Motion Picture News (May-Jul 1916)

June 24, 1916 ■»/^^'0fI0N PICTURE NEWS 3913 New Laws and Court Decisions I This department is designed to keep the industry informed of all news concerning new or projected laws. Federal, State, County or Municipal, that may affect the business, and all events involving any branch of the trade with the authorities in all sections of the country Exhibitors' Fight to Gain Sunday Opening Right in Wichita, Kansas, is Under Way; Restraining Papers Filed Against Authorities HTHE exhibitors of Wichita, Kans., who •*• recently announced their intention of fighting an ordinance for prohibiting picture theatres from opening on Sunday, have launched into their campaign with legal tallent and much opposition. On May 29 eight exhibitors filed papers in the district court, seeking to restrain the city commissioners and the chief of police from enforcing the ordinance against Sunday pictures. The petition alleges that the ordinance is void because the commissioners have no legal authority to adopt it; that it is in violation of the Kansas constitution and infringes on the rights of citizens as outlined by the constitution of the United States. Numerous other reasons are urged for the repeal of the ordinance. The suit is brought by Joe C. Fox, L. G. Hicks, Don Powell, A. R. Ford, J. M. Benson, C. C. McCollister, E. L. Martling and the Southwestern Amusement Company as joint petitioners. Fifty Wichita churches, through their ministers, have begun the opposition and have retained O. A. Keach, a prominent lawyer of the city. His staff will be three men from the Public Morals Committee of the Ministerial Alliance, as follows : Guy L. Brown, for four years supervising theatre censor for the city commission and church federation of Trenton, N. J., and leader of the " Clean Theatre Movement " in New Jersey; Rev. W. W. Bolt, and Rev. J. C. Beitel. E. C. Mills, of the Mutual Film Corporation, of Kansas City, will probably handle the case for the Wichita exhibitors, although this has not j-et been definitely decided. A public demonstration for Sunday pictures was held at the Palace theatre there on Sunday evening, June 4, at which the crowd was larger than the capacity of the house. Rev. L. M. Birkhead, pastor of the Unitarian Church, presided. He spoke briefly in favor of clean, uplifting pictures on Sunday as well as on week days. He was followed by other well-known citizens of the town. The principal address at the demonstration was made by Mr. Mills, who made an impressive speech. He declared that the theatres did not want Sunday shows unless the majority of the citizens did, a condition which he believed existed. The Wichita Ministerial Association had been invited to send a speaker to talk against Sunday shows, but declined on the ground that the subject is a question of law which the courts must decide, and that debating it will have no effect one way or other on the dicision of the court. When the application for the injunction was called up for hearing, on June 3, it was postponed until June 17, owing to the absence from the city of City Attorney James Conly. CANADA MAY HAVE FEDERAL CENSORSHIP Chairman Horne, of the Manitoba provincial picture censor bureau, assumed his duties on the morning of June 1, and Frank Kerr, who held the same position with the Winnipeg censor bureau since its organization in 1910, dropped out of office automatically, the city bureau having ended its existance on May 31. In this connection it is interesting to note that Winnipeg was the first citj' in Canada to establish a censor bureau for moving pictures. Mr. Kerr has staled that he believes that ultimately a federal bureau will be established for the whole of Canada. Bluebird Plans National Campaign to Push Trade-mark Value Merits of the Plays Will Be Emphasized by Sure-Fire Methods, Says General Manager Hoffman— Consistent and Continnous Advertising Is His Idea BLUEBIRD Photoplays, Inc., has decided to make a radical change from the usual method of photoplay exploitation, and will soon begin a national campaign to build up the trade-mark, emphasize the merits of the play, and establish public confidence in its productions. Stars will not be advertised, but the entire company will be equally mentioned whenever individual players are referred to, hereafter, in Bluebird publicity. General Manager M. H. Hoffman, in making the announcement, points to the Sphakesperian truism that " The play's the thing," and states that Bluebird admits it. " The promoters of theatrical attractions have found the play and not the player to be the most important part of their enterprizes. After spending thousands of dollars to make a star, the investment has time and again been lost for the reason that, regardless of the merits of the star, a play suitable to the individual artist could not be discovered." " Bluebird is prepared to go forward on this radical basis, and we are confident of success. In the first place we know the nature and merits of the plays we will present for several months to come, and, fortified with this knowledge, we intend to convince the public that the Bluebird trademark stands for the best in photoplaying, production and photography regardless of the transient notoriety of any individual artists employed in the casts." " We have decided upon a national campaign to embody newspapers and billposting, to exploit the Bluebird productions as a whole. In this way the exhibitors of Bluebirds will have audiences inclined to patronize theatres where Bluebirds are shown. This will not be a sporadic ' flash,' but a consistent and continuous advertising campaign that will proceed for many months in papers of tremendous circulation." " We are prepared to combat the arguments of the numerous element always ready to decry an innovation. There will be exhibitors who will declare that photoplays cannot be established along lines that are followed to create the value of a commercial trade-mark. There will be others who will insist upon "stars" and "big names " to plaster in front of their theatres. But we fully expect to convince these exhibitors of the folly of their honest convictions in due course of time." " It must be remembered that patrons of photoplays are becoming more discriminating every day. Too often have they been trapped into buying tickets because a ' big name' was attached to an inferior photoplay. The public has too long indulged itself in the beguilement of 'big names.' There is sure to be a reaction, and Bluebird is preparing for the harvest that will evacuate when the public understands that Bluebirds may always be depended upon for consistently superior entertainment." EDNA MAYO PREPARES FOR WORK IN " RETURN OF EVE " Edna Mayo is preparing to begin work on the Essanay production of " The Return of Eve." Representatives of the company are now in the Georgian Bay country seeking an island setting for the scenes which require such a location. The interior scenes will be completed before the players go to the lake countrv for exteriors.