Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1925)

2642 Motion Picture News Henry McRae Named General Manager of Universale Studio Plant HENRY McRAE, a veteran Universal director has just been made general manager of Universal City by Carl Laemmle, according to word received at the Universal Home Office. McRae succeeds Raymond L. Schrock, who recently resigned. He will have jurisdiction over the vast plant located in the San Fernando Valley, sixteen miles out of Los Angeles. McRae has been with Universal off and on since the early days of the Laemmle organization. He was v>ith the old Imp company when Mary Pickford was under the Laemmle banner. He started in the picture industry with Selig. During the past few months McRae has been with Universal in the role of director. He recently completed a super serial, "The Scarlet Streak," with Jack Daugherty as the featured player. Canada ConsideringQuotaPlan Peck Suggests Idea Now Contemplated by British Imperial Government A HINT that Canada would follow the example of the British Imperial GovL ernment in considering a quota plan providing for a percentage of British moving pictures on the programs of all cinemas was given by Raymond S. Peck, a Canadian Government official, in an address before the Rotary Club of Hull, Quebec, on November 19, during which he reviewed the present situation in the motion picture indr.stry in various countries. Mr. Peck has been the director of the Canadian Government Motion Picture Studios at Ottawa, Ontario, for the past five years, and is also an executive member of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. This was the first official public utterance in Canada regarding the British quota plan for motion pictures, although the subject has been referred to in Canad:an newspapers and has been unofficially discussed in exchange and theatre circles. In his address, Mr. Peck admitted that pictures produced in the United States were supreme on the screen and that even in the British Empire 95 per cent of the pictures shown were produced in the United States. EDMUND HOWELLS, far eastern representative of Producers International Corporation, the foreign distributing agency of Producers Distributing Corporation, recently returned from a tour of the Orient, declares that the limited number of theatres plus the fact that in most countries they are part of chains, makes selling competition in the Far East very keen. He visited Japan, China, Dutch East Indies, Straits Settlements, Indo China, Siam. India, Burma and Ceylon. In surveying this vast field Mr. Howells says: "It would be supposed that enormous possibilities existed in the tremendous territory of the Orient but although the population approximates a billion people, there are but two thousand motion picture theatres in all the Orient. "Japan, the most prosperous of the Oriental countries, with a population of over seventy-five million people: living within a prescribed area of 275,000 square miles has less than one thousand theatres. This means that on an average there is but one "It is a matter of concern to the British Government that so much of the pictures shown in different parts of the Empire are of foreign manufacture," declared Mr. Peck. "All Governments realize the importance of the film for publicity and propaganda purposes. Legislation will soon provide that there must be a certain percentage of British film shown in any of the Old Country theatres." Mr. Peek thought that this would be an excellent example for Canada to follow. Mr. Peck recently asserted that he was of the opinion that the British quota proposal would result in quite a number of the American film companies broadening their activities by the establishment of producing units on Canadian soil so that certain pictures could qualify as British films under the proposed plan in Great Britain. "Well-known throughout Canada, Mr. Peck is a member of International Rotary, is president of the Ottawa Community Orchestra, an officer of the Ottawa Y.M.C.A., and was formerly a film exchange official in Montreal and Toronto. theatre in every 275 miles of territory with an average of over 75,000 people to each theatre. "China, whose area approximates 3,850,000 square miles embracing a population of about 400,000,000 has only sixty motion picture theatres, and of these, about twentyfive might be considered first-run houses. "There are approximately 250 houses in the Philippine Islands. Of these, there are not over 12 first run houses. The general price of admission is about 40 centavos or 20c U. S. currencv. "The Dutch East Indies, Straits Settlements, Indo China, and Siam are generally considered the territory. The chief theatres in this territory are located in the cities of Batavia, Bandoeng, Spurabaya, Singapore and Bangkok in which there are 12 first run houses. "India, Burma and Ceylon constitute the remaining territory of the Orient. In this territory there are about 250 horse<. The important ones of which are locaterl in the cities of Calcutta, Bombay and Rangoon. Trend Toward Combination Houses in Ohio Cleveland is to have a new motion picture theatre. It wi.l be located at the intersection of Euclid and Superior avenues, and will be the largest picture house outside the down town district. It will have 2,500 seats, and will cost $400,000. Construction will be started immediately. The new theatre is to be erected by the Eucor Realty Company, in the rear of its commercial building. Entrance will be on Euclid avenue. Fred S~ Stone is president of the Eucor Realty Company. Plans for the new theatre call for both motion picture and vaudeville facilities. This has been a big year in motion picture theatre building in Cleveland. And an interesting feature of this development is the fact that all of the theatres built this year are very large and almost all of them are so constructed as to permit a combination picture and vaudeville program. The demand for big picture houses seems to spring from the idea that fans prefer fewer houses in a neighborhood and having those few strictly modern, elaborate and large, to the old-time idea of having the small picture house right around the corner. $10,000 Disappears From Detroit House A ten thousand dollar robbery of the Grand Riviera Theatre. Joy Road and Grand River Ave., Detroit, was reported to the police last week by Bert Williams, manager. Williams said the money disappeared about the same time two employees of the theatre did. Warrants have been issued for their arrest and one thousand dollars offered for their capture by Munz Theatrical Enterprises, operators of the Theatre. Hall And Connolly Move To Larger Quarters Hall and Connolly, manufacturers of "HC." motion picture apparatus, have announced the removal of their plant to 129" Grand St., New York City, where, on account of increased facilities, they will be able to serve their customers with a greater degree of satisfaction. Parent-Teachers to Organize Censor Body THE Parent-Teachers' Associaticn of Minnesota is preparing to organize a committee in each o its 250 units which will act as unofficial censors mainly, according to Mrs. Foster, chairman of the Better Films Committee, to convince producers of the scarcity of good pictures for children. The movement, says Mrs. Foster, is part of a national campaign to censor pictures. Local committees will report on all films appearing in their vicinities which reports will be forwarded to the national chairman. "We are not going to work against but with the theatre managers in this movement," said Mrs. Foster. "They need our counsel. Our local chairmen will assure the managers of their intentions to support good pictures and will submit a list of approved films, but they will stay away when objectionable pictures are shown." Howells Returns From Orient Made Survey for Producers Distributing; Discusses Film Situation in Far East