Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

1884 Motion Picture News Loew Launches Thirty-House Circuit Plan Contemplates Booking of Artists and Productions from Coast to Coast FORMATION of a coast to coast circuit of picture theatres comprising twenty Loew controlled and ten affiliated houses for the booking of productions and artists is well under way, according to announcements this week from the offices of Loew's Incorporated. Marcus Loew, on Wednesday, announced the proposed booking circuit as the newest of the Loew activities and selection of Walter F. Keefe as the general booking manager. The venture will doubtless be operated as one of the Loew subsidiaries, although it is the outgrowth of recent conferences among the owners and managers of the high class or deluxe picture theatres throughout the country. Tlie offices of the new circuit are located in New York City, and are being fitted this week. Mr. Loew's decision to systematically organize the booking and routing of feature artists and attractions and distinctive productions now required in his own and all other high class picture houses, was made after a study of the results in the San Francisco and Los Angeles theatres, which recently played a series of feature acts and elaborate productions. The new circuit is composed of theatres in the larger cities. Announcement of the specific houses is withheld pending decision in several cities where there is more than one desirable affiliated house available. One of Loew's newest theatres probably will head the list of two New York and two Brooklyn houses. E. A. Schiller, general representative, Loew's, Inc., and Walter Keefe recently completed separate investigation of the picture theatres in the larger cities in the country, and their reports of a universal demand on the part of picture theatre owners for artists of box office calibre and of a standard necessary to build up picture theatre programmes which now are demanded in the high price and high class houses, probably influenced Mr. Loew's decision for an immediate start on the formation of the circuit. The aim of the new circuit is to do as a unit what Mr. Loew and other theatre owners have been attempting to do with their picture theatres toward the development of the " divertisement " part of their programme. The linine up of desirable material for the houses already in hand is of first importance and Mr. Loew's intention in the matter of any affiliated house is that it be of suitable size and tone of management to conform to the very highest standard of present-day picture theatre entertainment, and that the houses be selected on this basis only and irrespective of their picture buying affiliation or ownership connections. None of the houses comprising Loew Vaudeville Circuit are included in the tentative nlan and the conduct of The Marcus Loew Booking Agency is not in any way affected by the picture theatre circuit. It was stated at the Loew offices that the complete list of houses in the circuit will be announced upon the return from the Pacific Coast of Marcus Loew and E. A. Schiller, who start west in a few days. Their trip will include stops in several key cities where more than one desirable theatre is available for the new circuit. Daylight Saving Doomed in St. Louis Daylight Saving has very little chance of passing the Board of Aldermen in St. Louis this year, although considerable agitation in favor of the clock-change has been worked up by its proponents. A poll of the incoming board reveals that but one man, Alderman Clinton B. Udell, of the Twenty-third Ward, is pledged to vote for a bill for Daylight Saving. Radio Discontinues Sending Copyright Music The Westinghouse Electric Company is the latest to encounter the tax of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. As a result of the tax imposed by the society, the electric company has discontinued sending out music from the WJZ station in Newark on which the copyright is owned or controlled by the society. The action was taken last Tuesday when Westinghouse cancelled the broadcasting of the light opera, " Robin Hood." It was the result of the society notifying the broadcasters that they must pay license fees ranging from .$200 to 5,000 a year. Black Interests Again Deny Monopoly Charge IN the last of the answers to be filed in response to the amended complaint of the Federal Trade Commission in its complaint against Famous Players and its associates, actual or supposed, Alfred S. Black and the Black New England Theatres, Inc., about the same ground is covered as in answers previously noted in these columns. Like the others, it "denies the allegation and defiies the allegator." The denials include the statement that Black is no longer connected with the New England Theatres corporation. Ohio Sunday Opening Fight Again Waxes Hot Although at one time the fight between the movie exhibitors of Findlay, Ohio, clerical associations and politicians, had appeared on the surface to be settled, it has again broken out more fiercely than ever. In the early part of the squabble Mayor Rodabaugh of that city washed his hands of the affair, and it appeared that the five-year fight to exhibit cinema productions on Sunday had been won. The Mayor at the time declared that the city would entertain a " hands off " policy, and that clerical or other interests must, if they wished, pursue their efforts unaided by the city government. Picture theatre owners assuming that the fight had been won opened on Sunday with the result that those of braver heart were arrested. Plans were then made by the exhibitors to enforce the Blue laws to the e treme on the following Sunday. The plan failed through lack of co-operation on the part of the exhibitors. The result of this contemplated action on the part of the exhibitors gathered force among them with the result that on April 5, sis of Findlay's business men were arrested and bound over to the grand jury on charges of unlawful operation of their stores on April 1, Sunday. Two others, against whom similar action was taken, failed to appear in court. The affidavits were sworn out by representatives of the picture theatre ownors of Findlay. A meeting will be arranged between the warring factions in the Sunday closing controversy with the directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Findlay at an early date in an effort to settle the affair for all times. Week Brings Many New Corporations The past week brought the incorporation of motion picture companies in New York State showing the following directors and capitalization : lGlst Street Amusement Corporation, $500, L. I. Fink, M. L. Elkin, Etta London, New York; Simmonds Pictures Corporation, $500, Joseph Simmonds, Rebecca Simmonds, Rose Rosenberg, New York ; Edgar MacGregor, Inc., $25,000, E. J. MacGregor, O. W. MacGregor, S. R. Goldingr, New York City; Universal Electric Stage Lighting Co., Inc., $400,000, A. T. Kliegl, J. H. Kliegf, Leopoldine Kliegl. New York; Hildor Amusement Corporation, Mt. Vernon, $50,000, Maxwell L. Crames. Seth V. Elting. Aaron Appel, New York; Median Photo-Plays, Inc., $50,000, Nan Sacks, A. L. Griffith, Joseph Schottland, New York; Selznick Distributin? Corporation, $500, William A. Sands, Myron Selznick, Hyraan Winik. New York; Bira's Realty Corporation. $10,000, Anna Davidson. Edna Bayard, L. Lawrence Green, New York. Loew Statement Shows Gross Income Decrease, but a Net Profit Increase DESPITE the fact that Loew's, Inc., shows a decrease in gross income for the period of September 1, 1922, to March 11, 1923, over the same period in 1921-1922 the financial statement shows a considerable gain in net profit for the period. The net operating profit for 1922-23 is given as $1,556,554, which is $406,653 more than the net profit of the same period the previous year. In 1921-22 the total was $1,149,901. The gross income of the current period is given as $11,202,329, which is $410,544 less than the previous year. One reason for the excess profit in the current statement over that of last year is the reduced cost of operating theatres and office buildings owned by the corporation. These expenditures are placed at $5,055,424, a decrease of $1,552,169. The figure reached last year was $6,507,593. To partially offset this, the distributing end of Metro took a decided jump to $1,257,849 from $650,292 last year.