Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

March j I , 1023 Boston Exhibs. Told to Increase Fire Precautions Managers of more than 30 second-class motion picture theatres in Boston were summoned to the City Hall last week for a conference with Mayor Curley, Fire Commissioner Glynn and Building Commissioner Mahoney relative to tire protection in their theatres, this despite the fact that there has not been a single life lost in theatre fires in Boston in 40 years. The first class theatres were excused as having obeyed all rules. Glynn and Mahoney have acquainted the Mayor with what they term the seriousness of the situation. After personal canvasses in their territories district chiefs have reported to Commissioner Glynn that of 40 houses inspected there are 28 that have no fire patrol, eight that have the required patrol of one apiece, and four that have the patrol of two men. Building Commissioner Mahoney told the managers they were running riot in the matter of overcrowding the patrons of their houses, and he scored them for their alleged failure to remove snow from roofs, side-door emergency exits and fire escapes. He told them to go the limit in safeguarding children in their keeping while attending the shows. New Concerns in Industry File in Albany Motion picture companies incorporating in New York State during the past week showed the following capitalization and directors, according to the charters granted by the Secretary of State at Albany: Goodstraus Amusement Company, Inc., Mineola, $100,000, M. and D. Goodman, S. Strausberg, Brooklyn; Sylvia Playhouse, Inc., $4,000, B. L. Price, M. Grossman, M. F. Berman, Brooklyn; The Campro Corporation, $500,000, J. L. E. Pell, William Mattheys, J. J. Hegt, New York; Van-Schenck Enterprises, Inc., $10,000, Joseph Schenck, William G. Lovatt, G. Van, New York; Errol Enterprises, Inc., $10,000, Leon Errol, H. C. Bannister, William G. Lovatt, New York; Foren Film Sales, Inc., $10,000, A. M. Landau, B. H. Bernstein, D. Adler, New York. Federal Chiefs to Attend Chicago Convention The Departments of Labor, Commerce, Agriculture and Interior will have official representation at the Motion Picture Palace of Progress to be held under the direction of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America during their annual national convention at the Coliseum in Chicago from May 19 to 26, inclusive. The co-operation and support of secretaries of Labor Davis, Agriculture Wallace, Interior Work and Commerce Hoover have been assured. Prominent N. Y. Exhibitor Passes Away Following a four days' illness, John Hogan of Elizabeth, N. J., formerly the manager of Proctor's Leland theatre in Albany, N. Y., and who was lately named as manager of the Palace, in Troy, died in a hospital Sunday afternoon in the city of Troy. His wife reached his bedside before the end came. The remains were shipped to Elizabeth Monday and burial will be made there. He was widely known in motion picture circles in central New York. MOTION PICTURE NEWS William A. Johnston, Pres. & Editor E. Kendall Gillett, Treasurer J. S. Dickerson, Managing Editor Fred. J. Beecroft, Adv. Mgr. Published on Friday every week by MOTION PICTURE NEWS, Inc., 789 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y. 'Phone 9360 Bryant Chicago Representative, L. H. Mason, 752 South Wabash Avenue ; 'Phone Harrison 7667. Los Angeles Representative, J. C. Jessen, Room 616 Security Building, Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, Cal. ; 'Phone Hollywood 3568. Subscription $3 a year, postpaid, in United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and Philippine Islands. Canada, $6. Foreign, $10. N. B. — No agent is authorized to take subscriptions for Motion Picture News at less than these rates. Have the agent who takes your subscription show his credentials and coupon book. Western Union registered cable address Is " Picknews," New York. Copyright, 1923, by Motion Picture News, Inc. Friday Set Aside as "Family Night" in St, Louis The Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri has entered into an agreement with the St. Louis Council on Motion Pictures whereby Fridays will be set aside as " Family Night," when only films approved by the council will be shown. About seventy-five St. Louis theatres are members of the league. The objects of the council is to obtain better films for children, and a voluntary reviewing board of twelve will pass on films, approving those of highest moral and artistic value. Mrs. Ira L. Bretzfelder, president of the council, said that in no sense was it a censorship proposition, but that the body merely sought to recommend certain pictures, forgetting about the others that do not come up to the standards sought. The body has approved more than 1,000 films. Joseph Mogler, president of the exhibitors' league, said that his organization would not only declare Fridays " Family Night " but that special matinees would be given every Saturday morning for school children. " We believe the movement toward better films will benefit both the public and the exhibitors," Mogler said. Creditors Will Continue Chaplin Classics The creditors of Chaplin Classics, Inc., and Clark-Cornelius met informally on March 14 for the purpose of investigating the condition of the company, which is now in the hands of receivers appointed by the United States Court. It was agreed that the affairs of the company should be taken out of the receivership if possible, and run by the creditors, and a committee was appointed to work toward the accomplishment of this purpose. The committee consists of James V. Ritchey, of Ritchey Litho Corp.; William Hedwig, of Rex Laboratories, Inc., and Mark M. Dintenfass, of National Film Laboratories. Edward Petigor has been retained as their counsel. 1543 Closed by Law on Sunday He Gives Show Free The Ohio State Blue Laws state that no theatrical or dramatic performances may be given on Sunday for pay. It doesn't say anything about giving a free performance. And that's where George Moore of Bellevue and Bueyrus comes in. Moore has been operating under difficulties on Sunday for the past two years. He has been arrested so many times that he has lost count. The last time he was arrested the police put his patrons out of the house and placed a padlock on the door. And now Moore is showing motion pictures at his house on Sunday free. Moore has placed a contribution box in the foyer. Anyone who wants to may drop a coin into it. A coin of any dimension. It is unsolicited. Nobody asks for a cent. Sometimes Moore collects enough to pay for his show. But most times there's not enough in the box to cover expenses. But even so, it's a paying proposition in the end, because it is good advertising. It keeps the movie patrons in the movie habit, he says, and it keeps his patrons into the way of going to his theatres for entertainment instead of finding new avenues of amusement. Soviet Russia Coming Into Film Field on Big Scale An International News Service dispatch from Moscow, dated March 30th, advises that the Soviet Government of Russia intends to enter the motion picture field on a large scale. The dispatch reads: " The Proletarian Kinogram Co-operative, backed by big labor and communist organizations, both Russian and foreign, has accumulated 2,600,000 gold rubles as capital," said Joseph Malkin, director, " for the manufacture of the raw film and the production of proletarian pictures for Russia and for export. " All motion picture production to-day is for the bourgeois. All of our pictures — romance, drama and science — will have the proletarian touch. " A movie house for every Russian village is our aim." Canadian Famous Players Acquire New House With startling regularity the Famous Players Canadian Corporation, Limited, Toronto, Ontario, has been acquiring one after another of the leading downtown theatres of Toronto. The latest move along this line is indicated in the announcement that the Famous Players Corporation has secured Shea's theatre, Victoria and Richmond streets, which has been conducted for years as the home of Keith big-time vaudeville by Jerry Shea, famous showman. Famous Players will take possession of Shea's theatre on August 1, after which it will be renovated and remodeled in time for the opening of the season on Sept. 1. Announcement is made that Jerry Shea will continue to manage the theatre. Only a few months ago the Famous Players Canadian Corp. acquired Shea's Hippodrome, one of the largest theatres in Canada, and this has since become the parent theatre of the corporation's chain of houses across Canada. The company now operates the Hippodrome, Pantages, Regent, Strand and other smaller houses, and to these is now being added Shea's theatre. The policy of the latter theatre will undergo some change it is understood.