Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1923)

July 28 , 1923 399 Here are Some Scenes from Cecil B. E>e Mille's DroHuction " The Ten Commandments " from the story by Jeanie Macpherson. ^^IJXIlllllitlllllNIIIEIIIJttrMljMEIllllJItlXllMllillllClIllllIlllllltlllllllllllllllXllllltlllllLlllJ JIlllllllttlllllIilli:iI[llll!I!llini' ■■IltlltUllllUlllIllUIXITllllltlltllXIlUIIIlIlIllttiJIItlllllMIltlUlltlillJIXUlllUttlllltltlltlllLllllIilltllltJtlttlilftfillMUllltlllit ! L : : L 1 [ 1 [ 1 1 1 1 til I ■ tltKlf I J. D. Williams Signs Valentino I (Continued from page 396) aiWHiufannmnMininn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiunniuiiniiiiiimiimiiniiinniniiiniiiin i miiiimiimiuiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiuiiii luiiiiniuan imiuiu — ■-■■-■■■"-■■■■■-■-^nH" im All-Star Will Distribute Preferred Features According to a wire received from the Coast, Al Lichtman, president of Preferred Pictures' Corporation, lias just concluded arrangements with the All-Star Feature Distributors, whereby the latter company will distribute the fifteen Preferred Pictures scheduled for release the coming season. Those participating in the negotiations included Mr. Lichtman, B. P. Sehulberg, producer of Preferred Pictures; Louis Hyman, general manager of All-Star, and Henry D. Meyer, vice president of the latter organization. Included in the pictures are " The First Year," "The Broken Wing," " Maytime," " The Virginian," " The Boomerang.' " Poisoned Paradise," and " Faint Perfume." Vitagraph to Release "On Banks of Wabash" The first of the J. Stuart Blackton productions to be released by Vitagraph is " On the Banks of the Wabash," a story inspired by the famous American Song Classic written by Paul Dresser. Commodore Blackton obtained the exclusive world rights to the song through arrangements with Edgar Selden. Elaine Sterne was engaged to write the scenario. Sally Crute in Picture Sally Crute, formerly a star with Edison and Lubin and leading player with Metro, DeLuxe and Select, has been added to the cast of Sam Wood's production of Arthur Train's novel, " His Children's Children," which is now being filmed at the Paramount Long Island studio. Preferred Pictures is presenting Katherine MacDonald in " The Scarlet Lily," a First National release. tion. Many difficulties and many handicaps greet the producer of motion pictures and we shall, I believe, be able to eliminate many of them by the Ritz plan which also proposes to eliminate many of the evils of distribution. For instance, no exhibitor can afford to take cheaper, poorer pictures on the strength of the good ones. Under the Ritz plan the good ones — and only the good ones — will be marketed to the exhibitor at a price enabling him to make money. " The great stars and great directors who own and control their own pictures have no desire to charge more than their value. They know and appreciate the fact that the drawing power is after all the real price fixer. In support of this I have known several stars who have given exhibitors money out of their own pockets rather than see them lose money on their productions. " There is no proper place in our business for the middleman who wants it all. There is a need, all through our business, for a square deal with charges in keeping with the number of tickets sold at the exhibitors box office. One star sells a thousand tickets, another sells 500 tickets — and it certainly is fair that these be given the right proportion of rentals and receipts. " By this I do not mean percentage booking, because I do not believe exhibitor and star hare enough confidence in one another to make this workable at the present time, but of course this is bound to come later in some form or other. " I have carefully examined Mr. Valentino's present contract and have gone over all the circumstances surrounding its operation and in my opinion there is no doubt but that Mr. Valentino is in the right. I am firmly convinced he would not, and in justice to himself, could not have gone to work under it. " If he had, the value of the star would soon have fallen away and the exhibitor would have been deprived of a definite box office attraction. It is my purpose, amicably' if possible, to reach a settlement. " We are sometimes likely to forget we cannot eliminate the human element which is part and parcel of a contract with a star. The star is called upon to live in a manner befitting his popularity and to uphold the dignity of his position. These conditions actually demand big increases in salary and they must be met. The very essence of the show business is ' give and take.' Show me a company that hasn't abrogated a contract if the contract was against it. All that I know, have. The star makes a contract with the company, the pictures are made and the public doesn't want the pictures. Any star with honor realizes he cannot continue to force his services on the company, and as a result the contract is cancelled. It's a poor rule that doesn't work both ways. With the increase of a star's popularity and drawing power, the contract must be adjusted. " Greater care also must be taken in the selection of the picture material and in the production methods in order not to destroy the popularity and prestige which has been built up. Contrary to some opinions, I maintain that the star who has developed a special type of work and becomes popular in it, knows best how to farther develop his or her talents. They should be unhampered to make their own type of product. The star is selected for partiicular ability, personality and magnetism, and only one in 100,000 can ever be selected. " There is no reason in the world why one should not receive 50 times more salary than another because he is worth that much more at the box office. There should be no limit on salary, as properly it is all a matter of earning power. " It is impossible as well as improper to get a star that is independent to work on other conditions. Therefore we must and will meet them. It is only through these that achieve that we can inspire others to do their best work, with the goal of success always open to them. "Silent Command" Finished " The Silent Command, " has been completed by Director J. Gordon Edwards and is now in the process of cutting and editing at the New York studios of Fox Film Corporation, Release date for the big picture has been set for September 9th.