's Wives" as a separate story completing its general idea. Dorothy Dalton Company Back from Florida After three weeks in Florida, some of the time on the sands at Palm Beach, but more in the swamp lands near Jupiter, where scenes were made for " Fog Bound," Dorothy Dalton and her Paramount company have returned to the Long Island studio to complete the picture. Those who worked in the South under the direction of Irvin V. Willat were David Powell. Maurice Costello, Martha Mansfield, William David, Warren Cook, and Jack Richardson. " Fog Bound " was adapted by Paul Dickey from a short story by Tack Bechdolt. MotionPicture Negatives . ReleasePrints Financed , COMMERCIAL TRADERS | CINEMA CORPORATION 128 WEST 52BiST.NE,W YORl^ Picture with Appeal to Women "Is Divorce a Failure?'* Stars Leah Baird ; Assoc. Exhib. Release March 1 8 « INHIBITORS on the lookout *-J for pictures that appeal pri marily to women should welcome 'Is Divorce A Failure?' the first of the Leah Baird 1923 specials, which Associated Exhibitors is releasing March 18th," declares a statement from Associated Exhibitors. "Women are more theatrical than men," Miss Baird said in a recent interview. "They have an insatiable craving for thrills. The most normal-minded of them betrays at times a desire to kick over the traces, to throw off the shackles of convention. The gilded cage may and does become as irksome as the prison cell. It is the moral monotony of their lives that drives many women to contemplate divorce. "I named my new picture, 'Is Divorce A Failure?' because the heroine simply couldn't bring herself to believe she was happy until she had gone to Reno. After that so many things happened to her that the title suggested itself. Carol Lockwood, the central figure in the story, unwittingly allowed herself to develop an unhealthful mental condition, and to correct this state of mind I considered it necessary to put her through a series of appalling experiences. Sensations and thrills were necessary to teach her her lesson, and I gave her these in generous doses. They are the only cure for selfishness and theatrical ism resulting from auto-suggestion on the part of the individual, and the story purposely avoids giving a more definite motive for Carol's divorce." Unusual exteriors are said to be shown in this uncommon photoplay, and with the popular featured player supported by an excellent cast and the direction in the hands of Wallace Worsley, Associated Exhibitors is predicting a big success for the picture. Lichtman Picture Well Received Abroad Very favorable comment has been accorded "Thorns and Orange Blossoms" in England where the Al Lichtman releases are handled by Walterdaw. The cinema reviews the production as "modern and excellently produced. . . . The public who like romance with a strong vein of emotioHalism will welcome this production." The Kinematograph Weekly calls it "an agreeable hour's entertainment. Well photographed and acted." The Film Renter characterizes it as "a best seller that can be unreservedly recommended." Al Lichtman, who is now abroad, will be in England for the London opening of "Thor s and Orange Blossoms."